Rising Sun Valley don't wait for me

Malachi did not slow when the beast looked his way. Rather he pressed his burning legs harder, for the beast lulled in his attack and Malachi would not waste a second of the other's hesitation on a pause of his own. What features he could see of the beast in the dimness of the night distilled him - a creature too disfigured to be counted a wolf. The young man knew not what he was facing, but the fear within only fired his rush to intercept the beast before it attacked.

But the young man's approach came too late. In a vicious flurry the scene unfurled before him: the feral beast charged the youth, snapping its jaw to make meat of the child. A shrill yelp pierced the air of the silent night, a cry for help, and Malachi felt a twist within, for the image of Adlartok wrote his way onto the stranger's lanky form, and Tuwawi's onto the beast. His throat caught for a moment, his jaw taut, and for a heartbeat his legs felt like giving way. But his adrenaline ran too high, and his paws carried him forward without conscious thought. They met the ground a final time before he thrust himself airborne, barreling at the beast with jaws parted wide at the predator, holding every intention to grasp whatever piece of the creature he could, if only to redirect the beast's efforts toward himself and away from the struggling child.