Well, well, well...My band of followers is getting wider...A day of these together we'll conquer the world... MWHAHAHAHAH...
Okay, jokes aside, I know some of you are really freaking out to comprehend what's going on with this story...Or maybe it's just another self-centred attack of mine, I don't know...
Jokes aside (part 2), I'll let you enjoy another chapter, certain to have a positive or negative criticism from your side.
Do Not Forget
Read! / Enjoy! / Review!
Chapter 16: Awakening, Eternal Sleep
GRIN's P.O.V.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A voice shouted from behind me.
One of the knocked out wolves woke up from their fainting status, and she had clearly seen my action, killing her friend, not understanding the motivation and the situation that led me to accomplish that.
Tears were floating like waterfalls from her eyes, while taking a fighting stance and all accompanied by a throaty roar. She seemed ready to kill me before I had time to explain, but another voice echoed from my left, saying: "STOP IT!"
The enraged she-wolf abandoned her combat position, and fell heavily to the ground, crying and sobbing heavily, screaming to me: "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!…YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A…SICK…MONSTER!" Then she looked at me straight in my eyes, showing her sorrow and dolor to me.
Hurt by those words, I lowered my head, failing to look into her eyes, and I managed to produce only a stuttering whisper due to a immediate tearing: "I'm sorry…she was suffering too much…that was the only thing I could do to alleviate her sufferings…"
A lupine figure appeared at my left side, which I recognized as Oya, patting slightly my shoulder, trying to comfort me with her soft voice: " I've seen everything…You did the right thing… Those bastard wolves were torturing, making her suffer a slow and painful death…Nobody deserves it…Don't hold back, free your emotions…" After the last phrase, I hugged her tightly and I began to cry endlessly on her shoulders, spraying almost all her fur with my tears.
In between sobs, the crying she-wolf got closer to wolf's lifeless body, and said: "S-she could be healed…If only we had brought back to our pack… Gwen, my only sister..." and then she was misguided by another wave of tears, collapsing and weeping her eyes out in what was the empty shell of her sister.
She was her sister. This did nothing but add grief to me… I understood well the pain when you lose someone, but I cannot quite come close to understand the loss of a peer, let alone a brother of the same age. It had to be heartbreaking.
"S-she was…the only family I had left…And now I have no one in the world!" She continued while crying her eyes out.
MAYA's P.O.V.
All this uproar had to wake up the other knocked-out she-wolf, the one that was taken out of the game by Burton. She groaned, still dazed by the blow received, she was beginning to stand up, rubbing her head slightly. "Oww, what the-" She began to say, but she suddenly fell silent, looking around her surroundings.
Tortured bodies of wolves that had attacked her and her friends embellished the earth, with their bodily fluids spilled on the ground…The vision caused her a nausea attack, and she had to look away to prevent gagging. Turning her head to avoid the nauseating scene, something else caught her attention…
Two couples of wolves were there, sounds of crying from both pairs.
A pair was formed by the wolf ,with whom she had dealt with the waterfall, shaking and crying into a reddish wolf's shoulder, and the other pair was formed by her friend Pia, crying over her sister's motionless body lying on the ground, Gwen.
She ran to her. "For God's sake, what the hell just happened here?!" She thought in her head.
Pia had noticed her presence, but she had not even turned to look to her…She had yet to realize what had happened to her beloved sister… she plunged into a catatonic state, saying: "She didn't deserve any of this…She was so young…So full of life…WHY THIS HAD TO HAPPEN TO HER?" She yelled, full of contempt and anger towards life itself.
Maya was shocked, too. The last thing she expected was death of someone dear to her… Tears come forming in her eyes. Her sister was right: Why did she have to endure such agony, such a tragic fate? Life, sometimes, was very unfair.
She turned to Grin and Oya, clearly interested in having the explanations of the matter. Tears were manifested on her face, bitter teardrops, full of pain of the loss of a dear friend.
"W-what…just happened here?" She said to them.
Grin, with his still red and glossy eyes due to his weeping, decided to be brave and tell her the whole story.
"I-i…just…I don't know… after you've been knocked out, that wolf was beginning to choke one of your friends… I stopped him just in time, your friend was still alive… But then he ordered to his fellows to kill you other friend… I tried to stop them…but… He stopped me… And then I just lose control… until I killed them all and I saw your friend's suffering face…She begged me to kill her, and I felt obliged to fulfill her last wish…B-but…" He managed to tell the whole story without wavering, "…I-I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE!" He nearly screamed, bearing down in tears again.
Maya was bewildered…She couldn't hide a certain irritation and mistrust in him… But somehow she sensed that he was telling the truth…She could see it in his eyes…Eyes that expressed a murky past, scourged by harassments and fears…Eyes that rarely had found happiness in this world… Eyes that, in their brief existence, already beared the weight of a heavy burden…
"I-i believe y-you…" She told him, with a sad look, between compassion and empathy. Nobody should be in such a situation: having to kill someone, not because it represented a threat to his own life, but to alleviate the suffering and let him pass on to a better life.
Sometimes tragedies seemed to connect more people, compared with happy events. She seemed to have some sort of connection to that wolf, a sort of drive towards him… She didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing…
THIRD PERSON GENERAL P.O.V.
After some time, the sun had come at sunset, freshening the air and alleviating the plaintive howls of despair coming from cascade's apex.
Grin , trying to break the ice, proved by the intense day, said: "I-i just think we have to find a shelter for the night…"
Pia could not even look at him…she could not look at the wolf who had taken the life of her sister, for better or for worse… She whispered, without energy, tears dried her forces : "I-i don't care…I'm gonna stay here for the night…"
Maya was nearby her, trying to comfort her in the warmest way possible. "He's right, Pia, and you know that…Your sister would never want this for you…Take a cue from her vitality and her energy, let them be your sources of inspiration…Though it may be painful to lose someone, do not despair, they'll always be next to you, if you keep them in your heart…"
Oya was impressed, too. She would never have thought in words so bold and deep, she could clearly understand that she was a very uncommon she-wolf.
Pia, after a moment of reflection, decided to approve Grin's opinion with a nod directed, while she wiped her tears.
Maya smiled slighly, saying: "Very well…Now, where do we go?"
Oya proposed a simple but effective plan: "Well, we can split up and each of us can look in one direction…when someone finds a refuge large enough, produces a howl to call the other three… and then we're going arrange our hunting team…Sounds good to you?"
All wolves nodded, agreeing with her plan. So everyone walked in its own specified direction, motivated by the desire to find a shelter as soon as possible.
Unknown P.O.V.
I finally woke up, filled up with past's energies, ready to wake me from my long, LONG, sleep, that nailed me in the same place for almost an eternity. I was doomed to almost certain death, if it had not been for that good-looking she-wolf, equipped with a snow-white fur and with seductive liliac eyes, who took care of me. In fact, I don't know why she was so frantic to take care of me…what was the reason that has driven her to take care of me, reduced to that pitiful state. But now I was back, and I could not wait to make her pay for that… For making me a wreck.
While I was thinking back to those moments, my blood was boiling because of my extreme rage.
"I'm gonna break every little bone in your body, and tear every single shred of your body, until all that remains is dust" I thought, with my eyes splattered with anger, a twisted smile appeared on my muzzle.
"Finally…You woke up!" A white lightning came into the den, almost jumping on me. I was a little weirded out by that display of affection, but I accepted it gladly. At least someone was happy to see me.
"Uhm…well…from where do I start…Oh yeah…" She spoke in a low tone to herself
"Nice to meet you… my name's Ethel…" She said, smiling warmly and kindly
"…What's yours?" She asked me, tilting her head to one side.
"My…uh…name?" I said, trying to remember…my name…
It was quite bizzarre… I remembered the faces and actions that I and the wolves had made, for and against me…But I could not remember any of their names…including, oddly enough, mine.
"To tell you the truth…" I said, a little disappointed, "…I don't remember it at all…"
"Oh well, it doesn't matter…" She said, her tail wagging "..I can call you as you choose…"
"Uhm…I don't know why, but a sort of name kept playing repeatedly in my mind…What about…Hmm… Humphrey?" I said, making an odd frown.
She also had a strange expression on her face, as if she were thinking of a memory, but then she nodded, saying: "Fine by me…at least I can call you with a name…"
"Oh well…So, tell me another thing: why did you save me?" I asked her.
"I couldn't just leave you dying there…Everyone deserves a second chance in their lives…Don't you think?" She said with a mischievous grin, as if she knew something about me that I hadn't yet told her.
"Now that you're awake, let me show you how things are around here…" She said, approaching den's entrance and beckoning me to follow her out with a motion of her tail like-a-cloud.
I could not help but follow her in her tour.
BACK TO GRIN's P.O.V.
A howl rose up in night air. Origin's point did not appear too far from where I was, and I rushed to the place of the just-found shelter. We all gathered in front of a large cave that seemed uninhabited. Pia had found a great place in which we could spend the night, protected from inclement weather and dangerous animals. Now all that remains is finding food. Since Pia was exhausted, and it was my turn to hunt, since that Oya had already hunted in that day, we decided unanimously that I and Maya would have to deal with the dinner.
To tell the truth, I think it was also a good opportunity to learn more about her.
We walked side by side, keeping silent, for at least a dozen minutes, before she broke the ice.
"Mmm…I'm just thinking… if I were to hunt with someone…I would at least know his name…Don't you think?" She said.
I was somewhat abashed, how could I forget to introduce myself? My cheeks were beginning to be stained with a slight tinge of red, exposing my momentary embarassment to her.
"Well..uhh..I-i just forgot to…However, my name's Grin, and your name's… hmm…Let's see… Maya, right?" I almost stammered.
She giggled lightly, and said: "Oh…What do we have here… another Pico della Mirandola?"
I stopped and I looked at her in disbelief, absolutely not understanding what she was referring at.
She shook her head and said: "Nothing…Don't worry…"
"Damn, I have to stop to end up being so much influenced by my father's silly jokes and quotes" She thought to herself.
I shrugged and sighed, continuing to drown in my ignorance…
"However… From which pack do you come from?" She said to me, a little intrigued by my origins.
"Well…I can be considered a lone wolf…" I said to her.
"My mom always keep saying to me that all lone wolves are ruthless and unscrupulous…But…You do not strike me that way at all…" She said, looking at me.
"Well… I don't know…Is that your honest opinion?" I said, smiling and teasing her a bit.
"I don't know, I could always change my mind, you know…" She said, punching me in my shoulder.
"Oww, what was that for?" I said after that unexpected strike in my shoulder, rubbing my shoulder.
"You've tried to make fun of me…And that was your just punishment!" She said, making the bigmouth.
I couldn't help but laugh and say "Oh, we have a relentless warrior here…"
"You can put your hand on fire, featherbrain!" she joked back, laughing too, and then she quickened her pace, to almost a jog, sprinting forward. I wanted to follow her playfully, just for a little distraction from the hard day bygone… But something was caught by my nostrils, a smell of something edible penetrates them, stimulating salivation in my mouth… maybe too much…infact, drool flowed on the edge of my opened mouth while I was entranced. While I was stuck, sniffing the air intensely, I didn't notice her coming back and looking at me with an amused stare.
"Someone's hungry?" She told me, diverting my trance and bringing me back on Earth.
"I-i…uh?" I started to say, but then I noticed rivulets of drool dripped from my mouth, and I was really embarassed by my behavior, and I and I tried to wipe my mouth but without success, so she approached me, and tended a paw to me, wiping me well.
"Here, here…That's it…Now let's keep searching for dinner…and given to your reaction, you've already found something, uh? Show me the way…" She said, waiting for me.
"Uhh…ok…" I stammered, bewildered and out of phase for what had happened in a fraction of a second…I began to walk in the direction of the perfume, while she was following close behind.
Hmmm didn't see that coming, huh? It seems that something has clicked between them... But the very real question is: It will be going to last?
There's only one answer: STAY TUNED, MY FRIENDS!
GrinWolf here...over and out.