The howls echoed through the forest, waking the wanderer in a way that made him feel more alive than before, and then just as the howling stopped, so did his heart.
The stillness washed over him and he found it in himself to get out of his nest, and simply stared the wolf in the face. The wolf’s eyes shone with the wisdom of a thousand years, and as he stood there, stronger than stone, the wanderer’s fears diminished into the dark. The wanderer walked even closer, unable to save himself. It was written on the moon that his time was nigh, and as he kneeled before the wolf and bowed his head in surrender, the wolf devoured him whole.
That night under the stars, the wanderer’s soul returned home, to his forest where the leaves still danced to his song on the wind, and his thoughts still burned into the atmosphere, and as the wolf lay down next to the blaze to let his body rest, and closed his eyes, he set the wanderer free into another time, with all the wisdom of the devoured others.
Fin.