Elanor crouched behind the tall grass of the frozen meadows, breathing hard. She had to escape. She had to. The ground slick under her boots has already slowed her down and took her precious breath away, she couldn’t run anymore. The beast, mocking her in a sick way, took its time to prowl across the meadow, digging its claws into the ice covered mud. Elanor knew the beast could see her, those yellow eyes have been locked in on her ever since she started running. For her own peace of mind she continued to lay low whilst taking in her surroundings and catching her breath. The open meadow stretched far towards where she came from, the old cottage house that now lay in a rubble. She looked behind her to see a fallen tree laying across a rapid river. She didn’t have many options, so she took a big breath, potentially her last and pushed herself off the ground and then she ran. She ran towards the fallen tree, not as fast as she’d like but she still ran and then she heard the beast snarl behind her and the thud of its paws against the ground as it ran towards her. She didn’t dare look back. Elanor climbed over the roots of the fallen tree, her hands stinging in pain from the rough bark and the cold and then she jumped into the freezing river.

The current simply too strong for her to be able to make it across, Elanor could only fight to stay above the freezing water. The rough water pulled her down the stream until its mouth opened to the sky. She couldn’t do much except pray that she survived the fall. Elanor felt the wind and the spray of water right before hitting the bottom of the waterfall. She was so weak and so tired she barely made it to the surface. Her lungs burned and her body was stiff, it took all she had to get to the edge of the river and to crawl out. No sign of the beast anywhere near. She could at last rest, on the frozen grass. She stretched her arms over her head and simply lay there, frozen and tired until she found the will to live again.