Once upon a time there was a farmer. This farmer lived peacefully on his farm a little outside of the village, together with his wife and four children; Lucy, Tao, Avry, and Alice.  They lived happily together, not having any worries except if the next harvest would be good or if the winter would come early. They had many friends in the village and often went there for shopping or just for meeting friends. Everything went their way, and life rarely sent any challenges against them. Until one day on a late summer evening.

Lucy was the oldest among the children. She was 18 and was soon to be married to the miller’s son. Avry was 16 years old and the third oldest among the children, after her brother Tao, who was one year older than her. Avry was really happy for her sister and helped with anything she could, to make her sisters day the greatest day of her life. She was going to be one of her sister’s bridesmaids, together with some of Lucy’s best friends, and Alice, who was only seven years old.

As they had been doing the finishing touches on preparing the dress seven days before the wedding, their mother had figured that Lucy would look even more beautiful if wearing a flower crown. Therefor Avry had been sent out in the forest to find a place with many flowers so that they could go pick the flowers not only for the crown, but for the decorations as well, a few days later, so that the flowers they picked wouldn’t die before the day of the wedding.

Avry was happy to help and went out immediately. She started searching the outskirts of the forest, but as she didn’t find what she was looking for, she went deeper into the forest in her search for flowers.

Without her noticing it started to get darker and darker, and when she had finally found what she was searching for, the sun could hardly be seen over the top of the mountains.

“Oh no! Mother told me to be back before it became dark!” Avry said to herself as she started to hurry back, though she didn’t come far before she stopped.

A deep howl cut through the silence and made her freeze where she stood. It was well known to everyone that there lived wolves in the mountains, but they rarely came to this part of the forest. It was too far away from their caves and too close to the village.

Avry had heard them howl before, but just as a distant sound carried along with the wind. This one was louder, and she immediately knew that it wasn’t too far away. And where one wolf goes, the other usually isn’t too far away.

This is bad. If I don’t hurry home… A shiver went down her spine at the thought of becoming a late night snack.  As another howl cut through the silence she quickly gathered her thoughts and continued walking in a faster pace.

The howling stopped when she found the path that led to the outskirts of the forest. With a smile she relaxed her shoulders, and first now she noticed how tense they had been. She tried shrugging it off, and continued walking, but she couldn’t get rid of the feeling of being watched.

As she could see the last rays of the sun shine through the branches on the trees, she knew the main road weren’t too far away. Feeling relieved, a smile curled up her lips as she set up the pace for the umpteenth time.

As she thought she could see the main road, she froze. A branch snapped, and the bushes started to rustle, as some tiny rock fell down from the top of the steep hill to her left. She slowly turned her head and looked towards the source of the noises. As her eyes stopped on the now silent bush, she let her eyes trail upwards, towards the top of the hill. And the sight that met her was one of the most terrifying once she had ever seen.

On top of the hill stood a black wolf. Though, it wasn’t just a normal black wolf. This wolf was huge. Larger than any of the dogs she had ever seen. It was as big as a pony, probably big enough to ride on. The fur was long and black, and the weak rays of sunlight that hit it made it look like it sparkled a little. The eyes were big and yellow, but what frightened her most wasn’t the size. It was the big paws, with clearly visible claws; the big and sharp teeth that was showing, as the animal curled its lips upwards and let out a deep growl.

Instinctively, Avry took a step backwards, and as she did so, the wolf lowered its body, readying itself to jump at her. But before the wolf got a chance to do so, Avry turned around and ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, dashing through the branches towards the main road. She knew that her chances were very small for outrunning a wolf.

Through the sound of blood pumping through her ears, and the sound of her heavy breath, she heard the wolf’s paws hit the ground. She didn’t have to look behind her to know how the wolf started closing the distance between them, she could hear it. Hear how the slamming sounds of heavy paws hitting the ground, breaking sticks underneath its weight, came closer. Soon she was also able to hear the animals breathing; in and out, closer and closer. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep any distance much longer. Soon the wolf would catch up with her, tackle her to the ground and, if she was lucky, give her a quick death by ripping out.

But just as the wolf leaned in to bite a hold of her ankle, she tripped. Her foot stumped in one of the roots on the ground, sending her flying through the air and out of the trees, before she landed on the road, rolling around a few times before she stopped.

The sudden impact with the ground had knocked the air out of her lungs, making her cough and gasp for breath as she tried to sit up, her eyes attached to the trees in front of her. It was silent. No movements, no sound, no beast of an animal jumping out, ready to eat her; just plain nothing. Only thing she could see was a pair of yellow eyes.

They looked at her with an intense stare, piercing right in to her own eyes, and making shivers go down her spine. Then it felt like the time stopped. They both stood still; Avry halfway sitting on the ground, not daring to stand up, and the wolf just standing there quietly starring at her and letting out a short growl now and then. And like that they were for several minutes, until the wolf slowly took a small step forward, almost sticking its snout out of the branches. But then footsteps could suddenly be heard, and as Avry looked towards the sound, she could see her brother, Tao, running towards her.

As she looked back, the wolf was gone. That was her first, but far from last encounter with the wolf.

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This is the first chapter! I hope you all liked it. Actually this is more like a sort of  an"introduction", but whatever.

Thank you so much for the subscribers, coments and the upvote I got! It really made me happy! I hadn't planned on posting the chapter before Sunday, but I'll post it now instead.

Please look forward to the next chapters, and comment about what you think so far! :D