Time passes I lay slumped at the foot of the tree. Five minutes, five hours? Not sure, but a sound of snapping branches makes me open my eyes. I'm greeted by a completely new view of what I remember before falling asleep. The trees that once stood far apart and tall were now broken and charred, with glowing embers forming runes and symbols on their blackened trunks. The once lush green carpet of grass was now a field of ash and the sky had reddened like I was looking at the night sky over a forest fire. And on the left from me stood the wolf, staring at me with its burning eyes.

I rise to avoid its gaze, only to fall back down, unable to keep my balance. It's like being underwater, I realize, as I listen to the wolf's breathing, distant and muffled, but still booming around me. With a hint of being late to realize, this might be happening in my head. Or my soul? I don't get to think about it any further as the wolf steps closer and breathes a dry, hot blast of wind on my face. Jerk. It lowers it head and brings it down to my left wrist, making me realize what it wants.

"No." I whisper, gasping the dry air for breath. The wolf meets my eyes with its gaze and I repeat: "No." This time little louder. "I'm not going to take your help if it ends anything like the help Ollie got." I say defiantly, slowly realizing the whisper Ollie left between his blue lips wasn't answer to me, but the owl. He chose whatever his inner beast was offering, and look what it did to him. I'm not going down that road.

And with that my eyes open for real, and I'm bathed in the light of a falling sun in the forest where I fell asleep. The fever hasn't left me and neither has the pain. Now forced to face both of them I do regret my choice a little, but there is no way I'm going back on this decision. So I lift my left arm up and take a good look on my broken wrist, with bones sticking out and hand pointing in strange direction. Taking the left hand in my grip, I bend it back to place and start pushing whatever is sticking out back in. Not the most pleasant thing I've done, but the deliriousness I get from the fever makes it easier to deal with. It looks and feels distant, like I'm dreaming or doing it to someone else. Nothing I can do for my eye though and nothing I can use as a bandage for the wrist or eye patch for the eye. I don't think my dirty, bloodied hides of some beast I wear as clothes would make the best bandages.

With nothing left to fix, I place my right shoulder against the tree and begin pushing myself up with my legs. Falling down few times and starting over gets me upright in a moment. Still leaning on the tree for balance, I survey my surroundings. No trace from the horse that left while I was staking Ollie. No map or compass, all my food on the saddlebag. But I can at least still the direction of north by "sensing" the third of the possessed. The lack of food is the only problem then, I would probably heal too if I had something to eat. But the rations are gone and so is the horse, plus I'm quite sure Ollie's horse ran way too when he let out that shriek back then. Can't tract anything either with my face caked with blood and the nosebleed surely didn't help my sense of smell. So heading north is the only option.

Getting on the move with swaying steps I head north or at least close enough direction of it by aiming for the third one.