A Shifting Land

Chapter 27

They ran.

Faint paw prints of ice lead the way, each loping gallop bringing them closer to the islands they knew best.

Kiri shoved hard, knocking Swift onto soft sand. She gasped, desperate to catch even a gulp of air.. Each breath sent her trembling, her head low, "Kir.... I think something is seriously wrong."

Kiri glanced back, remembering the way those purple eyes glowed. "Vanish. I have an idea."

Swift leapt up, vanishing into the trees with every stretching jump. She crouched on a branch far up, out of sight. "Kir I hope you know what you're doing."

"I have an idea and I am praying it works." He admits weaving his abilities with the help of D'vala to recreate Swift panting near the edge.

His head snapped up, a snarl hovering on his lips as his tail tucked tight between his legs. His fur rose, that distinct reach, a tangling of mental tendrils designed only to capture, to drain minds dry. "You."

Clouds soaked into the clearing, each feathery drop bleeding the green right from the valley, draining it into a disturbing greyscale with only faint flickering veins of colour lacing life together.

Kiri shivered, watching the being and his shadow slide through the grasses. Rotten chunks of black slime coated the Dukari, pulsing and throbbing as it fed greedily upon it's host. Blazing white gleams of light lit up it's eyes, crystalline like teeth smiling back at him.

It's head tilted back, tugging merrily on the fear wafting through the clearing. Each pull drove the terror higher, so high Kiri could hardly suppress it.

Frost cocks his head to the side, the veil separating as an illusion stacked itself up, each piece folding into a new form. Bloody red as usual, with it's signature black eyes, he crept around. Each step drew his illusion closer to Swift.

"Leave her alone demon!" Kiri roared, his abilities snapping out, staggering Frost's illusions with a single surge of power.

Dread stole his mind, no matter how he fought it. The beast, ferally sane, turned his full attention to the boy. Reality split, each realm splintering before Kiri's eyes. Webs tangled, blinding him to the realm he needed.

The wolf in black, with his violet eyes, separated to their sights. A single strangled scream, quickly cut off, left Kiri's only friend half skinned. Her blood leaked out, thin streams of red adorning pale cuts in the muscle.

Frost landed neatly in front of Kiri, his illusions stable again. His voice was sweet, each word perfectly weighted. "I'm sorry, care to rephrase that?"

Kiri shrunk away, the demon's fetid breath scorching his thoughts, wriggling through his mind like parasites. "Please, Please Alpha. Please, we didn't do it! Whatever it is, whatever made you pursue us, we won't do it again. I promise."

Frost leaned in, his smile a thin veneer barely hiding the fangs craving flesh. "That's better." He rubbed against the little fox, soaking him with the scent of rot. "You see, you and I are the same little fox. Same abilities. Yet you had the delight of being born free, Free of the packs, free of this stupidity that these packs call life, yet you choose to kneel to the outcast. The one who is meant to be dead. Why exactly is that?"

Kiri snapped out, rage blinding him for a second. His fangs broke Frost's skin, a thin bead of blood welling there. Impartial eyes reflected back at him, as if daring him to try that again. Kiri bared his teeth, "She is not meant to be dead! Not from lack of this world trying either I will have you know. She is strong, stronger then any of the ones you dare to ever dream of claiming. She is part of my pack and I couldn't ask for a better pack mate!"