"There's one thing I don't understand!" Alisha spoke, catching her breath when she reached the top of the main entrance to the village.

"There's so much you don't understand," she could have kept quiet, it was the wisest thing to do. But her mouth moved against her will and the words in her mind left without control.

Furious blue eyes went towards Judy who simply shrugged her disinterested shoulders to the 'fire' expression of vixen. Ignoring it, she spoke again. This time, pointing her finger at a big fire on her right side. Surrounded by this bonfire, well-organized gifts formed a circle wrapped around the fire. In addition, four well-placed wooden stakes supported a white wrapped ribbon.

"Can you explain to me why it was lit?"

There really was no explanation. The fire shone high as it had been lit a few minutes ago. The trunks that gave the food, did not look burnt. The white ribbon showed no dirt or wear and tear over time. Strange. Really strange. No one answered it, because there was no logical answer for such an event. However, Judy moved away from her colleagues and began to approach the fire. Once again, fear was far away, and curiosity burned inside her. She felt like a child with so much that she wanted to discover.

"What do you think you're doing?"

A paw on her shoulder, prevented her from continuing. She turned her head sideways to face the fox.

"To discover the reason for this mystery."

"How about you put that curiosity aside a little bit and let's get on with what we really..." Nick stressed the word "...we're here to do?!"

"It will be a good story to write" was the only thing she answered before she shook him off her shoulders and continued on her way to the fire, leaving a Nick perplexed where the concern for his colleague's safety had been at stake ever since they arrived in that village.

Judy stopped inches from the fire. The fire, such a dangerous element, at that moment was a fascinating thing. The unnatural glow of the flames gave a great warmth in her heart.

"Touch it!"

Again, the same voice. The voice that had spoken to her when she almost reached the entrance to the village.

"But..." her mind answered her.

"Touch it!" insisted the same voice.

Hesitant, Judy raised her paw to her abdomen. Closing it, she still hesitated a few moments before she started stretching her arm to the fire. At that very moment, Nick, seemingly guessing what was going to happen, he ran to her, trying to stop her, but he didn't go in time.

ooOOOoo

The high sun on the plain made the birds chirp a beautiful sound. The clear river flowed smoothly over the small rocks, where small fish swimming calmly. A field full of flowers of all shades, it was a sweet and soothing aroma. The grass was bright green.

"Where?"

Nick looked in all directions, confused. It seemed as if he had entered another...Dimension. Next to him, Judy had the same confused expression.

Laughing in the distance, that made the two mammals look in the same direction. Two female wolves, both twins, with a magnificent white Kimono, ran with their paws cheerfully given near the river. By Nick and Judy's calculations, they were not to be more than fifteen years old. The joy on the twins' faces was contagious. Passing through the grass, they raised their kimonos to their knees and went into the river, playing with the water. Near them, a male of the same age and race, his fur being all black and red eyes. Beautiful, Judy had to admit. He had joined them in the river.

"Who?" Nick spoke again. He wanted to slap himself to wake up, but he knew he wasn't in a dream.

"I saw one of the wolves." Judy finally spoke.

"How?" Nick stared at her

"When we arrived, there was one on the entrance to the village. But..."

Suddenly a pain in her chest made Judy take her paws to the place and kneel down. Alarmed, Nick put his paws on her shoulders and questioned her if she was all right. The pain was so great that the tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"Carrots... Carrots..."

That's when his heart stopped beating. Blood. There was blood on Judy's paws and between her breasts. Alarmed, he diverted her paws from the place. He opened the buttons off her blouse and the shock went down hard when... Everything went dark.

ooOOOoo

"NICK...!"

Alisha's cries of despair and the crying made Nick slowly open his eyes. The distressed tears on Vixen's face was the image he received, and soon after, a strong hug when Alisha saw that the fox had awakened. Nick returned the hug, but then remembered.

"Judy?"

Releasing himself, he searched for her and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her sitting on her back against a rock with her eyes open. Jack was standing next to her. At that moment, he was looking for a bottle of water to give her. Without delay, he got up and approached the rabbit, kneeling before her. His emerald green eyes went to find the blood, but there was…Nothing.

"I'm fine!"

She smiled at him, but it was remarkable in her eyes how shaken she was feeling.

"Take it!" Jack passed her the bottle and she drank a little.

"Now, can you please explain to me what happened?"

His gaze denounced quick answers. And by Nick's reckoning, the vision they had when they both stayed in a different world must have been scary.

"Can we leave the explanations until later?" was Alisha's request. "We will continue what we were doing. Notice, that they are super shaken and certainly don't want to talk right away."

Jack twisted his nose but agreed. Closing the backpack, he put it on his back and stood up. They would talk when they set up the camp later.

Alisha took a deep breath and turned her back on the two colleagues, removing the map inside the backpack and opening it in front of her. It was confusing. Quite confusing, but she would know the most significant points that they would have to go, since during the week she did not stop from one side to the other searching for information that could be relevant to her research, and of this, she marked with a red marker the appearances that the mammals had told her what they saw.

"The wound?"

Alone, Nick's gaze was painful, so much so that Judy couldn't face it.

"None."

A sigh of relief came from the fox's lips.

"It won't be the last time, will it?"

Judy shook her head. She had the feeling that it would be worse as they advanced in their search for more information. In addition, the pain she felt mixed with a feeling well known to her. Love. Burning passion for one of those female wolves. But which one? What about that wolf? She somehow felt that she knew him very well but had never seen him before in her life. Everything was strange, very strange and now thinking about what had happened, would only confuse her even more. Possibly, as they went further into the village, she could find answers. If they were good, she had the feeling that she would suffer even more from them, but she had to know. She had to know what was going on with her and Nick.

To be continued…