CARPE NOCTEM, jon snow

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀five

five. the direwolf

loc. castle black, the wall. 298AC

⠀⠀⠀Nobody else was awake when Ceria was jerked from her sleep that night.

⠀⠀⠀The aftermath of her nightmare had her body trembling inside her pallet, but already the black dream was trickling out of her memory as water slips through fingertips. Ceria poked her tongue around her ash-dry mouth, felt the sweat roll down the hollows of her throat before throwing back her bedsheets and making her way through the labyrinth of cots to the door.

⠀⠀⠀Once outside in the draughty corridor, she simply stood for a moment or two. The outside wind hissed in through gaps in the woodwork and glass panes. She stood, letting her hot skin soak up the cold trickles of air before starting to walk in search of water.

⠀⠀⠀She wasn't sure where she would find some. She looked outside again, through the grimy windows, and saw the ever-present snow whirling against it. Ceria's hand, still trembling slightly, reached out slowly, to rest her fingertips on the cool pane.

⠀⠀⠀Just as her fingertips brushed the surface, she jerked backwards as shock wracked through her body. She spun wildly on her bare feet, eyes straining the dark corridor for the source of whatever had made that noise. It was the sound of thunder tumbling through trees, of predators cornering their prey.

⠀⠀⠀Ceria stared into the two pits of blackness on either side of her until her eyes adjusted and, like a flame emerging from dense mist, two pinpricks of red gleamed out at her. Her entire body froze, unsure whether to run or keep statue-still until whatever it was decided to leave. And then the noise came again—a growl, thundering out of the dense blackness shrouding the corridor, and Ceria ran.

⠀⠀⠀She wasn't running back toward the dormitory—in her blind panic, she had shoved open a door on the opposite wall and was now streaking through yet another corridor. The walls here were even more rickety, and cold pockets of air whipped around her feet, catching at her clothes and her hair. Ceria was running as fast as she'd ever run in her life, but it didn't appear to be enough - she could still hear footsteps behind her, the soft yet firm footfalls of a beast with four legs at least.

⠀⠀⠀Ceria couldn't see an end to the corridor - there were scarcely any oil lamps on the walls, and the few there burned low, casting grotesque, freakish shadows on the walls and floor. She briefly entertaining the notion of crouching, hoping the beast would streak past her, when the material on her leggings jerked; caught between the snag of sharp teeth, it ripped, pulling her back with it. Ceria smacked her head forcefully on the cold stone floor, and her hand caught an oil lamp with her as she fell. It clanged loudly, a dissonant shriek of metal echoing off the stone walls. It took a moment for the ringing in her ears to clear, and when it did, she heard it again; the low, animalistic growl of a predator about to take its prey.