The forest was in flames and breaking into cinders. I rushed past a flutter of azure as lantern bugs fled from the blazing light. Branches whipped and lashed at me leaving tiny slices as I burst through. I didn't have time to follow the path. My lungs burned like fire, my stomach ached, and the half man's terror filled my heart.

  I touched my chest. Grateful for the fear that told me he was still alive.

  "I can't slow down now!"

  I grit my teeth as heat whipped past me and I leapt through burning fire, skidding to a stop in the earth just beyond.

  Each of the little homes were surrounded by lurking shadows. My eyes were wide and frantic as I quickly tried to make sense of it all. They seemed to be wolves the height of the houses themselves. Which meant that if they stood tall they were probably twice the size of me too. Their fur was as dark as the night, and they could only be made out from the silhouette they cut from the fire. I noticed broken down lantern posts and spills of oil that had caught on garden beds and created the inferno.

  Even if I could somehow distract the wolves, how could I stop the fire licking at each windowsill?

  The little folk were stuck between burning alive, or running into the jaws of monsters beyond their doors.

  "Gah" I grit my teeth and squeezed my fist as I struggled to think of what I could do.

  Tema's whispers rose in my mind, "Turn the page".

  Veins of light whipped out of my body and spun around me in vivid flashing circles. Runes dancing and shifting as connecting lines stitched their way between them and powerful magic weaved itself together into a storm.

  "No" I sneered.

  Silver eyes stared back at me beyond the shadows. I knew there would be a cost. A slippery slope that could not be stopped.

  "Argh" I fell down to my knees as I pulled the magic back.

  Each whip of light torn like vines back into my blood.

  I heaved with tears, now a dark shadow at the edge of the inferno.

  "I can't"

  As I looked back up at the village and the wolves, I foresaw the halfling folk, burning and being torn flesh from bone.

  My breath broke into hysterical pants. My neck clenched and my veins bulged.

  "Argh"

  Death loomed like a thick fog and the power to stop it called.

  "No!"

  I convulsed and clutched the fear of the halfling in my heart.

  "Do they really have to burn, all for the sake that I don't shatter myself..."

  "What if I just did something small?"

  I focused myself, and with as much restraint as I could I weaved a circle of magic around me.

  "Perhaps a rain cloud?"

  But as the magic spilled forth, the silver eyes pulsed.

  "Argh"

  "No"

  "Come on. I can't even do that much?"

  I grit my teeth and shook my head back and forth. As flames whipped against the halfling's windows I felt the fear in my heart grow.

  "I can't do nothing. I just can't"

  It was at that moment, something in me became calm. My eyes widened as I saw the flowers on the windowsills. And with a simple command I made it happen.

  "Bloom"

  The halfling wrestled his back against the door, and then turned to the window in shock as each flower he let wilt started to grow. Not only did it grow, it shimmered with magical light.

  "Lady Dia!"

  It was a sign that there was still hope.

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  Cheers rang out in each home, as their eyes widened, and they rushed to each other in rejoice.

  "She has come!"

  I whispered under my breath.

  "Just keep holding on... I'll figure this out somehow. I am with you all"

  I punched the ground and stood to my feet, a rage burning in my heart, and then I roared.

  "All you damn wolves! Begone!"

  Their ears turned and their red eyes locked on. Like a flood of shadows they poured forth.

  "Argh!" I screamed out as I turned back and leapt over a fallen tree burning at the edge of the woods.

  I fled through flash and shadow as snapping and snarling rolled over my shoulder. My breath was short and sharp, my lungs burned and my pulse beat like shaking a can full of stones. A snarl was so close that I turned to look over my shoulder and saw a flash of jaws. I reached out my hand to one of the trees to my side and whipped in a turn before catching my feet again. The fangs sliced past as I stumbled onto the road.

  "Bloody hell!" Zeb cried out his eyes wide now.

  He pulled out his axe, and with a defiant step turned the edge and cleaved the wolf through.

  The thunder hadn't stopped though. His armor was tested by a storm of fangs as the rest of them tumbled forth.

  "Grah!" he roared as he smashed them off and then swept the haft of his axe around.

  He became a maelstrom of blood and bone as their limbs sliced off.

  The last remaining one snapped its jaws around his breastplate, pinned one of his arms, and shook him until his axe clattered against the cobble stones.

  "Ya bloody bastard," he yelled out as he punched back with his one free arm.

  I couldn't believe my eyes, it had all happened so fast, I didn't know that Zeb had followed. Now he was snapped up in the monster's jaws.

  I quickly looked around and saw his axe wedged up against a stone. I picked it up by the haft, and charged forward.

  Red eyes locked onto me, and with a quick turn, its hind legs bucked.

  I landed hard after smashing back through the woods. The axe was no longer in my hands. I coughed and spluttered as I reached back towards Zeb.

  "No, you can't, die..."

  My eyes flashed and silver strands spilled from my veins.

  But those eyes, they stared back.

  I pulled them back in and stood.

  "Rar!" I screamed in a charge.

  This time I expected a turn of its hind, and slid below.

  I grabbed onto its front legs from underneath its chest, and I stood tall with a twist. Slamming it down onto its side.

  The axe was close, and so I flicked it with my foot towards the creature's jaws. And with one powerful thud, Zeb's arm struck. His fingers wrapped around the haft, the edge of the blade flickered briefly with a reflection of the moon, and then we were both splashed in red.

  I tried to catch my breath before wiping some of it off.

  Zeb brushed off some of the muck, then slammed the haft of his axe into the cobblestone.

  "Don't you ever. Question. A dwarf's resolve."

  His beard hid a sly grin as he turned toward me.

  "Bonnieville, eh? Could have said, wolves would dive out onto the road. But no bother, it's done now"

  "Why did you follow?"

  "Couldn't let you rush off like a madman in the dark of night alone now could I?"

  I collapsed and laid back looking up at the stars with a laugh.

  "You really are mad" Zeb said as he stood over me and rubbed his beard.

  "No, I am just really glad you came"

  "Yeah, well, now you owe me one"

  "Guess I do" I said as I took his outstretched hand.

  "Now, what of the Bonnie folk? That blaze ahead doesn't look too good"

  It was only in the light of the morning that we knew the true cost. A young halfling girl that fled into the woods...

  "Ah, gods that be" Zeb turned away with a tick of his lips.

  "No..." I said as I kneeled beside her.

  Bloodied, broken, and no more.

  "Sherry!" her mother screamed out. The other's held her back before letting her go.

  "My sweet darling girl"

  "No!" she howled as she broke into rivers of tears.

  A hand landed on my shoulder, "Come on, let's go"

  Zeb's voice was sorrowful and warm.

  He knew the pain of such things well.

  "This isn't on you, and the rest of these folk owe you their lives"

  "No they don't" I whispered as I held back the tears welling in my eyes.

  "Please" the mother whimpered between heaving breaths, "Lady Dia, at least let me know if she made it to you alright"

  She looked up to the sky with strain in her eyes.

  I reflected back on my own death, the sea of wails and cries, and lady Dia's voice. I knew she would do whatever it was she could. Perhaps the girl would live a second life, perhaps she would not, we don't get to know.

  "I am not lady Dia, but..."

  I reached out my hand and let the ground become a field. Flowers, purple, azure, and yellow enshrouded Sherry in their glow.

  Her mother trembled the memory now deeply sewn.

  I suppose I could have lied to her, not shown her that I was the one that made the flowers bloom. But I guess I believe there is a strength in sorrow.

  A reason we can't know.