Exhaustion had become his fated friend, a dear ol’ companion that sidled up beside him and draped its weary head across his own. Amaris could feel that welcomed presence even as his paws trudged along the winding riverside. It urged him to close his eyes, to think of softening, dream-like thoughts, and to snooze soundly despite the acidic stench of the water that wafted before them.

He ignored it, as much as he could, at least.

From the pull his soul all but required of him, and the sleep that wished to sweep him under.

Yet it was the sloshing of something unearthly that made even his exhaustion shrivel up and die. He paused, his heart falling to the depths of his gut as his stomach all but flipped on the spot. The sound only continued to grow, and with it, all other noise seemed to flatline.

Silence enveloped him next, as did the chills that peppered his spine. Something was behind him, a sensation far more ethereal and uncanny than the shadowed faces he often saw. He felt its ominous presence like a weight across his shoulders, a burden that only Amaris was supposed to wear—a fate destined for the likes of him—

The thing was getting closer.

And Amaris could not find the key inside himself to will himself to move.

‘RUN.’

The dream visitor’s voice was like the wind, a fluttering, softened breeze against his ears as the sloshing of something bigger grew behind him. He wanted to look. He wanted to see. Perhaps, after all this time…this was the chance he needed to speak to the darkness that often trailed behind him.

Amaris inhaled a weary breath.

He had made his choice.

Slowly, he began to turn his head, ready to face whatever monster lurked behind him, to see what type of foul-crusted demon awaited his very bated breath.

To see—

THWACK.

His body jostled beneath the weight of a racing, screaming bullet, and the moon had seen the sun. Aelia…? He mumbled through a garbled, half-dazed voice, his eyes blinking along the onslaught of his blurry-eyed attention. What are you—? And then he remembered the sloshing, the monster, the darkness that crept behind them.

He no longer wanted to meet it.

Instead, he wanted to run.

Fuck. He uttered through the clearing of his throat as he quickly scrambled behind his twin, his legs kicking off into a loping sprint. I’m running—we’re running, LETS GO.