I weaved through petrified trees that once belonged to a vibrant forest, my swift paws carrying me over countless bones. Vision blurred by sorrow, I paid no heed to the poor souls I was desecrating with my presence, nor did I care for the distant shrieks growing ever closer.

The memory of my mate's voice was what drove me on, like wooden bells chiming in the wind; the sound my daughter's laughter was what pushed me forward, her squeals of delight echoing through the woods. We were a family, my family, together and happy. They were everything. Nothing else, nothing more. Only them.

The shrieks grew closer, attracted by my careless lunges across this graveyard of a landscape.

It wasn't true. This couldn't be happening. They couldn't be gone. The spirit had to be lying. But why would a spirit lie? Could a spirit lie?

It had to be lying.

Little spirit lies. Lies, lies, lies...

Even as I soared past the petrified corpses of my kind, even with all this death and decay, it would be all right. My family was waiting for me, they had to be.

...a head, filled with deceit...

I would be received with open arms by my mate, tears of joy in her eyes. She would listen with rapt attention, ears perked and eyes bright as I relayed the wonders of our new, magical, safe home.

...nothing more than a trickster...

My daughter's smile would warm up the forest as we embraced as a family. Like we've always been, always would be.

...leading me astray.

I arrived at our house. My heart attempted to escape my chest at the sight of the ruins, so loud in my ears I barely heard Shriek in the distance. Or was she close?

The door was already torn off its hinges. I rushed inside knowing what I'd find, but denying it until the very last moment. It couldn't be true. It simply couldn't.

Then I saw them.

It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. My mate, her face frozen in calm acceptance as she comforted our daughter in the end. My daughter, leaning into the embrace of her mother, fear in her wide, petrified eyes.

Too young to comprehend, too innocent to deserve.

Something broke in me. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think. All I could do was limp forward, one heavy step after another, shivering as I approached the only two beings anchoring me to this world. A shriek pierced the perpetual night, the sound of wings deafening. I closed my eyes, tail curled around my mate's, and embraced our fate.

Together.