To Grow

-=In a small settlement, location: Fingard Forest=-

"She's a demon! We can't keep her. We escaped here to stay away from others like her. Other demons," a tall and skinny man said agitatedly. He was haggard, with visible eye shadows, and grey streaks in his hair. His features were gaunt, his body stooped and -despite the warmer temperature- shivering.

"She needs to be put down," the haggard man muttered. "Demons don't deserve to live."

"She's a demon, but... she's my child. I can't just... just kill her," A sweaty woman panted, still catching her breath from the recent childbirth. She was laying on a bed of branches, the haggard man's inexperience shown fully from the thin and dry branches he had plucked from the pine trees closest to the cave. They were taking shelter from within a draft cave. Being city-born, they have lived there all their lives. Until recently, they had never had to live in the wilderness, to learn survival tactics and knowledge. 

"They were the ones that made us do the things we did. They were the ones that ruined everything for us! This is our best chance at revenge! Sis, you should know!" The haggard man yelled, his blue eyes glinting with madness.

The demon they were arguing about was sleeping peacefully in the woman's arms. From a quick glance, the newborn looked like any other; from her wrinkly skin, her red face, her wet hair, and many other smaller details. But on a closer look, the newborn had ears that, instead of ending rounded like any other person, had ears that ended in sharp points, curved slightly inward.

Her tiny mouth was shut tight, but on the opening of them, it was obvious that her teeth had already been grown in, her canines long and sharp, her molars honed to a keen edge. Her tongue was forked and long, visibly looking like that of a snake's. Her eyes were still unopened, so that detail was unknown to the siblings, but they were slitted; cat-like. Her pupils were yellow, like that of a young hawk's, the whites nonexistent.

"Fine! Then we throw her away. It's that, or I leave and you can deal with it yourself," The haggard man spat, glaring at both the woman and the child. The woman hesitated, and made her decision. Memories of that terrible smile, of that manic gaze, the white room... it was too much. 

"Fine, fine." She sobbed. "Here. You put her somewhere far." She gently put the baby into her brother's arms. He nodded, and stepped outside. 

He walked far. Far enough that the woman wouldn't be able to hear anything. 

Gazing down at the baby, he knew that if he killed her then and there, he would be opening a door, a door he didn't want to open yet. He knew, somehow, that if he did, it would be a path of no return.

Bending over, he dropped the baby -rougher than the woman, but still gentle- onto the earthy ground, and hastily walked away. He returned to the woman's side, and helped her stand up. They couldn't -wouldn't- stay there any longer, despite the woman's weak physique.

Later, the baby woke up. She screamed for nourishment, for warmth, for her mother. But none came. After screaming and yelling until her lungs hurt too much, until her lips had turned blue from the cold, until she had ran out of tears to cry, something else within her took over. Her primal instinct. Her young mind, only hours old, felt a need for movement, for quick fulfilment of her gnawing hunger, for warmth.

Her bones slowly melted. Her skin slowly shrunk in some places, and grew in other. Her teeth, tongue, eyes, and ears remained the same, but the rest of her body changed. It grew fur. Grew paws. Grew claws. Her feet became digitigrade, her arms shortened enough to crawl easily with her new legs. 

Her body then scampered into some nearby bushes, and vanished.