He licked his lips, which were dry and splitting, after collapsing to the chilled ground. His eyes shifted across the snow and he grimaced. Solitude was peaceful, but after so long without companionship, life becomes a struggle for social animals. A year of wandering the land had left Selyan with a yen for friendship and wounds of those that were lost. So when he?d picked up the scent of a fellow wolf, he?d been filled with excitement. Over the past few weeks, he?d felt hopeless. His life didn?t seem to be improving and the light had disappeared from his eyes.
Now, lying in the winter forest, he decided it was time. Selyan let his eyes close and his heart slow. The cold crept into his body quickly, biting at his muscles and slivering across his skin.
A voice, solid, mere feet away, inquired of his health. Breaking a ghastly reverie within him, he didn?t bother to raise his head or even open his eyes. He knew that the wolf only existed in his world, not the one in which others lived.
Or perhaps not. Maybe this creature was something ethereal, beyond him. ?Are you the angel of death, come to take my soul??
