8
The shadow cut through the forest, ignoring the trails that wound in and around the heavy trunks of the trees. Any obstacle in its path was simply passed through, the light of the world fading momentarily as it merged with and pushed through the foreign forms. Any trees it moved through produced a deep sigh of pleasure in its heart, a cooling plunge into a fathomless pool of consciousness that recognised and welcomed its presence, sending it on with a calming caress that stilled the rush and panic of the world around it. Eventually the murmur of the trees found a foothold in its mind—his mind—and the shadow slowed to a top.
A bright beam of sunlight flashed into the clearing and seemed to burn the shadow away, leaving a small boy to stand in its place, leaning back against the nearest
