Freezing crystals melted onto my skin as I made my way through the piles of snow, and I felt my chest tightening as my mind drifted to her. What had I done?

I grasped my hand tighter on the compass around my neck and exhaled sharply.

"Kraa"

A raven's gurgled croak startled my thoughts as it reached my ears, making me stop on my path. I raised my head and took a closer glance at the woods that thickly grew in my surroundings, creating the illusion of a trail down the mountain.

The further I distanced myself from Maia, the more I could feel the soul curse shifting. I could feel it eating away at her being.

I wasn't ready to say goodbye. Not when I had finally got to see her again.

As I dragged my feet through the vesperian blizzard, I kept telling myself that maybe it would have been better if I had died as the prophecy said.

Rime ice formed down the strands of my hair and dragged down. It felt like they weighted more than they should. And despite the thick nature of my fur, I could feel the freezing cold entering my soul.

"I know you said we're gonna make it here, but the weather," said a lanky krayevee, bumping into me with not much regard. "Oh, this weather... This weather is absolutely terrible! Talk about a bad working environment! We won't even make it to one full moon!"

I stiffened my cloak at the sight of him and his companion, a dryad almost twice my size, and frowned at the thought of them knowing who I was.

"I'm telling you; you are lucky we managed to get here in one piece, the weather is the least of our problems. And stop pulling on my leaves!" snapped the dryad, turning around abruptly to yank her companion backward. "You know I barely grow any now that I'm far from the Vale. Do you want me to wither right here?"

"Don't say silly things like that! How can you think like that about me? And after everything I did to run away with you!"

"No," corrected the dryad, waving her arm in the air in an annoyed manner to shoo away snowflakes. "You didn't run away with me...I ran away FOR you!"

"Tomato, Tomato," mumbled the krayevee, "What difference is there?" And he bumped into me once more trying to keep up with her.

"You really have to watch it bastard, that's the second time you got in my way," he threatened, unknowingly stepping on my tail through my cloak.

I dug my fangs into my bottom lip, and struggled to not let out any sound.

"Cold caught your tongue?" he mocked, and I felt the urge to dig my claws into him.

Maybe the lack of sustainable food had gotten the worse of me. Annia warned me to stay away from Vespera, no mater how much the Mother of the sky blessed us in the night, a never ending night would drive one mad. I lost the count of time since I got of the Harpie. It could have been hours, or maybe days.

It could have been the lack of sleep, the cold, or the hunger speaking... But the thought of the krayevee's blood in my mouth flashed in my mind for a split second.

I swallowed stiffly.

Faul.

"Do you not know the laws of the land on which you walk on?" interrupted a voice, deep and raspy. "He who comes in peace and seeks refuge shall find no harm in Vespera."

A feeble old man, wrapped tightly in his garments bigger than his being, placed his frail palm on the krayevee's arm and addressed him accordingly:

"Mind him no ill though... he too is no different than you and I... is he not?"

The two paused for a moment, and they mumbled amongst themselves, before throwing us one more petty stare.

"I know how we planned this out..." said the dryad and continued to whisper indistinguishably, "I know...let the old man have it his way," I could hear her telling him, as they walked off ahead of us.

"All in good time..." said the old man, more so to himself.

I brushed off the snow that had piled up onto my clothes and braced myself to thank him, but before I could make the words up, the man addressed me first.

"What brings you in such a hasty manner over to our lands? Steering trouble no less..."

My fingers tightened around the compass, and I briefly recalled the promise I was made as a young boy.

"The Dark King..." I uttered, unsure of myself, "the Dark King expects me."

"An audience!" chuckled the old man, which, if I were honest irked me. "An audience with the King himself, you say, my boy..."

"Yes..." I nodded, lowering my head.

"The paths are long and tricky..." he mumbled, pushing some snow with the sole of his boots, "...stay close."

We both walked more. And some more. We walked for hours, until my legs fell numb, and I couldn't feel my tail and fingers. We walked until I couldn't tell the way back, or the way forward. Until white marked all in our sight. My chest pained me more than I wanted to admit, and the sound of the wind blowing against the white nothingness deafened my hearing, all that I could hear were the sound of the old man's footsteps sinking in the snow.

Burning light flashed suddenly in the near distance, and it was then that I realized that it was just the two of us left in the middle of the quiet white. The flickering light ahead should have been the Dark King's castle. But why was nobody in sight?

I sighed and looked back to check our surroundings one more time.

"Don't you think something is awfully wrong about-"

Before those words could properly leave my lips, I felt a sharp pain in my temple, and I found myself grovelling through the freezing snow.

"Well, if it isn't our lucky day..." a voice echoed in my ears, as a hand grabbed me by my hair.

As my vision cleared slightly, I managed to spot the dryad and the krayevee that bumped into me earlier on my journey. They were not alone. But about seven or eight others surrounded me.

"Easy with his hair, jackass! Do you know how much that hair is worth?" protested one of their companions.

"100 Valkyres for the old man's possessions and organs...and" mumbled the dryad as she looked through the old man's bag.

"Fuck! Nothing in this one's bag..." cursed another next to her.

"This is against the accords of the land..." I struggled to utter as I felt my scalp being pulled hardly.

"Shut it!" yelled the dryad, pressing a knife against my neck. "I wouldn't want to ruin that good skin of yours."

At the touch of the metal coming in contact with my skin, I could feel blood pulsing through miles of veins, and before I knew it, I couldn't control my form.

"Make that 1000 coins!" exclaimed the kayevee who's eyes widened at the sight of my tail and fur. "For the head of a vencrossian lykan..."

"We could make that 2000 for one of the Nix bastards, could we not?"

My stomach tightened and I felt the urge to rip their heads off, if only I could. Filled with anger and disgust, I spit on the krayevee who was holding me in his grip.

"You fucking filthy piece of shit!" he yelled as if burned by a heated iron. "This filthy mutt spit on me!" he cried loudly and kicked me in the belly, making me fall to the ground.

Metallic flavours filled my mouth, and I laughed at the idea that this might be my end. And I thought of her, ironically.

But just as I was getting ready to be struck by the weapon, the krayevee's chest ripped open, and a hand with his heart in it pierced through.

"As much as I am hospitable," said the old man with gore sliding down his hand. "I am the only one to be spilling blood in this land," he licked the red dripping down his arm, his crimson eyes glistening in the darkness. "...and I'd like to keep it that way..."

In a blink of an eye, the man flashed between the present petrified people, feasting on their beings, leaving their lifeless bodies to fall to the ground.

"Darling...I'd say my head is worth more than some measly 100 Valkyres, don't you agree?" He grinned at the dryad who grasped for her last breath of air.

"It's you..." she whispered, and with a twist of his hands, he snapped her head off, leaving her body to grow its roots and form a tree in the demise of its owner.

The man, took a handkerchief out of the pocket of his trousers and wiped his mouth of the stains left behind. And looking at me unfazed, he said:

"We aren't much different, them and I, are we not?"