Alpha and Omega: After Realization

by Emperor Sushi

A new story inspired by Datguy N Disguy from Chapter 15 of Aftermath. Although Humphrey and Kate got married, Humphrey kept his love towards Lilly, even though she married Garth. Lilly also kept on loving Humphrey and they are willing to risk their lives to be happy, with the help of a good family member, but what happens when the past comes back to hurt you?

7. Chapter 6: So The Strange Goes

Alpha and Omega: After Realization

Chapter 6: So The Strange Goes

The forest within the northern part of Jasper Park seemed calm and peaceful, not a sound could be heard for a mile and even the birds just seemed to sit on their branches in a silent hush. This really caught Jack's attention as he walked through the forest and looked around the area as he did so, feeling relaxed but also on guard for anything. Jack was just as calm as he usually was as he went on with his stroll into the forest, but he could shake this strange and pulling feeling that he could sense, almost like something was calling out to him and telling him to keep going into the forest.

"I've never had this feeling before" said Jack.

He looked up to the trees that tops of the forest and was beginning to take notice that although it was early in the morning, it also looked like the light from the sun was starting to fade some and continued to do so as he went on walking.

"Now that's something out of the ordinary, not what you would expect"

Jack didn't think it was normal for the morning sun to start fading and how could it? He had seen the sun shine very brightly back at the den and even from that point there shouldn't be a difference in sunlight. While Jack wanted to ask himself further questions as to the weirdness that he was starting to see in nature, he kept his objective in mind.

"Focus Jack, I'm here to find a sanctuary for the loving couple, not ponder on nature" spoke Jack to himself.

Jack knew the reason he had chosen to come to the forest and that was to find something that could help out Humphrey and Lilly if for any reason things were to go wrong in any way. After having spoken to both of them about their situation and giving his word that he would not breathe a word about them, he needed to do something for them to give a helping hand. He was not going to quit now, he needed to find a proper and secret sanctuary for them before anything were to get tense. Jack thought about Humphrey and Lilly for a long moment and forgot that he was walking, which led him to trip over a tree root that was propping out of the ground. He landed with his head forward and hit a small rock that bruised his lower jaw some.

"I really need to focus, but not so much that I'll forget I'm walking"

He slowly got up off the ground and checked on his bruise beneath his jaw with is paw, but he found that something was wrong, really wrong with what he was feeling. He felt around under his jaw and although he had taken a hit and felt a bruise form, he could no longer feel it anywhere. Jack didn't freak out to the odd occurrence, but he now thought about it and asked himself the difficult question as to what had happened.

"Bruises don't just form on you and then vanish right? This is just odd"

Jack felt around under his jaw for a couple more seconds before he gave up on his efforts to understand what happened and just went on walking forward, going ever so deeper into the forest that just kept on expanding into eternity. It must have been about 30 minutes or so when he took the moment to try to figure out what time it was, but he thought he was going blind or something when he gazed up into the sky above the trees again and saw a small bank of fog covering the air. He didn't really mind that the sky had turned a shade of gray and that it replaced the blue sky from earlier, but he couldn't believe that the suns light had now diminished by so much within the last half hour. Jack let the thought of the diminishing light drift out of his mind and he just kept on going, he only maintained his thoughts on finding his fabled sanctuary, but he knew it wouldn't remain fabled for long once he found it.

"I just hope things don't take a turn for the worst"

His focused from that moment stayed still and focused only on his goal he had, but it seemed that his focus had gotten the better of him as he didn't take notice to the fog that was beginning to build up even more in the air around him, surrounding not only the air up above, but also the ground he walked on started to get blanketed by the increasing fog. It didn't take long before the bank of fog had grown so much and the whole forest was now just a dim sight, even a tree wasn't able to be seen from about twenty feet away. Jack was not deterred from his journey as he walked forward still and although he could tell that the fog had grown very thick, his eyes focused themselves only on the path in front of him. Jack momentarily thought about something else he had started to see.

Strange, I haven't tripped on anything at all for a while now, it's like the ground has been cleaned of all debris thought Jack.

The ground no longer seemed to have all of the overgrown tree roots coming out of the ground and not a single rock was visible anywhere on the surface of the earth. Suddenly, a soft sound could be heard coming from the distance and Jack perked his ears up as he tried to take in the sound and make out what it was. The sound began to get louder with every step he took forward and after a few more steps that he took; he listened to the sound and could finally identify what it was.

"Waterfall" spoke Jack

Jack could tell that it was a waterfall and as if by his word, the fog drifted apart and revealed the waterfall a few feet ahead of him, the sun shining from above to illuminate the water as it came splashing down into a small lake at the bottom. Jack didn't respond to when the fog disappeared off to the sides, he only made his way to the lake below the waterfall and looked into the water as he saw ripples travel on the surface of the water as the water came down from a Cliffside that the waterfall was formed from. He then looked around and couldn't believe that this place was being shined on by the sun; while he looked back in the direction he had come from and saw that the fog had returned to its place, once again covering the forest.

"Well…it's not what I was expecting, but I guess this works"

Jack walked around the small lake and scanned the area to check if there was anything else to this area, but all he saw was the waterfall as it continued to come down from the cliff and into the lake next to him. He made his way around the lake a second time to recheck to make sure if there wasn't anything else around, but he must have been lost in his mind as he made his second trip around the lake. As he reached the far end of the waterfall for the second time, he saw that there was a space behind the waterfall.

"Interesting"

He made his way to the end of the waterfalls side and confirmed what he was seeing, there was a space leading to what looked like a cave behind the waterfall.

"Now that's what I'm looking for"

Jack did not hesitate in entering the space and into the cave that was present there, a cave hidden by a wall of water. He was standing at the entrance of the cave when his eyes focused on something that was standing near the entrance, something that was small but it was standing up right. He thought it might be a small creature or a predator, but he was able to see that it was nothing more than a rock formation that was protruding from the ground. He walked over to it and didn't see anything special about it, but it kept him in his place for a moment as he looked at it and his eyes slightly grew wide, like something about the rock formation was calling out to it. It almost looked like a small tablet of stone, but he couldn't see anything on its flat surface from the front. Before he could think about it any further, he felt a soft gust of wind blow in from behind him and into the cave, which he found odd because it would almost be impossible for wind to travel through the water coming down from the cliff. But the wind actually reminded him of what he was there for and he looked passed the stone tablet into the darkness deeper inside the cave, he could tell that there was more to the cave than just this rock.

"Doesn't hurt to find out what's inside right?"

He proceeded to walk passed the rock and into the cave, the darkness enveloping him and causing him to vanish inside. He was now venturing through pure darkness, he could not see a thing as he walked forward inside, he couldn't even see his own paws in front of him as he walked. He was starting to wonder if going inside the cave was a bad idea, but he couldn't just leave without making sure that his place was the right spot to tell Humphrey and Lilly about if they needed to have a den to retreat to. He had been taught to be fearless when was being raised as a pup by his guardian Krystal when he had been taken to an Arctic wolf pack, but he was trained to not fear enemies, he always didn't like being in the dark.

"She wouldn't be proud" said Jack.

He slowed his pace of walking as he continued onward, but every step he took didn't really change the fact that he still remained in total darkness. He did start to feel fear but his determination on accomplishing his goal was the only thing he used as his protection against his fear. It had been quite a while since he stepped into the cave and before he was thinking about turning back, he saw a small glowing light ahead of him. He knew that he had found the way out of the cave and he sighed in joyous relief as he picked up his pace and headed towards the light, which now grew brighter and larger in its size as he approached it. At last he reached the light and stepped into it, knowing that he finally exited the caves consuming grip on him. Something was now amiss though, he didn't know how to explain it or even understand how it had happened, but his head was swirling with probably a million questions as to his current position that had now found himself in.

"How did this happen again?"

Jack could not believe his own eyes as he now stared down from a slope and could see all of Jasper Park.

I traveled in a direction away from Jasper, so how is this possible thought Jack.

He blinked his eyes a couple of times to make sure he wasn't dreaming or going crazy, but the sight remained the same, it was indeed Jasper Park what he was looking at.

"Could this get any stranger?"

"If you want it to then yes it can"

"Holy fuck!"

Jack freaked out and jumped at hearing someone talk to him so suddenly and out of nowhere. He looked around and didn't see anyone, but he had heard someone talk to him.

"Okay, if someone is there, please tell me now before I go insane" said Jack.

"Alright then"

Out of nowhere a black silhouette appeared in front of Jack and though he couldn't make out who it was, he could tell that it was a wolf and a female at that. The female figure was all dark in color which made it hard for Jack to tell what her expression was, but he could tell by her voice that she didn't mean any harm to him at all.

"Sorry if I scared you, I thought you would be used to that sort of thing"

"I'm not really used to being talked to out of nowhere with no one there"

"Good to know then Jack, I just thought you might want to know a few things about this place"

Jack didn't respond to the female figure when she spoke his name, he hadn't even introduced himself yet.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting you but how do you know my name?" asked Jack.

"Don't worry, I've known about you for only a while, you arrived in Jasper Park just only yesterday right?"

"Yeah, but that still doesn't tell me how you know me"

"Let's just say I knew you would come to Jasper Park one day and help out in what's going on with Humphrey and Lilly"

"You know about that?"

"Of course I do, I know a lot of things, but I don't know everything"

Jack was now lost and not even he could understand what was now happening, but if this wolf knew about Humphrey and Lilly, then she could be trusted.

"So uhh…can you tell me exactly where I am now?"

The figure just gave a small giggle at Jack's question.

"Why you are in Jasper Park Jack, you can recognize it in every detail can't you?"

Although Jack could see that it was Jasper Park, what he meant to say in his question was how exactly had he ended up back in Jasper when he come out of a cave, and that thought made Jack turn around and look back at the cave, but his mind was blown away. He looked all around him and he could no longer see the cave or its entrance, everything around him was now either landscape seen from the slope or trees covering the land below all over the park.

"How about you follow me down to the lake there and have a drink, you must be thirsty"

The darkened female wolf walked down the slope they were standing on and headed towards a lake below, which was the same lake where he had met his sister Kate when he arrived. Jack couldn't find anything else to say to the female he had just met, but he did feel thirsty and a drink of water sounded good to him, so he pushed aside some of his thoughts on the matter and traveled down to the lake as he followed the female. He noticed that there was nobody around and the place was silent, almost deserted. He was expecting to find someone walking by to ask them about what was going on, but he still saw that not a single soul was visible throughout the whole area. He finally reached the lake and looked around to see where the female had gone to, but he no longer saw her anywhere, she had just vanished out of sight.

"What the hell is going on? I'm just losing it, sure I have weird moments, but I don't lose it like this"

Jack felt really worried as to what he was going through right now, but at least the lake in front of him was real and he was feeling the need to get a drink after a long walk through that forest and that cave.

Provided if it even was a real cave thought Jack.

Jack could get a grip on his current status, but again pushed the thoughts of his mind as he lowered his head down and took his drink of water. He could taste how great the water was, it tasted so crisp and clear, almost as if the water had been purified to the highest level, it didn't even have that weird smell that water always have that was similar to the odor of stinky fish. He just took in sip after sip of the clear and cool water to quench his thirst and after he had had his fill, he lifted his head up and licked his muzzle, savoring the taste of the water.

"I never knew that this lake water was so great" stated Jack.

"Well it used to be like that"

Jack turned around at hearing the females' voice again, but as he turned his body around, he felt a sudden blow to his whole body. It felt as if the wind had punched him with a giant fist as he felt his whole body feel the blow of a strong wind gust. He found himself being thrown into the air by the gust of wind and blown across the water of the lake until he suddenly stopped in mid air and began to fall down towards the center of the lake.

"Oh shit!"

Jack plummeted down towards the water and before he had time to close his eyes, he splashed down into the water. He immediately started to use his arms and legs to swim to the surface, but he felt as if his body weighed him down and through his attempts to swim upwards, he only continued to sink down into the darkness of the water. He thought he was going to die from the lack of oxygen as he started to feel that he could not hold his breath underwater and the pressure only made him sink more and more with every passing second.

Jack continued to kick with his legs and try to swim with his arms as he kept on moving frantically in the water, but with no avail as he still saw that he was sinking downwards all the same. He couldn't take it anymore and as the thought of death circled in his mind, he only closed his eyes and let the unknown weight pull him down into the abyss. He was consumed by darkness again as he went downward into the dark waters of the lake bottom, but even Jack was starting to feel strange at what was happening. He didn't feel as if he was drowning and he could tell since he was able to open his eyes and look around, but all he saw was total darkness all around him.

This can't be right thought Jack.

Jack dared in opening his mouth and once he did; now he knew that something was out of place. No water was entering his mouth or lungs like it supposed, he was able to open and close his mouth with difficulty. He looked around in the darkness and couldn't tell if he had somehow fallen into a hole or something deep down in the lake bed.

"This is really freaky now" whispered Jack.

Soon enough he started to notice that the darkness around him began to turn a more gray color and kept on doing so as he journeyed on down through the abyss. The darkness was now losing its black color as shades of gray started to appear and take over the space around him, almost mimicking the color of a winter day when there was a possibility for snow or if it was going to rain. His mind was no longer thinking about the fear of hitting the ground or getting killed, he was too mesmerized by the ongoing strangeness that was taking place all around him. Before he knew it, he started to see what appeared to be clouds and up above them was a bright light, which he could instantly tell that it was the sun.

"What in the world…"

Jack could not believe his eyes when he finally saw what was going on and although he could now grasp what was occurring, he was still confused by what happened prior to this.

"Is this…the sky?"

Jack was now soaring through the air and he could now see why it paid to be a bird that could fly through the air and see a lot of things from above the world. He could now make out the large landscape down below, easily making out the tall mountains covered with minimum amounts of snow and vast miles of green forest that expanded out in all directions.

"I'm lost…am I really back in Jasper?"

"You are back in Jasper; the question is not about where, but when actually"

Jack turned his head around from side to side to see if anyone really was there, but once again he was met with no presence at all.

"Can you at least make it so I can see you?" asked Jack.

"How about you take a look down there and I'll think about it"

Jack didn't really like the answer he got from the female voice, but he took her advice and returned his gaze to the ground below, which had now changed from the whole Jasper Park landscape to a smaller range of area, more specifically, within the territory that the Western pack lived in. As he looked at the ground, he took notice of something that he thought strange.

"Is it me or does the ground look closer than it looks?"

Jack kept his eyes on the ground and within a second that he blinked, he saw that his feet was touching the ground and he was standing near the edge of the forest area in the northern area of Jasper.

"Holy good caribou, what the fuck!"

Jack freaked out when he now found himself standing on the ground even though he had been soaring through the air just a second ago.

"How did that just happen!" exclaimed Jack.

Jack put his paws to his head and closed his eyes for a moment to try to get his head straightened out, unable to come to terms with what he was going through.

"I must be having problems in my head"

As he tried to understand the strange events that kept on grabbing him at every turn, he suddenly heard a sound that he picked up with his long range ears and was able to identify them as footsteps. He could tell that someone was coming in his direction and in that moment he sighed in relief, knowing that he would see someone and ask them about all this. He turned his attention in the direction of the footsteps and found that there were two grey and black wolves coming in his direction, but now he saw that they were running instead of walking, and he could also tell that one of them was a male and the other a female. They looked somewhat young, probably about a year or so young before they were to reach their teen years, so he saw them as preteens. They were both running in his direction, noting that the female was running ahead of the male and the female was smiling and laughing.

"Come on, hurry up"

Behind the female, the male wolf was running the best he could as he ran slowly behind her.

"Can you at least slow down some?" asked the male wolf.

"I know you're not slow, you can run faster than that" said the female.

"Chasing after your food when you're hungry is different from running to catch up with you"

The female wolf turned her head and stopped to allow her male friend to catch up to her and she only smiled when he finally caught up to her as he sat down and panted with his tongue hanging out. The female only looked at him and also looked in the direction that they were both heading to, but she didn't seem to be in any kind of a hurry at all. The male only sat in his spot and kept on panting as he tried to recover his breath, with the female only looking down on him and rolling her eyes as she kept on smiling at him.

"Didn't any of that endurance training help you at all?" asked the female.

"I never…was the best at running…all those mile runs didn't really help in making me run faster" said the male as he spoke through his pants.

The female stepped closer to the male and whispered into his ear as he tried to breathe.

"Come on; just do what I told you to do"

"I'm not doing that" responded the male.

The female only smiled when he spoke to her and could see that her words went through him.

"It worked last time didn't it?" said the female.

"I said I'm not doing it, it's not the right way to encourage me to run" replied the male.

"We'll see"

The female changed her smile into a grin as she looked at the male for a few more seconds before she turned around to face the other way. The male only kept on trying to catch his breath in deep inhalations and he was also unaware of what his friend was doing. The female had turned her back towards her male friend and then started to back up, but she was backing up on purpose instead of by accident. The male didn't notice that his friend was backing up into him, his attempts on letting his lungs breathe was more important at the moment. Before he could even do anything, he lifted his eyes up to see what was happening, but it was too late for him by the time he could tell what was taking place. The female had now placed her bottom and tail up to his tired face and she lowered her upper body so that her male friend's face would remain somewhat buried in her tails fur and her butt was in front of his face. The male kept his head down and continued to breathe in, but he could not resist the strange scent he so recognized and liked the smell of it.

"Go on, you know you want to" said the female.

The female kept her butt in her friends eye view and she swayed her tail so that it would rub itself against the bottom of his muzzle and the top of his head. The male had now started to relax and he wasn't breathing so heavily anymore, the actions of the female taking hold of his attention. After about a few more moments longer, the female only smiled and removed her backside from the males view and range of touch. She then took off into a sprint the instant she had brought her body back upwards and continued to run in the direction that she had been running before she had stopped to wait for the male. The male had gotten up from his sitting position and did a small stretch to relax his whole body, but he only sighed after getting up.

"Damn she's good" said the male.

The male didn't do much after he got up and started up after his female counterpart and as he ran, he could tell in his own mind that what his friend had done did indeed open up his muscles and gave him strength to run after her. As for Jack, he didn't utter a word at what he had just witnessed as he had his jaw hanging down.

"What in the name of Jasper did I just see?" said Jack.

Jack kept his eyes on the two wolves as they ran off into the distance of this place that he had been told was Jasper, but things were not as they were supposed to be. Jack had the idea of going after the two wolves so that he could ask them about what was going on, but he again seemed be having a mind relapse as the environment around him molded into a whole new world entirely before his eyes. The land beneath his feet began to take on a softer touch, it felt like the ground was being watered and as for the trees, the pines twisted and turned as they too transformed. The pines of Jasper started to grow up into the air even higher in height, with the needles of the pine disappearing completely and replaced by large green leaves and even long vines with wet grass on top of it as it snaked its way up the tree that grew upward more and more. This transformation only repeated itself all across the land as pine after pine and until the whole forest had become something totally strange to Jack, he could no longer recognize what the forest had become now. The sky piercing trees had long and oval like leaves hanging down from their branches, the ground was covered in wet grass and the soil also felt wet, and to add to all of this Jack was able to notice that the air around him was a little foggy and humid as he felt warmer than previously when he was watching the two wolves.

"What is all of this?" asked Jack.

"I asked myself the same question back when I found out about this place"

"Okay you, if you're going to be around for a while, can you at least tell me where I am please amiga?"

"If you really want to know, this place is called a jungle, which is different from the forests that Jasper Park has, this place actually exists somewhere in the world"

Although Jack was not following what he was going through, he was mesmerized by the sight of the lush jungle that he now found himself in and knew about thanks to his unknown new friend that just comes out of nowhere.

"I actually kind of like this place" said Jack.

"Just remember Jacky, just like our forests, there's always a type of danger"

Just as the voice spoke those words to Jack, a large shadow traveled across the land that Jack stood on and passed him from overhead, blocking out sunlight completely for a few seconds before it vanished. Jack looked around frantically and then upwards after seeing the large shadow and was now afraid of whatever had just passed by.

"What was that?"

"Like I said, always a type of danger"

"I'm not impressed"

Jack twisted his head in all directions switching from side to side to up and down and trying to figure out what exactly was the mysterious object that had made its way passed him in the jungle. He was fearless of a lot of things, but when it came to things that could not be seen, those were the scariest of all. As he looked up again into the sky above the jungle trees again, he came face to face with what had caused the large shadow that he had seen travel across the ground.

"Oh my…"

The large shadow came flying down from the sky above and swooped right past Jack as it cut down the tops of the trees and created a windblown storm of broken leaves. Jack had been able to duct down just in time before the large creature had grabbed him and he was on his stomach covering his head with is paws.

"What was that?"

The large shadow creature had turned around and came flying back above him once again as it flew above the jungle trees with its head looking downward towards the ground.

"GIANT ASS BIRD!"

Jack broke into a sprint and began to run into the jungle away from the large creature that he had been able to identify as a large black bird. Jack dodged many tree roots that were growing out of the ground as he from time to time turned his head and stared back, only to find the large shadow bird let out an ear shattering screech from its giant beak. Jack wished he hadn't seen the giant bird behind him as it gave chase and only just called on all his energy to increase his running speed.

"I didn't train to deal with this!"

Jack was now running with his legs and arms starting to tire from the sprinting, but the last thing he wanted to do was stop running. Jack looked ahead of him from within the jungle and saw what appeared to be a cliff, meaning this was the end of the road for him.

"Damn it all!"

Jack grew wide eyed as he came closer to the cliff and just before arriving at its edge, he put the brakes on himself. He halted in time and was able to keep his balance as he now stood at the very edge with his front arms holding him back from falling. Jack gave a sigh of relief as he stared down into the dark abyss that lied below the cliff with no other way for Jack to run.

"This just isn't my day" said Jack.

Jack turned around and saw the giant shadow bird come flying at him full speed and he could only close his eyes and wait for the bird to snatch him away. The giant bird made one last screeching sound as it flew straight at Jack and just as it did; it vanished in an instant in the form of light black smoke that blew into Jack's face. Jack felt the smoke in his nostrils and opened his eyes, realizing that the large creature that had been chasing him was gone.

"Thank goodness, I thought I was dead"

"And you might have been if it wasn't for you"

"Can you stop coming out of nowhere, I was almost killed and you come in just now to tell me I'm lucky to be alive?"

"I didn't say you survived because of luck, you survived because of the kind of person you are Jack"

"Could you please explain more specifically amiga?" asked Jack.

"I can only go that far to tell you what I mean and the way you are, you should be able to figure out the answer"

Jack rolled his eyes after hearing his not so wanting response and then looked over the cliff that he had stopped at, but he could have sworn that he was still having relapses as he saw that everything once again was replaced and a whole new environment materialized out of nowhere again. He was still standing at the edge of the jungle cliff, but instead of a dark abyss waiting for him down below, there was now a large rushing river of water that traveled downward very fast and violently as waves of water crashed alongside the cliff below. The jungle behind had also now disappeared completely and was replaced with the familiar trees that Jaspers forests always had, but the sky had turned gray and it started to rain.

As he gazed at the rushing river below him on the cliff, he saw a stretch of land in the center of the river, or more specifically, a giant boulder that made up a sort of island that stood above the water at the same height as the cliff he was standing on. Jack did not turn his attention away from the boulder island and was considering what his options were as to how he would proceed from his present location.

"Do you need any help on deciding where you are going to go?"

"Not really, I already know how to go on from here; I just need to figure out if I should"

Jack had already made up his decision, but he could not tell if he should go along with it fully or not.

Jumping just seems too dangerous, even for me thought Jack.

"Do you have faith?"

"Beg pardon?"

"You know, faith, that special feeling that tells you that you will do fine"

"Of course I have faith, always have since I lived in the Arctic and when I left to come to Jasper" replied Jack.

"So, what's the matter?"

"I just think that that feeling kind of no longer wants to exist inside of me anymore"

"Why would you say that?"

"Past experience. All it takes is one thing and your faith gets crushed to the bone that it no longer works and you can never use it or rely on it" responded Jack.

"I guess the past has been cruel to all of us hasn't it?"

"Everyone has a piece of the past that they don't enjoy, I myself included" said Jack.

Jack took one more look at the bottom of the cliff and his eyes only watched as the strong and violent rapids of the river kept on going passed the rock formations poking out of the water and also as it hit the bottom of the boulder island at the rivers center.

"Though I do guess that for this situation, I could use a leap of faith"

"If you say so"

Jack heard what his new female friend had said, but as he started to ask what she meant, he again felt another powerful blow to his whole body and he was sent flying outwards from the cliff.

"SO IT WAS YOU WHO DID THAT LAST TIME!" yelled Jack.

Jack was once again sent flying and he was scared to think that as he flew above the rapids and crossed it, he was full of fear and thought he would stop flying and plunge down into the water. Thankfully, he went on to fly across the whole space between the cliff and the boulder island safely as he landed hard on the surface of the island. He remained still as his body was lying on the ground and he could feel his whole body pulsing with pain from his landing, but he now took into account that his bodily pain once again disappeared from his body and allowed him to stand himself up.

"Can I at least be told why I keep healing every time I get hurt?" asked Jack.

As Jack stood up from his landing, he suddenly felt that the ground below his feet began to sink down and in an instant; he fell through a sinkhole that had been below his feet.

"I'LL TAKE THAT AS A NOOOOOOO…"

Jack fell through the sinkhole within the boulder island and found himself falling through a dark abyss for the second time since falling through the lake in Jasper and ending up in the sky. Although he knew what would probably happen, his suspicions were answered within about a few seconds when he again fell down and reached the bottom, hitting the ground hard for the third time so far. With his landing, Jack didn't even bother in trying to ask any more questions since his pains just went away in a short time. Jack only waited for a few more seconds after his healing and stood up to look around within his new environment that he was now in.

"Oh great, another new place and just happens to be a cave again"

Jack got himself up and as he did, he felt his paws were wet. He looked at all of his paws and then noticed that there was a very small puddle of water underneath him. He then saw that the puddle was extending outward as he saw a small stream of water leading away from him and into the cave, but the inside of the cavern was not dark and ahead of him as he looked up was a large clearing inside the cave, with light shining down from above.

"That's new"

Jack walked ahead and followed the stream of water and as he did, he found that the stream began to grow in size very gradually. He only went on with his steps and followed the growing stream as it led to the clearing inside the cave, where he was amazed to find that the clearing was larger than he thought. The other thing that he noticed is that the clearing had more to it, it wasn't just a clearing with light coming from above, it was actually a large pool of water that was being illuminated by the light.

He hadn't expected to see this large pool of water within a cave, but he had learned back in the north that many caves had sources of water, but he saw this pool as way over a certain limit as to what he thought was normal. He slowly made his way towards the pool and leaned his head forward to get a glimpse of the water, now being able to make out that the water was really pure and clean, his whole image clearly being able to be seen.

"Whoa"

Jack got closer and sat down by the edge of the pool and sat down to look down at his own reflection, which he remained looking at it and admired it. He never thought he was a handsome wolf, even though so many females came looking for him, but looking at his reflection sent him a message telling him that it wasn't just about how he looked, it was about his personality. He kept on looking at his reflection and went on admiring it, but he was starting to look at himself as if he was full of more life than usual.

"I didn't think I looked so energetic"

"Well, you used to be"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look again"

Jack's eyes still stared into the pools reflection of himself, but now he saw that his image was changing before his own eyes, his tall image began to go down and shrink.

"Why am I shrinking? That's not normal mate" said Jack.

"You're not shrinking Jack, you're just going backwards"

Although Jack did not understand what his female friend meant by that, he kept his eyes on his image within the pool water and saw that his image was getting smaller, but then it suddenly stopped and stayed there in the pool looking back at him. He was at awe at how he came to see that he was looking at himself, but it was himself at a much earlier point in his time.

"Is that…"

"Yup, that's you when you were just a pup, at least when you could walk and run. This is you when you were in the north and being raised"

"That's very interesting"

"It should be, we can all learn from the past, sometimes we'll even learn what went wrong at times"

"All pasts have wrongs that have been done, but how do you learn or figure out about what went wrong from it, especially if…"

"Some pasts have explanations, others don't"

"I thought all pasts have explanations?"

"They should, but only a few of us in the world know the truth"

"And what truths are there that most of us don't know about?"

"Well…"

Jack only heard the voice speak that word when his eyes were temporarily blinded by a bright flash of light that consumed the whole cave and everything went white with his vision. When the flash subsided, Jack looked around and saw that he was now back in a forested area and knew this was probably Jasper, but he could see the forest in front of him from his position.

"Now what?"

"Turn around and see"

Jack followed the female's instructions and turned about, only to see a den that was hidden among the forest, but he could see inside very clearly. He saw and recognized the two wolves from before and although they were still teens, they only appeared more aged lightly. Jack knew what he was witnessing but didn't quite understand why.

The female wolf was hugging the male and the male was crying into her chest in a lot of despair, with the female only keeping her hold on him.

"That's…"

The male went on crying and the female couldn't hold back her own tears as she tightened her hug on him, but then the male raised his head to face hers and stared into her eyes.

"Why did this have to happen?" said the male.

"Nature just…chooses when things should happen" responded the female.

"But why this?"

The male cried once more and hugged his female counterpart, with her only embracing him to get him to stop crying. The moment then seemed to fast forward and before long; the male and female were only lying down next to each other and staring at one another. The female was smiling at her male friend as he stared into her eyes and also returned her smile. His vision did not wander and their gazes remained locked into each other's very securely.

"Do you want to?" asked the female.

The male stared into the females eyes a few seconds longer before he responded to her question.

"Yyy…yes…I do" replied the male.

Before long, the male had stood up as the female only remained lying down on her stomach and watched as her male friend walked towards the back of the den. The male grabbed the female from behind and lifted her bottom upwards, allowing him to see her private section. He felt worried for a moment as he did what he was doing, but the female reassured him.

"Go ahead…go head…fuck me"

The male smiled at her and went on to thrust his already erect "wolf" into her pussy.

"Damn…it's so big you!"

The male began to immediately thrust hard in and out of her pussy with strong force and just caused her scream out her pleasure. The male had his tongue hanging out from his mouth as he grabbed on to the females backside and went on with his thrusting.

"You're so warm" said the male.

"I should…be"

The male kept on pounding her pussy with every thrust he made into her and she couldn't help it as she just screamed out so loudly but it wouldn't attract any suspicion anyway. The male was so entranced by the experience and was just enjoying how he was fucking the female with his "wolf" every passing second.

"Oh shit…fuck…it's all…good!"

The male could hear the female yell out her words to express her pleasure and feelings, and he too couldn't help but do the same.

"You're so good! I love you sooo much!"

The male was just not showing any signs of stopping his thrusting, but he knew one thing that would eventually halt everything.

"You're so warm inside…can't hold on…I'm going to…"

"Release…just release it!"

The male tightened his grip on the females back once again with more strength and finally gave his last thrust into her.

"I'm cumming!"

"So am I!" replied the female.

The male let go of his load into the female and the female only tensed up as she felt the warmth of his cum fill her up inside her pussy. She still couldn't help but express her feelings.

"Damn it feels so great! So warm! Fuck!"

"You were so good" said the male.

While the male panted from his tiredness from the thrusting, the female surprised him to his core as she moved herself forward and back and stroked his "wolf".

"What the…"

"Come on now, be a true guy"

The male couldn't really say anything against his female counterpart as she moved front and back to stroke his still inserted erect "wolf" inside of her pussy. The male couldn't find any strength within him to go on mating, but the female insisted on going as his "wolf" went on to be pleasured again, but with some pain he was not prepared to receive.

"OH DAMN…SHIT…FUCK DAMN IT…FUCKING GOOD!"

The female was also feeling the heat inside of her and although she knew that her male friend was in some pain; that was all replaced and comforted by the irresistible pleasurable feeling.

"You're still so hard inside of me!"

The pleasure was intense and although it felt so good to them both, they were both already reaching their final check point.

"FUCK IT ALL…I'M GOING TO….TO!"

"SO GOOD…CUM INSIDE ME ONE MORE TIME…PLEASE…ONE MORE TIME!"

"DAMN IT…I'M CUMMING AGAIN!"

The male let out his loudest yell ever and felt once again the tensing up as his "wolf" let out another burst of warm cum into the female's pussy for the second time and she too let out a loud yell of pleasure from it.

"That…was so…great…you were amazing"

As for Jack, he is and never was or will be a pervert in his life, but the whole scene that unfolded in front of him left him awed dropped and his jaw hanging down. He couldn't even believe that he was showed this in the first place.

"Umm…what exactly…was this meant to tell me? Just asking" asked Jack.

"This was supposed to be the beginning of something new and wonderful…"

"That I can understand…"

"But it didn't turn out that way!"

Somehow Jack now felt a change in the air around him, the voice didn't seem happy about what he had asked.

"I can tell you this; sometimes things for others go wrong. For those two…it didn't go very well and it just ended up not being the happy ending that they thought it would be"

The scene around him changed in an instant again as a bright flash of light covered everything and now Jack found himself in a whole different place. He saw that it was a den again, but it was no longer the den within the forest, it was a den atop a hill. He looked into the den and saw a great dramatic scene unfolding that he wasn't ready to see. He could recognize two familiar faces inside the den but he also saw another face he had just seen.

"I'm sorry…it's just that…"

Eve was speaking to the male wolf but although she was speaking kindly, the male was expressing both anger and sadness.

"Don't tell me anything…you and mister Winston are lying to me…everyone is always…"

"Calm down please, we are not lying to you, it's just…"

"Just shut up and don't talk to me…all you leaders do is lie to your own to keep balance but cause pain in doing so!"

The male snarled at the two leaders of the pack and ran out of the den soon after, his snarl now mixed in with his whimpering sadness. Eve and Winston looked at each other with heavy hearts and then towards the den entrance after the male had run out.

"Do you think he's right?" asked Eve.

"About lying?"

"No, about us? Is it true that all we do is try to keep things in order without taking into thought that we do cause others pain?"

Winston took his wife's question very seriously and thought about it for a second before responding.

"It's not our intention in doing that…but sometimes we have to make a choice…and sometimes it's those choices that cause pain…even if we don't mean it" said Winston.

"So…what do we do?" asked Eve.

"Just…just go and do what you think is best…I'm not good at making decisions like this, but you are" replied Winston.

"Alright"

Jack could not tell what exactly had happened in the scene, but his heart spoke to him in a special way that told him that it must have been terrible. He even had tears in his eyes as he stared on at the scene and watched as Eve began to walk out of the den.

"Ahhhh, isn't that a sight, that was just pathetic"

Jack heard the voice, but he could tell that this wasn't true.

"Wait just a second, where did you…"

"Oh shut up and don't talk, you couldn't possibly understand things like this"

"I'll let you know something, I have enough heart to understand a lot of things, so don't think I don't have a heart" said Jack.

"Blah, blah, blah, is that all you go on with? It's no wonder you failed do bring happiness to anyone, even yourself for goodness sake"

"Bringing happiness or making it happen is my nature; I help those who are in need of help in finding something or someone dear to them"

Jack took into account that his surrounding was now nothing than a black void and before he could say a thing, a white shadow formed out of the empty black void.

"And my nature is something I learned from someone who has just a big a heart as me" said Jack.

"There you go again, just mentioning all that is making me sick of you more than ever, don't you ever shut up at all"

Jack turned serious as his eyes focused on the white shadow figure standing before him and stood up to it in a more proud posture.

"I'll shut up when I'm dead amiga, comprendes?"

"DIE!"

The white shadow leaped forward and attacked Jack, with his only response being that he closed his eyes tightly and braced himself. His world began to spin out of control and his mind only faded into a dark abyss as every thought in his head from the past, present, and probably even the future hit his mind very hard. His head felt like it was being hit by a rock and not only that, he could tell that with every pounding that his head received, his whole body shook in pain, almost as if his whole being was connected all together. He felt himself go numb and he could not tell if he had only passed out or was finally on the other side, that peaceful place that so many who lose their lives go to.

"Sorry, but you Jack don't go anywhere easily. It's not even your 'time' anyway"

Jack couldn't tell where he was, but he was lying on the ground and was twisting and turning very frantically as he snarled and squinted his eyes in the process.

"No, no, no, I'm not going to die, I have yet to finish my goal. Let me go you bitch, go find someone else for my sake"

Jack awoke from his tossing and turning and his eyes stared out into space as they stayed open wide, full of fear and surprise. Jack had no clue as to how to react to his new environment now, his recent and dangerous encounters have only led him to near death in different ways, so he did not trust the world around him. But as he adjusted his eyes and cleared his vision, he saw that the current location he was in now was very familiar to him.

"It's…the…cave? The cave?"

Jack jumped up in a second and looked around him, now realizing that he was now inside the same cave he had come through earlier, the one he had found deep in the forest to the north of the territory. He took some time to look around and confirm for himself that this was all real and not just another form or vision or strange world that could instantly change within the blink of an eye. He looked ahead of him and did see the waterfall coming from the top of the outside of the cave, meaning that it was the same place he had found. He got up and ran outside passing the waterfall to get a glimpse of the outside world, and he was able to see the small lake that was in front of the cave and where the water from the cliff was going to as it came down. He then took a look to the forest that he was glad to see and this time, there was no thick cover of fog that could blind his vision, the very sight of the forest, waterfall, and cave made him tear up in joy.

"Thank the heavens, I'm back. I'm no longer crazy"

"Congratulations Jack, you finally found what you were looking for"

Jack freaked out from the sudden speaking voice and went tipping backwards and fell into the small lake's water.

"Whoops, sorry about that"

Jack resurfaced from the lake and came onto land to shake himself dry.

"Okay, don't tell me I've gone crazy again"

"You haven't, I'm really here"

"Well then…good to know…sooo…who are you supposed to be?" asked Jack.

"You're just like Humphrey you know? Always asking questions to difficult problems or things that are not too important"

"You're saying that asking for someone's name is too important to not do so?"

"Not really, but it's best to not know a few things in life, don't you agree?"

"I'll agree with you on that, you're my kind of wolf"

"Oh trust me, I'm everyone's kind of wolf, I'm more universal when it comes to others since I ignore color, speech, feelings, beliefs, or anything else. Everyone has a reason for doing things; it's just that some reasons are not completely good"

"It's nice to get to know you and…whoa wait a minute, rewind back some, you know Humphrey?" asked Jack.

"Of course, I've been helping him in life when he needs it, but I also knew that one day you would come and be the 'miracle' that I was told you would be who would help out Humphrey even more"

Jack found it interesting that someone like a female and mysterious voice knew about him before he even arrived in Jasper and found it great to know that someone else besides him would be present to help Humphrey and his relationship with Lilly. Though Jack was interested in knowing more about his new female counterpart, he took a look into the sky and was now concerned as to the current time.

"Oh shit, what time is it?"

"The late afternoon, the sun is just beginning to go down"

"I said I would be back in the afternoon, not the late afternoon, curses" exclaimed Jack.

"Then I think it's best for you to start heading back"

"I think that's a good idea, at least now I know the way to come back and find this place"

Jack went on his way as he reentered the forest he had come through and found it easy to walk through without the fog cover blocking his vision. As he walked back to the familiar territory of the feeding grounds, the sun had already shown its last orange and red color as it disappeared out of sight out in the distance and signaled the beginning of the night period. Although it had gotten dark, Jack could still see with his good night vision and went on in making his way back to the den.

"What do I tell mom and dad? I got lost and did not take notice of the time? No that's kind of weird for someone to say, I mean who doesn't always check the time" said Jack to himself.

As Jack walked on he heard a small sound and could tell that something or someone was out in the forest besides just him.

"Better hide"

He crouched down to the ground and crawled to a nearby bush where he could hide himself and take a peek through the bush to see what it was that was out in the forest. He kept hidden as he heard the sound coming closer to his location, but he was sure that he would not be found in the bush. As he peaked out from the bush, he spotted a few familiar faces that he was glad to see after a long day. He saw about six wolves running to the north and stopped for a moment to talk amongst themselves, but then he heard a voice speaking to them.

"Okay guys, just keep going"

"We're going to check a bit farther north where we last saw that flash, so keep going"

Jack saw as the wolves took the orders and spoke back as they continued onward.

"Okay guys you heard them, let's go" said one of the wolves.

Jack could already tell that the six wolves were alphas and watched them as they sprinted farther on ahead into the forest, to the more northern part of the territory. He then focused on the other two voices that had given their commands to the wolves and before long, he caught sight of Garth and Kate walking behind the wolves as they went the same way as them.

"I'm still not so sure about this, the way that 'white flash' ran so fast, I don't think we can catch something like that, even if it is a wolf" said Garth.

"We at least have to try, as long as we have a group of alphas with us it should be easier this time" replied Kate.

Jack was relieved to know that it was just Kate and Garth with their alpha wolves on border patrol again, but as he sighed happily, he kept his attention on their conversation.

"So, you said something to tell me that your dad told you?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot" said Kate.

"Huh?" exclaimed Jack.

"My dad said that in about a few more days, he'll have gotten a special group of wolves together and take charge of the whole border patrol, so we'll have free time to ourselves"

"Are you serious? Free time off at last?" asked Garth.

"Yes, now we I can be alone with Humphrey and you can be with Lilly" replied Kate.

"I bet they'll be so glad to hear the news" said Garth.

Jack was now in a wild sprint and ran through the night back to the territory as Kate and Garth kept on walking to the north and he was really concerned now more than ever.

"Why does fate have to come at the worst of times? I need to create a plan and let Humphrey and Lilly know"

Man that was a long journey, for both me and Jack. Chapter 6 probably took the longest to bring to you guys since it needed some thought and time because you don't always get the time to sit down and create the story. Anyway, hope you have enjoyed the journey in this chapter and it will be time to get back on track with Humphrey and Lilly as they are about to be informed with the most shocking of news in their lives. Chapter 7 may end up being short since Chapter 8 has more story to add to and the next chapter won't have as much to give as far as this all has to progress. And so we come to the end of this chapter and keep an eye out for the next following chapters within the month of April and/or early May. Until next time.