Chapter 61 - SHIFT!
-Malia's POV-
I hate the beginning of a school week; it's always so tiring waking up early on Mondays. After the amusement park, we had a big birthday cake and Sara took a shower in my room after Jace said she reeked of too much perfume. I couldn't help but snicker, earning a glare from Sara.
We had a huge cake and Mike blew out the candles-
'Because he is a self centred brat.' Nina commented, causing me to smile.
It was great. I sighed in content after recalling yesterday's events.
The halls were crowded; people maneuvering around each other like snakes. I held my head high, people moving out of my way, making some space for me and smiling, I held my book close to my chest. It was easier to walk to my lessons as I was taller.
'Shift! Shift! Shift!' Nina urged in my head, causing me a headache. I tried to silence her but she was too pushy. She had been chanting that for the past few months and everyday, it got harder to ignore.
'Stop' I pleaded.
'Shift! Shift! Shift!!!' she yelled. I winced, grunting and holding my book tighter.
The chattering around me became louder and everything felt so close to my ears. Soon, I started to feel the blood under my skin boiling and my pores letting out steam. Inhaling and exhaling in short puffs, I stumbled.
"Malia?" a first year girl with pigtails looked up at me with a worried expression on her face. I stumbled, my weight shifting towards her. On instinct, she held my arm before letting out a loud yelp and flinching away from me. "You're burning!" she looked at her red hand as skin started to peel off from her fingers in blisters.
"Sorr-" I tried to say but the repeated voice of Nina had become louder than my voice.
Another hand pulled me by my hood. My feet failed under me as I stumbled, walking backwards to avoid being choked by my collar. The person dragged me outside and threw me to the ground. My hands collided with the floor as the book flew out of my hands. At this point, I was dripping in sweat, breathing heavily. The scent of Sara filled my nostrils and I automatically grunted.
"You won't steal Zeref from me!!!" I felt a heavy slap across my face, snapping my head to the right. I said nothing, feeling Nina push the barrier of my skin as if she was trying to get out. Tears started to roll down my cheeks, panic rushing through me, leaving me no time to breathe.
"Sara?" I cried, hyperventilating. I held onto her leg, trying to find focus but my vision was all a blur. "I-I can't see." My eyes darted everywhere but every part of my vision was a mix of colours. I could barely make out the silhouette of Sara's figure.
"Get OFF
me!" she kicked me away, the hesitation in her voice was clear. I could feel her gaze on me as I struggled to breathe on the floor. She had never seen me so panicked. It was probably scaring her shitless. I humoured myself, keeping my head on the cold concrete. My breathing felt heavy and soon, it stopped."You ruined my life." Sara whispered, gritting her teeth in hatred. Running towards me, she kneed my face before dragging me by my hair to a blind spot. I accepted my fate, feeling as if I was dying. The heat surrounding me was unbearable and I felt like I was being cooked.
She threw me at the wall, my head smashing into the bricks. My brown hair fell onto my face, covering my sight.
"I'm not scared of you anymore. You're weak." she scoffed. "I trained my ass off ever since Zeref left so I could duel you and THIS is all you got?!" She laughed like a maniac. "No wonder Zeref saved me and not you-"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" I let out a blood curdling scream, making the ground shake violently. I tried to pull myself up but my wrists snapped with a loud crack. Sara flinched back, fear oozing off of her.
'SHIFT! SHIFT! SHIFT!' Nina pressured me and it felt like someone was physically squeezing my skull.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I cried out desperately, the pain rising everywhere. My jaw ached and it felt like all of my teeth were being ripped out of my gums. My back arched, followed by the snap of my spine.
"Malia?!?!" Sara stepped back, terrified.
My eyes rolled back and all I saw was stars. All the bones in my body were breaking and healing. My throat seemed to be closing, restricting my breathing. Like a waterfall, all my pain came crashing down onto me, crushing me under its agonising weight.
Flashes of a wolf appeared in my head, making my skull split from the pain. The wolf was a huge white wolf with shining, silky fur. Larger than Sara's. It had gold glowing eyes with golden paws and 9 see-through, silky tails, almost like flowing scarves of shiny white china silk. They were opaque but still present as they flowed behind the wolf like a peacock's feathers. It had a beautiful white tail in the middle of all the magical silk tails.
Something in me clicked and I let out a big sigh of relief.
Sara better run.
**
-Sara's POV-
I was panicking when suddenly she stopped screaming, everything falling to an excruciatingly quiet silence. The ground stopped shaking and the emergency alarm inside the school building went off. The air became thick and it felt as if the power of an army was surrounding her. The amount of power she was emanating restricted my windpipe. What… the… hell.
Her hair was covering her face but I swear I saw her eyes glowing golden.
"Malia?" I approached her cautiously. She was terrifying. Her aura was deadly and I didn't want to get too close. I just wanted to check if she was okay.
"Run.
" a mix of voices said; the voice coming out demonic. I looked around trying to find the source of the voice. An aura of a godly wolf was in the air. The aura was a million times stronger than my dads who was the Wolven King.I thought of running but I couldn't leave without Malia. I knelt down to her limp body, pulling her up. "We have to go, someone's coming." I freaked out, trying to run with her.
She pushed my arm off her and I didn't hesitate to look back, thinking she was following me.
A deadly strong growl came from behind me, followed by a roar. I let out a scream, running faster, nearly at the school building, when my body was slammed to the wall and my head was pushed against the wall. The power of the person behind me was unbelievable as I sobbed, thinking I was going to die…
"Please… I beg you!" I choked out, too scared to move. My right wrist was held behind my back by the person while the other hand was holding my head against the wall. I could feel its sharp claws graze my scalp as it purred, satisfied with my begging. It was so close behind me, I could feel it's hot breath fan against my neck. Squeezing my eyes shut, I held in my sobs.
The hand holding my wrist wrapped around my fingers and pushed our intertwined hands next to my head as I squeaked at the close impact. I recognised that hand. The silver rings next to my head told me it was Malia but she had claws sharper than I had ever seen and three gold glowing lines circled around her wrist.
"Malia?" I cried with a pleading tone. A gasp left my lips as she pulled my hair back, giving her access to my neck. She let out an unrecognizable sound; a mix of a growl and purr. Her canines grazed my tender flesh as I whimpered under her pressure. Her purr made me feel euphoric as I felt pleased with making her happy.
I felt as if I had to submit to her.
Her hand slowly let go of mine but I stayed still, feeling a headache grow from the pressure she was putting on my head. I jumped a little, yelping as she lightly placed her hand on my hip and spun me around to face her effortlessly.
The first thing I was met with were her glowing eyes. They were a magnificent shiny gold with specs of sparkling stars. My jaw fell open as I watched the sweat drip down from her jawline and the slight blood at the corner of her lips from where I had slapped her. Her hand slammed into the wall next to my head, breaking the crumbling bricks and creating a large dent. I squeaked as she smirked, her pearly white canines showcasing themselves. The tip of her canines barely grazed her bottom lip, still drawing blood. Her chocolate brown hair had platinum silver highlights in and white wolf ears sat in her hair, just like mine.
But that wasn't the most enchanting part. The true beauty was in her aura. The tranquility, power and danger seeped from every part of her. My lungs burned from the heat radiating off her, I held my breath, silently begging her with my pleading eyes. All I wanted was for the pain to relinquish. She looked... unreachable. Untouchable.
My legs grew weak and black dots started to appear in my vision at the overpowering aura suffocating me.
I fainted.
**
-Nina's POV-
The princess went limp under my hold as I let her fall. Disappointment filled me as I lightly kicked her with my foot to wake her up. Her scent was ravishing and I was so tempted to bite into her warm flesh. I wanted her blood dripping from my lips, her flesh between my teeth. Oh how tempting she was. I purred at the fuzzy thought. Her royal wolven blood made her scent so attractive.
'Look what you did!' Malia grunted as I pushed her to the back of my head.
'Shush, shush. You should have let us shift.' I rolled my eyes.
'What was that? Give me back control!' she replied.
'Our wolf form needs to be released in it's true form occasionally. You can't keep it cooped up inside you forever. It needs to be let out once in a while or it will grow uneasy. If you don't give in to the natural demands of your wolf form, you will force shift.'
'Force shift?' she questioned.
'It is when your spirit wolf forcefully shifts you in the most painful way possible. But you still didn't give into the force shift so you stayed in your human form.' I explained. 'I can't give you back control until we can shift into our spirit wolf.'
Malia sighed, exhausted. Before I could transform into the spirit wolf, the white wolf ears on my head picked up footsteps, identifying who's footsteps they were.
Zeref, Jace, Naz and Mr Xanxus were coming this way.
'Run!' Malia panicked in my head, automatically impacting me to become nervous. I shrouded my mana signatures and scent while speeding away, leaving my snack- I mean Sara, on the floor.