Where Winter Meets Summer (Rusame Countryhumans)

By Your Side

"Oh baap re, Pakistan, whatever you do, you must stay behind me," India commanded as her body tensed.

"India look," Pakistan gasped, "Three more, from the back!"

Another two surrounded them from the left and the right. They were trapped.

The leader of the pack approached slowly with a snarl. It was a pitch-black wolf as if it was made from the essence of rot and death. Four fiery red eyes glowed maliciously as it eyed the two girls. These were no ordinary wolves.

"What are monsters doing in the mortal realm?" India thought in horror. Spirits, benevolent or otherwise, were supposed to stay in the spirit realm only but here they were. India shook her head and refocused herself as she mustered whatever she could and her hands began to glow like pale sunlight.

"Shall I sleep," India murmured, "for you shall guard me?"

"But I can't!" Pakistan protested as she wrung her hands in despair. "I am not strong enough! I cannot protect you!"

The wolves laid their ears back and they all sprang forward with their rotting black teeth gnashing.

For India, the next few moments were a blur of panic, desperation and chaos but one thing she saw vividly was Pakistan being yanked away from her side. Her mouth was opened with a soundless scream as teeth sunk into her flesh and her eyes rolled back.

She crumpled to the ground like a doll but before India could react, the blood that poured out of her wound seemed to shift and the shadows came clawing out, hissing, gurgling, crying, shrieking, cursing and writhing.

With her eyes unable to adjust quickly enough, the last thing India heard was the howling whimpers of the wolves being ripped to pieces and the sound of her body crashing to the ground. After that, she immediately lost consciousness.

(INDIA POV)

"OUT OF THE WAY!" I screamed as I sent a cascading barrier of light just in time as the shadow slammed into it with a furious howl. My wrist snapped back from the backlash and I nearly screamed from the new jolt of pain. Poland was quick to take the hint and hauled the others out of the way just as the wall shattered into a million glittering pieces.

A throbbing ache flared up in my stomach as I felt my wound threaten to reopen and with a lurch, I fell forward onto my knees. Luckily, Venezuela was there to catch me and we stepped back to regroup with the others who had taken refuge in the high branches.

"Hey, take a deep breath. Nice and easy now," he coaxed. "Germany, we should get her out of here. She's in no shape to fight."

"No, wait," I groaned as I slowly got back to my feet. "I'm not going to leave her like that."

"Yeah well we don't need you dragging us down while we're facing..." he paused as he stared down at the morphing shadow, "... that."

My face knit together into a frown at his implication, "Alright then, wise guy, what's the plan then? How are you going to beat that thing?"

Venezuela suddenly found himself speechless and when he looked back at the others for help, he found nothing but blank stares. Despite my lousy condition, I allowed a haughty smirk to flash onto my lips.

A tremble that nearly threw me off the tree yanked me back to earth as the shadow raked its claws down the tree trunk, throwing splinters and pieces of bark all over the place. I clutched onto the tree for dear life, expecting it to fall at any moment.