Since Last Year I Have Started A Tradition Of Drawing The Symbol Of The Year According To The Chinese

"Creation" Chapter 2. Moment that stretching out for minutes

A/N: I have terrible insomnia - but I decided to turn it to my advantage and publish now

Word count: 3,9K

Warnings: mentions of violence, blood and injuries, molestation, corpses and death, post-traumatic stress, short description of nudity, swear words and self-harm (but there mostly safe)

🎧 Jurrivh — Forever

The sun, making way through the hut, beats on your temples. It is stuffy under the blanket of skins. The nest is heated and disturbed — you were tossing and turning in your sleep as if in a battle.

Slimy dreams of encroachments on you. There is no getting rid of it. It has been going on for years, and these memories will follow you, follow your footprints and squeeze the strength out of you.

From the overwhelming despair you want to scream, to tear your voice until it is hoarse, to choke in powerless, unceasing sobs — you cannot forget your past and cannot know your future in advance. You do not know how to live in the present. Without regrets, without disappointments and without fear. Tracks of tears cut your cheeks, flow to your lips.

You can't cry! — you remind yourself of one of the damned rules.

You can't cry here, because you don't trust this place. Because you don't trust any place you'll ever find yourself. And because you don't have faith in the best, no matter what.

You wipe away the tears that are pouring down your face — and almost laugh from the relief that has come all at once. Not a single cut on your face or hands stings from the salt.

You look at yourself, look at the layers of ointment applied to your tortured skin — to understand where the excruciating pain inflicted by the tormentors has evaporated. After all, only the itching scattered across the body reminds you of it.

And the scars that heal surprisingly quickly.

On your thigh, mutilated by a knife — also healed, but festering — over the shreds of your trousers, there is a bandage. Neat and clean. Made exactly like your blood mother did, when you played and mutilated yourself. And exactly like your foster mother did, when she treated your wounds in a glass room smelling of medicine... You put your palm on the bandage and drive the memories away. You pray that the tears rolling down your chin will dry quick.  And so that these memories return in dreams, and not others.

The fabric of your pants is no longer good for anything. You tear off the legs, above the knees, without regret. The threads crack. The scraps of fabric that remain on you now resemble not clothes, but the underwear that is usually hidden under that.

But even if you leave everything as is, your soaking wet, mud-stained clothes were already underwear. Rags. The kind that men tore off screaming, beaten girls and women where you died.

Your eyes dart to the corners.

Your eyes search, where is something to hide the body parts that the men in the settlement hunted?..

And will this hunt continue here?..

After all, you are sure they are all the same.

You feel naked when the evening wind seeps into the hut and blows on your unprotected shoulders and legs. You hug yourself. Your gaze falls on the sky spread out at arm's length.

The sky-blue robe Noa left behind is first in your hands as you sit at the head of the bed — and then, the sky-blue robe is on your body, covering your bare skin and healing injuries.

Stepping onto the floor with bare feet, you smile blissfully — your legs gain strength. The mark of the knife is still purple on you, but you can straighten your back and look forward. And not shake with anxiety.

The fabric lies along the hollows of your collarbones and neck.

The heavenly surface envelops you. It feels like calm. A silent question freezes in your throat — can you trust this feeling?

The fabric is enough to hide your boobs, visible through the shirt, from the eyes of the clan males. The curves of your hips and knees are also hidden in the falling blue.

Your human nature is also hidden, albeit only partially.

Flowing and half-transparent, this robe gives you a semblance of confidence — it is similar to what covers the shoulders of Noa's mother. Her name is Dar, as you heard from the anxious questions and requests addressed to her. She is virtuous. You remember how it was she who washed you from blood and smeared you with life-giving ointment when you fell unconscious. The robe also resembles the feathers in the bracelet on Noa's forearm. He carried you in his arms.  But when the healing female chimpanzees began to undress you, fallen asleep, in order to heal your countless injuries, he immediately left — so as not to see your nakedness.

Another memory creeps under the fabric you've put on, from your waist to your neck. A man's mouth twisted into a smirk. A man's eyes greedily examining your untouched body. A man's hands folding you almost in half. Your hiked-up dress skirt. Your escape into the oppressive room of changing cloth the corpses...

When Noa said he'd seen you shirtless, you were scared. And angry. What if he'd lied? What if he'd seen much more?..

But he was honest.

After all, knowing many stories about the ferocious strength of apes, you couldn't help but admit — if only Noa wanted, he would easily see those parts of your body that you hid from all of the men. And he certainly wouldn't need to account to you for what he may saw. Or for what he may did.

But Noa didn't cling into you, didn't decide to have fun with you, a weak little echo.

Instead, Noa gave you a thing that could replace your crippled past.

And you accept this thing.

This fabric is bright. Not at all like the almost colorless shirts, trousers, skirts and dresses made of crushed materials. Left in the closet that you will never open again.

The fabric is bright, like the immaculate morning sky. Like a pond babbling with joy. Like the colors of the butterflies that once long ago circled around you...

The fabric is bright, like your childhood left behind the hills and lowlands...

A lump of sadness trembles inside you.

This sadness creates an immeasurable emptiness inside you — because of this, despite everything, you do not want to cry... This sadness creates a light inside you that doesn't dissipate and does not go out.

Nothing will return the good, cloudless, that was in your past. But no one can take away your memory. It cannot be expressed, but the unfamiliar sky-blue fabric reminds you of the most carefully preserved days lived. You accept this reminder humbly — you accept the future that has come. Even if it is foggy.

In the end, if you didn't have a chance for the future, and if the apes were so bloodthirsty — they would have finished you off while you were sleeping. Or, you would have already been tortured until you breathed your last... Or, you would have already been passed around in circles... Or, you would have been eaten alive... But you were saved by the apes and your wounds are healing thanks to them.

And you have nowhere to go from here.

You no longer hesitate because of the rain pouring down in your soul — the evening is clear, and you grab tightly onto everything that comes your way.

After spending monotonous years in confinement underground, you will be able to adapt to life in the bosom of nature.

Adjusting the fabric gathers and adjusting it on yourself so as to more reliably cover your own vulnerability, you are tormented not by doubts, but by curiosity. Does other apes wears something like this? What significance do things like that have here?

You nod to yourself, tightening the tight knot and unclenching your trembling fingers. A sky-blue stain spreads over you, from your collarbones to your calves.

You will think about the meaning of this robe later. For now — painting yourself in this color seems like the least you can do now to express your gratitude.

Although, you still tie the old, torn to shreds shirt around your hips, over the new robe.

The next step you take — to find out what your life will be like in this, as yet uninhabited, hut — seems important and necessary. And interesting. You move away from the nest, starting to examine and touch everything you can reach.

The arrangement of apes differs from the arrangement of peaceful people who lived next to your blood parents, too insignificantly. The same semblance of curtains, the same dishes. Probably, the same habits. The same bits of houses, not prisons, which you will always keep in your memory in order to live on...

Looking around, you come across a feather tickling your palm. Light brown, fluffy. Taking it carefully and twirling it between your fingers, you assume that the bird it belongs to is definitely large. This fact does not cause you any concern — for almost a day of wandering, leaving a bloody trail like a tail, you have avoided attacks from any forest dwellers. Since childhood, you believed that if you do nothing bad to the creatures of nature and respect its laws, nature will be merciful.

Thanks to this faith, you are alive, health and healing. And therefore you follow this faith.

The feather was lying not far from the exit of the hut, among other household utensils. The winged guest must have dropped it on his way home.

Or is this the bird's home — here?

The teen apes, standing apart from the general excitement, said something about birds after Noa announced his decision — but you didn't hear what exactly.

Among the things created by hand and almost indistinguishable from those you used before, your gaze stops on painstakingly hewn, sharpened blocks of wood. They are small, fit in both your folded hands — you do not understand what they are intended for and you want to take a closer look.

Footsteps are heard beyond the threshold.

As if scalded with boiling water, you twitch. And look for a place to hide. Again... It will take you a long time to get rid of this reflex.

Still holding the feather and wooden block that captured your attention in your hands, you listen. Not the same footsteps that Noa took as he left the shelter you had found, the one he had provided, into the thickening darkness — not heavy, and not shuffling from restrained righteous anger.

Cautious footsteps.

You turn around to see who's milling around outside your new home. You shake your head, not believing yourself and your own sleepy thoughts. Your new home?..

Seeing you on two legs and without heavy eyelids, Soona smiles. At least, that's what you think. It's hard to be sure, since she's still hesitating on the threshold, not going inside. Oh, damn. It's probably because of your rude, unnecessary words spoken with gestures. Noa probably warned his friends not to bother you.

Lowering your head and sighing, you gesture for Soona to come in.

“Echo is feeling... better? That’s good. Then... it’s a long day ahead” Soona’s voice is actually happy when she sees you standing and moving without pain.

“How long did I sleep?.. Children were not scared?” you say. After a long silence, these words seem difficult to say.

“They were worried... about you” Soona adds with gestures that two days have passed. You think that you should fulfill your promise. Go quickly to the little chimps and tell them a new story.

"So where you were?.." You can’t help but ask. After all, you don’t understand why Noa was next to your bed when you woke up?

"Next to you... One by one... Me. Then Anaya. Then Noa... Now again"

The thoughts in your head are confused, mixed up. This is confusion. This is a coincidence. Even after he snatched you from the jaws of death, Noa is a stranger to you. A male. From which comes a hidden threat. He killed to save you. He was ready to fight his kindred, who humiliated you in front of the crowd. Even when he walked away, without answering your silent accusations with a single bad word, he was furious. His breath reared the hanging lights, his intonation chilled you to the heels.

That's why you woke up from the nightmare, wrapped in panic and animal skins. You are grateful to Noa. But you are afraid of him. You don't know what must happen for you to utter even a word intended for him.

And you must always be on guard.

Noa's behavior is not at all like what your father's instructions warned you about. His actions are similar to those feats that were told to you in the semi-darkness by your mother's voice. Everything about him is different from the horror that you lived through. Everything about him is different from the horror that you managed to avoid. But how do you know that he will not compromise his own honor? How do you know that he will not encroach on your honor?..

"So why is there a long day ahead?" You ask, looking determined and smiling. To get out of your own thoughts, wandering into a dangerous thicket.

"There is a lot to learn... And a lot to do" Soona explains and takes your hand, leading you outside.

***

The evening spreads out over the dwellings, golden-burgundy. The sun rolls below the horizon, disappearing behind the forest, hills and rocks. This is the first sunset you have seen in endless years — just like the dawn that blessed you two days ago among the damp earth and grass.

Seeing off and greeting the heavenly light seems like a waking dream to you — although you know that for Mother Nature this is a daily hand-made labor. You want to pinch yourself when the haze of clouds changes shade in front of your amazed eyes. The sky is pink-red, covered with a crumbly sun shine...

Tears are creeping up to your eyelashes, but you blink them away and continue to peer at the painstakingly painted heavenly canvas.

A thin blue stripe is visible under the raspberry-pink clouds.

Soona, holding your hand, gently pulls your palm — you have lost track of time and have been standing there admiring the sky for several minutes.

"Is there sky always like this?.. So multi-colored?" you ask, returning from the sky to the ground.

"You will have time... to see for yourself" Soona assures you. You follow her along the monkey village, awkwardly climbing up. "And now... we need to hear the word of the Elders. Then, go... to the lake"

"The word of the Elders about me?.." you wonder, already entering another, spacious hut hung with many intricate accessories.

This is not someone's house. More like a meeting room.

And this confuses you. Hasn't everything about you already been discussed before the noisy crowd?.. You hear muffled, low voices. And you are not afraid. Even though there are a few males among the lived long lives chimps, they have the same gray hair and wrinkles as the veterans in the dungeon. And they were there, in the boiling lava Hell, a ray of hope and wisdom.

Besides, Dar is sitting in the depths of the hut. This gives you a shaky confidence that there is no reason to worry.

You bow in an attempt to repeat the bow that among the apes, as you have come to understand, expresses respect.

Right above the heads of the Elders, eagles have settled down, as if conferring with them. Their beaks are directed at your forehead when you straighten up again. Or, are their beaks directed at the fish on the flat plate?.. You look at the birds with genuine interest. After all, you have seen them, like so many other things that the world has kept from you, only on the colorless pages of books.

Colorless... The color... No, that can't be. That, too, is a coincidence. Only now do you notice - everyone sitting here is dressed in blue. Here sit the minds of the clan, wise with graces, adversities, and experience. And they are wearing the same fabrics that you are wearing. A little darker and worn differently. But the same fabrics. What does this mean?.. Why did Noa tell you to wear this?.. The knot you tied at your waist feels tight.

There are a swarm of questions in your head.

Nodding at the gesture you don't understand, Soona lets go of your hand and leaves the hut — but she doesn't leave, she stays to watch from the outside.

"Come closer, child... And sit down" the voices are still ringing out, but all sounds in your ears suddenly fade away when Dar calls you. Hesitantly, you sit down on the indicated place, next to her. "Soon you will run... like a little deer" She examines your wounds almost motherly.

"Thank you for helping me..." you whisper with your lips, folding your hands in the only expression of gratitude you know. The elders sympathize with you, but they are unhappy with your presence. "I know I have disturbed. I can leave at dawn... Just let me survive this night here, I beg"

Tear out and chew your own tongue - that's what you want to do now. After all, you swore not to be like this. Not to show weakness. But the plea escapes from your mouth against your will. After all, another night in the forest may be your last.

Praising all the gods known and unknown and whispering nonsense, you sink to the floor. Nothing helps. You are about to burst into tears.

"Not me, that's my son... helped you" Dar puts his hands on your shoulders, calming you down and helping you up. "I'm proud of him. But not everyone agrees... with his decision... Right, Vikima?.."

That elderly female chimpanzee with the cane sits in the circle. Dar addresses her as an equal — and you are ashamed that she saw your stupid, worthless behavior. But her eyes are almost blind, she does not put down the cane even while sitting. That is not why she is against you. She is against all echoes. You understand her fear — from her mournful, unseeing gaze, it is clear that this fear is not groundless.

Noa's silhouette is visible at the entrance to the hut.

Hunched over and breathing noisily, he doesn't bow — his status allows him not to do so. But he expresses respect with a complex movement of his hands, which you will hardly be able to remember and repeat. He was in a hurry.

He looks at you, at your eyelashes shaking with tears. Just like the first time you met, when tears flowed down your scratched cheeks like dew.

“Well... I won’t argue with... the new Master of the Birds. Too old...” Vikima’s voice creaks as Noa also sits down next to his mother. “Let just... your son answering... where has it ever been seen that... echoes shared their homes with apes? Has he really... forgotten... that echoes bring with them... only destruction... and death?”

“If she... had a home. If she hadn’t hidden... like a rabbit from an owl. And if she hadn’t been almost killed by four hands... of echoes like her. And if she hadn’t bled to death...” You hear the growl lingering in Noa’s ribs, not escaping from his mouth.  "I wouldn't bring her... But from this day on, she's going to live here. There's no other place for her"

The disgruntled grumbling stops, but it's like you're back in the forest. Among the thorny branches and wet leaves. Noa was watching you before the bastards threw you down on the cobblestones.

Noa couldn't help but save you. The thought sounds so strange in your head.

Before, men only wanted to beat you, fuck you and kill you — and the male chimpanzee who appeared like a shadow saved you. Not to make fun of you in the most vulgar sense — as the upside-down stories said, — but to ensure your safety... You don't know how to believe this thought.

"For her here... everything is strange" the bald old male, sitting in the distance, support Vikima. "How will an echo divide... our householding?"

You refrain from objecting only when you notice Noa's dissuading glance, invisible to anyone except you.

"The children are happy with her appearance... Isn't this a word from above?" Dar asks, looking up. At the birds and the sky covered with twilight. On this question, which does not require an answer, the advice, apparently, is over. "Let her go to them for now... Settle in... Then we will decide what work she will take up... Go, son. And you go, child"

Silently agreeing, albeit reluctantly, the Elders disperse. Their blue robes darken in the light of the flickering hanging lights.

Fidgeting in your usual place, you think about the words that sounded like an alarm. Your hair tangled under the fabric sticks to your back like snakes.

What the deaths?..

Who brought grief to this primeval place? Why do apes think of all people like this? Do they, too, like you lived all this dark time, live in captivity of delusions?.. It is not difficult for you to believe that this is so. After all, only two days ago you yourself were convinced that all the unsightly stories about apes were true. You were afraid to the point of trembling, to tears and numbness — but even wariness did not force the monkeys to drive you out into the cold of the night. Learning to trust you will not be easy, but not impossible.

"The heavens have sent... so many problems with me for you, Mom" Noa admits guiltily, as soon as the hut is empty and only Dar, he and you remain.

"As much as... happiness" The gesture with which the mother says this to her son is intuitive to you.

You sit like a ball-jointed doll — and memorize this expression that squeezes your heart.

Who knows, maybe you'll have a chance to say this phrase to someone?..

***

Weaving between huts and lean-tos with Soona, Anaya and Noa, you find yourself at the bird pens. They are securely built, tied with ropes and secured to the dry earth with sticks. You run your hand along the wooden crossbars, and the eagles greet you with a many-voiced  scream and clicking. Tiny chicks are scurrying in the distance — you don't dare disturb them, and watch from a distance.

On all fours, closest to the pen, Anaya asks Noa about something, jumping from theme to theme — like from branch to branch. You want to listen, but your attention is riveted to the majestic birds and their home.

There is almost as much space here as in your new home.

The apes don't treat their birds as heartlessly as the people in your settlement treat their starved pets.

"Does everyone in the clan have eagles?" You ask, remembering that there were exactly as many birds perched above the Elders as there were of them.

"For those who find... and raise an eagle from an egg... Like me, like Anaya... Here they are, the shells!.." Soona explains, pointing to the fluffy chicks and following your warm gaze, lost among the flapping of many wings. "Or for those who have an eagle become... a comrade."

"They can choose for themselves...?" You can't find the right word to ask the question on the tip of your tongue.

The word "owner" seems inappropriate to you. The word "friend" seems unpronounceable to you.

Another eagle flies up to the four of you, emerging from the leafy branches surrounding the enclosure. He circles around Noa, who greets him with a special sound. It sounds like a singing language. After that, Noa speaks again, and you listen more attentively.

The burgundy evening covers the sky, the wind blows on your shoulders. You don't shiver, but you sneeze. You wrap yourself in the thin fabric, like a cocoon. Soona asks if everything is okay — and after your timid nod, she continues to answer the question you asked.

"If they... lost the ones they helped before" you know what Soona means. After all, when she speaks, even Anaya stops his careless chatter.

"As happened with Noa and... Sun? That's your name, right?" you ask, taking a small step closer to the bird perched on Noa's shoulder, but not to him.

You heard Noa name the eagle, patting his back. Friendly.

You reach out and do the same. You coo at Sun, praising his plumage.

When you put two and two together, you're sure it was Noa's friend who dropped the feather on your threshold. If Sun was there, does that mean Noa was there too?  So he was worried about you — really worried about you in the way you're trying to comprehend?.. You don't risk telling Noa anything with gestures again, instead trying to silently correct your recent recklessness.

It seems to you the most free, but natural impulse. To show that you are not afraid of everything around you here. To show that in addition to the fear that has taken root in you, here you feel a small, hatching peace.

"He definitely likes echo... A good sign" Anaya laughs with all his teeth, coming closer to the wooden poles.

"He can... peck your fingers" Noa warns you quietly, turning to your face. His green eyes approach yours and you feel anxiety scratching. "Be careful"

"I'll go to the lake alone!.." you squeal when Noa's huge palm meets yours while you stroke the shiny feathers of the Sun. Just one moment that stretching out for minutes.

Too loud, too cowardly squeal.  Where Noa touched you, it's like hot coals are smoldering and scorching your skin. Soona and Anaya are confused and ignoranced.

You cover your mouth with both hands and back away.

Running into the bird pen, you freeze. Noa did nothing wrong to you. Nothing that was done to you in the place that cut your soul. He already held your hands in his, squeezed and caught you when you couldn't move on your own, when you fell and barely realized where you were... Luckily, the birds didn't fly away. They didn't even move, allowing you to remain among them.

Holding onto the sticks, you desperately want to apologize to Noa — but you bite your tongue, cheeks and lips.

Gagging and choking, you cough. Blood pours out of your mouth, probably as much as the healers washed off you.

You swore. Your mouth will not say a single word to any of the male race.

"Why are you doing this?.. How many times have you been scared, so that you are afraid... so much?" Noa asks, approaching you and trying to establish eye contact again, confused. You close your eyes until your temples hurt.

You can't cope with the fear that has attacked you. And you won't be able to tell the story you promised the cubs... They will be afraid of you this...

Splinters dig into your tightly clenched palms.

Why would he even want to know how much and how you were scared?..

"Echo is joking, right?... The forest will soon fall asleep... Dangerous" Anaya asks, trying his best to smile.

"There will be long days... many more" Soona reaches her hand through the stakes towards you, you clasp your hands together.  "Now Echo needs to... go home and..."

"Leave me alone!..." Your voice breaks and you shake your head in convulsions. "I just want to wash my old things..."

"You'll get lost if you go... alone..." Noa says more firmly, but there's no anger in his voice, but pity for you. You stubbornly dodge his gaze, and only by the grace of fate you don't bump your head into the claws of a bird's paws. "Come back before... darkness, echo"

In the settlement where you hid from waking nightmares, they would have dragged you by the ankles, spitting on your worthless objections... Noa looks at you, slumped on the ground and almost incorporeal from the incessant lamentations that you won't tell anyone about — and leaves.

As you asked. No, no, no!..

Why does Noa treat you as if you mean something in this vast world?

You blink away the panic that has overcome you. Breathe in-breathe out-breathe in. Feathers float in the air, dancing with the wind. You can even see the specks of dust. Everything that is real right now — and not crawl to you from nightmares.

Wiping your lips and shaking off the dust, you leave the bird pen. You look at the birds again, and head towards the lake along the path strewn with fragrant flowers.

The journey takes you very little time — and the evening does not even have time to turn into twilight, while you bend over the wild petals to inhale their scent. Touches of spring are felt here and there, in their purest beauty comparable only to poetry. Pulling the shirt off your hips, you begin to untie the knot of sky-blue fabric tied at your waist.

The healers may have washed you, healing your wounds — but you need to wash yourself differently after what you ran away from.

You need to wash yourself to the very core, to banish these terrible thoughts.

Taking off robe, which were left on the sandy slope, you go into the lake. You hide among the tall rustling grass and cattails up to your neck, frozen in bliss. The water lulls your cuts, bruises and sorrows. Dragonflies are circling by the water again, little unreasonable tadpoles are swimming in the water... You can hear breathing behind the trees, just a few meters away from you. It seems to you that the lake is turning into an ocean — and you are drowning in its bottomless depths.

Someone is watching you. Watching the splash of water enveloping your naked body.

Hiding behind the stones scattered near the shore, you look around — and shiver from the thickening cold and darkness.

A Noa x Mae comic~

This was heavily inspired by a comic made by krisschan in twitter. They do great work with BakuDeku!

✧Reblogs help artists more than likes ✧ ~Please don’t repost or use my art~ (Commissions are open right now in my shop!)

What if I told you right now that the next chapter of "Creation" will have a surprise that will significantly change the narrative's perspective?

"Creation" Prologue

A/N: It didn't take forever, I did it ❤️

Word count: 2,2K

Warnings: violence, mentions of blood and injuries, mentions of death, swear words

🎧 Jurii Kirnev — Prelude

Among the perennial trees with their branches reaching up to the sky, you don’t see or hear anything.  There is only darkness and silence around.  Clouds floating across a foggy sky.  Twinkling round moon.  Stars hiding behind leaves.  Animal screams.  The flapping of bird wings.  An echo floating above the forest.

And bubbling fear squeezing your ribs.

If only they didn't find you.

It’s impossible to catch your breath or shake off anxiety.  No matter how you try to calm the convulsive sighs, they endlessly escape from your chest, precariously covered by a torn shirt.

Dirty in someone else's and your own blood, you hide among the bushes, tearing the remnants of your clothes with every careless movement.  You're stuck, but you're not trying to get out.  After all, here you, crouched to the ground and holding your ragged breath, are not so easy to notice.  Your trousers and tank top, torn by the tenacious claws of the branches, barely cover your skin stained with bruises and abrasions.  Here and there, wet leaves and clods of dirt stuck to your trembling knees.

There's a knife hole in your right shoulder.  There are flashes of torches before your eyes, and you don’t know where to go as the day approaches — but everything seems unimportant.  After all, as soon as the moon rolls down over the hills, as soon as the first morning cloud falls along the coal sky, and there is just a little time left until dawn, you will have hope...

You're thirsty.  So much so that from the temptation to stick your head out and taste the muddy water from a small puddle, you pull yourself back only when you feel someone else’s presence.

There is a noise behind your back.

The sound of cutting air reaching your ears.  You don't know and don't want to know what it could be.  You are just sinking into the still damp earth, after the rain that passed in the evening, under which you were thoroughly wet.

Your screams remained far beyond the forest, but it seems to you that you did not run away.  And you weren't saved.

Without making a sound, you crawl deep into the thorny bushes.  You cut your cheeks and neck just to remain unnoticed.  With your shirt sleeve you cling to a crooked branch sticking out of the ground.  Trying to escape, you tear both your shirt and the skin on your hands into rags.  If they hear even one sob, they will not spare you.  They were furious when you compared them to animals — but they were hardly human.

People are hardly capable of what they are thinking of doing to you.  People are hardly capable of what they do to everyone who fails to escape.  The wound in the shoulder stings.  All you need now is to survive this night here, among the leaves whipping your face.  And under no circumstances cry from pain...

You don't breathe, merging with the forest.  But the noise overtakes you in your flimsy shelter.

You hope that they will not see you and will pass by — after all, they do not know this place and may get lost in the dark.  You desperately praying for this.  But you almost burst into tears when you immediately remember all the stories that you once heard or overheard.

What if you were found by those who know this place like the back of their hand?  Those who can wander here by touch, relying on animal instincts?.. The sound that comes rips screams from your mouth.

The crack of branches breaking above your head.

It was impossible to hide here... This is truly, as they said day after day, the territory of the apes clan.  Surely they prowl, around every night, killing everyone who ever wanders here.

Screaming when the sharp blade almost cuts off a strand of hair stuck to your face, you crawl on all fours, feeling your way.  You grab onto the grass and tree trunks to escape pursuit, but from another blow from the blade, you fall into a ravine strewn with cobblestones.

Lying on your back, punctured by stones, you see your tormentors.

Unable to move, you bleed and cry.  It would be better if it were the apes from all these stories.

Cause, they'd would kill you quickly.

"Good job.  She doesn’t need legs anyway, but she won’t be fussy anymore"

"But it would be better to knock out this little bitch teeth, just to be sure"

Voices that make you choke with blood filling your mouth.  Vile, deafening laughter.

They found you.

You're scared.  Despair covers your barely beating heart, and the salt of flowing tears stings the scratches on your cheeks.

Blood is gushing from a fresh wound on your thigh, and you try to touch the cut flesh — but your hands are limp, like a rag doll.

When they descend into the ravine, grab you and pull you up by your elbows and ankles, almost tearing you to shreds — you squint and scream from the unbearable pain piercing your entire body.  You are trying to free yourself, to slip out of the hands that cripple you.  Your wrists crack and break just like cut branches. There is no escape from this trap, from these snares.  You want to die here.

You want to avoid giving them disgusting joy.

Because you know what they want to do to you.

You saw and heard what they were doing in the now foreign settlement with all the girls.  You grew up and realized that they had all come to terms with it.  They all accepted their fate without even trying to change anything.

People, generation after generation, living, begetting other people and dying without any meaning.

Locked iron doors.  Men's blows.   Women's screams.  The cries of newborns, children deprived of love and care.  A dungeon with blackened walls and no chance of seeing at least one more sunrise... That's all that will happen if their hands grab you now.

But it cost you too much to escape for your story to end like this.

Wasting your last strength, you kick one in the groin with your health leg.  He yells, cursing you and grabbing the bruised body scarp with both hands.

Dust gets under your nails and falls on your face when you almost get out of the ravine and see the sky again.

But the other one immediately throws you back onto the cobblestones, hangs on top and strangles you.  With all your anger, you hit him with a sharp stone clutched in your hand, turning his grinning face into mush.  You spit in his face and hiss, but his dirty, slippery hands only tighten on your neck.  You are suffocate, beads of cold sweat glistening on your forehead. Scatterings of stars in the waking sky blur in your eyes.

And you think that all this, all the years of miserable life filled with beatings, insults and abuse, is finally over.

Trying to exhale every nightmare moment, you come to terms with your death.  With probably your only freedom.

You imagine where you will go when you fall asleep forever...

Suddenly, the grip on your throat weakens in an instant.  The sounds of brutal fighting and incoherent swearing.  Wheeze, full of pain.  Your lungs take in air again and you cough.  Two dull thuds.  Silence reigned.  It’s so quiet that you can hear the blood spreading.  Not yours.  Raising your head and looking around, all you see is the men who tormented you lying among the dirt, earth and stones.  Motionless, breathless.  A trickle of blood and a quiet laugh flows from your dry lips... You notice a shadow in the grass surrounding the ravine.

Holding your throat with a weak hand, you peer into the rustle of steps and movements.

This is not a human.

But you don't care anymore.

The shadow mounts the horse.  You climb up.  You shiver from the cold night air, piercing to the bones and eating into your body, riddled with cuts.  You stand on your feet, unsteadily.  You look at the shadow, taking a step back.  Small pebbles search your bare feet.  You listen to the breathing of the shadow, hoarse and echoing.  You feel a shadow looking at you. You back away.

Limping hopelessly, you try to run away.

Pulling on the reins, the shadow gallops on horseback behind you —and in the pitch darkness you see the green of the ape’s eyes.

With tormented palms, clutching the moss on the trees and their sharp paws, you run, not making out the road.  You stumble, spitting saliva and blood, but don’t stop.

You can't hide from the ape.  More are trotting in the distance.  The clatter of hooves sounds ever closer as you scurry helplessly along the path.

When the sun rises, illuminating the visible plain with its rays, the earth disappears from under your feet and you fall.  On your back, again. Curly shoots entangle your palms, making their way to your forearms - and it suddenly seems to you that your skin is not dirty and cut, but smooth and untouched.

But the pain returns, intensifies.

Your body seems like a sieve smeared in blood.  Your heart is pounding as if it’s about to fall out at your feet.  You don’t have the strength to run away, you don’t have the strength to breathe... The ape — must be a chimpanzee, if you correctly understood at least some of the stories about these animals, — dismounts, standing up to his full height, approaches you with wide steps and bends over your scratched face, knitting his eyebrows.

Right now you can't see the thoughts in the ape's pupils.

All you can see right now — is a male.  And you're scared again.

Where the wound gapes on your thigh, only threads remain of the fabric of your trousers, exposing your vulnerable skin.

All you can do now is desperately cover yourself with what's left of your shirt.  So that he doesn’t see how the blood flows from your neck to your collarbones, and from there to the valley between your breasts.   But he sees. And his gaze is almost no different from other men predatory gazes.

You look up at him and press yourself into the tree trunk.  You look like a small cornered animal.

“I won’t hurt you...” he says, sitting down on the ground and extending his hand to help you up.  "Who are they?  Why are you... in blood?"

Huddled in patches of wet grass, away from the outstretched hand, you tremble.

Even your eyelashes, which have absorbed the moisture of the coming morning, tremble.

“Noa” he gestures to himself, looking at you expectantly.  He sighs as you curl into a ball, tucking your knees to your chest.  "Do you have a name?  Home?  Family?.."

He saved you from a long and inevitable life similar to death - and it seems that he does not intend to kill you... But why?

How could your deceased parents, who protected you from all evil that exists, be mistaken in human actions?  Could a woman who protected you at the cost of her life lie about ape's earth?  Could the legend passed down from mouth to mouth be just a fiction to keep women within the walls of the dungeon?  Why he help you now?..

And is this help?  He killed them.  This means that he can easily kill you too if he feels like it.

His hands are just as stained with blood as yours. One of them pierced his palm with a knife, which remained in the ravine.  His fingers almost touch your languishing in pain shoulder. Why would he, ape, help you, human? Why is he still holding his long, furry hand outstretched?.. Closing your eyes and biting your tongue so as not to answer his questions, you shake your head.

You will not say a word to any one of the men, or any one of the males.

After your silence, that ringing louder than chirping insects, calloused monkey hands lift you from the damp ground.  You fight back, squeal, scratch in frightened agony... He growls threateningly, but holds you carefully.  His fur is soaked with blood from your wounds.  You whine in despair.

"You have a strong spirit" his chin ends up on the back of your head as the ring of his arms wraps tightly around your shoulders.  You try to free yourself again, but he is strong and stubborn.  "But the body... is weak.  Need help"

You feel the words he said on your tangled hair.

You can hear two more apes riding up on horses, talking about something with the male who holding you. You can see, this is also a chimpanzee.  It looks like they were here for no reason.  But at night?.. You try to listen to what they are saying, but you feel that you are about to lose consciousness, that you are about to fall into the abyss.

Only fragments of phrases reach your ears.

"The echo only brings danger... Destruction"

"Should I have left her? To be eaten by scavengers?"

“But why is the echo here?.. How did she escape from them?”

"And why did they want...?" the alarmed question hangs mid-sentence, amid the dawn and dew.

One of the apes — is female.  And you look at her while a barely audible rustle sounds on your lips.

"Knock my teeth out?"  you asking, continuing her question in a whisper.  "Because I bit off the finger of one of them, and the ear of the second.  I can also bite something off for them inadvertently” you assure her, shaking from fear, cold and the grip on your shoulders.

Your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth after the words are spoken.  The sound of your voice makes the male who won’t let you go hooting.  You feel the muscles in his neck move.

Water, at least one sip of water — is all you think about...

"Why does the echo speak to Soona and silent to Noa?"  asks the third ape without any malice, only with curiosity.

The pain beats in your temples without stopping.  If they are talking about you, then why do they call you "echo"?..

“Stupid Anaya,” the female shows an unclear gesture, slowly approaching you on all fours.  Almost the same as you did when you were hiding.  "Don't you see?  She's scared"

"I saw... their faces.  Without pity.  They would have killed her... What else could I do?" you feel how the hands of the male holding you cover your body, stronger than before.  "I don't know who she is.  I don't know where she's from. But how to help her if she... Is silent?"

The annoyance in Noa tone is almost as palpable as the welt that will soon appear on his palm.   But you keep your mouth shut.

"So what's your name, echo?"  Looking into your eyes, swollen from tears, Soona asks.

“...Y/N” You answer her.  Although you still apprehensive.

They're, surrounding you worriedly, say a lot more.  They apparently intend to take you to their clan - while you rest your humming head on the ape's fur and watch the clouds change colour from purple to yellow and scarlet.

The fear and ignorance of having nowhere to go disappears.  All the colors of dawn fade before your eyes, turning into ripples.

The morning light doesn't help with the darkness and fog in your eyes.  At this moment, you are grateful that the ape's hands are holding you, and you will not have to fall again.  You smile at the sun's rays, unable to object and almost no longer feeling your numb leg.

Taking your hands in his, Noa helps you to your feet.  He grabs you by the waist, placing you on the horse.  His movements are gentle — you hardly feel any pain, even when he holds your still bleeding shoulder.  You can barely keep your balance, so as soon Noa sits in front, you unconsciously wrap your arms around him.  Soona and Anaya are still constantly discussing something.  With arguments and gestures whose meaning you don't know.

Why do you remember ape's names?..

Behind the lush crowns of trees you can see a flowering valley, which seems like paradise to you.

The last thing you hear before you close your eyes from fatigue — is Noa's voice. In the thick fur on his back you sleepily bury your nose, when he says that the road will be long, and tells you to hold on tight.

All I want right now is to express my gratitude for such wonderful, heart-warming drawings💞 Thanks to them, I never cease to be inspired...^^

What a lovely baby💗

Someone commented on the last drawing that They wanted to see more of Nomae's baby and yk? I want to see more of Eloid too, so here he is ☺️💕😂

I like to think that when Eloid is born, it is taken for granted that he looks like Mae. Because of the blue eyes and because he looks more human.

Mae, for her part, suspects that he will become more like Noa as he grows up. And indeed. After two months, Eloid's light eyes become as green as Noa's and when he is a teenager, all the hair he didn't have as a child appears and gives him his more ape-like look.

Don't worry, bunnies, I'm still alive - I'm just too absorbed in the writing routine =:•3

Modest gifts from loved ones

💕🕯️🩷 🩷📔💕

(They know, how much I adore such cute little things...)

(A doubly symbolic holiday for me, by the way - because on this day of the calendar three years ago my tiny bunny was born^^)

🎉 🎂🤏🥰💓🐰

Well... Hello everyone) 

This is really exciting, and I don’t really know where to start - but perhaps I’ll start with a few words about myself.

I'm 21. Russian, but I try to improve my English all the time.

I’m almost successfully fighting mental disorders... Almost.

I’m a florist, but I’m not working right now because I quit.  And while I have time, I make the most of it.

And this is me with my babies - lop-eared Rose and fluffy Leo 😚💞

Glad to be here, create (Keep that word in your mind, cause I'll back soon with some thing 'bout that 🙊) and communicate, mwah ^^

And, more details on what I'm going to do here:

🍃 I will appear rarely, apart from the publication of chapters of “Creation” - but these will definitely be important pieces of my life

🍃 Or Noa/reader one-shots, who knows?

🍃 Or memes about the franchise, lol

🍃 I love all ape men - but, unfortunately, I don’t accept requests.  I can’t write in a hurry, and I’m sorely, chronically short of time.  Maybe in the future - if I have both ideas and the strength to implement them

🍃 In the meantime, I'll be happy to answer any questions. Luv y'all ^^

Just so you know what I'm made of 💖

Song: DPR IAN — Ballroom Extravaganza