It is so dark in here. I can almost feel the way my pupils expand in search of light and the sound of claws echoing in the darkness makes my heart speed up. I spin around with all of my legs splayed out, hunched down as if I am ready to bolt at the next noise and the rocks that I have kicked in my haste make loud noises that reverberate in the caverns. Is that a ghost I hear? No, I think it is merely the blood in my ears. The way my lips seem to suck in air and the way my lungs contract as they eat through the oxygen in my panic. Laughter, I hear it! It is deep in my ears now, her laughter, mocking me in my position. I know what she would say - why are you cowering? Nothing can hide in the dark from me... and nothing ever would. She is coming. I can feel her presence drawing nearer and once more I will be forced into a position of servitude that I have known my whole life.
I fly through the darkness, crashing into the stony walls. Tufts of my light gray and alabaster fur are left behind in my wake, a remnant of my presence that another soul would find later. They might wonder what had happened to me but find no blood in my wake.
My mind should be sound by now but I know it is not. I know that sometimes I see her and she is not there but it does nothing to convince me fully. It is why I run and ache towards the growing sunlight. I can see it spilling across the dusty floor and I reach for it with all of my might, stumbling across a rather large indentation in the rocky floor and almost falling. But I gather myself and I dart out into the light as if it will save me with her laughter mocking me. She will get me and she will punish me. I race away from them and towards the river that flows into Glorall, not stopping until I see the child at the border. A small girl. She wouldn't hear me coming but how can I know this?
I don't intend to harm her but Seline is coming and she has a taste for the blood of innocents. The younger the better. I can remember the tiny newborn figures in her mouth, blind eyes and gaping mouths, and the way they almost popped between her jaws until their blood dripped. Horror coils within me at the memory, at what she would do to this child who was so alone, so without care. I wouldn't let it happen. So I move up behind Peregrine, pausing long enough to place both paws on either side of her, and then I lift her into my mouth with gentleness. I made a point to be gentle because as I lifted her I remember the way Seline lifted my children, their screams of anguish, and I don't want to hear that again.
Only when she is settled firmly between my jaws do I begin to run, whining into the back of the pup as I hear leaves crunching behind me. Who is coming? SELINE! She will be here soon. I cannot fail this child like I have failed everything in my life.... so I run.