Chapter 15

If we surrendered to earth's intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees. —Rainer Maria Rilke

Seraphina's feet ached to the point of numbness now. Her throat and lungs were dry from the thick humid air she gulped in sharp breaths. The Wendigo had nearly caught her, one of its claws craved a deep cut into her leg when she tripped, the wound stinging from the damp air. Every inch of her body cried out to stop her, but she couldn't. The fear and adrenaline forced her to keep going.

Her race was soon cut off as a steep hill was in her way. Seraphina could've climbed it, but the giant monster would get her in seconds from just her first push into a climb. Seraphina turned around to see that it was only a few feet from her now. It would close in on her with just a breath.

As the Wendigo's hand reached for her, a flash of amethyst light blurred Seraphina's vision and a roaring cry shook her skull, which made her cover her ears from the pain. When she did open her eyes, seven giant fluffy tails flicked around in Seraphina's sight. The amethyst color danced around in the air as some welcomed warmth washed over Seraphina. The Wendigo was on the ground, arm in the jaws of a huge fox. The Wendigo thrashed around to get free from its attacker, but the jaws of the fox only tightened.

"What the...," Seraphina stared in shock.

The fox tossed the Wendigo into the air by its arm, snapping its jaw into the beast's side, and shook it around like a toy. The monster roared out in a cry of pain again, its body was flung around like a ragdoll in the teeth of the giant fox. The Wendigo clawed at the face of its attacker, only to be bashed and battered into trees and the ground. The sound of crushing bones from it startled Seraphina. It sounded so fragile like the monster had nothing to its body despite its strength and power. The fox was unbothered by it, only more focused as it chased after the Wendigo and tossed it around again, one of the arms to the murderous beast was ripped clean off, and the sound made a horrible uncomfortable ripping noise like paper being cut with rusted scissors.

Bleeding claw marks covered the fox's face and neck as it threw the monster into more trees, a path broken way down to the riverside again. Seraphina shot up at the sight before her, she watched the fox chase after its prey in a bloodthirsty manner.

"Wait!" Seraphina called out as she watched her savior chase down the path. A heavy crash of water and more fallen trees shook the wilderness around the three. Seraphina chased after the fox back to the river. The Wendigo was crumbled into the shallow–to the giant beasts at least–water. It stood up and lunged toward the large fox for an attack. It landed a sharp slash at its body sending the fox skidding across the water into some trees off the bank. Seraphina yelled out, which was the biggest mistake of her life. The Wendigo turned toward her and stalked forward to her. Seraphina turned to run.

A high-pitched roar from the fox made both Seraphina and the Wendigo look, only for the fox to bash headfirst into the murderous monster and knock it down. Crushing it beneath the weight of its body and trees, The Wendigo let out a thundering roar to be cut off as the fox locked its jaw into its throat. The fox's teeth sunk deeper into the moldy, paper-like rotting flesh and ripped from it, sending blood, aged skin, and bone into the air. Seraphina's eyes stayed wide open at the sight. The Wendigo, a human-eating monster that is impossible to kill...it was just killed right here in front of her. A giant fox was ripping the flesh-eating monster to pieces before her

As Seraphina stayed her distance, she noticed the fox turn toward her, muzzle covered in blood from the now dead Wendigo behind them. The gurgled noises died out soon after from its hollow throat. The fox lowered its head to Seraphina before grabbing the Wendigo and drug it away down the river into a heavy fog. Seraphina was left alone in the eerie silence now, confused, scared, and breathless. Had all that really just happened? Maybe she was still in a dream and she'd wake up soon. It could be a weird hallucination as well from a lack of food and water. The forest is also dangerous so maybe it tricked her too?

A million thoughts raced through Seraphina's mind, she hadn't noticed that the fox had come back, and the twinkled shine of something snapped her from her daydream. The necklace that the fox wore swung around with the swayed movement. It glimmered in warmth and security in Seraphina's eyes. The fox was smaller now, nudged Seraphina's leg, and walked off in a direction Seraphina wasn't familiar with, but she followed anyway. She was saved, what better way to follow another random beast somewhere to possibly get eaten right? But Seraphina felt at ease now and just followed after.