They had taken his mother at sunset. Bound her wrists in white linen, they loaded her into a carriage and rode off through the woods. Tarrek hadn't called after her. He had simply watched, frozen behind the broken fence, until her fever-maddened ughter was swallowed by the trees.

  Now, months ter, he stood knee-deep in the withered fields she once loved, staring at soil so dry it cracked like old skin. Bck veins ran through the earth in crooked patterns, the sickness sinking deeper every season. Somewhere behind him, the wind rattled the empty farmhouse where his father had drunk himself into silence before the end.

  Tarrek exhaled through his teeth and turned away from the ruins of his life. There was no harvest left to reap. No reason left to stay.

  By midday, he had stood stiffly outside his neighbor's home, pressing a trembling hand against the wooden frame until someone answered. Old Wren, hollow-eyed but still breathing, had offered him barely more than pity for the nd—enough to buy a carriage seat, if he didn't mind traveling without comforts. Tarrek accepted without argument. He signed the parchment with a name that already felt like it belonged to someone else.

  Tomorrow, he would leave. Leave the fields. Leave the silence. Leave the dead behind.

  He made his way through what used to be a decent farm town, now empty with no crops to speak of. The only ones who stayed were either too old or too stubborn to leave it behind. He walked up the steps of the only tavern in the town and pushed through the door.

  "Afternoon," he mumbled as he sat at a table.

  The only other person in the tavern was the owner, a middle-aged man with a rge beard and a rger belly.

  "Afternoon, Tarrek. I assume you're skipping town then?" he ventured.

  Tarrek nodded as the man set down a pte of bread and a small cup of what Tarrek assumed was the worst ale in all the nd. It was just about all this town could afford to feed its dwindling popution.

  "Don't tell me you'll miss me?" Tarrek attempted to joke with him, but the man huffed and walked away. Everyone here was just as lifeless as the town itself.

  Tarrek finished his meal quickly, left a few coins, and headed out the door. 'No point in dragging this out,' he thought to himself. He felt like he'd have a harder time leaving than this, but it felt as if he had already forgotten everything and moved on. Outside, the sun had already begun to drop low in the sky. He walked down the dirt path to the stables. Normally, there would be no carriage—you'd have to send mail first for a carriage to come out for you, and that's what Tarrek did.

  A small, roofless carriage waited beside the stables, just big enough for two passengers. A single, tired-looking horse stood hitched to the front. The driver leaned nearby, puffing on his pipe like nothing in the world was wrong. He looked Tarrek up and down for a moment, taking a long drag off his pipe before speaking.

  "I do take the payment up front if that's what you're wondering, d."

  Tarrek pulled the coins from his pocket and handed them over. The carriage driver took a quick gnce before securing them in a pouch on his hip. "Hop on in and we'll be on our way."

  Tarrek nodded and climbed in. It wasn't spacious, but with no one in the opposite seat, he stretched his legs and leaned back—as comfortable as one could be in a box of wood and iron.

  The ride was going to be a decent one; they probably wouldn't reach town until midnight. Tarrek was lost in thought for a while, watching the tall mountains on the horizon as they loomed over the long stretch of forest. They passed two other small towns in the distance, probably other farming towns, but it seemed the closer they got to the capital, the less rotten the nd and air seemed to be. He took a long, deep breath, thinking how nice it would be once he was able to get settled and start his journey as an apprentice schor, although he had no idea how to even get started as an apprentice.

  "So what's your name, son?" The driver broke the silence, taking his pipe away from his mouth for the first time the whole ride.

  "My name? Tarrek, sir," Tarrek answered him. "And yours?"

  "My name is Bram," he stated, then went quiet for a moment. "Other than living next to a rift, what's got you leaving home and heading to the capital?" he asked.

  Tarrek shrugged and thought about what to say. He didn't feel like it would do any harm to tell a stranger his whole story, but he also didn't want to bore the man. Although it was going to be a long ride, so maybe it would be good to fill the silence.

  "Well, my mother got sick from the rift, my father drank himself to death after she was taken away, and so that left me with tending what was left of our farm. The nd isn't any good out here though, so I thought it would be best to make something of myself and get out of that town. Go become a schor and do some good for myself and hopefully others."

  Bram simply nodded and raised an eyebrow.

  "Mighty noble of you, young farmer. You know how to read and write?" he questioned.

  Tarrek looked down. He never had a reason to read or write, so of course, he never learned.

  "No, sir."

  "That's alright, son. Me neither. But you will need to learn if you want to become a schor," he stated bluntly. He leaned to the left, spat into the moving dirt beneath them, and tapped out his pipe. "Looks like we've got a lovely evening and a lot more road ahead. Best enjoy the quiet while it sts."

  Bram packed fresh tobacco into his pipe, wedged it between his lips, and took the reins with both hands. He leaned back with a rexed huff.

  Tarrek continued to take in the scenery around him. Everything looked so much healthier the further they went from the rift. There were more birds in the sky, the breeze felt cool and gentle. He watched as a tiny animal darted across the path behind them before he began to drift. The gentle jostling of the carriage, the rhythmic sound of the horse's hooves in the dirt, lulled him to sleep.

  Tarrek was jerked awake. The sun had long since set and darkness surrounded them, save for a torch mounted on the corner of the carriage. The horse pulled against its restraints, almost as if startled by something.

  "Calm down, girl. Don't start going senile on me." Bram pulled on the reins and shifted in his seat. His calmness helped set Tarrek's panic at ease.

  "She scare easily?" Tarrek asked.

  "Nah, she's been the perfect horse for as long as I've owned her. Just some te-night jitters, I suppose. Although not very like her."

  Tarrek felt slightly uneasy. He realized there was no breeze, no animal sounds, almost no sound at all. He sat up straight, looking around at the tree line that seemed to have closed in around them.

  "Are nights out here always this quiet?" Tarrek whispered, barely daring to break the silence.

  Bram looked around as if only just noticing it.

  "Usually signs of a predator. Bear or wolf. Somethin' or other." He urged the horse to go faster, but as he did, the horse came to a stop and began to act more distressed. "Damnit, you're never like this, girl... Don't worry, kid. None of those animals typically mess with people. They see a few men, a torch, and my big girl here, and they'll leave us be."

  He turned to face Tarrek as he said this. As he spoke, a crashing sound came from the trees to their right. A massive bck shape burst from the forest with an inhuman shriek. It moved too fast to understand—just shadow, teeth, and hunger—and in a heartbeat, it snatched Bram from the bench in a spray of blood.

  Bram's screams of pain split the silence, and the horse took off in a panic, dragging the carriage and nearly throwing Tarrek out.

  Panicking, Tarrek attempted to take the reins and turn the horse around. We have to go back for him! he thought. The carriage jolted, smashing into a rock. Tarrek was thrown clear, crashing hard into the dirt. The horse screamed, stumbling as the weight behind it dragged it sideways.

  Everything burned. His chest, his legs, his eyes. The air tasted like ash and copper. He tried to stand—and then it was on top of him.

  The shape loomed above, enormous and formless, like a shadow with teeth. Its jaws sank into his side, tearing through flesh and bone. He screamed, grabbing at the thing's hide—slick, greasy, hairy, wrong. It wasn't like anything he'd ever imagined. His mind recoiled, confused, breaking.

  Darkness surged at the edge of his vision.

  Then—

  A fsh of brilliant light.

  A crunch, loud and sudden.

  And then everything went silent.