Pain. Suffering.The darkness seemed to close around her, suffocating the light from her soul. Storm Cloud-runner felt as if her heart was ripping her in two. She stumbled blindly from the horror scene behind her, to the only place she felt safe.

Halfway to the stables, Storm fell. She couldn’t make it. But she had to! She couldn’t see one step ahead from her through her streaming tears. A soft snort made her head rise. Soft grey filled her vision and she pulled on the blue-grey mane in front of her. With numb exhaustion, the dirty brown-haired girl swung herself onto her pegasus mare, settling behind the jet black feathers.

Storm hung onto Tempest’s neck, burying her fingers and face into the mare’s neck. The soft fur became soggy from her muffled wailing. “What am I gonna do?” She whispered between sobs. “What am I gonna do?”

After several more minutes of crying her heart out, she found her hurt and pain had hardened slightly. New emotions surfaced. Hate and anger was released at her betrayers. As Storm lay gasping for breath, she felt a strong connection to her winged horse.

Her only friend nickered slightly, and Storm realized a warmth had spread through her body, and her drive to live diminished. Nothing mattered now.

It was the last thing she remembered before the world went dark.