Kylie awoke to a ringing in her ears. It was high-pitched, constant, and overwhelming. She screamed in frustration, turning her head to find the source, her eyes still held shut by the groggy weight of unconsciousness. When she finally opened them and the room came into focus, all she saw was Asalya, lying down in front of the open door, her nose high and twitching, and the wolf’s irritated whine adding an extra layer to the noise.

When Kylie saw the sunshine outside, her heart sank. She knew what had happened. Naomi had knocked her out - a sensation she was becoming far too familiar with - and had left so fast she hadn’t even shut the door behind her.

“Easy, easy,” Kylie said to Asalya, hoping that quieting the wolf would help her focus. Then she cried out over the noise, “Diana?”

No response. Maybe Diana had followed after, but she doubted Diana would leave her alone in the house until sunrise. Kylie slowly raised her head, then gingerly lifted herself until she was sitting up. It hurt to move, and hurt worse to sit upright. But she seemed to have healed enough for moving to finally be possible.

“Diana?” She called again, but wasn’t surprised when no reply came. Her ears folded back, fighting against the awful screeching. The sound seemed to come from all directions.

Then it hit her. Diana had cast a spell to warn them of an approaching Absentia. This noise was the alarm. It was here, and it wouldn’t be long before it caught up to Naomi.

Kylie threw off the blanket covering her legs, and was immediately confronted by the wooden splint. With a heavy grunt, she slung her leg off the side of the bed. It thunked against the floor, sending a jolt of pain that made her stomach clench. She gritted her teeth and tried to spin herself around so she could stand, dragging the heel of the splint across the ground.

She pushed against the side of the bed to throw herself upright, but the splint twisted to the side and she stumbled back onto the bed. Trying to lift herself up without bending her knee wasn’t going to happen. Fine. With the claws on her index and middle fingers, she sliced the bandages tying the splint to her leg. It clunked to the floor as she stood.

Her leg cried out as she rose to her feet. But the pain didn’t bring her back down. Naomi’s healing had clearly done some good. She could stand. Taking a step forward, and silencing a groan through gritted teeth, it became clear that she couldn’t put too much pressure on the injured leg. Kylie limped forward one step, then another, facing the floor. The surge of energy that had gotten her out of bed drained more with each step. She grabbed her dress and coat from where they’d been draped over a nearby stool. When she finished getting dressed, she grabbed her boots, though she had no idea how she’d get them on without hurting her leg more. She turned to sit on the stool, but noticed that Asalya had walked behind her. The wolf stood upright, offering her back to Kylie.

“Silly girl. You’re a wolf, not a horse. Have some dignity.” Kylie’s little reprimand didn’t stop her from falling as gently as she could onto Asalya’s back and spinning herself around until she was in riding position. Her leg now up off the ground, she felt the panicked urgency returning. As she put on her boots, she said, “Thank you, Asalya.”

From here, Kylie saw through the doorway into the next room. Her ears shot upright when she saw Diana. She’d expected her to be chasing after Naomi as well, maybe to the point where she’d already caught up. Kylie watched the centaur’s heavy breathing for a moment. It didn’t feel good leaving her here; it was an undeservedly unceremonious parting, but she was in a hurry, and it was clear what had happened. She’d be awake soon enough.

“Thank you too, Diana,” Kylie said. Asalya turned and headed toward the door, quickly speeding up to a run.

Kylie held tightly to Asalya’s fur as they dashed out into the sunlight. A few feet out the door, Asalya veered hard to their left, not slowing for a moment.

“Woah! Do you know where we’re going?” Kylie asked.

Asalya kept her head low and her eyes straight ahead, focused completely on her task.

“Oh, oh you’ve got her scent this time, huh?” Kylie grinned and rubbed the top of Asalya’s head. She laughed, “Good girl!”

Kylie lowered her head, feeling the wind rush past her ears. The wolves raced through the grey wasteland, up and down the featureless hills, until the squealing of the alarm faded away and Diana’s tree was out of sight.

Riding wasn’t much easier on Kylie’s leg and ribs than walking would have been. She had to keep her leg raised to avoid scraping it against the ground. Lying on Asalya hurt her chest a little with each bump, yet the frantic, panicked energy running through her kept her alert. She looked back, each time expecting to see the Absentia behind her, off in the distance but gaining with each leap forward. But, each time she looked, it wasn’t there.

It didn’t take long before the building pain caused Kylie to ask Asalya to slow down. That hurt in a different way. She knew it may cost them the chance to catch up to Naomi. Yet, with no sign of the Absentia approaching, Kylie had to let go of some urgency to keep herself moving forward at all. 

As the hours passed riding through the seemingly endless grey hills, Kylie made note of the sun still rising toward midday. From where they travelled, the sun seemed behind them and to their left, meaning they must have been heading southwest. Towards Laryth. Her chest tightened. Of course she’d go that way. It’s not like Naomi could go back to Larbroque. Or Crescentia. She wouldn’t go searching for Aalrahzorox without Diana and wouldn’t run back to Nighthills without Asalya and her. No, Naomi had run off to finish her journey without them, even if nothing was waiting for her at the end of it but more pain. She was stubborn like that. The bitter, spiteful side of Kylie wanted to snarl - to stop Asalya and turn her towards home. If she didn’t want the wolves to follow her, then so be it. But the better side of her refused to leave Naomi alone. Not while she was running away from the Absentia or toward the Order. She’d leave when Naomi told her to, and told her to her face.

In time, Asalya slowed down more. Kylie didn’t press her to keep running. The wolf needed rest, and they’d seen no sign of Naomi or of the Absentia anyway. Kylie patted Asalya’s head as they slinked onward. Over the next hill, Kylie saw hundreds of little pillars reaching upwards at odd angles in a field ahead of them. It wasn’t until they got closer that Kylie recognized them as the white trunks of dead trees that had grown in the stone earth, and it wasn’t until they walked inside this dead forest that Kylie clearly saw them as stone in the shape of trees. Or maybe they were trees that had turned to stone. She decided to eventually ask Aalrah if dragonfire could petrify things like that.

Through the forest, Asalya seemed to lose Naomi’s scent. Her path through the stone trees became winding, her pace slow and indecisive. Kylie wasn’t going to push her, but couldn’t help but worry that they’d never catch Naomi at this rate. But then she spotted a clearing in the forest - a line cut through it where the stones had been knocked aside and smashed to pieces against the ground. Something else had run though here too. Her worries shifted. The alarm hadn’t woken her when it went off. It had been going for a while. The Absentia had already passed them by.

She pointed at the clearing and nudged Asalya towards it. The wolf immediately resumed a full sprint to the clearing and down the path carved into the woods.

Through the rushing of wind past them, the sound of cracking stone reached their sensitive ears. Asalya lowered herself further to the ground, dashing even more swiftly around the ruins of the stone trees. She leapt over the shattered remains of a tree trunk, and as they soared, Kylie saw something large and dark far ahead of them. Kylie bared her fangs, and shrugged off the pain in her leg that came from Asalya’s landing. They could see it. As it leapt forward, the Absentia crashed through the stone trees, sending rubble crashing to the earth in a cloud of white dust. The beast was fast, but this time, with all the obstacles standing in its path, the wolves were faster. They could catch up with it.

But then what?

Asalya jerked to the right to avoid another smashed stump. Kylie’s wandering mind made her unprepared for the motion, and she had to grip tight to Asalya to avoid being thrown.

Still Kylie couldn’t help but think ahead. She didn’t have magic to distract it. Or banish it. She couldn’t breathe fire. The only weapons she and Asalya had were their claws and teeth.

A narrow straightaway between the rubble provided all the space Asalya needed to rush toward the Absentia until they were at its heels. The beast of dripping shadow lept high into the air and crashed back down. The monster’s weight and the crumbling stone shook the ground beneath them. Kylie covered her eyes with her arms to shield against the flecks of rock that were kicked into the air. The dust cloud left in its path blurred Kylie’s vision and sent her into a pained coughing fit. Still, they rushed forward.

The constant pain in Kylie’s leg was a sharp reminder that there was no way she could win in a fight. The best she could hope for was being a distraction. With the Absentia’s next leap, she caught a flying rock and tossed it back at the creature, shouting, “Hey!”

The rock smacked into the Absentia right above its back leg and bounced off. It didn’t flinch. Kylie wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t concerned with them. From their current position, now riding alongside its left side, Kylie could look up to see its bright red eyes. They seemed set straight ahead. 

If Naomi was ahead of them anywhere, Kylie couldn’t see her. Trying to race it to her seemed like an impossibility. Asalya had run so much today, and could get tired out at any moment. But there was little else they could do.

Trying to pull ahead of the Absentia proved harder than catching up to it. The Absentia smashed another tree with its next leap. It fell over towards them, and would have crushed them had Asalya not turned hard to her right. They ran behind the monster for a bit, before pulling up beside it again, now to its right.

Kylie looked again into its eyes. They seemed utterly focused. Of course it was. It wanted the Light. It wanted to go home. Kylie could feel that fact in every inch of her.

Before now, she’d thought of the Absentia as a mindless pursuer. As more of a force of evil magic than as something truly alive. But, somehow, she’d felt it want, and now felt it with every bump of her injured leg. It seemed so much more real, much more common - something much stronger than her, and not of this plane, but something she could understand.

When she could finally tear her eyes away from the monster’s, Kylie looked down to Asalya. The wolf’s determination matched every bit that of the Absentia’s. Asalya was not going to let up until Naomi was safe. And neither would Kylie.

The wolf girl now looked back and forth from her friend to her enemy. Both racing. Both hunting. Both wanting. The frantic rush of the moment seemed to pass, leaving Kylie with an odd peace. The world around her slowed down. She looked at her own sharp claws and felt the tips of her fangs press against her lip. She didn’t need to hurt the Absentia; she had never been a hunter anyway. But she was also a beast.

After the Absentia’s next leap, Kylie guided Asalya right beside its back leg. She reached out towards it, and touched the black ooze.

And the darkness between them resonated.

Kylie’s vision went black. For an instant she thought she was unconscious again, but she was very awake. Her eyes scanned the darkness. There were spots of red in the distance, above, below, and all around her.

The Absentia leapt, pulling away from Kylie’s touch. Her sight returned. She wasn’t sure what had happened. The rush of fear that she expected never came. The fleeting moment instead left her with a sense of emptiness, but not the kind that threw her into despair. It was the kind that made her know to try again.

Asalya ran out from under the Absentia to avoid its landing, but pulled close after. Kylie touched its side, and her sight went black again. This time, though, the red spots were much closer. It surprised her to see them so near. She was even more surprised that this vision felt so comforting. It would make much more sense to be afraid. She recognized these red spots. They were the eyes of more Absentia, some near and some far, countless and endless, their bodies indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness. This place felt heavy, and cold, and familiar. She knew this place. It was home.

The Absentia’s next jump was slower. It landed with less force, and travelled less distance. The wolves caught up easily. Kylie thrust both hands against it, and found herself returned to her vision of the Absentia’s plane. The eyes of the many Absentia seemed to be staring at her, as if welcoming her back. But she knew that that greeting was not for her. It was for the Absentia beside her, for when it finally returned. When it captured the Light.

Kylie turned her head up to look at the hundreds of Absentia above her. She looked down and saw only the darkness and her own outstretched arms. Then she turned behind her and saw something even stranger.

There was a house. It was made of the glimmering whitestone of her twin villages, and shone as though it were bathed in the mid-afternoon sun, even though there was no light source in this place. It was wider than it was tall, with a slightly shorter annex jutting from the left side. It wasn’t her father’s house, or Madeline’s. She didn’t recognize it at all. Still, her ears and tail fell low. More than anything else, she longed to be there.

The mass of ooze she pushed against shifted as if preparing for a jump, but that jump never came. It lurched forward, but the Absentia’s momentum slowed until it stopped. Asalya’s didn’t. She pulled Kylie away from the Absentia and away from the vision of this strange home. With Kylie’s sight now back in her own world, the wolf circled in front of the monster. Kylie watched the Absentia’s eyes follow them. Asalya lowered herself in front of it, fangs bared but not growling, prepared to strike but waiting for Kylie’s lead. The Absentia, for its part, patiently waited.

Kylie scratched Asalya’s head, and the wolf’s posture slowly relaxed. She looked to the massive beast in front of her. It had paused its chase for her. It was an honor. Kylie stared into its eyes, knowing what to say and what she had to do, despite how nervous she was to say it.

“You’ve been searching for the Light for a long time. That isn’t right. I promise to help you get it back. Just, please, don’t hurt her.”

The Absentia didn’t move. That alone seemed like an agreement. 

Kylie nudged Asalya, and the wolves turned their back to the Absentia. Still, it waited. They rode forward, deeper into the stone forest. After a bit, the Absentia stepped forward, one dark creature following another.