Chapter 1- Runaway
Aluna Caelestis could feel the night breeze blowing against her face. The air was cold, but she paid it no mind. She had to keep going. She had to keep running, faster and faster, or they would catch her again.
The pain in her left leg and thigh made her muscles scream in agony. Her leg was most likely broken, as was one of the bones in her thigh. She didn’t care—she had to keep moving forward.
By the moonlight, Aluna could still make out the forest floor, so it wasn’t too difficult for her to find her way. The branches lashing her face were merely a minor nuisance as long as she could keep running. She needed freedom, to escape from her family.
Soon after, she began to hear peoples running after her. Their footsteps sounded louder and faster than her own. Her heart rate spiked as she forced herself to run faster.
'Keep running, Aluna, don’t slow down', she thought to herself as she pushed through the dense trees. She had never gone this far before. If she kept running, maybe she would reach her destination.
Up ahead, she saw a large patch of light—an open field beyond the trees. That would make it easier for her to move faster. However, just as she was about to reach the edge of the forest and break into that open space, she felt the barrier that had been holding her back suddenly vanish. Almost immediately after passing through the row of trees, she collided with someone.
A man stood casually in the open clearing. He was a few inches taller than Aluna. His jet-black hair almost blended into the darkness of the night. He looked older than her, but still young, and his eyes seemed bright even though their color wasn’t clearly visible in the dark.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his concern evident as he looked at Aluna, who had fallen. He seemed almost unaffected by the collision—like a stone wall.
The man leaned forward and reached out his hand to help her up. Aluna’s heart, already pounding, raced even faster. She hadn’t encountered anyone else during her escape. She didn’t know if the man was part of the hunters like her family or not.
Fear overwhelmed her. Without a second thought, she got up and started running again, away from the man.
“Wait!” the man called out, sounding surprised. “Where are you going?”
But before she could get far, her pursuers caught up to her. A large gray wolf lunged at Aluna and knocked her to the ground. Within seconds, three other wolves appeared, surrounding her.
“Let me go, Caelus!” she screamed as her cousin held her down. Caelus’s wolf-like face snarled wildly at her.
Soon after, the figure she feared most emerged from behind the trees. Her heart seemed to stop when she saw the man.
Uncle George.
“When you going to stop trying to run away from me, you little bitch?” Uncle George growled.
Aluna didn’t answer. She just stared like trapped prey.
Uncle George grinned. His yellow eyes were sharp as daggers. His blond hair swayed in the wind. He might look handsome to others, but to Aluna, he was a nightmare.
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to be mine?” He continued. “When will you stop acting like a child, Aluna, and accept it?”
“What the hell is this?” the stranger’s voice sounded again, now drawing closer with an angry tone.
He stared at the situation intently.
“This is none of your business. Get out of here,” Uncle George snapped.
But the man remained standing. “It doesn’t look like she’s happy for this.”
The tension mounted. The wolves began to circle around him.
“You’re outnumbered. Leave before you regret it,” Uncle George threatened.
The man fell silent for a moment, staring at them all, then finally said, “I’ll leave… for now.”
He turned back and vanished into the darkness of the night.
After that, Uncle George looked at Aluna again. “Let’s go. This will be the last time you try to run away.”
He grabbed Aluna’s long hair and dragged her along.
Aluna closed her eyes, enduring the pain. Her body was dragged over roots, rocks, and branches all the way back to their family home.
The house was located in the middle of the forest—hidden, far from the outside world. From the outside, the building looked as beautiful as in a fairy tale: large, majestic, and filled with windows.
But to Aluna, the place was nothing more than a prison.
She was always brought in through the back door, then dragged down to the basement. That was the only part of the house she had ever seen.
She never went outside. She never interacted with anyone else. She didn’t even know how many family members lived there.
That was the life she knew—a life of confinement.
Ever since her mother died. Or was murdered.
