Prologue
by Christian Schwieter

The darkness was all around. With his forearms, he tried pushing the branches out of his way and flinched when a long bough flung back and gave him a slap in his face. Dazed by the impact, he came to a stop and rubbed his cheek. He let his eyes wander in search of any sign that would give him a clue about where he was, but there was nothing he could make out around him, except dark, dull shadows. Even in the total blackness of this place he would have recognised this area if it was somehow familiar to him, but it wasn’t. The piercing shrieks of the night creatures were the only proof for any existence of life around this place and broke the dead silence in odd intervals.

He reached out for the thing that had hit him. With his fingers, he touched the cold branch. The texture of the bark was unnaturally smooth, as if it was covered by a thin layer of moss. With a quick turn of his wrist, he broke off a short twig and held it between his thumb and index finger. It felt rigid, but was assembled with a few limp leaves here and there.

A sudden, loud squeal above made him jerk and drop the twig. Stumbling backward he fell over a long root that reached out of the soil. He tried to get a hold of something around him in order not to fall. His fingers enclosed around a bunch of branches, but they burst underneath his weight and he dropped down on his back. He moaned at the impact. A stump pain soaked through his body. The moist soil beneath him felt cold as he reached underneath his back with one hand. A stone, as big as his fist, emerged. Struggling to stand up, he decided to remain lying until the hurt in his spine would ease off.

He tried to look to his sides, but the only direction the pain in his back would let him face was straight upwards. The slow movements of the almost completely naked branches on top of him were tranquillising and a soft breeze brushed through the remaining leaves in the trees around him, making him all the more drowsy.

His eyes were already half closed when another penetrating screech cut through the dense air. It was closer now, a lot closer, but it was the same one that had made him fall backwards into the dirt before. The scream was animalistic, but had something human to it that gave him goose bumps all over his body. There was nothing he knew to be similar to the intensity of the sound, nothing he had ever perceived that had been more repulsive and frightening to him. Anxious as to what the source of the scream had been, he lifted himself up from the ground, but only managed to sit up half way with the pain still aching in his lower back. His eyes had already adjusted to the gloomy surrounding as a faint breeze touched the back of his neck in rhythmical strokes. He felt something scrabbling in the dirt behind him. His breathing accelerated. With quivering fingers, he turned around. The creature let out a deep growl. A wolf, twice as tall as him, stood at his side and looked down on him with a grim expression. As it opened his large mouth to bring forth another gruesome howl, it revealed a fleshy tongue behind two rows of long, sharp fangs. Blood dripped down on them and tainted the corners of its mouth red. Its crimson eyes inspected him eagerly, as if in search for something. 

He forgot about the hurt, the only thing he now wanted was to stand up and run. Coming to his feet, he turned away from the creatures gaze and ran into the blackness. He could see clearer in the dark now, but still had troubles finding a way through the tall-standing trees and low-hanging branches. The cold air burned in his lungs, and he was having difficulties keeping his speed as more trees crossed his way and the woodland seemed to become denser the deeper he ran into it. 

This was no normal wolf. He had seen many on his hunts back home, and knew wolves would never leave their pack. Nonetheless maybe the creature hadn’t left its pack and the rest of them were just lingering behind the trees, waiting for him to run right into their claws. However, that wasn’t the thing the most frightening to him. It was more the two rows of big teeth and it’s intense glare that took his attention. He had never seen a wolf with any of these features, nor any other creature.  

A small clearing opened up in front of him. He took the opportunity and glimpsed over his shoulder. The creature had seemed to disappear in the shadows of the trees behind him and the howls of the wolf faded with every metre.

He eased of his pace, but continued jogging until the howling had totally vanished. Bracing his hands on his thighs, he tried to regain control over his breath. Clouds of vapour escaped his mouth and the white haze vanished in the darkness like haunting ghosts. What kind of thing had that been? The thought of how it had looked at him with his fierce, red eyes made him shiver in horror and the remembrance of the rotten smell that had come out of the creature’s mouth gave him a sore taste on his tongue. He swallowed hard. 

Still gasping from the run, he let his eyes wander around. Never had he seen a forest as dense and bewildered as this one, and so it was all the more strange to him to find such a widely spaced opening in the middle of a thick woodland like this. 

The moon passed a large cloud and pale light shone through the high treetops around him. Long shadows tainted the clearing in a monotonous grey. The moonlight above him had appeared so suddenly that he could only see a solid wall of blackness as he looked down at the surrounding trees again. What he saw there made his heart miss a beat. A dozen pairs of blood-red eyes materialised from the somber curtain of trees all around him. His eyes widened. Large, grey shapes emerged out of the dark with loud howls. He looked to his sides, turned, walked a few steps backwards, but couldn’t find a way out of the clearing as they started enclosing him. The shapes came closer and began strolling around him in circles that became smaller with every round, leaving no gap to escape. Savage eyes studied him from every side and any single trace of a motion from him was countered by deep, heavy growls and vicious looks that made him freeze immediately. He had been right. The wolf hadn’t left its pack, no, it had only been alone there to alarm him and make him run into the clearing, where it was easier for the rest of its pack to encircle him. Suddenly, the creatures stopped, pulled back their ears and turned their heads as a low rally cry came out of the surrounding darkness. They scooted to the sides and so opened up the circle a little to leave a narrow passage between him and the end of the clearing. Wondering what would be capable of intimidating these creatures that much he spun around to see what was happening. Facing the passage, he got ready to run. Another loud cry and the sound of thick branches cracking came through the dense wall of trees. He didn’t know what was worse, run into the claws of the wolves all around him or escape through the passage, where an even more horrifying creature might await him. While he was still thinking, the black curtain at the end of the narrow alley ahead of him opened up and revealed a large silhouette, standing tall against the pale moon light. It approached him with incredible tempo, making the ground vibrate every time its big feet hit the forest floor. He was stunned by the majestic motion of the animal, but at the same time, felt his heart hammering in his torso as if it was about to fall out. There was no way he could escape, no way out of the clearing, nowhere he could run for shelter. 

Before he could bare a second thought, a large paw struck him centred on his chest. The thud impact pushed the air out of his lungs and dashed him down to the ground. Long, sharp claws tore at his flesh.  He tried to scream, but all that escaped his mouth was a muffled yelp. A searing pain pulsated through his body. The hot blood drenching his shirt felt good on his cold, bare skin. His muscles tensed in expectation for more claws and fangs to rip at him, but none came. With half-closed eyes, he saw an abrupt bright illumination in the night sky and heard howls of agony all around. The howling became distant, until the air was left dead silent again. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a few blurry outlines of a beaming figure kneeling down besides him. Long hair tickled in his face and he sensed something touching his lips. Warmth washed through him. His limbs turned slack and his head fell back into two cupped hands. ‘You should not be here, Trystin, you should have never come here.’