Despite the fact that fall was already here and winter was shortly on the horizon it was hot. The sun seemed to be working extra hard and it seemed extra large and full of heat. Word had gotten around about the cooking fires that were jumping from the hearths and consuming their makers. Rhylana, it had been said, let her supernatural ‘beast’ side go unfed too long and now needed to consume souls left and right to appease it and once more have it beneath her control. It was hard for Zephyra to imagine the woman that way for she had just met her not many moon turns ago, and she had very nicely answered all of the bizarre questions Zephyra came up with.
 
Because the heat was overbearing, even in the comfort of the Sundering Gardens, Zephyra decided to go out. It was not to one of her mother’s many ‘safe houses’ she had erected due to the event. No, in her reading (which was daily and frequently) she had read about the Jasumin Plains and within the Haza Savanna with its very tall grasses, taller oak trees, and overabundance of animals. It seemed like a place where she might could sketch some plants and animals and research them (a habit she had picked up from her friend Pyzis).
 
She took the necessary ships by water and by air across the continent and finally she was out in the Jasumin Plains on her large hoofed horse, Nymaeria. The mare was stone grey with a stark white mane and tail and stood out among the browns and greens of the plains. Zephyra had been riding so long her legs were sore. She was dressed a little more heavily now, as for some reason the heat and incidences did not reach to Parvpora. She had on a pair of black breeches, an slightly transparent emerald green blouse, and a black and gold corset beneath that. Her black high boots were seated firmly in the stirrups and her small dagger was on her belt.
 
In her books she had read about the people of this place and how they worshipped the elements and were all shapeshifters. She had only met a shapeshifter once during the Hallow’s Eve carnival and she had been a nice enough woman if but a little quirky. As she crossed into the savanna she could see animals everywhere for miles. She avoided the predators and the others moved away from her as she rode through. She got to a large oak tree with a branch just perfect for sitting on and tied her horse down at the bottom.
 
Up the tree she went and climbed, slipping a few times, until she was perched and balanced perfectly on the tree with her pack. Out of her pack she pulled a journal with some coal that she could use for drawing. Over the savanna she saw a beautiful lynx in the tall grass and began to sketch it out in her journal.

It was difficult to stand the heat. 
Illiyana knew that Hell would have been much, much hotter, (which she originally was destined to go to) but here? In all of her traveling, she had never been in a hotter place. She had been where if you spat, your saliva would be frozen before it hit the ground, but she could always wrap her wings around her.

It had been days since she had had water, but with the help of her wolf, she'd had plenty to eat. The effects of dehydration were kicking in; she had a constant throbbing in her temples, her tongue stuck to the top part of her mouth, and she couldn't pee. This all left Illiyana in a very bad mood and very frustrated and irritable.

God didn't care about her now, angel or not. He had always told her, "I made you to be who you are," but when she came to realize that she felt the same about girls as she did about guys, she bought herself a one-way ticket to Hell, but was re-routed to Earth, cracking her halo on the way down.


In fury, she stopped walking, tilted her head back, and let out a long scream, hoping somebody would hear her cry and come to her aid. Suddenly, she saw a movement in the grass. Beyond that, stood a tall, sturdy tree. Trees, thought Illiyana in the haze of her dehydrated state. Where there's water, there's life. Life grows around water. Trees need water. There's water over there! But before she could break into a run to get to the tree and drink all the water she could, much less take another step, she fainted, overwhelmed with exhaustion.

<Girl do you posses magic?> 
Bealcrest asked as he floated down in front of her. she looked young barely old enough to be out here on her own so she must possess immense power of some kind. he had watched her from the start of her journey he wondered if she was going somewhere important. i hold my bow next to my waist with an arrow notched ready to strike and kill if necessary.

as he asked the question he heard a loud scream and then a slow heart beat he knew something bad happened to some one out here. he looked for where the scream came from and saw wings from the ground he then dropped down to his feet to see what the angel was doing out here and not in a place were they belonged. he saw a young girl passed out Bealcrest ran to her aid and woke her to give her water from his canteen.
<are u ok miss>

Somewhere, out of the haze of her mind, came a voice that seemed to ripple out to her.Are you okay?

With all the strength she possessed, she attempted to open her eyes, and was slightly successful as a sliver of light trickled into view, automatically making her head throb. If only she could see who was talking to her.

"Water," she tried to say, but as exhausted as she was, the only thing she could manage to get out was "Waa…"

Don't let me die, she thought to him, nearly suffocating in the heat. If I die, they won't let me come back.

He gave her some water from his canteen and picked her up and brought her back to a place he called home
<U can stay here as long as u like darling but stay as long as u need to stay to get well and if u like u can stay longer> he said as he crushed up his healing herbs and gave it to her with the water. 

She awoke in the middle of the night, sweating and gasping for breath. It was only a dream, she told herself, willing the goosebumps that grew tall on her arms to be still. I'm okay; they won't get me yet.

At that moment she became aware of the strange place she was in, and the even stranger taste that pervaded her mouth. Mint, she thought bitterly, spitting to try to rid her mouth of the taste. She was in a bed, and it wasn't her own, because her bed was made new everyday out of sticks, leaves, and grass.

She reached over to stroke Bunch's soft, warm fur…. and found only the other side of the bed. Sitting up sharply, a wave of pain spiked her temples, but she didn't care. "Bunch?" she called softly. She needed Bunch like she needed air. She had found her when not very long after she was cast out of Heaven. She always joked that she was literally thrown to the wolves. She had stumbled upon a wolf pack with a new mother and a large litter of pups. Bunch, being the runt of the litter, was almost killed by her sisters, and she would have had that fate had Illiyana not chased them all away and adopted her as her own. She called her Bunch because when she curled up, she looked like a little bunch of fur.

"BUNCH!!"She yelled, tears welling up in her eyes, voice cracking as she began to panic.

<Dear be calm you pet is over by the fire he it was searchimg for you and i found it and it followed me she is very tired if u like go pet her but do be carful she has been up and searching all day.> he said standing up and looking at her.< are you ok?> he asked seeing her spitting and handing her the water.

"Who are you?" Illiyana asked frightened. Waking up in a completely new place, without Bunch, with an odd looking man telling her to calm down? Yeah, she was a little panicked. Who knew what the man had done while she was unconscious? But oddly enough, it was the man himself that she feared the most. So pale; a man with that low of pigmentation surely hadn't been out in the sun, else it would show. What kind of creature was he?

With shaking hands, she accepted the glass of water, although spilling most of it out before it even touched her lips. With a refreshing gulp, she sighed.

"Alright. I want answers, and I want them now."

well for one ima a vampire> he said out stretching his wings< what would you like to know?>