Prologue

The tree branches felt like whips across my skin as I ran through a dense forest. Every muscle in my body was screaming, no- begging, for me to stop running; My instincts disagreed. I didn't even know how I ended up here or why I was running. The only thing I knew was that my heart was pounding and that my lungs were on fire. Even my legs were beginning to go numb, making it even harder to keep running away from whatever it was chasing me.

Ah, right. I was being chased. I still didn't know by what though. Hopefully, I wouldn't find out anytime soon. With that, I pushed myself to keep running. My numb legs moved faster with the fresh memory.

After what felt like hours, I finally pushed aside the last branch and stepped into a clearing. My heart leapt with joy! Or maybe exhaustion. Either way, I was relieved. My legs finally stopped moving as I stood there in awe. The night sky opened up in front of me, revealing what seemed like every star that existed in the entirety of the milky way. The moon was nowhere in sight so each and every star was brighter than what it normally was, and stars that were typically shy showed themselves to me. Not even a cloud was obstructing the sight. I subconsciously reached a hand out, wanting to grab a handful of the vibrant lights.

My hand that was outstretched snapped to my chest when I heard a branch break behind me. I didn't even look back before I started to run again. My dark eyes went from the night sky down to where I was going to run. Immediately, my heart dropped into my stomach, making me feel ill.

In front of me, instead of there being more ground to run on, the night sky kept going. A cliff's edge was waiting for me if I was to keep moving forward. It seemed like I was going to find out what was chasing me.

My knees gave out from underneath me and I knelt to the ground, gasping for air. The running I've been doing was finally catching up to me now that my adrenaline was dying out. Even if I wanted to keep moving, my legs could no longer support me. I was just beginning to catch my breath when I heard a deep, guttural growl come from the forest behind me. My head whipped around to the direction the noise came from and immediately regretted it.

Glowing from the shadows of the forest, two hazel orbs almost as bright as the stars above me were looking at me. A dark, wolf-like figure stepped from the shadows. I say wolf-like because even though it was shaped exactly like a wolf, it was massive. It was more the size of a horse. The beast stepped closer to me, moving slowly like it knew that it had me in its grasp so it was in no rush. Its snout crinkled as it bared its fangs at me, the stench of rotting meat coming from its hot breath. I quickly covered my mouth and nose with my hand. Other than that one movement, I was frozen in place. My mind was filled with commands of run, run, run, get up and run, leave now! But my body wouldn't move. I was too exhausted. Only thing I could do was stare in awe with wide eyes.

Thump, thump.

Its large paws almost made the ground shake. The sounds of its footsteps were loud and clear and echoing. My heart was pounding in my chest. It inched closer and closer to where I could see the whites of its eyes. It lowered its head and growled again at me, its horribly yellow fangs clear in the darkness. Suddenly, energy burst back into my limbs and I stood up and ran towards the very edge of the cliff's edge. I whipped back around to face the large demon. My heart was in my ears now, thumping away and drowning out any thoughts I could possibly have. I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

The beast, seeing that its prey was running, leapt forward to catch me. But it was too late. My body suddenly felt light. Wind was rushing around me as I fell backwards. I opened my eyes again and saw the two hazel orbs growing smaller and smaller as I fell further and further down into the abyss. My heart settled, and the weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders.

I had escaped.

For now.