Becoming what I Once Hated Most (Diary Entries of Sly)

Season, DINOSAURS!!!
Day, BIG GNASHING TEETHIES!!!
Year, A RAPTOR DECIDED TO TRY AND MAKE ME LUNCH!!!!!
Weather, Muggy...
Place, Clever Girl...


Let me just get this out right now...

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

That said... Let me continue with my story and remember the three things I'll do to you first oh dearest diary.



So, the last Hunt I took part in was interesting. By interesting, I mean before the hunt started, my master pulled me aside before it began. He had said to me that he knew what I was doing. He offered me a deal... It was atrocious. He said that he'd let me continue running towards freedom under the condition that I would ensure that all others would be captured or killed by me first. I added in the condition that Ellie be escorted out of Arcadia to find me. He had agreed, but added another condition. Because Ellie wasn't his to give freely, he told me that if I made it out I would have to usher in fresh meat under the conditions that I and Ellie be found and taken back to Arcadia to continue our miserable existence. The contract would run for a year and a day.

How stupid was I to take it?

On the starting line, I counted all of us that were running. The heads counted 23. I counted by thumping my thumb on my leg. I didn't understand why it felt so good, but for the last three, it seemed to give me a feeling of excitement and comfort. I couldn't describe it, never mind that I had 23 heads to put into bags.

The horn sounded and we ran. My nose picked up so many scents and my ears heard so many sounds. That was when I realized how much I had changed in Arcadia. I was no longer young. I was near a man. I had fur, but not like a normal man. I had paws and claws. My teeth came to fine points that sat crooked in my mouth.

I sobbed as I ran. The crisp air made my tears feel like rain drops and I found the first one. A human, turning Fairest. I snapped his neck in one quick motion after I had jumped high into the air and pounced him. I felt my inner child cry out in me. I felt like I was killing myself over and over and over and over and over and over and over again!

The fifth was a Wizened one that looked like a goblin. The seventh a troll. The thirteenth a beast. The twentieth was a Darkling. The Twenty-first was an Elemental. The Twenty-Second an Ogre! But the Twenty-Third looked to be no older than 3. Human. Untainted. Each of the twenty-two others I killed was quick, bloody, or somewhere in between, but all had died as a result of my hands and wit. But this last one. He just looked so innocent.

I pondered as he cowered if I would go back on my deal and save this child or if I would hand him over to the master. I thought of a million things I could do, but my hands reacted...



For those of you who might be reading this in the past or the future, it was quick.



I didn't feel like I had time then to process the complete thought, but now, as years have gone by... At least I think they're years... I remembered why I did it. I saw it as a mercy killing then. Better to die by my hands than to let it slowly rot in Arcadia. And no one was going to stand between me and Ellie leaving that forsaken place. But I still asked that time-honored question, "What have I done?"

I returned back to Thimblecut and my Master with that child's carcass in my mouth and two others dragged by both hands. I killed twenty-three people. Changelings. People. Monsters. Old. Seasoned. New. Every one was equal when they met demise.



The Master was true to his word. I waited for Ellie outside in the thorns.

For those of you to ask, "Did he escape? Oh my God what happens next? Is Ellie still alive?" To you that do, I say, yes, yes, yes, and yes... Wait... That's four yesses. Oh well!

I can't exactly explain it. What already felt like a dream was more blurred coming out than staying in. What I do remember, though, were as Ellie and I fought hard against those thorns tearing at my flesh and I made sure she was never hurt. We fought hard and soon we saw a light, but it was being blocked out slightly by some large almost circular objects, making the light like a star in the night sky. The tendrils inching towards us. We were running in what felt like quicksand. We couldn't go fast, and the harder we tried the slower we were. I pushed harder and harder and gave everything I had left. I went down on all fours and grabbed Ellie's arm with my teeth as she yelped in pain.

What looked like a shadowy block in the entrance was none other than those that I had left the very same day I was taken. The boys whom had chased me down were exactly as they had left me, dumb looking, staring in bewilderment, and I smelled their fear. Ellie coughed and sputtered as I huffed away and I don't know, but something felt like it snapped in my brain as a resounding click made itself known only to me.

I was barking and snarling. I growled and bore my fangs and pushed my back legs up to get a spring on them if necessary. I snapped my jaws and the boys took off. Angus, or at least I think his name was Angus, came up as the others ran and I turned to him.

I wasn't sure what happened. Ellie assured me that Angus would live, but he'll always have those scars.

For a few years, Ellie and I traveled like humans without a home would.  Every time we passed a village, I always made one of the children a sacrifice to my Master.  Ellie was my steeple. My rock. WITHOUT HER I'M NOTHING! She kept what little sanity I had safe. I'll always love her for that.

It was when we traveled to America that everything had changed.



Ellie, do you remember me singing to you? I do.

I love you,
Sly