At first, all Knight could smell were fresh herbs mixed with the approaching spring and the scent of century-old books. It was a breath of fresh air after endlessly smelling nothing but hopelessness.
It was such a subtle smell that, for a moment, Knight thought his mind was tricking him, making it up.
Ignoring everything, Knight held his gaze skyward. The small hole above him seemed to amplify in his eyes. The opening was not larger than a fist. It was there, it seemed, to let the air flow inside and keep him barely alive.
He could glimpse the orange sky. He had gotten used to darkness, witches, and pits that for a while he just stood motionless. He wondered why he had never bothered to look up before, even just to entertain himself with such a small thing like a fist-sized view of the marvelous sky.
Then, he smelled it again. This time, it was much stronger. Like it was just near him. Close enough to smell but not enough to feel.
Knight closed his weary eyes, savoring the enticing scent that kept him from dying. That was when he felt her, heard her.
Knight's entire being stiffened, and his ears rang thinly. The soft voice was tickling him. He was certain he had never heard such a voice before. Whoever she was, she was not one of the witches who had imprisoned him.
Knight sensed his surroundings, trying to see if anyone else had felt her too. But there was no sign that anyone else noticed her presence.
He thought, perhaps she's just a part of my imagination, that's why nobody notices. He laughed then. Am I in so much pain that I'm starting to hallucinate? It can't be.
Knight used his remaining energy to feel the surroundings, but no one was moving toward the woman. They did not hear her. Maybe because they were witches and warlocks. They did not have the same senses as the werebeasts. Or maybe they were not moving because there was no woman after all.
But then, her fragrance became so immense that it knocked the breath out of his lungs. The scent swirled around Knight until, for a second, all he could breathe was her and all he could think about was her.
Something inside him stirred and came to life, and the warm embers of hope flickered.
Knight heard her once more. She was much closer this time. He could feel her running, her resounding feet somewhere above him. And she seemed so scared.
A wild, primal instinct surged from his core, and Knight was blinded with fury at whoever was causing the woman's distress. He did not understand why he wanted to rip the limbs off whoever she was running from.
Then the pain Knight was trying to ignore intensified as he felt the woman's presence nearing him. His bones popped, cracked, and snapped until they were broken in all places.
For a brief moment, everything stopped hurting. But just as quickly as the relief bathed Knight, the pain came crashing down on him all at once.
The broken bones realigned themselves so slowly and so painfully that he coughed blood as he knelt on the floor. With hazy vision, he looked at the nearby door, but it was still closed. No one heard him.
The pain was so intense it threatened to kill him from the inside. He was so close to giving up. He just wanted to die right then, but her fragrance revived him.
It held on to him, making him feel like he was not alone any longer. That even if he was in so much pain, he would not go through it all by himself anymore.
It comforted him, soothed him greatly, as if it was his mother's warm embrace. It woke him from his deep hopelessness, and for the first time in a very long time, Knight had a purpose and the will to fight and live again.
He wanted to see her. He desired to be with her. A strange, encompassing warmth enveloped his drumming heart, and a deep rumble within him sparked him to life like a star.
Mate!
Knight's Beast roared, awakening for the very first time. It shivered through every nerve ending in his entire being. He was too stunned to move, speak, or think.
His bones cracked one last time and clicked into perfect alignment. Knight thought the pain was over, but it was just the beginning.
His skin itched. It felt hot and it stung. He heard her again. She was panting heavily now, out of breath, trying to outwit someone. Knight could smell her fear, and the Beast within him roared. It wanted to protect her with its life.
Mate!
It shouted so loud at him that, for a while, it seemed the whole world heard its plea. But then he remembered that no one else could hear his Beast except for him, its possessor.
Determined to escape, Knight searched his surroundings for anything to use. But there was nothing. His feet were free, and the guards were too lazy to chain them. Only one of his arms was chained.
He remembered them saying, "He's wounded and burned. For sure he won't escape."
Knight surveyed his chained hand and tugged the chain using his free hand. But it was attached to the walls, enchanted with magic. No matter what he did, he could never separate the chains from the wall. He knew it well. He had tried it several times.
Escape. Protect. Mate.
Knight tried to break the metal chains into pieces, but they did not even crack.
He curiously watched the tiny hole above, wishing to see even a glimpse of her. Just one look. But all he could see were the pale dots of the stars.
"Help!"
Knight's ears picked up the fear laced in her golden voice. There was terror and a sense of urgency. He tugged his chain again, clenching his jaw, wishing desperately to turn them into ashes. He wanted to get out. He needed to get out. He must.
Knight's eyes darted from the ground to the four-cornered walls to the stones that lay before him. There was nothing here that could help him escape, except…
Knight stopped tugging the chains and with a desperate glint in his eyes, he looked down at himself. There was nothing here that could help him escape, except for himself.
That's right. I'm here, and I'll help myself pull this off.
Mate! His Beast growled once more, louder this time. Protect!
He almost stumbled to his feet. The feral feeling he already felt intensified the moment his Beast awoke. He was happy he finally felt it, that it finally showed itself to him. But he was too distracted, planning to escape, to fully savor the feeling of the wild Beast within.
Knight considered his plan a few more times. He did not know if it would work out, but it had to. He needed it to work out. He shut his eyes, all the while trying to calm his breathing.
There was no other way. He knew it would be painful, but it was worth the try. He just needed to be brave enough to do it and face the pain head-on.
"Ah!"
Knight's eyes suddenly snapped open. He heard his Mate's voice shout in agony, breaking the last remaining hesitation he had.
All the anger Knight had gathered over the past years suddenly summoned itself. His chest rose and fell, and all he saw was red.
His hands trembled with anticipation to kill, to draw blood. Slowly, the bones in his hands expanded, and his nails grew longer, larger, darker until they transformed into claws.
The black in his eyes swirled like a void, conquering the white until darkness was all that was left. His Mate shouted, ringing his ears with terror and dread.
She's hurt!
Knight tried to get up. His hazy vision focused on the mess in front of him.
No time to grieve for it. It would regenerate eventually. It might hurt like death once it grew back, but Knight had already experienced what dying was like, and he knew he could handle the pain when that moment came.
"Argh!" He tried to muffle his scream, but the pain was just too unbearable.
"Shut it, dog!" The guard on the other side of the door shouted.
It was not uncommon for Knight to roar in pain, so they did not think much of it.
The pain was attacking his body again, popping his bones and eating his flesh. The cracking and snapping of bones filled the empty, bloodied chamber.
Crawling to the door, Knight's body expanded and bent in awkward directions until he could no longer think because of the ringing pain all over him.
He groaned one last time, then his skin was replaced by smooth black fur.
"Help!" His Mate's shout echoed the same time he howled for the first time.
When the door to Knight's cage swung open, the men found a large, black Beast hovering over them. It was standing awkwardly, but they were terrified of its massive form nonetheless.
Its eyes were as black as death, its fangs as long as its claws.
It killed the guards quickly, mercilessly.
Knight's vision was clearer than ever, and he could see even the faintest light creeping on the wall, telling him it was a weak point. His sense of smell was more active, allowing him to detect different magic around him.
And he could feel more. He felt the fast-moving bodies approaching from the north. He heard everything, even the faintest murmurs of steps ahead in the passage.
Knight sliced everything that moved, snapping his fangs against all the witches he saw. It was a massacre as he growled, jumped, and knocked them out.
With his Beast's instinct and his drive to see his Mate, he moved swiftly and roughly, with the intention of destroying everything that blocked his path toward her.
The fire within him exploded, and he unleashed everything—the anger, the pain, the sorrow, and the regrets. He killed them all.
LLimping weakly, Knight nudged the weak point he had seen earlier on the wall.
The blood hung thick in the air, overpowering the scent of his Mate. He could track her again if he focused intently, but he was too wounded to do that.
The only way for him to escape this hellish place was to knock the walls down. And he did just that.
Knight stepped back just in time as the debris fell at his feet. The cold night air from the outside greeted him like he was its long-lost son.
Still limping, Knight stepped outside. He could hardly believe that he had finally escaped. He was no longer in the hellhole. He was back in the world.
Mate!
Knight ran at full speed instead. He did not care that he stumbled as he ran.
The night was dark, and the trees seemed to be deep asleep. He could see hundreds of eyes looking at him, and for a second, he stopped, thinking someone must be watching him. But when he tried to feel the surroundings, there was nothing but him and a faint smell of blood.
He lowered his head and sniffed the blood scattered on the ground. It was not his Mate's blood, but her scent was laced on it too. Whoever owned this blood was with his woman.
With that thought in mind, Knight raced into the unknown. He almost got lost a few times because the forest seemed to move and mislead him. Weird croaking and yawning and gasping made him almost growl in surprise, but every time he temporarily lost track, he would close his eyes and feel the throbs of the forest. One deep sniff and he got his Mate's scent again, his destination once again clear.
One must not trust their eyes in the Forgotten Fjords. One's reality becomes their own lies.
Knight merely relied on his sense of smell to find his way out. Another desperate plea from his Mate's sharp voice a few hundred meters away pushed him to run faster than he had ever done.
He accidentally knocked into a tall tree that had just suddenly materialized in front of him while he was trying to reach her.
A sharp branch got stuck in his side, but he brushed the sting away. A few more leaps and he almost got stuck in quicksand, only to turn left in time to avoid a large snake with three heads slithering toward him.
He avoided it and saw it sink into the quicksand with desperate hisses. Something cold then grabbed Knight's paw, but he bit into it, tasting sour blood mixed with mud and hatred before he could even question what it was.
Strange things were happening all at once, but he eliminated everything that stood in his way of getting to her.
Knight's vision was blocked by thick leaves as huge as houses and branches moving like snakes trying to entangle him alive. But he pushed through, he was just a few meters away now. Just a little more. A few more steps and he could finally see her. A few more steps, just past this shadow, and then she would be waiting for him.
A few more leaps and Knight felt the air around him shift. It felt lighter, as if he had just crossed an invisible barrier once he passed the last weird-looking tree surrounded by floating green eyes.
He did not even have the time to be confused by the strangeness of it all because he was so focused on reaching her.
The bulging feeling of threat hanging tightly on his back also disappeared the same time he stepped into the clearing near the edge.
He took a few more tentative steps and found the last trails of blood, but all he saw was the edge of the forsaken forest with the cliff that stretched beyond the abyssal sea. Nothing more.
There was no one in sight but the vast bodies of water, the starlit sky, and the moon hanging mighty in the distance like a lighthouse.
Knight finally found the exit of the Forgotten Fjords, but there was no woman. No one was there waiting for him except himself.
Desperately, Knight turned around, hoping to see the face of the voice that guided him to freedom. But there was only darkness and the deep, wild forest behind him.
He whimpered, suddenly drained. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with as much air as he could to smell her scent again.
Maybe he had just made a wrong turn. Surely she was here. But her scent was already fading, telling him she had either died or crossed the ocean, escaping for her life.
As Knight panted heavily, grief took over his heart, squeezing it tightly. He could not, did not know what to think. He wanted to know if she was safe. He wanted her safe.
The Beast roaring inside him sucked the air out of him until his vision darkened. He had failed. He had failed to protect his Mate, the very reason for his existence. He had failed once more. He had lost her.
Knight's wolf howled loudly across the expanse. The stars seemed to watch him with awe as he stepped to the edge, and the moon was ablaze and glorious as it filled Knight with light.