More than anything else in the world, Rannok wanted to strangle the creature in front of him. He wanted to hurt it for luring him here and for hurting Sasha and for trapping them. He resisted the urge to grab it. Instead his fists clenched and his muscles twitched and his eyes burned with rage.

Sasha's eyes were daggers, red-rimmed and horrified. He felt terrible for her. Their surroundings shifted again, and Rannok held onto his head as the world spun. Hard floors shifted to cracked dirt that crunched under his toes. The patchwork fabric of market stalls stood desolate in the dry air.

Rannok's eyes widened with fear. He spun around to convince himself they weren't here. They couldn't be. Even a crow wouldn't be so cruel. He watched as his fifteen year old self rounded a corner, dragging Wren behind him. 

"Hey!" He reached for them, but he knew it wouldn't do anything. He watched his own head disappear under the skirt of one of the market stalls.

"Take us back," he ordered. The crow hopped onto his shoulder. He reached for it, fully intent on crushing its head in his palms. His hands passed through it as if it were nothing more than air, though he could feel its weight on his shoulders.

"I cannot. This is what you asked for, is it not?"

Rannok did not have time to respond before a huge explosion rattled somewhere in the distance. He covered his ears and ducked. The scent of gunpowder drifted to his nose. He clutched his eyes closed and tried not to breathe. He watched the old man's body crumple as the wood holding up the tent fell on top of him. 

He watched himself stand from the rubble and duck around the side of a building as people came running. Wren's terrified eyes locked with his for only a brief moment before she stopped and looked around.

"Go back for her!"

It was no use. The figure who was him did not hear. Someone pulled her by the arm out of the rubble. She vanished again before he could reach her. He stood, open-handed, in front of the rubble as the villagers dispersed, like he'd never been there. The scene began to fold into itself. The market stalls disappeared until they were standing in nothing.

He didn't want to look at Erean, or Sasha. He didn't want to see the disappointment in their eyes, but he made himself do it anyway. Erean's soft eyes regarded him with a sort of lonesome sadness that just made him feel worse.

"We all make mistakes," he said. Rannok didn't have time to nod before the desert spun and plunged him into darkness. A low screaming filled his ears. Rannok's forehead broke into a line of sweat.

"Where are we," Sasha asked. Rannok fumbled wildly for the door. Something dripped onto his shoulder. He tried to stop his hands from shaking long enough to grasp the handle, but his hands kept slipping off.

"No," he muttered, over and over again. "No. Please not here."

Something loud and large threw its weight against the door, forcing it open just a tiny crack. Rannok grabbed the handle and forced it shut again with all his might. "Help me!"

"Let go, we need to get out of here," Sasha said. She grabbed for the handle and pushed her away. Rannok shielded his face as the door flung open and released a hot breath of air onto his face. 

Griffon stood outside the door, dragging his fingers across a reaver's footprint while Armand crossed his arms and pouted. Rannok clutched his hand to his mouth. His stomach churned. He wanted to shout at them--scream at them to get out of the way--but his voice caught in his throat. 

Rannok saw it come across the bend before they did. It's powerful muscles rippled in the sunlight. Its wide jaw curled upwards into a snarl, tiny velvet ears pinned back as it turned and launched a vicious kick at Armand's jaw.

Griffon scarcely had time to throw his brother out of the way before it landed on top of him. A gurgling scream erupted from his throat as the reaver sunk its teeth in. Rannok retched and turned away. He reached to slam the door shut again, but his feet sumbled across the thresshold. He stared across the plain at the sight of Griffon's mangled body. He ordered his legs to run, but they would not. Instead he stood, rooted to the earth like a tree, unable to move at all.

"Wait!"

Sasha's shout scarcely registered as he passed through the doorway. The world spun again, then came into a fuzzy focus. Their horses stared back at them as they munched, unconcerned, on the surrounding plant life. The weight of Rannok's wings pulled at his shoulder blades.

He turned. Erean stared back at them from the doorway. His lips moved, but no sound came. Rannok furrowed his eyebrows and reached for his hand to help him across. It butted up against the doorway as if it were covered in an invisible plane of rock.

"Let him out," he muttered, not sure if the crow could hear. "Let him out!"

Something heavy landed on his shoulder. He flipped his head around to find the black and white crow staring at him intently.

"Help him!" 

"I cannot."

"What do you mean you can't?" Rannok pounded at the doorway. Erean pounded back from the other side. His fists bounced against it like he was pummeling a tree. Sasha grabbed his wrists. 

"Stop! There's nothing we can do."

Rannok slumped against a nearby tree, panting. He grabbed the crow and squeezed its body in his fists, glad to feel feathers yield beneath his fingertips. It made an alarmed sound and sunk its beak into the fragile flesh of his thumb. He shouted and released it.

"Erean was sick, and nearly dead. He belongs in that realm while you do not."

Rannok bit his knuckles. Erean stared back at him, petrified, from the other side of the doorway. He pressed his fist against it for only a second before it vanished, taking him with it.

"Why didn't you tell us," he demanded. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He stared at the spot in the cliff face where Erean had been.

"I did not know how sick he was," the crow said. "But he knew. It is why he asked you not to leave."

The forest laid eerily quiet.