Submission (#2296) Approved

She took one step outside, smelling the morning fresh air, memories came flooding back to her of her adventures as a kittom. Some memories were fonder than others and others were too frightening to recall. As she opened her eyes and looked out into a brand-new day she slowly chuckled thinking: “I should get him back for that now that I’m all grown up”. Bix reminisces about her trip to Bellmoril where her friend Jayce had asked her to bring him back a special item. He was a scholar that mostly spent his time in a library in Il'durahn. He mostly loved reading old text and some were undecipherable and he had heard about this special pair of glasses that helped the wearer read even things that others could not. After acquiring the item for Jayson, Bix had made her way through without any problems or any odd occurrences and she was beginning to think nothing was special with those glasses.  The sun was slowly starting to settle and she thought to herself that maybe she should hurry to make sure she made it before the day ended and darkness would have surrounded her. She knew that travelling at night was not always the safest. But something about Bellmoril made it impossible for her to think that dark things could really linger in the woods at night or possibly thieves. The beautiful warm tones from red, orange, yellow and gold always made any traveler feel like the sun would never set in such a place as it looked like sunshine glowed everywhere. It felt so warm even though the air was chilly. She took one big breath in and smiled to herself. The air was fresh and crisp, it smelled of wetness and dying leaves and almost as if there was a bit of a spice taste in it. Of the regions she traveled, Beatrix thought to herself that this had to be one of her favorites. She wondered to herself if she should maybe extend her journey and maybe build camp for the night and have a small smoldering fire keep her warm at night and slowly watch the leaves fall from the trees.  But then she remembered that Jayce seemed quite in a hurry to receive his package and she exhaled out thinking to herself that she was alone anyways and it probably wasn’t such a great idea for her to wonder longer then she should have. She always carried a book with her writing down ideas and putting things for safe keeping such as leaves and flowers from her journeys. Bix smiled a little knowing it wouldn’t hurt too much if she picked up a few golden leaves that had fallen from the trees and brought them back home. She started to look around for the nicest leaves with the best tones and the ones that were still intact. She wandered for a little while getting slightly chilly as the sun was setting, having  lost track of time and the sun was ready to leave room for the moon. She was in the woods in the outskirts of the city so she was not as afraid since the city usually buzzed with so much noise and lights that dark creatures usually stayed away and wandered more into the darker inhabited woods. Bix finally found the perfect leaf and she jumped up and down grabbing the leaf in her hand “You are absolutely as beautiful as sunshine “she said holding up the leaf inspecting it in whatever was left of sunlight in the sky. When the light hit the leaf, it looked at a piece of gold that slowly changed colour as she moved it around hitting hints of red to golden yellow. She smiled so big and then took out her travel book where she sat down on the ground and started to write down where the leaf came from. She then placed the leaf between the pages for safe keeping. But then she suddenly heard a crack of a branch behind her and she started to frown. She started feeling startled and inspected her surroundings but she couldn’t see anything. The air started feeling much colder around her as if something was shrouding the heat from the sun. “ Uhhh he…llllo… is any.. one.. the?? ther…er ?” Beatrix voice shook as she asked if anyone or anything was hiding in the woods. She thought maybe Jayce decided to play a prank on her since he was tired of waiting for her, knowing she should have been back already. “Jaa…. Y…. ccc..e ???” Her voice kept trembling as her body felt so much colder and her body started to tremble. No one responded to her and all she heard was silence. She could no longer hear the bustle of the city nearby and everything started growing dark around her even though the sun hadn’t fully set. “This isn’t really funny y… ou… kno….wwww !” At this point Bix felt absolutely terrified and she knew something wasn’t right. A sudden gust of wind blew her out of her path. She hadn’t noticed the clouds in the sky that had started to shroud the sun and make the air must cooler. Her traveling was always on sunny days and she had never really encountered bad weather before. She also always made sure to follow the paths and roads and never stray from them. The wind had built and blown her off her path and now she was lost in the woods. Bix yelled out in pain “ouchhhh” she had landed in some sort of shrubbery and branches that now she had cuts and scrapes. Her body ached from the landing. But more terrifyingly she had no idea where she was in the woods now and how to get back to the road. Beatrix wrapped up herself in a ball and started to cry. She was lost and afraid and cold, the weather had really shifted. This was all Jayce's fault, he had sent her on that erran and not accompanied her this far. All she could do was close her eyes and scream as loud as she could. Beatrix knew this is all she could do, maybe someone would hear her and guide her back to the path. Before she knew it, she was unconscious from the shock and fright of being lost. 

Back at home Jayce was done for the day and wondered why little Bixy hadn’t already made it back with his special glasses. He looked at the clock and knew that it would soon be dark and even though Bellmoril was usually a safe place at night, he couldn’t help but start to worry. He knew from all his time as a scholar that sometimes dark creatures sometimes seek out objects of power. He felt something was wrong and deep inside he knew something had happened to Bix. He knew it was his responsibility to look after her and make sure she was alright. He grabbed his pack and set out running to try and find the path she would have taken back to the city. On his way he asked a few elnins if anyone had seen a little kittom with the most beautiful blue eyes. But no one had seen traces of her. As he made his way through the woods he felt the darkness and chill in the air. Suddenly he couldn’t hear the buzzing of the city due to the gusting wind. He called out ‘BIX, BIX, BIXY WHERE ARE YOU”. As he heard nothing he looked around his surroundings and noticed everything was much darker than it should be at this hour. He heard the wind pick up and saw the leaves spin up in nearby trees in a whirlwind and knew that a storm was brewing. That’s when he heard the scream and he started to run in it’s direction. That’s when he found Beatrix unconscious in some bushes. At first, he was in shock when he saw her slightly wounded with scrapes. He wondered how she had ended up there and why she wasn’t conscious. Without even thinking he pulled out a torch from his pack they would need more light to guide them back to the road. He knew that the storm was upon them and he would have to run before more terrible things happened to them. There was no shelter to hide nearby, it was in their best interest to make it back to the city. He smiled at her and brushed her cheek, wiping away a few tears: “You’re such a brave little one, it’s ok now”. But Jayce didn’t want to linger any longer so he grabbed both their packs strapping them around his body and grabbed Beatrix by the fur of her back neck and began to run. It seemed she was still unconscious and he felt so sorry for her. It was possibly the fastest he had ever run even with the extra weight of their bags and Bixy. They hit the city quickly, then he felt the warmth again and heard the bustling noise of the city and felt very eerie. Whatever storm was about to hit the forest had seemed to not be passing over the city. 

She began to slowly open her eyes and felt strange and realized someone was carrying her. Bix let out a shriek and then she felt her body being put down and for a few seconds she couldn’t hear anything or see anything. She started crying some more and tried to fend off whatever was near her. Her body started feeling a bit warmer and then she bit a paw that was holding on to her very hard. She heard a yell of pain and blinked a few times, whatever was close to her wasn’t there to hurt her she thought. Her eyes started seeing clearer and she heard the noise from her surroundings. “Oohh “   she thought to herself and began to giggle as she looked at figure before her. “Hello you” she said the figure before he shrugged and pat her head. “You know you’ve gotten quite a bite to you”. She giggled some more and smiled throwing her whole body at who she recognized. “Sowwies “she said still laughing. Jayce smiled at her and pat her head some more. “it’s ok little Bixy let's go home and get you a hot meal, some warm blankets and rest. We were so lucky to have avoided that storm.” She thought it was definitely luck that nothing worse had happened other than a few bruises and scrapes. Beatrix was just glad he had found her and brought her home. Maybe Jayce wasn’t so bad after all, since she herself would have never found the way back.