The cold didn't bite, it gnawed.
Elara dragged her feet through the slush, the thin soles of her canvas shoes offering no protection against the freezing mud. Her wrists were bound with rough rope that chafed her skin raw, but the physical pain was a dull throb compared to the icy pit in her stomach.
"Keep moving, you useless wrench."
A heavy boot kicked the back of her calf. Elara stumbled, falling to her knees in the snow. She didn't cry out. She had learned long ago that making a sound only invited a second kick.
"Garreth, stop," a sharp, feminine voice called out. It wasn't a command of mercy, but of impatience. "Don't bruise the meat. The Void Beast might not take her if she's damaged goods."
Elara looked up through the tangle of her matted hair. Her step-mother, Lydia, sat atop a warm mare, wrapped in heavy furs that used to belong to Elara's birth mother. Beside her, grinning with malice, was Garreth, her step-brother.
They had reached the edge.
Ahead of them stood the boundary of the Void Wood. The natural world ended here. The snow stopped abruptly, replaced by a ground that looked like charred obsidian. The trees were not made of wood, but of twisted, calcified bone and shifting shadows. The air itself shimmered with a violet haze, silent and suffocating.
"This is close enough," Lydia said, wrinkling her nose as if she smelled something rotting. "Cut her loose, Garreth. Throw her past the marker."
Garreth grabbed Elara by the back of her tunic, hauling her to her feet. He pulled a knife, not to threaten her, but to slice the rope binding her wrists.
"You should be grateful, Elara," Garreth whispered, his breath hot and smelling of stale ale against her ear. "You're finally going to be useful to this family. One sacrifice ensures a good harvest. You're saving the village."
"You're murdering me," Elara whispered, her voice cracked from days of silence.
Garreth laughed. He shoved her hard.
Elara stumbled forward, crossing the invisible line.
The moment her foot touched the black soil of the Void Wood, the air pressure dropped. A ringing sound filled her ears. She turned back, panic finally seizing her chest. She wanted to run back to the snow, back to the cruelty she knew, because the cruelty behind her was human. The cruelty ahead was... other.
"Goodbye, sister!" Garreth waved mockingly.
He and Lydia turned their horses and galloped away, leaving her alone in the silence.
Elara stood shivering. The silence of the Void Wood wasn't empty; it was heavy. It felt like the silence of a predator holding its breath.
I am going to die, she thought. I will freeze, or I will be eaten.
She walked forward, simply because her legs were shaking too hard to stand still. She walked until the village was out of sight, until the purple fog swallowed her whole.
Then, the ground vibrated.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
It wasn't footsteps. It was too heavy for that. It felt like the heartbeat of the earth.
The shadows between the bone-trees began to move. They didn't just shift; they poured together, pooling into a massive, cohesive shape directly in front of her.
Elara froze.
From the darkness, two eyes opened.
They were not like animal eyes. They were vertical slits of burning, electric blue, suspended in a face that seemed to be made of shifting smoke and jagged obsidian scales. The creature was colossal, easily the size of a house, towering over her.
A low growl emanated from it, a sound so deep it vibrated in Elara's ribcage. The air temperature plummeted. Frost began to creep up her legs.
Elara didn't run. She didn't scream. She was too tired. After years of scrubbing floors, eating scraps, and being treated like a ghost in her own home, she had nothing left to fight with.
She looked up at the nightmare looming over her and slowly sank to her knees in the black dust. She bowed her head, exposing her neck.
"Make it quick," she whispered into the cold ground.
She waited for the teeth. She waited for the fire. She waited for the end.
A massive claw, sharp enough to slice through stone, descended. It hooked gently under her chin, forcing her to look up.
The monster wasn't striking. It was inspecting.
The burning blue eyes narrowed, the vertical pupils dilating as they focused on her trembling form. The creature leaned down, its massive snout inches from her face. She could smell ozone, ancient dust, and... something sweet, like burning pine.
Hot air blasted from its nostrils, ruffling her hair.
Then, a voice spoke. It didn't come from a throat; it echoed directly inside her skull, a grinding, ancient sound that felt like mountains shifting.
"M i n e."