Dnara reached for Ren’s arm, admiring her bravery but fearing its consequence. “I think it only wants me, Ren. You could-” Dnara yelped and snatched away her hand as Ren’s arm became so cold it hurt to touch it.
“I’m n-not,” Ren stuttered, “l-lea-ving y-y...”
“Ren?” Dnara reached for her cold skin again but Ren fell stiffly over and landed on the ground, the branch now frozen within her grasp and her eyelashes coated in white frost above unblinking eyes. “Ren!”
Dnara crawled across the frosted earth to Ren’s body, her own teeth chattering and fingertips aching from the cold. Looming over her, the shadow sank downwards, its formless head and bright eyes coming to rest in front of Dnara’s face as she took Ren’s heavy, frozen form into her arms. It hurt to hold the soldier, but Dnara hugged the woman in a hope to warm her. The shadow tilted its head and watched for a moment then curled its large talons around Ren’s ankle and tugged.
“No!” Dnara yelled at the creature and tightened her hold across Ren’s shoulders.
The creature slunk back, as if slapped by her voice. It closed its eyes, turning its formless face into a blank slate. When the eyes reopened, they were no longer a brilliant white but a deep amber. It sank its claws into Ren’s calf and tugged again, nearly ripping the soldier from Dnara’s grasp.
“Stop!” Dnara didn’t know what good shouting at the thing would do, but it felt good to at least do something as Ren’s body slowly slid from her arms and back onto the ground.
To her surprise, the creature did stop for a moment and eyed Dnara with its yellowish orange gaze tilting left and right, as if confused. One of its claws retracted from Ren’s flesh, leaving a bleeding gouge, but then the creature’s eyes closed again. Its shadowy, shapeless form shimmered and shook, dissipating in some places and reforming in others. A shivering hum drew a long low note and the frozen river fractured. Dnara let out a whimper as sharp needles threaded along the scars on her arms. The hum cascaded through the clearing, bringing movement to the ice coated trees and grass in a world without wind. The whispering crystalline ting they made brought a beautiful melody to accompany the hum before the clearing went deathly silent and unnaturally still.
The beast reopened its eyes, and they were a raging red fire. A low growl reverberated, shaking the stones and brittle grass. The talons sunk deep into flesh and tossed Ren aside like a sack of grain. The soldier rolled across the ground before sliding to a stop halfway on the ice-coated creek, her face turned towards Dnara, mouth open in an unfinished word and eyes unblinking.
The memory of Ren’s laughter and kindness knifed into Dnara’s heart as the lifeless soldier stared across the frozen ground with a face masked in sparkling white frost. The expression Ren wore was one of disbelief and confusion, as if asking the why of her ending. How pointless a death. How unworthy a conclusion to such a strong woman and gentle soul.
“No,” Dnara whispered, the word cracking chapped lips and forming its own shape with a white puff on the air.
The creature did not falter nor close its eyes this time. Its talons sank into the frostbitten earth and tore away hunks of sod as it took a step closer to where Dnara sat staring at Ren’s fallen form. The shadow stood over her, laughing in mockery at Ren’s futile sacrifice and Dnara’s failure to stop it.
‘How weak. How pathetic.’
The words buzzed through Dnara’s mind, painfully sharp. A breath passed her lips and her chest could not draw in another. A heavy, clawed hand pressed down on her with talons perched upon her throat, pushing her into the cold earth. Shadows wisped upwards from its body as smoke from an extinguished flame, swirling around shapes in patterns that began giving the creature form; a lost figure surrounded by darkness, a lingering remnant of what once was.
Dnara’s eyes widened as the patterns became discernable and gave life to an incredible realization. Sharp black talons led to a splayed foot, which led to a strong arm armored with horns and scales. From the red eyes, light reflected across rigid bone and leathered skin. Two flaring nostrils now breathed only shadow where once there had been birthed fires brighter than the stars. A blink, and the impression faded. A held breath, and the fluctuating silhouette returned. From a formless shadow, came the fleeting glimpse of a dragon.
Dnara’s mouth opened further to scream but could only draw in a tight, hard fought breath, more a wheeze than a gasp at what she now saw. The shadow stared at its own reflection in her eyes and recoiled. The shadows reformed, eclipsing the dragon held beneath and blotting out what little moonlight remained. A claw scraped her throat, leaving a thin line of blood, and the shadow renewed its compression on her chest, pushing the air from her lungs.
‘To come so far only to fall.’
Its words were seeped in tangible vitriol, and its anger threatened to drown her before she could suffocate under its weight. She’d come so far, from her tower in the forest, from an existence that seemed endless and without purpose.
‘But you are nothing without the wind.’
Her chest heaved in a desperate search for air as those words snaked into her soul, cutting open a rift of doubt with their truth. The wind had given her purpose, a path, protection and power. Separated from it, what remained?
‘A frightened little girl,’ answered the shadow, its red eyes piercing and unsympathetic. ‘An abandoned, kept child who is no one’s daughter.’ Darkness crept into her vision
