Chapter Text
The night forest, its clawed branches snagging the young man’s cloak as if trying to bury him right here. The ring of promise tightened around his throat. A contract signed without his consent demanded compliance. Wise breathed sharply and shallowly, his consciousness was slipping away. He might be a Proxy, but everyone is equal before a magical pact.
"Someone... anyone, please..."
As if hearing his pleas, the forest filled with the sound of a dog’s whimpering and the smell of blood. Somewhere very close…
Ahead, beneath a wide, ancient oak tree, a creature that had once been a wolf pressed itself into the dry earth. Having escaped from an old master and the persistent, quiet fear that gnawed at his gut every day, he had torn off the collar that had choked him. But the price of freedom proved too high. Back there, he had left behind not only his old life, but two hind legs and his right eye. The stumps of his hind limbs throbbed with wild fire, his ragged remnants blending into the chaotic autumn carpet. The ground greedily drank the life leaking out of him, as if it had been waiting for a new victim. Blood ran in thin rivulets across the fallen leaves, carving a path deep into the very bowels of the forest. It seemed as though the gnarled roots, sensing the warmth of a foreign body, slowly rose up to entwine the mangled form. In this unwanted embrace, there lay a chilling promise: here is your final resting place, we will not let you go.
Wise stumbled toward the sound, his vision swimming, he could barely make out what was right in front of his nose. Blood and mud squelched beneath his boots. The animal’s weeping rang in his ears, his victim was right there, before him. The one-eyed, crippled beast tried to burrow deeper beneath the roots. When had Wise last heard a cry so wretched, so heavy with pain and despair? His heart clenched with guilt. He raised his dagger, its expensive wavy-patterned blade glinting in the moonlight. Whoever was in front of him, Wise mentally begged for forgiveness. The Elders were his witnesses, he didn’t want this. Under any other circumstances, he would never have doomed anyone to such a fate, not even an animal… Especially not an animal.
"Forgive me," Wise choked out with his last breath.
He tilted his head back and, with one sweeping motion, slit his own throat. A black substance flowed down his chest, falling like rain onto the dry leaves. From the gash, a demon’s silhouette emerged. The girl coalesced from particles of a nightmare, like a vision from another life. Her long, swamp-colored hair framed a young, flawless face. Her form-fitting dress, embroidered with intricate patterns and sequins, reminded the wolf of the operas his former master used to frequent. Every movement she made was accompanied by a pulsing light, like the flashes of cameras, catching the fleeting moment in the night, the luster of pearls on her chest or the lace on her sleeves.
The wolf shrank back even further. His one remaining eye stared in terror at the ghostly figure. He knew that the more beautiful a demon, the more monstrous and ruthless its spells. This was not how he wanted to end his life, it hadn’t been a good or righteous one, surely, but he had always believed that even he didn't deserve to die at the hands of a Proxy. The wolf squeezed his eye shut, flattened his ears against his head, and scrambled frantically with his front paws in a futile, agonizing attempt to crawl away, to escape again. He had no chance, but his instincts still told him to fight for his life, not to surrender.
A beautiful melody began to flow from the demon’s lips. It was as gentle as a mother’s hand stroking a brow, light and melodic. Her soft voice lulled and enticed, urging him to yield, to surrender all the pain and terror of his captivity and his arduous flight. With every passing second, his anxiety receded.
"Perhaps it isn’t so bad, the wolf thought, feeling the fire in his mangled limbs subside, to die to such a beautiful song."
A few minutes later, the animal drifted into a deep, final sleep, and moments after, the Proxy’s body collapsed beside him, lifeless. The rest of the night passed in stillness; neither the forest nor its denizens dared disturb them. These two did not yet realize that their grim, forced encounter would bring about a new beginning.