Author's Note: The picture above is how I imagine Zera in anime form; except she's got green eyes instead of blue.

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A young white and spotless leopard cub carefully crept towards a black panther, which was sleeping in a tree. The leopard grinned before shifting into a white snake, bones popping as they changed shape. She climbed the tree, leaned over the panther's ear and....

     "BEOWULF!"

The panther jerked awake and fell out of the tree, landing heavily on its feet. It looked up and hissed. "Zera! What was that for!?"

"You looked so peaceful." She answered, shifting back into a spotless white leopard and looking down at her brother. "I just had to scare you!"

"Can't you just leave me alone?" He growled.

"But the others won't play with me!" Zera complained. "They say girls are too weak to wrestle!"

"You have seven brothers." Beowulf said. "I'm sure at least one of them will play with you."

Zera hopped out of the tree and head-butted her oldest brother affectionately. "Like you?"

Beowulf sighed. "After the hunt last night, I'm really tired, Z."

Zera sighed. "Okay...." There was a quiet pause. "I miss Mama."

Beowulf looked at her sympathetically. "I know. Me too."

"Daddy's not been the same since...."

"I know."

"Why do they hate us? What did we ever do to them? Why do goblins and spiders wanna hurt everyone? And why do the dwarves-"

Beowulf walked over to her and leaned his head against his little sister's. "I don't know."

Zera sighed and left her head on her brother's. "Will Papa ever be the same again?"

"I don't know, Z; I don't know."

Zera moved her head away from his and looked out at the sunset. "Why did they kill Mama?" She asked quietly.

Beowulf growled. "Because Dwarves fear whom they distrust. And apparently if a shape-shifting race is so mysterious and keeps to themselves, that automatically makes them evil."

"But Mama wasn't evil!" Zera said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"I know. But they just assumed."

Zera quietly growled. "If they have brains, why don't they use them?"

Beowulf remained silent for a moment before he stood up. "Come on. It's about time you got inside. Papa doesn't like you out past sunset."

Zera nodded and stood up, trotting to catch up to her brother. She opened the door of the house with her mind.

Beowulf blinked. "I still don't understand how you do that."

Zera shrugged and walked inside. She turned around and looked at Beowulf. "Are you coming in?"

Beowulf shook his head. "Every male seventeen and older in our village are going out to search for the missing women and children."

Zera nodded. "Do you think you'll find them?" She asked hopefully.

Beowulf sighed. "I hope so." He turned to leave. "I'll see ya later, Z."

"Okay." Zera said, gently closing the door with her mind. Still in her leopard cub form, she made her way into the living room. Her father, who was sitting in a chair reading a book, looked up and smiled at her. Zera grinned at him and leaped into his arms.

     Her father almost dropped the book and chuckled when she did so. He set the book down and held the little leopard in his arms. "What's up, Kitten?"

     "The sky." Zera replied, smiling happily as she looked up him.

     Istelian chuckled at his little girl. "If we're getting all technical, then the ceiling would be what's up." He smiled and poked her little wet nose.

     Zera giggled and nosed his hand affectionately.

     Istelian smiled at her and kissed the top of her head, petting her back. "Where are your brothers?"

     "Beowulf is going out to search for the missing women and children tonight." Zera said. "I'd assume most of the others are going with him."

     Shortly after that they heard the door open. Beowulf, in Elvish form, walked into the living room.

     "Are your ears burning?" Zera asked with a giggle.

     "Huh?" Beowulf said, then shook his head and looked at Istelian. "We're heading out now. All of us are going."

     Istelian nodded. "You are sure you don't need my help?"

     Beowulf shook his head. "The... others think it best that only skin-changers should go..."

     Istelian nodded. "Understandable." He continued to pet Zera from head to back and over again: he looked at her. "Guess it's just me and you, huh?"

Zera grinned and nodded with sparkling green eyes, then shape shifted into her own little Elvish form, her white hair flowing down to her waist. Being only four years old, she was very little.

     Beowulf said goodbye then left the room, then walked outside, leaving just Zera and her father in the house. The fire in the fireplace crackled peacefully and illuminated the dark living room.

     "Will they find them?" Zera asked, snuggling into her father.

     "I'm sure they will." Istelian told her.

     "Why are goblins so mean?" Zera asked. "Especially to us? Why do they like to torture our race?"

"I don't know." Istelian said quietly.

Zera was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Tell me about Mama, Papa; please?"

The silver haired elf smiled fondly. "What do you want to know?"

"What did Mama look like?" Zera asked. "I can't remember."

Istelian smiled and poked her nose. "Just look in the mirror, Sweetheart, and you'll see what she looked like."

Zera smiled. "I look just like Mama?"

     Istelian nodded. "You could be her clone."

Zera laid her head back on her father's shoulder and listened quietly as he told her more about her mother. How her favorite form was any feline form, and how she'd often scare him half to death by turning into a snake; which Zera thought was very funny.

     "It's about time you got to bed, Kitten." Istelian said after noticing his daughter was about half asleep.

Zera nodded and crawled out of his lap. She turned to ask him something but instead looked towards the door when it was broken down. She heard terrible sounding voices in a strange tongue that filled her with dread.

     Istelian hurriedly got to his feet and grabbed his sword. "Zera, go hide."

     "Papa?"She asked in confusion and fear, looking up at him with frightened eyes.

"Go now, Zera!" He told her.

Zera hurriedly ran out of the room, to her bedroom, and hid under the bed. She heard swords clanging in the other room, and pained cries.

     She was suddenly grabbed by her ankle and dragged out from under the bed, then pulled up by her wrist. She let out a frightened yelp when she was jerked up and looked at what had grabbed her: a goblin.

     Her father ran into the room and beheaded the beast before he scooped his little girl up into his arms. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

     Zera shook her head, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She was scared and all she wanted was to feel safe and protected in her father's arms. Zera screamed when a horrible pain shot through her leg and looked down. A sword had gone through her leg- and through her father's abdomen- then was drawn out again.

     Istelian was too hurt to even cry out as he sunk to his knees. He managed to gently set Zera down before he fell to the floor. "Z-Zera.... r...run-"

     Zera barely got to look at her father before she limped out of the room as quickly as she could. She turned around, however, to look at him once more- only to see the nasty goblin stabbing him again and again before finally thrusting his blade through the Elf's neck.

     The little girl hurriedly limped away, tears spilling down her face. She heard a noise behind her and tried to run faster, but her leg gave out and she fell. She screamed when something grabbed her injured leg.

"Get over here, you shifty little she-dog!" The goblin shouted at her as it lifted her by her leg.

Zera let out a pained cry and tried to get away from him by shape shifting, but a collar was slapped on around her neck and she found herself unable to.

"Ah, ah, ah... not so fast, mutt." The goblin hissed. "You won't be getting away from me." He set her down roughly before picking her up and carrying her outside, keeping a very tight grip on the little girl.

     Zera tried struggling, but the more she did so, the more the goblin's grip tightened. Soon she was outside, where a group of goblins were. She looked around wide eyed, horrified: they'd burned her village. Dead skin-changers littered the ground.

     "What do we do with this little runt?" The goblin growled, practically throwing her onto the ground in the circle of goblins.

Zera held her knees up to her chest and glanced around at all the goblins.

One of them leaned down and lifted her chin up. "Pretty little thing, ain't she?"

     Zera hissed and bit the goblin's finger with her fangs, drawing blood. She grimaced at the taste and spat it out before she was kicked in the ribs. She yelped in pain and fell onto the ground, curling up to try and prevent being kicked in the ribs again.

"Pathetic little weakling." Another goblin hissed, jerking her to her feet.

     Zera's head began swimming and her vision had black spots in it. Her leg had been badly bleeding and she felt herself growing very sleepy. She was picked up again and felt the goblin start walking at a quick pace. Despite the bumpy ride, Zera closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

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"Zera? Zera! Wake up!"

     Zera slowly opened her eyes at the voice and blinked heavily. Her vision wasn't clear at first, but when it did come to focus she saw a familiar face. "Beowulf?" She said weakly.

     "Yes, it's me; I'm here." He said, gently pulling Zera into his large lap and having her sit up. "Stay awake now, okay? Don't go to sleep."

     "But I'm so tired..." Zera said with a whimper. "Wh-where are we?"

     "We're inside the Misty Mountains." Beowulf told her. "We're in the Goblin Kingdom."

     Zera snuggled into her older brother and cried.

One of the goblins nearby turned towards them. "Make that she shifter shut up!"

     "How about you shut up?" Beowulf rudely suggested.

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, ya stupid animal." The goblin growled at him. "You're in our kingdom now. You're weak and powerless."

     Beowulf only growled in response and held his crying little sister close to him, rocking her in his arms.

The other six brothers, who were in different cells beside and across from Beowulf and Zera, scooted close to the bars and looked at the two. Had they not been skin-changers, they wouldn't have been able to see in this pitch black.

"Is she okay?" One asked.

"As okay as one can be when they've lost blood." Beowulf answered.

     "How bad is it? Can you fix it? Bandage it, at least? Will she be okay?"

     "Yeesh, too many questions at once, Hravan." Beowulf said. "It's pretty bad, I don't know, yes, and I hope so." Beowulf rocked his little and only sister and rubbed over her back, trying to sooth her.

     Zera finally calmed down and relaxed in her brother's arms. She looked up at him. "My leg hurts..."

     Beowulf tore some of his shirt off. "This'll hurt, Z; but it'll help some.

Zera looked at him, frightened, but nodded and buried her face into her brother's abdomen, not wanting to watch. She whimpered in pain when she felt the pressure on her leg. It really hurt.

     Beowulf finished tying the piece of cloth around her leg. He wished he had a piece of cleaner cloth and a bucket of water. But he had neither. All he could do was pray that Zera's leg didn't become infected. "There we go, Z."

     Zera looked back up at him. "What's gonna happen to us?" She asked quietly, her little voice trembling.

     Beowulf was about to answer, but looked up when many voices were heard. A small group of goblins walked over to their cell. Beowulf held his little sister closer to him and growled protectively.

Their cell door was opened and a goblin reached for them. Beowulf backed away until he hit the wall, holding Zera close, growling louder and earning himself a blow to the head.

Zera shrieked and started crying all over again, especially when she was jerked up by the arm and thrown into the corner of the cell. By the time she'd sat back up, several goblins had taken her brother and slammed the door shut. She shakily crawled over and shouted for her big brother.

"Shut up, mongrel!" One of the goblins yelled at her.

Zera gripped the bars of the cell and sobbed, her little body shaking and pain shooting up her leg.

     "Don't make me come in there!" The goblin hissed.

"You had better not!" One of Zera's brothers, the second oldest, shouted.

"And just what will you do about it, shifter? You can no longer shape shift. You're trapped like the stupid beast you are." The goblin taunted, slowly unlocking the door to Zera's cell.

Zera backed away as far as she could, not wanting that goblin to come in here. She cried harder when the goblin opened the cell door. A couple of other goblins were now with him and they, too, entered the cell.

"Stay away from her!" Zera's brother shouted at them.

     "What do we do with this one?" The goblin asked.

"Maybe we should keep her." The goblin said, eyeing her. "She'd prove to be useful."

     One of the goblins reached over and brushed a finger across Zera's face. "Such a pretty little thing."

Zera, despite her fear and despite the fact that she was still crying, hissed at the goblin and drew back.

     "Leave her alone." A new voice cut in, though it wasn't one of her brothers.

     The three goblins turned and looked at a larger goblin, who'd entered the room.

     "Aww..." One of them complained. "But I was just getting started."

"You can have your fun later." The larger goblin replied. "Now we take her up to the Great Goblin to see what he's decided to do with such a youngster."

     Zera curled up in a ball in the back corner of the cell, squeezing her eyes shut. She wished this was all just a bad dream and hoped she'd wake up to find her daddy there to comfort her, and hold her, and sing her back to sleep.

     The larger goblin walked over and roughly picked Zera up, startling her out of her brief daydream. She shrieked and started kicking, crying again. The goblin tightened his grip on her. "Stop your kickin' and screamin', beast!" When the little girl didn't stop, he slapped her across the face. "Shut up!"

     Zera stopped kicking and tried not to cry so loudly. She silently cried, though a little whimper escaped every now and again.

"Put her down!" Her brother shouted. "Leave her alone!"

     Zera couldn't see what happened next, but she heard her brother let out a pained cry, and she heard the sound of hitting, punching, kicking, and the crack of a whip. She whimpered again and trembled violently.

     The larger goblin continued to walked upstairs, through dark halls, and into a large room where a big, fat, hideous goblin on a large throne sat. Zera's eyes widened when she saw several skins from her race 'decorating' the 'throne room'. A few skin-changer heads were on a stick on each side of the throne.

     "My liege." The larger goblin holding Zera said when he reached the foot of the throne, bowing before the fat blob.

     "You brought the child?" The Goblin King asked.

"Yes, my liege." The goblin answered, standing back up and practically throwing the little girl on the ground.

Zera fell to the ground, landing on her side with a thud. She tried suppressing a pained cry, but failed and was kicked by one of the goblins that was standing around.

     "Show some respect, little brat!"

     "On your feet, mongrel!" Another shouted at her, jerking her up.

     Zera did as she was told, too tired, hurt, and scared to disobey.

     The Goblin's eyes widened when he saw the little girl, then he grinned, stood up, and walked towards her. "You didn't mention that the child was a female."

     "Apologies, my liege." The larger goblin that brought her up said. "What shall we do with the mongrel?"

     "Keep her." The Great Goblin ordered. Make sure she's kept alive, and keep her healthy enough to keep her alive, but don't let her grow strong." He smirked at the little girl. "She'll prove to be very useful one day."

     The larger goblin bowed. "Yes, my liege."

     Zera didn't understand why they wanted to keep her around. What use could she possibly be to them? Why keep her locked up and alive? What did they want with her? She just remained silent, standing there, her leg in a great amount of pain. She wished this were all a bad dream. She just wanted her father. He was always there for her, to comfort her; then suddenly he was gone. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't imagine a life without him...

"Keep her with the other females." The Great Goblin told the larger goblin, who had once again roughly picked the little girl up, before he turned and walked back to his throne. He once again sat down, his fat flesh swaying with every movement.

     The large goblin went back down to where Zera had been kept before, but went to the other side of the room and threw her in the cell with some other women of Zera's own race. Zera whimpered when she once again landed on the ground with a small thud. The goblin slammed the door shut and locked it before he left.

     "Zera... is that you?" One of the females asked, scooting closer to the little girl.

     Zera looked up at her. "L-Lea?"

     The woman, Lea, put an arm around Zera to hold her close. She would have picked her up had her belly not been very, very swollen. "Zera..."

     "Everyone th-thought you were dead." Zera said in a whisper.

"I thought I was gonna be too." Lea said. She'd honestly rather be dead instead of stuck here in the eternal darkness, being tortured and beaten. "Where's your daddy? Is he here too?"

     Zera didn't answer, or even move, for about a whole minute. She then buried her face into the older woman and began crying all over again.

     Lea's heart broke for the little girl and she held the tiny girl close, rubbing over her back comfortingly.

Zera stopped crying after awhile, but remained snuggled into Lea. She felt sleepy and she eventually fell asleep.

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A couple of weeks had passed by. Zera, who was curled up alone in the corner, opened her eyes. She couldn't tell if they were opened or not because of the darkness at first, but she was eventually able to see in the dark. No one accompanied her in the cage she was in anymore. Lea had died in childbirth only two days ago. The baby had been taken by the goblins to raise it to become a vicious killer. They'd said it wouldn't be very difficult, since the infant was half goblin.

     The rest of the women had been taken out a week ago. Zera didn't know what happened to them or where they were. She hadn't seen them since. Knowing the goblins, they were probably dead.

     Zera sat up, pulling her knees up to her chest, grimacing when shooting pain went up her leg. Her wounded leg wasn't healing properly, and it had gotten infected. Those stupid goblins would sometimes shove their blade through her leg if it did actually start to heal so she couldn't ever escape.

     She glared at the ground and growled softly to herself. She couldn't believe that these stupid goblin scum used to be Elves. Her own kind! Well, half her kind... she didn't really even know many Elves. Just her father, and he never visited Elves because the Elves thought it foolish that an Elf should be with a Skin-Changer. So she didn't care for Elves much: but she despised the goblins for turning and becoming what they now were.

     The young shape-shifter looked up when someone walked up to her cell and opened the door, stepping in. It was that one goblin- the goblin that seemed to act... strange... around her.

     "Hey, pretty little brat." He sneered.

     Zera let out a low growl and scooted as far back as she could, which wasn't much since she was already practically backed all the way up into the corner.

     The goblin stalked closer. "Aw, what is it, Precious thing? You don't like me?" He said in mock politeness.

Zera hissed at him.

"Now that's no way to act." He reached down and put a finger under her chin, making her look right up at him.

Zera glared at him and, in a lightning quick motion, sunk her fangs into his hand, causing the goblin to scream in pain and slap her hard across the face. Zera let go and spat his blood out, watching as the goblin glared at her and slapped her across the face again, causing her to fall to the floor.

     The goblin suddenly stopped and held his hand, grimacing. He seemed to be in extreme pain and he was soon lying on the floor, writhing in pain. Zera watched him, unsure as to what was going on.

     Two other goblins had walked down and ran over to their writhing friend, not knowing what was going on. The goblin on the ground suddenly stopped moving. One of the two other goblins felt for a pulse.

"Dead." One muttered, inspecting the bite on the goblin's hand. He looked at Zera with a glare. "The little she-dog is venomous."

     The other goblin got up and jerked Zera to her feet, slapping her when she struggled. She stopped struggling when she was slapped, her cheek hurting from being smacked hard thrice. He dragged her out of the cell.

The other goblin followed. "We takin' her to the King?"

     "We cannot let this mongrel get away with this." The other one hissed.

     "Yet you can get away with beating and torturing my kind?" Zera growled at him.

"Shut up, wench!" The one that had spoken before she had said harshly. "You have no say in this matter. None of you stupid animals do! Now I suggest shutting up, unless you want to get slapped again."

     Zera mentally growled, clenching her jaw and glaring at the ground. She didn't even look up when they stopped in front of the throne. She didn't even respectfully bow- until she was forced to her knees.

     "What's the meaning of this?" The Great Goblin asked, getting up and walking over to Zera and the two goblins.

     "This little beast killed one of the goblins, my liege. She's venomous." The one goblin said.

"Is that so?" The Goblin King asked, eyeing the girl. "Such a crime cannot be left unpunished. Let her get away with it once and she'll do it again."

     "What would you have us do, my liege?"

     The Great Goblin smirked. "Bring her brothers up here. All of them." He looked at three goblins off to the side. "Now!"

     The three goblins nervously bowed. "Yes my liege." They said in unison before they scurried off.

     Zera sat there on her knees, nervous and wondering what they wanted with her brothers. She looked back when she heard the sound of chains dragging on the wood and stone floor, looking behind her. All seven of her brothers were being dragged up. They all looked at Zera, each one of them offering a small smile, glad to see their little sister still alive. They were brought before the Great Goblin, beside Zera.

Zera managed to get to her feet and she hugged Beowulf's leg. Beowulf knelt beside her to hug her back, but the two were quickly and roughly pulled apart.

     "On your feet!" One hissed at Beowulf.

Beowulf growled as he got back up onto his feet.

"What are we to do with them, my liege?" One asked.

The Great Goblin looked right at Zera as he answered his minion. "Kill them."

Zera's eyes widened. "No!" She cried.

The fat thing only smirked and looked at his slaves. "Feel free to torture and beat them, too."

     "No, no, please! No!" Zera screamed.

     "And shut her up! Make her watch!"

     One of the goblins roughly picked her up, held her tight, and clamped a hand over her mouth. Zera almost tried to struggle, but didn't, knowing it'd do nothing. All she could do was watch, horrified, when her brothers were brutally whipped and beaten. All she could do was stay there and listen to her brother's screams. All she could do was remain there, heart beating rapidly, and cry. She squeezed her eyes shut, but was slapped and ordered to open her eyes again unless she wanted them plucked out of her face. She remained that way for what seemed like an eternity. She remained that way until her brother's cries were no longer heard; until her brothers no longer moved. She could feel their life slip away, somehow, and knew when they no longer moved that they were dead. Wait, no... one was still alive, but he was quickly fading. Beowulf.

"Let her go." The Goblin King ordered.

The goblin holding her released her. Once he did, Zera ran as quickly as she could over to her oldest brother and knelt beside him, grabbing his large hand. "Beowulf?" She asked in just above a whisper.

"I'm s-sorry... Z." He said, coughing up blood. "I-I couldn't g-get you... out of... here..."

     "N-not you're f-fault." Zera whispered, tears once again streaming down her face.

     A tear streaked down Beowulf's bruised and blooded face. "I-I'm sorry I d...didn't play.... with.... y-you..." He coughed again and gurgled on his own blood.

Zera pulled his hand up to her face, resting against it. "It-it's okay..." She said quietly. She looked at him tearfully. "I love you, Beowulf..."

Beowulf managed a small smile. "I.... l-l...love...." Before he could finish, however, the light left his eyes, becoming dull and lifeless, and he went limp. Zera felt his life vanish.

Zera still held her brother's hand and cried, sobs wracking her tiny body. One of the goblins reached over to grab her and pull her away, but she jerked away from him and screamed: "Go away!". Her pain, her hurt, her sadness, her fear, and everything else was building up and feeding her anger. She felt an overwhelming anger take over her mind- she hated these goblins!

"Get over here, you stupid, worthless, mongrel!" The goblin growled.

"No!" Zera screamed, pushing the goblins back with her mind. She, using her mind, broke the collar from off her neck and shifted into a large dragon, letting her anger consume and control her.

     Goblins started running, screaming, and trying to attack her. She spewed fire at them, swung her spiked tail at them, bit them, clawed them, and spat venom at them, hardly even aware of what she was doing, the anger and hate taking over. Her vision was red, her blood boiled, her heart raced. She let out a ferocious, blood-curdling, piercing scream of a roar that could frighten even the winged Nazgul.

     Zera shifted into a winged cheetah and took off running as fast as she could with her limp, not letting these cursed goblins catch her. She kept running and running until she saw daylight. She stopped abruptly when she saw a gap in a bridge, then spread her wings and took off with a leap. She flew to the exit, then out the exit, not stopping. She just kept flying, not knowing where she was going.

     After a little while, when she felt drained and exhausted, she landed and found a patch of grass to lie down in. Her leg was still killing her, and her wings ached from all her flying.

     The sun was now setting. Zera laid down and thought over all that had happened. Her mother's death, her father's death, then her brother's death. She didn't know how she could live without them. Why hadn't she died with them? Why couldn't they have killed her?

     She shifted back into a little girl, dirty, tired, wounded, mentally scarred, drained. Her pink dress was filthy, torn, and tattered. Her bare feet were dirty and sore. Tear tracks stained her dirty cheeks. Her eyes were swollen, red, and puffy from crying so much. She now wore an emotionless mask, no longer crying as all her tears were dried up. She felt mentally and emotionally numb to everything. She didn't care what happened to her now. If she was lucky, she'd die. She didn't want to live this life orphaned and alone.

The little pointy eared girl lay back in the grass and closed her eyes, soon falling into a dreamless sleep, wishing that this living nightmare would just end.

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