Disclaimer: I really hate repetition which was very hard to not do in some cases on this. I didn't want to go all out with the environment details, which I probably should've added a little bit more of in hindsight but I think it works fine. My goal with this was to limit the amount of speech down to a bare minimum because I wanted every line of speech to mean something. I think I was extremely successful with that.
Waking up with a start, the man with a tail released a long cry of agony until the air had escaped his lungs completely and the back of his throat burned. Rolling over onto his hands and knees, the man began to crawl through grass until the tremors in his body caused him to collapse. Lying on the ground, he clawed at the vision before him. A little girl with horns stood frightened in front of a small group of heroes. Why is she crying?.. A few moments passed and the vision blurred out of his sight. The group of people faded from his short term memory, except for the little girl. What is her name?..
The moonlight kissed the man's body as lied still on the ground for what felt like hours. He found himself thinking about why the sun had yet to burn into the sky. Shivering from the cold, the image of the little horned girl suppressed the thought of dying alone until he fell asleep.
The man found himself sitting at an elegantly decorated table surrounded by men and women wearing formal attire. Everyone's faces were hidden away behind decorated masks as they danced inside of this massive room. Waiters walked around serving guests drinks from tall, oddly shaped glasses. Before he knew it, someone took the man by the hand and dragged him out onto the dance floor. A woman's welcoming smile and bright blue eyes peered through her mask and into the embrace of the man's sea green eyes. He stared at her quizzically with a warm face, opening his mouth to speak he couldn't manage to form any words. The woman giggled politely at his goofiness before embracing him in a hug. His tail gently glided against her arm and she giggled even more. Their eyes met once more in close embrace, and she whispered to him, "Stay alive and come home to me." Her lips met his cheek, but they felt cold and unusually wet.
The man with a tail awoke from his dream on his back, face up into the eyes of a massive furry creature. A massive gray wolf stood over him while two wolves observed from the side and two more tugged on his boot and sleeve.
"Nice kitty?"
The wolf barred it's teeth at the man and began to growl in order to assert it's dominance as alpha. With all of his strength, the man punched the alpha wolf in the rib cage. The alpha's teeth scraped against the man's flesh as he quickly guarded his neck with his chin. The other wolves began to bite and scratch away at the exposed flesh on the man's right arm. Flailing around like a mad man, he managed to break the nose of a wolf against the heel of his boot. With three wolves biting and ripping away at his arma nd pant leg, the man managed to buckle and roll with alpha until he was on top of it. The man stood up and punted the alpha in the rib cage before it had time to gain a dominant stance. The other three wolves rushed the man in order to defend their master. The alpha whimpered as it limped in a circular motion around the man while the other three attacked. One jumped and clamped it's jaws down around his wrist while the other two ripped away at his pants. With his free hand, the man clawed out the eyes of the wolf on his wrist before using it's eye sockets to slam it to the ground like a bowling ball. The alpha capitalized on it's dinner's position by jumping at his side and using it's weight to knock him back to the ground. One of the wolves released his leg and pounced on top of the man's chest. As the wolf lunged it's head forward to bite away at the man's flesh, he forced his hands around the wolfs jaws. Enduring the teeth sinking into his hands, the man snapped the jaw off of the wolf. The alpha realizing it was losing numbers backed away and let out a long and fearful howl. Back on his feet, the man stood ready for another attack. Blood drenched his clothes as his arm and legs had deep gashes on them. More howling could be heard from the forest around the field that he found himself in, which meant the enemy had called in reinforcements. The alpha stared at it's victim with what looked like a smile on it's face because it knew there was only one option for it's prey.
The man took off running but the pack of wolves was closing in quickly. The one wolf near the alpha jumped after him and was quickly intercepted and thrown harshly into a tree. It let out a deathly whine as it's back broke upon impact. The alpha didn't bother chasing the man. He wasn't going to get far with two severely injured legs. Each step the man took was met with an unbearable pain trying to convince his mind to give up and greet death in battle. The man rushed through the end of the wood-line and began descending down a steep hill looming over a lake at the bottom. All he had to do was make it to the water, but the wolves were already rushing down the hill after him. It looked like he was going to make it. He knew he would make it. His leg gave out as it made contact with the ground, causing him to slam into the ground in a harsh tumble.
Slamming into the beach at the bottom, the wolves surrounded him. They all gazed upon their dinner and made noises that sounded like they were snickering at him. The alpha made it's way through his pack with the same sinister expression as before. The man looked into the alpha's eyes with fear as he began to throw his body in the direction of the water. Shortly after he splashed into the water, two wolves clamped down on his pants and began to drag him back onto the beach. They were toying with him now. The alpha approached him and the rest of the pack grew silent. With dark eyes, the alpha peered into the man's eyes and began to growl.
"Any last words," asked the alpha.
Before the man could address the fact that he understood an animal, he let out a roar of his own. A black fog enveloped the man's body, transforming him into a massive panther. With a quick motion, the panther rolled the alpha onto it's back and ripped it's throat out with it's massive fangs. Wolves in the pack began to howl in horror at their felled leader. The pack began to disperse quickly as they retreated back into the forest. With blurry vision, the panther fell over onto it's side. The black tendrils quickly escaped the man's body, reverting him back to normal.
Collapsing onto his stomach, the man gasped for air as he awaited death. He reached up onto his head and pulled the feathery headdress off and looked at it quizzically. It smelled like her, the woman from his dream. He didn't know how he knew what she smelled like, but he could tell it was her scent. Shivering once more from the cold, the man observed a light in the distance. It was getting closer. He had lost too much blood and knew that death was moments away. With blurry vision, the light went in and out of focus as the man felt at peace. He had no fear of death, because he didn't even know who he was. But she did.
"Oh my God, I can't believe I found you!" The light, a woman, rolled the man over onto his back. Tears rushing down her cheeks, she had a face full of fear. She took his hand in hers as the man began to cough violently.
Struggling to lift his arm, his trembling hand tried giving the feathery headdress to the woman. "Y-you.... y-you had this in my dream..."
Looking at the headdress in astonishment, the woman added, "But Zayne, that's not mine."
