I felt a violent throbbing behind my eyes, as if thousands of years of history were trying to shatter my skull from the inside. The silver-white light on my hand flared with a blinding intensity, illuminating the forest for a brief moment with that supernatural, sickly pallor. I was thrashing in Varg's arms; my body was wracked by a crisis I couldn't control, as if my soul were being crushed in a vice.
"Vespera!"
Varg's voice didn't come as a thought; it was a physical howl, a roar capable of cracking the trunks of the ancient trees around us and shifting the very earth. He shifted instantly into his massive human form, catching me before I hit the ground, cradling me as if I were the most precious and fragile porcelain in existence.
"I'm drowning..." I whispered, my voice nothing more than a wet rattle, muffled by the phantom blood filling my throat. My hands clawed at his cloak; my nails drew blood from his powerful, rigid arms. "Water... there's water everywhere. Varg...!"
