sounds like hallelujah

The lion isn't sacred when not sleeping near the lamb The stranger never answered. Instead, he hunched as if shot through with pain, and something boiled over from inside him. Something — with a sharp intake of breath, Korri stepped back, wings flaring. The dark shape before him twisted and writhed, muscle bulging. Twisting. It was an ugly transformation. Korri watched it all unblinking, until a wolf stood in the hoofprints of the great pegasus. Korri's own heart beat double-time against his sternum. Breath plumed like a ghost. It refroze into ice crystals in his long whiskers. Tiny beads catching the colors of the aurora. He took a half step back, wings flaring, muscle contracting beneath his shaggy coat, but he did not flee. No; he was still caught. Still half-dreaming of something from a very long time ago. "Who are you?" In the coarse language of the Riftians. Not the musical language of his mother's tongue. Not the language beating in his heart. Of course not, Korri thought, but he still couldn't stop looking. At the wolf's pale face. At its dark fur. The smell of it — musk and fur, thick and predatory. It clouded the air around the two of them and Korri shivered, though he wasn't cold. "Ég heiti Korri," Korri responded. His mouth never formed around the syllables as easily as his mother's had. With a sigh, he added, "Korri Gulltórsson, of Osslen." He supposed he should be afraid, but he was not. Something deep inside of him ached. Even if the beast should kill him — He shifted in the snow, particles catching in the thick hair around his fetlocks. "You look like someone I know," he said, quietly. "Someone I knew." For maybe the first time since he'd come to this place, sorrow shone through the golden syllables of his voice. I am tired, it said. A soft weariness rendering the words hollow. His voice a low, echoless chime. "May I ask your name?" he asked, finally. He knew it would disappoint him, but he let the question loose, anyway. It is evil when it eats unless it's feeding from the damned.

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@Aedion :D