The knife slid under the skin.
Slow. Careful. Steady.
I could feel Drakr's eyes on me, waiting for me to mess up. Waiting for me to prove I was just another starving kid pretending to be more.
"I'm almost done," I muttered under my breath.
Good thing I watch.
Every winter, back when things were… different, my mother would hire someone to skin boars. I wasn't supposed to be there, but I always watched. Every cut. Every pull. Every mistake.
I remember everything.
…I wonder why she left me.
No.
Stop.
Those thoughts are useless.
Focus, Pantheon.
The blade moved again—clean, smooth. The skin peeled back just right.
Then—
A roar tore through the slums.
Not human.
Not anything normal.
Everything stopped.
For a second, there was silence.
Then chaos.
Doors slammed. People screamed. Footsteps pounded against the dirt as everyone ran, scrambling into whatever shelter they could find.
"Inside! Get inside!" someone shouted.
Another roar—louder this time. Closer.
I froze.
Drakr didn't.
He turned, eyes narrowing toward the edge of the village.
"…Two heads," he muttered.
My grip tightened on the knife.
A shape moved between the broken buildings.
Too big.
Too fast.
A wolf stepped into the open—
No.
Not a wolf.
Two heads. Both snarling. Eyes wild. Teeth dripping.
The ground felt smaller just looking at it.
"Dire…" Drakr whispered.
Everyone was gone now.
Except me.
"Kid," Drakr snapped, "move!"
"I'm almost done!" I said, my voice shaking. "Just—just a little more
I couldn't stop.
If I finished… I could eat. I could earn something. I wouldn't be nothing.
The wolf's heads turned.
Both of them.
Toward me.
My heart dropped.
One of the heads let out a deep, rumbling growl.
The other
Roared.
Louder than anything I'd ever heard.
My hands slipped.
The blade cut too deep.
A wet sound—
bup… bup—
Burst.
The smell hit instantly.
"Kid, watch out!!!" Drakr shouted.
I looked up.
Too late.
The wolf lunged.
Everything blurred—its jaws, the ground, the sky twisting together.
There was a flash—
A loud boom
And I felt something slam into me.
The world spun.
As I hit the ground, my vision faded, darkness closing in from the edges.
What… happened…?
Grass.
Dirt.
No… something worse.
The smell hit me before my eyes fully opened.
Foul. Thick. Rotting.
"…ugh…"
I pushed myself up slightly, my hand sinking into something soft. Wet.
I froze.
No way.
I wiped my face quickly, gagging as I realized what it was.
Poop.
"Ugh—" I choked, trying not to make noise.
Then I heard it.
Low voices.
"…awoooo…"
A long, echoing howl rolled through the trees, followed by deep, rumbling growls. My body went still.
Slowly—carefully—I lifted my head.
Shapes moved in the dark.
Wolves.
Not one.
A pack.
My heart started pounding.
They were… standing. Moving too deliberately. Too aware.
Listening.
Talking.
"My dear brothers and sisters," one of them said, its voice low and heavy, "we have been slaughtered enough by those stinking vermin."
My breath caught.
"No way…" I thought. "Talking wolves… I thought those were just stories…"
"Tonight," the wolf continued, "we enact our vengeance."
A ripple of growls passed through the pack.
Another wolf stepped forward. "Why did you keep the boy?"
My chest tightened.
They were talking about me.
A third voice answered, colder than the rest. "We need a young sacrifice."
Silence.
"He will be perfect."
No.
No, no, no.
I have to run.
My muscles tensed, ready to move—
A twig shifted under my hand.
crk.
Every sound stopped.
A deep growl rumbled through the clearing.
"Are you sure the human is not awake?" one wolf said slowly.
Another sniffed the air. "No… he should be asleep. Likely another animal."
I didn't breathe.
Didn't move.
Didn't think.
Then—
The ground seemed to tremble.
Something bigger stepped forward.
Much bigger.
A massive wolf emerged from the darkness, larger than the rest, its presence alone forcing the others to lower their heads.
"Enough," it said.
Its voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
"Rest."
No one argued.
"Tonight…" it continued, eyes scanning the forest—passing right over where I lay—"…will be full of blood."
The pack slowly began to scatter, lying down, fading into the shadows.
But I stayed there.
Still.
Silent.
Covered in filth.
Heart pounding so hard I thought they could hear it.
If I moved… I died.
If I stayed…
…I might still die.