Echoes Of War

CHAPTER II | VISIONS OF BLOOD

Lunis' mind claws for meaning, but the horror before her refuses to take shape, each heartbeat dragging like an eternity. Her chest tightens, her heart pounding so violently it drowns out thought, her breath stumbling as she tries-fails-to catch up to what her eyes are telling her.

Blood.

Thick, dark, pooling like the earth itself has been split open and left to bleed. It seeps into her fur where she lies, warm and clinging, its metallic tang clogging her throat until the air feels too heavy to draw.

Gone are the lush, green plains of the North-swallowed whole by something unthinkable.

A nightmare she cannot wake from.

Through the haze, the shapes sharpen-wolves locked in a savage dance of tooth and claw beneath the dim sky. The grass lies trampled and torn, scattered with bodies whose once-vibrant pelts are now matted in crimson. Their cries twist together into a chorus of the damned, a sound that burrows deep into her bones.

But it's not the blood or the chaos that chills her-it's the faces she knows.

Hati. Mira. Sunny. Dasker. Ishka.

Each name strikes like a hammer against her skull, her gaze latching onto every familiar form, every movement, every fall.
And then she sees it.

Just a few tail-lengths away-small, still, and terrifyingly motionless, his amber eyes, once full of life, now terrifyingly void.

Blaze.

Her heart lurches.

Panic strikes like a predator, raw and unrelenting, its icy claws sinking deep beneath her skin. She's frozen-paws locked to the earth, breath lodged in her throat, eyes unable to tear away.

She can't move. Can't breathe. Can't speak-only watch, powerless, as everything she knows unravels before her.

Is this another warning?

She squeezes her eyes shut, forcing the thought back, shoving it deep into the shadows of her mind. Jaws clenched, muscles drawn tight as bowstrings, she wills it all away. Just let it end. Let her wake from this nightmare.

Silence.

Not the still hush of peace, but a hollow, devouring void. No growls. No pawsteps. No wind. Not even a scent to anchor her.

"Lunis!"

The voice slices through the silence like a fang-sharp, desperate, real.

Lunis' breath catches, her ear twitching as her lungs seize a sudden, ragged gasp.
And the world rushes back.

The grass prickles against her pelt. Wind threads cool fingers through her fur. Her heartbeat steadies, solid and tangible against her ribs.

Grounded once more, she opens her eyes. A vast painting of blue sky and endless plains stretches before her, the dense forests of the northern woods circling the horizon in the far distance, their shadows long under the setting sun.

It takes several heartbeats before she realizes she's lying on her side, the earth cool and firm beneath her flank. Her vision wavers, clouded with the lingering mist of something she can't quite grasp.