He always will.
“I can wake him,” Kaelen whispered, blood running from his ears. “Or I can fray into the mountain and become the new Sundering.” animrco
The village council decided to hunt it. They asked Kaelen to come as a tracker. He always will
Kaelen did the forbidden thing. He frayed while standing, eyes open, in front of witnesses. They asked Kaelen to come as a tracker
For three heartbeats, he was the raven.
On the hunt, Kaelen led the men through the thorn-woods. They carried torches and boar spears. The blightwolf circled them from the shadows, its smoke-eyes glowing like punctured coals.
Inside the wolf, Kaelen felt its sorrow as a physical thing—a collapsed rib cage of grief. He also felt its rage, a second heart beating black. It would not stop. It could not stop. The Sundering had rewired its instincts so that every living thing smelled like the men with torches.