I pushed forward as the beast lunged, its teeth tearing through my shirt and grazing my skin as I narrowly avoided the attack. Twisting to face the direwolf, I fell back hard. It swiped its head upward, one of its tusks slashing a deep cut across the side of my face, narrowly missing my eye and leaving a vivid red gash.

The torn fabric fluttered from its mouth and landed in the dirt beside me. I tried to pull away as the direwolf's paw swept towards me, its claws raking across my chest in a spray of blood that spattered the nearby grass. A pained cry escaped me as molten pain shot through my body and clouded my vision. Drool poured from the beast's mouth, pooling with the fresh blood on the grass as it reared up, poised to strike again.

A chunk of stone hurtled over me, slamming into the direwolf’s head and knocking it backwards. Elian appeared, yanking me to my feet and thrusting me behind him. He scanned my bloodied body and turned to face the monster. I couldn’t comprehend how he’d known I was here, let alone why he was standing his ground against the direwolf as though he could fight it.

“Run!” Elian shouted, gripping his sword tightly with both hands as he stared down the direwolf, which had recovered and now circled us slowly, a savage, predatory glint in its eyes. It growled, watching him with a hungry intensity.

Unlike Elian, I stood frozen, paralysed not by fear, but confusion. My chest tightened as I watched the direwolf lunge at him. He dropped low, throwing himself under the beast and dragging his sword along its belly before springing back to his feet and launching earthen darts at it. The direwolf howled in pain, blood trickling from its stomach, but still nimbly evaded the spellfire. Elian lunged forward, swinging his sword toward its neck, but the direwolf turned into the strike, knocking the blade from his hands with a tusk. It clamped its jaws around his arm, lifting him off his feet as he screamed, clawing at its muzzle. I instinctively ran toward him, though I had no idea how I could help. 

Blood poured from Elian’s arm onto the ground which was now shifting beneath him. The earth surged upward, forming a platform under his feet. He pushed off of it, shoving his arm deeper into the creature’s mouth before unleashing a surge of spellfire down its throat. Stone erupted from its skull and speared through its neck, adding to its crown of horns. The direwolf’s pained cry was cut short as its massive body collapsed to the dirt. It was over in the blink of an eye.

Elian pried its jaws open and gingerly extracted his arm, cradling it with his good hand. I stumbled forwards, staring in shock at the blood streaming from his wound.

He sat heavily on the mound of dirt he’d conjured. “You okay?” he asked, his voice tight with pain.

How can you be asking that right now? 

Even after all of that, he was still acting like I was the one that needed worrying about. An unfamiliar twist of guilt bloomed in my chest.

“Why are you here?” I managed to ask.

He let out a trembling breath. “Why am I—? Because you ran away!“ He hung his head, hissing in pain. “What were you thinking, coming here alone? You could’ve died! Do you have any idea what that would do to us?”

I stared at his wincing face. “What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me.” His voice cracked. “What if I hadn’t come?”

“I had it handled.”

“Handled?” He stared back at me, then broke into a disbelieving laugh that turned into a groan. “You always do this… acting like it doesn’t matter. You know we care, right?”

“I know,” I said, averting my gaze.

“No. You don’t.” He shook his head, curls sticking to his forehead from the sweat. “You say you know, but you don’t look like you believe it. It’s like I’m talking to a wall.”

I pressed my hand harder against the wound in my chest and looked away.

He swallowed. “We care about you. Really care about you.”

I forced out a weak scoff. “Yeah, yeah. My family’s unconditional love. I get it.”

“No.” His jaw tightened. “Not because we have to. We just… do. You’re here with us, every day. That’s enough.”

He clenched his uninjured fist before continuing. “It’s fine if you don’t want to or even can’t feel the same for us, but don’t go running off to get yourself killed.”

“Elian-” I began, but he cut me off again.

“It’s still dangerous.” He pushed himself to his feet, swaying for half a second before steadying himself. “Can you walk?”

I closed my mouth and nodded. Gritting his teeth, he did his best to mask the pain and slung my arm around his shoulder. Half-dazed, I shoved down the burn of my wounds and we started making our way out of the forest, but a nagging feeling remained at the back of my mind like I was forgetting something. The wind whistled past, and a light sprinkle of rain fell on my face. Lifting my head, I caught a flash of lightning streak across the grey blanket of clouds over the town, followed by the low rumble of thunder.

When our parents originally gifted Elian his sword, I thought he wouldn’t be able to handle a real weapon. But after today, it was clear I’d been wrong.

“We need to get your sword,” I said, stopping.

We both turned around and stiffened, locking eyes with a set of four forward facing, predatory eyes an arms-length away.

Right, I remembered too late, Raventhorn direwolves hunt in mated pairs.

It leaped forward, slashing at us without hesitation, and I felt Elian shove me aside. Yelling, my thoughts turned scrambled. 

Was he sacrificing me to save himself? No. He wasn’t pushing me towards the direwolf—he was pushing me away.

Elian stood where we’d both been a heartbeat ago, and the direwolf’s claws tore through his neck and chest.

I slammed into the trunk of a large tree, a large object landing at my feet. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs. Blood spattered across me as I crumpled to my knees. My heart thundered as I looked down in horror, and after a moment reached out slowly towards the object with trembling hands. I stopped just short from touching it, my gaze locking with Elian’s cold, lifeless eyes.

The sweat mixing with the grime and blood on my skin turned cold. Saliva clogged my throat, and I began to choke. A familiar, crushing weight spread across me—pressing down on my insides like the weight of the world, unbearable and suffocating.

Flashes of memory surged through my mind. The sting of my killer’s sword blurred with the fresh claw marks and the pressure of the castle’s debris bore down on me once more. I clawed at my chest, coughing and heaving, trying to expel the icy weight forming within me. I felt like I was dying all over again.

A guttural shriek ripped from my throat, echoing through the forest, drowned out by the crack of thunder.

The direwolf’s tusk hooked under me, and I went weightless as it hurled me into the air. Raising its head, it opened the pit of blades that was its mouth.

My mind emptied as I plummeted towards death, my hold on my core loosened and the floodgate I’d been holding back for days burst open. Mana roared through my core, filling it and spilling over in an inferno that threatened to tear me apart.

The mana burned through me, searing my insides before exploding outward.

My limp body fell into the monster's jaws, and a wave of energy erupted from me, obliterating its head in a storm of elemental force that shredded the surrounding forest.

I collapsed to the ground amid the remains of feathers, flesh, and blood. The backlash ripped through me, and darkness swallowed me whole.