He has the wind at his back.
Aadysi is finally pulling ahead, rightly geared towards victory.
There is no stopping him now.
The weight of the world is lifting off of him and he feels the intense excitement and joy that comes when one knows that they are about to win a very difficult race.
Aadysi has entered himself into one of the longest held of Kraesh traditions.
This tradition occurs every 5 years and involves all of the promising young Kraesh warriors from every tribe and every corner of the forest.
It is a spectacular occasion and has produced some of the finest Kraesh the world has ever seen.
Every past victor of the race has gone on to do incredible things, Aadysi's guardian Shaanu being one of them.
Aadysi has trained for this race for so long. He has gone through every step and every trial that they could muster up for him. He knows he is ready, and now he finds himself in the lead.
He pushes himself with every step, wanting nothing more in his life than to be the one who crosses that finish line first.
Fighting to keep his lead intact, Aadysi gathers up every ounce of strength he has.
The race is long and lasts a full 3 moons.
It is not something for the weak, only the strong endure, only the strong can win.
As he gets nearer to the finish he can feel himself slipping but tries not to let his exhaustion take over knowing that his opponents could be right behind him.
His body is tired but his mind is solely fixated on winning. He continues to push himself to the limit.
As he keeps running, he feels a tingling he has only felt twice before in his life.
Focused only on finishing the race, he ignores the feeling and continues on faster and faster.
He refuses to let his progress be affected by anything, the end is almost near.
He darts in and out of obstacles and traps, flying over the forest floor at a brisk pace faster than he has ever run before.
At last he sees the finish line and the mass of Kraesh gathered around it.
He has never felt such euphoria and satisfaction.
Tonight he will finally be able to call himself a victor.
As he reaches the finish line, crossing it well before anyone else, he begins to notice something odd.
Everyone is staring at him bewildered, no cheering, nothing. They actually seem frightened.
And suddenly Aadysi realizes what happened, he somehow shape-shifted into his wolf form during the race. Something he definitely did not intend on doing.
Everyone knows now that Aadysi has been touched by the shapeshifting deity, a rare and dangerous gift for any Kraesh to hold. The secret is out.
Before a word is said Aadysi dashes back into the forest, away from the crowd of people.
Feeling embarrassed and confused, it was the only thing Aadysi could do.
Shaanu tries to follow him but to no avail, Aadysi won but the victory did not taste as he had hoped.