The she-wolf growled at the shadows as she moved around behind him and nuzzled his shoulder. He was grateful for the ease of the burden of his own body. He felt the wolf’s warm breath upon his back. The sensation was almost as welcome as the ease of the pressure from his weakening arms.
The she-wolf came around him and stood by his side. As he struggled to remain upright on his elbows, he felt the warm spot on his back from the wolf’s breath begin to grow. That was odd, this place should have robbed him of that warmth but not only did the warmth not dissipate, it was spreading over his back and shoulders.
The pain in his shoulders and elbows eased and he found that he could lift himself up. As he moved and worked his muscles again the warmth seemed to spread through his body more rapidly, coating his cold useless limbs with comfort and strength. He looked up and saw the shadows continue to close on them. Soon they would be surrounded, and he would know exactly what it was like to join with the voice that he had listened to so willingly only minutes before.
His legs twitched as his muscles remembered how to work. He willed his legs to move and soon his legs were folding up underneath him so he could stand. He looked at the shadows around him. They were very close.
The light that surrounded them seemed to dim but he still couldn’t make out any clear detail in the shadows themselves. Where a normal person’s head and eyes should be, he only saw a globulous mass of dark mist with no substance.
He tried to stand up, but his legs would not hold his weight and he crashed back down.
The shadows reached for him and the wolf with outstretched extensions of the shifting darkness they were made of. There were no fingers, but he knew he wanted nothing to do with these shadows, or this place, any longer.
He tried to stand up again, and again his legs gave out from underneath him.
The shadows reached out. He knew that he was going to die. Or something worse than that and he was going to meet whatever fate that awaited him at the hands of these things.
He forced his breathing to slow, and he concentrated on his legs. The muscles worked and blood pumped. He felt a wave of energy rush through his limbs, and he stood up. His legs buckled but he forced them to support his weight.
The shadows must have been shocked by this because their extensions hesitated for a moment, frozen, outstretched, reaching for him and his wolf companion. If these things were real, he would have been only an arm’s reach away. True to the analogy, the shadow’s extensions reached out for him and he braced for what was to happen. He looked right at where the thing’s eyes should have been and was not afraid.
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An ear-splitting howl broke out through the mist.
The shadow stopped reaching for him and a massive shape flew in front of him. The shadow was eclipsed by this new shape and the shadow and substance of the thing melted and tumbled to the floor.
The surrounding shadows stopped reaching for him and they all turned their attention to this new presence. The shape was covered in black fur. It stood a good foot or two taller than he did. Crowning its head was two towering ears, sharp and majestic. Its massive arm and leg muscles bulged as it moved away from the downed shadow. The shadow faded into the white light and soon disappeared.
It turned around and its eyes flashed with hatred, and it howled. He wasn’t afraid of this newcomer. He knew it to be a werewolf. Its body was covered in deep black fur, but its chest had a white starburst on it.
He looked around, startled to realize that his she-wolf companion was gone.
The shadows moved toward the werewolf. They spread out away from him as they moved to deal with this new threat. His legs had regained some mobility and he took a step and then another to test his legs. He felt a blast from his side that lifted him off his feet.
The sudden pain and force of the blast knocked the wind out of him, and he struggled just to breath. He was slung over the werewolf’s shoulder before he knew what had happened and he was now facing back behind where the werewolf was running. He was being jostled and thrown around as the werewolf ran with him. Through the swirling white light, he could make out the remaining five shadows behind them. They were gliding though the light of this void. They didn’t make any movements that he could see. They just moved over and through the white light like fish through water.
He could feel the speed at which the werewolf was running, her long strides eating up distance as she could only have been trying to get back to where he had started following the shadow. But no matter how fast the werewolf was capable of moving the shadows only moved faster and they were gaining on them.
The wound in his side from where the she-wolf had bit him was ripping with each bounce upon the werewolf’s shoulder. He tried to reach back and cushion his side, but it was no use. His stomach was tight with the strain of protecting his gut and he had trouble breathing. He couldn’t feel any wind not even with the speed at which they were moving. There was no wind here, no night, no sun, and no moon. Wherever he was he didn’t want to stay here, and he wondered again at how he had gotten here in the first place.
The werewolf stopped running and used her inertia to throw him off her shoulder. She looked behind them and his eyes followed hers. The shadows were gliding toward them and would be upon them in seconds.
She grabbed him and hugged him to her in a full-bodied bear hug. He was engulfed by her warmth and her fur. He could smell the musty, earthy smell of her body and he was comforted by it. It was the only thing of the earth that he had smelled or experienced since coming to this place. He relaxed in the steel of the werewolf’s embrace. His comfort was momentary as his ears were split by a high-pitched wale that would have broken glass.