The sorrow that radiated from every pore of her body was immense, and threatened to drive her into madness. She howled out once again, glittering tears streaming down her eyes.

Nikita’s sorrow echoed through the desolate forest.

“I am alone” Echoed the beautiful, sad Goddess’s voice through the forest. The leaves were swept up in a sudden gust of wind and thrown past her face. She wept to herself, the depression of isolation was great and terrible, and she felt her heart would give in to such feelings of loneliness.

“My cub has up and left me, never to return.” The voice carried through the forest, the animals nearby radiating similar feelings of sorrow in their own way. The once great and beautiful forest was dying a slow and painful death. Nikita’s depression was the source of this decay, and she felt that soon enough, her home that she had called her own would be no more than a memory.

“James, where have you gone? Oh why did you leave me to suffer?” She howled out again. In the distance, a family of wolves howled back, their voices fading into the forest as well. Life around her entire being began to cease to exist, as trees began to rot and limp before decomposing into the ground.

Nikita trotted in a circle before laying her head to rest on her paws. She let out a mournful sigh before her eyes closed, her entire body going stiff. She never wanted to open her eyes again.

“So my cub will never return…” The voice echoed through the decaying forest, trees breaking down and plant life dying. “I will then remain, in my eternal slumber.” She lifted her head, letting out one last howl to the lingering moon overhead, the trees blocking out the darkness fading off into infinity. The tears streamed down into the soil beneath her paws and her head slumped, falling down as Nikita’s entire body relaxed.

The tears from her face encompassed the around her body and a bright shining light rose from beneath her. The light covered her entire body before it faded off as if it had never been there. Nikita looked around, her mind open as a cosmic fluctuation of intelligence swarmed into her. She began to feel on a level she had never believed to exist and became aware of everything around her. “Am I dead?” Was the question she posed the stars and darkness that surrounded her. Flashes of light came as the stars flickered in and out of existence, and she realized that they were speaking to her. She opened her mind to understand but heard not a word.