After the first restful night of sleep, Kira's recovery was quick. Almost too quick.
It was only a few days later when she had accompanied her kind host -Suki- and her son to the village farm lands with tools in her hands and just a quick and thin bandage on her ankle. Suki likely couldn't delay more days of her field duty, and Kira had asked as well as she could with the language barrier, if she could accompany her.
As she walked through the village, she could see a few raised eyebrows. Many were peaking out of their own doorways, with the large and heavy wooden doors open all the way and wolf masks hanging above the entrances. A few more were outright staring at her.
Likely neighbours who had heard about the injured stranger. And the sudden healing.
Suddenly apprehensive, she averted her gaze, suddenly more focused on her quickly put together pair of straw shoes as she slowed down even under the questioning gaze of Suki and followed behind the pair. She only looked up when she detected movement.
It was the boy Finn, looking at her over his mama's shoulder with his thumb in his mouth. Her mouth quirked up in a smile and the child's face spread into a smile matching her own, his thumb lolling out of his mouth as he burst into chuckles, amused.
While Kira had been recovering, Finn- having the curiosity of any child his age-would sneak in and spend hours babbling to her, not caring if she understood or not, and poking her whenever her injuries threatened to pull her under. She had not heard his entire list of prowess, after all!
She now looked at the little guy fondly, as he took out his hand out of his mouth and held the wet appendage out to her, fingers clutching the air even as his giggles spread among the three. Kira happily took the offering and joing the procession again.
Upon reaching their destination just after dawn, they started cutting the rice stalks in the entirely too large patch of land, along with various other women whom she faintly recognised from her time in this place.
"Kira!" One of the nearly hundred women- Mimi- called out to her in greeting upon spotting her.
"Mimi!" Kira returned with a wide smile and a wave. The two of them had seen each other a lot when Mimi would bring Suki pepper and other spices from her uncle's farm. As always, Mimi was a breath of fresh air.
Soon all the women were chatting and reaping the stalks as the Sun journeyed through the sky. Kira could only understand a few words here and there, she had been learning the past days, and could tell they were talking about what they would be cooking, and how the pries of fabrics were increasing, and how this time a new trader was coming to their village. Many women were excited about that. Not too much changed in her dreams then-people were the same.
There were many kids to play with Finn, and they did so tirelessly. You could tell by their laughter, and the large stuffed ball that would wander into the field sometimes.
The view was beautiful. Kids playing on one end of the large farmland, a lush green forest on the other. Kira's eyes would occassionaly rise to the plentiful forest at the slightest movement, wary of animals wandering in, but when she saw no one else was concerned, she let it be.
Pairs of women would take turns watching and caring for the kids, clean the occasional scrapes and resolved quabbles, and leave them to play again. During meal times, everyone sat and ate together, and then it was back to work.
It was brutal, tiring, but honest, rejuvenating. Kira was mermerised.
Sooner than she would have expected, the Sun was on it's way to set. The birds and other animals returning home cued the woman for their own journey home.
"Finn! Time to go home!" Suki called out, a basket at her waist and a large cloth covering her head.
"Few more minutes mama!" Finn replied back, from what Kira could tell. He continued playing. Suki headed out ahead, helping the woman at the end to put her tools together.
The other women started gathering their things, packing them. The crop they had reaped today was sorted into different bundles. The children started running back to their mothers, their dolls and other toys in hand.
That was when it happened.
"Finn! Get back!" Suki suddenly screeched from far behind her, panic in her voice. Startled, Kira looked up in front of her, to where the child was.
Finn was running after his ball, which was rolling towards the forest, which had previously been peaceful. But now...
...now, a pair of stark red glowing eyes were staring right at the child.
The sky grew darker and darker as the eyes suddenly drew closer to the boy, rising and rising out of the cover of the forest until it stood feets above the tallest of humans. Until eventually his shadow from the Sun setting behind him reached Finn.
The unsuspecting kid, who had been proudly standing with the ball he had retrieved, became aware of the sudden change in the air. His giggles quited down, as he looked up. The ball slipped from his hands.
"𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘯!"
Screams filled the air, mothers were running away with their children. The tools and their bundles now haphazardly thrown around.
Suki broke off in a run towards Finn.
The monster, a large creature, now completely out of the covers of the forest looked around the mayhem. His snout dropped large bouts of saliva on the ground as it serveyed the chaos, the running and screaming villagers and the crying children before his large glowing red eyes eventually settled on the frozen child in front of him.
He raised his feet, a single step bringing him closer to Finn than Kira would have thought possible. She gritted her teeth and ran too, as fast as she could through the muddly field. The monster took another step closer.
Finn stumbled back a step, whimpering. "Mama.."
The monster reached out slowly towards the crying toddler, his growling snout inches away from tearing into him.
"𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘯!" Suki cried again, running helplessly towards the child. The fields and the mud disrupting her desperate attempts to reach her son. Suki struggled against the ground, her one hand on her heavily pregnant belly as she tried with all her might to reach her son. It was as if she knew.
She was still too far away. She would never reach him in time.
But Kira would.
Kira reached him just as the monstrous wolf was about to bite into him, snatching him off the ground as she turned in a trajectory, never stopping her momentum.
The monster roared in anger behind her.
She did not stop to look back. Finn's tiny hands clutched at her shirt as she ran away from the thundering of the creature. She couldn't look back.
𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦! 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦! 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦!
She tried to find a path, a way she could go to escape. Because she knew they were being chased, she recognised the feeling. And once again, she was slower.
Kira spared a glance to the side at the village. She couldn't risk going there. The monster was right on her steps.
Holding tighter to Finn, she tried to run faster, but while her injuries were better, they were not completely heeled.
It was not until her legs slipped out under her, and she turned Finn around to protect him from the impact that she realised the hopelessness of the situation.
She twisted her body to face the threat, hiding the child behind her.
Kira did not understand how in the hell she was doing what she was. Maybe she was not yet convinced this was real and would have real consequences.
Whatever it was, a dream or not, she knew now there was no way out. No cliff to jump off of, and no river below, no family to take her in. This was it.
She only hoped she could atleast somehow get Finn out of this safely.
The monster approached its prey, his steps slowing seeing the prey stop, unfaltering and steady. Kira with her hands behind her, tried pushing Finn further back, scooting herself away to create more distance between them and certain death.
It was no use though.
The wolf-like monster was upon them sooner than she would have liked, and nearer to Finn than she wanted. Kira could feel the toddler shaking behind her and got up, hoping to shield him. To protect him somehow. Drawing a shuddering breath, she whispered to him, "Finn, run-mama." She hoped he would.
The creature seeing easy prey, reached out again, growling. His razor-sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight.
Kira closed her eyes, tears running down her face as she stopped and accepted her fate.