Addie’s desire to further examine her new powers ultimately lost to her intense need to find water.

“Squishy, I need to take a break,” Addie gasped, her voice parched. “I think I'm starting to dry out.” The thirst in her throat from this morning had gradually built throughout the day, and Addie had even stopped sweating, despite the scorching heat from the entire day. Luckily, things were starting to cool down and night would be here soon. Unluckily, night would be here soon. Addie really hoped she could find the stream before that.

At that thought, Addie checked the Binary’s spot up in the sky, Addie swayed on her feet and eventually chose to sit down. Her surroundings seemed to blur and darken at the edges until an odd sense of humor overtook her.

“Why the laughter, little one?” Squishy inquired.

“It's just... funny,” Addie managed between chuckles. “A couple of days ago, I was at home, and now I'm out here completely lost!” Her laughter turned to a depressed sigh as she realized the gravity of her situation. “We’re going to die, aren’t we? And why am I not sweating despite the heat?” She idly fanned herself with the collar of her shirt. She knew they needed to keep moving, to outpace the howling of the Aurwolf, but she couldn’t find the energy to move.

It was all Addie could do not to keel over right then and there. Addie felt something warm brush up against her leg, and when she looked down, she saw Squishy's front paws resting on her leg. A small whimpering-keening sound came out of Squishy's throat, a rare moment of vocalization from the small creature.

Another howl sounded nearby, drawing Addie out of her stupor. Despite the weakness in her body, she stood up hastily as adrenaline started pumping through her blood.

“Squishy, I’m scared,” Addie said.

“Don’t be afraid, my lady. Let us continue moving toward the stream.”

“You know, if we make it to the stream, we’ll be safe,” Addie said.

“I know. I grew up in these woods.” Squishy replied.

All the water sources in this forest were unanimously treated as safe havens. Addie didn’t know for sure why, but she did remember the time she scraped her knee and her dad brought her to the healing waters spread throughout this forest.

Addie looked to her left, where a giant golden wolf, the same size as her dad rested beside them.

“Dad?” Addie had asked.

“Yes?”

“How come the big wolfy isn’t trying to eat us?”

As if to punctuate Addie’s question, a small silver rabbit walked right up to the golden wolf and continued past to drink at the stream.

“This entire Area is within my domain, Addie,” Her dad had said, “I chose to make a town surrounded by these forests because of how peaceful the water is. I thought, if my town could drink such rejuvenating peaceful waters, wouldn’t my people prosper? If the water is enough to even defang an Aurwolf, then surely it will allow for peace between my people. But, don’t ever come out here by yourself, Addie. The Aurwolves come out at night, and will act viciously if you aren’t near the water.”

Addie shook her head, pushing away the memory. She needed to focus. They needed to find a source of water.

The pair continued their jog, Addie glancing up at the sky to check on the Binary’s position every so often.

“Have you found anything, yet?” Addie asked.

“Not yet, but I think something is close. I am starting to recognize some of our surroundings.”

The next time Addie looked up into the sky, she couldn’t see the Binary anymore. It had gotten close enough to setting that the surrounding forest blocked Addie from seeing it.

Then, there was a rustle not far from Addie, just a few meters behind her, punctuated by a howl.

“Squishy!” Addie cried out.

“Run, my lady.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Addie started sprinting as fast as she could, forest detritus getting in her way and slowing her down.

“Can’t you claw out its eyeballs or something?!” Addie ducked underneath a tree branch coming her way, then continued her sprint.

“Pay attention to your surroundings and run,” Squishy replied.

Addie knew Squishy couldn’t risk attacking their pursuer. From the few flashes she saw of it behind them, the gigantic wolf had golden fur, confirming all of Addie’s worst fears from throughout the day. She could hear it even now pushing past the brambles in pursuit. The wolf punctuated its presence with near-constant ear-piercing howling.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

To find a stream and recover were the only two things Addie wanted. Instead, she had to run for her life from some terrifying monster. And these stupid thorn bushes were not making things better! One of them was still stuck on the skirt of her dress, slowing her down as the bottom half of the plant dragged in the dirt.

With a loud tear, her skirt ripped, causing the thorny bramble to slide down her leg. Addie winced but somehow managed to keep running. She had to kick her leg out a few times to finish dislodging the thorns, but it managed to come free.

Her throat burned as she sucked the air into her lungs. In between breaths, Addie half shouted, “Maybe we can climb a tree or something!”

Squishy responded with his normal direct mind-to-mind telepathy, “If you slow down to make the attempt, I fear you will be caught.”

It’s easy for you to say. Addie thought to herself. The silly cat-lizard creature continued to show how adept he was at forest navigation. Where Addie picked up every bramble and ran into every little tree branch, or even tripped on the rocks, Squishy dodged each obstacle flawlessly.

The two of them were running from the golden wolf monster, but it felt an awful lot more like Addie was running and Squishy was just lagging on purpose so they wouldn’t be separated.

She wanted to give up.

The wolf pounced at Addie from behind, and she barely managed to detect it and move her leg out from its jaws just in time.

She did not want to give up. In fact, the close brush with the jaws of death motivated Addie to run even faster. Her increased pace caused her to kick a small stone full force, stubbing her poor toes and squealing in the process.

“Run faster, my lady.” Despite the situation, Squishy’s internal voice managed to come across as collected.

“I’m trying over here!” Addie replied, with a lot less poise and a lot more hoarse screaming. She was parched.

“Focus your mind. I can evade this four-legged beast easily. You must learn to run with the forest instead of against it. If you stopped making an enemy of the trees you could escape just as easily as I.”

Squishy’s words filled Addie with a wrathful frustration. If she knew how to ‘run with the forest’ she’d already be doing that!

“I don’t know how to run like you, Squishy!” Her next footfall landed on a twig, snapping it in two. The distraction cost her a few seconds as she had to readjust her footing.

Addie looked behind her to check for the wolf. All she saw were a few patches of moving fur in between groups of bushes. She turned her head back around to face the front, only to see a big boulder revealed in front of her. She watched as Squishy expertly jumped straight up to the top, and presumably landed on the other side. Addie didn’t have such agility, so she had to run around the massive thing.

“Remember the gnats from earlier?”

She could see Squishy’s triangular ears in front of her, leading the way.

“Gnats?” Addie puffed out each word with a pause in between, as she desperately searched for more air to fill her struggling lungs.

“Earlier, remember when you noticed the gnat without using your eyes?”

“I remember.” Another thorn nicked Addie’s arm, causing her to swerve slightly to the left.

It was starting to get dark out. The forest was already naturally darker due to the canopy above, and now, the binary had started to fall past the horizon. Dusk was only making it harder for Addie to avoid the forest obstacles. The Aurwolf had no such trouble. She felt, more than heard, it run up to her and nip the air just behind her, before slinking back into the bushes to continue the chase.

“I think..” Addie gulped in another breath of air, “It’s playing with me. Why hasn’t it eaten me already!” Though she pushed out that last sentence in exasperation, Addie was glad the horrible thing was playing with her. That gave her more time to run.

“Close your eyes. Trust your new senses.”

“Are you... crazy?” Addie huffed out.

Addie would sooner return to Realmspace to teleport away than try closing her eyes. Even if her soul was still recovering. Better a torn-up soul than becoming something else’s dinner.

Again, the wolf approached Addie from behind, but this time she could make out a slight difference in its posture. It seemed more serious, this time. Addie gulped and prepared to dodge.

With a roar, the creature gunned straight for Addie’s midsection, this time not bothering with her legs.

A flash of black scales soared overhead for a moment, and Addie heard a tussle and a canine yelp.

“What. happened?” Addie looked to her left, where Squishy was already circling around her to again lead the way. She ducked underneath a branch at the same time.

“I ‘scratched its eyes’ as you so thoughtfully suggested earlier.” His tone sounded sarcastic, but Addie wasn’t sure if the silly creature even could be sarcastic.

“You.. silly.. cat. How come... you didn’t do.. that earlier?” She managed between huffing breaths. Her throat hurt so much it almost wasn’t worth trying to talk. She needed water.

Squishy responded with a question of his own, “How come you didn’t do that earlier?”

“Do what? I can’t scratch out its eyes! I’d die!” Somehow, Addie managed to shout the whole sentence without pausing for breath.

“Just now, you were looking at me with your eyes, but you ducked underneath a branch you could not have seen. Again, I ask, how come you didn’t do that earlier?”

“I...” Addie had to pause and think for a bit while she kept running. She did somehow dodge that branch without looking at it.

Dusk was fleeting, and Addie guessed she had another five minutes at most until it was completely dark out.

“That most recent.. pounce.” The loam underneath Addie’s right foot gave out for a moment, revealing some kind of burrowing animal’s entrance. She stumbled, then caught herself and kept running. “It was going for.. the kill.. wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Squishy’s confirmation was punctuated by a ferocious growl just behind Addie, as the Aurwolf made its displeasure known. Again, Addie glanced behind her. She saw a series of three angry red slashes across the front of its face and over its right eyelid, the slashes across its face forcing the eye shut. The night started to get darker.

Addie tried to focus and use the ability Squishy was so good at, but she just got flashes of leaves and tiny specks of dirt. Addie kept running, not daring to close her eyes. She focused on her magic again, but this time only ‘saw’ a random budding fern.

Turning her head backward, she barely saw the Aurwolf’s foaming mouth in the decreasing light. Despite her desperately pumping heart begging for rest, and her aching body begging for water, Addie somehow managed to speed up yet again.

Her eyes had been adjusting to the increasing darkness, but by now, they had compensated as much as they could. She could only just barely continue making out Squishy’s silhouette in front of her, and only because he was purposefully trying to stay in Addie’s sight.

The fear in Addie’s heart tightened around her as she thought about closing her eyes. But, at this point, the fear didn’t matter much. She wouldn’t be able to see soon, anyway. Nightfall was here.

It wasn’t courage or bravery. Out of pure desperation, Addie closed her eyes.