дом романов

You follow a trail of paw prints in the early morning hours, cold rainwater and dirt making your hair stick to your forehead, pushing your way through thorn bushes and pine trees, until you find yourself standing in front of a clearing, drawing heavy breaths, ribcage heaving as if a bag of rocks rested upon your abdomen. Before you is a large space, pine cones and pine needles littering the ground. It is raining, but the thick tree crowns shield the place from any downfall. Near the center of the clearing, there is a large tree, long rotten but its heavy trunk seemingly fulfilling an important purpose. On the right, there is an array of berry bushes, adorned with red and black berries, a small stream of water nearby, softly pattering over a bed of pebbles and pine tree needles. The heavy trunk of the fallen tree leans against a wall of slate, assumably ancient, having witnessed the coming and going of many species. 

Although the clearing appears peaceful and quiet, it is breathing life. Squirrels fleeting from branch to branch, a few frogs and snails lingering by the water, small bugs and birds chattering away by the bushes. 

You exhale deeply, deeming yourself safe and alone at last, until you see more than just one pair of yellowish eyes glowing from beyond the trunk, acting as a roof, now that you consider it. A large wolf approaches you, teeth bared, growling lowly. From the small shelter, more growls and huffs can be heard. 

As you scramble for safety, walking backwards at first, before hoping to turn over, the tip of your left boot hooking into a protruding root as if it was the missing key to some old lock, making you fall flat onto your face, hands barely shielding yourself-- you hear a deep voice, the accent so thickly slavic that you ponder just where you are. 

"Are you Western spy?"

Wolfish chuckles can be heard ringing within the hollow trunk, and you stare in horror and bewilderment.

"You need soup? We have... beaver and, uh... muskrat. Come, my comrade, have some soup with us."

Lol. Anyways. Welcome to my den!