He felt a bit helpless since he had no idea how to express every word he said, some things just couldn't be shown through gestures alone. At least he wasn't able to do so at the moment, with his feeble charade skills. He stared off into the distance, as if pondering. In the end, he concluded that he really couldn't express all his words to her.

He turned to look at her, with a dejected look on his face. expecting to see a blank or confused face. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks, his heart leaping into his throat.

Where Grey had been standing, there was now a wolf.

It was the same wolf from the day before, with shaggy grey fur and intelligent, beautiful sapphire-blue eyes. She was smaller than he remembered, or maybe she just seemed that way without the threat of violence between them. She stood there calmly, panting slightly, her breath pluming in the cold air, just watching him. Even her clothes were missing, which was even more confusing.

"Whoa," Adrian breathed, his hand going instinctively to his chest to clench it. The transformation had been utterly silent and instantaneous. There was no flash of light, no sound of cracking bones or maybe he was just too preoccupied in his own thoughts to notice. One moment she was a girl, the next, a wolf. His mind raced, trying to process it. But then Mr. Miller's word echoed in his head.

" Supernatural...." Recalling this particular word. Adrian smiled bitterly, thinking to himself that there was probably no point in doing so since magic itself was a strange concept.

He took a deep, steadying breath to calm himself before he spoke. " I keep forgetting just how special you are..."

" Maybe next time warn me before you spoke me like that..." he scratched his chin with his ring finger, smiling bitterly.

His expression turned helpless when she simply to tilted her head in confusion. He suddenly felt a little stupid when he grasped the fact that he was talking to a wolf, but he guessed that she at least understood a bit of what he had said, since her ears twitched forward, recognizing her name.

"I guess that answers the question about gathering herbs first. Not like you can give me your opinion now."

He looked at the wolf, and the wolf looked back at him, and a strange understanding passed between them. She couldn't speak, but she was here, with him. She was his responsibility, and in a weird way, his partner in a sense, since the both of them were basically bonded.

"Alright, let's find some herbs," he said, his voice firmer now. "We'll fill the basket, then we go... monster hunting."

*******

He started walking again, his eyes scanning the snowy ground for the familiar shapes of useful plants. Grey, the wolf, fell into step beside him, her nose immediately dropping to the ground, sniffing intently. Adrian decided to put his sniffer to the test as well and join her but It was then that Adrian noticed something strange.

As he focused on the scent of the pine trees and the cold, clean smell of the snow, another layer of sensation washed over him. He could now smell the damp earth under the frost, the faint, sweet scent of a frozen berry bush yards away, the musky trail of a rabbit that had passed by hours ago.

It was like a veil had been lifted from his senses. He blinked, looking over at Grey. Her head was up, her nose quivering as she processed the same world of scent, Grey was already a wolf, so having her senses boosted even more was also surprising to her.

It was then that Adrian recalled why, remembering the searing pain of the transference ritual, the way his blood had healed her. Somehow, it had linked them. He was sharing her incredible sense of smell. But he suddenly became confused because he hadn't felt this boost earlier today.

' Might it be because Grey and I only experienced the boost because we were doing the same thing?' he wondered.

" If that's the case then this ability isn't as nerfed as I thought it would be," he muttered again, this time in awe. He had been expecting something more troublesome like a cost in blood or maybe extreme exhaustion but. If this was the cost of them increasing each others capabilities, then he really did luck out!

What Adrian didn't know was that the main hindrance of this bond was coordination, but he would soon find that out later on.

He closed his eyes for a second, letting the flood of information wash over him. He could literally smell where the herbs were. The sharp, clean scent of a herb he knew as fever-few, came from a cluster of rocks to their left. The earthy, pungent odor of another herb, woundwort was strong near the base of an old oak.

' What are the odds! I've been looking for woundwort for awhile now, can't believe it was this easy to get.' Adrian thought to himself, He remembered that Woundwort was a herb used in stamina potions and elixir's. They were superb medicinal ingredients.

He opened his eyes and pointed towards the oak. "Over there."

Grey growled in understanding and trotted ahead, her powerful nose leading her unerringly to the exact spot. She began digging at the snow with her front paws, clearing it away to reveal the dark green leaves beneath.

The darker the leaves of woundwort, the more potent it's effect's.

' it's pretty dark too! What a score!' Adrian felt excited, to think the bond would begin to show it's effect's now.

They worked like that for the next hour, Thanks to the bond boosting their sniffers, they both became a strangely efficient team. Adrian would get a scent on the wind, and Grey would pinpoint its location before excavating it. If it was up above, Adrian would take it upon himself to get it.

He would use his small digging tool to carefully unearth the roots while she stood guard, her ears constantly swiveling, listening for any signs of danger or any unsuspecting creature that saught to intrude on the time the both of them were spending with each other. The basket filled up quickly, more quicker than it ever had before. It was practically effortless, Adrian had to agree that this was the most productive herb gathering job he'd ever done in these snowy woods. For a little while, Adrian could almost forget the terrifying purpose of their trip.

When the basket was full and tightly packed, Adrian straightened up, brushing the snow from his knees. The easy part was over, now to the hard part.

He looked at Grey, who was sitting on her haunches, watching him, waiting for his next move.

"Okay, now that that's over with" he said, his voice low. "Let's get to looking for our prime target."

He led the way, pushing deeper into the forest, heading towards the general area where his second life had ended and the third new, bizarre one had begun. The memory caused a cold knot to appear within his stomach. He remembered himself running away in terror only to come running back to help that same injured, terrifying girl with the snake-like hair.

' Is this really a good idea.' Adrian shivered when he recalled the sight of his decapitated head staring back at him. ' No... I still can't rest easy knowing that she might be hurt. Furthermore, I need to know why she looked like that after killing me.'

' if it ends up being because she had gotten into a fight with another monster and needed the energy to heal. I have to find out for myself so that i can avoid any future problems.' Adrian didn't know why but he felt as if he'd injury might have more to do with than he thought.

When they reached the area, it looked nothing like he remembered. The blizzard had erased everything. The clearing was just a smooth, unbroken expanse of white, with the same old frozen trees.

Adrian and Grey jumped down the same elevation of land from last time before getting to their search.

They looked for any blood, any tracks, any sign of struggle that might've been buried under the feet of pristine snow. But they saw nothing. It was like it had never happened.

"Nothing." Adrian whispered, a feeling of frustration rising in him. "It's all gone."

He looked at Grey. " Well I expected this much after that blizzard from last time."

" Since theirs nothing we can do, We might as well find a trail."

" Anything should do. A footprint, a broken branch, a scent. Anything."

The wolf understood. She put her nose to the ground again, circling the area in an ever-widening spiral. Adrian walked the perimeter, his eyes straining, looking for any clue, any imperfection in the blanket of white and yet. He found nothing. In the end, it seemed the forest had kept its secrets but he still didn't want to give up just yet.

' Let's keep looking for a bit more. I'm sure we'll find something eventually." Adrian pleaded to Grey. He saw her nod her head which surprised him yet brought a thankful smile to his face at the same thing. Adrian didn't know if it was a mistake but he felt as if Grey beamed a smile right after.

He took a closer look and noticed her staring at him blankly.

' Maybe I'm just mistaken?' he thought before shaking the though out of his head and continuing his search.

After what felt like an hour of fruitless searching, Adrian leaned against a tree, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "This is impossible, we didn't find a single lead. What was I thinking!"

" It's been days since then, she could be anywhere by now!" Adrian felt stupid for ever thinking this plan of his was sound enough to work in the first place.

Grey came and sat beside him, nudging his hand with her cold, wet nose. She let out a low whine, sharing his frustration. But she kept nudging him as if trying to cheer him up.

Adrian glanced at her and met out a sigh before a helpless smile returned to his face, replacing his earlier look of irritation.

" You know what, you're right."

"We can't just give up," he said, more to himself than to her. "We have to keep trying, A few hours isn't enough!"

" We'll keep looking for a bit more."

He made a decision. "Let's go deeper. Maybe she moved to a different territory. We'll just... look. Blindly."

' It's tricky but I'm sure with the both of us working together, we can detect any danger before hand and avoid it.'

It was a desperate plan, and he knew it. But staying in one place felt useless. So, with a deep breath, he pushed away from the tree and started walking away from the familiar paths, away from the village, into the heart of the snow-covered forest. Grey didn't trail far, instead, walking beside him, like a silent, loyal shadow, her grey fur blending into the winter landscape. Making it harder to spot her from afar.

The further they went, the quieter the world became, until the only sounds were their breathing and the endless crunch of snow underfoot. They were truly on their own now, two figures in a vast, white silence, searching for a monster.

The deeper they went, the more the hope began to drain out of Adrian, replaced by a creeping sense of futility. The forest was just too big and too wild. Every direction looked the same, endless trees, unbroken snow, and a silence so heavy it felt like a physical weight that continued to drain their hope.

They had been searching for what felt like hours, their only progress measured in the growing ache in Adrian's legs and the slow dimming of the afternoon light.

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