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For some time now, the forest had been dark and quiet. Several minutes more pasted and little flashes could be seen in the distance. Amora was faster in her hell hound form than in her two legged form. She had been chase two days in a row by countless shadows. Her head whipped around as her body followed action, flames spewed from her maw as it brightened up the woods once again.

Amora sped off again, only to be followed. Her breath was coming fast and she was getting weaker the more she ran. In a village now, she jumped atop one of the hay roofs and continued on her run. Several shouts could be heard below, but there wasn't much she could do about it as more shadows came barreling through the small community. Careful not to set one of the huts on fire, a fire ball shot from her mouth and sent several shadows spiraling. Her weight of course, caused the hut to collapse in on her.

Groaning as she was in human form again for a split second, turning back to the four legged hound, she raced out of there. So far she had seen shadows, creepers and ghost men. Of all those she hated the ghost men. They were like black stick men, tall with long arms and legs. Their jaws unlock and start sucking in everything like a black hole. Their purple flamed eyes made you freeze if you looked at them too long, making it easier for them to suck you in. On two occasions they almost succeeded with her.

Creepers on the other hand where human like, but they could dismember themselves and lock you in an embrace like a snake. Instead of having two arms and legs, they had two more of each. Fangs that would paralyze and make it easier to devour you. So far she had been lucky on those. Shadows, well...they keep you running for days. If too many get a hold of you, they drag you down into the shadow world. And there was no return. There where more out there, but she was always trying not to draw attention from them. Looks like it wasn't succeeding too well. Amora panted and looked around. There has got to be a way to get them off my scent. She thought to herself as she ran through the village.

Nathan Hunter, a tall lean man with a quiver of arrows at his waist and a bow strung over his back, entered the village with a sigh. He'd been on the road for the last three days and he was tired. Even Bella, the Aurean wolf frolicking beside him, had lost the extra spring in her step that she had when they took to the open road. He couldn't blame her though; it was time to settle down for a while.

He wandered through the village, realizing that something was off. Even Bella kept close to him, her gold eyes looking for danger, her nose raised to scent the air, and her ears swiveling for sounds. It was unlike other towns; this village was quiet and seemed--subdued.

Shadows lingered at the corners of his eyes; but Nathan figured it was just tiredness. He didn't put much thought or energy into thinking the shadows might be dangerous. Or that something incredibly big and incredibly dangerous was bearing down on them swiftly.

It wasn't until Bella suddenly stopped and bristled that Nathan stopped as well. Just in time to see a massive...dog?...bound past them. However tired Bella was, it seemed to drop from her. With a nip at Nathan's leg, she was turning to chase after the hell hound.

And Nathan, more surprised than anything by Bella's nip, turned to give chase to her. "Bella! Heel! Heeeeeel!" He called after her in vain.

A scent caught her attention, making her lose concentration and rammed into a tree. It fell with a loud boom and she skidded to a stop. For a moment she was stunned and the world was blurry. Shaking her head, she got up despite the pain in her shoulder.

Something smelled off, whatever she passed a few seconds ago had got her attention. Unfortunately, Amora into several more things. A hut, a barn, and another tree. Cause a lot of destruction along the way. Leaping over a wide pond she turned and shot another fire ball. Losing her balance on the mud of the bank she landed on. Groaning she looked up in time to see a shadow upon her. A weak, but effective flame erupted from her maw into it's face, making it screech at a high pitch.

It was painful to her ears though she couldn't sit there and hold her ears shut. That's when she saw the wolf and recognized the scent that had confused her a second ago. The shadow slashed down her neck, causing her to howl and shoot more flames as she scrambled to get up.

The massive trail of destruction was not reassuring to Nathan, who wanted badly to go the other way. Whatever Bella was chasing, he had no doubt he wanted to avoid it at all costs. And then there was that fire ball that came out of nowhere. He paused when he saw a paw print in the dirt. A huge paw print. Not the size of an Aurean wolf; it was bigger. Much bigger.

"Bella!" he hollered, his tone growing anxious. At least she traveled in a straight line; he would catch up to her eventually.

Bella found the hell hound without much trouble--and just in time to see the attack of the shadow. Swiftly and silently, she launched herself at the shadow, dodging the fire that spewed from the hell hound's jaws. She snapped her jaws on the shadow, her gold eyes staring it down, willing it to be paralyzed so she could tear it to pieces.

She was surprised, but after she coughed and winced as she tried to move out of reach. This wolf came from no where. It was helping her. Blood came from her mouth when she coughed again, but she was slowly healing. Amora raked her claws along the shadow viciously, but from a different perspective it could of looked like she was attacking the wolf. The shadow screamed again, letting down it's guard enough.

The wolf that had bit it seemed to possess some sort of ability that she was unaware of. She was going to let the wolf have that one, but there where other shadows among them. Taking a deep breath, another ball of flame formed between her jaws as it shot out smaller bullets of flames. Some hit shadows others hit the grass. The attack didn't last long it was the last of her reserves. Amora was weaker than she has ever been before. So she depended on her fangs and claws.

Panting as another fell, she checked back on the wolf to see if it had survived. At that moment, she was attacked from the side. The blow cracking several ribs as she flew across the field sending up several clouds of dust. Amora yelped and laid still, spent and tired. So this is how it would end... She coughed and tried standing up once more, leaning against a tree for support.

Bella was still alive and fighting; it took more than a shadow to take her down. She whirled, snapping her jaws, fur raised threatening. She paused when Amora hit the ground with a yelp, but it only furthered her resolve to protect the hell hound. She didn't know why, but it was instinct.

She turned to attack another shadow that was encroaching on the hell hound, when an arrow arced through the air and penetrated one. To be precise, it went through the shadow, landing just inches from Amora's head. An amazing shot from the lanky human male who was perched behind the mass of shadows, a bow in his hands, a second arrow nocked to the string.

"Bella!" he hollered, frantic. Nathan wasn't even sure his arrows would help, and the number of shadows crowding around his wolf and the huge hell hound Bella protected, was not reassuring.

Her body froze as the arrow nearly caught her in the head. A human did this? Her gaze traveled to the man she had yet to notice. If a human could kill a shadow and he was not even half her size....growling at her weakness she steadied herself and went to fight again. Ripping several apart with her teeth.

Roaring, her mouth wide, she took down the last with all her might. Victorious and free of those who have been chasing her theses last couple of days. Coughing once more she collapsed in a heap and closed her eyes as she tried to regain what was left of her energy. Her hell hound form slowly dissolved away to a woman who laid face down with her head to the side.

Blood and scratches covered her skin and her white hair splayed out around her face. Her breathing was shallow, but still there. Amora coughed and groaned after a bit of laying there. She was in the mercy of who ever had helped her, cause she was spent and her body was weak.

Bella whined and approached the hellhound-now-human cautiously. She nudged the woman with her nose, before sitting and looking at Nathan, ears forward, panting.

Nathan sighed and looked down at the injured woman. Why was he always getting into these situations? And why were they always women? Did the universe really have it out for him? He knelt down carefully next to the woman, putting a hand to her neck to feel for a pulse. She was alive and still breathing; just weak.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He wasn't sure if it would work since he'd done this before with no luck. Animal blood didn't take kindly to his healing power, or maybe vice versa. But it couldn't hurt.

Bella gently licked the wounds, cleaning them of infection and muting the pain as only an Aurean Wolf's saliva could. Nathan at last pulled his hand back and brushed her white hair from her face long enough to place an improvised pillow beneath her head.

"Well, I guess we'll wait to see if she regains consciousness," he murmured to Bella. In the meantime, he would keep watch for shadows.

She healed quickly both from him and her hound's specialty, but her stomach rumbled. Her eyes opened and she looked up at the wolf. Sitting up on her knees Amora saw the man who had shot the arrow. Shaking her head she went to stand up and almost fell, but caught her balance. Holding her forehead in her palm as she looked down.

"That was interesting." She mumbled and wavered as her other hand touched her broken ribs. Her ruby eyes looked down at the wolf and her mouth spread to a smile. "Thank you sister," then she looked at the man. "And thank you."

The damage she had cause started to make the curious people appear and see what in the name all that is good, the world had sent and destroyed parts of their community. It was hard not to cause such destruction when being chased by shadows.

It would be another place she couldn't return to. Because there was no way the villagers would let her into town knowing what she looked like now. Hopefully if she offered to help rebuild she would get a free meal and not have to owe a thing.

Bella wagged her tail and got up to sniff the stranger. Her scruff raised briefly before flattening and her half-growl changed to a whine, and she turned into a pup wanting to please her owner.

Nathan turned as soon as she spoke and offered a hesitant smile. "How do you feel? I would take it slow if I were you. You were pretty banged up by the time we got ourselves involved."

He had the bow in his lap, the quiver next to him, as though he'd been standing guard over her, which he had. "Bella's taken a liking to you...although I'm not sure why; I've never seen an ability like yours before."

She reached down and patted the wolf, rubbing her jaw line then scratching her scruff. "Mmm I have no clue really. Perhaps it's because I am part of the same bloodline as she?" she gestured down at Bella. "I am sorry that you had to get involved, but I am happy that you did. I starting to doubt if I really could escape this time around." She smiled, sharp canines could be seen. "Just be grateful it wasn't ghost men...and just a low class demon."

Nathan nodded. "What exactly was after you? And why?" The latter he could guess probably had something to do with her shape shifting ability. But he grinned when he saw Bella leaning into the scratch she was getting.

Bella thumped her tail against the ground, loving every minute of the scratching and petting.

Amora pursed her lips in thought, trying to think of way to explain this to him. "I am a slave. From a world called Eurion. Those," she waved her unoccupied hand around, referring to the shadows and other things that were here after her. She rubbed Bella's face. "are after me, trying to return me to my former Master." She held up a finger. "But if I do get captured, I will be killed for escaping or worse...punished."

"And so either your Master is horribly cruel, or you've done something to deserve his wrath; though I'm gathering that he's someone you really don't want to meet alone in a dark alley."

Really, why did he keep getting roped into these situations? Well, he had no choice with Bella's enthusiasm and devotion.

"Is there a way you can escape your master permanently? So you don't have to worry about him coming after you?"

She sighed and stopped petting Bella. "I have no clue. That is what I'm searching for..." she stopped not wanting to drag them into this any further than they were already. "I should be taking my leave. I don't want either of you to be in danger as I am. Knowing that neither of you deserve it." she smiled and knelt in front of Bella, kissed her on the nose and backed away. "Good girl, thank you." Amora peeked up at Nathan. "Thank you as well."

Bella gave a quick lick in response to Amora's kiss and then shook her head.

Nathan hesitated and then nodded. He had no idea what more might come and if there was anything worse than what had already been chasing her, he wasn't sure how much help he would be. It was entirely possible he'd only get in the way.

"I-I never got your name." He said suddenly. "You know, in case we meet again. Or if you need help and have no one to run to...you're free to come to me."

Her name? Her name meant something that didn't exist, something that had no meaning to it. On Eurion it did at least. Amy might sound a bit more earth worthy than what her master had named her. A name can be both binding and dangerous if used properly. She thought quietly to herself. "From my world it is Amora. But if it is easier for you Amy will suffi-" she stiffened and her iris's dilated. Ghost men were drawing near. She needed to get away from these two before they were caught up in a battle they wouldn't survive in.

Nathan nodded and then turned when she seemed to catch a look at something. "What is it, Amora? More of those ghost things?" He felt goosebumps appear and he shivered slightly, even as he felt for an arrow.

Bella stood up and sniffed the air, her scruff raising as she came to stand beside Nathan protectively.

"Do you need us to buy you some time?" Nathan asked, nocking an arrow to the bow.

"No you guys need to runnnn-" her mouth hummed the last letter as she jumped and changed. Trees fell in the distance then three ten feet tall, black figures made their way out of the forest. Eyes aglow in the night as they saw her.

Amora turned and jerked her head for them to get a move on it. Then ran for them then sped off to the side. Running into the forest. Their jaws unlock, almost touching the ground as they watched her go into the forest. They made their way back in where she entered, followed by her unmistakable roar.