My name within her pleas fall upon deafened ears as a primordial frenzy controls me entirely. I am lost to any notion of familiarity as the world around me is blurred out of view—all I see is red, blood, and entrails as I readjust to dig into the soft abdomen.

My mind is hazy with the effects of my rage wearing off as I tug and tear at the innards of the beast. The blood is savory upon my tongue and there is little I can do to control my subsequent movements. After disemboweling the wretched beast I roll in its aftermath, coating pristine obsidian fur in the thick, red fluid of its corpse. It is my summoning for victory and while my culture does not particularly give praise for those who kill any other than lupine, I feel as though I deserve recognition. It is no feat for a wolf of my caliber to take down a cat of this size—they tire easily and my strength and stamina would have won over as a team in the end anyhow.

It is the delusions of my brain that bring me rocketing back into reality as echoes of Malleah’s screams for my return reverberate within my skull. I stand upon all four blood-drenched paws now as I turn to face her with a near bewildered expression displayed upon my characteristically nonchalant face. She stands, or sits rather, with one paw held tightly against her chest and blood dripping down slowly from her muzzle. In a moment of unguarded, outlandish behavior I stride over to her, leaving a trail of the puma’s blood in my wake. I instantaneously examine her for other signs of damage as I draw near, and with the softest lowering of my head I am given to touch very briefly to the tip of her muzzle with my own. My face is nothing but marred in a bloodied mask and her own maw shines red in the moonlight from the streak.

I do not speak, not a word could dare interrupt us now, and simply rise above her once again to curl my maimed neck around the plushness of her own, paws stepping forward in the slightest to draw closer to her in this moment. Reality slowly seeps back into my vision as time passes by in slow motion. After what seems like hours of this embrace I release her and turn to leave toward the grotto, looking back if only to ensure that she would follow.

She cannot know that I was in my right mind for that affectionate hold—that the red and darkness had finally slipped from my being—if only because she will know the truth.