what's not mine

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There was no bond. In this world, in this life, there was nothing for him to hold onto, nothing that drew him in a certain direction. He'd been here longer than he'd cared to admit already, traversing this world in hopes of finding his honey-freckled queen, but his grasp remained torn—his palms empty. His worship, his faith, his heart, his soul, his life—

It was forfeit. He'd lost it all amidst rocky mountains and empty plains. His Queen wasn't here. This was not a life she walked with him, and while it wasn't the first either, this one felt emptier somehow—like he'd lost more than just her. More than himself, too.

Raihn's shoulders rolled with the soft break of thunder overhead, a broken sentiment to the torrent of feelings boiling beneath his skin. Despite his sure-footedness and the heavy footfall that guided him, Raihn had no real notion of purpose. He was as much a husk as those stuck to trees, bugs forgotten when the warmth faded too soon.

Even as a husk, he continued still. Waiting and wanting for the tug that would lead him elsewhere, the tug that would give him purpose.

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Shit, shit, shit, SHIT.

Gone, he was gone and they were gone and he could hear their whispers — Shadow King, Shadow King. He could hear her whisper against his ear and he could feel the burning touch of him against his skin and Pan was lost in a tunnel of darkness but felt no fear as he fell through what he supposed might be time.

Was it a dream?

Was it another warped reality that Lark hadn't goddamn Seen?

Pan wished for his hands, he wished for his goddamn shadows, but instead he fell to the earth with paws again. Paws! Wild without his Shadows, wild without Them, or the Mongrels, Pan was unleashed in a way that he would ignore. "Fuck," the Shadow King rasped as he drew himself up, giddy on four legs and furious in the way he couldn't feel his shadows still.

Hunger rumbled in his belly, but not for food, but for what, he couldn't be sure. Hunger coiled in his veins and fed on his bones and Pan looked around like the wild animal he felt like, tail a flag above his rump as he dove through the air, intent on finding something.

Anything.

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