What finally awoke her from the darkness was the dripping of water on her mutilated face. Opening her eyes, she saw a stalactite was dripping water onto her from rains long since forgotten in this desert, older than the voices. She was thirsty, so thirsty but water would no longer quench it.

She looked up to the opening of the sinkhole. Hundreds of feet the cave domed to the outside. A black cloud swirled there blocking out most of the light, must be the voices as they had no physical form in prison. She remembered stories from her tribe’s story teller about Jinn being nothing more than smoke and fire. Were these voices the Jinn? Crazy but what else could it be. 

As massive as the blackhole was in her memories, pale in comparison to the bottoms of the cave. It was into its own world of stalagmites and stalactites mirroring each other. Green pearls placed instead of grass. Puddles of water gave life to the only living organism down here, snakes. 

Slithering on the ground, entangled in knots while others hiss at each other. One snake was engaged in cannibalism. The cannibal was enlarged and the tail of the other was sticking out, still not engulfed fully yet. The cannibal kept trying to open their mouth trying to get the other down. Adjusting its jaw so the deceased would go down. The cannibal’s eyes were large and seemed to enjoy the meal. She had to turn away as the sight made her nausea. Never liked snakes and seeing this was far too much. If she had anything in her stomach she would have thrown up. 

“Don’t look away, this is the only sight to see.” Nazleen turned around at this new person. Once he might have looked human but living in the well had stripped him of health. His skin stuck to his bones showinng off the lack of muscles and fat. Face was so gount that Nazleen could see the outline of his teeth through the skin. It was impossible to see his original clothes as they were dirty and torn worse than beggars. 

“Who…” Nazleen was shocked at how hard it was to speak. Her hand went to her throat to ease the pain. “... are you?”

He gave a small smile that caused cracked lips to bleed. “I am someone that is in the same predicament as yourself it seems.” 

He pointed to the dark cloud swirling around at the opening of the cave. “These are the Jinn, this cavern is a jail long ago made for their kind. As punishment for their evil deeds. They are another creation of God I suppose although I have never gotten a straight answer out of them.”

He lowered his hand and stared on the floor. There was an uneasiness as he didn’t know how to break the news to her. He didn’t want it to be true. Saying it would be voicing his own darkness and depression but he had to tell her.

“Once you are in here there is no escape. They have turned you and I into blood-stucking monsters and they will feed off of our suffering until the end of time. This narutes hell and prison.” His voice cracked. “We are only food for prisoners here.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Nazleen crossed her arms. “If it helps you to speak your name then I will speak mine. It's Nazleen of the Cuman.”

“Ah, forgive me, I forget proper human introductions from being here so long. I have lost count of the cycles of the moon sometime here. I am William of Ludlow.” William reached out a boney hand to shake her fleshy one. She took it and felt akin to ice. 

“So we’re blood sucking monsters now? Didn’t they say something about the sun being our enemy?” Nazleen tried not to wipe her hands after something so dead had touched even if it made her skin crawl. No, she had to keep on good terms with the only being here that she could get answers from. 

“Ah, yes, God’s light no longer shines on us well. However, the Jinn trying to find a way out blocks us from his sight so we shall not perish from the sun. We will not die until the blood in our veins runs out.” William let out a long sigh. “I feel soon the lack of blood will take me, and death is near for both you and me.”

“That's your plan? Lay down and die!” she snapped, making William jump. Yellowish eyes stared at her. “ I’m getting the hell out of here. I have survived and I will survive. If I need blood, I know where to get it!”

“No, not me!” William hugged himself desperate to hold what little life left in him but Nazleen wasn’t even looking at him.

Instead she walked towards one of the many snakes hissing on the ground. She bit into its writhing body reversing the cycle of human and snake. It was like taking a warm drink on a long winter’s night. It burned within her throat, warming the fire of her body. It was too much for her to finish it off in one go. Falling from her hand the snake would eventually succumb to its injuries. She didn’t stop then she kept going, snake after snake. 

“How can you drink the blood of something that slithers on the ground?” William’s voice was shaking, his hand clutching the shreds of his clothing.

“Better to eat something disgusting and live then stay put and slowly die.” Nazleen wiped the blood and the dirt from her lips. “I will never stop fighting.” 

As commanded by the blood, deep in her bones she felt a change. A pain throughout her body. Was this choice going to kill her, well it was hell of a lot better then dying slowly.  She could feel her body contour against her control. Twisting into something else. Something else that was more feral, more inner. She was becoming a reflection of herself in another form. The world warped around her a dizzy spell took her.

“Yes… Yes… YES!” The voice of the wind Jinn echoed all around her. She was becoming what she needed to be. 

When she came to, she was lower to the ground on all four but it felt natural. She wasn’t resting on all fours. She looked to William to see that he was massive now. When did he get so tall or when did she get so small?

He stared at her mouth open in awe. “You’re a cat now.”

She stared at him unblinking. Really the fates have decided to make her a cat? In her tribe, dogs were revered because they are the reason why her people survived the first battle. Dogs are sacred and what is opposite of a dog but a cat. 

She let out a humph. If it meant one step closer to getting out of here then she would deal with it even if she didn’t like it. She pawed over to the uneven walls of the cave. She searched for some sort of path she followed. There wasn’t any but she was going to force her way through no matter what. 

She jumped from one part to another but failure was close behind her. One rock was too slippery and she ended up falling back to the ground. Another collapsed under her weight. Again and again failure and failure. She was getting beat up as blood oozed from her busted nose. She caterwauled at that impossible wall. She would rather die than give up. Warriors don’t give up. They fight until they are victorious or die trying. 

Her heart was shaking with rage at her own inability to climb. She had drunk the blood of that filthy blood from those dirt crawlers. Was that not enough price for her freedom? Well the price was coming fast and it was a high price. 

Nazleen first heard the scales scrapping on the rock. Then the hiss of something much more dangerous than the little snakes. She turned and immediately sprung back and terror consumed her. This massive beast towered over her and even the tallest buildings she knew of were smaller than this serpent. Scales black with gray markings and a dark belly. Its massive pit organs were large enough to put one’s fist into it. Its head hooded up making a circle of its head signaling that this was the end of the life cycle of all those who dared to be seen. The snake opened its mouth to a black void with fangs.

Nazleen only had a moment to leap out of the way as it attacked. She kept dodging its massive attacks until she was in its blind spot. She had to calm down and think. True she was a lot smaller than this monster but there was always a way. It was massive but watching it hit the rock a scratch on otherwise perfectly shiny armor gave Nazleen an idea. Had to work or she would be dead. 

The serpent turned its deadly head to her, its eyes focusing on her. Its body swung back ready to pounce. Nazleen swayed her body to release the fear. There was no room for error. They stared at each other. One’s eyes were green of life outside of this hole and the other was pure black as death in this hole. No mess up or this was death.

The snake sprung into action going for her whole body. Nazleen stayed waiting for the perfect second. It came as she felt the snake’s breath on her whiskers. She forced her body up with all her will and was able to miss the snake’s attack. The snake didn’t have time to recoil and its fangs hit the rocks sending a shivering pain down its body. They were stunned by the pain. Thus, giving Nazleen the perfect chance to land back on its head. With long sharp claws and teeth as her only weapons she dug at the snake's eyes. Blood spilled out as the snake lost its eyes. 

It reared its head to shake her off but wasn’t until her paws were laden with blood from both eyes did it become too slippery for her to hold on. She crashed land onto the ground and the snake made another attack on her. But she was too fast and started to run circles around it. With her scent and their own blood mixed it was more difficult for the snake to know where she was. All the viper had was hearing and the sense of heat from her body for any knowledge of where she was. 

So the serpent was left striking at the place where she was and that missing was saving her life. Nazleen was able to breathe a tiny bit easier if it wasn’t for the massive monster that was very angry at her trying to kill her. Her heart was still racing but she was winning and could see the path forward to victory. 

The snake attacked so close to her that she had time to react. She rushed at its throat. Biting, clawing, digging, her way to its artery. The snake tried to fight back but it was so weak at this time.  Her fang finally ripped through and now the blood rushed out at a madding rate. The blood invaded her mouth and down her throat. 

The snake cried out in pain, one last stretch to the sky. Its massive body crashed to the ground. A crimson pool now mixed with the water of the cave. Even with the massive force of the fall Nazleen was still suckling in the wound. She couldn’t pull away, she didn’t want to pull away. She had to have it, the blood, every last drop. There is a need in her, so natural like water falling from the sky unstoppable. 

She wasn’t sure how long it took to drain the snake but she could feel the last drop on her lips that trickled down into her becoming part of her. The mosteroures snake’s blood was in her now. It created new pathways for her mind to travel. 

She wasn’t in that cave anymore. She was somewhere warm, her body entangled around herself like some knot. Above her she felt slithering of a body above her and there was a need to be free. She forced her head to the edge of this world and was born into another. 

In this new world there were little snakes also waking up. A lot of them had gotten into a buddle, a hissing knot. She had such a longing to join them to be in that safe nest. The next she saw a terrier that all the warmth was gone and now only coldness remained. 

An adult snake saw this buddle of new life and stuck out one of the babies. The adult started with the head and bit more and more getting the child down its throat. Nazleen was horrified but could not do anything but watched as the baby slowly disappeared into the mouth of the adult. 

Next thing she realized she was moving fast, getting away. A promise that was now her was to become the strongest and most powerful snake so as not to end up like the siblings. When the strong have nothing to feast on they will feast on the weak.

A Jinn stood before her as a puff of smoke with glowing eyes. A Jinn she realized. But this body she inhabited didn’t realize the danger and made the deal with the Jinn without knowing the cost. True the snake would have no fellow comrade that could defeat them but they no longer belonged to the world and themselves but only as a plaything to the Jinni. So similar to her need more help and fear. She and the snake were not so different.

I can’t let myself become like this snake.

With a gasp, Nazleen was back in her own body. Dazed, she stumbled back from the corpse of the massive serpent. Was that the snake's memories? After seeing what all that the snake had gone through in the snake’s own body, it was wrong to be called a monster or an “it” anymore. She didn’t know the sex of the snake was but she hope that now they can rest easier.

Crimson blood that was still wet and fresh dripped from her fur. If she could see herself all that she would see was a massive cat bathed in blood. She could feel the blood making her stronger, strong enough to leave. Muscles of her feline body grow to the size of boulders. Claws became like scythes and with the sharpness of her finest blades. As the snake she had slain was taller than only other snakes, she too was larger than any other cat and humans. 

William sat there in awe and fear. He could never have dreamed of something like this happening in his wildest dreams. The Jinn cheer at another step to their victory and freedom. They had waited so long. 

She turned to William sitting on his rocking, still believing that there was no hope. He looked so small now, so unbelievably small. She gave him the slightest nod. He couldn’t move but started back. With that she leapt up and now her claws dug deep into the rocks. The tumultuous sound thundering throughout the cave William had to cover his ears. She was able to climb. Even when the wall started to domed she kept climbing. Her claws kept her moving. Nothing was going to stop her now. 

The wind’s voice echoed all around her cheering her on to further heights. 

“Yes,” It began. “You can do this. You are more powerful than you can imagine.”

With one final push her paw felt the lips of freedom and she was free. Sun light blazed her back, now drying the blood to stick to her fur in an uncomfortable way. Little bits of her fur ripped as she walked. She thought about how to turn back into a human but she remembered those Jinn's warning about the sun. She didn’t like the idea of finally being free only to be ignited because some sort of sun god hated her now. Besides, it wasn't like she knew how to turn back. Turning into a cat was far outside of what she knew to be possible and getting back to being human was a challenge for another day. Nazleen walked in a direction she hoped was towards a city. 

As she walked away, she could feel the wind picking up and it spoke to her encouraging her in a voice she could only understand with her heart. The voice of the wind was now out and roaring through the sand. She was free now but what other things did she also free or will in the future? She knew that she would have to face them with the same resistance.