The blade had notched Faust’s ribs.
The sickening sound of metal carving through flesh and striking bone rung in their ears.
It pounded through their skull as they ran, drowning out their own heartbeat.
They could still feel their attacker ripping the blade from their side.
The image of the weapon raised and ready to swing for the kill was carved into their retina.
Adrenaline surged through their veins.
They scrambled and ran.
Blood stained the blonde fur of their body. They painted it in gruesome pawprints across the white fur of their chest, trying to stem the flow.
Fear caged their heart.
They dared not look back.

They bounded through the dense forest, agony followed every step.
Thick trees surrounded them, their claws scratched at roots and trunks as they ran.
Desperation roared like fire in their mind and fed the primal urge to survive.
Though they knew it was too much.
The wound too deep, their lifeblood already spilled.
But still they ran.

They braced a paw against their side, sobbing as they pressed on the wound and prayed it would hold. Blood ran through their fingers and soaked the earth, leaving a sanguine trail to follow.
Anxiety gnawed at their thoughts.
Faster.
Run faster.
It’s coming, go faster.
Strain forced a grunt out of Faust as they forced themselves on.
They limped and stumbled at a hurried pace, desperately lunging between trees, not ever stopping to gauge a direction.
Excruciating pain radiated from the wound at their side.
They weren’t sure how long they’d been going.
Hours, perhaps.
Their sense of time was warped by urgency. Every passing second stretched out to minutes as they scoured everything in sight, fearing another threat.
It was exhausting, and as their strength waned so too did their concentration.
They winced as they stepped, their foot slid off the curve of a root.
They fell to the forest floor.
The cool dirt was damp, the earthy scent wrinkled their snout.
They convulsed, body wracked with pain.
They stared up at the canopy, late afternoon sun filtered through the leaves and warmed their fur.

Dazed and bleeding, they waited to gather their strength with their heart pounding.
It would be easy to lay here and die.
A branch rustled behind them.
They jerked upright, shouting as pain flashed through their chest.
They glanced behind, certain they’d see their assailant poised to kill.
But there was nothing.

They heaved a breath and whimpered as their side panged.
They shambled to their feet, woozy from the blood loss.
Survival instinct urged them on.
They groaned with every shaky step.
Their frantic pace disrupted by the fall.
Fear seized them but they couldn’t run.
They hardly managed to stumble between the trees.
Every footfall only hammered home the brutal truth.
They couldn’t outrun death.
Their attacker had no need to follow, they’d dealt a mortal blow.
And no matter how much Faust refused, they couldn’t keep going.
Sweat and mud dampened what parts of their fur weren’t steeped in blood.
Their lungs burned as they marched on.
But it was all too much.
Heaving breaths, they struggled through the thick forest. Every tree they passed, every root in their path became a bigger obstacle.
Their thoughts had grown foggy.

The sun had started to set as they stumbled into a small clearing.
They could hardly feel its warmth as they shambled to a patch of soft grass in the middle and collapsed, their adrenalin spent.
Delirium waxed as their energy waned.
It hurt to lie there and wait to die.
They didn’t want to die.
Didn’t want to let their attacker win.
Their heart thumped weakly in their chest, its effort only served to spill more blood from the wound in their flank.
They stared at the orange sky, watching the sun fall below the horizon.
They clung to life with white-knuckled desperation.
Their thoughts rallied against the world.
This couldn’t be it.
Couldn’t.

Their face cracked as they raised an arm.
Tears spilled anew as they saw the gouge in their side for the first time.
Gristly, mangled flesh stared back.
It addled their thoughts.
That this was them.
Their body.
Pierced and punctured.
It wasn’t right.
It couldn’t be.
They shook, a sob tangled in their throat.
The pain started to ebb.
Pins and needles in their fingertips faded to numbness.
Their vision started to darken.

They exhaled, eyes trained firmly on the setting sun as it took the light from the clearing. Vibrant pink hues radiated from the west.
The celestial body continued to descend.
In the east, the soft purple cover of night advanced.
A full moon was rising.
The silence was tranquil.
It was serene to watch day change to night, alone in a forest.
Tired.
Tired like they’d never been before.
Their body begged them rest.
Begged them to never move again.
And with a view like this that felt easy.
They sighed, peace started to dawn on them.
The thought of slipping away came easier and easier.
That there was no guarantee another breath would follow each exhalation.

Regret welled up through that peace.
They didn’t want to die alone.
Faust’s gaze drifted between the sun and the moon, like eyes of a giant watching back.
The stars twinkled between them, like watchers in the dark.
They wished it were true.
That there was something there, something to watch them in their final moments.
So they weren’t alone.
So their suffering had a witness. That it wasn’t lost to the world.
A plea formed in their throat.
They hadn’t the strength to speak it aloud.
But they willed it.
Their jaw twitched as they breathed silence.

They begged to be seen.
Needed to be seen.
The thoughts railed against their skull, desperate to be heard.
And they felt it.
With pins and needles in their fingers.
With a lump in their throat.
A sensation of something looming over them.
It was convincing that it worked.
That something was seeing this.
They rallied.
Feverish thoughts crashed within them, their turmoil given voice.
Unspoken words coiled through the air and twisted through the vows of a pledge.
They shuddered, delirious with exhaustion and pain.
Desperate and certain of the hope they’d conjured in their chest.
That either way, this was it.
That they’d give everything they were to whatever was listening.
Pledge their life to another so that they may live.

Their hands flopped into the grass.
Fingers twitched at a slowing pace.
Their breath came more laboured.
Blood had pooled under them as they lay there.
They’d lost too much.
But their mind was roaring with desperation as their body died.

Their heartbeat dropped to a mere murmur.
Their eyelids fell.
Rest had come.
They inhaled, seeking peace.
Ready as they could ever be.
All things had to end eventually and they were no exception.

Moonlight filled their lungs.
It warmed them through with silvery calm.
They exhaled their last breath.
But the moonlight remained.
It permeated their chest, its warm glow spread through their belly and tickled their heart.
It soaked through their veins and with it their energy surged.
Their heart beat harder, accepting the moon’s gift and circulated it through their body.
A cool sensation lapped at their limbs and sparkled through their fingers and toes.
Surprise welled within them.
Death did not feel like they expected.
Void, they had imagined. An absence. A darkness so total it blotted out their being.
This was anything but.

The sensation surged through their body. Their heart pounded, the sound drummed through their skull.
It was deafening.
The volume swelled to an intensity that flooded every sense.
They couldn’t see.
Couldn’t feel.
Couldn’t smell or taste.
Only hear the pounding beat of their heart and the coursing tide of moonlight through their body.
Vigour filled their limbs.
Their energy renewed.
They clenched fists around the streams of moonlight, its energy tangible as it tangled through their claws.
It poured from their side, a trickle at first that strengthened until the wound gushed with silver light.
Fuzzy warmth spread across their chest, it buzzed with energy that left them breathless.

It made it easy to let go.
To accept this as their death, if this was what it was like.
Their mind drifted away.
But something rushed to fill that space.

Their body seized.
They let out a surprised gasp.
Bones cracked in their paw.
Pain blossomed anew.
Pressure in their fingers erupted into agony as their claws grew further from their flesh.
They jerked on the ground, yanking their arm back to try guard the wound in their side.
But there was no blood-matted fur.
No gouge, no scar.
Their shoulders bulged. Muscles tensed so hard the joints popped.
They yelped and leapt to their feet.
Their knees buckled.
Sinew warped around the bones in their legs, which creaked and groaned as they shifted.
They collapsed on the floor, writhing as their body contorted.

Sickening cracks rung out of the clearing.
Faust wailed.
The sensation was beyond comprehension.
Shock buzzed through them.
Their muscles swelled, their bones cracked and grew. Their claws sharpened.
New teeth erupted in their muzzle as it lengthened.
Surprise echoed through their head.
Because the pain didn’t last.
Warmth suffused their flesh and calmed it.
They arched their back and slumped against the grass.
Panting.
Heaving in massive breaths.

It was over.
They opened their eyes.
The world looked different.
They held their hands up to their face.
Their fur was darker, a soft brown.
They blinked.
It wasn’t the light.
Surprise rattled their skull.
Their hands were bigger too.
They shot upright.
Their entire body was bigger.
Stronger.
Thick muscles corded through their arms and legs.
They dry-swallowed.
Confused.
Their tongue pressed against the back of their teeth.
There were more, and sharper than usual. Their snout had stretched and a fixed snarl was etched into their face.
They gasped.
Something had marked their arms, the fur stained black. On the left, an emblem like a card had been slashed in two and on the right, a sigil of a full moon flanked by crescents.

The sclera of their eyes was now black.
The soft brown of their left iris now glowed golden like a wolf’s in the moonlight with a slitted pupil to match.
They clutched a monstrous paw to their right eye.
It burned.
The energy that coursed through them surged towards it.
The iris had warped, now a crescent moon and coloured deep blue.
They blinked and gasped for breath as they glanced about the clearing.

The world glowed in the moonlight.
Everything was so clear, so vibrant.
The dark shades of green and blue and purple through the forest encircling them.
They heaved in a breath.
The forest smelled of earth and life.
All around them, trees and grass that sheltered animals and bugs.
They could hear the sounds of them hunting, eating, sleeping.
Time dissolved in the sensory overload.
Their focus drifted.

A mother possum carried its children through the branches of a nearby tree as she deftly hopped about her midnight journey. Faust tracked her, barely a silhouette in the dark but their eyes could discern the shapes with ease. The determination with which she sought safe shelter and sustenance dawned a sense of hope within them.
Overhead, bats soared. Their echolocation thrummed in Faust’s ears with tonal frequencies that set their mind at ease and stilled their racing heart.
Everything would be okay.
Calm displaced the panic in their chest.
They shook, smiling as their now-shaggy fur settled like a warm blanket across their shoulders and down their back.
There was comfort in this.
Their tail wagged, excited.
They cast their gaze to their monstrous paw and breathed deep as they clenched and unclenched a fist.
The way the digits moved felt different yet right.
Within them was strength they once could only dream of.
And in strength was safety.
They exhaled, centred.
Their body held no memory of today’s anguish.
Only tranquillity.

They stared into the dark, lost in a swarm of sensations.
But as the moon reached its zenith, one sense dwarfed the rest.
The feeling of bathing in its silver light.
Stood in the middle of the clearing, it soaked their fur and blazed with life.
Excited energy fizzed throughout their entire body, feasting on the calmness until they tingled with fervour.
The moonlight was ecstasy overwhelming.
They needed to release it.
They tiled their head to the moon, eyes resting closed as a sound welled in their chest.
An eerie howl shook the canopy as it rang across the forest and shattered the peace.
The sound carried through the night, trees shimmered silver with moonlight as critters startled and ran.
Confused thoughts swam about their head but stillness settled across their shoulders in wake of the howl.
They exhaled and placed a hand on their side.
The wound was gone.
Their vitality born anew.
They trembled, joy spurred them on as they loped into the treeline and vanished into the shadows.
Alive.
Reborn.