Standing taller than me by a hand’s breadth, their fur glistens even in the darkness, their exposed bones shining a brilliant white where the muscles and fur fail to cover it. The undead wolven closest to me tries to growl, emitting only a sickening gurgle as it glares my way.

I turn my eyes aside, toward the pack leader. The living wolven that controls the dead.

Its thick white fur is clean and dignified, but it’s the sharp blue eyes that dig into me, cutting me down. Such powerful nobility, and confidence, it tells me that there’s no point in running.

Mother has taught me of these beasts. The masters of the forest. Unclean animals that use their dead to hunt the living. They are as smart as we are, is what mother told me, and knowing that, tears form at the edges of my eyes.

I bottle it away.

Clutching Dawn close, as she gives a worried yelp, I step back into the creek, my eyes not leaving the wolven before me. I walk back until the numbing water flows around my knees, then I hear a snapping sound from behind me and I bolt down the river.

Or, I try to.

The deep water pulls at my feet, and the wolven barely have to walk to keep pace with me. The leader howls once more and the others join in, the undead are still trying to echo the living, and through their failures they’re even more terrifying.

Clutching at Dawn’s haggard fur, I push myself even harder, instinctively filling my æther veins with energy and pushing it out into my body, demanding that my legs move faster.

Body strengthening is a magic that I do know a little bit. It helps me run faster than the other kids.

I run, and I stumble, and I run.

The wolven follow from close by, sometimes leaning in and snapping at me. Catching and tearing at my robe.

Why am I not dead?

Are they playing with me?

I don’t get the chance to think about it. Even as push on down the creek, the wolven follow; their fangs snapping, their howls echoing.

My breath runs dry, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop.

At last, I see daylight ahead, and I know that if I can reach that light then I’ll make it. Surely these unclean beasts won’t follow me into the light. If I can somehow make it through this darkness, I’ll get to survive.

I know I can make it.

The wolven attacks get more intense as I run, their snapping jaws tearing away the hem of my cloak, but I don’t turn around. Dawn buried in my arms, I run towards the light, my eyes never turning away from it.

Æther burns through my legs, offering me enough strength for this final push, and finally, I burst through into the daylight. The sun is shining through a gap in the clouds overhead, lighting up this clearing where I pull myself out of the water and collapse on the soft grass.

Seeking my lost breath as I look up into the sky, I lay in the springy grass, exhaustion darkening the edges of my sight. Distracting me from my well-wanted rest is a sense of ruin falling over me.

My breath would freeze if I had the chance to find it.

The hulking wolven stands above me, its lustrous fur beautifully untouched by death. I wonder for a moment how it is here, how it has followed me into the light. So consumed by my imagination, by a hope that the light might save me, I hadn’t even realized the senselessness of it all.

Of course, wolven can walk in the light.

Of course, the light couldn’t save me.

Too tired to even be properly terrified, I gaze back into its eyes wondering how it will feel to die. Staring into those white teeth, I wonder if I’ll get to see mother and father again.

The beast lets out a low grumble, leaning its nose close to me. I realize only after a few moments that it’s sniffing at Dawn in my arms, and I pull her away from the monster’s big teeth.

The wolven looks at me again, its eyes shining with strange thoughts. Yet it doesn’t speak, it cannot speak, and I can only wonder at what it thinks.

Its face approaches mine, sniffing with a wet breath that reeks of decay.

My cheek is wet.

It licked me.

Do I taste good?

After the longest moment of my life, it turns away, leading its pack into the darkness of the forest.

I can only breathe again when I hear its tremendous howl resounding through the forest behind me. I cover my ears and by the time I look back they’re nowhere to be seen, but the howl still echoes in my mind.

Above, the sky darkens, thick rainclouds blown before the sun steal away the light that I had sought with all my strength.

Within, my æther veins burn. My sprint exhausted all of my magical strength as well as my breath, what is left now is but a tiny trickle easily drained by Dawn’s tiny body.

“Dawn,” I whisper her name, holding her close.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I whisper, clutching to that tiny trickle, hoping to make it last a second longer. Even as I struggle to hold her here, awash with exhaustion, I feel her weight begin to fade away. Clean white ash washes away with the raindrops falling from the sky.

My tears are lost to the storm.

Once again, I’m alone.