Chapter 31: Beneath the Pale Canopy
A white wolf moved through the forest, his fur was illuminated by the pale moonlight filtering through the canopy above. The air was still—unnaturally so. Not even the rustling of leaves nor the distant cries of nocturnal creatures broke the suffocating silence.
Skoll's ears twitched. Something was wrong.
Then—
A blur of motion.
From the trees above, a figure descended, a steel was flashing in the dim light. Skoll reacted instantly, twisting his body with unnatural grace as the blade sliced through empty air. The ground where he had stood an instant before cracked from the force of the strike.
A pause. A stare.
The wolf and the boy locked gazes, the tension between them was thick enough to smother the quiet.
Yet as Skoll's sharp eyes traced the figure before him, unease crept up his body. The boy's form—his very presence—was... wrong. He flickered, and his edges were distorting like a reflection on rippling water.
Then, without warning, he disappeared.
Skoll's eyes widened, his instincts were screaming too late.
A whisper of displaced air was behind him.