wow, two chapter in two days, sorry but i guess i just couldsnt keep you waiting for very long, lol. so in this chapter you finally find out what Shifters are, yay, hope you like it and it isnt too confusing. if ur brain hurts after this, just review and i'll tell you basicaly what she says about them:D
claimer: two page long history lesson of Shifters deffinalty belongs to me, as does most of the plot, characters, and places. some goes to CP though, hmph.
48.-Repeating history
I ran for a whole day, never stopping to rest, drink, or even hunt for that matter. I just wanted to get away, the image of that elf and him was just too much to bear and I was afraid that if I slept it would be the picture that haunted my nightmares.
My paws were caked with mud and my fur hung in huge clumps of grass and dirt off my body. It was uncomfortable, but small luxuries like being clean weren't exactly within my abilities at that moment.
It was growing dark now and the forest seemed to shift around me, the normal calls and rustling of the day creatures being replaced by the eerie silence and occasional shriek of the nocturnal.
I knew I was close to the pond now, I could smell the faded scents of many different generations of wolves, the pine needle and musky smell of fur never left me as I grew closer, the scents becoming increasingly powerful as I neared the water.
I emerged into the familiar clearing, the only difference being the absence of the surviving werewolves. The water remained in place, the surface never rippling and the moonlight casting across the surface turning it to liquid silver. It seemed to glow as I approached and I let the icy water lap sluggishly over my front paws making them adopt a more prominent metallic color.
I looked down at my reflection remembering that I was the only one able to do so. My fur was duller than normal and being covered head to paw in dirt wasn't the only reason, I could see it in my eyes and I was shocked to discover that I looked almost dead, zombie-like even.
Losing Dorran must have had an even bigger affect on me that I had thought, and the disturbing thing was that I hadn't even noticed myself changing, and that scared me.
I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry, I had to let him go, he loved that elf more than me and I had to accept that. I was over whelmed with the feeling that I wanted to hurt him, make him pay for how much he had hurt me. I promised myself there and then that the next time I saw him he would not go away unscathed.
For perhaps the second time in my life I felt truly alone, and this time I had no friends to comfort me because I had left them all behind. I opened my senses, reaching for the presence of even the tiniest creature just to remind myself that the world wasn't completely empty.
I was stunned to discover though that there was something at the bottom of the lake, I could feel it there, seeming to throb with life. I opened my eyes and looked deep into the lake and noticed that around the center there was a tiny part that was considerably lighter that the rest.
Without thinking I dove in, the liquid silver engulfing my body as I sank deeper into the crystalline waters. It was surprisingly clear beneath the surface and I propelled myself down, reaching powerfully with my legs and clawing at the water. Dog paddle, I thought amusedly, and reached the bottom, my lungs feeling light and I wasn't in desperate need to take a breath just yet. There was a small rock in the middle and I nudged it with my paw. It rolled over and I realized that it was attacked to some kind of chain. I pulled the rock and it came free, the chain coming with it easily.
I reached for the surface and my head broke through, oxygen swimming gladly down my throat and refueling my lungs. I swam to the bank with the object in my mouth and walked soaking wet out of the water. I shook my fur and spat out the stone, examining it between my paws.
It looked like some kind of pearl about the size of a coin with silver wrapped around it, connecting it to the silver chain. It was obviously a necklace but it felt strange, like something was inside, or meant to be. I looked closer and saw that there was a crack down the center of the pearly stone and what I had taken to be just a simple silver ring was actually a snake that had circled itself around it, the figures eyes glowing a dull sapphire.
The same snake as the dagger, sword, and door handle, I had seen it so many times, and yet still had no idea what it meant. I sighed and flicked the chain around my neck, its presence was oddly comforting against my chest and I made my way back into the ever present trees in what was hopefully the way to Zithas, the werewolves destroyed village where I hoped the pack would be.
As I neared the buildings I could still smell the remains of the smoke but it was much fainter now having been around three months since the fire. I still didn't know how it had started but if the wolves were indeed here then perhaps one of them would know.
I morphed back into my new human/elf form and was surprised to find that the necklace hadn't merged with my body the way that my clothes did. There as obviously some kind of magic about it, but I tucked the stone into my shirt so that it didn't draw attention to itself.
I walked into the village and lowered my eyes at the stares of the tanned and wind-burned faces of the wolf people. There were some fully morphed wolves roaming and using their strength to help restore the village to its old self. But they all stopped what they were doing when they saw me, a few even started to follow me as I made my way along the concealed pathways.
Tala came out of one of the wooden houses and walked up to me, her face curious and her golden eyes questioning.
"What is it that brings you here on your own, Daughter of the Night, where is Dorran and his brother?" her voice was still like wind chimes and being in this village made me happy because no matter what was happening in the rest of the land, here it was always the same and remained unchanging.
I sighed, "I have come here for some answers, Dorran and Faolan are training and along our journey we have discovered some strange symbols and markings, and I was wondering if you knew what they meant." I looked around at the many curious eyes regarding me, "And if you don't mind, is there somewhere more private we could talk?" I asked, smiling slightly at her. I wondered what I looked like, dripping wet and my eyes empty from having my heart broken; I must have been a mess.
She looked at my eyes and nodded, gesturing with her hand for me to follow as she made her way back inside what was obviously her house. I entered and looked around at the vast array of glowing candles and new furniture, replacing the chairs and tables that had perished in the fire.
She dragged two chairs in front of each other and sat, leaving me no choice but to take the other. I folded myself onto the chair suddenly realizing how tired I was from running all day non stop. I shook my head to clear it from drowsiness and looked at her face, watching for a change in expression as I started to talk, but her features remained smooth and curious.
"Ok, well, first of all, do you know what Shifters are?" I asked her, getting straight to the point.
She recoiled as if slapped and her eyes turned surprised, but she answered my question anyway, "Yes, they're an old race that hasn't been seen since before the dragon wars with the elves. You see, werewolves have always been in Grimshaw, they just haven't always been able to transform into humans. When the elves came to these lands and established their villages they pushed the abnormally large wolves out of their territories, and naturally they didn't really appreciate that.
"During the dragon wars many wolves were killed and they grew to hate the giant lizards, and that hatred was shared by a few other beings. These, surprisingly, were a group of elves that greatly resented the peace between their race and the dragons, and one young and foolish elf even attempted to kill one. But of course it didn't work out the way it had planned and the elf was near-death, when a wondering wolf sensed the slowly disappearing soul and went to investigate.
"The soul communicated with the wolf's mind and they discovered that they both shared the same great rage towards the dragons, and the wolf agreed to let the elf's soul reside in its body so that they might attempt to destroy the dragons together.
"After a while, thought, the two souls converged and the creature found that it could transform into both human and wolf. The newly formed werewolf, first of its kind, went back to the group of dragon hating elves and told them what had happened, and the other elves hunted down willing wolves and soon joined forces, leaving their empty elf bodies behind to take on a new and stronger form.
"The werewolves lived secretly and no one knew about their existence, until one day one of the oldest werewolves was out hunting and as the deer it had caught died it realized that it could sense its departing soul, and instead of allowing it to fly up, the wolf made it enter its body, and it soon found that it was able to transform into the deer as well.
"Some of the other werewolves realized the power of this discovery and soon became the first of the Shifters. But they discovered that, with that many souls inside one person's body, the others have to continually shrink to fit them all, and they started to lose all of their senses and became less human and more animalistic and started to live by their instincts instead of their minds.
"The werewolves that hadn't taken on any more souls saw what was happening and started to stop them, because when a Shifter took on an animal of great power their senses gave way to a predatory instinct and they started to hunt anything they came across. They were strong with the power of many animals, but the werewolves were faster and were able to think for themselves, and therefore able to hunt them down, that is why we're faster than normal wolves, we have the speed of elves and wolves combined."
My mind digested all of this new information, so Shifters were able to transform into any animal once they absorb one of the souls? Then what did that make me and…Dorran, it hurt to say his name, were we Shifters now? I knew I wasn't the same person I had been before he had come, and I supposed we were Shifters. I promised myself then though that I would never absorb another soul, there was no way I wanted to become even less like myself, no matter how powerful I would become.
"Then what's this? I found it in the moon pond." I said, reaching for the necklace and handing it to her. When it rested in her palm she flinched back in shock and dropped it with a gasp, her butterscotch eyes wide and her hand hanging limp.
"I never thought I would ever see one of these again…" she muttered almost inaudibly to herself, staring down at the glowing orb.
"What is it Tala?" I asked her, afraid to touch the thing that had just harmed her.
"It is a Shifter talisman, a group of werewolves made them so that when they killed a Shifter the souls that burst out of the body travel into the necklace and not into the werewolf, because they naturally enter the nearest living magical being. And the fact that this one is cracked is most troubling, it means that whoever broke it has absorbed the souls, and that the Shifters roam this land once again."
wow, feel sorry for Tala having to say all that, but of course that was totally important, so if you just skipped over it you're probably not gonna undertsand the rest of the story, so sorry if that part was boring but you kinda needed to read it:D
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!-chapter wont come up unless you review...
-Firesilk:D
