‘Return. Burn all’The whispers wake me up. I look around quickly, then realising no one is there, I sigh and shake my head. I refuse to listen to them. There is nothing that could make me do what they suggest. They’re persistent, that’s for sure. Looking up, I notice the sun has moved to a much more comfortable position in the sky and so I continue my journey up the mountain.The snow crunches between my paws. It feels strange at first, but I get used to the feeling soon enough. I am starting to feel a little hungry. I take a moment to survey my surroundings. If I go any higher, then there might be nothing to hunt and eat. I decided to take care of that before continuing with my journey. Thanks to Darnell for teaching me how to survive as a wolf during the times I am stuck in the wilderness.

As I make my way inside what is left of the inner castle grounds, I find myself drawn into one particular room. Unlike the others, this one is almost fully intact still, but the darkness within makes it difficult to see until my eyes have fully adjusted.I’m in what used to be the throne room, it seems. A large chair made of stone sits upon a raised platform of sorts with two smaller thrones sit either side of it. The drapes have mostly been eaten away by moths or plucked by birds, and the fabric is quite faded, but I can still just about make out the designs on them.What draws my attention, however, are the two blood-red eyes peering back at me from one desk near the thrones. It had almost blended into the darkness with how black the creature was, but as my eyes adjusted more, I made out the creature’s shape.A raven.The black feathers looked more like the midnight sky with no moon or stars, those b

The witches gave me the day off to recover from the night's journey. I knew that Jay would wonder where I had gone as a few days would now turn to a few months. I wasn’t sure if I could handle such a long period without him, but I was determined to prove my worth and not allow myself to fall into madness. Jay, on the other hand, would not handle my vanishing so well. With that in mind, the witches agreed to let me tell him some details, but my location could not be disclosed to anyone, mate or otherwise. I understood why. Even if he managed to enter the forest without trouble, he would never be able to track my scent and getting lost in this place would drive him even madder than just being away from me for a long period. ‘Honey, I promise, I’m fine!’ I relay through the mindlink, keeping it open only for him and not the rest of our pack. ‘I’m going to get so

A blinding flash of white light dazed me for a moment before I came to my senses again, finding myself in an unknown location within the forest. I was on the ground still, which I was thankful for. I don’t know if I could have survived if I had been transported high up and fell.Looking around, there was no sign of anything to show life outside of the nature that lived here. That was both a blessing and a curse. I did not know where the witch’s cottage was from here and any amount of creatures could now pose a threat to me unless I learned how to fly.“Any ideas, Aderyn?” I asked, but the raven was silent. It seemed that unlike with Lumi, once joined in one form, communication was either lost or had to be re-found. Either way, this would not be as easy as my first wolf transformation had been. Lumi had taken control then, which made it easier to learn and what she couldn’t teach me through her actions, she

As the morning turned into midday, the shadows were now all but gone. Even with the fog, it was hard to see any way of travelling using the method I had finally learned to use. I could make some distance by gliding from tree to tree though, so I still had some ways and means of travelling. What surprised me was that I had no hunger pains in this form. I guessed it had something to do with my familiar not being a normal creature.I wondered how much further I needed to travel before I reached my destination. With the sunshine, I couldn’t rely on the shadows to lead me as much as before, but I knew I was still going in the right direction. That was all I knew, however, as there was no way for me to fly up and see for myself the distance left.Fluffing out my feathers, I look down at the ground for a moment and then up to the sky. In the trees, the fog was t