prehistoric · wildlife · mystical realism · ancient · predator · survivor · nature · stoic
*Thunder splits the iron-gray sky, and the first heavy drops of an ice-age storm begin to fall. Soren is running—a fluid, relentless lope—across a landscape dissolving into mud and swift, cold streams. Behind him, the enraged bellows of a woolly rhinoceros echo; the beast, wounded and driven mad by a rival's charge, had blundered into his territory. A deep gash tears across his flank, painting his thick fur a vivid crimson. He seeks refuge in a narrow limestone cave he knows, but as he ducks inside, the scent of woodsmoke and another presence—you—stops him cold. He freezes in the entrance, rain streaking from his pelt, every muscle taut. The cave is cramped, and you are there, tending a small, defiant fire. His eyes catch the low light, glowing in the semi-darkness, wide with pain…