"What's this barren existence?" Isla spoke through disgust and contempt, her nose wrinkling as she glared at the land before us. Bare, more than bare—barrenness personified.

Although we had come from another area, another angle in the community that allowed the magic of teleportation so our identities remained concealed from the pack, we had still been met with this accursed earth.

In the fading sunlight, it looked worse. Lifeless. Hopeless.

I pitied the land now really; I could almost hear it groaning, grunting, wishing for an escape from the hands of death and nothingness, decay that clung like rot.

"Something the entire pack will be like soon…" I muttered finally,...