Tigress [a work in progress]

I felt the muted crunch of the blackened grass beneath my boots, each strand of the ashy plant falling to dust on contact. Through my icy, bloodshot eyes, I took in the wretched scene with a strange, empty indifference. My house, the place I had once called home, burned to ashes, nothing left but a few charred remains. There were a few remnants of the ceiling beams lying amongst the rubble, a few charred bricks scattered here and there... not much else. But wait... What was that? I approached the ruined foundations slowly, staring down into the gaping hole of what had once been the basement. I saw a flash of light through the ashes, a something silvery poking out from between two beams. I jumped down into the hole, a light cloud of dust rising at my feet. I approached the foreign object slowly, squinting through the ashes. I touched the silver thing lightly, surprised to feel the metal was still cold against my fingertips. I reached my hand further into the ashes to grab the object with my entire hand, but withdrew sharply as I felt the bite of a blade against my flesh. I stared at the palm of my hand, watching crimson blood pool to the surface from one long, open cut along my palm. I licked the blood from the wound and spit the liquid out on the ground, shifting the form of my hand quickly in a ripple of orange fur to heal the minor abrasion. I reached my hand in again, this time more carefully, to pull a long, silver dagger from the wreckage, holding it by the flat of the blade. I ran my finger along the lilt of the weapon, surprised at how undamaged it was even amongst half- melted bricks and warped metal pipes. This was obviously no ordinary weapon. This had to have been one of the things that my father had left in his great metal lockbox, one of the things that I was strictly forbidden to touch. But if the entire lockbox was ruined, then how did this thing survive? I puzzled over this as I pocketed the weapon, proceeding to rifle through the ruins of my once beautiful house. I folded my clothes carefully, stowing the blade among them, and flashed to tiger form to quicken my work, tearing at the ashes with a new fervent impatience. But even after hours of labor, I was unable to find anything else of use. I flashed back to human and gathered up my clothes along with my newly found possession, climbing out of the hole and slipping away into the forest, unsure of the dark future that lie just beyond my reach in the ever-encroaching wood.