The scream surrounded Itzal, engulfed him. He could feel it shaking his bones, piercing his eardrums. He cried out in pain as it tore at him internally. Just as he realised the imminence of death, it ceased. He gasped for breath, drawing it deeply and triggering the phantom stabs of a knife piercing his abdomen over and over.
Asier groaned nearby, but there was something else in the clearing now that demanded Itzal's attention. He could feel its presence though he couldn't see it. Something powerful, beyond human or of the natural world, something divine. It moved around the clearing, circling the central tree. He could sense it, and innately knew where it was at all times - to his left, before him, to his right. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't see it. He followed this presen
