Chapter 38

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I'm standing in the forest. I can hear the distant song of birds, and the melodic chirping of frogs and insects surrounding me. A subtle breeze ruffles my hair playfully, and sends the scent of decaying leaves toward my keen nose.

Why am I here?
A twig snaps behind me.
I turn around, startled.

My father stand before me, his body twisted, and broken. His stance is awkward, his face filled with tortured pain.

"Daddy?"
He shifts.

His skin tears and falls away in bloody ribbons.
He screams.
A giant, terrifying wolf takes his place.
The pack leader...

"No... You're dead..."
He snarls, and charges toward me.

I stumble backward, fear prickling my scalp.
I throw my hands outward.
The wolf freezes as chunks of earth and rock begin to fly toward him, forcing their way down his throat, into his ears, and eyes...

The wolf shifts back into my father.

I instantly lower my hands....
And yet...
The earth keeps moving.

"No... No, stop!"

He shifts again.
This time, Warrick takes his place.
Another shift.
Torryn...
Then Andromeda... Then Ronan...

I scream as Dristan appears next.

He cries out in agony as rocks beat against him, breaking his bones. He gags and chokes, clawing at the air, as earth shoots down his windpipe.

"Make it stop!"

Trees, bushes, boulders and clumps of earth are ripped from the ground. They fly at him, pounding against his bloody body relentlessly.
He falls into the dirt.

"STOP! STOP IT!"
I cannot control it.

The earth beneath my feet begins to quiver.
I take a step back.
The ground breaks.

It's falling away, revealing a pit of molten lava beneath the surface. Dristan falls through the cracks, and his body sizzles as it hits the magma. I can smell his flesh burning.

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