Hali cried in terror as Conan pushed the wolf off of him. When it lunged at him again, trying to tear at his throat, Conan raised his arm with a speed Hali wouldn’t have thought possible. The wolf caught it and sunk its fangs into Conan’s arm.

“Stay inside,” he ordered. “No matter what happens, stay inside.”

She didn’t know if that was possible; not while he fought that beast. It growled and shook its head, tearing into Conan’s arm, ripping the flesh. Conan cursed out loud, using his non-injured hand to push the wolf away and lift it off the ground, smashing it into the brick of the building. The wolf gave a yelp, releasing Conan’s arm, giving him the chance to toss the wolf aside. Hali saw Conan’s arm ripped open, blood pouring out slowly, like a broken sink faucet from various wounds.

“Conan! Get back inside!” Hali called frantically, but Conan shook his head.

“No, he’s just going to keep coming back,” Conan explained “I need to make sure he won’t be back again.”

Conan moved to go after the wolf again, but it was already flying through the air at him again. This time, the wolf used its full bulk to take Conan down to the ground, catching him off guard and moving far too fast for Conan to stop it. It sunk its teeth into his shoulder. He screamed in pain and Hali knew she had to help.

She couldn’t sense any danger for her, but she knew that her senses wouldn’t help right now. She searched around for something to use as a weapon to help Conan. Her eyes fell over the many pots, pans, and knives he had, sitting in the knife block on the kitchen island, and hanging from the ceiling above. Her gaze

landed on a large cast-iron skillet. Heavy, and would leave you with a headache at the very least… and a split skull at the worst. Most importantly, Hali felt it. Her sense of knowing. That was what she was supposed to use. She grabbed the skillet from its hook, and rushed out the back door with it to Conan’s aid.

Both fighters heard her coming, their heads turning in unison. Conan’s eyes went wide and before any words could form to warn her, or for the wolf to react, Hali swung the skillet down with all the force she had. When it made contact with the animal’s head, Hali felt the shock waves travel up her arms, and she would have dropped it had she not been gripping it tightly with both hands.

The wolf broke away from its savage embrace with Conan, who was able to climb to his feet and step in front of Hali. Shaking its battered head, it recovered and began to step forward— Hali held the skillet up again. Conan was blocking her and tried to back them the other way. The wolf was already in position to lunge again, but Hali’s feet were already through the doorway as Conan guided her back inside. He pushed her in and stepped through himself; Hali pointed at the still open door.

“Conan! The doo-”

It was then that the wolf shot towards the opening, aiming for them again, but Conan didn’t seem as concerned as her. He had relaxed, but she was still trying to reach for the door, which forced Conan to grab and hold her back. It was all happening in slow motion as she waited for the wolf to come down on the two of them— but something strange happened.

The wolf just stopped mid-air, slamming into an invisible barrier in the middle of the open doorway. It hit like a solid wall and crumbled to the ground, bouncing back a few feet. It was then, and only then, that Conan released her and grabbed the door handle, slamming the door shut with incredible force.

Hali watched in stunned silence and could only stare at Conan as he walked over to the sink, turned it on, and ran his arm underneath it like it was just a light singe from cooking.

“What the hell just happened?!” She asked, perplexed as he finished and put a clean dish towel over his arm, drying it off. Hali threw the skillet onto the island as she rushed to his side and grabbed the dish towel to look at his arm. She recoiled. It was the worst open wound she had ever seen in person. Chunks of skin were missing and ripped open in several places, and he had extra, scattered puncture wounds. What bothered her the most was that there was no blood. Earlier there had been so much coming out of the wounds, but now that he rinsed it under the water and cleaned it, there was no blood. It was no longer bleeding.

“N-no blood?” she stammered in confusion. Her eyes shot up and she stared into his grey eyes that stared back into her own. “Conan! Why aren’t you bleeding.! This is the worst wound I have ever seen in my entire life and yet there is no more blood! What is going on?”

Conan withdrew his arm from her grasp and stepped away. He seemed to have no words to explain it to her and he hid his arm behind his back like a child trying to hide something from their parent. Hali continued to stare, searching to find the answers hopefully written on his face, but he seemed to be struggling internally with himself and what he could say to her.

He stepped back again and then motioned for her to take a seat at the little table for the staff. “Hali, I think you should sit for this, there is something I need to tell you.”