Valentin tears his eyes wide open. Today is again one of those nights in which he can only sleep very poorly, as the bright full moon light floods the room and puts it in a slightly twilight state. He straightened up with difficulty, brushing his long red hair back from his face.
// Was that a scream ...? //
He jumps lightly out of bed, hangs his dark purple dressing gown around his shoulders and steps out the door of the little chamber. The long hallway is only dimly lit and the small flames of the candlesticks make the shadows seem ominously large.
The boy from 17 summers slowly sneaks through the wide corridor, passing the rooms of the other apprentices. He wanders around the corridors for a while, until another desperate scream reaches his ear.
// That came from the direction Kyru has his room! //
Valentin accelerates his pace, assured of his acceptance. Since he knows the way exactly, he is soon in the hallway that adjoins his brother's room.As he dived around the corner, he stopped abruptly. Three teachers stand in front of the open door of Kyrus' room and are absorbed in a hectic conversation.
One of the three facing Valentin beckons him over. Complying with the request, he approaches.
"What about my brother?"
There is great concern in the redhead's voice, which does not go unnoticed.
"The same as the previous nights ..." replies the teacher with the round glasses, who cares just as much for Kyru.
The boy slips past the professors into his brother's room. But the boy of 15 winters with the pink short curls is slumbering deeply. At the end of the bed sits an elderly man whose wisdom is reflected in the color of his hair and his worn face. He noticed Valentin immediately and whispered to him in his reassuring scholarly voice:
"I mixed him a dream-robbing potion. Tonight he will have rest ..."Sighing, the long-haired man sinks down next to the old master of the Rotlaub Academy. After a few minutes of silence, he suddenly says in a firm voice:
"I have to do something! Kyru is too weak for such psychological stress!"
The master just shakes his head, and some of the white hairs come loose from the braid.
"I don't want to say that you are a bad student, but you are not too strong.", He states with a stern voice, "I know your fate has been gnawing at your soul for all the years and you could never forget, too if you can't remember that night. But it's still too dangerous for you. You have no idea what to expect. Don't be a fool! "
Valentin angrily hits the mattress with his fist. The next moment, however, he winces and glances over at his brother. He didn't notice anything of the slight shock.
"You are not ready yet! And dead you are of no use to your brother either!", the academy director confirms his opinion.
Now the redhead jumps up in anger and yaps at the old man, completely disregarding the high position:
"You have no idea what it means to be all alone! To know that there were people who did everything for us and we thank them because we no longer even know their faces!"
"Valentin, calm down!"
"You are not my father !!!"
Obsessed with anger, the distraught boy rushes out of the room, ignoring the others.
// Boy ... Valentin, don't be a fool! You don't know the world out there ... It's bad ... //


With a field of vision blurred by tears, the angry apprentice digs his clothes out of the wooden cupboard and then sinks them into a backpack. He quickly knots it and swings it onto his back, which is now in a purple coat. Then he opens the window and crouches on the frame.
He lets one last look through the chamber, which he has lived in for ten years.On the sparse desk, the white of an envelope sparkles in the moonlight.
// Don't worry, Kyru ... I don't yet know where my journey will take me, but when I return the deep sadness and confusion will disappear from your eyes ... //
He jumps ...
Carried by the wind, the redhead lands gently on his feet. Without wasting any more time, he hurries across the academy's premises. In the distance he can already see the wine-red leaves of the blood larch, which are common in late summer, and are irradiated by the moon. But Valentin also recognizes something else: black figures stand out in front of the trees.
//Damn! The old man has had guards posted! //
But Valentin already has a plan: his hands and feet become paws, golden-yellow hair grows all over his body, his chin, nose and mouth transform into a protruding muzzle, his gait expands from two to four legs until his appearance is one Wolfes is the same.He had often practiced this trick with his brother. It was her personal game of catch. As a golden wolf between the blood larch trunks of the same color, this game had a special charm. Only they master this transformation perfectly and no one else knows anything about it.
With this deception he can easily get past the guards who are half asleep anyway. He rushes through the forest at enormous speed, the rustling of the leaves lying on the ground barely audible.


Panting exhausted, the wolf stops at a tree. The metamorphosis dissolves and an exhausted boy finds himself in the leaves. With his face directed towards the sky, he sees the glowing ball through the treetops, which has also covered a considerable distance. It must be after midnight, Valentin is sure of that.
Suddenly he notices that he has lost his backpack.
"Damn it! All my money !!!"
He would like to run back, but unfortunately he finds that he has no idea where he is.Helpless and close to tears, the boy crouches with his back to the tree trunk.
// What was I thinking ?! I'm a total dumbbell ... If I don't end up eating wild animals, I'll starve to death ... Kyru .................. No !! I can't let my brother down! "
Encouraged, Valentin gets up in a flash to continue on his way as quickly as possible. As far as he knows, he has always walked in the same direction and will continue to do so.
Valentin slows down his march when, after a while, he becomes aware of the changes in the forest. The trees give the impression that they are getting bigger and thicker. The thicket also grows taller and wraps itself tightly around his ankles. An unexpected rustle appears behind him. Valentin stares behind him in horror, but the rustling doesn't stop - on the contrary: it keeps getting more and more. The pure fear rises in the red-haired boy.
// What kind of wild animals will there be here?Otherwise there were never any! How did I deserve this ?! //
Trembling nervously with panic, he tries to accelerate his walk, which the branches know to prevent. Searching his eyes wander around. His fear is now expressed in low whimpering. He has never been in such a situation ... The cold sweat is already running down his back, which gives him extreme goose bumps.
//THERE!!! //
Valentin can't suppress a short scream when he sees the huge red shadow flitting between the trees!
// That thing was at least ten feet long !!! //
Panicked, he stumbles through the forest, wishing he could still transform. Another scream slips over his lips while he hears the crazy yapping far behind him. The hunting steps of the immense animals have already doubled, no, tripled! The pounding blood in his head covers his sight like a veil. That is why it is already too late when he notices the rise, probably that of the first mountain foothill, and hits the rock.Not realizing the grazes on his face, he whirls around frantically, then squeezes along the stone, which is overgrown with plenty of moss, and wrenches his eyes wide in fear.
He was surrounded by three gigantic, blood-red-skinned wolves whose canines are too long for their mouths and so hang down on the sides. The tallest, who looks pretty emaciated, stares at him greedily with his yellowish, pupilless eyes, then opens his mouth, the excessive saliva shooting in all directions and letting out a deafening hoot. Valentin, who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, responds with a no less insane scream:
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!"