Running and running and running. That’s all I could do. I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t know who the one chasing me. But my mind didn’t stop to contemplate. Once again, I was back there. To the place where I started. The mansion, burnt. The guards fallen. Blood running like water. That dreadful evening was back to haunt me. I saw a shadow of a man. His face, was distorted. I was crying. Scared. But that didn’t mean anything to him. He moved forward. Slowly, slowly, slowly.

That shadow, it was crawling, towards me. He was Lughe von Roxx, my father. He held out his hand, while lying on the ground. He was stabbed. I could see blood flowing from all over him. His arms, legs, back, head were dripping of blood. Squeezing out the last drop he had in him, he tried to speak.

“Run…away…!”

His breath stopped midway. It seemed like he had a lot more to say but that was all he could get out. He looked at me one last time, as if engraving my face as his last memory. And finally closed his eyes. His face dropped on soil.

I was petrified. No words got out of my mouth. My brain went numb.

*Gasp

I screamed, “Faaather!”

“Huh?” I looked upwards. It was the ice ceiling. I woke up. Inside the ice cave. My light stone was still emitting light.

I picked up my body and tried to lean forward. But there was something that obstructed me. I was unable to comprehend what was going on. Maybe because I was still a bit sleepy but it looked like a face. A large, black, wolf face. Its eyes were as big as my face and his breath seemed so strong like it’d blow me away.

“Child of human!” A deep voice reverberated in the cave. “Are you awake?” There was no mistake, the deep voice, addressed to me, was from that giant wolf.

“Wa-a-a-a-h?!” Just the voice alone was scary enough. But seeing it right in front of me, made my blood rush cold. A giant wolf. I was afraid that making just one wrong move would spell the death of me. But still, my hand went for the shortsword immediately. I didn’t know what I could accomplish with it. Neither did it guarantee my defence.

But just within those moments, the wolf spoke again. “Sit!” It was more of an order. It felt like an enormous pressure pushing me to the ground. I couldn’t retaliate.

“What… are you?” I muttered.