I followed close behind Tsara, anxious to find out what was so special about those wolves. I felt my torso getting warm, and I could see a faint white light glowing under my shirt.

    I heard a voice in my head. “Elliot, these wolves are insane!”

    “You’re telling me! Wolves don’t migrate!” I shouted over the thud of paws.

    “No, I mean they are literally insane, I can feel the voids of energy on their fur. Motnja is controlling them!”

    Now that I looked a bit closer, I could see little dots of - well, nothing on each wolves fur. There was no colour, and I couldn’t sense any spiritual energy. Instead, I could feel an empty void when I probed the atmosphere near the wolves with my own energy.

    “Let’s keep following them, to see where they stop. They just might lead us to Motnja! If something goes wrong, you can always just paint the wolves back in. The main thing is to watch out for Motnja, so if you see him, hide. He’s just a energy void in the form of a paintbrush.” Tsara said.

    “Umm… I don’t really think this is a good idea.” I said hesitantly. “I mean, I haven’t really painted in combat before, a pack of wolves!”

    The pack slowed quite a bit.

    “Well if you’re lucky, you won’t.”

    We immediately broke away from the pack towards some scrub oak. Unfortunately, the scrub oak tree was just a scrubby shrub, so I had to crouch down and squish my innards while Tsara just sat. It was seriously tiny. I looked over the shrub to look at the wolves. They were right in front of the town gates, all crouching down! I never believed the stories of wolves attacking humans before, but apparently, they took it one step further and a deliberate attack on the village.

    “Or maybe they’re not going to attack. Maybe that’s how they say hello?”

    I crouched back down, and ignored the thought. “I’m pretty sure they’re gonna start mauling people anytime soon!”

    “Agreed. Go attract their attention and paint them in.” Tsara said.

    “WHAT!! You do that! I’m not dumb!”

    “Well what’s your genius plan?”

    “Hold on, I’m thinking…” I scratched my head, and looked around.

    The wolves were all still crouching down, growling at the gate. I wondered what they were waiting for. And why they were here.

    “You know why they’re here?” I asked

    “To attack.” Tsara replied.

    “I know, but why attack this village?”

    “Huh. Not sure. Motnja wouldn’t just attack any random village.”

    I scratched my head again. “So what’s so special about this place?”

    I looked around as I thought. Tsara was squatting in thought too.

    “Tsara! TSARA! YES!” I thought in revelation.

    “You’re what Motnja is searching for!” I shouted. A couple of wolves glanced at us, so I ducked down again.

    “Wait wha - Ah! I get it! He’s looking for my physical form. Well he’s not gonna get it! Summon the brush!”

    I released some energy into the atmosphere, and summoned the brush. This time, the brush dive bombed from thin air right into my hand.

     “So, as long as this brush is not in the village, everyone is safe! Wait… right?”

    “Not likely. Knowing Motnja, he would probably take all the villagers prisoners for the slim chance they know my whereabouts.

    “Welp, time to evacuate these duds.”

    “Wait… duds?”

    I snuck past the wolves and crawled into a tunnel. My friend Tim and I dug it to sneak in and out of the village to escape from vendors, when well meaning strangers were blocking the path to the front gate. Unfortunately, his mom’s mining company assigned her to a different town. They moved away, and I haven’t used this tunnel since.