A Boy and His Dogs

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Common Vani Nari

77th of Spring, 514 A.V.

There was nothing, at first. Nothing at all besides the darkness that swirled around. Though, that didn't last long. There was a flash. Then it begun.

It was a dark, dank place. Trees loomed ever so closely together, their branches intertwined like a woven fabric, extinguishing any light source that came from above. The bark resembled pitch as it seems to drip off the branches and down the trunks. The dirt was like charcoal, remaining solid in shape until stepped on before it shattered into a fine powder under one's feet. Then, another flash.

Gale was lurking quietly between the trees. His gazed remained forward at all times while his hands clutched a well built bow loaded with a single arrow with a bright red tip. He took a few steps before there was another flash, finding himself standing solemnly alone in a clearing. Though, the image within his mind sputtered into blackness again, returning to a final scene.

Gale was standing once more, though in a much more defensive position. A low fog had rolled in, reaching no higher than his thighs. Although, the fog gave off an eerie glow and moved slowly, whisping around freely. Gale eyed his surroundings, first in the fog, then the tree trunks, then the branches. There was nothing. But his ears heard a soft humming. A tune even, though it was low and hushed. It lulled in his ears like a faint whisper as another sounds came into play. A rumble of sorts. Gale looked around him again, his eyes unable to see anything in the distance or within the fog. But another rumble joined in, but this time from a distinct direction. The artist whipped around to his right, his blue eyes carefully observing the foliage. But then another started from the opposite direction, this one louder. He swung around again, still unable to see any sort of figure. But once more, there was another low, rumble and Gale turned and looked. There was nothing there.

The soft lullaby still played in his head, and the rumbling turned into enharmonic growls. Gale's heart started to race. He decided to walk on, making his way through the fog and the trees, still unable to see any figures following him. He kept walking but the noises never went away, as it always seemed to. It stayed with him. Every step of the way it stayed. And every step he took, the sweet, innocent lullaby got faster. It didn't matter how fast he went. He ran, he walked cautiously, he walked with a normal pace, it simply got faster, and before long, he saw a figure in the distance. There was another flash, and the figure was closer.

It was sitting in another clearing. It resembled a person who set down on their legs. Every once in away, the person's head would look up from what it was doing before slowly lowering their head again. The widower approached cautiously, though now the lullaby slowed significantly with each step he took towards the individual and the growling eventually stopped all together. He inched his way across the clearing, seeing more and more of the person the further he went.

It resembled a child wearing a lose, white shirt and brown trousers. The child's locks were a golden blonde, reaching just to their chin in a matter of waves and curls. Gale soon stood behind the young child. When he was, the lullaby stopped abruptly. Who was this child? He leaned over carefully, seeing above their shoulder. There was a sketch pad in his lap. The boy had charcoal all over his hands and there was a rather childish drawing of a monstrous looking wolf on the paper. It couldn't be...

"I draw what I see." The boy said in a very innocent matter, just like Gale use to say to whomever listened. "And I see this." The boy finished drawing the last few lines before pointing to the picture with his lanky, dirty finger.

"You want to know where it is?"

Gale didn't say a word. He stood there in shock, starring at the boy.

"He's right there." The boy looked up and pointed in front of him.

Just outside of the clearing was a large hound. Black in colour, it's teeth bared. Blood dripped from it's snout as it's eyes starring at him. The boy started singing the lullaby that Gale had been hearing and the hound charged.

Gale screamed and backed away, watching as the hound bounded towards him. He turned around and ran, kicking up the dirt as he did so. The noises came back simultaneously. The growling, the lullaby, and even more started to come. There were loud barks, the pounding of heavy drums. It all rung in his head as he ran.

He glanced over his shoulder and the boy, watching just as the hound tackled him and plunging it's fangs into his skull. Gale screamed again, running even faster away from the scene. He ran and ran, and it seemed he did so for hours, but nothing came of it. As he ran figures formed alongside him in the fog. Dogs with meatless legs, their feet pounding with the drums. It all collided within Gale's head until Gale couldn't stand it anymore.

His hands clasped his ears and he let out a thundering scream, vibrating the ground around him. It covered the barks and growls and the figures seemed to vanish as he slowed to a halt, falling to his knees. The lullaby returned to a soft whisper, and all else left him alone to his heavy panting. Panting in which he didn't realize was not his own, but of the monstrous hound that stood behind him, it's beady eyes starring at the back of his head with a cruel smile across it's muzzle.

[Aoren]

Falling.

It’s was never something that Aoren could perfectly describe. The baited breath before the plunge was always the deepest. He neither knew where he was nor did he truly care. All he could feel was the wind washing over his body, blowing past his ears and whipping through his hair. He wasn’t panicked. He wasn’t afraid but he knew he wouldn’t be falling forever. The ground would eventually rush forward to meet him and he would embrace it gladly. Slowly, little by little, the end of his fall came into view. Stretching before his eyes was a vast landscape of clouded darkness. A forest frozen in the gloom of misery.

As he slowed down to a gentle glide brushing past the branches of the mournful trees, with bark as black as pitch he caught sight of figures running in the shadows. An ominous fog covered the ground and as Aoren’s feet touched the cold dirt he realized that his body wasn’t his own. He looked down at his feet glimpsing them as the fog cleared with his landing only briefly. He was standing on a pair of paws large and covered in white fur reminiscent of freshly fallen snow caught in sunlight. He swiveled his head to the side looking at as much of the rest of his body as he could. There was naught but white fur and a bushy tail to be seen.

Looking around Aoren caught sight of a nearby pond. The surface of the water was wrapped in mist that snaked across its surface. Tentatively he took a step forward. His limbs offered no resistance nor was there a feeling of awkwardness as he would expect considering he wasn’t naturally a wild animal. Padding up to the water Aoren huffed a breath blowing away the light mist swirling around. In the dim light, there reflected on the surface of the water, was a wolf. Aoren knew immediately that he was staring at himself. He didn’t know how he’d taken on the form of a wolf but his memory offered up no explanation to this occurrence.

His fur was a pure white reminiscent of freshly fallen snow glistening in sunlight. His eyes were the same cobalt blue of his normal irises but they held an almost luminary quality. For a moment he was a little mesmerized by the reflection staring back at him in the water.

“I suppose stranger things could happen and by stranger, I mean worse.” Aoren had no idea what those things could be. Little did he know, he was about to find out. A terrified scream pierced through the silence of the forest. It caught Aoren’s attention immediately. He jerked his head up from the surface of the water, his ears perking up. A low growl rumbled in his chest. The sound surprised him a little before he realized it was coming from himself.

Another scream ripped through the air followed by the howling of beasts. It was much closer this time. Looking around Aoren spotted shapes darting through the mist. He saw a man being chased by dark creatures that he couldn’t quite make out. Shaking off his lethargy and whatever reservations held him back he made a spur of the moment decision. A person was in danger. He couldn’t stand by and simply watch.

With speed that surprised him, Aoren darted forward making his way through the mist. He could see with far more clarity than he would have expected. He attributed that to the fact that he was a wolf. Whether or not they possessed keener vision in the dark than did a human he had no idea but he was thankful for it. As he grew closer to the shapes he was chasing he nearly lost his footing as they came into view. No less than four monstrous creatures resembling ghastly hounds were chasing a man. The man was screaming in sheer terror. He had every right to do so.

"Well, that's not something you see every day."Aoren was no less unnerved by the appearance of these creatures than he was but possessed none of the same fears that the man did it seemed.

The beasts caught up to the man encircling him with murderous intent. Aoren did not hesitate. He bounded over the corpse of a fallen tree, through gnarled bushes and into the fray. His leap carried him over the forms of the hounds immediately in front of him. He would worry about those abominable creatures in a moment. Aoren opened his maw bearing vicious looking fangs, his large body slamming into the beast advancing on the terrified man. Aoren’s muzzle came down on the creature’s neck and with a might yank, Aoren snapped it tossing the corrupted hound aside in the direction of the others.

With a menacing growl, Aoren took up a stance between the remaining hounds and the man trembling behind him. His bright blue eyes daring them to try and get past him.