When Paths Collide

Dreams

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a forest. The fog made nearly impossible to see further than ten feet, and even in my line of sight, it was still difficult. Tall, dark, dead trees creaked as if at any moment they would collapse. Dead grass and dirt crunched as I took a single step forward.

It was silent, save for the trees' creaking.

There were no signs of life.

It was unnerving.

Yet at the same time, strangely familiar.

Soothing.

All my worries seemed to fade. Stress ebbed away and tense muscles seemed to relax.

The crunch of weight on dead leaves set me on high alert once more as I turned around. But there, standing mere feet away, was a black wolf with glowing light blue eyes. A pup, nearly identical black fur with green eyes that flowed in the same fashion, stood next to him.

Him? Why assume it's a him?

It took a moment, but the realization dawned on me.

Wolfe.

Vlad and Varren Wolfe.

Vlad, or at least who I assumed was Vlad, turned and walked further into the forest, the fog swallowing his form until all I could hear was his paw steps. Varren, instead of following Vlad, bounded over to me and nuzzled against my leg before walking towards the direction Vlad disappeared.

He paused, looking over his shoulder. I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I followed Varren as he began to walk once more.

Somewhere during our walk, I began to hear the faint sound of running water.

A river.

The closer we got, the louder the sound became.

We eventually caught up to Vlad, who had stop and watched us over his shoulder. Vlad turned, looking at the river. I followed his gaze and regretted it almost immediately.

The stench of rotting flesh was overwhelming, making me feel sick.

There, in the water, caught between the rocks was a body.

A dead body.

Though it was shadowed and unrecognizable. It was as if whoever murdered him, as the build leaned more towards a man's and there was no possible way this was an accident, had intended for the body to be unrecognizable. He was mauled, ripped apart to the point that what I could see of the face couldn't even be called a face. Multiple stab wounds and his left leg was barely attached.

Oh god...

Varren nudged my leg, dragging my attention away from the gruesome sight.

In his jaws was a severed finger with a ring on it. Looking back at the body, I saw that the man was missing a ring finger.

I couldn't say anything.

I couldn't keep track of my thoughts, which were seemingly running rampant, unable to properly read one before another ran past.