Life is an endless cycle containing only three turns; birth, death, and rebirth. It is like the forest that was once burned to ash only to grow green again, and like the Ice Age that melts away to a new spring. Such as it was in one world which was about to end, only to begin again.
In this world, an evil creature, driven mad by his own losses, tried to prematurely open Paradise, an era of regeneration and new hope. When he forced Its gates open, Paradise not only rejected him, It also destroyed him, leaving behind the only true wolf part he ever had: his left eyeball. The true chosen one then came forward and unleashed Paradise's beauty to the world; however, that beauty would prove to be short lived with the recreation of disease and decay. But that was not to be the ending of the story, only a new beginning.
The world is now once again in its prime and teeming with life, but its end is drawing near. The only thing that can save it is the one being chosen by Paradise to open its gates again. And, just as it always has, it all starts with a wolf finding his feet, following the scent of a flower.
Wolf's Storm
By Snodin
Based on "Wolf's Rain," created and owned by BONES
Grope 1.
"Stray"
Freedom.
That was his first thought, that moment when he first knew in his heart what he truly was. For as long as he could remember, he walked on two legs and wore clothing, just like any other human. Just yesterday, he was walking down the street in the pouring rain, aimlessly as if lost. It never bothered him, until that moment. For in that moment, his nose picked up its very first scent of lunar flower. That's when it hit him like a brick wall.
All at once, he took off in a mad dash toward the scent, oblivious of what anyone else might have been thinking of him at the time. In fact, he didn't even see anyone else; all he could think of was the flower, how badly he needed to get to it. And then, all of a sudden, he was no longer running on two legs, but four ghostly-white paws.
Freedom!
Deep in the heart of Aerzia City, just before rush hour, people walking about the pavement would be stunned and alarmed at the sight of a large white wolf tearing down the street in a mad dash. He zoomed by them so quickly, that all they could really see was a blur. Some would rub their eyes in confusion, others would gasp with their eyes bulged as if they had seen a ghost. The rest wouldn't catch a glimpse of him in time, and mistaken him for a gust of wind.
From the wolf's point of view, those passersby looked like ghosts to him; he could clearly see the cat within the woman waiting for the bus, the ape within the man selling apples, the stork within his latest customer, the grizzly bear within the woman pushing a stroller that carried two cubs. None of it made sense to him as he whizzed by, but it was of no interest to him. All he knew and cared for was that fact that he, Kiba, was no longer a prisoner in his own body. He was a wolf now, and he wasn't ashamed to show it.
…
In a dark alley on that same street, a young boy with sleek brown hair that grazed his shoulder line was coaxing a small kitten out of a cardboard box it was hiding in.
"Come on out, little fella. I got some food here," cooed the boy's soft voice as he held out an open can of tuna. "It's okay, I won't hurt you… Smell that? It's good. Here, try some."
The black and white kitten, eased by the boy's friendliness, crawled out from under the box and dared to taste the bait. It was perhaps the first act of kindness the tiny kitten had ever experienced; it purred as it let the boy gently pet its head.
Moments later, the white wolf passed them in a flash. Though his back was to the wolf, the boy lifted his head in alarm. He felt overcome with shock, as if he were electrocuted. He whirled his head around to see what it was that set off his senses, but it was too late. The wolf was already gone.
…
The scent was getting stronger with each mile; the lunar flower was definitely here, in this city! But what Kiba wasn't counting on was the fact that there were others searching for it as well… and that they would beat him to it.
Three tall men dressed in crimson red robes with hoods that hid their faces marched into the dark alley where the small lily-white flower stood up against a brick wall. They carefully took a small shovel, scooped it up, and replanted it in a clear jar. The monk-like men then silently walked out of the alleyway just as secretly as they had walked in, just before the Arctic wolf showed up.
Kiba skidded to a halt, realizing that the scent had suddenly disappeared. His eyes gazed into the shadowy alleyway, while his nose wiggled in search of the sweet scent, but to no avail.
"Gone… it's gone! …How can this be?" his thoughts panicked.
Distraught, Kiba wandered aimlessly into the city's poorer regions, where the streets were littered with both trash and homeless people. These slums were also home to some of the meaner residents of Aerzia, but not one of them would dare confront the wolf as he passed them by. None, that is, except for three down on their luck hunters.
The three men gathered around a fiery trashcan for warmth, even though their elk-skin coats and wooly hats should have been enough to sustain them. They were each middle-aged, shaggy-haired, and even the youngest of them was now growing a beard. They were worn out after days of fruitless hunting in the nearby wilderness; now all they could do was scratch for food. But all of that was about to change.
Travis, whose thick hair and beard were as black as night, caught sight of the approaching wolf in the corner of his eye. Quickly he whirled around to see if it was an illusion, but there it was, a large white wolf, staring him in the face. His friends also stood in awe at the wolf.
"What the… Where in the world did he come from?" asked Moth, the eldest and graying man.
"I'm searching for something," answered the wolf telepathically.
"It speaks!" gasped the youngest hunter, who jumped in front of his elders with his rifle in hand.
"Careful, Sydney," said Moth behind him. "It could be a ghost, or a demon."
"I'm no demon," the wolf's thoughts replied. "I'm looking for the flower."
"There are no flowers here," replied the dark-haired Travis. "Nothing grows in these slums anymore."
"But it was here. I smelled it all the way from… From…" He paused to try and remember where his journey began. Nothing came to mind, not even a road.
The smallest hunter, Sydney, turned to his friends and grinned. "Say… a talking wolf. How much would it be worth?"
"Any wolf is worth its weight in silver," replied Travis the ring leader. "But this one…? Well, let's see if we can catch him first. He looks young and spry indeed." With that, the tall one gripped onto the rifle he carried under his coat.
"You have no idea," glared the wolf. He then took off in a flash.
"Get him!" charged Sydney, leading the way.
As the starved hunters pulled out their rifles, they shoved every other human out of their way in pursuit of their quarry. But the Arctic wolf proved to be quite the distance runner, jumping clearly over trashcans and metal fences like hurdles as he flew through the allies of the neighborhood. Birds took flight to make way for the runner, while the screams of startled cats and dogs passed by his ears. Once he was at top speed, Kiba was like a race car- or perhaps more like a bullet; nothing could stop him.
The hunters, on the other hand, had a secret weapon. When they lost sight of the wolf, they turned back to jump into their parked jeep and burn rubber. Their hunt was now limited to the streets, but with so many broken down buildings in the area, the wolf was bound to turn up somewhere. Sydney drove the vehicle while his friends Moth and Travis took aim in the window seats.
It was Travis, the black-mane elder, who first spotted the wolf in the jeep; Kiba was a distance away, scaling across a large cylindrical pipe connecting two towers of an old factory. "There he is," he grinned, as he quickly raised his rifle and opened fire. But Kiba would only feel a sharp breeze on the tip of his tail; the bullets had just missed him. Frustrated, Travis called out, "He's headed for the old dump, Sydney! Speed it up!"
Just as Travis had predicted, Kiba followed his nose past the factory and straight into a field of rubbish. Here, he was surrounded by piles of rubber, metal, and other sorted materials. Most of them were too high to jump over, and to unstable to climb over. He was left with no choice but to run the maze and hope for the best. In his panic, the white wolf nearly failed to hear the screeching sound of a vehicle skidding to a halt.
Now that they had arrived on the scene, the trio of hunters split up and dashed through the only open land they had in the sea of trash. Though their adrenalin was pumping, they were wise to trek softly and stealthily; there was no place for the wolf to hide, and soon there would be no more room left to run.
Kiba also slowed down, but only because he had burned most of his energy by this time. His nose and ears caught wind of footsteps drawing near, and he then knew he was in danger. So he decided to be sneaky and find a way to outsmart his predators. He sat down by a pile of totaled cars, some of which were shiny enough to cast reflections of the wolf. It fooled Sydney, who was coming up close behind him; the young man unwittingly fired his gun at nothing more than a car door, and Kiba took flight once again.
"Ah, crap. Travis, he's coming your way!" Sydney shouted, which gave Kiba a clue as to who to outwit next.
Travis was laying low around towers of car tires when he heard the call. He gripped tightly onto his rifle as the sound of paw prints came his way. Then suddenly, they fell silent. Confused Travis lifted himself up and turned his body all the way around to see signs of white fur anywhere. In truth, Kiba was right behind him; he slowly crawled up a pile of tires which dulled the sound of his paws, and now that Travis was caught off guard, the wolf pushed the car tires forward. Travis yelled in surprise as the pile of car tires behind him came crashing down on top of him. Kiba took off in a flash while tires rolled off in different directions.
Luck was on Kiba's side up until that point, but now he was about to meet his match. The sound of gunfire blasted his ears, stopping him in his tracks. He couldn't tell where the sound came from; its echo was bouncing off everything around him. Kiba was helplessly stunned as more gunshots rang out. This was the work of Moth, the old graying hunter. He chose to scale the highest hill of rubble to get a clear view of the white wolf, and now he had him in his sights. He took aim at the wolf's feet and fired; he intentionally missed so that the wolf would run in the direction Moth wanted him to.
"Travis. Sydney. He's in the food section." His voice carried across the field, and the other two hunters were quick to respond.
Kiba wandered into the smelliest area of the dump, where piles of garbage bags filled with discarded food made tall hills. Flies and seagulls were all over the place, and the sight of a creature like Kiba startled them all. Kiba tried to get out of there, but the more he moved the more the gulls screamed. They were signaling his location to the hunters. With no other options left, Kiba started digging into the garbage bags in hopes to bury himself in them. But it was too late, as Travis and Sydney cornered him.
"End of the line, big boy." Travis' gun aimed right for the wolf's chest area, while Sydney aimed for his hind leg. Kiba stared them off, and even glanced up at the older man aiming his gun at his face from high atop a mountain of trash.
"Have to admit," smirked Travis, "you gave us one helluva chase. We haven't had this much fun with our prey for some time now."
The Arctic wolf's golden eyes glared into his deep brown ones. "I do hope you're enjoying this; 'cause in a moment, you'll be my prey."
With a flush of anger, Travis fired his gun. BANG!
Kiba took the hit, but managed to shift his body quickly enough so that only his back leg was injured. Despite the blood that flowed from his hide, Kiba lunged at Travis and sank his teeth into the man's face. Both Sydney and Moth stood in stunned silence as their friend fell on his back, howling writhing in agony as the wolf made a clear getaway out of the rubbish dump.
… …
"When Mother Earth was first born, she created many children- the beasts of the land, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea. In Her youth, all the world was a Paradise… until our Good Mother made her one and only mistake: she created Man.
"Man was once a beast himself, but one who had forsaken his fangs and claws for weapons and shields. Since then, mankind has broken off completely from their wild nature, walking upright and wearing clothes, leveling forests to build cities. And from there, they have only grown bolder and more aggressive, to the point where they are now tearing our planet apart.
"There are, however, a select few humans who may revert back to the way they once were, to live as beasts of the forest the way Mother Earth had intended for all of us… My brothers and sisters, we could be those beasts once again."
So said the red-robed leader of the secret society called The Red Moon's Children. They had all gathered in an underground hideout beneath a Christian church, where no one would suspect them. They gathered in a room with a long oak table surrounded by gothic stone walls, buttresses, and even a stained-glass window in the front, which had painted on it a large red moon basking in the night sky, over a blossoming lunar flower.
The leader of this human pack, whom they all referred to as "The Alpha," stood at the end of the table in front of the stained-glass window. Like all of the other monks, his face was hidden under a crimson red hood. Only his voice, soft and direct as it was, could identify him.
"True that we may be stuck in these imperfect human forms," his speech continued, "our friends in Stormhill have spoken to me today, telling me that they have made a breakthrough in the splicing of human and wolf DNA. If their studies prove correct, then we will use that DNA to reawaken the wolves in each of us."
"Praise the Red Moon," they all chanted in reply.
"But it will not be enough," he said. "Until our brothers return with The Flower in Aerzia, we can only wait and pray for our dreams to come true."
"We pray, Red Moon," again they chanted. "We pray You'll help us."
"Indeed, it will. The moon is our guide, and our messenger. It empowers all of Mother Earth's creatures, the wolf most of all. By devoting ourselves to the moon and to the prophesy of a new Paradise, we will prove ourselves worthy and undo the evils of our fellow man. Paradise awaits us!"
"Praise the Red Moon! Praise Paradise!"
… …
Kiba wandered for hours on a limp back leg, which was now half-covered in his blood. People who saw him could only stare in awe or move out of his way. None were brave enough to approach such a large and powerful creature. But now Kiba was right back where he started, quite literally, on the street where he first caught the scent of lunar flower.
He was slowing down, weakening, and feeling disoriented. He wondered what he was to do next; lie down? What if those hunters found him? What if someone took him to an animal center, or even a zoo? His mind was filling up with too many "What if's" at once, that he forced himself to enter a small park, the one place in this whole neighborhood with green grass and healthy trees. There, under the shade of one such tree, he collapsed. With any luck, he hoped, people would just assume he was dead and leave him be.
But one young boy, wearing a red blouse with tan khaki pants and dark leather boots, came up to the sleeping wolf and reacted as if he had struck gold.
…
Darkness. The faint scent of the flower. Petals falling one by one like snow. The white wolf's senses were all blurred at first, but now along with these hazy visions came a soft female voice.
"…Kiba… Kiba…?"
"Ugh... Uh? …What's happened to me?" He could feel soft lunar flowers scattered around and under him, as though they were cushioning him as he slept.
"You're dreaming, Kiba…"
"Who are you? …Where are you?"
"You must wake up now, Kiba. Wake up…"
"Wait."
"Wake up, Kiba…"
"Tell me your name."
"Kiba…" The voice faded into the darkness.
That's when the white wolf finally awoke from his deep sleep, groaning. His mental thoughts were also groggy; "Uuuugh… Where… where am I?"
Kiba's eyes fluttered as he slowly gained consciousness. Hours had past since he was knocked out cold. It was now late in the evening, and he could tell by the scent of fresh food in the air that he was indoors. It was the living room of a small house, but who's he wondered?
His nose then picked up a stronger scent- someone was sitting down right in front of him. He had to squint his tired eyes to clear his vision. What started out as a hazy blotch of brown, red and peach faded into the form of a young boy- the same boy who adopted a kitten in an alley and discovered the wolf in the park that same morning.
The boy giggled. "Heh-heh-heh! D'you always talk in your sleep, boy?"
"Huh?"
"It's okay. I can hear your thoughts; I can hear all animal thoughts. My mom thinks I've hung out with too many strays… My name's Toboe. What's yours?"
"Uhh…Kiba…" Kiba, still weakened by his misadventure and now with bandages on his wounds, still tried to keep a sharp focus on the preteen. But as he had done so, he accidentally looked through the boy's human form and saw the beast within: a red wolf, no older than a year. "…You're… You're a…"
"So, the patient's finally awake!" came a female voice. Toboe looked up and saw that his mother entered the room, carrying a bowl of warm medicinal soup for Kiba. The young woman, whose eyes and hair color matched her son's, was dressed similarly to that of a classic Amish woman. She wore a light blue dress under a white apron, with sleeves that just barely touched her elbows, and a soft white bonnet over her pulled-back hair. Her most stunning feature so all was a set of four dazzling silver bracelets that hung from her right wrist.
The boy smiled up at her as he was laying on the floor in front of the injured wolf. "Mom, guess what! He's not a dog at all, he's a wolf and his name's Kiba!"
"That's nice dear," nodded the woman before kneeling down to Kiba's level. "Have him drink this, it'll numb his pain."
Toboe passed the bowl of soup to Kiba, who reluctantly took small licks to it. "I know," smirked Toboe, "it tastes like cabbage or something. But it's good for ya, boy." He couldn't help but give Kiba a gentle pet on his head.
"Toboe, you're not thinking about keeping him are you?"
Said the boy to his mother with a pout, "No, Mom. I wasn't gonna ask you."
"Remember that raccoon family you found in the neighbor's chimney? You promised you'd send them back to the forest. They were found in our garbage pails the next evening."
"Huh, yeah… Fancy that coincidence," blushed the boy.
"And the hawk, and the mice, and the kitten."
"What's wrong with the kitten, Mom?"
"Nothing, son. But if you want to keep it and all the other animals you pick up off the streets, then I suggest you make them nice shelters outside. We only have so much space in this little house."
Looking away from her, the boy sighed with a puss on his face. "…Okay, I'll make a cathouse tomorrow. I'll put it in the tree in our yard."
"That's good… Toboe, would you mind getting me some tea?"
"Sure thing, Mom."
As the preteen left the room, the woman quickly knelt down by Kiba. She had a certain look on her face, as if she was deeply worried. "…I know you can hear me, wolf. And I'm sure you know the truth by now."
"The boy is a wolf… and so are you."
"Yes. I've known now for some time, but Toboe doesn't know. I've been using my own telepathy to suppress his true form."
"Why hide the truth from him? There's no shame in being what we are."
"You're right about that, but you don't know what kind of city this is. We're living among hunters and fur traders; if Toboe ever showed his wolf form to them…" She hung her head in despair. "I can't even think about it."
"He's going to find out sooner or later, and so will they. You both should leave this place if it's so dangerous."
"Where would we go? Our livelihood is here, it's the only world we know of."
"There are other worlds out there. I'm trying to find one for myself."
"Listen, Kiba is it? I'm sure you're right about living wild and free, but until he's old enough-"
"Tea's here!" Toboe unwittingly interrupted as he reentered the living room. "…Mom? Were you just talking to Kiba?"
The young mother was quick to lie, "No dear, I was just checking up on him. He seems tired…" She then glanced back at the yellow eyes of the wolf, and in her inner voice she softly pleaded, "Please don't tell him. He doesn't need to know yet."
"My lips are sealed," the wolf replied half-jokingly.
… …
Thirty miles north of Aerzia City would take laid dense pine forest, one of the last of its kind on the continent. While it was relatively small for most wild animals, it was at least big enough for a wolf pack to be introduced. That was enough for a small group of animal researchers, led by a blonde-haired woman whose beauty was only matched by her strong will and love of animals. Her team of seven drove up to the edge of the forest in three vans, and in the back of each one were crates housing brown and golden-furred wolves. The scientist in charge of the release operation sat in the passenger seat of the first van, which was driven by her youngest but most enthusiastic employee.
As the van parked, the young raven-haired man in sunglasses turned to the woman beside him and smiled, "Well, this is it ma'am. You ready to let 'em go?"
As if entranced, the woman stared blankly out the window of the car door and sighed. "Heh… You'd think after all this time I'd be ready for this, Mick."
"She's a beautiful sight, ain't she?" mused her driver at the sight of the green wall of trees ahead.
"I just hope the kids think so."
Suddenly, a scientist from the second van came up to the woman's car door and gave it a tap. "Ms. Cher, we're unloading them now."
"Right," replied the blonde as she brushed back the bangs that dangled from her pulled back bun. "Let's do it."
Cher stepped out of the van slowly, as if reluctant to perform the task she had prepared herself for within the last three years. Her "kids" as she liked to call them were being slowly and carefully pulled out of the back of the vans while still within their crates. She watched with a heavy heart, as one wolf after another was let loose, collared, and sent running toward freedom.
Meanwhile, her young apprentice pulled the shades off his face to observe her reactions. "We're doing a good thing, ma'am. These animals deserve to be free after being cooped up in those so-called zoos."
The blonde forced a smile. "You're right, Mick. They might not even remember us after a few days; they'll just live out their lives as God intended… But you know, I'm still worried about him."
"Oh," smirked Mick; "your boyfriend."
She giggled. "Please! He's not my boyfriend."
"But you swoon whenever you see him. Honestly, what do you see in him? …If you don't mind me asking."
"He's just different, is all. He needed special care when he came to me; thin as a pole as he was. I wasn't even sure he was going to make it the first few days."
"If only he knew how you felt…"
"There's my special boy!" cheered Cher, as she gleefully approached the wolf in the last crate. The one who was once thin as a pole and diseased was now a chubby young adult with the liveliness of a young pup. As soon as his crate was opened, the golden-fleeced wolf danced around Cher, barking and wagging his big fluffy tail like a dog.
The woman dropped down to one knee to hug her most special prodigy. "…Now Hige, you're going to be a wild wolf now with your cousins," she softly said to him in a motherly voice. "You're not going to need me anymore."
Puzzled, the wolf cocked his said and hummed, "Arr?"
One of Cher's co-workers passed to her the last radio collar. As she fastened it around Hige's broad neck, she said with a forced smile, "There's a good boy, Hige… Now this collar will be your guiding light. Whenever we want to see you again, we'll use the signals emulating from here to track you in the wild… Heh, listen to me, telling you all this technical stuff as if you'd understand… But anyway, let this collar be as a reminder of me, and hope that one day we might meet again." Still unsure of his future, Cher wrapped her arms around the wolf and cooed, "I do hope we meet again, Hige. You're my favorite boy."
As if reading her thoughts, the wolf gently licked her cheek before following his zoo-bred cousins into the deep and dark woods. Cher had to wipe away a tear from her eye as he disappeared from her sight.
Mick stood beside her and patted her back. "He's free now, ma'am. We did the right thing."
Cher glanced back at him with a willing smile; "Yeah, I know… Thanks, Mick. We should all get back to base and test out the radio collars." Without a moment's hesitation, her crew picked up the empty cages and carried them back to the van. Before she reentered her ride, Cher took one last look at the woods. She was awestruck at how forbidding the trees appeared, as if they were purposely blocking her from her "children."
… …
Kiba, still favoring a bandaged leg, watched with interest as his new friend Toboe fashioned a cat house made of sticks in his backyard. The boy knew nothing of carpentry- what wolf does?- but he was resourceful enough to steady the little fort with leaves, mud and stones. When he finished it, the boy took a step back and wiped the sweat off his brow.
"Well, whaddya think?" he asked the Arctic wolf nearby.
Kiba cocked his head. "It's not bad, for a cat anyway."
"You think he'll like it?" Toboe then whistled for his new pet. "Kitty! Come'ere, Kitty."
As the curious kitten approached his new home, Kiba's thoughts came through to boy's mind again. "You know, Toboe, I really should be getting back to my journey soon."
Toboe frowned as he turned back to the wolf. "You mean… you're not staying?"
"I can't… Don't get me wrong, I like it here. It's just that… it's not my home."
"Oh. I get it." Toboe sat down in front of Kiba with his legs crossed, as if expecting a long conversation to start. "So, where do you live, Kiba?"
"To be honest with you, I'm not really sure I have one. You see, I've been wandering around for so long, searching for something."
"For what?"
The wolf turned his head, as if ashamed. "You'll think it's silly."
"No I won't!" smiled Toboe. "I promise, if you tell me I won't laugh at all."
"Alright," thought Kiba. "…Do you know what a lunar flower is?"
"Lunar flower? No, never heard of it."
"It's a pure white flower that only blooms under a full moon. Its scent is the sweetest in all the world."
"Wow," mused Toboe as he leaned his chin on his arm.
"I've been following its scent ever since I came to this city. I feel like… like it's calling me, like it's pulling me like a force of gravity."
"Gee…"
"There's something else, too. I've been having strange dreams about a young woman lately. She keeps calling me, as if she wants me to find her. The strangest part about it is, I've never seen her before. I don't even know her name."
"…Maybe she's your owner," guessed Toboe innocently.
The wolf couldn't help but chuckle under his fierce figure. "No, that can't be it… But she does seem something to me, I just don't know what yet. But I have to keep looking for her if I'm ever going to find out what it all means." The wolf's thoughts paused as he noticed a hypnotic stare in the boy's face. "What's wrong?" he thought.
"Nothing," shook Toboe's head. "I just think that's really interesting. And I wish I could help you find that girl, Kiba. I'll bet she's someone from your past."
"You may be right," thought Kiba. "I've forgotten much of my past already. Ever since I've smelt that flower…" He then decided not to think of the subject anymore; he was afraid of concerning the boy even more. The wolf then leaned forward; "Well, it seems your friend likes his new den."
Toboe glanced behind him, and sure enough the kitten was curled up at the front of the makeshift cathouse. "Hey, lookit that!" giggled the boy in victory. All at once, his concern for Kiba faded away, and all was right in the world again.
Meanwhile, the boy's mother stood behind the open window of the kitchen. She had overheard their whole conversation, and was growing ever more curious about her wolf visitor.
…
That evening, the small family and their visitor had a helping of ducks, which Toboe believed to have been bought at the market, but were in fact preyed on by his wolf mother. By then, Kiba's leg had fully healed and his young friend removed the remaining bandages on his body. Yet the Arctic wolf remained with them long after the sun had set; he had grown so fond of the boy that he felt compelled to stay until Toboe went to bed for the night, then he would quietly sneak away.
Toboe's mother, however, had plans of her own. She waited until her son went outside to feed his cat in the backyard before the wolf in woman's clothing said to the white wolf, "Sit down, Kiba. We need to talk."
While the fireplace's light cast two wolf shadows on the wall, the two sat opposite each other in the living room. Toboe's mother had her back to the entrance to the dining room, almost forgetting that her son could walk in on them at any moment.
"I understand you'll be leaving us tonight," she said to the white wolf.
"I hope you don't think I'm being rude," his replied telepathically. "I really appreciate all that you've done for me."
"Oh, it's quite alright," replied the woman. "We wolves should stick together, after all…"
"You will tell Toboe the truth, won't you?"
"Which truth? That he and I are wolves disguised as humans? …Yes, I intend to tell him when the time is right."
"If he doesn't know soon enough, he may not be able to change into his true form. He may stay human, as many folks in this city have."
"That's their choice though, isn't it?"
"That's true… but it's also a tragedy."
"Be that as it may, Kiba, we have to accept the way things are. Which brings me to why I've summoned you here; I need to know something: What is it you really want?"
The white wolf paused only for a moment before his thoughts gave a straight answer: "To live freely without rules, to roam as I please with no cares and no problems."
The woman smiled. "Hmm… There was a time when we wolves could run free. Times sure have changed."
"Have they?"
"Well… there are stories that tell of a time when life will revert back to the way it used to be." As she said this, she the she-wolf let her guard down long enough to finally cast off her human form. She soon became what she was all along; an adult female red wolf. All that remained of her human guise were the four silver bracelets on her right forearm.
"I used to tell Toboe the fairy tales that I've grown up with; they speak of a land where there is no war, no cities and not even disease, where animals of all kinds could live in peace… They call this place 'Paradise.'"
The white wolf's ears perked up. "Paradise…?"
"Have you never heard of it?" wondered the she-wolf. "It's supposedly the last great Paradise on Earth… and the only way to get there is to follow the scent of lunar flowers."
Kiba stilled with surprise; it was as if the she-wolf's words put an ease to his troubled mind.
The she-wolf's yellow eyes softened. "So… you are The One."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I've heard you speaking with my son earlier about lunar flowers. Only the Chosen Wolf is said to be driven by those flowers, and that their scent will guide him on the road to Paradise. …I knew there was something different about you, Kiba. But I never imagined just how different."
"I'm nothing special," Kiba's mind disagreed. Suddenly, his eyes moved out of focus of the she-wolf. His attention was captured by something coming from the dining room area. Curiously, the she-wolf turned around; there standing by the open doorway was her son, holding the kitten in his arms and his eyes wide with shock. "…Toboe!" she gasped.
The boy shook with fear and awe. "…M-mom?"
Without warning, the kitten in his arms started to hiss as its fur spiked up. It wasn't the wolves it feared, but whatever was behind the front door.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! "Open up in there!" came an aggressive voice from outside, as someone pounded their fist on the door.
Toboe's mother quickly got on her human feet; "I know that voice; it's Travis from downtown. He and his friends must have followed your trail, Kiba."
"I'll handle this," promised the white wolf as he too got to his feet.
"Wait…" pleaded the woman, but it was too late to argue. The white wolf walked up to the front door as calmly as ever while the agitated hunters continued to bang on the door. "Open up, we know you're home lady!" shouted one of them.
The three hunters had their rifles poised to fire as they stood outside the door. They were in for a surprise when the door was opened, and standing calmly behind it was a young man with wild black hair, aqua-blue eyes, a leather jacket over a white tee shirt, fine blue jeans and black shoes.
"…Can I help you gentlemen?" asked Kiba in his human guise.
Standing right behind the door was the old man named Travis, only his face was patched up in bandages from being bitten by the white wolf yesterday. He was in no mood to talk to a young stranger, but kept his anger in check long enough to say, "We're looking for a stray white wolf, kid. Where's the lady that lives here?"
"She's inside," replied the young man. "What do you want with her?"
Moth, the grey-haired man standing behind Travis, spoke up. "We just wanna ask her some questions. We've been asking everyone around here about the wolf. See, he bit ol' Travis here already, and there's no tellin' who else he may have attacked."
Wolves by nature were no liars; however, Kiba had no need to, as he let his illusion do all the lying for him. "Perhaps he attacked you because you attacked him first."
With his patience run out, Travis shoved Kiba aside; "Out of the way boy," he growled. With that, his cohorts Moth and Sydney followed him inside.
Toboe's mother moved in front of him as a shield and asked, "What do you men want?"
"We're lookin' for a white wolf," replied the hazy-eyed Travis, who was looking more wobbly than usual. "Some folks told us a young boy picked him up. Would this young fella be that boy?"
Toboe stood still in fear while his mother defended him; "There are lots of young boys in this city," she replied with her eyes narrowed. "How can you be sure my son is who you're looking for?"
The bandaged man approached her with fire in his eyes. "Don't toy with me, woman! I'm in no mood to play games here."
His friend Sydney was quick to grab Travis by the arm and pull him back. "Now quit it, Travis! You outta be takin' it easy, what with your injury."
"I'm fine," Travis snapped back as he shook off Sydney's hand.
"No you're not," argued Moth, "you're as drunk as a skunk."
"So what!? That sonuvabitch wolf bit down hard on me; you'd be drunk too if you knew how it felt!"
"I think you all need to take it easy," said Toboe's mother. "Here, you can sit down and eat here if you'd like."
"We ain't resting until we get that damn wolf," growled Travis.
Kiba stood quietly by the door all the while, his human projection still in charge. Sensing danger, he spoke up; "Is it really worth all of this grief just to catch one animal? He may have already left this city by now."
The drunken man turned around to face the young man again. "Are you saying it skipped town?"
"I'm saying it's a possibility."
After taking a quick look around the room, Moth concluded, "He's not here, boys, that's for sure. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Hold on," hissed Travis, who still focused on Kiba. He stepped closer to the teen, still wobbling in his step a bit. Though most of his senses had been dulled by alcohol, his sense of smell was fully in tact, and as he moved in closer to the teen, a familiar scent reached his nostrils. "…Have you and I met before, kid? You smell familiar."
"I've been around here for a while," admitted Kiba. "And now that you've mentioned it, I think you and I have crossed paths before."
"…You sound familiar too."
"Come on, Travis!" called Moth. "We ain't welcome here."
Travis' drunkenness was about to prove its merit, for the longer he stared at Kiba's human form, the hazier it became. Alcohol, it seemed, dulled the very senses that creatures like Kiba took advantage of. In a flash, the wild-haired young man morphed into a pure white wolf, and back again.
Travis jumped back in a fright and screamed, "It's him! It's the wolf!!"
"What!?" gasped Moth; no sooner than he said this, Travis whirled his rifle at Kiba and opened fire. "Travis, NO!"
BANG!
Kiba, still in human form, dodged the bullet with lightning-fast reflexes. With no other place to run, he jumped in front of the woman and small preteen that were caring for him. Travis' dazed vision once again uncovered the illusions, only now he saw three wolves in place of three humans. "Jesus, they're ALL wolves!" he gasped. "Shoot 'em all!"
"No!" roared Toboe's mother, as she pushed both Kiba and Toboe out of the way of Travis' gun. With his second shot, Travis managed to get a hit; Toboe's mother's blood spilt on the floor. "Mom!" yipped the young boy.
Moth grabbed hold of Travis' rifle and tried to pull it off of him, but the raven-haired hunter proved to be stronger. "Travis, stop it! You've lost your mind!" In one instant, the gun was aimed at Toboe's face, but his mother bared her fangs and lunged herself at it. With the third shot, the red she-wolf clung onto the gun and pushed it out of Toboe's way. The bullet ripped through the front window, shattering it to pieces. Kiba took the young preteen by the arm and pulled him toward the window; "Let's go!" he commanded. Without much resistance, Toboe allowed Kiba to pull him forward, and the two of them jumped out the window with hardly a scratch on them.
They were about to make a run for it, when Toboe stopped. "Wait! What about Mom!?" Kiba paused long enough to watch the she-wolf fly out of the window just as they did. "Hurry!" she yelled, leading the way. The three of them took flight just as the crazed hunter kicked the door wide open and fired numerous shots. None of them would reach their targets.
…
The three wolves in human clothing managed to make it to the very edge of the city, when the female's legs buckled underneath her. "Mom!" gasped Toboe, as his mother collapsed to the ground. He knelt down by her side and begged, "Mom, please get up. We've gotta take you to a hospital…"
The woman's glazed eyes looked up at him, and she slowly forced a smile. "…Toboe… My dear boy. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."
"It's gonna be okay," he whispered. "I'll get you to a hospital, and they'll take care of you."
"It's no good," she murmured back. "I… I'm all out of breath, Toboe… I can't go on."
"No. Please don't talk like that. You've gotta make it, Mom… Kiba, tell her she's gonna make it. Tell her!"
The older teen could only watch; lying was not his nature.
"Toboe… listen to me," whispered the bloodied woman. She slowly slipped the bracelets off her arm and held them up to her son's. "Take these… They're yours now. You can look at them and remember me…" Toboe's eyes teared up as his mother's illusions melted away, revealing the beautiful wolf within. "I should have told you the truth long ago… The truth is, son, we don't belong in the human world. We belong in the wild… as wolves… Does this form not frighten you?"
Toboe gulped as tears fell from his eyes. "…No. No, I don't care what you are. You're my Mom, and I can't… I can't be without you."
The she-wolf turned her head slightly to the one nearby. "Kiba… If you are truly The One, and you're going to Paradise… please… take my son with you. …Promise me you'll keep him safe."
The aqua blue0eyed young man gave her a solemn nod. "You have my word, ma'am."
"He's my only son… my whole world…" Her thoughts fell silent.
"…Mom? …Mom??" Toboe trembled as his mother's eyes closed for the last time. He held onto her tightly, savoring the warmth of her fur for a moment, before finally letting out a sob. Kiba bowed his head in sorrow, and listened as Toboe's sobs morphed into wolf howls. All at once, the young boy was no more, and what remained was a yearling red wolf, howling at the night sky for the very first time. Kiba was all too obliged to join him in his mournful howls.
… …
That same night, the Children of Red Moon were greeted by their long-awaited bretheren, who placed the jarred lunar flower on the table in the conference room beneath the church. The Alpha's preaching resumed as his council of red-robed followers hummed in song.
"Behold, the flower; the one which will soon awaken the beast in all of us. The flower whose scent shall pave the way to Paradise, where evil and destruction shall exist no more…"
…
"The days of mankind will soon be at an end, my brothers and sisters. He shall pay dearly for his complete disregard of our beloved Mother Earth and her most precious of creatures…"
In a small town called Stormhill, miles away from Aerzia, a building was now in flames. Cher and her associates drove up to the building, which was their research lab just hours earlier. Someone had destroyed it, and they were now too late to salvage the wolf data they so feverishly preserved. As she approached the ashes, Cher's eyes caught the sight of a small piece of paper on the ground. When she picked it up, it revealed a strange sigma, one of a full red moon and a howling wolf in its center.
…
"Soon we will tear ourselves from mankind, the lowest of all creatures, and be exalted into the worthiest form of all, for it is the Wolf and he alone who will open Paradise…"
Deep in the heart of the wilderness, Hige's nose picked up the scent of sweet honey, the likes of which he had never smelled before. His heart skipped a few beats, as if he had found a new love. He turned his head upward to the moon and gleefully howled.
…
"And once that Paradise is open, we can bid farewell to Man and his carelessness. He will disappear forever, along with the pain and destruction He has caused, never to return again. This is our ultimate goal as Children of Red Moon…"
The white wolf climbed up a large hill that overlooked the sleeping city of Aerzia, and looked back only to see if his new charge was right behind him. Indeed, Toboe was, this time with his mother's bracelets strapped to his right leg. The young red wolf paused at the top of the hill to look back at the place he once called home. He needed a minute to say goodbye to it.
"…Are you ready?" Kiba softly thought.
The young red wolf turned his head to his new guardian and gave him a nod. They were now on their way toward the wilderness, and toward a deep dense forest, and from there- hopefully- toward Paradise.
"The Day of Reckoning is coming, my friends. Turn your ears to the wind, and you may hear it... It approaches like a violent storm."
In the distance, thunder rolled.
TBC
Next, "Of Wolf and Man"