The tall, lanky man and the large wooden Wolf passed through the empty woods.

  The land itself was vast, and the once hidden, sacred land was now sorely exposed to the world because of the lack of foliage. Its history permeated the air, and wisps formed the shapes of things no longer there.

  There used to be life here, a great deal of magical creations mostly unseen even in this world. That wonderful magic, though gone, could still be sensed. Rodent felt the great loss that loomed over the area.

  He then looked at Wolf, who struggled to walk because its wood creaked and cracked as it walked, the material composing its existence unable to handle the mere impact of walking.

  Inside those cracks, almost like veins, dim, magical, emerald lines could be seen.

  Soon, the setting changed. Things cropped up on the land—half-destroyed stone buildings and the remains of chipped slabs soaring upward. Whatever had been chiselled on them was lost. The surface of the slabs had been smoothed to remove its text.

  Did… something try to destroy their history?

  They came to a stop before another clearing. The Wolf growled backward at Rodent, ensuring he stayed. His eyes narrowed at being treated like a dog. The Wolf then brought its paw forward, and suddenly, magic rushed up from the land, making translucent walls that formed a block.

  Wolf lowered its paw onto the center of the land within that block, and suddenly, there was a flash—the walls swirling into magic again, drawing the symbol of something in the air.

  Rodent blinked.

  Lines made a grid across the clearing. The Wolf walked in a specific pattern, with more symbols rising and staying in the completed blocks. The Wolf looked back at Rodent for him to follow.

  He did so.

  They moved swiftly, sometimes hopping over one block to reach the one next to it, coming to the end of the clearing. Behind them, the magic twinkled. The blocks and lines disappeared, leaving only the floating symbols.

  Rodent whipped out his notebook to write down the symbols. However, they became words in his head.

  'ONLY PURENESS SEES CLEARLY.'

  Rodent blinked, shaking his head, the phrase sinking deeper than anticipated. Behind him, Wolf had started to move.

  The end was in sight.

  It could be seen between the dense trees that are less weakened or broken than the rest of the woods. So many appeared that the space actually became tight. But at the thickest amount, there was suddenly none beyond it—revealing the outside world once more.

  Rodent laughed, skipped, and raced on ahead, feeling the dry dirt beneath his boot transition into rising grass. Wolf let him take the lead and even slowed.

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  At the end of the woods was a hill that went downward to flat land that led to a distant village.

  "Ha-ha! YES! We did it! Civili-zation!" Rodent cheered with a jump, pumping his fist. A lively breeze rolled through, sweeping back his hair and caressing his face.

  Coming to the hill's edge, Rodent turned around with a smiling, peaceful face and rolled his hand to motion for Wolf to come. "C'mon! Let's go meet some people! This is going to be a proper first contact. Isn't that amazing?"

  The Wolf slowed, lowering itself between the large and thick trees, barely fitting between them.

  "Not that this hasn't been fun." Rodent pointed at himself and then Wolf. His eyes lit. "Hey! Why don't you come along? We could do this whole adventure together!"

  The Wolf passed the trees, absorbing their bark to repair and grow its form. Afterward, the Wolf rose to its new height and size, which would have intimidated most.

  Rodent didn't even flinch.

  "It'd be great fun!" Rodent turned and opened his arms to the world. "Wandering the lands, relaxing at campfires. I'll head into towns and deal with people while you scout the nearby land. We'll search for clues, threats, whatever there is to do!"

  He whipped back around. "And—if you were willing—I could ride your back! Riding into battle and traversing the battlefield. I'll hop off somewhere important as we take our fair share of foes." His eyes closed as his smile grew. "People will talk about us. Get a cool drawing or two. Man and Wolf. Maybe we'll even become a legend!"

  Rodent settled. "But we need to focus on that totem. Someone must know what kind of magic it is—some way to repair it." Struck by an idea, Rodent took out his quest list. "Yeah. Let's get that put at the top of the list. We'll have to find a way to restore the land, too, while we're at it."

  The Wolf hadn't changed. However, while the man wrote, the Wolf lowered itself onto its stomach—keeping its head beneath Rodent's. He noticed this right away and ceased writing.

  "Hey. It's okay. There's no trouble if you want to stay." He smiled, nodding. "You probably have to defend this place, right? And people… might not take too kindly to you at first."

  The Wolf shook its head, raising enough to extend a paw forward…

  …until it brushed against a sudden wall of magic, where the paw fell on the other side—rolling toward Rodent. He looked at it and then the Wolf, becoming sad.

  He bent and picked up the paw.

  "... that's why you never left," Rodent said without soul. "You can't."

  Rodent returned to the beast and came beside it, holding the paw to Wolf's stump, watching as its vein-like magic latched onto and struggled to assimilate it.

  They watched the process in silence, with Rodent exhaling and returning to his side of the barrier. The two souls looked at each other. With its paw repaired, the beast was about to lower it from the barrier…

  …until Rodent's fist met its paw in the middle, giving it a fistbump.

  The contact held for several seconds.

  "No losing hope." Rodent stared into its eyes, shaking his head. "No destroying that totem because I'm gone." He smiled, returning his hand to his side. "Because I will be back. I'll be back over and over—so much, you'll be sick of me."

  He nodded. "If there's one thing I do well, it's visiting others." His smile opened. "So keep around. Sleep as long as you like." He raised a fist to his chest. "But promise you'll meet me here again."

  The Wolf stared.

  Then.

  It nodded.

  Both creatures settled. Rodent's smile was calm and encouraging enough for the Wolf to stand again. The two held eye contact. Rodent spoke. "If I can, I'll send people here to help with your woods." He chuckled. "If they do show, please… don't kill them."

  The Wolf raised its muzzle to the sky, letting out a sombre and beautiful howl. The creature glanced at Rodent a final time before returning to its woods.

  And Rodent, wiping his face, turned and began to the village.

  ~ Triple Triple