[Tevildo]

Lessa threw back her head with a sharp whinny and came to an abrupt stop, her forelegs planted firmly on the soft dirt of the forest floor. Turon tugged gently on the reins trying to get the horse to move forward, but she stubornly refused to budge.

"I don't like it either," Turon muttered through clenched teeth. "Too many shadows and strange sounds. Still, we're better off moving forward than standing in one place." The Elf slipped his sword from its sheath and stood motionless in the middle of the glade. He could see no strange prints on the ground, no indication of another living thing. Yet something seemed to whisper that he was not the only one in this woods. And whatever strange creatures lurked in the shadows, they gave no hint of their presence to the Elf.

His fingers tightened on the hilt of the sword as he raised the blade into the air and waved it over his head. "Show yourself, you craven beast. Or are you too cowardly to unveil your face?" Turon threw back his head and howled in defiance, but the only immediate answer was the wild wind, which was now swirling defiantly through the darkened glade.

Peering through the heavy curtain of mist, Turon could barely make out the figure of a tiny brown bat flitting in his direction. Such a small creature seemed no threat. His grip on his sword hilt relaxed as he resheathed the blade. Shaking his head in frustration, he chided himself for giving in to childlike fancies and imagining threats that were not there. Yet not an instant later, a darker blanket of shadow emerged behind the smaller bat. At first, it was impossible to say what shape this shadow took. Yet the cloud of blackness continued its relentless path, trailing images of power and evil in its wake, a memory of times far more ancient than any the young Elf had seen. A bat loomed over his head, but this was no ordinary beast: as large as a wolf, with teeth and claws extended and a wingspan that reached some seven feet. As the shadow came down to greet Turon, the Elf felt little fear of the sharp teeth or claws. Rather it was the overwhelming sense of loss and emptiness, as if all the missed chances and failings in his life had come back to haunt his fëa and suck out its very essence.