He gulped, seeing a wolf as tall as him coming at his direction.

Its size alone was alarming for him in many ways but its actions gave him a glimmer of hope. Maybe the wolf was blind because inspite of having red eyes which glowed, the animal was guiding itself by smelling. Its ears were also moving in search of sound.

Saer picked an arrow and notched it in his crossbow.

The wolf ejected its nails then leapt at him.

Saer chose to stay calm while he was few feet away from getting shredded. While the wolf jumped to land on him, he fixed his aim at its throat.

He loosened.

The beast showed no sign of pain. Saer's shot only managed to stop the wolf from scratching his ribs apart. When its talons parted fromSaer's chest, it had left a deep cut to from where his white bone was visible.

Saer moved his eyes off the wolf to notch another arrow. Those paws reached to Saer's shoulders and its weight jostledSaer on the mud.The wolf's claws tried to carve their way through Saer's crocodile skin armor. As of its mouth, Saer had the crossbow gagging it.

Saer's fingers reached for the string out of his sight. He hoped the arrow was still on its place and loosened.

Wolf whimpered when the arrow passed through its skull. Then it fell on its own weight. Nevertheless, the crushing weight of the animal squeezed Saer's chest.

He shoved its body hard, just enough to make a room for crawling out. He pounded his chest to revive his nonfunctioning respiration. Air stuck below his throat came out with a painful burst.

Breathing became easy then.

Sliding his hand under the wolf, he found his crossbow buried somewhere in fur. Some arrows were missing but Saer could do without them.

The wolf was cold as ice. He recalled it being warm before getting killed. Saer looked at the wound on his chest.

Then at the claw which had made it.

There was not a single nail on the wolf's paws. A stain of blood was on the limb which had scraped skin from Saer's chest. Still, which had been longer than knives, was nowhere to be seen.

Moving to the beast's mouth, he got to see how a toothless wolf looks like. A pool of water had settled in its lower jaw.

It had nails and teeth of ice.Saer spoke to himself. But the eyes – they looked similar to the eye on Saer's head.

He saw the yellow moon reflecting on the wolf's eyeball.

Another growl took Saer by surprise. He swiveled back to see a wolf, bigger than that he had killed, sprinting for him. Luckily, he had the crossbow as an equalizer for those teeth and nails.

He notched the crossbow and loosened it despite of fearing an imperfect aim.

The wolf's limbs bent backwards mid-air as the arrow went in between its red eyes. It kept dragging itself on its own pace until friction stopped him very close to Saer. By the time its head came near to Saer's feet, it was counting its last gasps.

Wounded wolf lifted its head and howled. Saer felt its icy breath fall on his knees before he killed it with a precise aim.

A healthy howl echoed from somewhere as an answer for the dying cry. Little did Saer know that it was going to make more wolves howl back.

From there, the forest of dusk became a place for dire howls.

Saer could tell there were in thousands of them. Their tramps made him think it was raining.

He flinched when he heard a cry from pack of wolves from nearer than he had thought. He ran for a tree, not caring for its height. Something else which he had not even given a single thought about ruined his strategy.

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Climbing on a tree covered in moss didn’t go easy with him. For many occasions he found himself slipping downwards, inches away from the branches.

Howls intensified. They were even louder than his heartbeat. Still, there was something else which Saer took long time to listen.

Chimes from the bunch of keys.

He stopped behaving like an ape right there and ran towards the wagon. He reached there in no time and took the keys out infront of the door.

There were at least thirty of them on the key ring. Rusted, big and all looking same.

Saer hasted, choosing the first key. It went in the lock easily but got stuck when he gave it a twist. He separated it with a violent jolt.

His fingers became weak after hearing the tramps growing louder. Saer had reached to third key when he heard the loudest howl. Saer tried to not sweat since it was giving those possessed wolves idea about his whereabouts.

He knew they had come very close when he could smell them.

Fuck! Which one? Saer touched every key.

Howl.

The bunch of keys fell in terror. Saer did not bother picking it up. Watching everyone around him dead, he thought it would be better for him to act dead too.

He lay down beside Yofrah, not caring about his boot near Saer's face.

Although he was ready to hold his breath, fear simmering in him did not let him do so.

Saer tried to stay still only to notice he was trembling out of control. His eyes also refused to coordinate with his intentions. Movement of his retina brought him to something. His blank brain delayed to understand there was a key on Yofrah's waist along with the dagger.

Saer pushed himself up and snatched the key.

"God, let this be." Saer scampered towards the lock. His shaking hand took its time to insert the key in keyhole.

It fitted. Just like the past ones. He held his breath before thinking of giving it a turn.

CLICK!

The door panel loosened. Saer leaped in but a wolf got its paws on door frame from outside. Saer spread his body on the door and pushed himself against the force by his feet. He felt his intestines tangling together.

He threw his body back, ignoring a massive cramp on his abdomen, and closed the door.

Saer relaxed his body and lay on floor by his chin. There, he closed his eyes to relish the moment of peace. When the cramps left, he presumed the place was comfortable enough for him to fall asleep in. It was warm, dry and silent.

For few minutes, he remained there immovable.

Saer thought he had dosed off for a while when he opened his eyes. His confusion over how much time had passed was an evidence of his nap. He couldn’t tell whether the things he was seeing was for real or a dream.

Seeing hundreds of armors were lined in several rows infront of him. Each of them were smeared in blood smelling like it belonged to humans. Some had insects crawling on them, feeding on flesh bits glued on the armors.

Long swords, helms and of silver colour.

All of them looked identical to the living armors Tadeas owned but none of them bore the terror they emitted since they were lifeless. Saer walked towards them with a grin. The smile did not end and instead grew wider when he saw the two bones hanging on the wall.

Saer removed them and held each of them in different hands.

"Obey me." He tapped the bones together, "Follow my commands."

Saer heard rusting hinges creak.