I Want To Drink Water

While Ayra ran for her dear life, her heart was broken.

She fought against all odds, to keep herself from breaking down because she wept bitterly while she fled the South Moon Pack. 

The South Moon Pack was all she had ever known. Imagine leaving home for the first time in your life in eighteen years, under such difficult circumstances. 

Ayra was heartbroken to the core. Her mind flashed back to the looks on her friend's faces when they saw the mark on her via the photo that Lopez had exposed to everyone. Damn, Lopez! But how could Ayra have been so careless anyway? She could remember her aunt, Seconen, always scolding her about that mark. Sometimes, Aunt Seconen would burst into tears whenever she saw how careless Ayra was about covering the mark. 

Ayra didn't understand Aunt Seconen at that time, and currently, Ayra still blames Aunt Seconen for her ignorance. Aunt Seconen should have told her about the myth and made Ayra understand that whether the mark on her was just a coincidence or not, she should make sure she covered it up, or else she would die. 

Now, Ayra was just getting to find out what the fuss about the so-called mark had been about. 

''But it's just a myth,'' Ayra whined as she continued to run. She dared not stop. 

How were they even sure that she was the carrier of a Tale Of Doom? 

Was it not just a mark? 

Alpha Zynth's handsome face flashed before Ayra's eyes as she ran. The look on his face when he saw the photo of the mark on Ayra was mixed with surprise, anger, disgust, and rage. He did not like Ayra at that moment, and Ayra could feel it heavily from where she was standing and watching him. 

Even though the news had spread that Ayra had the mark of doom, the Alpha still publicly displayed the photo when he summoned the entire pack members alongside Aunt Seconen. 

Ayra watched everyone's faces, disgruntled with disgust. Was she the only one who had not heard about this Tale Of Doom? Because of the way the pack reacted when they saw the mark on her, it meant that the tale was popular. 

So how come Ayra herself had never heard about it? 

That was because it was part of the prophecy made by the moon goddess. The carrier of The Tale Of Doom would be blind to the tale, and even though she must have heard of the tale a million times, she would never take it seriously until everyone turned against her. 

After running for miles, Ayra became tired and desperately needed some water. She was barely lucky to spot a settlement some kilometers away from where she was. 

''Thank goodness. I can get some water and, if I'm lucky, some food even. I need to keep running further after that and settle somewhere that nobody knows me,'' Ayra said as she heaved a sigh of relief and sank into the floor under a tree for some rest. 

A couple of minutes later, Ayra was on her feet again, running as fast as she could towards the settlement. 

Quickly shifting into her human form, Ayra entered the settlement filled with queer-looking sorts of humans. 

Yes, they were humans, quite alright, but they looked rather strange. Their noses were a little elongated, more than the regular human size. Also, their skin was rougher than usual. But they were gorgeous people regardless, especially the males. 

Ayra found herself in awe as she stared hard at one male who stared back at her as intensely. Just as they looked strange to Ayra, Ayra also looked strange to them. 

Ayra soon realized that all eyes were slowly turning to her, and she was about to go into hiding when she suddenly felt a gust of wind that almost swept her off her feet. 

Ayra staggered and held the wall beside her as she looked around to find out what the cause of the wind was. 

Before long, she was face to face with a big dragon. 

Ayra opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out, as she looked around to see that everyone else except her was comfortable with the dragon. 

Where was she? 

Ayra knew at that moment that she should never have stepped foot into that settlement, and if she ever made it out of there alive, she would be extra careful when she found any other settlement as she ran farther away from the South Moon Pack. 

The dragon that had landed in front of Ayra, suddenly shifted and looked like one of the queer humans, his comrades. Ayra felt a little calmer after the dragon shifted. The man she was now staring at was a well-built and tall hunk with long hair that blended into the sunlight. 

Ayra found herself lost in his eyes until the man spoke and made her snap back to the present. 

''Who are you?'' 

Ayra swallowed hard. 

''I'm... My name is Ayra. Please can I have some water to drink?'' 

Ayra could not think of anything else to say other than that. 

Everyone around frowned when they heard what Ayra said. They were seriously concerned about who she was, and all she could manage to mention was that she wanted to drink water. 

''Actually, I...'' Ayra was about to narrate that she just stumbled in there, while she was on her way on a hike, but before she could continue her sentence, she saw something flying toward her. 

What was that? 

Ayra didn't know what she was looking at just yet, but the closer the creature flew towards her, the easier she was able to identify that it was a dragon. Yet another dragon. 

Interesting. 

So, she was in the dragon kingdom. 

Ayra swallowed hard and adjusted on her feet while she anticipated the dragon landing in front of her, but something strange suddenly happened. 

The dragon squealed uncomfortably, and quickly turned around, flying back to where it was coming from.