Shadow Realm Book 2

By raob9 - silver member

Submitted on August 15, 2025

Prologue

The night sky is speckled with stars, blinking down at the eight sleeping regions. However, tonight a new star shines, making the stars around it seem dull in comparison.
Without warning, the new star splits apart into four flaming spheres. The fireballs hurtle down, each to a different region, and an infant appears where each fireball hits. Each infant is connected in a special way to each other. They all speak the language of the stars.
The second gift, if it can be called a gift, and not a curse, is the fact that if one of them is hurt, the rest feel the same pain, but less depending on how far away they are.
The first child is a girl. Her fireball has struck Glaria. She remembers nothing about herself except her name; Esmerelda.
The second child is another girl, born with a crippled arm, but with an unnatural amount of lightning that she has the power to bend. Her name is Anne-Marie. She lands in Shye Smara.
Bending lightning. Shoot lightning out of your fingertips. Stronger lightning is darker blue, while weaker lightning is white. For most people, blue is around their fingertips, stretching about two inches past, while white is the rest of the beam. But the third child is able to not only bend lightning, but to also bend ice. Her name is Shika. Kurachi is her spirit wolf, linked to her not only from a pendant, but also because he shares Shika’s soul. Shika prefers to stay in the shadows, afraid of what people may think of her. She lands in Athgar.
The fourth and final child. A boy named Suke. He is unable to bend a large amount of lightning. He has been called a burden many times. He lands a short distance away from Shika, though they are out of sight of each other. He is very particular about how to pronounce his name. Sukey. It is understandable, since that is the only part of him that people think of as useful.
These four children, though they don’t know it, are destined to meet. They were created for a single purpose. To defeat the Shadow Demon.
Kurachi’s fur is black, as black as the night sky, and his eyes are red as blood. He is the last of the Great Wolves. Shika looks much the same. She brushes her pitch-black hair out of her dark eyes. Black hair and eyes are a standard Athgar trait.
Shika fingers a chain around her neck. A red and gold pendant hangs there. “Kurachi,” she says uncertainly. “Why do I have this around my neck?”
Kurachi cocks his head to the side, looking at the pendant. “If we ever get separated,” he says at last, “touch this necklace, and I will appear as an illusion that only you will be able to see. But if you cover the pendant with your hands, allowing no light in, I will appear as a real wolf.” He is about to lick Shika’s face again, when a shout startles him. Shika and Kurachi freeze, as a man waving a club runs at Kurachi. Startled, the wolf cub bounds away by instinct, and the man picks up Shika roughly, hurrying back to the village.

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Chapter 1: Wolfgirl

Shika leapt out of her chair, throwing her half-finished embroidery on the floor. Leia glanced at her adopted younger sister disapprovingly, but Shika paid no attention as she raced out of the room. Leia quietly finished her embroidery and laid it down neatly.
Leia’s embroidery resembled a young maiden plucking flowers from a colorful hill. Shika’s embroidery was supposed to be a princess, but she had changed it into a tangled mess of gray and black strings, with the occasional red or gold patch. Even Juno, who was four, a year younger than Shika, had better embroidery than she did. Juno was attempting to weave a unicorn, with her mother’s help. Luna had offered to help Shika too, but Shika always turned the offer down.
Shika didn’t know why she turned down the offer, she just did. But that didn’t matter now.
She ran through the soft grass, her bare feet slipping and sliding on the dew-covered leaves. She skidded to a halt in front of a moss-covered hollow, and walked inside. She had discovered this hideout six months before, and had played in it every day since then. It was her favorite place in the world.
Something creaked in the dimly lit cove, and a boy about her age peaked out from behind the curtain of vines that hung from the ceiling. He paled as they stared at each other.
“Who are you?” demanded Shika in Athgarian, since she hadn’t learned the common language.“This is my place.”
The boy puffed out his chest proudly. “I am Suke. And I can go wherever I want.”
A long silence. Then Shika started to laugh. The boy looked uncertain for a minute, then laughed too.
Shika stood up, puffing up her chest. “I am Shika! And I can also go wherever I want!” she cried, crossing her arms and pretending to frown. Shika and Suke laughed again.
“Come on! Let me show you something!” Suke cried, jumping up and catching hold of a low hanging vine. He climbed it swiftly and emerged on a small ledge. Shika wasted no time in following him. Slowly, their backs against the wall of dirt, they edged towards a large white rock. They could see the sun rise clearly, and the wildflower covered hill made it even better. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Shika whispered, tracing one of the wildflower’s petals.
Suke picked up a three-petaled flower. “One for bravery, one for magic, and one for love,” he said, pulling off the petals with each one.

I shake my head angrily. Why does this memory keep coming back to me?
I glance at my embroidery. It has not improved much since that time when I was five. But now I am twelve, and am expected to follow our “precious society” rules.
I pretty much get the point behind all the fancy words. The simplified version of our society rules are: “Women should be confined to the house and learn useless things like embroidery and cooking, and have charcoaled eyebrows.”
Charcoaled eyebrows are a nuisance. They make everything really hard to see, and make your skin stand out, making you easy to spot in the dark.
I prefer the shadows, precious society indeed!
Already, I can see the beginnings of a tangle in my embroidery. I’ve been confined to my room until I can create a piece of embroidery without any tangles. But that can’t stop me. Instead of practicing my embroidery, I’ve woven a strong rope so that I can get out of the window. I’m pretty sure that it’s long enough to reach the ground. Who would have thought that I, who can hardly weave for two minutes before quitting, would have the patience (and the skill) to weave a rope?
I’ve just finished. Time to put my weaving to the test. Slowly, I lower the rope. Although there’s no windows on this side of the house, it’s always best to play it safe. But I forget to take my own advice a lot.
My rope has descended all the way - yay! I slide down slowly. I’m halfway down the wall, when I realize something.
I’m at the end of the rope, which means I have to either climb back up, or jump the remaining 15 or 20 feet. There’s no way I can climb back up the rope; its knot that I tied is already beginning to loosen; I can feel it. And I could never survive the jump. Sharp rocks cover the landscape. One particularly large and pointy rock is right below me. If I jump, I’ll probably have a point of a rock through my body. The rope jerks. I have seconds to make a decision, or have the rope make it for me. There’s just one other option I can think of, except it’ll probably not end well.
I cover my pendant with one of my hands, stopping any light from entering. “Kurachi, help me!” I scream, just as the rope unties.
Falling fifteen feet takes a surprisingly long time. At least, enough time to think horrible thoughts. What if the pendant no longer works? I’ve only summoned illusions of Kurachi twice before. If Kurachi hasn’t come, then I’ve just killed myself. I shut my eyes, unable to look down any longer. I land on a muscular body.
I look up and have to gasp. I haven’t seen Kurachi in real life since I was a baby. He’s grown so big. I’m only a head taller than him.
“Shika! What were you thinking?” he growls. Of course, I can understand what he says; I was born speaking the Great Wolf tongue. I can only shrug. I’m too overcome by relief to do anything else.
“Wolf-Demon!” someone shouts. I spin around in horror. They couldn’t have come this fast! There was nobody on the street just a second ago!
Two more villagers are shouting it too. “Wolf-Demon! Wolf-Demon!” The rest of the villagers join the chant. A rock whistles past my face. Kurachi growls. More rocks are hurled. Three of the villagers bend their lightning at me.
I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly the world has turned into a nightmare. The words “Wolf-Demon” echo in my mind.“I wasn’t hurting anyone!” I yell, stepping backwards with my hands outstretched. I would hate to bend lightning against them, but soon I’ll have no choice. At least, if I want to escape with my life.
Caspin, the man who first found me in the forest, hurries out of the house. His face goes white as he sees Kurachi. I expect him to help me, like the last time he saw a wolf beside me, but maybe he makes the connection: Kurachi and I have the same blood.
Kurachi nudges me. “Shika! Get on my back. Now,” he snarls, ducking a ferociously thrown rock.
In a daze, I clamber onto his back. The mob shouts even louder. Kurachi crouches and springs. Everybody screams as we go flying over their heads.
This is like flying!!
I look back once. Suke is staring after me. His expression is blank,but his eyes tell me everything. Somehow, I know that he will be next. The boy who can do nothing with his magic, who can only create sparks. I feel a sort of connection to him, a less powerful version of me and Kurachi.
I am still looking back as Seechee, Lord Ivar’s second in command, speaks rapidly to the villagers. By now we’re too far to hear what he’s saying, but it’s obviously something horrible about me. Soon, we can no longer hear the mob.
Kurachi and I collapse in a heap. We’re about a ten minute walk away from the “end of civilization”, and I’m hungry and thirsty; I haven’t had anything since yesterday morning, and Kurachi seems half-starved. I shakily stand up.
I know that if they find me, they will kill me. They’ll be on the lookout for a dark-haired girl named Shika riding a wolf. I can just imagine what Seechee is telling the villagers.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find Shika and make an end to her,” he’ll say in his deep, reassuring voice. A message has probably gone out already: “If anyone sees a girl called Shika, or a Great Wolf, they should be killed immediately, no questions asked.” He’ll probably have said. I look at Kurachi. We’re thinking the same thing: I’ll have to change my name.
Kurachi cocks his right ear, a sign that he’s thinking hard. I don’t think about my new name. I don’t want to make a new name for myself.
Kurachi gets up. “Yuki. Snow.”
I stare at him. He’s dead serious. And I have to admit that he’s right about it. Yuki means snow.
I try it out. “Yuki.” I say it again, but instead of Great Wolf tongue, I say it in Athgarian. “Yuki.” It sounds good. I look at Kurachi. “Yuki. It’s perfect,” I whisper.
Kurachi tilts his head towards me. He looks embarrassed.
I change the subject. “I’m starving.” I say.
“The only village is about half an hour away from here,” Kurachi says. He sounds grateful for the change in subject. “Okay, I’ll go,” I say.
“I’m going with you,” Kurachi says immediately, scrambling to his feet.
I shake my head. “Remember, they’ll be looking for a wolf. You’ll only endanger me by coming.” this is a great story, but one thing I’d like to point out is the following: when Shika runs away from the village and everyone is looking for her, I think she should do something more than change her name because they will probably be looking for all girls with raven black hair with a dog/wolf. Love tha story
Kurachi sighs. “As much as I hate to say it, you’re right. I’ll wait for you here.”
I nod, and start to make my way through the woods.

Thirty minutes later, I can see the smoke rising from the village. I’m tired, but I need to get food for both me and Kurachi. I blunder on. My legs are wet from when I slipped in the river that I crossed to get to here, but as the delicious aromas of the village bakery and restaurants reach me, I feel that it was worth it. I stop at the village butcher first. “What’s your name?” demands the man running the store. I expected this to happen, but not the first words to be the question I dreaded.
“Yuki.” I reply, trying not to let my voice quaver.
“And what would you like today, Yuki?” asks the man, whose tone and respect has changed rapidly.
That’s when I recall that Yuki is a name that only high-class people have. That clever Kurachi.
“I want three pounds of steak.” I reply, jutting out my chin and acting entitled.
Whether the butcher was surprised by the quantity of meat I had just ordered or not, he said nothing as he threw it into a bowl. Pushing it towards me, he said, “That will be 20 korwar.”
20 korwar is a lot. I only have 100.
There’s nothing else to do, but hand over the money. We need the food. I just am a bit worried about explaining to Kurachi that I just spent ⅕ of our money. Oh well.
My next stop is a local farm. I know that this is stealing, but I’m so hungry that I snatch three potatoes and eat them immediately. I pick eight more, and stuff them into my satchel, along with the meat I have.
My last stop is the bakery. Everything smells so good, but I settle with two large and filling pieces of bread, which costs 5 more korwar. I’ve officially spent ¼ of our savings on food. I hurry back towards Kurachi, being sure not to slip into the river this time.
Kurachi tries not to show his hunger, but I know he can’t wait to eat. I give one pound of our meat to Kurachi, and tear myself off a sizable chunk of raw meat, and eat it as slowly as I can bear to. Since making a fire is out of the question, I have to have it raw. But that doesn’t matter, since it’s still edible. I hurry to the stream near me, and rinse my hands off. I should swim to wash off, but I don’t have any other clothes, so I just wash the blood off of my mouth.
I shove half a piece of bread into my mouth, and call Kurachi. It’s afternoon. We should keep moving. I jump onto Kurachi’s back and we discuss where to go now.
We both know that trying to get to Glaria is a bad idea. The Athgarian Special Forces would catch me in an instant. Besides, nobody knows what there is beyond Gloria. If we made for Sheaze, it would be easy for the Special Forces to catch us before we were halfway through.
At last, we decide that Despard is the only option remaining. Bunching his muscles, he leaps into the forest. We both know that Despard is a bad choice, especially since its ruler, Lord Zorgart, is capturing everything he can, and might hold us ransom.
It’s said that Zorgart wants to take over the Shadow Realm, because then the creatures of the Shadow Realm will serve him, and from there it’s easy for him to rule the world.
Since I was very young, I’ve known that the Shadow Realm wants me to be a slave to the Demon that rules there. And Kurachi and I know that if Zorgart finds us, we’re as good as dead. But I can’t think about what will happen if Zorgart does find us.
I estimate that by evening, we’ll be almost at the border of Despard and Athgar. I doubt that even the Special Forces will want to follow us into Despard.
Despard is widely known for wanting to expand its territory into Athgar, and King Ivar has said that nobody can go solo near the border of Despard. I hardly expect the Special Forces to think that I’m going towards Despard.
We both know that it’s going to be dangerous.

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Chapter 2: Zorgart's Goblins

I think that it’s been three days since we made camp. Each day we explore a bit more unfamiliar territory. I’ve heard Green-Goblins faintly; it seems that Zorgart has a whole army of them, which is bad news for us. Even though the name “Green-Goblin” may sound cute to you, trust me, these things are vicious.
Currently, the Shadow Demon rules the Shadow Realm, but Zorgart rules Despard. Despard is almost as big as the Shadow realm, and is a place that all Athgarians fear. Athgar shares borders with both the Shadow Realm and Despard, which makes living in Athgar dangerous and exciting. Lord Zorgart obviously is aiming to capture the Shadow Realm, which will basically grant Lord Zorgart complete control over the world. That’s probably what he’s raising a Green-Goblin army for.
My first encounter with a Green-Goblin was on our second day here.

There was a herd of goblins ahead of me that I was following to see where they would go. One goblin’s spear fell to the ground, and as he bent to pick it up, I reached out and snatched it, thrusting my sandal into his chest.
“Tell me what you’re doing here.”
Gasping for breath and knowing that if he didn’t talk fast it would be the end of him, he started babbling.When he realized I didn’t understand what he was saying, he started making weird hand signs. I summoned an illusion of Kurachi, and with his translation skills, demanded what Green-Goblins were doing in Despard. He rapidly told me that Zorgart was building up an army of Green-Goblins.
I forced him to draw me a map of the area. “What’s here?” I asked, pointing to the edges of the crudely drawn map.
He shudders. “Nobody ever goes there. And nobody has ever come out alive.”
I hoped he was telling the truth, because when Green-Goblins are scared, they’ll say anything to get out of the tight spot. However, whenever they’re frightened, their brain power becomes extremely slow and bad. This one was obviously extremely frightened. I’ve never killed anything before other than a rabbit, so I was hesitant about killing the Green-Goblin. But I knew that if I let it go, I would be as good as hiring assassinators to assassinate me.
I pressed down hard with my sandal, cutting off his breath. He was already weak and tired, so he barely struggled before going limp. I picked his supplies up, and hurried to my hiding place.
I briefly took stock: a compass, a roll of cloth, three daggers crusted with blood from his last kill, and his spear. There was also a flacon of swamp water, which I replaced back into his bag. The cloth was relatively clean, so I kept that, and the rest.
To be sure he was dead, and not just unconscious, I slit his throat with one of the knives. Up until then, I hadn’t had any weapons.
Slowly, I’d trekked back to our camp.

I sigh, and stand up. Me and Kurachi have just finished our meal. We should probably get moving. I check the map that the Green-Goblin drew.
”Okay, go north-east for about five minutes,” I tell Kurachi.
He nods.
“Give me a second. This should help me disguise myself better,” I say. I rinse the cloth in the water, and wrap it around my head and neck. Now all anyone can see are my eyes. I leap onto Kurachi, and point the spear towards the north-east.
“Let’s go.”
Kurachi nods, and sets off at a quick trot. I know things are wrong when a throwing knife grazes my cheek.
“Wha - ?” I start, staring up. About twenty Green-Goblins are stationed above us, on a high bridge. I watch as two more throwing knives are hurled at me. This time I have the sense to duck, at the same time grabbing the two knives, and throwing them back at the Green-Goblins. Two figures fall from the narrow bridge, and the remaining goblins shriek their rage at me, hurling five more throwing knives. I catch three of them, but one pierces my arm. It digs deep, sending bolts of pain.
I throw the three that I’ve caught, and yank the knife out of my arm. Blood pours from my wound, but I throw the knife back at the goblins.
I bend over and whisper to Kurachi, “We need to get past that bridge. Can you do that?”
“Of course I can,” replies Kurachi grimly. “Is your wound okay?”
“I can live with it. Just get under the bridge!”
Kurachi nods, and sprints for the bridge. Four more knives rain down on us, but we’re going so fast that the knives don’t even come close to us. Kurachi suddenly skids to a stop. A giant Green-Goblin, most likely a general of some sort, is blocking the path. Ten more Green-Goblins stand beside him.
“I can take the big one. Just take the small ones,” Kurachi says tensely.
I slide off his back, and hurl knives at the Green-Goblins. Five fall to the ground, dead. I realize that I’ve just unarmed myself, except, of course, for my spear. I have one chance to take down five Green-Goblins.
One of the goblins runs at me. I stab at him repeatedly, until he falls over. Quickly, I reach down, and grope around in his blood until I find his throwing knives. I hurl them at the other goblins, and throw my spear at the fourth. They collapse.
Kurachi has killed the general. I quickly retrieve my spear and knives. Kurachi is busy inspecting the general’s supplies. A sword that seems to be relatively new is hanging on his back. It seems as if he never figured out how to use it. He also has three larger knives and a spear. I take everything except for the spear. I already have one.
I clamber onto Kurachi’s back shakily. My arm hurts, and I’ve acquired several new wounds also. We go about sixty feet before collapsing in the undergrowth.
I open the last of the meat, and me and Kurachi eat it all. I take some of the cloth I’ve saved, and wrap it around my arm as a bandage. The cloth turns a light pink, but I keep wrapping until it is pure white.
Suddenly, I realize that my other arm is bleeding too, so I have to fix it. Only when I’m finished do I look at Kurachi. He has a spear wound in his side. Feeling guilty for not checking on him sooner, I press moss against it until it stops bleeding.
This has turned out disastrous.

This is ridiculous. I’ve been lying here for the past two hours. It’s almost noon. I pick up my half-empty flacon, and give the rest to Kurachi. I’m tired, and so is he, but I know that we have to keep moving. I scramble to my feet, and, using the spear as a crutch, limp forward. I’ve decided against riding on Kurachi. He needs to keep up his strength.
My compass shows that we’re walking north-east, which is a good thing. I’m going to cut from Athgar, through Despard, to the edge of my map. If what the Green-Goblin said is correct, I should be safe if I continue around that border. Then I can… Well, I’ll figure that out later. I slash through the vines and leaves, clearing a path for us.
I’m trying to estimate how far we’ll have gone by evening, but then a new thought strikes me. We don’t have any food.
Since we ate the last of the meat earlier today, eating in the evening means that we’ll have to hunt. Kurachi won’t be up for the job, which means that it’s up to me to find food. I doubt that there’s any rabbits in Despard, and we certainly don’t want to eat Green-Goblins. I could set a trap somewhere, and hope that something falls in, but I’m not sure.
I glance up, and chop at another low hanging vine. My sword cuts halfway through. I chop again, and the two parts of a snake fall to the ground at my feet. The snake is big, but I’m not sure if it’s edible. Before I can decide, Kurachi bites part of the body. He wrinkles his nose, but takes another bite. He must be starving. I decide not to try it. Kurachi rarely wrinkles his nose at food, so it must be really bad. I watch Kurachi gobble the rest of the snake. He seems refreshed, so we keep walking, but at a faster pace.
I’m pretty tired, so I clamber onto Kurachi’s back. I’m really hungry. I keep slashing through the vines. One after another. This seems endless.
I think it’s been about three hours since we started walking. Still no sign of a meal. My gaze travels to the swamp around us. Deep water is disguised with hanging vines from the bitter folieage. A single lily pad stands out to me, calling. Something twitches on the lilypad. I grab at the hilt of my sword, but it’s a frog. Food. I fumble for a moment silently, then extract a knife. I’m so excited that I nearly miss my throw. The knife slams through its body, pinning the frog to the lilypad it’s sitting on. I slowly wade through the marsh, and emerge with my prize. I wolf it down in three seconds. My stomach starts to ache, as if I ate rotten food. Either it’s the frog, or it’s the snake that Kurachi ate.
Ever since I was little, when Kurachi is hurt, I feel it, and it's the same the other way around.
It’s probably the snake, I conclude, just as Kurachi vomits into the swamp. It’s definitely the snake. I look around. There’s about two more hours left in the day. There’s no good places to spend the night in. I sigh, and continue walking, when the ground gives way, and we fall into a small cave.
Gray moss covers the chipped stones, with new green moss covering the dead moss. A corner is covered with hanging vines that look like a sort of a curtain. As I walk further in, I feel wind hitting my face. A rock is half covering an opening, so if anything did find us here, we could remove the rock, climb out, and replace the rock. The ground further into the cave is covered with a soft blanket of moss, providing cushioning. By the looks of it, it’s not been inhabited for a long time.
I’ve just found the perfect place for us to camp. It seems comfortable, and it’s obviously hidden, since I just fell into it.
I call Kurachi down, and he hurries inside. He inspects it for a minute without saying anything, then lays down on the soft moss.
I clamber out, and call back to him, “I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” He wonders.
“Hunting.”

I don’t know how in the world I’m going to make a trap, but I guess that I’ll learn as I go along.
I take a long vine, and attach it to this weird bouncing thingy that I have no idea what it is. I clamp the bouncing thingy to the ground using sticks, and, for extra security, tie a vine to it, and attach the vine to a tree.
Slowly, I tie the first vine to a strong but bendable plant. I put the last of our bread into the bouncing thing.
One more thing to do:
I take a giant swamp leaf, and wave it back and forth to get rid of my scent. I crouch down into the ferns and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
I get bored, and start chewing on the end of a bamboo-shaped plant. To my surprise, It’s hollow, and full of sweet juice. I can’t believe my luck, and I pick another piece. The inside is brimming with sweet juices. Quickly, I identify the plant. Forthorn. Forthorn is extremely rare in Athgar, since it requires swampy areas to survive. I’m surprised to find that there’s something good in Despard.
A CR-ACK! Startles me from my current piece that I’m sucking on. Two large birds are caught in my trap, though they're still alive, and seem to be squabbling. I stand up slowly. If they get wind of my presence, their power combined may be able to wreck my trap and free themselves.
I have one shot.
I take my best.
I can’t believe it. I missed my shot. The two birds are so busy squabbling, that they don’t notice my knife. I throw another knife. The smaller bird falls to the ground, dead. The other bird chirps in alarm, trying to free itself. But the added weight of the smaller bird makes escape impossible, and I quickly slit its throat.
I make a brief stop and pick about twenty of the sugary sticks.
I lug my catch back to our cave. Kurachi is sleeping, but sits up at the smell of food. I cover the opening to our cave as best as I can, and look around for firewood.
Kurachi nods towards a pile of wood.
He obviously collected it while I was gone. I feel bad for a second because I woke him up, but then I remember the two juicy birds, and my feeling of guilt is washed away in an instant.
I arrange the firewood into a teepee setup; The one useful thing I learned how to do from my foster mother.
Slowly, I bend lightning at the firewood, setting it alight in an instant. I stick the unplucked birds on the end of my sword, and slowly turn my sword over the flames. Kurachi watches hungrily.
It takes me about twenty minutes to cook the birds, and I extinguish the fire by piling dirt over the flames.
I’ll be able to spark up the embers in the morning.
I give the largest bird to Kurachi. He eats it quickly, and I can tell that his hunger has subsided by a lot.
I remove my cloth mask, and blow on my bird. Using one of my knives, I cut a piece off, and grab it with my hands. It’s hot, but the smell is so nice that I eat it immediately, in the process burning my tongue. It’s delicious.
I want to eat my whole bird, but I know that we’ll need food later on, so I eat half of it.
I cut the remaining half into thin strips, and lay them on the embers.
I’ll leave them there for the night.

I wake up at dawn, and take the now dried pieces of meat off the embers, blowing on them to start a flame. I crawl out of our cave, and go to my trap. I want to see if I caught anything. Last night I made another trap, and set it about fifteen feet away from my first trap. To my surprise, I caught two giant birds in each. Maybe there’s no such thing as bread here, which is why it’s such good bait.
I carry my catch back to our cave. We will feast today. Kurachi is awake, and tending to the flame. Sometimes, I think of him more as a person than a wolf. I cook the birds, and dry three of the birds. I eat the dried half-bird from yesterday, and store the newly dried birds in my satchel. Kurachi eats the fourth bird, but he eats it slower than yesterday. I stick the bones of my bird in my satchel. There will probably be a time when I’m hungry enough to eat them. Kurachi clambers out of the cave, and I follow him, jumping onto his back.
If all goes well, we should cover lots of distance today.
It’s about 10 am when I hear something behind us. Kurachi changes his speed, and so does the creature. Something is stalking us. Something bad.

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Chapter 3: Stalked by Special Forces!

I can’t tell what’s stalking us, or if there’s more than one of them. It can’t be Green-Goblins. They’re not smart enough to know how to stalk, and even if they knew how to stalk, they’re so clumsy that they would be making much more noise than this.
The second thing that jumps to mind is the Athgar Special Forces that Lord Seechee must have sent out by now, but I quickly diminish the thought. The Special Forces would never go into Despard. Why should they, when the Green-Goblins can finish me off?
Maybe it’s Zreiths. The huge creatures resemble that of a giant sting-ray and vampire bat, molded together.
I whisper to Kurachi, and he nods.
Abruptly, he stops, rears, and propels himself forward. I jump off, and turn to face whatever is following us.
I take one look, and my blood runs cold. The Athgarian Special Forces have followed me here. This is bad. Very bad. The leader of the group makes a signal with his hand.
Suddenly, I sense one of the men from the Special Forces behind me. He grabs my hands and twists them behind my back.
Now I know why they’re called “Special” Forces, I think as searing pain shoots up my arms. I’m about ready to give up; There’s no way I can win this; when an army of Despardians emerge from the trees near me.
I’ve never felt so glad to see Despardians in my life. The leader of the Despardians demands something in common. He sounds really angry. The leader of the Special Forces snaps something in return. The two leaders exchange two more sharp words, when the Despardians hurl knives at the Special forces. The grip on my hands loosen, and I waste no time in kicking him in the face. Before he can recover, I’m off, running away.
I glance over my shoulder, but nobody’s pursuing me. I can hear the sounds of a battle in the distance. I don’t care who wins, just care that whatever happens slows the Special Forces down. There will be no more time to hunt; we’ll only have time to stop for sleep. Nothing else.
Quickly, I cover my Pendant, summoning Kurachi. I leap onto his back, and tell him everything.
“We can’t stop for anything, only sleep,” I finish rapidly. Kurachi doesn’t say anything, but I know that he’s been listening.
“We can set traps before sleeping. That way, in the morning, we’ll have food, and won’t waste time.” Kurachi says.
I’m pretty impressed with Kurachi’s ideas. I’d just assumed we’d eat frogs and vines along the way. I look up. The sun gazes down at us, filling my skin with warmth. I can’t help thinking that somewhere, at the edge of the known world, something is waiting for us.
If my estimations are correct, we have ten more days of traveling. We’ll continue along the edge, until we can cross directly to Shye Smara.
I’m not exactly sure what we’ll do when we get there, but I’ll figure that out later.
I scrape mud off of the compass, though I can see clearly with the mud. I just need something to do. I trace my hand over the path we’re going to take.
The map feels crinkly, and rough in my hand. It’s yellowing paper, and fading lines are a sort of a comfort to me.
When I was driven out of my home, I was carrying this map with me. It’s the last true piece of Athgar I have left.
I sigh. Brooding over lost homes is not a good use of my time. Besides, I need to update my map. Then I realize that I don’t have a pen or pencil, or, as a matter of fact, nothing I can use to make a mark.
I sigh. I’m extremely bored. It turns out that riding on a wolf through a goblin packed area can get boring.
Kurachi is bored too. I can tell. Absently, I take two bones out of my bag. Passing one to Kurachi, I chew on the end of the other one. Though it isn’t filling, it tastes the same as the birds we ate. I scrape at the side with my teeth, bringing out a yellowish, brownish-white color. A fly buzzes around my face, trying to get at the bone. I swat it away, and it falls to the ground. I roll my eyes, as a new memory shapes itself into my mind.

“Why did you kill that?” Shika asks her foster father, Caspin.
“It was weak,” replies Caspin dismissively, prodding the dead rabbit.
Shika looks to the distance, where the rest of the family of rabbits are scurrying away as fast as they can go. They’ll probably mourn over their lost brother.
Shika tries to imagine if she would feel bad if Juno was killed because she was weak.
“How was it weak?” Shika presses, looking Caspin in the eye. Caspin shifts his gaze back to the rabbit.
“It was a runt,” Caspin says in a voice that doesn’t invite more questions. But Shika asks them anyway.
“It could have survived,” she says in a hurt voice.
Caspin throws his hands up into the air.
“The strong prosper, and the weak die. Such is the way of our world,” Caspin says over his shoulder as he walks back to the house. Shika doesn’t answer.

Now I feel bad for the fly, but I’m a different person now. I have killed before. I have killed goblins. One fly isn’t exactly going to make much of a difference.
I crack the bone between my teeth, sucking the sweet bone marrow. It tastes like blood, and I spit it out immediately. I feel around my mouth. There’s nothing there. I slide off of Kurachi, and open his mouth. His mouth is bleeding.
Is this still the aftermath of the snake?
“Are you okay?” I ask him, even though I know he’s not, since my mouth feels like it’s burning. He looks at me blankly, as an image appears into my mind.
We’re in this beautiful area, basically paradise, but for some reason, I can’t remember who a wolf is. I can’t even remember my name. And for some reason, I’m attacking the wolf, and turning against him.
I snap back to the present. Kurachi was the wolf in my vision. This must be somewhere that we’re going.
I can’t understand it. Where are we going that looks like this?
Then one thing jumps to mind:
The Unknown regions.

The Unknown Regions is a place that almost nobody ever goes to.
It’s actually the rest of the world, but everyone just calls it the Unknown Regions. If they go, it’s by accident. Of the few that go, few ever find their way out. At least, not alive.
The only man who did manage to come out died immediately. Now rumors have spread that you stay young while you are in the Unknown Regions, but when you come out, all the time spent there is immediately updated.
If you stay in the Unknown Regions for 100 years, then when you come out, if you come out, it’ll be as if you’ve lived for 100 years. You’ll probably die once you walk out.
Rumors also say that the Edge of the world is a paradise, but you become so hypnotized by it that you make an end to your comrades, and wander the area forever as half-living beings.
It is also said that a demon rules the unknown regions, and enslaves those that dare venture near.
Of course, none of this is facts, only speculations.
I hope that we survive this.

It’s about noon, but we haven't stopped yet. We have to keep going for at least another hour. We need to get as far away from the Special Forces as we possibly can. If we can make it to the Unknown Regions before them, we can travel along the edge of the world, and make the crossing; at least, if we don’t go insane first. Surprisingly, I’m not that tired. My mouth has stopped hurting; I guess that means that Kuchi’s mouth isn’t bleeding anymore. I slide off of Kurachi for the second time, and wipe his mouth with my wet cloth. I can’t spare water to wash the cloth, and I don’t have enough cloth that I can spare to change my bandages on my arm. I’ve re-masked myself, so My light skin won’t stand out in the dark green and black landscape. I’ve learned since a young age to make sure that things can’t see me by half-covering my eyes with my sleeves.
While I can still see, it stops the eye glow, so nothing can detect me by seeing my eye glow.
I’m pretty sure that I don’t need to do anything to Kurachi; his black fur blends perfectly into the landscape, and his red eyes make him look dangerous.
When I look into his eyes, they look almost like a demon’s eyes.
Kurachi is the last Great Wolf. Saying it simply still shocks me.
I’ve always felt that me and Kurachi are connected. I feel his wounds as much as he feels them, and the other way around. Sometimes, I feel as if there’s some other people out there that share a connection with me, a bit less powerful than the connection between me and Kurachi.
Normally, I’d dismiss the thought, but now,... Now, for the first time, I’m actually considering it.
What if there was another person like me? I’ve grown up all my life shunned and discarded, as if I was just a burden, and a nuisance. I can’t believe that Caspar and Luna, my foster parents, ever missed me. Leia probably is relieved right now. Juno won’t miss me, because she hardly ever knew me. She probably barely remembers me, if she remembers me at all.
The year before I went away, a young boy had been driven out because he was playing with raccoons, which are thought to be demon’s servants. Two days later, they found his body. Nobody has said his name since, as if it was a forsaken word to summon demons
I guess that the people in my village have stopped saying my name.
I still don’t understand why they’re so afraid of Kurachi. Well, I understand, but that doesn’t mean I have to think that they’re reasonable.

Both me and Kurachi are tired, and Kurachi’s mouth has started bleeding again. We stop. It’s nearly midnight. I set my two traps, in the hopes that in the morning we’ll have something to eat. Kurachi jumps into a tree. I didn’t know he could do that! I follow quickly, jumping onto the branch right below him. We’re high enough that if we fall, we’ll probably break our bones, but we’ll also be safe up here. Soon, We’re sleeping soundly.
It seems like it’s been ten seconds when we wake up to an early dawn. I pear down at the traps that I set below our branch. A small rabbit in each. It’s been almost two months since I tasted rabbit last. I can’t wait.
Kurachi jumps down, and deftly slits the necks of the rabbits. He scrapes moss and sticks together into a pile. I bend lightning at the pile, and soon it bursts into flames. We cook the two rabbits carefully, yet quickly. We don’t have time to wait, so while the second rabbit is cooking, I dry half of the first rabbit. By then, the second rabbit is done, so we take it out and extinguish the fire as best as we can without creating smoke.
I eat the remaining half of the rabbit, and savor the taste, while beside me Kurachi gulps down the hot meat.
Drinking half of the small amount of water remaining, I give the rest to Kurachi. We need to find a water source soon. I check my map. According to the measurements, we should come across a river by evening.
Kurachi takes in the information quickly, and I mount him for the upteenth time.

Now it’s about two hours since we cantered off. The sun is just coming up. We’ll make good progress today.
I sigh, and look at the yellow-orange rays of the sun peaking through the trees. I’m still half asleep, but I somehow manage to keep my eyes open. We have to stay alert. I find myself drifting off, but poke the point of a knife into my arm to startle me into staying awake.
Two drops of blood slide slowly down my arm, but the blood has dried five minutes later. I scrape the blood off of my arm with the edge of my knife.
I’m jolted awake about an hour later. I must have fallen asleep.
Argh!
I look up. A proud waterfall is to my left, with a raging river in front of us. Farther down the river, it splits into three calmer sub-rivers that continue down as far as I can see. I try to dip my flacon into the water to fill it, but the river tears it from my hands. I jump up and follow it along the river. It follows one of the sub-rivers, but gets caught among the reeds growing half-in the water, thank goodness. I use my sword to haul it in. The water here is calm enough for us to drink from.
After drinking the cold and refreshing water, I fill my three flacons, and we wade across the sub-river slowly.
The slippery stones at the bottom of the river makes it hard to maintain our balance, and as we go, the water gets steadily deeper, and soon I have to stand on my toes to keep my chin above the water. Losing my footing would be disastrous, because I would be swept away by the water.
I gasp as a cold substance slaps into my mouth. But there’s nothing in my mouth. Then I see Kurachi, and I scream.

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Chapter 4: Kurachi!

Kurachi is struggling to stay afloat, as he’s swept away by the current.
“Kurachi!” I shout desperately. My voice echoes back, “Rachi, Raaachi…”
I try closing all the light from my pendant, but it doesn’t work. I guess that Kurachi can’t be summoned when he’s unconscious.
Wait, unconscious? This is bad, especially since I have a headache. He must have hit his head on a large rock.
There’s only one thing to do if I’m ever going to get him back. Taking a deep breath, I jump towards his distant figure. I gasp for breath immediately. This was a bad idea, but it’s the only way I can think of to save him.
Suddenly, the sub-river splits into two. I paddle desperately to reach the same one as Kurachi, but the current yanks me to the other side. I flail desperately, then nearly scream again as quick visions of a deathly waterfall fill my mind. This must be what Kurachi is seeing.
“KURachi!” I shout in despair. It echoes back to me as the current slows, and I finally get a glimpse of my surroundings.
Immediately, I wish that I never uttered a sound. The ground is littered with skeletons, and the smell of rotting flesh fills the air. Shakily, I step out of the now calm river. It feels as if the river itself is afraid of this place. I stumble over the tattered remains of a jacket. It’s covered in sticky blood. I rub at the jacket, and reveal a light blue suit, the color that the forces of Sheaze wear. It seems that Despard is expanding its territories more than we knew. I uncover more remains of Sheaze soldiers, with the occasional Despard uniform.
This is bad, and not only because of Despard taking over Sheaze, but also because the blood was sticky. This may not sound like much, but it’s extremely bad, for two reasons.
One: the battle was obviously pretty recent, which means that there’s probably a large Despardian force lurking around here somewhere, and
Two: the sticky blood signifies the use of a little-known poison that you tip on the edges of your weapons.
The poison is called Nomix, and it’s extremely powerful. One touch of the poison can make you unbelievably weak.
I check other puncture marks. They fit the type of puncture that an experienced user of Nomix. I’ve studied Nomix before, even though it’s a forbidden subject in Athgar.
I sift through the bloody remains of one of the Despardians, and my fears are proven correct. A small vial of Nomix is in his pocket, and another is uncorked, and spilled everywhere. I make sure not to touch it, but pocket the unbroken vial. I may find a use for it.
I’m thinking of sifting through the rest of the Despardian’s belongings, when a sharp cry sounds from the forest behind me. Spinning around, I don’t think twice before diving into the river, just as an army of Silent Zraiths appear from the forest. There’s about 20 or 30, the usual group size. They seem to be heading for Zorgart’s castle. That means that not only is Zorgart attacking Sheaze, but he’s also angered the Shadow Demon. This is bad news for Zorgart. If he’s fighting a war with Sheaze, and the Shadow Demon sends Zraiths to attack him,... Let’s just say that the Despard army can’t fight on two fronts. And the Shadow Demon knows it.

The Zraiths glide over me without noticing me. Their black wings make no sound. I crouch, glued to the slippery rocks.
This is pretty scary, is all I can think as I watch row after row of Zraiths pass over me. I wait until I’m certain they’re gone, then take out my pendant. I’ve been here for an hour, so it’s been long enough for Kurachi to become conscious again. At least, if he survived the waterfall.
If this doesn’t work, then Kurachi is probably dead.
I don’t think that I want to know the truth. But it’s just too much for me. I have to know.
My hands mechanically cover the pendant before I can stop them. Nothing happens. I sink to the ground in despair. There’s no way that I can accept that Kurachi is dead. We’ve been with each other since we were babies. It can’t end now. It can’t! Completely forgetting about the dangers, such as the Silent Zraiths I just saw, or a potential Despardian army, I scream my feelings to the now night sky.
Something emerges from the forest across the river from me. I spin around. Red eyes stare back at me. I should have run, but some instinct kept me there. My legs scream at me to move, but I stay there. The ears, then the body and the tail of a wolf emerge slowly.
“K-Kurachi?” I can’t believe it. I can’t get my hopes up. Kurachi is dead and gone.
But it is Kurachi. He jumps over the river, and licks my face with his rough tongue. I hold him close.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you!” I say into his fur.
I can suddenly feel a stabbing pain in my side. I hurry to his side.
“Are you okay?” I say, even though I know that he’s not. His whole side is coated in blood. I wipe away the blood, and though the wound isn’t deep enough to scar, it’s deep enough to hurt terribly.
“It was the waterfall, wasn’t it?” I whisper. Kurachi doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to. His eyes tell me everything. Him crashing down the waterfall, a rock slamming into his side, his travel along the river until he managed to clamber out, and found his way to me. I can’t believe the suffering he’s gone through. He was probably half-conscious while I was trying the pendant. But the pendant doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that we’re together again. And I won’t let us get separated again. I hug his body again.
I clean Kurachi’s wound quickly. His other wounds from the goblin ambush have healed, and all the cloth on him has been washed away. I don’t have any cloth left except for my unchanged bandages on my arms. I took them off last night, and saw a scar on each of my arms. I’ve used it to hide my scars, but I take the cloth off of my arms, and wrap them around Kurachi’s wound. Kurachi gasps when he sees my scars, but I ignore him.
“Where did those come from?” He whispers.
“From the goblin ambush, where else?” I snap. I don’t want to talk about them.
“Those weren’t ordinary goblins,” Kurachi says in disbelief.
“Those were Shadow Wraiths,” Kurachi whispers.
I gasp. It’s basically all I can do at this point.
Shadow Wraiths are people that have died. They’ve been half brought back to life, which means that, while they have physical bodies, they’re able to shape shift.
Nobody has ever seen the true form of a Shadow Wraith. The large “goblin” that Kurachi defeated must have been an experienced Shadow Wraith, while the ten that I killed must have been inexperienced Shadow Wraiths, that could only shape-shift into goblins.
This news doesn’t comfort me in the slightest. This means that not only is the Shadow Demon sending Silent Zraiths into Despard, but also Shadow Wraiths. If the Shadow Demon takes over Despard, we might as well say goodbye to our lives. The same goes for Despard taking over the Shadow Realm. Either way, the rest of the regions are finished.
Kurachi nudges me back to the present. “Where are we?” he asks.
I shrug. “Nowhere that we want to stay in, that’s for sure.”

I quickly add our location to my map. I’ve been adding details to the hand-drawn map. If I ever manage to get to Shye Smara without dying, it may be useful.
According to my map, We’re about two miles away from the crossing we tried to make when Kurachi was swept away. If we hurry, we may be able to reach the crossing by nightfall.
I’ve named the crossing the “Yari Shirokano” which means, “Crossing of the wolf,” in Athgarian.
We’ve not made much progress since we started walking. We keep stopping so I can check Kurachi’s bandage. My scars are really starting to hurt. It’s said that a wound given by a Shadowed Wraith is cursed. I’ve never really believed it, but now I think I’m starting to pay attention to the rumors. Or I’m just going crazy. One of the two.
I leap nimbly up a large rock that’s standing in the way. I know I could go around, but I need to have a good view point. In the distance, I can see Yari Shirokano. Its currents seem stronger than before. Or maybe I’m just imagining it.
I readjust my mask. I could use it to hide my scars, but I need to keep it on to stop my skin from standing out.
I’m tired from my battle with the river, and the Zraiths scared me. Not to mention the unwelcomed news about the Wraiths. It seems that life lately is only full of bad news. Nothing’s good. If someone came to me right now, and told me that I’ve been allowed back to Athgar, I won’t believe it. It’ll be too good to be true.
I use the remaining scraps of my cloth to cover my entire head and hair, except for my eyes. I’m already wearing black clothes, and even though I have eye glow, it’s extremely little because of my black eyes. Now the only thing that stands out is Kurachi’s red eyes. But that doesn’t matter. It just makes him look more foreboding, which seems to be the general theme here in Despard.
Slowly, I climb down the rock. Kurachi follows me closely as we continue walking. And walking. And walking.
I’m about to faint from fatigue when Kurachi spots the river on our right. I can barely clamber into a tree, and fall asleep almost immediately.
It feels like five seconds before something nudges me from behind. I jump up, blasting lightning at it, but it’s Kurachi.
My lightning slams into the trunk of the tree, and I sigh in relief. I’m pretty hungry, and so is Kurachi, when I realize that we forgot our traps here. I run to check them. They’re bound to have at least something from two days sitting here. And they do.

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Chapter 5: Wakashi

It’s three birds in the first trap, and a - I gasp. It’s a Worgin.
It’s young, probably about two years old, which is like thirteen years old, but that doesn’t mean it’s not big. Wing tip to wing tip, it’s six feet long.
In case you don’t know what a Worgin is, it’s like a giant lion with wings. Then I remember something from old books about monsters. Since Worgins are thought to be mythical creatures, the book didn’t have much information about them, but there was one main point: If you do a Worgin a good turn, they may decide not to eat you.
I already have Kurachi, but I want to test out my theory. Besides, having a Worgin around could be useful.
This seems to be a good idea; at least, if I don’t get ripped to shreds first.
I take a deep breath, and approach the Worgin slowly. The Worgin looks up suspiciously, its talons posed to strike, but it relaxes slowly as, using my knife, I cut the extremely thick vine I used to set the trap. The Worgin quickly hops out of the trap, and shakes its huge paw. It steps towards me slowly.
I step back a few paces. I’m not exactly excited to be clawed to death by a giant Worgin. But the Worgin seems to notice my hesitation, and stops.
“Speak to it!” Kurachi urges me.
“How? I don’t know its language!” I say in frustration.
“Yes, you do.” Kurachi says softly.
It’s worth a try. Kurachi hasn’t said anything yet that’s incorrect. “Uh, well, you probably can’t understand me, Mr. Worgin, but if you don’t mind, I don’t want to be eaten today, if you get what I mean, so, would you mind eating something else?” I say.
The Worgin laughs. Literally.
“I’m not going to eat you,” it says. Wait, did the Worgin just talk to me?! This is just too weird. “I thought you didn’t exist,” I blurt out.
The Worgin laughs again. “I do exist, but you’re right. There’s no more Worgins.”
“You mean… You’re the last one?” I whisper. The Worgin nods slowly. “Then you and Kurachi have got something in common,” I say. “Kurachi is the last great wolf.” The Worgin looks at Kurachi with interest.
“I am Kurachi. It is a pleasure to meet you; at least, if you don’t plan on eating me first,” Kurachi says.
The Worgin grins. “I swear, I don’t plan on eating either of you.”
The three of us laugh, especially me.
I think that we’ve managed not to be eaten by a creature that’s supposed to be in fairy tales.
The Worgin points to the other trap. “I’m pretty hungry. Do you think you can spare one of those birds?” I look at the trap, which I’ve completely forgotten in all the excitement.
“Yes, of course!” I say. “In fact, I only eat about half of one, so do you want my other half?” The Worgin licks his lips.
“Well, if you’re sure that you don’t want it…”

Soon, we have a roaring fire, with three plump birds. The smell makes my mouth water. This is the first time since we left Athgar that we’ve been able to have a proper fire out in the open. But the Worgin gives us a new sense of security. And I have a great idea.
As we bite through the delicious birds, I tell the Worgin about the special forces, and he nods. It’s as if he’s starving.
“And now we need to find a way to get across the river,” I finish.
The Worgin nods slowly, swallowing the last of his bird. He prods the other half of my bird towards him. He’s obviously thinking hard.
“Well, I might be able to carry you across the river,” The Worgin says after a moment. “I’ve never carried anything before though, so I’m not sure,” he adds carefully.
I’m amazing. I heard five words: Able to carry you across. That's all I need to know. “You’re amazing!” I shout. What I really mean is, “Great job me! I’m about to ride on the back of a legendary beast that’s not even supposed to exist right now!”
The Worgin grins sheepishly. “When do we start?” I say breathlessly.
It shrugs. “Whenever we’re ready. Isn’t there Special Forces on your trail or something?” Asks the Worgin. I slap my forehead. “Of course!” I say. I’d completely forgotten about the Special Forces. The Worgin pushes away his bones, burying them quickly. We do the same. The more time that we spend here, the more of a chance that the Special Forces catch up to us. We walk to the edge of the river slowly. I can already feel the mud under my sandals. There’s a large rock that we climb to the top of. I stand at the top of the rock, and sense the Worgin and Kurachi as they walk up next to me. Suddenly, I feel powerful. I climb onto the Worgin’s back, with Kurachi right behind me. The Worgin seems to grow to fit Kurachi. It jumps off of the cliff, and swirls through the air. “This is AWESOME!” I shout over the roaring wind. The Worgin swoops and spins. It seems to be enjoying its time as much as I am!
“Hey, Mr. Worgin!” I shout. The Worgin leans back an ear. It’s listening. “I realized that I don’t know your name!” The Worgin’s face droops. The wind grows quieter, as if it’s listening. “I don’t have a name. My parents died before that could happen.” I gasp. Having no parents is bad enough, but not having a name is… It’s just… Terrible.
“What if I give you a name?” I ask the Worgin. The Worgin’s ears shoot back. I can tell he’s excited. “Please do!” I puzzle over a good name for him. What about “Wakashi?” I say. Wakashi is Athgarian for “Glowing heart”. The Worgin nods vigorously, nearly shaking me off. “Wakashi,” The Worgin repeats slowly.
“I guess I don’t know your name either.” Wakashi says.
“My name is Yuki,” I say. At least, my name is now, I add to myself. I don’t want to think about when I lived in Athgar, and everything was completely normal. Almost. I try to stop another memory from forming, but it forms anyway.

Shika sits inside the warm house. Caspin walks in, depositing a bucket of snow in front of the fire. Shika has been kicking her legs slowly to heat them up.
Suddenly, SMA-ash! The bucket of snow falls into the fire, which is extinguished immediately.
Caspin throws his hands up into the air, something he’s done at least ten times a day since Shika came to live with them.
“This child is impossible!” he roars. Hurriedly, Shika bends lightning at the wet wood. The wood bursts into flames. Caspin stops talking suddenly, and stares at the now blazing fire. It is clear that Shika has an extraordinary talent for bending lightning. “Wha -?” Whispers Caspin. The flames are back to what they were before. Caspin soaks a stick in water until it is drenched, then hands it to Shika. “Light this on fire.” It’s a command. Shika obediently concentrates, and lights it on fire. Caspin drops the stick to the ground in disbelief. There’s something special about the girl from the woods. Something… Different.
Wakashi lands smoother than I expected him to. Kurachi jumps off, and I follow. Now that we’re across the river, I’m not sure what to do. We’ve wasted the entire day fighting the river, and I know that everyone’s tired. More like I’m tired, and it is evening. I work to create a hut large enough to contain the three of us. It’s dark, so I light a vine on fire. The vine is green, and living, which makes it burn longer. Though I’m tired from bending lightning,I light two more vines the same way as the first. We fall asleep on the ground. Even though I’m tired, I can’t get to sleep. Terrible images of Kurachi run through my head, giving me no rest.
I jolt awake. I guess I fell asleep after all. It’s about three hours past midnight. I should get back to sleep, but I know that the images of Kurachi will just reappear again. Quietly, I walk out of the “hut”, and spring three traps. One for Kurachi, one for Wakashi, and one for me. I take one of my precious Forthorn plants, and suck slowly, savoring the delicious taste. Every meal feels so good here, every bite tastes like honey, but I know that in relation to the food that I used to have in Athgar, it’s really and truly terrible.
Suddenly, loud squawking startles me. I tense, then sigh in relief as I realize that it’s just my traps. The rest of the group of birds fly away quickly, and I’m just standing up to hurry to my catch, when I see something. Something bad.
The birds stuck in my trap aren’t birds at all. They’re Shadow Wraiths.
How do I know that they’re Shadow Wraiths? Because they’re shape-shifting as I watch. One turns into a snake, and wriggles frantically, but it obviously can’t escape. Another turns into a falcon, but my traps hold them firmly. Not for the first time, I’m glad that I used thick vines to make my traps. I slide out four throwing knives out of their easily-accessed sheaths on my legs, placing one in each groove between my fingers. I adjust the knives with my fingers, ready to throw them. I pull back my hand, and let the four knives fly. Each slams into the body of a Shadow Wraith. Though three of the Shadow Wraiths die, the fourth is different. It shape-shifts into a wolf, and though it looks like Kurachi, it’s not. I know that it’s not Kurachi, but I hesitate before throwing a knife at the Shadow Wraith. It changes into a snake just as the knife goes slamming into its open mouth.
Ha!
But I know that I have to reset the traps. I use a big stick to whack the four Shadow Wraiths on the head, before using a shorter stick to whack the bodies away. I’m feeling very pleased with myself, as I reset the traps. But then I remember that those were Shadow Wraiths, and I’m not so pleased anymore.
I think back to the time that the Wraiths shape-shifted into goblins and attacked us. That wasn’t any coincidence. This is very, very, very bad. It means that a herd of Shadow Wraiths are stalking us, and we haven’t even realized it yet.
I return to my hiding place, and suck on another Forthorn plant, when for the second time, I hear loud squawking. I stand up, and bend lightning at one of the birds that is nearest to me. The bird doesn’t shape-shift. I guess that means that it’s not a Wraith. I slit the throats of the three other birds, and carry them back. It’s now six in the morning. I get a small fire going. Kurachi and Wakashi are awake, and Wakashi looks delighted at the prospect of food. He stands up and stretches, settling closer to the fire. Kurachi follows Wakashi’s example lazily.
I sprinkle some of the Werthrew I collected over the four birds. It might help the flavor. Wakashi and Kurachi each have one bird, and I have the smallest one. The other one I dry, and coat in Werthrew to make the flavor last longer.
We finish our food quickly, and I hurry out of our “hut. Wakashi makes short work of demolishing our hut. I think he enjoys being useful. I decide not to ride Kurachi; his wound is still healing, and I might reopen it by mistake. Wakashi seems to know this area better than we do; last night I gave him our map, and he added a significant amount of details to it. That reminds me. I should check where we are. We should be on the other side of the river, which means that we can make up for yesterday’s lost time.
Kurachi breaks into a run, obviously happy to be on the move again. I have to say that I can sympathize with him. He’s gotten swept away by a river, and nearly lost his life. I’m also glad to be on the ground. I feel reassured by the firm, soft ground beneath my sandaled feet.
At least, that’s before I see something in the distance that makes my blood run cold.

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Chapter 6: Burning Ice

We’ve only spent one day here, people. I mean, isn’t it a bit early to be encountering a Chibar? I mean, seriously. Oh, and in case you don’t know what a Chibar is, it’s a giant tiger that’s coated in ice. I think that I forgot to mention that it blows fire, and its eyes hypnotize you so it can kill you easily. And if that’s not enough for you, it has a really strong tail, which it uses to knock you unconscious. Plus, the spikes on its tail are poisonous. This isn’t good. I look up. It’s about two hundred feet away from us. I don’t think that we can outrun it, but we might be able to fly over it, and throw knives and stuff at it as we go. Or I could bend lightning at it. But then I remember that Wakashi might not be able to keep us in the air for long enough. After all, he’s only a cub. I run through my mind, trying to organize my thoughts. If we can avoid the tail, I think I might be able to bend lightning at it.
The Chibar has stopped, about twenty feet away from us. It inhales deeply. I think it’s preparing to roast us all. I vault onto Wakashi, and yell at Kurachi to jump into a tree. Wakashi soars about thirty feet above the Chibar. I throw two knives as hard as I can. The knives bounce off of the Chibar’s armored skin. I cast desperately through my mind, trying to remember what harms Chibars. Then I remember. Ice. It seems pretty weird, since they are made from ice, but,... There’s nothing else I can remember. Then I realize that I don’t have any ice. I point my palms at the Chibar under me, and prepare to bend lightning. It roars, shooting flames at me. The flames are about ten feet below me. I bend lightning as much as I can, shooting ice-blue flames at the Chibar. Only, it’s not flames that come out. It’s ice.
“Wha -?” I say. “I think that I just shot… Ice?” I try to bend lightning again. This time, I can distinguish a different kind of concentration. A different kind of power. So that means that not only can I bend lightning, I can also bend ice. This is really weird, but I need to use this power if we are going to survive this. I shoot lightning as the Chibar blows fire at us. Then everything goes black.
I blink open my eyes. Everything is sparkly. Kurachi is hunched over me. I try to sit up, but I groan. The entire surface around me is ice.
“What happened?” I say shakily. Even moving my mouth hurts.
“When the Chibar blew fire at you, its tail hit Wakashi. Thankfully, no poison got into him, since you iced the ground as you fell…” Kurachi stops. I get to my feet slowly, and wince as sharp pain goes through my back and arms. I walk slowly to Wakashi’s fallen figure. A big cut is on his underbelly.
Burnt fur seems to be most of the damage though. Kurachi quickly takes off the cloth we used for his wound, and we work together to bandage Wakashi. I feel a throbbing pain in my neck, and I touch the cloth covering it with my fingers. I feel around the wound. It will scar, but there’s nothing I can do about that part. Then I remember that Chibar fire is a cursed substance.
I look around for the Chibar. It’s not here. I hope that means that we scared it away, though it’ll probably die from its wounds later. Then I see the Chibar. It’s laying on the ground, obviously extremely hurt. Kurachi sees it too, and starts towards it, in order to kill it, but I call him back. We shouldn’t kill the Chibar. I have a feeling that we shouldn’t.
I rub my wound on my neck again. Now I wear my mask to hide the wound.
I sit down on the hard ice beneath me. Kurachi is busily inspecting the ice.
“I didn’t know… I would have told you if I had, I mean,...” I trail off. Kurachi looks at me. “Don’t worry. I know that you didn’t know that you could do this.”
Kurachi’s words soothe me for the time being.

I don’t realize how hungry I am until an hour later. Wakashi is awake, and seems to be in as much pain as I am. Kurachi gives us some of the dried meat from my satchel. I’m so glad that he’s here to care for us. He’s moved us into a more hidden area, and as soon as we finish eating, goes to catch more food for us. I don’t know how he knows that we are still hungry. We eat two more birds each, and before I know it, Kurachi has restocked our dried meat stores.
Though I know that I shouldn’t be moving around so soon, I stand up and open kick at a young tree, about six inches thick. Bits of wood go flying everywhere, but I keep kicking until the middle of the tree has been reduced to a thin piece of wood. I kick the thin piece of wood, and the top part of the tree falls. I feel useless, and it’s probably one of the worst things I’ve ever felt.
Kurachi has been watching me.
“You know, when you lived in Athgar, you couldn’t do that.” Kurachi muses. I shrug. “I feel useless. When can we keep going?” I say angrily. Wakashi grunts in his sleep, answering my question for me. Wakashi seems to be the most hurt one of us all. I wish I could transfer his pain to myself, but I know I can’t. I pace up and down nervously. The Special Forces are probably here by now, or if they’re not here, they will be soon.
“Listen, Kurachi. Can you carry Wakashi?” I whisper. Kurachi cocks his head to the side, and thinks for a moment. “He’s only a cub.” I say, half desperately. Kurachi finally nods his head slowly. “I guess I could.” He says.
“Perfect! Okay, so basically I’m going to put Wakashi on your back.” I say, and hoist the sleeping worgin onto Kurachi. I hurry through the dense foliage, with Kurachi following me. His protests echo behind me.
“Yuki! You don’t actually think that you can walk for the rest of today, do you? For goodness sake, Yuki, you're wounded in both your legs, have two cursed scars on your arms, and one on your neck, and you think you can walk for the rest of today? Be reasonable!” Kurachi says.
“I am being reasonable. Because if we don’t walk, we’ll be killed by the Special Forces, which are trailing us. So, if you prefer that to happen, then by all means stop walking.” I say over my shoulder. Kurachi grunts in submission.
“That doesn’t mean that I have to like what you're doing.” he says, but I know that I’m right. We can’t stop walking until morning if we want to escape the Special Forces successfully.

Kurachi has tried to keep us well stocked in food, but as we continue towards Despard’s border, the food gets worse and worse. The birds have begun to become thinner, with less meat on them. In most cases, the birds are actually Shadow Wraiths, or there’s no birds at all. We haven’t found any other things except for snakes, which are poisonous, as we know from when Kurachi ate one.
It’s my turn to go find food. I stretch. It’s dawn, the third day from when we escaped from the Chibar. I go to check our traps. In the first one, there’s two Wraiths, which has become normal. I kill the Wraiths, and check our second trap. There’s a small bird, about six inches tall, and five inches wide.
Victory!
Quickly, I slit the throat of the bird. This will be one of the biggest birds we’ve found in the past three days. We used to have birds about one foot tall and eight inches wide, but now birds like these are giant to us. I quickly check the next trap. Another bird just like the one I’m holding. This is paradise. The last two traps have two more birds. Four birds!
Kurachi and Wakashi almost faint from excitement at the sight of the birds. We each eat a bird, and Kurachi and Wakashi share the last bird. We’re a long way from being full still, but we don’t have time to wait to catch more. It’s time to keep moving, even if we are weak from lack of food
I don’t want to, but I stand up slowly.

We are surrounded by mud from a nearby river, but all we can do is to continue along the narrow strip of dry land. Kurachi slips, and falls into the mud. He starts to sink, but I yank him out. He’s coated with light brown mud on one side, but otherwise he’s fine. I can’t help but laugh at the sight of him, but I stop. There was a time that I used to laugh. But now I am a completely different person, with a different name. My name is Yuki. I am no longer Shika, the carefree girl. Now I have just one mission: to survive.
Kurachi has been half-smiling, but suddenly he stops, and his ears prick. A sure sign that he’s heard something. I stop making any sounds, and listen. To my right, a bit past Kurachi. A stick cracks. Something is out there, ready to pounce. Slowly, as if I don’t hear anything, I unsheath my sword, as my left hand automatically goes to the knives that I’ve buckled onto my legs, unsheathing four, one with each finger. I tense on the inside, as three of Despardian soldiers step out. They are followed by more, and more Despardian soldiers. There seems to be about two hundred. My heart skips a beat as I realize that this is no ordinary scouting army. This is a portion of the Despardian standing army.
Then everything goes black.
When I regain consciousness, I’m inside of a big leather sack. Something heavy is on top of me. So maybe one of them is sitting on the sack. I strain to hear anything, but I can’t. I slide my slippery hand down onto my legs, and grab a knife. Taking a deep breath, I poke upward as much as I can. Red blood oozes from the wound. Quickly, I cut a hole, and stuff the figure into the sack. It’s dark, which is good for me.
My hands are shaking so much as I climb a tree that I almost fall down twice. I touch my pendant, and Kurachi’s form appears in front of me. It’s not his physical form, but it’s enough.
“Where are you?” I whisper.
“I am at the Valley of Fire. The Despardians threw me there, but Wakashi saved me. Come quickly. We need your help.”
I pull out my map and stare at it. It’ll take me too long to get there on foot. I bend lightning furiously.
“That’s it!” Kurachi says suddenly. “You can bend ice, and slide down towards me!”
“Right.” I say, concentrating on icing the ground below me. I jump down, and start to slide, icing the area ahead of me as I do so.

By the time that I reach the Valley of Fire, I’m extremely tired, even though it only took me three minutes to get there.
I gasp. Kurachi is hanging off of the ledge, with Wakashi trying to keep him from falling.
Quickly, I bend ice at the ledge that they’re on, to give them a surface to hold onto. But I’m so tired that snow comes out of my fingertips instead of ice. Taking a deep breath, I ice as hard as I can. I hear a loud smack, and then there’s nothing.
It’s dawn. I can hear the first birds singing. I shakily walk over to the ledge, and look down.

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Chapter 7: Valley of Fire

I have good news and bad news. First, the good news. Kurachi isn’t dead. The bad news? Kurachi seems to have broken his back legs when he fell. I iced about twenty feet under him for some reason, so this is all my fault. Besides, I don’t know if he’ll ever walk again. It looks pretty bad from where I am. The ice is stained red, and I don’t know how to get down to him. If Kurachi dies, I’ll kill myself.
I pace up and down. Wakashi is a few feet beside me. I climb onto his back. I don’t need to say anything. He understands what I’m about to do.
Slowly, he glides down to Kurachi’s fallen body. I slip off, jumping the last five feet, and landing like a cat. I hurry to his side. I gently feel his two legs, and sigh with relief. His legs will heal, but I don’t know if he’ll ever walk again. He seems to be unconscious. This is bad, especially since I probably have the Despardian standing army at my heels. I’ve also left an extremely clear trail; remember all that ice?
This is pretty bad. No. That’s an understatement. I’ve just killed us. In the quickest way possible. All the Despardians have to do is follow the ice trail that I made when I was coming here. When Kurachi dies, it’ll be all my fault. If he dies, which is not going to happen. I hope.
Just as I’m worrying about the Despardians finding us, something crashes next to my foot. I look down. It’s the body of a Despardian soldier. What?! They must have slid down the ice just like I did. But maybe they slipped all the way down and fell? Several more falling noises confirm my thoughts. The ice that we’re standing on is beginning to crack. We have to get out of here. Fast. But how? We’ll never make it out in time. Wakashi puts Kurachi on his back. I don’t know what Wakashi’s thinking. He’s going to try to fly out? I don’t have a better idea. My side of the ice starts to cave in.
Wakashi flies over the edge and I’m left alone. That’s when I realize that I have no way to get out.
I know that Wakashi will be too tired to come back for me, and I’ll be dead by then. Suddenly the ice I’m standing on caves in. I use the last bit of strength that I have to ice my fingers to the edge of the ice that I’m suddenly clinging onto for dear life.

I guess I fell asleep after all. Right now, I really, really wish that I’d just jumped the rest of the way into the Valley of Fire. But then I hear a whooshing sound, and I’m pried off of the ledge.
“Wakashi?” I say uncertainly.
He slowly moves me onto his back, and flies back up, where he shakes me off his back. We need food, but we only have three strips of dried meat left. I shakily take out a piece, and place it in front of Wakashi’s nose. He doesn’t wake up, but I leave it there anyway. I open Kurachi’s mouth, and put a piece of meat into his mouth. I close his mouth, and he swallows. I feed him my piece. He needs it more than I do. This time his eyes flicker, and he flicks his ear, but otherwise he doesn’t do anything different.
I wrap my mask tighter around my face as another blast of icy wind whips around me. Who would have thought that the Valley of Fire was freezing? Actually, the only warm part of the Valley of Fire is the very bottom, which is full of, well, fire.
I work on creating a small wall made out of the tree’s branches ahead of us, shielding us partly from the wind. I use a nearby vine to pull myself up. There’s probably nothing to eat around here, but it’s worth a shot. I use vines to drag my body along the half-frozen ground, and fumble as I set one trap. The effort takes all my breath away, but I pull myself back, and manage to set one more trap. I collapse on the ground about a foot away from Kurachi. My teeth are chattering loudly, and I curl into a ball to try to stay warm. I look at Kurachi. He and Wakashi must be freezing. I slowly bend lightning. I can barely create sparks, but I manage to light the end of a piece of wood on fire. Quickly, I move it behind the wall of sticks, sheltering it from the wind. I add three more large pieces of wood to the fire, and slowly move Kurachi and Wakashi closer to the fire. I collect a pile of wood, and place it near the fire. Kurachi moves his front leg in his sleep. It’s the biggest movement I’ve seen so far. I guess that it’s a good sign.
I go to inspect the traps.
I can’t believe it. Am I having hallucinations? A fat rabbit. Fat. the biggest I’ve seen since leaving Athgar. It’s sitting in my trap, its feet frozen in place. I hurriedly grab it out of the trap, and my shoulder wrenches, but that doesn’t matter. I’m too excited by the food. I hurry back to our camp. Kurachi’s eyes are flickering, and they pop open. “Where… am I?” He whispers. “Both your back legs are broken, but we’re safe now.” I say. Kurachi nods, and flails around with his front legs, until he is in what seems to be a comfortable position. Wakashi wakes up quickly, and I start to cook the rabbit. Having food in our stomachs will help a lot, but having hot food in our stomachs will be heaven.
“How many traps did you set?” Asks Wakashi.
“Two,” I reply.
“What was in the second one?” Kurachi asks me.
“I don’t know. I just found this.” I say.
I’m tired, and can’t wait to eat. I cut a big piece for Kurachi, and another for Wakashi. I eat a slightly smaller piece. It disappears quickly into my mouth before I can savor it.
I stand up slowly; the food in my stomach has awakened my appetite; I can hear my stomach growling for more. “I’m going to go check the other trap. It seems that prey is plentiful here.” I say. Kurachi nods. He’s busy cleaning his legs. Wakashi seems to have extended his power to its max, and all he can do is grunt gratefully. We saved each other’s lives. Without Wakashi, we would have died. Without Kurachi, Wakashi would have died. And without me,... Well, all of this is my fault, but without me, Kurachi and Wakashi would have died. Actually, without me we would never have left Athgar. I take a few tentative steps forward. My neck and shoulders ache, but I continue on, pausing at the second trap. There’s a bird. Wow. The bird is a falcon, but I’m not sure what type. Somehow, it managed to remain unfrozen while we ate. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I can’t kill it. I cut the vine, and the bird shakes free of the trap. The bird hops onto my shoulder. What?
It settles itself comfortably, and trills. I try to shake it off, but it hangs onto my shoulder angrily, and hisses. I guess that means that it’s not going away anytime soon. I look at the great bird. Black and gray feathers cover its body. It’s dark and calculating eyes mirror mine. It seems to draw me into it, as if I’m seeing myself as a bird. I feel a sense of pity, the first I’ve felt in a very long time. “What’s your name?” I murmur. The bird cocks its head. It looks like it’s thinking hard. It brushes its beak with one of its wings, as if it was stroking its chin. All of a sudden, it jumps up, cawing loudly. It sounds like: “Scieth, Scieth, Scieth!”
“Okay!” I say. “So your name is Scieth, is it?”
The bird lands back on my shoulder. “Yes, yes, my name is Scieth,” it whispers.
Maybe I can talk to legendary creatures. And now I see that Sceith is a Thower. Thowers are supposed to be extinct! For some reason, I keep meeting extinct animals. It’s like I’m pulling them from another world.
I almost trip over our first trap, making the rabbit trapped flail around like crazy. Sceith dives at it, swiftly killing it. The rabbit is dead, but it keeps kicking like mad. Sceith
I stumble into our first trap. There’s a rabbit in there. Sceith flies at the rabbit, and kills it, then returns to my shoulder. I carry it back, and tell Kurachi and Wakashi everything. They nod, but make no objection as I deal out our pieces. I give Sceith half of my meat; I’ll be able to make it through with that much anyway. Sceith gratefully eats my meat, and Kurachi and Wakashi offer some of theirs, but Sceith turns them down politely.
I look around at my friends. For some reason, while I was in Athgar, I never had any friends. I wanted friends so badly. Not any more. I have a different type of friend. I have more friends than I’ve ever had before. But they’re not human friends.
They’re beasts.

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Chapter 8: Parting

I’m exhausted, and I’m still starving. Of all of us, Sceith is the least tired, so he takes watch for tonight. He doesn’t complain, which I’m grateful for. I curl into a ball near the fire, and watch the flames until my eyelids droop.
I open my eyes slowly, painfully. I wish I could sleep more. I look at the sky; the sun is just coming up. I look for Sceith, and I spot him a few meters away, gliding right above the ground in endless circles. I clamber to a sitting position as best as I can. I can smell fresh meat somewhere. I look around, and spot Wakashi walking towards me. The very effort seems to drain half of his strength, but he’s carrying two rabbits. Fresh meat. He manages to drag the rabbits next to the fire, then sits down heavily. I signal Sceith to come; his watch is over, since two of the rest of us are awake. Sceith swoops over gratefully, and lands beside me. I gently prod Kurachi awake. He opens his eyes, spots the rabbits, and sits up straighter immediately. I cook the rabbits; one for Kurachi and Sceith, and one for Wakashi and me. Sceith eats about a third of the rabbit; he’s a bird, so he doesn’t need much food. I eat a bit less than a third, and give the rest to Wakashi. Wakashi worked for this food. He deserves the most.
I wipe my mouth, and have a sip of water, before replacing my mask. I half-stumble to Kurachi’s side, and press on his legs firmly.
“Ow!” Kurachi yelps. “What was that for?”
I shrug, but now I’m so much happier. Kurachi can feel me; his legs aren’t numb. That means that he’ll be able to walk again. I just don’t know how soon until he does. Or if it’ll be too late by then. I look at the sun again. It’s a quarter of the way across the sky. I shiver as an icy blast of wind hits my mask. Sceith huddles near me for warmth. We can’t stay here, even though there’s good food. We’ll freeze to death. Kurachi’s legs though. He can’t travel. And he can’t stay here, either. Our bodies are so exhausted by the cold, that there’s no way that we could travel. Unless, of course, we had a cart. If we had a cart, we could put Kurachi in it, and pull the cart. But we don’t have a cart, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re too weak to be able to build a cart, and even if we could, we don’t know how.
Kurachi seems to read my thoughts, and sits up straight.
“Attention! We are going to make a cart or a wagon, so let’s get working!” he says loudly. “I obviously can’t be of much use, but I can still help. I doubt that you know how to make a cart; well, good news, I do!” I open my mouth again, but Kurachi talks over me.
“I know that we’re all tired. But we will do this, because we can’t stay here. We’ll freeze to death!”
Wakashi has stood up straighter, and leaps to his feet suddenly.
“I agree with Kurachi; each day drains us of our strength more and more. We need to leave soon.” Wakashi says. I can’t help agreeing. Standing up gets harder each day. I nod, and Sceith agrees. I guess that means that we should get to work.

The cart is almost finished. The wood that we used was the strongest we could find, but I’m not sure if it’ll work. Sceith has kept us supplied with food, which has given us new energy. I have two rabbits worth of dried meat in my satchel now. Sceith has managed to find extra food. Kurachi has cooked and dried the meat, and kept the fire going all the time.
It’s time to test the cart.
Kurachi claws his way into the cart, and settles himself comfortably. We pass up all of our belongings, and Wakashi goes in front of the cart.
Wakashi starts to pull the cart forward; the wheels creak and groan, but they move forward slowly. I ice the ground behind Wakashi, and it rolls smoothly.
Finally, evening arrives. Dust swirls in from the direction we came from, spinning in the cold air. Mist settles around us, cloaking us in invisibility, giving us a sense of security. The wind whistles around the cart before departing abruptly.
We’ve traveled further away from the cold. It’s not winter yet, but the Valley of Fire is cursed to be frozen forever. Except for the treacherous flames at the bottom. I flick thoughts of the Valley of Fire from my mind, and climb into the cart, followed by Wakashi and Sceith.
It takes me a minute to notice that Kurachi is standing. “Kurachi! You're standing!” I shout, which is obvious.
He looks confused, then his eyes brighten.
Wakashi and Sceith are elected to go hunt; We all agree that I can stay with Kurachi. Wakashi and Sceith hurry out, and I inspect Kurachi for a full ten minutes.
It starts to rain suddenly, as if a signal has shot through the clouds above us. I imagine the clouds crying from joy that Kurachi can stand now. Heavy rain patters down on us. Wakashi and Sceith still haven’t returned. I wait patiently. Thunder crackles above us. It feels as if the whole world is shaking. I poke my head out again, straining to see through the mist and rain. I think I can detect two drenched figures.
“Wakashi?” I say. “Sceith?”
Wakashi is holding two birds, and Sceith has dropped a bird at the entrance. I hurry to go pick it up, and bring them into the center of the cart. I know that we can’t make a fire in the cart, and we can’t make a fire outside, but I’m pretty sure that if I bend a small amount of lightning at a time at the birds, I’ll be able to cook them without a fire. I concentrate on bending lightning at a bird; its wing starts to glow red, and I can see little sparks gathering on the edges. I do the same thing for the rest of the body. I give the bird to Kurachi, and cook the other two birds in a similar fashion. I give the other bird to Wakashi, and share one with Sceith. Sceith is a carnivore it seems, and since he’s a hawk, he eats smaller birds. So I guess it’s not cannibalism. But that doesn’t mean it’s not creepy.
We sit in the cart in silence. All we can hear is the rain hitting the ground outside. I turn to Wakashi. “Um, Wakashi?” I say. He looks at me. “Well, Wakashi. Why are you always helping me?”
“Because when a Worgin is done a good turn, they must serve whoever helped them for the rest of their life,” He replies.
“Oh.” I say. The rain has become a drizzle. I look out. Half of the stars are out already. I curl into a ball, and try to sleep. The others are doing the same.
“Wakashi!” I whisper.
“Yes?”
“Wakashi, I… I just wanted to tell you, that if you really wanted to serve me, you would be free. You can leave now, and not come back if you want. I’ll tell the others… I’ll tell them something, but, if it makes you happy, you should leave.” I say.
Wakashi stands up straight. “You mean… You mean I’m free?”
“Yes,” I say.
Wakashi stands up.
“Thank you.” He says, before hurrying out of the cart.
I watch him go, and I wonder if I made the right choice. That’s when I realize that now we have no way of pulling the cart.

It feels as though I’ve just fallen asleep, when sunlight hits my eyelids. I snap awake. It’s early in the morning, but Kurachi and Sceith are up. Neither asks about Wakashi; I bet that they were awake when I let Wakashi go. Kurachi stands up, and stretches slowly. I urge him to try and walk; he does. He’s able to half-limp now. I stand up, and hurry to go check our traps, carrying my catch back. Kurachi is walking slowly around. I think that he’s limping because he’s weak. After he eats, he’ll probably be able to walk normally again. I still won’t be able to ride him, but we can walk.
We finish our meal quickly, and stand up. Kurachi walks around slowly; he’s not limping as much, so that’s good. I ice our cart in place; a silent memory of Wakashi.
We hurry through the undergrowth; the Special Forces are probably a day behind us. Sceith flies to my shoulder, and settles himself comfortably on my shoulder. He fluffs up his feathers, and sighs contentedly. I sigh to myself, and continue.
We stop for the night, and leave early the next morning. Nothing changes for the next two days; we wake up, we eat, we walk, we go to sleep, we wake up,....
It’s been four days since Wakashi left us; I think that Kurachi is ready to hold me. He’s been much stronger than he ever was, and walks without any trouble. In fact, he’s run more than once. My legs are also getting tired, but that’s beside the point. According to my map, we’ll be at Despard’s border in about two more days of traveling.
Once there, we’ll finally be free from the Special Forces or anything else that may want to capture or kill us. I hope.
I don’t really know whether we’ll be safe or not. If anything, we might be walking straight into something more dangerous. But we need a destination, and that’s our best bet.
This place that we’re going to doesn’t seem to be paradise. It feels like hell.
One of the reasons I didn’t fit well in society was because I never showed emotion, even though I was thinking hard. Luna, my foster mother, always said that I had a strange, calculating look that made me seem like I was looking through people. She thought it was unladylike, and rude. She wanted a smile to be plastered on my face at all times. She wanted me to be someone I was not. I didn’t understand at the time why, but now I do. She wanted me to have friends.
Something I was incapable of doing.
Even now.
I’ve not even spoken Athgarian since leaving, over a month and a half ago. I can’t trust any of them. Except for one person, that saw the good in me. Suke.

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Chapter 9: Demon of Rainbows

The next day, things start to change. Rapidly. And not for the better. Sceith has discovered that Special Forces are right behind us; an hour or two away. We quicken our pace, but that’s about it. It’s been a game of touch and go for a long time. We are captured, and then we manage to escape; it’s repeated almost every time we meet. But this time, it’s different. This time, I’m certain that we won’t escape. Which is why we have to get to the Unknown Regions before them.
I sigh. Sceith should have returned from scouting ahead of us by now. I’m tempted to sleep, lulled by Kurachi’s rhythmic trotting, but Sceith returns before I can. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Sceith swoops onto my shoulder, and quickly explains more bad news. The Special Forces have sent a small group ahead of us, forcing us to turn off course, and lose time. This isn’t good. We have two options: Turn off track, losing about a day’s worth of walking, or continue forward carefully, and hope that we evade the Special Forces entirely. I look at Kurachi. Then behind us. Kurachi flicks his ear, showing signs that he’s waiting for me to make a decision. I lean forward, until I’m practically not visible. Kurachi understands. We will continue forward as if we know nothing. If any of us has second thoughts about this, we give no sign of it. One of the key factors in a group is believing in each other. Please, Kurachi, Sceith. Believe in me one last time; If I am leading you into a trap, know that I will be the first to fall.
My knuckles whiten; I’m holding onto Kurachi’s fur extremely hard. I slowly release his fur, tying my mask around my face tighter. All we can do is continue, our pace quickened from nervousness.
It’s such dense fog that I can only see the legs of the Special Forces that have finally caught up with us. And ahead of us, I can barely see the group of Special Forces that Sceith reported where ahead of us. To my left is the source of all the fog. The Edge of the World.
We have one choice. We sprint into the fog. I can dimly hear shouts echoing around us. Then the sound of many feet running behind us. Kurachi runs beside me; I reach out my hand, grabbing onto his fur. I won’t lose him. Sceith’s claws dig into my shoulder. This is bad.
A blood-curdling scream sounds above us. I look up into the fog ahead of me. Everything is white.
We keep running, not even breaking pace. Finally we skid to a stop, and collapse on each other in a heap.
My eyelids flicker. I open my eyes, and gasp. We are in a garden of rainbows, with a fountain spewing multicolored water near us. Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Or am I having hallucinations? I stand up shakily. What is this place? Is this truly the Edge of the World? I shake Kurachi and Sceith awake. They react the same as I did. The three of us stand up slowly. Three figures step out of the bushes in front of us. They look like they are made of rainbows. There is no clear face on any of them.
“What do you wish for, stranger?” They say. Their voices chill my heart, but I feel like I am forced to say something. And yet, I don’t say anything. Something in my mind tells me to stop, to run from these creatures. But I can’t. I am frozen in place. Time has stopped for everyone. I alone am the one that matters in this world. And for the first time, I look at where Kurachi should have been, and I don’t recognize him. His eyes are what bring memories of him back to me. That, and the fact that my pendant is burning against my skin. It leaves a mark. I look at Kurachi, unsure what to do. I know that he felt it. He shrugs, and looks at the ghostly beings.
“What do you wish for?” The ghostly beings say again, more urgently. Still, we do not answer. I have a feeling that answering the question will do something bad, but Kurachi answers before I can warn him.
“We want to be safe from the Special Forces,” Says Kurachi. Well, that’s true. And nothing bad happened, see!
“Very well. Your wish is granted.” The rainbow ghosts say. “What do you wish for?” They say again. Sceith answers. “We want to have food and drink,” Sceith says quickly.
“Very well. Your wish is granted.” The ghosts say, and suddenly we’re sitting at a big table, with every kind of food I know of.
“What do you wish for?” They ask again, this time to me.
“I wish that you would go away, and leave us alone, and stop playing tricks on us!” I shout.
There’s a long silence. Then suddenly everything becomes a swirl of rainbows, and when the rainbows clear, the three ghosts have become tornadoes of light. I gasp. This is not what I meant to happen.
“Foolish mortals. Fine then. We will leave, and never come back. You can stay here forever.” Says one of the ghosts angrily.
“Yes yes yes…” Whisper the other two.
Oh no. What have I done? The three ghosts – or are they demons? – Are gone in the blink of an eye.
I glare behind me, and scream. A giant wolf is behind me. It snarls, and shows it’s teeth. I stand still, though my legs are telling me to move. Suddenly, the wolf stops, and suddenly Kurachi is standing there.
“I didn’t recognize you, Kurachi!” I whisper. “What are they doing to us?” That’s when I realize that I’m talking to a giant wolf! I scream again, and run as far as I can away. I can feel it’s hot breath on my neck. I hit its nose as hard as I can, making its mouth bleed. It stops, and I keep running for my life.
Hours later, I stop, and collapse on the ground, gasping for breath.
When I finally manage to stand up, I see Kurachi’s familiar face looming over me. I can recognize him now. Whatever this place is doing to us, it’s not good. I look around for Sceith, but I can’t see him. Oh no. That’s when another of the rainbow ghosts emerges. Again.
“I said that I didn’t want you near me!” I start to shout angrily, but the ghost interrupts me.
“You will listen if you ever want to see your friend again.” It says. I stop talking immediately. So they took Sceith?
“We have taken your companion. Lord Efron demands to see you. If you value your companion’s life, you will come with us.” The ghost says. Its words feel like frozen colors, and they vibrate my heart, freezing my blood.
“Fine.” I say. Lord Efron can’t be much worse than these Rainbow Ghosts.
The ghost leads us, and as we go, we are joined by more ghosts, flanking us. The ghosts lead us to a huge gate; It’s covered in mist, much like when we first entered this forsaken place. It swings open, revealing a giant throne. Someone sits there, but I can’t make out details yet. We slowly walk along the purple carpet leading up to the throne, and stop. The ghosts vanish, and we’re left there. Lord Efron leans forward, and starts laughing. Cackling, really.
“So, I assume you’ve come here for your friend?” He says.
“What have you done with Sceith?” I shout. He stops laughing, and looks at me.
“I haven’t done anything wrong yet. I’ve just caged him. You know, he tried to fight me. Foolish of him, really. I don’t know why he did it.” Lord Efron is making no sense. We need to find Sceith and escape. Soon. Lord Efron produces a cage. I recognized Sceith immediately.
“What are you doing!” I shout. Lord Efron’s eyes harden. “So, it seems like you are still able to recognize him. How sad. It will just make this so much more painful.” Lord Efron snarls. I run at him angrily, determined to wipe his sneer off of his face. My sword collides with a metal staff. Lord Efron knocks the sword from my hand with his staff. I fall back onto the carpet. I don’t have enough strength! In slow motion, I watch the staff point at me, and blasting blue light burst from it. Lord Efron is using the staff to bend a huge amount of lightning; more than I thought possible! I jump out of the way, and the lightning vaporizes the carpet I was just standing on. Huge vines shoot out of the staff towards me; I jump out of their way, and they smash into the ground. I grab onto one of the vines, and I am swung around and around, hanging on for dear life, my eyes shut. But I don’t scream. I won’t give Efron the satisfaction of knowing I am desperate. The vines show no sign of stopping, and my grip loosens. I push my finger nails into the vine. The vine screams, if that were possible, and I am tempted to let go to cover my ears, but I don’t. I slowly claw my way up the thick vine, inch by inch. I need to get to the staff. The vine screams again, flailing more than ever. Suddenly my hands slip free of the vine, and I fall back. Immediately, a vine pins me down. I feel as if a tree is on my back. My chest is pressed against the cold stone. The vine stops screaming. Lord Efron saunters towards me casually. I shut my eyes and groan as the vine puts more pressure on me. Blood from my mouth and hands, seeping onto the stones, creating a small puddle. I hear the swish of a sword from its scabbard. The vine sprouts five branches, and yanks me to my feet. Two of the branches wrap around my feet, and two more tie my arms to my sides, as if hugging me. The fifth rolls over my mouth, stopping me from making a sound. I can only stare as Lord Efron advances, staff in one hand, sword in the other.
“How dare you do such a thing.” Lord Efron spits.
“I’ll deal with you. At least after you’ve spent a night in the prison.” Lord Efron cackles loudly, and I can’t move, as if I’ve been petrified by the sound of his voice. The vines recede, and I try to move, but I can’t.
“Guards!” Shouts Lord Efron. A group of ghosts wielding spears hurry forward. I’m convinced that the only solid part of them is the spear. I close my eyes, but Lord Efron’s inhuman face is still there. I groan, and suddenly I’m able to move. I kick at one of the approaching guards. My foot passes through them, but I kick the spear away. The guard melts into nothing, and the remaining guards grab my arms.
“How could you do such a thing?” I shout angrily.
“Nobody else would even have thought to do this! But you! You can’t be from any of the realms!” Lord Efron stops laughing.
“You’re wrong. I was once an Athgarian. But then, my people betrayed me, just as they betrayed you, for what you are. Wolf-Demon.” He hisses out the last words, and licks his lips.
I step back shakily.
“Then what are you?” I shout.
“I am sometimes known as the demon of rainbows.” Lord Efron says easily. “Though my brother is still stronger than me,” He adds angrily.
“So you mean that…. No! The Shadow Demon–” I say unbelievingly. “Then does that mean that you have a spirit animal like me? The Shadow demon doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean you don’t!”
Lord Efron shrugs. “Some could say that I have a spirit animal. After all, everyone that stays here long enough becomes my spirit animal. Which is how you will!”
I gasp in horror as Guards surround me, holding clanking chains.
“You will thank me when you are my spirit animal… and then when you die I’ll have to use someone else,” Lord Efron says, his voice hitting my heart like a rock.
“I understand now! You are going to force me to become your spirit animal!” I shout, but there isn’t any answer. The guards rush at me, pushing me to the ground. Chains surround me; I can’t tell where one starts and the other ends, and I’m pulled forward, towards a huge black door.
The black door is bordered with gold, and made of obsidian. Carvings of Efron are shaped into the stone. I glare at the carvings, and will myself to bend lightning at the door. I can’t. The next thing I know, I’ve been thrown into a cell, and the door has slammed. I hear the click of a key in the lock, and then all is silent.
I take a moment to weigh my options. One thing is certain: I have to get out of here before I become Lord Efron’s spirit animal. A moan sounds behind me. I yank my chains around so I can stare at the thing that’s crouched in the corner.
It steps out, slowly.

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Chapter 10: -to be decided-

I can’t tell what it is yet; It’s too dark. What I do know is that it doesn’t have any chains on it.
“What do you want?” I whisper. I’m afraid to speak louder in case the guards hear me.
“You didn’t kill me when you could. I owe you for that,” the thing says slowly. I gasp.
“Are you… can you be that Chibar?” I say slowly. I know that it’s really unlikely, but what else have I saved the life of?
Slowly, the thing emerges, until it’s standing directly in front of me.
“Yes. My name is Kaito. I am a female Chibar. After Wakashi left, he followed you at a distance. He saw that you were taken prisoner, so I followed you. I managed to enter this cell before you did.
“Does that mean that – Wakashi is here?” I say. Kaito nods. “He is. He’s currently freeing Kurachi and Sceith, and I came for you. It’s the least I can do.”
I nod quickly. “So how are you planning to get us out?”
Kaito looks at the chains. “Well, if you hold still, I can take off these chains. Then we’ll escape through the hole I dug. It joins with another tunnel that connects with Sceith and Kurachi’s cells. We’ll meet up with Wakashi once we get out,” Kaito says confidently.
I nod again, and Kaito makes quick work of yanking off my chains. Before I can thank her, I hear the heavy footsteps of guards.
“Quickly!” Kaito says, grabbing me and rushing into the tunnel. Kaito kicks back dirt, filling the hole behind us. I hear loud shouts of guards, but Kaito is already bounding away, running through the tunnel, kicking back dirt as she goes. A bit in front of us I see Wakashi. We merge into the same tunnel, and keep running. I notice Kurachi running beside Wakashi. Sceith is hanging onto Wakashi’s back. We explode out of the tunnel, and don’t stop running. We rush through mist, and suddenly we’re not in the Unknown Regions any more. Or are we? Our surroundings may have changed, but there’s still the same endless rainbows hanging in the sky.
A beautiful waterfall is in front of us. It stands out from the mist behind it, showing us something truly beautiful in this world of treacherous rainbows. But the waterfall seems like the only surrounding I can trust. A little in front of me, I notice Wakashi and Kaito standing with their tails entwined. I think back to my books that I had when I lived in Athgar. It’s not uncommon for a Worgin and a Chibar to mate, but then again, it isn’t exactly common, either. Still, I guess that it’s not common to even see a Worgin, or a Chibar. So I guess that nothing is uncommon any more. I turn away and walk, pausing at a small stream. I kneel at the stream, gazing into the nothingness.
“Kurachi?” I say. He flicks an ear, a sign that he’s listening.
“What is it?” He says.
“Why am I so different from everyone else? Why is it that I have no human friends, yet I flourish with animals? Why do I have a spirit wolf, but nobody else? Why can’t I be just the same!” I say in frustration, my voice growing louder every syllable. Kurachi cocks his head, settling down.
“I know as much as you do. You may be different. You may not fit in. But Yuki?”
I look at him. His gaze is fixed across the river, though I’m convinced he sees nothing.
“Yes?” I answer.
“Just remember this. You are special. To me. And we will survive this. Remember that.”wan
I look at Kurachi in disbelief. I’ve rarely heard him say this type of thing.
“How do you know?” I say.
Kurachi doesn’t turn, and stares off into space. “You and me are connected with a special bond, bigger than you think. I am more than your spirit animal. I am the other half of your soul. We were derived from the same thing, though I’m not sure what it was.” Says Kurachi. I’m surprised by how confident he sounds.
“You must have realized that by now. We aren’t Athgarian. We were created by something. For a reason.” Kurachi continues. I stare at Kurachi, but he gives no notice.
“Then… What is the reason?” I say hesitantly. I’m not sure I want to know. Knowledge will add a burden to me, but I have to know. But Kurachi shrugs, standing up and stretching.
“You’re guess is as good as mine.”
Kurachi pads away, his soft pads making barely a sound.
Suddenly I hear a shout. I jump up, with my hand to my sword, and duck a flying spear. The rainbow guards have found us. Wakashi and Kaito hurry to my side, with Kurachi in the lead. We duck two more spears, and I push a the body of a spear into a rainbow ghost, but it just passes right through.
“Yuki! Quickly! Summon an illusion of me!” I hear Kurachi shouting. I strain to get my arms up to cover the pendant. My eyes lock with Kurachi’s, and I slam the pendant. An illusion of Kurachi appears, and I understand his plan. The rainbow ghosts can’t see Kurachi; to them, he’s just vanished. But then I see him taking down one after another. The rainbow ghosts are surprised, and I can understand. It seems as if Kurachi just disappeared, and now suddenly, the rainbow ghosts are vanishing. Kurachi kills one near me, biting through its body. Its body turns into a metallic green slime, and becomes a big puddle on the ground. Slowly, the slime disintegrates, and soon there’s nothing there. It leaves no trace. Like what will happen to us. We will vanish, and never be seen again. At least, if we don’t fight. But there’s nothing to do now. Kurachi is taking care of it all. He seems to be enjoying destroying his old captors.

Kurachi insists on being kept an illusion. He has a point. He’ll be able to protect us. The rainbow ghosts’ main advantage is their being, well, ghosts, and if Kurachi is an illusion, then we may have a chance. I protest weakly, but in the end I agree reluctantly.

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Also, please let me know if I should continue this! I've started adding on to new stories (Like the Ninja one I did which is currently without a title name.) Please let me know waht you think!

Comment by raob9 on August 15, 2025
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Chapters

Shadow Realm Book 2

Prologue

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Chapter 1: Wolfgirl

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Chapter 2: Zorgart's Goblins

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Chapter 3: Stalked by Special Forces!

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Chapter 4: Kurachi!

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Chapter 5: Wakashi

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Chapter 6: Burning Ice

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Chapter 7: Valley of Fire

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Chapter 8: Parting

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Chapter 9: Demon of Rainbows

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Chapter 10: -to be decided-

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