Chapter One

"Jackel?"

You turn your head at your müdr's soft voice whispering to you on the thin cotton mat. The night sky above you both dazzles your small mind as you briefly glance at it. You could clearly see the stars and the strips of what you can assume the universe in the night blue sky. Even for a cold night, you'd rather be outside than inside the house to be blocked by the roof.

"Yes, Müdr?"

You hear a small sigh, similar to relief as you softly speak back to her. "Just to see if you were asleep," she chuckles gently. "Turns out you're not."

You hold back your words at her tease; it would be very disrespectful for you to speak back to an Aspect. Especially one who took you from the Tars of Life. No one likes imps from the Tars of Life for that can be dangerous creatures when they grow up. But the High Aspects want people to raise them as their young to hopefully burn out their evil roots.

A lot of Skreë thought it was a foolish suggestion and didn't bother. That they would have their own eggs and burn the Tar of Life. Many of them had tried but the High Aspects got involved on the matter. They brought in warriors to stop and kill if necessary to protect the sacred orchard, a black tree large and sticky like tar as for the name.

Skreë were outraged but the High Aspects did not care. They believed that they should respect life. Though one was very supportive of the matter, a lowly creature of the food chain.

A Foss.

Your caretaker.

When Aspect Foss, now called Müdr, decided to take a fruit from the tree, every sprung and seed was outraged. They threw Müdr and you away with a sentence of death if they see you again.

That is why you are now in the forests laying on whatever you could grab on the run out.

"I can tell you are making that face..." she mutters. "It's okay, speak what's on your mind."

Her offer made you feel uncomfortable and you shake your head. "It's fine..."

"My seed, you can tell me anything. No one is here to judge."

You blink at her words, a hole feeling like it's being drilled in your chest.

'Yeah, I wish I could believe that.'

Memories don't easily go away.

"It's fine," you sigh.

You can tell she's frowning but you don't want to go through explaining to her again why you can't do what she wants you to. It's not that you do not trust her. You've known her for moons. You've been bashed too many times for your mouth, literally and verbally.

The seeds always found ways to make your life miserable. They wanted you to disappear and for a while, you wanted that too. Eventually something clicked inside and you decided to fight back. That hasn't responded well with the Skreë.

Thinking back on it makes you feel guilty, but Müdr would rather she blame herself for not leaving sooner.

-"Look at what they've done to your tail."

-"It's fine. It will grow back. We were just playing and it got a little too rough. They didn't mean to."

-"..."

You still remember the disapproving look on her face.

When the Sprungs came, that was her last straw. She defended you and the others found that as a threat. There were death threats, people attacking you, even trying to burn your house down. Both of you couldn't walk alone for there would be someone that would try and harm you. The High Aspects ignored your situation.

All you could do then was run.

And run you both did.

"Okay, Seed. Try and go to sleep, okay? In the morning, you can help me find something to eat."

You smile at that.

You do enjoy hunting, since you are more in touch with your animal senses. Müdr has taught you that Skreë and Foss had evolved to the point where they have no fangs and claws to hunt, not even speed or agility. They have thrown all those traits away, abandoned their old ways. Since you are closer to nature, it would be easier for you to do these things.

"Okay."

"This time, I will try not to intervene."

You laugh at the thought.

The last time she tried to help, she scared the Spiral Elk away. She felt so bad that she promised to hunt for you. Several failed attempts later, and she finally caught a rabbit, though it was rather old, but she couldn't tell. You let her slide on it.

"Night, Müdr."

"Night, my seed."

The word 'seed' left an uncomfortable feeling in your gut but you pushed it away. You will never be her real child, that's obvious. You are much different than her.

You block out those thoughts and close your eyes.

'I want to prove to those who've beaten me that I am no coward.'

***

Barking beasts.

Blood Hounds. You can smell them vividly. Dreams are weird like this.

You are running. You are running from the pack of hot breath dogs snarling and making their way towards you. You are faster than them, or you should be.

Something is making you slow down, closer to the hot breath maws of death. You duck your held and strain yourself to run faster. The barking only becomes louder.

You feel them nip your ankles. You feel your cold blood run down your leg from bite wounds.

They are so close.

Too close for comfort.

'Where is Müdr? Where is she?'

She should be with you unless she thought it would be a better idea to split up. But wouldn't she tell you the place to meet?

You don't remember.

How did you even get into this situation? How did they find you? You are far from the city. They can't track you moons away. It's not possible.

You feel teeth dig into the back of your leg and scream. You want to stop as the wound feels like fire as you run but you have to keep going. You have to.

If you don't, you will die.

The barking is in your ear now. They are on top of you. There's no escape.

"Jackel!" You hear Müdr's voice from beyond and turn your head to the sound.

That was a mistake.

You trip and fall flat on your stomach. You can feel the beasts tear into you, ripping you to shreds. You scream in agony and begin to cry for your müdr.

"Jackel!" You hear her voice again, closer. "Jackel, wake up! They're here!"

***

You open your eyes to warm hands shaking your shoulders madly. You hiss at the touch and look directly into the pale eyes of your müdr. You want to sigh relief but when you see the fear stricken look in her eyes, you feel your body begin to form cold sweats.

Her dry lips part as she speaks to you chilling words: "the Skreë have found us."

•••

Run.

That is all you can do at a time like this. Run for life. The barking that you heard from your dream has come to reality.

They are real, and they are after you.

Müdr is holding your arm so tight that you are starting to feel it become numb. This is actually the fastest you've ever seen her run in your whole life. You wonder where she could have possibly gotten her unnatural speed.

You start to run with her to escape the barking that's closing in. You can also hear yelling and footsteps further back. They are truly after you this time. They never went after you before you left. Why now?

'Why now?!'

You sniff the air and smell something burning ahead. You look up to see the rising sun, dawn still, the stars barely visible in the pink and orange sky. Pine trees whizz pass you as snow drifts up onto your face. It's always a good thing to be light on your toes. As for you, you run better on the tips of them but it's hard to do that with heavy fur boots on.

You see that Müdr is struggling too, her breath becoming rough and her pace faltering. At this rate, you'll both be dog food.

You sniff the air once more and feel the burning smell grow stronger. It burns your nose and you use your free hand to cover it up.

What ahead of you could possibly be burning?

You soon discover it as you both make it out into a snowy clearing. Your eyes widen with fear and shock.

Ahead of you, is a gate of fire. As you both run closer, you realize that it spreads as far as they eye can see. It's about as tall as the tallest evergreen tree. How are you going to make it around that.

Unless...

"It's a trap...!" Your müdr gasps, fear raking her voice.

You stop breathing as you both come to a halt in front of the burning gates. You can feel the heat from only ten feet away. It burns your skin and eyes.

You catch your breath, looking behind you to find the pack of dogs running out of the forest. Your breath hitches in your throat as fear grips you tightly.

'What are we going to do now!?'

You step back and feel cold arms wrap around your chest. You look up to find Müdr looking in the direction of the woods, tears burning in her eyes. She knows that this is the end.

You growl under your breath at the sudden anger crowding your mind.

'Cowards...'

You hear a whistle from in the forest and the dogs come to a halt, only five feet away from you. They snarl at both of you, their yellow eyes burning with blood lust.

Three figures emerge themselves from the forest. You squint your eyes at them and sniff the air.

Two are male and the one is female. They don't smell like the people from your city. They smell more...

Wild.

"Hello!" A feminine voice calls. "What a wonderful and rare time meeting you here."

The group slowly approaches you and stop when they are behind their dogs. You can barely see their faces since they are all wearing dark cloaks with silver coyote masks.

You wonder...

"They're bounty hunters," your müdr suddenly whispers.

"Bounty hunters?"

"Yes. Someone must've paid them to come and find us."

You nod, your body beginning to tremble. Who would have paid to come and track you down? The city hated you but they just wanted you to leave. What reason would they have to track you down?

"No need to fear," the feminine voice speaks again. You pinpoint it to the one in the middle. They're shorter than the other two next to her as they are roughly the same height. "We only came here for the boy."

You feel your müdr's body stiffen.

You gulp.

"If you give him to us, we won't go through any unnecessary measures. Let him go and your hands will be free."

"Free...?" You hear Müdr murmur. "Free?!" She shouts at them. "You are hear to kill my seed! How can I be free when I know my seed's blood will be on my hands!"

"They are not your seed and they never were." This time a deeper voice speaks. You look to the tall one at the right. "They are a beast, born of the Cursed Tar. You have no right to claim an animal. It's too dangerous to live."

You feel her shudder at his words. "How do you know that? I've known him longer than any of you. How do you know that he is dangerous? He's the most caring boy that I know."

"Listen, Foss," the female growls. "It's written in stone for creatures like him. When he matures, he'll want to maul your face off. It's better to give the kid up than keep it. It's a danger to-"

"Bull!" Your Müdr croaks. "You won't take my seed!" Tears pour from her eyes as you look up at her. You can't help but cry too seeing the sorrow on her face. She's risking her life for you. She doesn't have to but she is.

"Müdr..." you whimper, reaching her arms that hold you and squeezing them.

The female grunts. "Fine, have it your way." She whistles.

The dogs begin to bark and run toward you. You feel yourself freeze with fear.

This is it. This is where you die.

You feel something push you to the side and look to see your müdr screaming at you, though you can't hear a word over the terrible barking. But you know what she means.

You don't have the guts to do it though.

She frowns and opens her mouth to say something. You can see her lips move but hear nothing. You have a feeling though. The feeling of immense anger and hatred.

You run.

"Hey!" You hear the woman call for you but you continue running. You get closer to the fiery gates. You feel the heat burn against your skin and you have the need to cry in pain.

You keep running though until you reach the trees.

That's when you hear 'her' screams.

You don't turn back. You know what you'll see.

You keep running.

Running.

The only thought that burns in your mind is that when you see them again, they won't get the chance to take another breath.

'Cowards...!'