Welcome to Gaia! ::

Brown fingers groped blindly at white flesh. Wounds unfurled on the rose with each strike. They leaked willowy red tendrils which snaked over the raevans’ interwoven bodies like gruesome vines. To LuLu, their beauty rivaled Vyn’s silky petals. LuLu mused. The flower was always finding new ways to exhibit her magnificence, like any other pompously decorated shrub. The rabbit was appeased by the look of pain that flushed the plant frei’s face and caused her slight scarlet brows to knit together in agony. The sight of Vyn’s distress was divine. LuLu concluded: This was the most attractive trait the rose had shown her.

Much to the rabbit’s dismay, her movements slowed down until her head was laying drowsily on Vyn’s sticky shoulder. The girl had put every ounce of her strength into her assault; however, she had forgotten about her escape. Vyn was definitely harmed, but the flower was not dead.

This was a problem.

LuLu clung to the rose feebly as she sought to gain a second wind. The rabbit’s rune grew dimmer, its power frantically relaying to her heavy extremities. A voice in the back of her mind screeched for her to move to fight to do anything but huddle against the thing she was trying to destroy.

LuLu’s eyes grew wide as she was suddenly thrust onto the ground. Lavender orbs, dilated to the size of dinner plates, watched as Vyn descended with her. They fell from the old oak like two leafs. They sailed through the air until they had landed in a tangled heap alongside the multicolored foliage that lined the forest floor. Their life fluids mixed into the damp soil as limbs failed meekly against the dirt. LuLu crawled onto her arms and scrambled pathetically away from her attacker. Her tattered ribbon waved around in surrender. It was the rabbit’s only chance at an escape. Vyn had slashed madly at LuLu during their descent. Woody claws and thorns had not only lacerated her body, they had also hacked through her will to continue the fight.

A pungent metallic tang filled the air. LuLu recognized the overwhelming aroma as blood. She looked down in awe at her own horrifically marred skin. The realization of just how badly she had been beaten struck fiercely like one of Vyn’s razor edged slaps. The rabbit screamed out in torture as the ache in her limbs coupled with the sting of her cuts finally weighed down on her. LuLu’s voice rang out in a tone that was sickeningly similar to her dead companions last cries. Her mind was ablaze with the new sensations. LuLu had never been hurt this severely. It was a new feeling that she did not enjoy.

Defeat.

It only briefly occurred to LuLu when she had first started this battle that she could die. She waved the notion off as absurd. Vyn was just a plant. A brilliantly threatening one, but still a plant. She had repeated the folly over her overenthusiastic soldiers. The self-proclaimed rabbit leader had allowed herself to fall clumsily into the rose’s trap like her foolish companions. LuLu bit back the urge to scream again.

The frei’s eyes lost all their sharp edge as Vyn approached. Hostile glares faded into frightened gapes. The rose’s demented features flourished into their full glory as she hovered over to her prey. Red lips curled into a cruel, bloody sneer and hands perched for another attack. LuLu flinched as one of the thorny hooks raised up higher into the sky. LuLu awaited the cruel sting of the inevitable and lethal slap that would come from that gracefully poised limb.

However, the blow never came.

Instead, LuLu heard the frantic shuffling of leafs. Her soft purple eyes snapped open to witness Vyn struggling viciously with the long forgotten holly bush. Somehow, the wayward shrub had become more of a threat than the rabbit. The mammalian raevan wasted no time in hoisting herself from the ground. Lithe fingers dug feverishly and slid across moist soil as she lurched forward. The frei scrambled further ahead until she could grasp awkwardly onto a twisted tree trunk for support. LuLu’s nails clung to the rough bark as she willed her body to listen. The rabbit made quiet demands of her muscles and her rune. The frei mouthed numerous silent pleas into the crook of her mauled arm. All of them requested that she have enough energy to run. She glanced at the dimly throbbing glow that surrounded her shredded ribbon with worry. Would they respond?

LuLu emitted a soft gasp. It started as a small shiver. Barely there. However, she willed the feeling to grow stronger and stronger until a small pool of her remaining power to flutter to life in her chest. It felt like a swarm of frantic butterflies tickling her ribs. She hastily seized the considerate offering and used the sudden flicker of drive to dart into the forest.

LuLu may have lost the battle, but she was determined to live so that she could win the war.