Alpha and Omega: After Realization
Chapter 8: Wishing On A White Star
Jack was lying on the ground next to the lake and he was on his back, his arms extending outwards to his sides and his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he gave a few panting sounds, but this was only because he was trying not to pant loudly. He felt weak as he lay on the ground but his weakness was not because he had hurt himself or anything, it had just been something else that made him weak.
"You look tired don't you?"
"Well it's not my fault amiga, it's not like I could help myself could I?"
The voice only let out a giggle at Jack's explanation.
"I guess not, but you had a choice. There is one thing I would like to ask though"
"And that would be?"
"What is it that worries your inner thoughts? You have something that is a part of you, but that part shouldn't really be there. Why do you hold on to it?"
Jack was still panting from his exhaustion and he didn't really feel like talking about what the voice was asking of him, but he felt more confident now than how he used to be. He knew he would only tell his new friend, no one else would know unless he chose to tell them later.
"It's something personal as you know; I just had a somewhat rough time back in the Arctic wolf pack. There are certain relationships that just don't work out or just go wrong. I keep that part of my past with me because after I left the pack, I felt like I was unable to fix what happened back there" explained Jack.
"So you didn't fix something? Was it that hard to fix or get around?"
"There probably was a solution to it, but it wouldn't have done any good to me. When someone moves up in the world, how can you make yourself follow that someone? Not everyone moves up, we don't go up together"
"That's true, not everyone can be like another or become something that they aren't"
"Trust me, I know at least a few who have gone up in the world and still manage to stick with the same persona that they've always had, but then there are those certain ones that do change" said Jack.
Jack got up from his relaxing on the ground and stretched out his arms and legs some to relieve tension, when he suddenly heard a small crack in his back.
"Next time I need to make sure not to be so hard, that almost completely drained me"
"Is that so?"
"Don't say that, we know it's true, now I know what it feels like to be overpowered"
Jack shook himself to give some relieve to his back and then arched forward to stretch and he did so, his head looked up and saw something that he immediately took notice of.
"Ummm…what's that there?"
Jack had looked up into the sky and saw that the moon was no longer half full and now beginning to become full, but the moon was not what Jack had seen. Instead he directed his attention to what was off to the side of the moon and giving off a bright white light in the night sky. He watched as the small circle of light shined ever more in the sky and it was amazing to see such a thing like it, especially since it was right next to the moon.
"You finally saw it?"
"What is that? A star?" asked Jack.
"It is a star Jack, but this is not a normal star. Just look at how it's next to the moon and giving off a bright light"
"A star huh? I've seen a star like that in my life time, it's so beautiful" said Jack.
"That's because it's never really made an appearance at all"
"What do you mean it's never really made an appearance? What is that star?"
"It's called the White Arctic Star, a sort of special star that was talked about only in prophecy, a star that would only appear when a great series of events was about to take place soon after"
Jack was at a loss for words, he couldn't believe that he was talked about prophecy. He knew that it was easy to look back on the past, but to be able to tell someone about future events or things like that, it both amazed him and shocked him. Jack didn't take much consideration into the ways of prophecy, but if you are able to tell the future and it happens to come to pass, then that was something to take very seriously.
"And what happens to be so special about this star and what it means?" asked Jack.
Jack remained fixed on the bright star as it continued to shine in the sky, almost making it seem as if the moon was the cause for the lighting. Jack did not remove his eyes from the star and stood there watching it as his eyes grew wide slowly.
"There was a prophecy that was given about a few thousand years ago or so, I don't how long ago since time always goes by so fast, but this prophecy had been said to relate to our own time in the present that everyone is in now. It was said that before a great series of known events were to happen, a bright white star would appear in the sky to signal that the time for those events to happen were close"
"What kind of events did this prophecy predict would happen?" asked Jack.
"Well you know predictions and prophecies, they all use this special language to try to tell us what's going to happen and we can never make sense out of it, but at least this prophecy was said to have been written down by our way early ancestors from the other side of the world"
"Do we know what said prophecy said then?"
"A great mighty wind blows from north's heart, she will seek her answer and find an unexpected revelation. A gathering of peace takes hold of the land and each soul is full of happiness, but two of them are at unrest within the valley of sorrow. The peaceful flower begins to wither away from a thorn within her vein; neither sun nor water can heal her pains. Her petals start to fall one by one and lose strength to stand, but a breeze enters her being and lifts her up. The breeze delivers her to the land of no life and it is barren, but those of her own come to assist her to find life. Many accompany on a long road and among them is the invisible veil that wishes to assassinate them all. A fallen angel now turned a demon will rise to command the innocent and transform them into its servants, preparing for bloodshed and war. He shall stand to oppose the demon but receive a fatal blow and the flower and breeze fade away into the void of darkness…"
Jack didn't even say a word when the voice had stopped in her words and he still kept his eyes on the star, but the words had hit his soul. He couldn't believe what he had heard, the language that the prophecy had used to tell of the future was all too much to understand, but what did tell him was that things would be peaceful at first and then it would all fall apart in an instant.
Was she right all along then? thought Jack.
"Is there anything else to the…prophecy?" asked Jack.
"No…the prophecy was told a very long time ago and after so long, the rest of the words from it were not able to be read, so no one knows what it ends on, but a lot of wolves have said that since it ended the way it is now there was probably a chance that it didn't turn out good"
Jack was now looking at the ground after removing his gaze from the moon and the star, something had come back to him in his mind. He had little knowledge of what this all meant, but he could remember what he had been told of back when he was in the north.
"I remember back in the north…Krystal had told me that when I came into the pack as a pup, she had gone to her grandmother Blanca to ask her about me and my future" said Jack.
Jack could still remember how Krystal had told him. Krystal was watching over Jack as a pup within her den by herself along with three other pups that she had had before he had come along. She looked after all four of them during the harsh winter when the winds and the cold were the main threats to all of the pups, but she always kept an eye on Jack ever since she had taken him in, despite some talk among the pack. She watched as the snow storm blew across the landscape outside of her den and she still kept her eyes on Jack as he moved his feet while he was sleeping.
No doubt he's dreaming thought Krystal.
She couldn't shake a feeling she was feeling inside her mind and she thought it was best to get some answers.
"Tina!" called out Krystal.
From the entrance of the den appeared a female white wolf and she shivered a little from come out from the ongoing storm.
"Yes madam Krystal?" said Tina.
Krystal carefully got up making sure she would not disturb the four pups that lied asleep next to her and walked quickly towards the entrance and spoke to Tina.
"Can you please watch over them for me, I need to go see Blanca, it's important" said Krystal.
"Of course miss Krystal" replied Tina.
"Thank you Tina, I won't be long"
Tina entered the den and gently wrapped the four pups up in her arms to keep them warm as Krystal left. Tina was the only wolf from the pack that helped Krystal in anything she needed and was the only one who accepted Jack into the pack when he was adopted by the leader, while everyone else didn't really accept a black and grey wolf into an Arctic wolf pack. Krystal could always count on her and with the pups now in her care, she disappeared as she walked out into the storm outside. Krystal was strong for her young but mature age and she could walk with no problems in the violent storm and her mind was still asking her the same question, so she pressed on in her walking. After a short time walking in the storm she came to a den that was far in the distance of her territory and she only waited.
"Come in my child" said a soft voice from inside the den.
Krystal then entered the den and sat down when she got near to the back of the den, where the space was empty, but there seemed to be a presence in that space as a small breeze was felt.
"It's been a while since you last visited honey, how is everything going?" said the soft voice.
"Everything is going fine and I'm sorry if I don't visit as much, things have really gone in a new direction and well…" said Krystal as she was cut off.
"I know how it must be Krystal, a separation like the one you went through was not a good experience, but at the same time it was done with pretty well don't you agree?" said the soft voice.
"Yeah…but anyway, I'm here to ask you about something" said Krystal.
"Do you mean about the new pup you named Jack?"
Krystal was no stranger to many others knowing certain information, but how could her own mother know about it already without being told before now?
"I know a few things before you come here and I already know your question that you want to ask. You want to ask about what the future holds for little Jack, since you did adopt him as your own son" said the mother's soft voice.
"That's right…I don't know what road he will take, he's already been taken away from another pack and the poor thing was given to us to raise, what else will happen with him? I want to know beforehand" said Krystal.
There was a moment of silence as Krystal spoke to her not visible mother, but she knew that her mother was already in the middle of concentrating on what she asked. After short time, her mother spoke again.
"I see Jack growing up to be a perfectly good wolf, but he will face a difficult decision, which will be placed forward by you yourself"
Krystal wanted to ask what her mother meant by her words, but she kept on speaking.
"I can see that Jack will face a terrible experience here that will leave his heart heavy, but he will suppress it by offering his natural happiness that was destined for him. He will be able to learn our ways of our arts and become a strong wolf, and he also has a part to play in a crucial event that shall happen later on as he grows. A shining star will point to his destiny and the north shall face a great evil…an evil that you as well will accidently have brought, that will be formed from within our pack" explained the voice of Krystal's mother.
"Is his and our future really that terrible?" asked Krystal.
"Everyone never has a peaceful future dear, even you did not have one" said the mother.
Krystal was left speechless by her mother's words and did not know what to say after being told about Jack's future. Her eyes were now showing worry over her newly adopted pup, knowing that he will face a terrible moment sometime as he grows up.
"Don't spend too much time thinking about what I have told you Krystal, when someone tries to prevent the future, it only leads them to causing it" added the mother.
Krystal took in her mother's words and understood her clearly; it was a vague attempt if she tried to stop Jack from having the future he was going to have. She looked towards the ground and she fought to hold in her tears that she wanted to shed, but she was not a wolf to cry, she had been taught to not be sad, she had even been taught to almost be emotionless.
"I know he taught you how to not express your feelings too much, but if you lock them up all because you fear that you will get weak as a leader, then you've already become weak just by being that way" said the mother.
Krystal looked up in a little shock at what her mother said to her, but then the slight breeze in the den was beginning to fade away.
"Just keep an eye on things and soon enough the signs will begin to transpire, those of which will herald in the events that I have told you Krystal"
Jack only knew this much from Krystal because she had chosen to tell him when he was of proper age so that he could understand what it meant. He was able to handle the shocking news, but he never could grasp what it meant by that he had a role to play in all of it. At one point he had gone to see Krystal's mother by himself and she told him that a part of his prophecy had already come true, except he did not know when it happened. Jack remained looking down at the ground and still wondered about the prophecy that had been predicted about his own future, but now he was figuring out that it was part of something much more bigger than he could ever have thought.
"So it looks like your future was tied to this prophecy, that mother of Krystal's must have been a mystic who could see the future and past maybe. I only knew that you would come to Jasper to help Lilly and Humphrey, but I never thought that you already supposed to come here from the very beginning"
"I don't really understand any of this, I want to help Humphrey and Lilly, they're both my family, but all of these problems that get in the way are not easy to get around. I'm not sure I'll be able to help them out" said Jack.
"There's always hard times for everyone, don't let that hold you back or stop you from helping them out"
Jack lifted his head up and again looked at the star glowing beside the moon and it only made him wish that his future and those of the ones he cared for most would not be in danger by this prophecy. Jack then turned his head and stared off into the north, his eyes focused very much in that direction and his expression now changed from worry to serious.
"You okay Jack?"
"It was only last night when I came here that I felt something…something that is coming from the north. I can tell it feels familiar, but something isn't right" said Jack.
"What do you feel?"
"The…the White March is coming…its coming sooner than it usually does. Something is definitely changed…"
"White March? What is that?"
"Just a fancy way of saying that winter is coming…it's been called the White March in the northern pack since it just comes in without much warning. Krystal taught me how to use my senses to be able to tell how close winter is and then try to guess when it will arrive, but something is wrong. I can feel that winter is…it's almost like it's going to lash out when it starts this year"
Almost as if he was on cue with his words, a small gust of wind came from the north and blew past him and the mysterious voice. The gust of wind was not cold at all, but his whole body felt a strong chill that made him shake.
"I don't like this at all, something is going on and I can't tell how or when winter will get here. I thought I did when I first got here, but now I've become shook up and my senses are not telling me anything right" said Jack.
Jack only looked out into the distance when he was spoken to by the mysterious voice.
"You know…that prophecy actually relates to Humphrey and Lilly"
"What?"
Jack was thrown into a surprise at what his new friend had just told him.
"The prophecy is about them, I know all too well that it talks about them. Humphrey and Lilly are going to face their most difficult challenges as they try to keep their love together Jack. Things may start to get…bad for all of us"
"How could it possibly even involve them?"
"Just remember what you saw back in the cave…those two wolves…they weren't Lilly or Humphrey, but there's the old saying that history repeats itself"
As the white star shined upon Jasper along with the moon, Kate and Garth were up in the northern forest with their six other alphas as they scouted the area silently and as fast as possible. Kate and Garth stuck with each other as Kate walked in front and Garth stayed towards the back keeping an eye out for anything that might make a surprise attack. The other six alphas were up ahead of Kate and searching the area before moving north some more.
"Keep a sharp eye, don't let your guard down for even a second" spoke Kate.
She had to speak silently but loud enough for the other alphas to hear her and that also went for Garth, who walked backwards and forwards as he trailed behind her to protect her and himself too. Kate looked back at Garth as he walked backwards to continue his guarding of them both.
"Garth I know there's a reason to be on guard, but you don't have to guard for both of us, we have our team" said Kate.
"I know we have a team now, but you never know what could happen out here, especially in the northern part of the forest" replied Garth.
Kate couldn't argue with Garth over that fact, the forest in northern Jasper was not a place that you would usually come back to. The forest had a life of its own and it could turn the tables on you if you are not careful, though that didn't distract Kate from her duty. Garth made one final move around as he looked to both of his sides and then walked normally as he caught up with Kate as they followed their team that had gone ahead of them to scout.
"Maybe we'll be lucky and not see anything at all tonight, plus no one would actually think of going up against eight of us wolves" said Garth.
"That would be a relief if we didn't have to do anything this time" added Kate.
They both walked side by side when they suddenly fell forward to the ground. Kate and Garth were surprised to see how they had tripped without being aware of anything in front of them and looked back in the direction they were walking. Their faces were stunned with fear as they saw what had caused them to fall over.
"Is that…"
The body of one of their alpha team members was lying on the ground, with blood flowing out of his chest from what appeared to be three deep cuts inflicted upon him. They started to get up and back away quickly and looked around them for the rest of their team members.
"Guys, get back here now!" shouted Kate.
The remaining five alpha wolves ran back to Kate and Garth's location and stopped as they all now stared at the dead alpha wolf before them. As they watched the dead body on the ground, a familiar sight came rushing passed them and off into the forest.
"It's that white flash" said Garth.
"Go, go, go now!" ordered Kate.
The five wolves raced after the white flash and to some relief, they were now catching up to it as it dashed through the forest, trying to get away. Kate and Garth joined the chase as their team members were now speeding ahead of the mysterious white flash and preparing to block its escape route off.
"Cut it off!" demanded Garth.
Within seconds of his command, the five alphas had made it ahead of the white flash and stopped to block the way off. The white flash stopped as the wolves stood in the way and as it started to turn around the other way, Garth and Kate were already blocking the way as well. The wolves closed in on the white flash figure that now had no escape from them and backed away from either side as they closed in their circle.
"There's no getting away for it" said Kate.
The white flash figure only stood still as the wolves now kept it trapped inside their circle and prepared an attack for it, but Kate was already getting suspicious about it.
"Strange" said Kate.
"What?" asked Garth.
"It's like its remaining calm, not even scared of us"
"It's probably just in shock" said Garth.
Just as Garth spoke his explanation to Kate, the white flash did a quick run inside the circle and did a spin run, which then led to the white flash running at high speed in front of them. The white flash kept on doing this until it jumped into the air and jumped top of one of the alpha wolves and jumped of his back to get away, but it also caused the wolf to collapse to the ground. Kate and Garth ran to check on the grounded wolf and noticed that his back had been injured by three deep cuts, just like those of the other dead wolf. The wolf remained on the ground and didn't move and then Kate checked for a pulse in the body, but she couldn't feel a single pulse.
"He's dead" said Kate.
"That's not possible, it was only a back injury with three cuts, how he is already dead?" asked Garth in shock.
"Look" said one of the alphas.
All of them turned around and they found that the white flash had not run away from them entirely as it stood watching them from a close distance.
Why hasn't it run away? thought Kate.
Everyone was awed that the white flash figure had not run away into the forest and only stood close by watching them as they stood around their dead alpha team mate. The white flash only watched for a few more second before it started to turn away and only walk from the scene, not even bothering to run from them.
"Get it!"
Kate's order was answered without hesitation as she, Garth, and the other four wolves ran towards the white flash to attack. They leaped into the air and pounced forward to attack, but they all ended up going through the white flash completely and hit the ground, which resulted in all of them hurting their paws and legs. They had gone through their enemy as if it was a ghost and even before they could do anything else, the white flash simply walked on a few more steps and disappeared from sight into the darkness.
"What in the fucking hell just happened?" said Garth.
"That wasn't even…normal. How could we just go through it?" added Kate.
No one said a word after that, but all of their minds just could understand what had just happened. Not only had they lost two out of their six alphas, but they had also discovered that they couldn't even touch the white flash when they all attacked.
"Should we go back and…"
Garth was cut off by Kate as they all stood up and tried to relieve themselves from their pains.
"No, we need to go in and try to see where it went. If it takes us all night, then fine, but we need to go and find whatever this thing is, so let's go" said Kate.
Kate didn't say anything as she walked ahead of them, with the four remaining alphas looking at Kate and then back at Garth as he stood next to them. Garth was silent and didn't know what to consider, he didn't want to lose any more of their team but if they didn't deal with this now, it might get worse. Garth looked at this team and gave his order.
"You heard the lady, let's get going, and let's find that thing"
Garth followed Kate and behind him were the four alphas as they walk on as they followed Kate into the dark forest of the north. As the team went on with the hunt, Humphrey and Lilly were still together back in their den, with their thoughts still thinking about the news they had been just recently told by Jack and the voice. Humphrey since that has kept his eyes gazing outside with a strong focus, but his tears were noticeable as they ran down the side of his muzzle and onto Lilly's head, which was still rested in his arms as they both laid close to each other. Lilly was still up with Humphrey and she could see that Humphrey was in deep thought over what was going to happen and saw that his eyes were expressing sadness.
"Humphrey?" said Lilly.
Humphrey didn't answer but he lowered his head and stared down at Lilly and into her lavender eyes that penetrated his own.
"Humphrey, what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry…it's just…just…I just don't want to end up hurting you…if we go back, then we'll both end up hurting each other…"
"It's okay Humphrey, everything will be alright…Jack and your voice friend will help us in this, we need to trust them and not be afraid of the bad possibilities, be positive" said Lilly.
Humphrey didn't say anything after Lilly had spoken to him; he loved her enough to trust her and knew that she would never leave him. She only stared in his eyes before she reached up with her head and kissed him and Humphrey accepted it by returning the kiss. As they kissed, Humphrey looked up and saw a bright light coming from outside, and he could tell it was coming from the sky. He pulled away from Lilly's kiss and pointed outside.
"Look Lilly" said Humphrey.
"What is it?"
"It's a bright light"
Lilly got up first so that Humphrey would be free to use his arms and legs to get up after her. They both walked to the entrance of the den and looked up into the sky to see what was making the bright light that they had seen from the den, and they were awed to discover that it was a bright white star shining in the sky. They both sat next to each other and stared into the sky to look at the star as it glowed on still next to the moon.
"It's a star" said Lilly.
"It's so beautiful" added Humphrey.
Humphrey and Lilly sat next to each other as they watched the star shine on in the dark sky and even in that moment, they were holding each other's paw very tightly, with both of them not wanting to let go of the other.
I wish for Lilly to stay safe, without me hurting her, I don't care if I have to get hurt but as long as she isn't hurt in any way were Humphrey's thoughts as he watched the shining star.
Humphrey may not know it, but his wish was going to be granted, but he wasn't really far from the truth.
I know it's been a long time since I last updated this and apologize for that, a lot of daily work, school projects, school work, tests, and the whole ending the senior year just take a whack at you. I haven't had as much time as I thought I would since I started this story, but nonetheless, that doesn't mean I will stop any time soon. We are slowly approaching the mid climax of this step of the story and will soon introduce the elements that have been explained in his chapter, because this chapter has already given you a peek into the future and where this is going to go. And now that the information has been released, you have already learned that Chapter 6 was also, in a way, a precursor as to future events that will soon be coming. As for me, Chapter 9 needs to get rolling and get up really soon, but that only depends on the time that I have and if things don't prevent me from doing so, but school work is also important too. And just for some of you, unless you have already noticed, even since finishing Chapter 6 and up until now, I took into account that almost every chapter that I have done either has a lemon, a lime, or as I would call it, a pre-lemon. I thought about that and I thought I would probably concentrate on lowering that and just focus on the journey that has yet to come, but who doesn't love lemon right? Anyway, I will go on with this and hope to bring the next chapter up in May. Until next time everyone.