Chapter 1: I’m screwed

It seemed that the end of what felt like an eternity was finally approaching. Licht tried to move his legs. Successful. He could faintly feel them, though weak, they appeared to be in place. He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them again. The surroundings finally stopped swaying as feeble white light entered his retinas.

'What happened, god damn it?' Licht pondered in confusion.

Little by little, the fog in his head began to dissipate revealing small frail fragments of memory. Like puzzle pieces, they were scattered all over the place and connecting them was proving to be quite the challenge. Licht sighed heavily as he eventually began to recall his past; stones, ear-piercing screams, suffocating fear, pain… It all felt too unreal like an unhinged mad dream.

'What?' With every new image that flashed through his mind, the boy was visibly getting more and more confused until, at last, his eyes began to sparkle with understanding. All at once, reality dawned upon him like a chilling waterfall.

'Shit…' he whispered in distress as a feeling of tingling and weakness began to spread from his soles upwards, towards his main body, 'Shit, shit, shit!' With every second, the unpleasant premonition of impending doom somewhere within him grew stronger.

Licht always knew he was different. His smooth silver hair and elongated pointy ears sharply contrasted with the humans in his village. Ever since he could remember he was a target of persecution from both children and adults alike. Only it was never this bad.

Forcing his trembling legs to contract, Licht rested his hand on a tree, trying to steady himself, his skin feeling the rough dry texture of the thick trunk. Slowly moving his head from left to right, his newfound composure began to give cracks, revealing signs of unconcealed panic. He licked his lips nervously.

Looking around, he took in the dense rows of tall trees that loomed over him like giants, covering him with their colossal shadows; here and there he could catch glimpses of luscious bushes and rare boulders. There was no feeling of déjà vu. Unable to bear the pressure, his legs once again buckled. Licht's knees collided with the cold hard ground.

He was lost. Lost in a forest that he had heard rivalled the entire kingdom in size. Without food, without water, without as much as a tool. Licht knew what that meant. He clenched his fists as his hunched back hit the tree. A rescue was his only hope.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, his eyes igniting with fury, "those cursed brats." He spat, "once this is over…" he paused in his thoughts, his head dropping again."I hope it'll be over soon."

His clenched fists relaxed as a chilling wave of goosebumps rushed down his back. He felt the cool autumn breeze ruffle his hair, playfully pulling on its shimmering strands. The boy closed his eyes as his frail body began to instinctively curl into a tight ball in an attempt to retain at least a glimmer of heat. The dim sunlight that managed to penetrate the colossal green crowns began to slowly recede, giving way to enshrouding darkness. Night fell.

Owoooooo!

The boy's body trembled under the restless siege of the howling winds. Wave upon wave of chilling air, mixed with gravel and fragments of dust assaulted his curled body from all directions. Licht's brows trembled as his heavy eyes began to slowly open, taking in the surrounding darkness. He felt a wave of uneasiness surge through his entire being as his quivering eyelids fought the urge close again until sunrise.

Owoooooo!

Another deep howl resonated with the wind. Licht shook his head violently, trying to dispel the fog that clouded his brain. Something about the howl felt off. Perhaps it was the timbre, perhaps the unnatural aggression that it seemed to contain, but its sound was quite unnerving. The boy's eyes sparked with sudden understanding. It was getting closer!

Licht took a deep breath. His chest began heaving up and down at an irregular rhythm and his throbbing heart threatened to jump out at any second. Immediately waving off the remaining bits of sleepiness, he quickly scrambled to his feet. The only thought in his mind was 'Wolf!'.

As though smelling his fear, another howl pierced the enshrouding silence. This time it was deeper, more aggressive, closer. The boy took an unsteady step back, feeling the cold rough surface of the tree against the palms of his hands, grabbing onto it as though seeking protection.

'Shit.' He thought as he continued to slowly retreat behind the wooden mammoth, its trunk completely covering his lithe body like a wall.

'I need to get out of here.' A frantic thought rushed through his mind. The boy hesitated. He knew that once he left he would never be able to come back.

Owoooooooooo!

'Shit!' He gritted his teeth feeling the unpleasant screeching of his enamel as it was forcefully scraped off. His jaw relaxed, but the agitation remained. His lips curled into a thin line. The howling was so close that it became almost palpable.

'It's now or never!' He steadied himself, taking another step back. His eyes momentarily closed. 'Here. We. Go!'

To step into the forest was to be engulfed in chilling blackness. Even with the faint white rays of the elusive moonlight that seeped through the rare cracks in the mighty greenery above, Licht could barely make out an arm's reach in front of him. In the eerie murk, it was only him and the wolf.

The boy ran without looking back. He tripped, he crashed, he felt the sticky silk of cobweb cover his exposed arms with layers of unpleasant threads as he probed ahead. The howling had long ceased and he was now alone with the fluttering of the wind and the sound of his own heartbeat. Licht couldn't see the wolf but he knew, the hunt was just beginning.

The forest was eerily silent. There was no squawking of cicadas, no birdsong; only his ragged breathing and the thunderous beating of his heart. Licht's chest was heaving up and down in unsteady waves as his lungs began to burn from exhaustion. Every new breath felt like torture.

'Damn it!' Licht spat a mouthful of sticky saliva desperately trying to steady his ragged breathing. 'This can not go on.' He felt that another minute of this excruciation would turn his whole body inside out. He did not stop. Though his mind was begging him to rest, his instincts screamed of danger, it felt as though thousands of sharp needles were piercing his back every time he mustered the strength to look behind.

Suddenly, the boy's legs buckled. Driven by the powerful momentum, he rolled limply along the rough earth. Sharp stones and broken sticks painfully ravaged his exposed skin leaving behind a slight crimson trail of thick blood. Desperately gasping for air Licht tried to get up. It was useless. He felt as though his whole body was drained of all its strength. Waves upon waves of sharp pain began to coarse through his flesh with newfound intensity as the initial adrenaline rush began to recede. Fearfully, the boy looked behind.

Grrr.

For the first time, he heard a low growl. He had never imagined that his chaser would be this close.

Under the timid moonlight, he managed to barely make out the shape of a wolf's muzzle. Its matte black fur seemed to blend in with the night making its enormous body become one with darkness, only its carnivorous eyes glowed with a violent tint of red that reminded the boy of blood. Licht gulped under the wolf's disdainful gaze. The creature snorted.

Taking a slow step towards its prey, as though daring him to continue his futile escape the wolf bared its fangs. Even from a few meters away, Licht winced feeling the wretched creature's rotten breath that reeked of death. With the last bits of his strength, he tried to back off, pushing his body with all his limbs. The wolf appeared to smile as he eyed the boy down without pity. That gaze reminded Licht of the arrogant stare the bullies gave him every time they beat him down. His heart sparked with rage, alas, he was powerless.

The boy closed his eyes. He knew he couldn't resist, he understood that death was imminent yet he couldn't muster the strength to face his end with open eyes. He had always heard that at his last breath, a man would relive his life anew, he was glad it was a lie. He did not want to go through that torment again. His only regret was not remembering the faces of his parents.

'Mother… Father…' the boy thought melancholically 'Is it finally time for us to reunite?'

Noticing its prey's surrender, the wolf lingered no longer, its bared fangs glistened in the moonlight as it leapt high into the air. Licht felt a heavy pressure descend onto his abdomen before his consciousness began to fade. The last thing that he remembered was the feeling as though he began to fall through the earth.