The Sacred Forest, Kozantei, Fourth Quadrant, Andromeda Galaxy.

Mya blew out a hot breath as she hefted her bag onto her back. Her trial was scheduled for today, moved up because of her new mission. Zogan had explained what was expected of an initiate warrior during the trial last night in his quarters. She'd ended the night by climbing on top of him and letting go of all her fears and anxieties by loving him multiple times throughout the darkness.

She was to go into the sacred forest for one day and one night. There were things in the woods, otherworldly things, they were not kind or merciful, but she had to find a way to survive them. She was expected to seek out a Horcus, an ancient being that dwelled toward the very center of the protected land. She'd packed her bag with all the necessities, donned her power suit, tied her hair into a top knot and secured her boots. It was going to be a long day and night. Nezerra pressed brows with her before she left, and Yavik had hugged her in the human way, letting her know how happy he was that his friend had exceeded expectations, even those of the mighty Kozan. She'd almost cried at the love and pride she'd seen on his face, she wanted to make them all proud.

The hovercraft's doors opened with a smooth shick sound and she jumped up into the vehicle. Settling into the seat she clicked a hovering symbol in the center of the back seats and eased back into the plush seating. At takeoff, her eyes drooped as the kaleidoscopic blend of plant life sped past the tinted windows. The jeweled floors below the marked vehicle pathways were busy with activity. Children and parents rushed around while groups of friends lazed near natural springs. There was a soft chime and soft meditative music filled the hovercraft, Mya closed her eyes and let the music soothe her anxiety away.

Another soft chime sounded, and a pleasant voice said, "Destination is ahead. Enjoy your trip."

Hopping out, she tightened her backpack straps and started forward. The large trees clustered around her seeming to press in – as if to see who this tiny creature was and what she planned to do as she stalked deeper into their home. They were all different colors, some were purple, some yellow and others green – a beautiful blending of colors. Some of them were so tall they seemed to kiss the heavens, it hurt Mya to look up at them for too long. She monitored the suns rising and sighed, it was still early morning, and she had many more hours to go. The forest had gone quiet at her arrival, the creatures were all probably looking at her from their hiding places, curious about their visitor. She smiled faintly at her circumstances, walking through lush vegetation as compared to her old life on earth. It was an experience she would've never thought possible.

She stopped by a large milky colored lake and found a nice flat rainbow-colored rock for sitting. She needed to rest, the suns were directly overhead, indicating it was now around midday. Finding the Horcus was constantly on her mind, drinking deeply from her flask, she checked her wrist band, only to see that she had a few more hours of walking before she was near the center of the forest. When Mara had let her know that the trial entrance point would be near the eastern edge of the forest effectively giving her the shortest journey to the center, she'd almost kissed her. It probably would've been worth it so see Mara's reaction to that show of affection. It may have ended with Mya doubled over in pain, but that end result may have been worth the look of shock on the lieutenant's face. Mya giggled softly, anyway, she knew her legs would have given out on her if she'd been put at any of the other entrances, her studies of the maps of the forested area showed as much.

She froze when she noticed two big, round, glassy eyes peering at her over a faraway rock. Mya had no idea if the creature they belonged to was friendly or not, she held herself as it crept forward revealing itself inch by inch. The creature was blue and fluffy, with a white underbelly and face. Its wide eyes and floppy ears made it unbelievably cute, but Mya wasn't fooled, she'd been warned about not trusting appearances in this jungle. She patiently waited to see what it would do. It let out a high-pitched squeal and shook out its long blue-black striped tail, itching at its behind. Mya stifled a laugh; it really was super cute. It dug around in the wet dirt looking for food she supposed, its small four-digit hands rising to its mouth held wriggling, red and black worms. It seemed that the forest was once again coming to life, having grown accustomed to her presence, so far, no sign of any of the bad creatures. Mya hoped like hell it stayed that way.

It did not.

It took a long time for her to notice the silence that permeated the forest around her as she trekked toward her destination. The incessant chirping, croaks and comforting cacophony of alien animal sounds had all faded to a hush. The trees now seemed to lean away from Mya as she looked up to gaze uneasily around her. The sunlight began to grow dim, she blinked up in surprise at the darkness that spread across the tops of the trees and that was not the sun setting, she had to have a few more hours before sunset if her wrist device was correct.

Her steps slowed and she swept her gaze over her surroundings trying to find the source of the darkness. Sweat slid lazily down her neck. Her heartbeat was a pounding crescendo, and she pressed a shaking hand to her chest willing it to calm down. The forest was now a darkness so deep she couldn't see past her next step and a cold wind swept over her, she immediately shivered. Mya stopped walking, she was completely blind, and her breathing was so careful she began to feel lightheaded, or maybe it was the paralyzing fear that caused her to want to almost pass out. Almost. She reached into her backpack and slowly grasped around until her hands closed over the long cylindrical light bearer. Cracking it open a crackling yellow light bloomed before her, lighting her surroundings.

She really wished she hadn't done that.

The thing before her was colossal, obviously bigger than her but she had to lean back to take in the demon thing that was now standing before her. Its skeletal body like withered rotting bone, complete with long spindly fingers and toes. Its grotesque face was etched into a lipless grimace that accentuated its glowing orange-red eyes that were sunken into deep, gaping sockets. Those attributes were all terrifying, but it was the fact that the spindly arms were longer than the creature's body and were hooked underneath it like horrible, disjointed feet that finally caused a whimper to escape her. Malice permeated the air and Mya's gift told her one thing, RUN.

She knew it was a stupid thing to do, but stupidity in the face of mind-numbing terror was a pretty normal thing. Mya scrambled deeper into the forest – off of the pathway, away from the creature, whose eyes had never left her, and she shuddered as she heard the scraping sound of the thing's bone hands grating across the floor as it moved. She'd dropped her light in her haste and her eyes only showed her the barest hint of things she could trip over so her movement was slow. She briefly considered climbing a tree but realized its uselessness due to the height of her pursuer. Moving forward as quickly as she could, her breath came in frantic puffs, puffs she could see clouding in the frosty air before her. She pulsed her power behind her and was met with a hunger so deep and consuming she recoiled from its essence. She could not try to dissuade its pursuance; its hunger was so deep and unending that there was nothing for her to communicate with. She was going to die. She couldn't see where she was going or where the thing was exactly, she could only sense its presence near her, tracking her like a hound on a scent, a delicious one. Mya's thoughts cut off abruptly as she pitched forward and landed hard on the rooted ground, rolling downward at an alarming pace, she couldn't stop herself. Stabbing roots and rock cut into her palms, her power suit protecting her from the harshest of the cuts that would've decorated her legs and arms after the fall. Her head cracked against something and Mya slipped into a calm darkness.

'I am going to die.'

She was in and out of consciousness as she felt the thing's hunger shift to anticipation and glee, it was close. She was going to be its next dinner.

Mya tried to stand but her mind was not cooperating, whatever she'd hit her head against had her out of it and her legs were not obeying whatever signals her muddled brain tried to send it. She tried to settle her erratic breaths, and curled in on her side, her body responding to that much easier command, surrender. She'd travelled the stars to die in a protected otherworldly forest, she was okay with that. Opening her eyes to the darkness she could see the glowing eyes above her, and she quickly squeezed them closed, she did not want to watch this.

Suddenly a crackling energy filled the air and the forest glowed with a lightening blue so bright it shone through her closed eyelids, Mya gasped and opened her eyes. Her view was bleary but in the bright light she could only see a shadow that moved beneath it, a shadow that leapt toward the thing that would be her death. There was a horrible tearing sound, like teeth on flesh rending it from the bone. Growls and screams of pain tearing through the air. Mya hunched over more placing her hands over her ears, the sounds were horrifying, deafening. She didn't see how the battle happening a few feet away from her ended as she was pulled under by exhaustion and the ebbing of the adrenaline that had been pumping through her.

Everything was hot, her hair was slicked onto her forehead and she could feel pools of sweat in her crooked elbows and knees. She sat up; all signs of her earlier head trauma gone except for a small headache. She rubbed at her temples and slowly looked around. The sun was now beginning its goodbye and – curled around her was a large beast, like the one she'd seen at the council meeting, Zogan's kyeet, Zar. But it was so vastly different.

This one was black, almost so dark it could be a midnight blue, no other hint of color except for the lightening, electric blue eyes that gazed at her. It was big enough to curl completely around her, and it was the source of her heat. She quickly stood glad to find that her feet obeyed. The kyeet followed, slowly unravelling it's scaled body, it sat up onto its haunches, its head over her but looking down to regard her warily. She reached toward it with her power and felt, ownership and protection. Almost as if it claimed her as a belonging, she stood there gazing at it. It was beautiful and in her favorite color. Its essence also felt undeniably female, she reached out a hand towards it, sensing no feeling of harm, and the kyeet retracted its neck to keep its head out of range. Mya froze, the kyeet's eyes now blazed like lightning and a fire spread along its spiked spine. A blue fire, like the hottest part of a flame, it crackled with pinks and purples. Mya's eyes widened, this was what she'd caught a glimpse of earlier, the beast that had scared off the thing, she shuddered with the thought of how close she'd come to her death. She pushed a thought toward it, 'Thank you.' The Kyeet bared its fanged teeth, razor sharp as if it were trying to mimic the smile that had now spread across Mya's face. Its tail swayed cautiously across the rock-strewn floor, no wonder the fall had hurt, the rocks were huge. Huge enough to crack open her head, she'd been incredibly lucky. The Kyeet pressed its warm head into her upheld palm and it felt right.

Mya looked up at the sharp incline she'd fallen over and had no idea how she was going to get back up to her original path. She had to find the Horcus or else she'd have been on this trial and almost died for nothing. And not to mention the whole fourth quadrant's demise and all that. She huffed, placing her hands on her hips trying to figure out a way to climb up the terrain when the kyeet hissed; looking over she saw it stalk over and hunker down next to her. It looked up at her expectantly as if to say get on, you're taking way too long. She carefully climbed on after she examined its back for any sign of the flame from earlier which elicited an annoyed grunt from the kyeet. As if I'd be so stupid silly girl, it seemed to say. Mya bubbled a laugh fighting a wave of vertigo as the animal rose. It was huge. It nimbly climbed up the incline making quick work of what had seemed to be insurmountable a few moments ago.

"Show off," muttered Mya which to her surprise was answered with a loud short hiss and a light tap from its tail.

They were back on her original path quickly, the kyeet, her kyeet seeming to know her destination. Mya remembered Zogan telling her that the kyeet chose its companion and formed a life bond. Hopefully, that was what was happening otherwise she was being led to an eating party with her as the main course. She laughed at her own joke; she was food to everything on this planet. Maybe she was a little loopy from the head bump. She was fairly sure it was not the latter though; she'd felt the feeling of ownership and protection from it for her the moment she'd to reach out to it. The kyeet was swaying beneath her with its loping gait and she thought of a name. Remembering a book she'd read on earth about a powerful Persian queen, she settled on Artemisia, her kyeet definitely carried herself like a queen. She pushed the name towards her, and the answering response was a flicker of delight, and a whip of her tail.

Mya was nearing the center of the forest as night fell, the moons above casting enough light to show the way, not that her kyeet couldn't see perfectly in the darkness. The temperature had dropped drastically, and Mya was glad for her new companion, her giant Artemisia-Art for short, who not only had hot skin but a flame that she lit on her tail to keep Mya warm. The center of the forest was the coolest, trees so densely packed that the moon light only came through in small pale shafts. The forest floor sloped downward into a large depression where, in the center there was a round, elevated altar. An altar made of dark ragged rock. No chittering of the animals, not even wind blew here. This was where the Horcus lived, and no animal dare cross its path. A stale rot permeated the air. Mya swallowed slowly and patted Art whose tail flicked with agitation. They waited in the stillness, for the most terrifying being within the sacred forest. It was, after all why Mya had come.