---Cassiel's point of view---

  She was too close. And I too slow to react as I suppressed my instincts to strike. Bloody years of traumatised experience that honed my survival instincts to its peak, all for naught.

  It almost took over as it recognised the threat, my instincts. A great impulse to unholster my handgun and shoot. I was swift. I could have pulled my handgun and shot in less than a second.

  I fought that impulse... and won. At the cost of everything.

  My hesitation played a part in worsening my situation. I didn't want to harm her, no matter what. Yet I had to act, to save my life and hers somehow.

  She came onto me in her charge and bit deeply. Threatening to tear my neck and end my life. Just as she struck, my fist already in it's gathering speed unclenched. Hitting Provence in the face hard with the full force of the momentum in my palm. This foiled her from sinking her fangs too deep into my carotid artery, but just barely. My counter-strike derailed her just as she was biting deeply. The result was that the wound stretched from very near my neck artery down to my shoulder. The matter played so incredibly swift that I failed to parry her second attack that caught me clean in the temple of my head!

  I fell rolling down, dazed as I was. And I felt something warm flowing around my neck and shoulder. The attack stopped miraculously, and to my fortune. For I would have been a dead man if she continued her assault. The strike on my head got me good. Greatly confused and unfocused as I was that I couldn't even see straight. I tried to rise, but as I did, I found myself feeling as if plunging through nothingness. A hard slam connected to the back of my backpack, and I felt as if I was rolling in the air. Suddenly hit after painful hit came in quick succession, and I thought I had heard a scream before my mind finally went blank.

  ---Kjerr's point of view---

  -''I really like his tea.'' She sighed before continuing. ''I should know better than to savour this brew so freely when I know so little is left.'' Spoke Enya.

  -It is quite alright. Even if you savour it now or later, you will enjoy it nonetheless.

  -Hmm. Thank you Kjerr, for not making me feel guilty.

  -Oh, guilty pleasures and temptations will always exist. But you are a measured lady, and an introspective soul. I know you will not choose ill however heavy or light the matter.

  -It is comforting to know you think so highly of me.

  -''My thoughts are honest, you are quite welcome my mistress.'' She replied happily.

  The atmosphere was calm and warm in Enya's room. Everything was at peace, everything was right. As far as matters that concerned them for once. But at a moments notice, out of thin air, Kjerr's expression became sharper.

  -Is something the matter Kjerr?

  -My mistress, please bear my absence for a short while. There is a matter I must attend to. Will it be alright with you?

  -Of course. Please go easily, I shall be quite alright.

  -''Thank you.'' Kjerr spoke with a calm tone before exiting the room.

  She closed her eyes, and before her spread the dominion which was rightly Hers. She felt it, but now, she saw it. The heart of darkness, the bestial drive that came from the Barrenlands.

  -''You should have known better.'' Kjerr spoke to the air before Her surroundings changed.

  The great wolf form stood amidst a high peak in blasphemous presence upon the land that was holy with Her spirit's essence. The preternatural bestial form was standing there as if an apex predator who caught its quarry in its sight. Yet it was enraged, preparing to strike. But before it could, even to its apparent untamable spirit it was cowed by sensing a greater presence.

  Her presence.

  -''You should not be here.'' She spoke completely calm. Yet with a voice that was imbued with the lethality that such a sentence would bring.

  The great wolf beast turned towards her. Cowed momentarily before exuberantly taking back it's perceived dominant posture. She studied it closely, both in pity and judgement.

  -Your imposed will has been denied. Now you dare sulk and ready to strike further. How young and stupid can you be for one so eternal in nature?

  The great beast snarled, showing its teeth. Clearly revealing to Her the purest intentions that came from the heart of one of the wastelands. It would not even utter speak, for its barbaric thoughts and expression told it all for Her.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  -You dare...

  -''You dare come into my domain, uninvited. Prey upon my people. And now approach me in such a manner?'' Kjerr spoke gravely as sudden dark clouds were gathering. Spreading, engulfing the sky above her.

  The air was charged with unnatural power. The beast seemed to give pause to his intention to strike. But still dared to stay high, as if mighty. His threat clear. His surety of the numbers of his kind kindling the fire of hate over fear in its heart.

  -''How dare you threaten me in the domain of my home!'' She shouted supernaturally. A vivid moonlight engulfed her skin and radiated in burning power.

  -In place of the weak you perceived you would have a celestial scourge upon your wastelands!

  -Not calm and tranquil as these lands, but terrible and devastating as the catastrophes!

  -Remorseless as the void! Crueller than the End Times to come!

  -The Signori shall behold me and despair!

  At this point the great wolfish being had become small. Writhing in pain as many arcs of light pierced it from all sides.

  -''All shall pay equally for breaking the law of this land! May your better brethren know the folly that you have brought. And may they learn from your passing least they all share your fate!'' Kjerr spoke heavily, her voice resonating terrifyingly.

  And with Her last word a great boom resounded as the great wolf form could hold its shape no longer. The ruptures of light that pierced it grew. It's terrified high pitch yells were drowned out as it was engulfed in its own blast of great energy. Its soul pierced, uncontained no more as it ruptured in pain and terror as the lone Signori had never known in its millennia of true consciousness!

  The echo resounded for the entirety of Kjerag to hear. Then, calmness blanketed the blessed realm once more.

  ---Provence's point of view---

  She awoke as she wrestled back her sense of consciousness, having landed on her hands and knees. One of her hands she realised stupefied, was bloody. She could notice a familiar metallic taste in her mouth. And her entire lower face was wet..., no, viscous with something. She touched it, and realised it was blood.

  Her mind rushed and stumbled many times as she was putting together what just happened. It was as if a nightmare had engulfed her. Where malevolent demands were whispered, louder than thunders. Bringing out the worst of her innate primal instincts. A nightmare that she desperately hated and struggled against. Having broke through the mental barriers that kept her in it. It felt like having her soul near shattered for going against that dream, against that will. Yet she prevailed, and she awoke.

  Now, she had to confront the reality of her deeds.

  -Cassiel...

  -''Cassieeeel!'' She shouted madly, realising what she had done.

  Tears and panic set in as she noticed the blood trail ending not far from the mountain's edge.

  -''No...no, no!'' She spoke to the air, as if trying to deny fate.

  She grabbed her head in desperation, but quickly as it came it was leaving. Her sharp mind coming back to focus on what was important. She inhaled deeply, and made another titanic strain to clear her thoughts. Emptying it to think clearly on what she had to do. Nothing else would matter for her at the moment. She knew she had to treat this as one of her rescue missions.

  The most important rescue mission of her life.

  She kneeled down, wiping her mouth with snow of the distracting blood on her face before inspecting the edge. He was nowhere to be seen.

  -''Cassieeeeeel! Please answer meee!'' She bellowed long and loudly, but no response would come back to her.

  But he was down there somewhere, badly injured at least... She assessed the vast distance in front of her. She could clearly see far below, even beyond the abrupt steep part of the mountain, yet not far below to spot him. Time had always been of the essence, so she stood up. Calculating the force needed to throw her backpack right in front of her. The snow below the cliff was fresh and soft. More than enough to dampen the shock of the impact for all the contents inside.

  With great momentum she pirouetted, releasing the pack just in time to see it fly far away in front of the direction she wanted. Then, with incredible newfound power given by her adrenaline she sprang off of the steep cliff. Expertly landing, grabbing and jumping further down with the swiftness characteristic of her kind, and of one so used to taking on the Barrenlands.

  She finally landed on the soft snow, relieved that her mate was not broken and entangled on any of the jagged edges that the steep part of the mountain had. Now she had only a sea of white from which it should have been easy to have spotted him. Yet even now she could not make ends of him to her desperation.

  Time was growing shorter she realised as she heard great, almost unnatural thunders coming from far away. And from a distant neighbouring mountain she could see dark clouds coming. She knew she had to find him. Before both of them would be buried under a mountain of snow and frozen by the glacial winds.

  To both her apprehension and relief she found the trail of his blood. Too generous for her to feel any sense but dread closely bordering her calm determination. She grabbed her backpack and sprang running like the wind. Soon the worse thing she could have possibly thought came to reality.

  The trail ended, but he was nowhere. She dug where the trail came to a sudden stop, but there was no sign of him. Nor could she pinpoint him by his scent in the cold that dampened such olfactory advantages.

  -Cassieeel! Pleaaase! Where are youuu!?

  Despair was eating at her heart, but she willed it heeled with the fortitude of her mental discipline. She had been saving lives for years now, and she would not let panic get in the way of it now of all times!

  She breathed in deeply and opened her eyes again. Taking her time to look around slowly. Trying to find anything out of the scenery. Her wolf ears were up and sharp to hear the slightest deviation in the wind, while she continued to take regular sniffs of the air. She stood there for long moments while the storm was approaching. Before it did, a break in the sky gave way one more time. A momentary solace before being engulfed once again. And then, she saw it.

  A glint far down on the right. A glimmering pin-point that shouldn't have been there. Provence sprinted toward it, and as she got closer she could notice something else. A faint colour of brown. One of his glove covered digits she realised, along what was the marriage talisman half buried in snow. The marriage talisman that caught the last ray to show the way to its other half.

  She dived into the snow like someone desperate to save a man from drowning. Her heart palpitated, and her breathing picked up like never before. Hoping against the worst, hoping her beloved mate was still alive!

  She felt her hands digging deep enough to feel his body. And with a bestial force that strained even her state of excellent fitness she had pulled him out in one heave!

  She laid him face up as she inspected him, calling to him. But he was out cold. He was looking far from well. Battered, greatly bloodied, and looking a deathly pale white. A great wound stretched from his neck to his shoulder, however it seemed to have either frozen shut or simply coagulated.

  She could not be certain, but what she could be of was his pulse. Still alive yet too faint to ever feel at ease. She was relieved and distressed alike. The storm clouds finally arrived, smothering the sky. Cutting the last threads of light. A cold wind announced a blizzard soon to come.

  She pondered whether she could make it back to the shelter. But the sloped trail was far on the opposite side of the mountain. And as strong as she was, she realised she couldn't carry him or all their supplies in time. With a heavy heart she looked around assessing the terrain. Looking for an outcrop that could give a semblance of shelter.

  She thought she might have spotted a more different rock formation down further that might have been promising. Tying her mate and his backpack to him, she pulled him down by a rope. The soft sliding snow and the downwards slope doing most of the work of carrying her charge.

  She had his life in her hands. Now it was up to her to save his life in return.