I clawed my way from winter’s mouth… the wolf that fed on memory and rot. Its hunger had no end, and I was the feast.
But I tore loose. With bloodied breath and crooked spine, I rose.
In the forest of endings, a bear’s voice called… half lament, half command. It knew my name when I had none.
The stars spun in reverse. The cycle cracked like glass under weight. And in the hush that followed, a flame stirred.
It spoke:
“Come, child. You are the death of forgetting.”
And somewhere, deep in the trees, another wolf stirred… not the devourer, but not yet known. Its eyes burned with something ancient, its breath was the wind.