𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐒✔️

EIGHT|EROS

The shirt I wore was still damp, it was more likely to freeze before it dried in the current weather.

Several times I had to stop, to sit upon the trunk of a fallen tree, but the beast soon forced me up as soon as it realised I wasn't following anymore. It growled and threatened to nip my ankles until I'd carried on walking by it's side.

It felt like years had passed when we finally rounded the top of the cliff face. A lone pine stood thick and unswayed in the wind. The wolf moved to lay beneath the trunk of the pine, lush grass held a circle of life around the tall tree, just a few meters away fell the edge of the cliff.
I almost gasped at the view before me. Trees rolled out in a monotonous green blur for what seemed like miles below me, only broken by the thin strip of water that was the stream, weaving in and out the trees and fading at the horizon. A cloud of mist hung low over the forest, hiding boulders that jutted out from the earth like teeth of stone.

I stepped away from the edge of the cliff, for fear of falling into the wonders of the woodland below.
He was watching me, I could feel his eyes boring holes into the side of my head.

I slowly walked over to the tree where he lay, with every step I kept my eyes on him. He wore no sign of aggression, he almost seemed at rest.
A kind of peace engulfing the darkness for the first time, and I drank it in.

The shape of a heart had been carved into the thick trunk of the great pine, holding inside it two initials.

M+T

I dragged a finger over the crude drawing, it wasn't fresh, an old wound to the bark healed by sap it was now only a scar of the memory.
The beast growled softly, glaring at me through those ghostly pale eyes that seemed to hate me so much. I pulled my finger back from the wood and the growling stopped.

I shivered, though the cold didn't quite bite the same way it had before, I had become numb to its bitter touch. I could no longer feel my fingers or toes and I was pretty sure my lips were kissed with a light shade of lilac.
I sat down against the trunk next to the wolf, careful not to touch him.

I didn't know what I expected to feel, but the thought of it scared me none the less.

I stared out over the cliff, I had never been in the presence of so much beauty in all my life, this place felt odd. I felt almost like I was intruding in something private, something far to personal to the wolf.

His warm breath fanned against my ear, that was when I realised he was still staring at me, though his head was low and docile, his eyes had never once left me.

"What?" I croaked, instantly regretting it as my throat ceased up once again, I grimaced, clutching my throat.

The beast rumbled, shifting so that I was leaned against him, cocooned in his warmth.  I was shocked at the immense heat that rolled off of him in waves, without thinking I ghosted a hand over his dark fur. He didn't even stir, just stared at me through curious eyes.

Maybe it was because I was some sort of game to him. Maybe this was one big game of cat and mouse that I was blissfully unaware of.

He offered no sort of affection, but he remained motionless as I felt just how soft his fur really was.

Though nothing could stop the thread of disappointment that clung at my heart.

I wasn't exactly sure what I had expected to feel when fur and skin first met. Maybe a spark of some sort.

Anything was more than the nothingness that I was met with.
Maybe that's why I couldn't stop the way my fingers trailed along the his black lines. I was desperate to feel something...anything.

We stayed that was until the sun sung it's final songs, disappearing behind a horizon of evergreen teeth, and leaving a sky stained with scarlet sighs and lilac baked clouds.
All the while a small pull of Hypnos tugged at my sleeve, begging me to follow him into his restful land.

At some point I must've fallen for him, for I awoke slightly a few hours later.

I was warm, so warm.

Impossibly smooth skin met my curious fingers. I gazed at him through half lidded eyes.

The gentle rocking motion of his walk was enough to have me unconscious, lulling me into the depths of his darkness. My eyes clung to his strong jaw, he refused to look at me but for once I didn't mind.

"Theos." I mumbled through the heavy veil of sleep. I hurried my face into his strong chest letting him carry me home, though right now, I wasn't exactly sure where home was.

Then I held sleep's hand and let him lead me into the darkness once more.