It was in silence that Amaris trudged forward. His spirits lowered in the aftermath of far too many futile attempts at finding the runes his mother so feverishly whispered to seek. The world was in disarray, his beloved water poisoned and all-consuming, and still, he could do nothing to stop the life-altering chain of events that were occurring.

It was not the first time the moonlit boy had felt such a stark sense of failure, but it was the first time it had felt so…devastating.

His head hung low, golden-hued eyes trained on the world beneath his feet as he trudged on forward, not assessing nor watching where his feet would carry him. In fact, he walked as if he were nothing more than a shell of a wolf. A spirit, much like the ones he often saw in the peripherals of his vision, feeble and incoherent of the world around him.

That was what this world was doing to him: proving to the silver-cast wolf that he was nothing but insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Unable to stop or stall the ending of his given world.

In the trenches of his spiraling thoughts, Amaris had not seen (nor heard) the melody of sounds that cradled the air, as light and airy as they had come. He heard none of it. Not until the striking impact made headway against his flank, sending his paws flailing and his body tumbling.

He landed with an ‘oof,’ teeth gritted together as a blooming pulse ruptured past his ears and thundered in his mind. He wheezed out a fitting grunt, his eyes glued shut as he mumbled something unintelligible beneath his breath before the softer words reeled him back.

Amaris blinked, slowly at first, as the world tilted and spun in his vision before the tangled silhouette of a woman, doused in what reminded him of a summer sunset, sat before him.

Instantly, his heart seemed to hammer.

A pounding in his chest that nearly eradicated the promise of his approaching headache.

H-Hi, he echoed, stumbling for a moment on his words as he cleared his throat and shook his head (as if that would do anything at all). It’s alright, don’t worry about it - are you okay?