Epilogue: Hopes and Dreams
He was running. He didn't know why, all that mattered was that he kept on running. The landscape was desolate, with nothing but solid ice in all directions. The sky was dark, but it had a very surreal quality to it. The whole land seemed unnatural, but he didn't stop to dwell on it. He just kept on running.
He heard a groan behind him, followed by a sharp crack. He looked back and saw the ice cracking and crumbling. Now he had a clear reason to keep running. He raced to stay ahead of the crack, but it always matched his speed. He swerved left, but the crack was quick to follow. He pushed his body forward, managing to stay ahead of the ice that seemed intent on swallowing him. Suddenly, the ice crashed ahead of him as well, rising to form a wall in front of him. He had heard of sled teams encountering them – pressure ridges in the sea ice – but he had never heard of one rising so quickly. With peril behind and a wall ahead, it was as though some force intent on stopping him was controlling the ice itself, but he would not give up without a fight. The ridge rose at an angle and he scaled it, hoping to find safety on the other side. The ridge rose steeper, and he could feel his paws sliding on the ice, but he pushed forward. He reached the summit, but the ridge shook before crumbling beneath his feet. He fell, expecting to hit the icy cold water, but instead landed hard on a swaying piece of ice. He was floating on a small white island on an inky sea. Looking around, he saw other pieces of ice, but any continuous ground had crumbled and broken up.
He thought he was alone in this landscape until he heard a cry above him. He saw a large, dark bird – a raven – flying overhead. The call was sharp, meant to grab his attention. It circled a few times before starting to fly away, and as it did, he was amazed to see that many pieces of ice had floated together to form a semi-straight path. He wound up and jumped from his piece to the next, and then the next after that. From piece to piece, he went along, following the raven. He didn't know why he had to, but it was the only thing he could do.
As he followed the path, fog started to roll in around him. This only added to the surreal nature of this land as fog rarely formed in the cold of winter. Through the fog, he started to see shapes. He raced towards them, but when was able to identify them, he halted. In front of him were wolves - a whole pack of them - but they weren't like any wolves he'd seen before. He'd never seen wolves with glowing yellow eyes. They just stood and stared at him with their ethereal gaze, but he held back. He didn't know them and he wasn't sure if they were friends or foes. Something didn't feel right to him; it felt like there was danger around… just like the danger he felt when being pursued by Tikani's pack.
He heard a howl call out, long and high. They were calling to him, calling for him to join them, but he held back. He didn't want to be with these wolves; he wanted to go back home to be with Jenna. He turned his back to them, hoping to get away, but their howl continued, growing louder. He jumped to another ice floe, but when he landed it shattered beneath his feet, plunging him into the dark below. The howling persisted as he fell into the black. He didn't hit water, only falling through darkness. He despaired and the howl grew louder in his ears, becoming a roar. He tried to scream, but nothing came out as he fell deeper and deeper into nothing. He was terrified; there was no end in sight. He shut his eyes, hoping, praying for some sort of end to this nightmare.
"NO!" Balto shouted when he snapped his eyes open. His eyes darted left and right and found that he was safe in his boat. It was barely morning, and it didn't take him long to realise that what happened was all a dream. An unsettling dream, but still a dream nonetheless. He could feel his heart pounding and his ears were ringing from the howl, but he brushed it off as just the after-effects of the dream.
He settled back down and closed his eyes to sleep. It was probably just his mind reacting to the stress he'd been put through for the past few days. He hoped that the time to come would bring peace and security, not just for himself, but for his future family as well. They would grow up in a safe home, with him and Jenna before being passed on to human families. From now on, he wouldn't have anything to worry about.
But of course, things don't always follow our hopes…
Maska, Kari, Anya, Tikani, Spitz, Faro, Atka, Salin, Mackenzie and Saku all belong to iWolf231 and may not be used in any way without my direct permission.
Balto, Jenna, Rosy, Kaltag, Nikki, Star, Doc and Aniu belong to Universal Studios and Amblimation.