16. No Escape

Bree tried to pull her head out of the water, but she had no strength to resist Dolon's grip on the back of her hair. His hand shook while he held her head underwater, but his fingers remained locked into place.

Bree felt a burning sensation at first and then her lungs started to flutter, trying to force her to breathe. When she refused to breathe in the water, her body started shooting through with hot and cold flashes. Goosebumps stood up on her skin and she had a strong desire to puke as she felt a sense of vertigo kick in. Then she felt her heart start to pound in her ears as her face felt like it may pop, like an overly inflated balloon.

She felt a tug on the back of her head as her head was dragged up. As soon as her face was free from the water, she started coughing. Snot and spit ran from her nose and mouth while she continued to cough and wheeze. Air burned her nose, throat, and lungs, as if her body had forgotten how to breathe and now air was painful to her. She was alive though, thank goodness she was alive. She hadn't wanted to die so early in her new life. She didn't even know if she would be able to come back to life again. It would be different if she knew that she would come back to life somewhere else immediately, but she had no such assurance. She wasn't even sure how she had come back to life this time around.

"Let go of me," Bree was trying to yell at them, but only a choked whisper came out.

Dolon's grip in her hair loosed while his hand momentarily shook and then he released her.

"What are you doing?!" Vera yelled.

"This isn't right. I can't do this," he said.

"If you don't obey me, I'll have you kicked out of our tribe, and you'll never be allowed to enter another tribe again. I'll have you turned into a rouge who will travel alone until you die by yourself in some remote location where only wild beasts will be your company and will gnaw on your flesh and bones."

"If I'm forced to travel alone, than so be it. At least I will have the luxury of being able to live with myself. I refuse to be your puppet any longer. You will be plagued by me all the days of your life. Do you hear me? I will destroy your reputation until no male dares to contract with you! You will be forced to battle for every single male you get and every male you have will be ashamed to be yours. You will give birth in sorrow and loneliness. You will be for breeding purposes only, no better than a community breeder that you fear and loath.

This girl has done nothing to you. She was forced to come here against her will and forced to go through her shifts before her time. She's confused and scared. She was barely a hatchling not that long ago. She doesn't know how anything works yet. This whole situation is cruel. If things continue this way, you won't have to kick me out, I'll leave on my own," Dolon said.

Although he managed to speak without stuttering, his eyes were wide open in fear, his hands were shaking, and his face was as pale as milk.

"Very well then, I have no need for unreliable subordinates. Vera," Hera said.

Then a dark red smoke came out from Vera's hand and swirled around Dolon. Upon seeing the smoke, he abruptly turned and shifted into a shifter size lynx. Shifters were usually three times as large as the animal a person in Bree's old world would recognize. However, in this land of beast shifters, there are no such animals like those. The red smoke easily caught up with him. Then it covered his body entirely until he could no longer be seen and swirled around in a frenzy, like it was an angry living thing. A howling could faintly be heard through the loud wind caused by the smoke, but it was hard to tell the two apart. It was as if the wind itself was haunted.

Then the red wind dissipated just as quickly as it had come. In its place was just a faint sprinkling of red. Bree's eyes widened and she instinctively took a step away from the monster in front of her who was smiling with great satisfaction. What kind of twisted shifter world was this? Wasn't it about time for her to wake up from this freaky nightmare yet?

"Now it's your turn," Vera said.

Bree was able to take a single step back before her world was full of a hungry red mist that swirled around her. She could see nothing but red and felt pain all over her body like she was being cut by a million tiny razors at once. Nonsensical thoughts flitted through her mind as she started disassociating from the all consuming pain that she had no way of escaping from. The last thought that filled her mind before she lost consciousness was that perhaps this was for the best. Perhaps in her next life, if there was one, she would be reborn in a more civilized environment with modern luxuries and room service.

...Or perhaps not.

Bree blinked her eyes in surprise when she found herself lying down with her cheek pressed against a glowing blue circle. She lifted up her face and pushed herself up to look around. When she glanced up, her eyes met those of Daisy, Posh, and a new tiny flying black and white dalmatian with fluffy white wings on its back and half moon glasses propped on its nose. Its light blue eyes met Bree's while it wings fluttered, keeping it aloft between the two flying kitties. It took notes on a pad of paper while it observed Bree with an unimpressed expression shinning from its eyes.

"This is our new master?" The flying puppy said. She was the same size as her two flying companions at her sides. Just how many of these strange flying creatures were planning on showing up?

Daisy pushed her paw onto the dalmatian's side and the dalmatian rolled her eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. "There is no need to give me one of your...creative names. I am already named Deloris. I am the master of the portals and save points. Although I gathered that you were quite...unique, from what these two said, I never expected you to require my services so...suddenly. You can rest assured that you will not die while you're in my care. I will revive you over, and over, and over again...If need be. Until you complete your missions to my satisfaction, there will be no escape from your new life here; even in death. Isn't that marvelous?"

Bree glanced at Daisy who was flying next to Deloris, but the kitty refused to meet her eyes. Her lips were pursed in anger and her cheeks were puffed out. Bree felt lonely while looking at Daisy. She knew that she had made a horrible mistake and somehow she would make up for it.

"Daisy, I..."

Daisy glanced up and her eyes met Bree's only for a moment, but it was long enough to see that she had been crying. She blinked and rubbed her paw against her eyes and then slipped into a pocket of space. Posh looked after Daisy and then looked back at Bree with a half smile meant to encourage her, but it also looked quite sad. Then he too disappeared; chasing after Daisy.

Bree sat staring after her two kitty friends while feeling overwhelmed with regret and loneliness. She glanced back at Deloris who had a smirk plastered on her lips and satisfaction glowing from her pale blue eyes. "Now then. Where were we? Oh yes, you were just about to go chase after your shiny new mate."

Bree swallowed a nervous lump lodged it her throat that was threatening to choke her. "My...mate?" she squeaked.

"That's right," Deloris said.

Bree quickly looked down at her wrist and the perfectly intact blue line that circled her wrist.

"When a save point is activated, as the master of the save points, I can choose which activated save point I allow you to revive at and the time that you came back to life, within twenty-four hours of your death. Your current mission is to chase down your new mate. I would also suggest you hurry before you're captured again."