Gasping for air, sapped of the strength my beast might have robbed me of, I pressed myself to the ground, letting the flames roll right over me. My hair, fur, feathers - singed, but nothing to cry about. Not when it could have been a lot worse. The blast threw aside everyone within a few steps of the fire-wielding male and knocked those further back off their feet. Even the trees lining the clearing around the ruins shook, their crowns ablaze - so was the wagon I was brought here in, now tipped on its side.

  ?My pack!? My horrified snarl got lost in the roars of the mossbears now charging in from every direction, crashing through the blaze burning the edge of the clearing. There weren't many of them, only five. All not much stronger than the first one I saw break through the tree line under the control of that mind-twisting bitch. But it didn't matter; they came.

  ‘Finally!’

  ?Now, my pack.?

  As cold as it was, the beast was right. I had done my part. The fire-wielding male, Harcon, got his help. Sure, I had my pride, but not the strength to back it up - irritatingly. Believe me, if I could, I would throw myself into the fight to help him. Plenty out there who deserved to die. Nevertheless…

  'NO! Just the bitch!'

  ?Stupid!? They came to hurt, knowing full well what they were doing. Except perhaps the young workhand - too trusting of his pack leader. As one myself, though, I had my own pack to worry about. They were stuck in a burning wagon, moments from death. So, mustering up every bit of strength I had, I dragged myself back to the cage - only to find it open, empty.

  My pack was gone.

  "Tits! A little warning next time," noticing me, Vara growled from behind the broken-down wall she and Elira were crouched behind. Funny enough, that was the exact wall I had hidden behind when I first ran into Mr. Scoresby. "Seriously, Korra. I felt like a beast was breathing down my back. Almost shit myself."

  "Vara!"

  "What? It's true."

  "No, that's not... whatever. You alright, Korra?" Elira looked me over, taking in how spent I was.

  'Was I alright? Hardly.' Maybe it was because I wasn’t in my full beast form, but dropping my might twice in a row had taken more out of me than I thought it would.

  ?Yeah, okay. Need to catch my breath.?

  "Oh, you meant her walking on all fours," not understanding my growl, Vara realized, eyebrows shooting up. "Thought it was some beast thing, like part of her shifting..."

  "Korra! Watch out!" Elira cried out, her voice sharp with alarm as a hulking mossbear crashed through the crumbling walls of the human dwelling, sending debris everywhere.

  "There you are, you mutt!" came a hiss from its back. Cynical, steady, and really unsettling, I would recognize that voice any day. The mind-twisting bitch.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  'She found me!' Scrambling to throw up my mental defenses, I looked up.

  "Crawling at my feet, are you? Fitting," the bitch hissed, her smile cold and hollow. Yet, for all her haughty airs, Harcon's fire reached even her, leaving her disheveled despite her high perch. "Shame I can't enjoy it right now, all because of you. Get her! We're getting out of here."

  At her command, the mossbear bared its teeth and lunged. I didn’t just sit there waiting, of course - I tried to roll clear. But it didn’t matter. My pathetic attempt failed, and in a flash, the beast had me pinned, pressing its huge paw into my chest and letting out a fierce growl in my face.

  [Mossbear: ?? sigils]

  'Rotten leaves?' Thank god…err, Traiana, its breath didn’t smell like rotten meat. There was a chance that the beast was not a carnivore. Its fangs spoke otherwise, though. Those weren’t the teeth of something running from a fight - they were made for hunting. And way too close for comfort.

  The bitch’s scream tore through the air, snapping me out of my fearful daze. "You brain-rotted cunts!" she spat, clutching her head as blood seeped between her fingers.

  “Nice throw, Vara,” Elira praised her packmate. It really was. Whatever she threw at her made the bitch mad - so mad her rage froze the mossbear for a second. Not being one to wait for it to bite me, I raked my claws across its snout. It reeled back, giving me just enough time to try to roll away.

  "No, you don't!" hissed the bitch sitting on the beast’s back. It lunged, and before I could even scramble out of reach, its paw slammed into my spine, making my ribs groan. But that was nothing compared to the agony of its teeth sinking into my flesh.

  The mossbear’s growl rumbled in his chest, its broken beast speech barely understandable as he clamped down on my leg, right below the knee. ?Got. Human.?

  "You're not runnin' from me tonight, mutt."

  A stupid beastly pride and defiance stirred in me. ?I'm not the one who ran away last time.? A needless provocation that could only make things worse for me. In fact, as the female's face twisted with anger, I braced for my leg to be ripped off. But when another mossbear emerged from the woods nearby, one clearly not under her control, she simply ordered: "Go!"

  That it would be better to have the leg bitten off, I realized as soon as the massive beast took off running. Weirdly dangling from its mouth, it dragged me along the ground. Every damn root and stone, even the soft moss, felt like a hard punch. And my leg? Tits, losing it would've hurt less. I swear, it was like I shoved it right into a shredder that was trying to twist it off my knee.

  ?What. You. Did. Human?? While behind us the new mossbear roared, asking what that bitch did to his sibling, only a painful whimper escaped my throat. And then another instead of a warning to Vara and Elira as I hit a root hard. The young mossbear chasing after us plowed through the ruins right where they were hiding.

  Much to my relief, before I got hit hard enough to lose focus, I saw them, stones in hand, still breathing. But that was the last I saw of them. After that, my world turned quite disorienting. All I could basically see was a blur of treetops lit by flames, the mossy forest floor - real close up - and a whole lot of fur, white fur, belly fur.

  'A weak spot?' Even if it meant twisting my knee at an angle it shouldn't, using the mossbear's fur to help me, I dug my claws into the fur below its neck. It was thick, thicker than mine. Took a couple tries, but eventually, I sank my claws in deep enough to make it bleed. Didn’t even flinch, though. I mean, no wonder. With its size, my scratches were nothing. And that fat underneath? Probably helped.

  "There!" the mind-bitch screamed, and the mossbear barreled through the brush. Not the thorny kind, but the sort I had been hunting for on my hungry expeditions out here. Full of berries I could now taste in my mouth, sweet as hell.

  "Tsk. Rotten Brain!" The bitch cursed, and before I even had the chance to lick my lips from the mixture of berries, leaves, moss, and dirt, we abruptly changed direction. Why? Well, I had to twist around, struggling to see what made her so damn scared, but when my eyes landed on the biggest mossbear I had ever seen, standing tall between the trees, I froze. My mouth went dry, heart pounding. Scared, just like her.

  [Mother Mossbear: ???? sigils]

  Korra - 12.82%

  Elira - 0%

  Vara - 0%

  Harcon - 0 %

  Tate (the Workhand) - 23.08%

  Arlo Ruttledge (master of Korra) - 33.33%

  Branwen (the bruiser woman) - 7.69%

  Fighter (the other thug of Ruttlege's) - 5.13%

  Bastian Ward - 0%

  Draven (the Shadowthief) - 0%

  Rhea (the Swordstress) - 2.56%

  Other of the Shadowbreakers - 10.26%

  One of the mossbears - 2.56%

  THE MIND MAGE! - 2.56%