Afraid that the village would send a mob after him, Daniel decided to stay in the woods. He kept a respectable distance from the road, close enough that he could still find his way, but no one passing by would be able to spot him. The merchant had headed west when he left the village, so unless he planned to go south to the Arbrel Islands, Daniel was confident his destination was Alisar, the capitol of the Freelands.

“The merchant has a day and a half’s head start, and with his wagon would set a fast pace.” Mused Daniel as he trod through the forest, a thoughtful expression on his face. He’d left the village in the evening, and the sky had already darkened.

“I should find somewhere to rest up for the night, I’ve already been travelling for too long, any later and I won’t be able to find somewhere safe in time.” Deciding on a course of action, he observed his surroundings. He hoped to find a tree to scale to avoid the forests floor, where he’d be easy prey for any wolves that roamed the dark.

Much to his dismay, this part of the forest was devoid of the large oaks surrounding his village. And was instead populated by tall, lonely pine trees. Who’s lowest branches where easily out of Daniels reach. He quickened his pace hoping to find somewhere to rest for the night. The sun was shining the last of its rays onto the forest, which by now was filled with long shadows with the occasional streak of light penetrating the canopy above.

Daniel weighed up his options. He could stop and hope nothing found him, or he could keep going and weight his luck in finding somewhere he could stop for the night.

“My luck hasn’t been the best these past few days, I’ve got a feeling that if I stopped a pack of wolves would definitely find me, guess the only way is forwards.” With a tired sigh, Daniel picked up his pace continued onwards. Making sure to keep his eyes peeled for anything moving in the shadows.

Daniel had always made a point of not being in the forest after dark, so the stillness of the forest unnerved him. Gone where the noises of birds and crickets, instead the only noises he heard where the echo of the wind, and the sound of his own breath. Every twig he stepped on seemed to echo outwards into the forest, making him tense with fear.

He froze as he heard the sound he’d been dreading, a howl sounded off in the distance, still far enough away that he didn’t have to worry. But the answering howls that followed where much closer than he would have liked. Daniel readied his bow, and proceeded with even more caution, moving at a crawl as to not make any noise.

His luck held for far longer than he would have thought. He’d been travelling for an hour in almost total darkness, with only a sliver of the moon to guide him, when he came across a glade with a lone rock in the centre. Atop this rock slept a wolf seemingly made of pure darkness. It was easily noticed as the light in the glade seemed to be sucked into this dark creature.

With deep thickets and bushes surrounding him, the only way Daniel could continue forwards was through the glade. He placed one foot in front of the other so slowly it seemed like he wasn’t moving at all. After what seemed like an eternity, but was closer to ten minutes he’d only traversed half the glade. Sweat poured down his head and his breathing sounded like thunder in his ears. The heat in his chest seemed to fluctuate and shift around, it seemed scared of this creature, amplifying Daniels own fear.

Suddenly a thunderous crack was heard throughout the glade, echoing off the surrounding trees. Daniel looked down to see the branch he’d broken, and swiftly turned his head to look at the wolf. Its eyes had snapped open to reveal twin orbs of white, and contrary to before it seemed to be radiating darkness now.

Daniel quickly raised his bow and fired off an arrow towards the beast. His aim was true and it sailed towards the wolf’s left eye, but seemingly as thought the wolf had never existed, it passed through without doing any damage. Daniel turned towards the exit of the glade and ran, a deep growl followed him as he burst back in to the trees.

He ran without a care for the noise he was making, desperate to get somewhere, anywhere this thing couldn’t follow him. dodging between the trees Daniel swiftly made his way forwards, flying across the ground. He spared a glance behind him to see the wolf seemingly deform with each step, turning more and more bestial and blending in with the shadows.

Confused and scared by this new sight, Daniel ran even harder, his lungs burning, legs shaking. The heat in his chest seemed to be fuelling him to run faster, to escape. Up ahead Daniel saw a light between the trees, and made a beeline towards it, headless of who may see him. His only hope that someone there would be able to deter this wolf of darkness.

Bursting into the clearing Daniel only had time to spot a man clad entirely in black, with a familiar obsidian mask on his face. Daniel swore he could see a smirk underneath that mask, the merchant he’d been chasing after turned his head towards him, before he crashed into his cart. He fell backwards, collapsing onto the floor, his vision clouded red by agony.

“Help, Demon!” Daniel manged to gasp as the man turned to look at where he’d come crashing out of. He had time to turn his body to look at the forest before the wolf came running out of the same hole he’d crashed through. It looked like the man’s body tensed for a second before a blast of darkness arose from him to meet the wolf own.

All too quickly the darkness was gone and the man alone stood there. He turned a curious head towards Daniel. He could feel himself slowly slipping into what had become a familiar black abyss of sleep, but before he had fully submerged himself in the darkness he managed to make out the man’s words.

“Took you long enough boy”

As the abyss took him he could only hope the man had good intentions towards him.