Chapter Text
Orm had always wanted to be free. But not that kind of freedom people talked about when they were feeling philosophical over dinner, or the kind where you could choose your own career or decide whether you wanted to get married at 24 or 34 or maybe like never at all. She wanted the simpler one, almost embarrassingly ordinary freedom.
She wanted to wake up one morning and decide where she was going without having to tell anyone.
She wanted to walk until her legs hurt, turn left because she felt like turning left, cross a river because there was a river there, climb a hill because she wondered what was on the other side of it. She wanted to be somewhere simply because she wanted to be there.
She just wanted to do whatever she wanted and face the consequences later.
But, unfortunately, Orm had been born an omega.
You guys knew how it is for omegas right?
Controlled, restrained and stuffs, yada yada..
She was the daughter of one of the most powerful families in the country, which meant that her life had been carefully planned long before she had been old enough to understand what a plan was.
There were protocols, rules and of course, expectations.
So many expectations that sometimes Orm wondered if her family had ever actually understood her or if they had simply understood the idea of her and decided that was good enough.
And sometimes an omega
No.
Scratch that.
Sometimes a young woman needed a break.
Everyone in this world would have considered the house sitting quietly on top of the hill a blessing. It overlooked acres of green forest, with a narrow river cutting through the trees and a waterfall hidden somewhere beyond it, and if one walked far enough, there were little clearings where sunlight poured through the branches in such a way that Orm had occasionally imagined herself living there permanently, wearing a white dress, talking to birds and waiting for some woodland creature to bring her breakfast.
Basically Snow White.
Except with better shoes.
And, according to her mother, considerably worse decision making skills.
Orm was grateful for the place. She really was.
It was one of the few places where she could breathe without feeling as though someone was watching the way she did it.
So at approximately 5.30 in the evening, when the sun had begun its slow descent and painted everything in that particular shade of orange that made even ordinary things look sentimental, Orm pulled on her boots, slung a small duffel bag over her shoulder and prepared herself for her one great adventure of the evening.
Walking. Alone. Into the forest.
A scandalous act, apparently. Or probably a rebellious act in her mother’s eyes.
Her father had already sent several men to patrol the area, because apparently a 24 year old woman walking through a forest was a situation requiring the same security measures as transporting national treasure.
Still, Orm took a small pocket knife. Mostly because she thought it made her look cool.
She had absolutely no idea how to use it properly.
“Remember, Orm,” Mae Koy called from behind her. “Be back before it gets dark. At least 6.45.”
Orm nodded while rolling her eyes. Her mouth blowed raspberries.
6.45 my ass..
She looked at the forest through their window then at her mother then back at the forest.
“Mae,” she said slowly, “do you think the trees are going to attack me at 6.46?”
Mae Koy gave her a look, the look that be saying ‘Dont play with me girl’
Orm smiled innocently.
“Hehe, I’m just asking.”
“6.45. Sharp.”
“Sir yes sir.” Orm said jokingly.
“And you are sure you don’t want anyone with you?”
“Naahh, I’ll manage”
“I can tell James to follow from a distance.”
“Absolutely nope, no thank you.”
“He doesn’t have to bother you.” Mae Koy pressed.
“Mae.” Orm said stubbornly
“I mean he can just stay behind..? No?”
“Mae, nope. Not changing my decision.”
“I won’t even tell him to speak to you.”
“No thank you khaa.”
“All right, all right.” Her mother sighed. “Go. Before I change my mind and send James”
Orm grinned.
She had already taken two steps when Mae Koy called after her.
“And Orm.”
She turned abruptly to Mae Koy
“Be careful, please.”
Something about the way her mother said it made the smile on Orm’s face soften.
“I will, Mae”
She was almost through the gate when she heard herself say, “Please, Mae. Let me have this before I get caged for life.”
She meant it as a joke.
Well mostly, like you know what a girl should do when they will face the most traumatic event in her life?
She gotta joke about it.
But when she looked back, Mae Koy wasn’t even laughing.
Her mother’s face had changed in that subtle way mothers had when their children said something that hit too close to the truth.
“I’m sorry, my daughter,” Mae Koy said quietly. “I… you know how your father is.”
And suddenly Orm wished she could swallow the words back.
“Hey.”
She walked back toward her mother.
“No, Mae. I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
Her mother looked down.
“I was joking really.”
“Yeah but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt my heart.”
“Mae, I am sorry..”
Mae Koy lifted her eyes, they were filled with subtle sadness.
Orm smiled, trying to ease the tension
“I’m okay, really.”
“You are?”
“Of course, Mae..” Orm could feel her throat burned.
It was a lie, a gentle one.
The lie people told when the truth would hurt someone they loved.
“I agreed to this myself, right?” Orm continued. “It’s for the family, our family. And who knows?”
She shrugged.
“Maybe he’s the one for me.”
Mae Koy stared at her for a moment.
Then, slowly, she smiled.
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s not wrong to try.”
Orm smiled back.
“And if he treats you badly,” Mae Koy added, her expression suddenly becoming very serious, “I’ll kill him myself.”
Orm burst out laughing.
“Mae!”
“I mean it.”
“You’’re supposed to leave that to Papa..”
“naaah, your papa listens to me, if i told him i will kill James he would just let me.”
Orm shook her head, laughing as she stepped backward toward the forest.
“Bye, Mae.”
“6:45!!”
“I heard you the first five times!”
“And don’t lose your phone!”
“I won’t!”
“And don’t-“
“BYE, MAE!”
She turned before her mother could find another instruction and disappeared between the trees.
For the first few minutes, Orm simply walked.
There was something wonderfully different about the forest at that hour.
The heat of the afternoon had begun to fade, leaving behind a pleasant warmth that settled against her skin rather than suffocating it. Sunlight slipped between the branches in long golden streaks, illuminating floating particles of dust and pollen until the air seemed to sparkle.
Orm knew the path by heart.
She had been coming here since she was a child.
The river was about fifteen minutes away if she walked quickly and twenty if she stopped every three minutes to admire something she considered pretty.
Tonight, she took twenty five.
Because she had no reason to hurry.
And nobody was telling her where she needed to be, she could use that damn twenty five minutes.
When she finally reached the river, she stopped.
The water moved steadily over smooth stones before gathering beneath the small waterfall, the sound of it filling the clearing with something almost musical. A faint rainbow shimmered through the mist where the falling water met the pool below.
Orm stared in awe.
“Oh wow..” she whispered.
She had seen it hundreds of times.
It never stopped being beautiful.
She slipped off her bag and sat beneath a tree.
The birds were singing somewhere above her.
Crickets chirped from the grass. The river kept flowing gracefully.
For a moment, the entire world seemed to exist without asking anything from her.
Orm breathed in and sighed dramatically.
“Aahh,” she said, lifting her chin toward the trees. “Mother Nature.”
She placed one hand against her chest.
“How I desire such a life.”
She even lowered her voice into the sort of elegant, breathy tone she imagined women in Bridgerton used whenever they were about to ruin someone’s marriage.
“If only society would simply allow a woman to exist.”
She paused.
“Actually, society sucks.”
Satisfied with her conclusion, Orm pulled out her notebook.
She began sketching.
Her pencil moved easily over the paper, following the shapes of the trees, the curve of the river, the waterfall in the distance.
Then something moved between the bushes.
Orm looked up and saw rabbits.
Three of them.
They hopped across the clearing before stopping near a patch of grass.
Orm’s face immediately brightened.
“Oh my God!!”
She leaned forward.
“Look at you.”
The rabbits continued eating. Orm grabbed another pencil.
“I have to draw you.”
There were also stray cats and dogs around the estate, most of which had somehow become Orm’s responsibility despite her never formally agreeing to the position.
She had convinced her father to feed them.
Then convinced him to vaccinate them.
Then convinced him to build shelters.
At this point, the animals had essentially become members of the family.
And, honestly, they were spoiled.
“Seriously,” she muttered as she remembered them. “You guys are eating better than me.”
She glanced down at her notebook.
“Must be nice, huh?”
Her pencil moved again.
The lines came naturally.
Tree.
River.
Rabbit.
Grass.
Light.
For the first time that day, her mind was quiet.
And perhaps that was why the thought came.
Marriage.
Her pencil slowed.
She stared at the rabbit she had been drawing, but suddenly she wasn’t really seeing it anymore.
She was seeing a man she had never loved.
An alpha chosen for her.
A stranger.
Someone she was expected to trust simply because their families had decided that they were compatible.
Her stomach tightened.
What would happen?
What was the worst that could happen?
She looked toward the waterfall.
Then toward the sky.
The pencil remained motionless between her fingers.
“God,” she whispered.
Her voice sounded smaller than she expected.
“Please help me get through this.”
For several seconds, she sat there.
Then she shook her head, feeling her eyes getting damp.
“Nope.”
She looked down at her drawing.
“Not doing this.”
She wiped beneath her eyes.
“Nah. It probably won’t be that bad right.”
Her voice trembled.
“If that man forces himself on me, I’ll just bite his ear off.”
She nodded as though this were a perfectly reasonable contingency plan.
“Then I’ll run away.”
Another nod.
“Easy.”
She sniffed.
“Come on. I’m a Gen Z.”
She pointed her pencil toward the sky.
“God is with Gen Z.”
Her lips trembled.
“I can handle this shit.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly. Another followed. And then another.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Her voice cracked.
“Maybe I need to cry first.”
She laughed quietly at herself, even as the tears continued falling.
“Fuck this shit”
She sniffed.
“We say we’re fine.”
She drew another shaky line.
“We say we can handle it.”
Another tear fell onto the paper.
“But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to cry first.”
She laughed again.
This time, it sounded painfully close to a sob.
And because Orm was so busy wiping her face, she didn’t notice when the rabbits disappeared.
She didn’t notice the sudden movement in the bushes.
She didn’t notice the birds above her taking flight.
One after another. Then several at once. As if something had frightened them. Something they could sense long before she could.
Orm continued drawing. She didn’t notice the crickets had stopped. The forest had become strangely still.Not peaceful. Just. Still.
There was a difference. Peace had a softness to it. This was something else. The birds were gone. The insects were silent. Even the river seemed quieter.
Orm didn’t notice. She kept sketching. Kept wiping her tears. Kept pretending that everything would be fine. Until somewhere behind her, a branch cracked.
Orm didn’t turn. Another branch broke. Still ignoring that sound. The forest held its breath.
And several metres behind her, something enormous stood between the trees.
Four legs pressed firmly into the damp earth. Dark fur shifted with each slow breath. Its head lowered.
Its nostrils flared. It had been watching her for several moments.
Its eyes were bright. Unnaturally bright. Red like the blood moon in Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom.
Its breathing was heavy enough to disturb the leaves beneath its muzzle, and a thin strand of saliva slipped from the corner of its mouth before disappearing into the grass.
Orm continued drawing the rabbits. She smiled faintly at her terrible little sketch. She had no idea.
No idea that every living creature in the forest had already understood what she had not. Something had entered their territory. Something bigger. Something hungry. Something that had been watching her for a very long time.
And Orm..
Did..
Not..
Realise..
How..
Quiet..
The..
Forest..
Had..
Become.