The change was overwhelming, scream after scream bubbling over her lips every time a piece of bone snapped to rearrange itself. Tears streamed down her face in angry sobs, trying not to let the madness of the pain completely envelop her. Trying not to think of the constant sparks of fire imbued lightning that set every last nerve aflame.
But even worse than the pain, was the growing panic, the realization that it would never end. That this was the future she faced - this agony of being flayed alive over and over again. A nightmare she’d never be able to wake up from.
She inhaled a deep breath, filling her lungs, trying to focus her attention and concentrate, but to no avail. Leg muscles knotted up tight in response, her malnourished body convulsing. Fear coiled round in her stomach. Panting and gasping, she strained against the involuntary flexes of her hands and arms until her muscles finally forced her to relent, untwisting.
It was impossible to say how long this had been going on, only aware that she’d been fighting it for what seemed like hours. A battle as futile as a woman fighting against the first pangs of labor, only to decide it was an inconvenient time to give birth.
Crawling to find support, her non-dislocated shoulder found purchase against the nearest tree, mostly doubled over now, forced down against her will. Sweat poured off her reddened skin, dark lashes sweeping across her fevered face - a kind of heat that made everything seem muddled. Even her breaths started to feel like she was swallowing down broken shards of glass, her throat raw from screaming.
Her eyelids were heavy, stinging.
‘Don’t go to sleep, don’t go to sleep’ she chided over and over, though she felt the darkness edging in on the peripheral of her vision. She had to make sure she stayed in control… had to…
--------------------------------------
Aelin couldn’t remember the last of what happened during her change, her mind retreating to some dark hole. The world had turned to shadows as the wolf took full control, pure primal instinct taking over, her brain beyond able to react to the new presence of fur that covered this new body.
Unable to think, unable to reason - driven only by the needs of her stomach and primal urges. Nothing felt like enough, slowly sinking into the madness of a hunger that threatened to burn straight through her.
Days passed when she finally awoke, human again. Her auburn hair was matted, body covered in mud and dried globs of viscera - unable to remember what, or whom she’d killed.
Glancing around to make sure she was alone, the barely fourteen-year-old she-wolf wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled them in tight, her head dropping down. Her lips quivered, taking several deep breaths, until her chest gave a final shudder and broke in deep sobs.
