They say a one's life can change in a matter of seconds. They say that a single moment can change everything about who you are. Your hopes, dreams, views and your behavior molded by that single strand of time. Some people can live a lifetime and never experience moments like those. Others have the misfortune of having the rug pull from under them enough times to learn how to adapt and cope with everything. Take me for example; I was the third born, and the only daughter, to a happily married couple. Being the only female of five children, I had it pretty well back then now that I think about it. Our father was what you would call the chief of our tribe. So we never needed for anything. I even had my own cot, where I slept and dreamt of things only the innocent and naïve dreamt.

Don't get me wrong, I did have work to do. Like all the other females of my tribe, I was to gather the fruit and vegetables our mother gifted us. As any other female of my tribe I was taught how to maintain a household. I would wake with the morning, wakes my older brothers if they weren't already out hunting with the others. Wake my two younger brothers and get them ready for the day, to help my mother with gathering and preparing for when the men return.

Life was simple, my only worries back then were if I would be finished or not with my chores with time to spend with my best friend Lyra. Words like disease, famine, war and greed were strange to my tribe. We all believed we were protected from harm by these two moon spirits, names Lope and Lupe, which according to our legends lived all around us. That in time of danger they come out from hiding and rise up and destroy our enemies.

I know exactly down to details the moments, in which my life changed completely. The first it happened, I was about to turn fifteen and like all fifteen years olds I was to see our spirit leader or Grandmother Moon as she liked to be call. She was said to be one of the few people in our tribe that could walk the fence between life and after life. She was the only one in our village that was able to speak with our ancestors and the two great moon spirits. She alone was said to be bestowed the power to show us what we may become. It was a rite of passage in our village to go and see her. We had been doing it for as long as anyone can remember. I remember being scared of going. Lyra had gone two full moons before on her visit and had returned pale and shaking. She wouldn't speak to me for three suns. When she finally came out of her house she refused to speak of what she had seen, afraid of the visions becoming reality.

Knowing Lyra that way that I did, I knew she must have seen something horrible for her to react that way. We were both known in our circle of friends as the edge divers, since we were the only two brave enough to climb and dive off a the edge of a cliff into a lake near our village. I remember being scared then too and Lyra talking me into it. She was fearless, so seeing her pale and shaking shook me to my bones. What had grandmother told her? What could have been so bad that she was left a shadow of her former self? All I know of Lyra's visions was that it had something to do with me and it had to be something bad. Why else would she not look me in the eyes? She has no problems with everyone else. It was me she avoided for those three days. Till this day, even after all this time, when I ask her she still refuses to talk about it.

So one can imagine the apprehension that rose inside of me, when my parents told me I was to leave when the sun rose the next day, to say I didn't want to go was an understatement. Like the good girl I was I gather my things and went on my way to see Grandmother Moon. The journey to her house was uneventful fortunately. Considering it was my first time into that side of the forest and I was scared out of my mind. Her place looked exactly like one would picture it. Deep in the woods, surrounded by marsh and trees, it blended in so well that unless you were looking for it you would have missed it. By the time I had reached her house, the moon was out. Before I even reached her door, she opened her door and smiled at me. It was as if she was waiting for me. She was rather a strange older woman. Her face had begun to wrinkle. Her skin was pale, almost transparent. She had this glow to her. It is hard to explain. It was as if, there was this light inside of her that was trying to escape but her skin kept it there. I would have been enchanted by her, if only her eyes weren't vacant. I remember looking into her eyes gave me chills. In the dark her eyes appeared to be almost evil. They appeared to have no pupils and iris covered most of her eyes. Then she smiled at me. Like she knew something I didn't, like I was right where she wanted me.

Without a word she reached out and took my hand and led me deeper into her house. Her hands felt so cold. I remember thinking how different her hands were from my real grandmother. My grandmother was warm and I always felt safe. I remember thinking how white her hands were compared to mine. My light brown skin appeared darker next to hers. It felt so strange to me. I had no idea where she was leading me. I could not see anything. It was like one moment I was in her house, the next I was in what appeared to be a cave. It was dark, humid and hot so very hot. I was use to the heat. Our village but this was different. I found that it made it a bit difficult to breathe. I looked around but I couldn't see anything, I couldn't feel anything. By that point she had let go of my hand and I felt truly alone. I heard nothing, I felt nothing. Then like a beacon of light, a fire appeared a couple of feet away from me. That was where I saw her. Standing next to the fire, the same woman who had led me to this place, Grandmother Moon, she looked at me then and I felt as if she was looking right through me.

She motioned for me to come closer and before I knew it, I was right beside her. I didn't remember moving. It was as if she compelled me to move. She reached her hand out to my face and grazed two fingers down my cheek.

"You look just like her, my child. When I first saw you here I thought you were my Alessia, finally coming home after all these years." She frowned then. She shook her head and then chuckled. "Of course if you really were Alessia, we would be having a completely different conversation. Now tell me Child what is that they call you?"

"They… call me… Zander. I'm from the Sandalio village. "

"Zander? What a most interesting and fitting name you have their child. Now tell me child, Why are you here, when I know you don't want to be." I took a deep breath and looked her right in the eyes and said.

"It is a rite of passage to come here and speak with you and have to show us our future. I will not be seen as an adult until I do"

"Why are you so eager to grow up? There are many, many things parents keep from their children to protect and cloak them from the evil of this world. Why are so eager to remove the cloak?"

"We must all grow up sometimes, Grandmother. While I cherish the love and protection of my family, I have long realized the sad truth."

"And what truth would that be?"

"That as much as I will it so, my parents won't be around forever and I have two younger siblings. So the quicker I grow, the less they will worry about me and the more attention they will give my younger brothers. They have been great for me and I want my brothers to experience what I have. Plus if I'm an adult I can work the gardens more and I can help out my mother."

"You wish to grow, so that you may help your parents and siblings?"

"Yes, grandmother I do"

"My dear, sometimes fate has a different path for us. One we may not want but cannot change. Are you sure, you want to tell her that you are ready?"

With that she pointed to what look like an opening on the cave wall. One that wasn't there before. She grabbed my hand and led me to it. It was dark; you couldn't see anything in it. Did she want me to go in there?

"My dear, some of us have a harder path in front of them and you are one of them. The spirits have chosen you to be our protector, to be a child of the moon. My heart both bleeds and rejoices to have you here. You will need to go and bind yourself to him. For together you will be stronger than you would apart and you will need all the strength you can get."

With that she pointed into the opening. There seemed to be a gust coming from it. Okay I can do this. I took a step into the cave. I looked at her and she nodded. Then gave me a sad smile. I looked back and began to walk forward. Then I stopped and asked.

"When I find him, how will I know it's him?"

"He will find you. Look for the wolf print. Now go for fate waits for no one."

With that I continued walking into the opening. As I walked I heard grandmother's last words to me

"Remember my dear, once you begin this ritual, you will never be able to go back to the way you use to be. You will the adult you want to be. "

To say it was dark was an understatement. It was like the light had been sucked out of the cave. I couldn't see anything in front of me. I turned to ask grandmother if she had a torch I could use. Last thing my tribe needed was for it to be down a gather. I expected to see her behind me, I hadn't walked long but when turned all that greeted me was darkness. I had now where to go but forward. I just kept walking; I figured I would eventually find a way out. Grandmother wouldn't send me in here to die. Would she? I began to panic. I could see anything. Each way I turned I was met with darkness. How am I supposed to help mother if I can't even find my way out of here.

That was when I felt it. Something furry brushed past me. I turned around expecting to see something, anything. All I saw was darkness. I figured it must have been my mind playing a trick on me. I turned back and continued to walk. I walked for what felt like forever. I walked until I got to what looked like the exit. I came out in a clearing. It was dark out, the full moon lighten the forest in front of me. A blur rushed past me and I felt something furry brush past me again, pushing me forward. I began to walk forward again. When I walked into the clearing, I suddenly got dizzy. Out of nowhere I was hit with exhaustion. I was so tired I couldn't tell up down. I trip and caught myself. What is going on with me? Then I heard the wolf. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard. Then I heard three other wolves join the first one.

It felt as if they were calling me. Asking me to join them. I felt something white brushed past me on my left. I turned to see what it was and then I saw them, the pack of wolves all sitting up as if they were waiting for me. There were four of them, three of them stood behind the white wolf. All standing, all ready to attack if necessary. The silver wolf nuzzled the white wolf and then white wolf walked to me, slowly as if not to scare me. She stood in front of me, as I slid to the floor. We sat in front of each other. Both not breaking eye contact that was when I noticed it. Our breathing matched, she moved when I moved. How I knew the white wolf was a female I would never know. I just knew she was. I knew a lot about her. How she came from a family and how she was chosen to protect her pack. How the silver wolf was her mate. How they both protected the other wolves and the tribes that lived in the area from a threat much bigger then what she thought. There were creatures that were hurting people. Grabbing them in the night and sucking the life out of them. That she needed help. She needed me.

"How could I possibly help you? I'm just a woman."

The white wolf got closer and laid her head on mine. It was almost like our minds blended and when she spoke to me I was able to hear her. Almost as if she was talking to me.

'We have been waiting for you Zander. We have been waiting for a long time'

"How…."

'We were born from the same star. I have always known you.'

"How…"

'There is no time to waste. 'With that she leapt at me. I fell back, covered my face and closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to come but nothing happened. I opened my eyes expecting to see a massive wolf on me but she was gone. All but the brown wolf were gone. He looked at me as if waiting. Then I felt it. It felt almost as if there was something inside of me fighting to claw its way out. It was the most painful thing I have ever experience. I was on fire, it hurt everywhere. Almost as if all my bones were broken. The last thing I remember was the silver wolf nuzzling my cheek and then everything went dark.