Chapter 8: The Forest Burns

                                    

                                          
The world was on fire. I desperately ran on four paws to escape the blaze, but it was everywhere. Branches fell, trees burned, and the cloudy sky became lit with my dead lover's flames. Rain is coming, I tried to convince myself. Rain will save me. It wasn't working.  Solstice's lifeless eyes searched for me with the same cold glow that had been in Nancy's eyes before I tore her to shreds. I had shifted back into a wolf in hopes that the darkness could hide me, but it wasn't working. 
                          
The eyes of my undead lover settled on me. She threw a ball of fire at me with no hesitation. Is there any of her left in there? I wondered, dodging the projectile. My fur was singed by the heat, but I felt nothing. The pain was inside, from the empty hole in my heart left by Solstice. She's gone. I ran into the river again to wet my fur. Can't let her burn me. It had worked so far. 
                          
A burning branch fell from the sky. I would've dodged it, but the water slowed me down. It landed on my hindquarters, and suddenly my rear end was alight with pain. I wet myself again in the water to silence any flames that might have caught, but the pain remained. I crouched low in the river, hoping to hide myself from Solstice's corpse's attacks for a moment, and limped away from the light. 
                          
My eyes wandered behind me for a split second, no longer, and that was enough to see. The entire forest was aflame. Lightning illuminated the sky, and thunder followed shortly after, but the promise of rain gave me little hope. She stood amidst the destruction, amidst the flames, and I knew there was none of my lover left. She feared the fire, I remembered. She feared it, but she still learned it. This thing... It has no fear. 
                          
There was a madness to her. The blind eyes that had once loved what they couldn't even see were glowing an eerie gray, and I was sure they could see now. Her left breast had been replaced by deep gashes, bleeding profusely now. Claw marks, I realized, and I knew who had made them. The wounds had torn through muscle and bone, and a piece of Solstice's heart had fallen out. My wolf eyes teared up again. She's gone. The eyes of my lover's corpse searched for me through the darkness. I can't let that be true, Aerya said she could stop what was coming. 
                          
I was almost halfway across when the other vir appeared across the river. The bear. She growled and stepped towards me threateningly. The message was clear: you will not cross. I dove beneath the water and tried to swim back. I can still make it, she hasn't seen me yet. I had a feeling that it was futile to hope. Trapped between a murderous bear and a flaming corpse... and I'm barely keeping afloat in this water. 
                          
But my wish was granted. I tumbled from the river, soaking wet, but there was no more darkness to hide in. the thing inside Solstice saw me immediately, and I was under fire. A flash of lightning lit the cloudy sky as her first flames barely missed me. The thunder from that sounded mere moments later as I evaded her second strike. A flaming twig landed on me, but my fur was too wet to catch. I still felt the heat, though, and the pain. 
                          
With sudden strength, I jumped forward and tackled my lover's living corpse. She was burning hot, along with being covered in blood and guts, and I jumped off her almost as quick as I'd jumped on. She was still stunned, though, and I had to use that to my advantage. I have to try. With my fresh burns and bruises, the shift hurt worse than ever before, but I had to reach her with words, and a wolf couldn't do that. I don't think I'll be able to shift again until I've healed... if I survive that long. 
                          
"Solstice, please..." I begged the living corpse of my lover. "This isn't you." Her cold, lifeless eyes regarded me like an ant. "You have too... I need you..." a sob escaped me. "Please, if there's any of you left-"
                          
"Gone," the scratchy voice that belonged to someone else spoke through my lover. "Nothing... left."
                          
"Please," I sobbed again. "Please... Solstice..."