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The air hit her lunges like a long-forgotten memory. Crisp, wild and unfiltered. Nocturna inhaled deeply, her breath shaky as she stepped forward, feeling the earth beneath her left foot for the first time in many, many years. The weight of the portals passage still clung to her skin like static, but the sensation was quickly drowned out by the night itself-vast and alive stretching endlessly beyond her.
She had no time to admire it. Others would follow.
Her body moved before her mind could catch up, instincts taking over as she broke into a run. The forest blurred around her, shadows twisting between towering trees, their bark threaded with softly glowing veins. The wind lashed against her face, cool and bracing carrying scents she had almost forgotten-damp moss, pine, distant rain. Above her the moon loomed impossibly large, a silver titan watching over the world she'd been taken from. Its light poured over her, sinking into her skin, filling her with something she hadn't felt in years. Strength. Motion. Life. Having been locked away from this for so long never think she'd know what it was like-to feel the weight of the world's pulse pressing into her, urging her forward.
Her legs burned, unaccustomed to this kind of movement but she didn't stop. She couldn't. Not yet. The night was beautiful but she had no time to stand still.
The wind tugged her long wavy midnight hair darker than the night. Stands whipping against her face as she ran on, moonlight catching on her skin, tracing the faint glow of the freckles across her cheeks, shoulders and collarbone. She pushed forward, breath sharp in her chest the thin cloth slipper on her right foot barely muffled the damp earth beneath her. The Silver dress she wore clung to her catching on branches as she tore through the undergrowth but she couldn't stop. Not yet.
A branch snapped behind her. Too close.
Her sterling eyes flickered up to the sky-at massive moon pouring it's light over her filling her with energy as if in welcoming her back. She should have felt cold in the night air, exposed in nothing but a simple dress but moonlight wrapped around her like an old embrace. And still she ran.
Nocturna didn't know how long she had run. Minutes? Hours? The night starched endless, the forest swallowing her footsteps, she only stopped when her body refused to go any further. Only when the silence around her remained unbroken did she finally allow herself to breathe. Legs trembling as she leans against the trunk of an ancient tree, its bark rough against her bare arms. The moon still loomed above. It's silver light pooling in through the spaces between the leaves, but even its energy couldn't keep her awake any longer. Sliding to the ground, heart sill hammering, her remaining slipper wet with dew. Every muscle ached, her body unused to such relentless movement, but she had made it. No one was following.
Just a few hours. That was all she had. Curling into herself, she let her eyes slip closed, the forest air cool against her skin. The last thing she saw was the magnificent stars flickering beyond the canopy, their light barely distinguishable from the faint glow of the freckles across her skin.
Then, at last sleep took her.