School of Affliction

prologue

I sprinted through the underbrush, my breath coming in sharp, panicked gasps. The forest was alive with the sounds of my pursuers—twigs snapping, branches cracking, and the relentless pounding of footsteps behind me.

I darted between trees, my senses heightened to their maximum. As a fox shifter, I was fast and agile, but tonight, even my advantages felt like weaknesses. I could hear the distant howls of other shifters, their cries echoing through the night like a haunting symphony. They were closing in, and I had to keep moving.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my side as a dart embedded itself in my leg. I stumbled, my vision blurring as the tranquilizer began to take effect. I tried to focus, but the world around me spun uncontrollably. I barely made it to the edge of a clearing before I collapsed to the ground, the fog of unconsciousness enveloping me.