7

Not showing my true identity was difficult for the first year or so. There was many times that I wanted to be able to use my abilities or to transform but I knew I couldn't. The leader and his wife didn't want me out with everyone else so I normally was in there hut almost all day. I was aloud out to go do necessary womanly things like washing laundry and looking for berries, spices, and herbs. I was also aloud out for some of the holidays and for other celebrations, but even then I was kept at a distance from the others in the tribe. I think they were this protect of me since they lost their own child. I had heard whispers of how much more relaxed they were with her and all the things that they allowed her even at her own young age to go do.

Nobody knew that I would sneak away at night while they all slept. I would use my abilities to make vine people that I could use to practice fighting and my other skills with. I got really good with creating my own sword and arrows that could light its target on fire on impact. I understood how it felt to lose people you cared about, but I also knew what my family had taught me. I understand I was a hybrid and that other hybrid tribes potentially could be a threat to my tribe. I wasn't going to run and hide from them if they attacked. I kept practicing in the hopes that I wouldn't be the weak child who had ran and hid, then watched her brother die without being able to truly do anything for him.

I had a scare of my stomach from when I had attempted to take his pain away and heal him that day. That scare might of been small but it served as a reminder of my past. It's very common for people to have scares so nobody really questioned it when they would sometimes see it when we went out to the small ponds or streams to bathe. Most women had more scares than I did, but they were normally more on there back. Most of the scares were from punishments from when they wouldn't listen or obey their elders and heads of their house hold. Even with my family training me, they always used wooden weapons that wouldn't actually cut me or leave more than a small bruise if I got hit hard. I was also never punished if I did something wrong. The leader and his wife would only give me a stern talking to, I think they feared if they did more that I might run away, leaving them behind. They didn't want to risk losing another child, especially if it was something they could prevent. My skin was also far more fair then most other since I was kept in a cave away from the harmful rays of the sun when I was little and now I'm kept sheltered by people as well.

I'm not sure if they ever intended to allow me to marry but I wasn't aloud to alone with any men. I always had to have a trusted guard. I mean I understood they couldn't risk someone taking advantage of me or me sleeping with a man I wasn't married to. If I would to get pregnant there was nothing even they could do to protect me if someone found out. If anyone found out I wasn't a Virgin it could mean I wouldn't ever be able to get married to a man that had any standing in tribe, meaning I wouldn't have someone who was well able to provide and protect me and a child. If I was pregnant I could be hurt badly, it was common for women to be stoned for it no matter the circumstances.

I once watched it happen or at least part of it. I had been with the tribe for almost a year at this point. That day was cold, it was a transition month from the warmth of spring into the chilling cold months that fall would bring us. Most don't go outside much during fall unless it's to hunt. During fall there isn't any plants left for harvest as they have already died from the first frosts. I had heard screams, some sounded as if it was from pain while others just sounded hateful and angry. It was unusual to hear things this time of year especially things that were this loud. I grabbed a pair of shoes and my fur blanket then walked out of the hut. That's when I saw a bleeding women. I froze at the sight in front of me. Her stomach was big and it was obvious she was pregnant, she was still very young. She couldn't of been more then 15, she was crying and screaming in pain. While others were yell at her and throwing rocks at her. The girls blood had formed puddles and was staining the frozen ground red. I looked into her eyes and I could see the pain and fear that she was feeling. One of the guards who was meant to keep an eye on me noticed I was outside. He left the crowd of people and dropped the rocks in his hands as he came over to me. He was very calm as he approached me and used his own body to block the dying women. He turned me around wakes me back into the hut then ordered me to stay there. He told me that I didn't want to see what was happening out there and that it's why I can't be around men as if I was to get pregnant nobody would be able to protect me from the people. He also explained how shameful it is to have a child before marriage and that it is a crime of treason to god and that they are executing the punishment for it, because an unmarried women with a child meant a fatherless child and that means the devil already has claimed its soul. Making it a servant of hell and the only way to save the women was by punishing her before she can give birth as then she has paid for her sin and the devil won't be able to collect her soul as well so she will be welcomed into heaven.

I was taught all the stories of what humans believed to the afterlife and what we knew the afterlife to truly be. I knew there wasn't a heaven or a god and the man who they believed to be the devil was simply an outcasted angel. There wasn't a heaven or hell in the way that they believed it to be. I also knew I was a fatherless child, but it didn't make me demon even though I held what they considered demon blood. Angels and demons are the same though, they just believed different things and live in different places. I couldn't tell a human that though, I was aware they might kill me as well if I said such a thing. All I could do is nod and sit back down in the hut and wait for the screaming to stop.

After she died they took her body to the middle of our village and left it there for about a week before they hurt it. They need to see it was decomposing because if it started to decompose it meant the soul had moved on and was in heaven. At least that what they thought, but any body will decompose after a certain amount of time especially when it is left out in the open and exposed to the elements and animals.

Humans had a lot of bazaar beliefs that any hybrid or dragon who actually knew our history knew wasn't true. After all we were a by product of what humans believed to be demons and creatures sent from hell. Which is technically partly true, since our ancestors did practice magic and come in contact and have child with fallen angels who live in what humans call hell. It at least makes sense on why humans believe dragons are creatures of hell and are sent here to start the uprising for others from hell to be able to walk the earth. Most humans didn't know we existed until those horrible November days, so when the world fell apart and all of those people were killed then dragons show up out of nowhere I can see where the religious said they r signs of the rising of hell. It makes more sense than most of their idea that are driven by faith.

After you know the truth a lot of things humans do for religion and their views on the afterlife don't make sense, but when you don't know I think that they actually might make some sense since they are using the ideas to make sense of something they truly have no really comprehension of.

After all even there season are kind of a mess compared to what humans knew them as about 25 years ago. There were four seasons and now there is only two. It was also said that people lived more than 100 years before this but know humans are luck to reach the age of 40. Without technology and the medical advancements that once existed humans are basically back in the stone ages.

I mean dragons and hybrids are as well but we have better ways of handling it and we still know a little more and are a little more evolved than humans are, that's how humans came to the idea of people living to 40. Most humans are actually dead before that unless they live in a tribe mainly made up of hybrids, since hybrids are better built for this type of life style it's easier for them to track and hunt and survive than it is for a normal human.

There is 1 time every year that tribes run into each other and that's when the herds we follow meet in a few central spots for breeding. There are 4 spot that they meat meaning if ever tribe follows the same herd then each tribe will run into each other once every four years. This is a time when humans normally change tribes due to marriage, it also a time when two tribes may become one, but only if the both tribes leaders children marry one anther. There are still times within the year that people can be married in or out of the tribes though as there is normally 3-4 tribes that follow the same herd, as herds normally don't run together all the time after they start the migration of leaving the breading site they will normally split into two or 3 different groups that all stay near each other for a sense of protection, but it also means there is more humans who will follow the bigger herds that's way we can survive as if something were to happen to one tribe as all the others are so close it has potential for another tribe to go help its neighbor or in similar cases as mine to take in survivors. It also allows trading making it so if one tribe didn't stock up well enough on foods or they might need furs or weapons, they can go to other tribes and trade things what they need.

Some tribes are better hunters while some are better crafters and some are better gathers or breeders. Each tribe is better at something's than other which allows good trading.

Some tribes also have tame dogs which help hunt or protect the tribe, there are also tribes that have chickens and goats and horses which they breed and trade. Some know how to farm crops and fish and they can trade that to other tribes. While others can make and provide weapons and provide skills to help build things and creat fabric and clothing or pots.

It amazing to see all the different things set up for trade as a market during mating season every year.

Markets are full of different scents and products. Some sell fish meat or eggs or milk or cheese or bread, while others sell pots or fabrics or clothes or jewelry. While others sell soaps or weapons or wheats or corn or beans or fruits or vegetables. Some sell live stock such as goats or pigs or chicken. The markets are almost always busy. While you can trade goods for other things you need, people often also use gems or gold or other precious metals as currency. Things such a gems and certain fabric and clothes and jewelry aren't a necessity, but they show your wrath and power over other they also are good gifts and are able to be used to pay for things such as protection or for seeing the tribes leader for an issue to get a new law added or to get yourself out of trouble for breaking a rule. They can also be used to buy help or get your fortune told by someone who claims they can speak to god or have spoken to angels. The god part is always untrue but sometime their are people who can really see things and communicate with those who have passed on. Their are also people who have talked to angels and believe they have spoken to god while other think they were sent by god. Most give vague details in riddles that could actually mean anything, but then something will happen that could have something to do with the riddle or what was said so people believe that it was their fortune that they were told coming true, but it was just a coincidence. Their are also those who claim they can speak with the dead who are also just as vague when it comes to details and say what they believe the person wants to hear and allows them to react to what they say to see how they will continue, it allows them to make an income to go buy things they need or want and people believe them because it can give them closure or tell them what they wish to know.

It makes going to places like the market even more of an interesting experience because you never know what you will see or what you will overhear while your there. It gives people something to look forward to in the spring and something to do in the winter, as that's normally when people start figuring out what they will sell there or in some cases even start to make some of the products they will sell such as fabrics or clothes or pots or jewelry or weapons. It makes being stuck inside more bearable. We always sell jewelry and furs and fabrics when we go, so at the end of spring and start of fall we make sure we have gathered all the things we will need to be able to make everything during the colder months of fall. We normally make blankets and pots and some dresses and other fabrics and jewelry during that time. I am normally the one who makes the pots and jewelry and I help make blankets, but the head lady makes the dresses and fabrics.

She first taught me how after I turned 10 since that's when I understood why we did it and showed more interest in learning. After two years passed with no sign or my family I figure it was time to give up completely on the idea of them ever coming to find me so it was best to truly learn how to be human and how they live.

I saw a lot of people bribe the tribe leader to overlook there mistakes when it came to breaking rules or to bribe it for there child. They also would give him something anytime they had people go out on hunts, he said it was how they were insured to get some of the food from the hunt and from anything that we found out when gathering plants. We would only go out with a certain group and it was a group that always did exactly what the head lady said and often would eat dinner with us and stay in the hut with us, she called them her ladies. Her ladies and the men who lived in our hut and around our hut provides security and would also go out with us to hunt and often were seen of the only people who were trained and proficient in knowing how to hunt and the proper herbs, berries, and other plants to gather. Other in the tribe would trade things for the things we found because they often didn't know how or couldn't get enough on their own. I think that is what kept the tribe learner rich and most of the ladies would help get things ready for the market in the spring and they would get a small cut of the profits and with us supplying the food for cheaper than for the normal people in the tribe it allowed them to be able to have more.

They could keep some of the things they found so they could make each other their own clothes and their own jewelry for no price, but they were only aloud to keep some of what they found by the grace of the head lady and they were all aware she could tell them they couldn't and they would have to obey or they could be punished. That made it so all of them did exactly as she told them and never argued or spoke out of line.

Within the group of people who lived around us was the red headed boy who i first saw when his father brought me back to the tribe. His name was Lucas, he had an older brother named Max who also had similar red hair but his eyes were green. Max was two years older than Lucas. They also had a younger sister who was about my age, her name was Emma. She had blond hair unlike her brothers and blue eyes like her brother Lucas. Since they lived around us they were some of the only men near my age that I was aloud around. Emily was also the only female who was my age that I ever saw. There were some other girls who were younger but they were all 2-4 years older than I was and didn't want anything to do with me or Emily since we were younger. It made it so the two of us became each other's only real friend and she would often stay at the tribe leaders hut with me so I wasn't alone.

Sometimes Max and Lucas would be the ones outside the hut guarding and keeping an eye on me and Emily if the head lady was out but that was the only time I was even even close to alone with a guy. When she was gone they knew better than to be inside and that they would face a punishment if they did, so they were always very careful of how they acted and what they said when I was around since I was basically the leaders daughter.

I never rarely ever referred to either of them as my parents. Almost never called them mother or father. It was normally ma'am or sir when I was talking to them, and head lady or leader when I talked to other about them. They weren't the biggest fans of it as they wanted me to call them mother and father, but they also took it as a sign of respect that I didn't. I also didn't come in contact with almost anyone who wasn't within the group of people who were one of their men or ladies or one of their ladies and men's children. This was just another way that they sheltered me from the world and from the tribe.