The forest should have been familiar; every root, stone, and branch was part of Dawnbreak's territory. Eidola knew this path, she had walked it countless times before. The stream that wound through the trees was only a short distance away, its gentle murmur usually enough to soothe her restless thoughts. But right now everything was off, it brought her to a pause, ears swiveling. The water was speaking, not in words initially in murmurs, half formed sounds hidden beneath the current.

She swallowed, forcing her eyes shut. No.

The stream cannot speak. She repeated the thought carefully, the way one might place stones across a rushing river.

The stream cannot speak.

But when she opened her eyes again the sound carried on, a dozen voices drifting beneath the waters song, some laughed, others whispered secrets she couldn't quite understand, one was her mothers voice, another; Torgars.

Her heart lurched painfully. 'Eidola.' the voice came from behind her and she spun around to find nothing only the trees and the sunlight filtering through the leaves. It made her breath quicken, because the voice had been real it had been right beside her — hadn't it?

Slowly she lowered herself onto trembling haunches, trying to focus on things that were tangible, there was moss beneath her paws...and a cool breeze through her fur. But movement flickered on the edge of her vision, dark shapes slipping between the tree trunks, gone whenever she looked for them.

Eidola squeezed her eyes shut again.

No she whispered softly, pressing both forepaws against the earth as if she could anchor herself there. No. No. No. The shadows were not real, still another voice disagreed. They're watching you. The thought arrived fully formed, as though someone had leaned into her mind and spoken directly into it. They're waiting, they know.

'Eidola.'

The voice came again, bringing her to jerk her head upward and for a moment she saw someone among the trees, their comforting smile brought hope surging through her chest only for them to dissolve into sunlight and leaves. The realization struck like a blade, and a broken sound would rip through her throat as she folded inward curling tightly upon herself beneath the canopy.

—