Chapter 4

I finally woke up in the middle of the night drenched with sweat and shouting for my father. Balto was moved back as he tried to wake me up. I sit up and rubbed my face with my hands to wake myself up and try get back to reality.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry I just had a nightmare." I apologized.

"I could tell… I see you moving in your sleep and mumbling too about your father." Balto told me.

I just shook my head in disbelief and started to tear like rain. "I could have saved him."

"Eli it's not your fault." Balto tries to comfort me.

"I wasn't even THERE TO save HIM!" I yelled.

"You're only young and your mother was trying to protect you." Balto said.

I was in too much of disbelief and lacked of manhood I could have saved my father.

"No! I COULD HAVE man up and I LET my father down.!" I yelled.

Balto than pounced me back into a tree and felt like I made a mark on the back of my head from the tree. His paws were placed on my chest.

"LISTEN TO ME ELI! YOU were only a child! Remember that! You could have done anything better. Your mother was trying to protect you. DON'T TALK TO YOURSELF like this! Don't DOUBT YOUR FAMILY! Just don't!" Balto exclaimed in my face with concern. I was taking deep breaths and teared up with mix melted snow and water coming out of my eyes.

Balto was repeating his words that it wasn't your fault.

I was sitting with my knees bent and hiding my head from tears. Balto tried to come up to comfort by putting his paw on my shoulder and I rejected. Balto stepped back as I swayed my arm away from his paw, but he came back and tried it again and I gave in. I was hugging Balto and sobbing all over his fur to think if I was saying goodbye to my father… this will be it.

"I'm sure your family will always be with you." Balto said. I wasn't even over with my sadness about my father's demise.

"You need to get back to sleep… you have a long ride with me tomorrow." he made a light joke to make me laugh again. He started to head back to his side of the campfire.

"Balto wait!" I called him back.

"What it is?" he asked.

"Can… can you sleep close to me tonight please?" I offered in thought that my nightmares may reside overnight. He accepted and walked towards me and laid down next to me. I covered him with blankets and furs to keep him warm. I scooted close to him holding on to like I was in my parents' room and I couldn't sleep at night and I wanted to sleep with them.

In a couple of hours after a nightmare night, Balto and I were gearing up to across the icy field of Norton Bay. At first, I was completely nervous for the fact that the ice could have possible chance to break and we'll fall in. When we're all positioned in our sled, I could see Balto about ready to race through the field.

"Balto!" I tried to shout to get his attention.

He turned back and I could only give him a warning… "Be careful."

"Be careful on yourself as well." he warned me back.

I nodded and Balto made a slow start on entering the icy field. He took a very small step at a time and tried to walk as the sled was mushing through the field. We kept our distance near the shore in case the ice breaks we could retract back on land again. We continued to go around the bay until we have arrived at Ungalik River. We go into the river path for it and got back on land.

It took nearly five hours to go around Norton Bay and retracting land at the river in effort to cross over Shaktoolik River. Shortly after arriving at the river, the river was flowing with water that we had to find another way to cross without being pulled into the water's current. We followed the river path upwards to find a better route to cross the lake. When we got into a better crossing, we had to get our feet wet and crossed the river and I decided to get off the sled.

"What are you doing?" Balto asked.

I came over and unstrapped him. "This is where I was before I went into the bay. We only needed to up the hill to find a lead for the sled dog team and their musher."

"Don't go too far without me." he said as he walked towards my side.

I upholstered my rifle and started to search the woods, as Balto started to sniff for the sled dogs scent. We headed northwest and not found a single trace or scent yet. As minutes continue to go by, my mind started to race towards flashbacks from my dream. The flashbacks started to create a head trauma that I groaned in pain and got on my knees. Balto heard my pain instantly that he hurried over towards.

"Eli… Eli! Snap of out it! What is it?" he tried to get my attention.

However the flashbacks in my dream created havoc that it is not going away.

"I think we're too late." I feared. I started to run up the hill as Balto was chasing after me.

As we finished climbing up, we saw the sled dogs that were badly decomposed for days. I took off a scarf from my neck and gave it to Balto to avoid the smell, but we both know that the smell won't go away. We started to find footprints that may be the musher's. Balto handed me back my scarf so he could smell the tracks. He found a scent and started to run and follow the footprints as I followed.

We than see a cave that was nearly pitch black that we couldn't be able to see. I started to smell bad odor and rotten flesh from nearby. I quickly loaded my rifle and continued to follow the smell as it grew stronger. Luckily, I have a match that I lit it up to see the musher worstly decomposed than the dogs. Strange than it sounds, we heard noises that are coming from outside of the cave. We hurried to head towards the exit of the cave, until it was being blocked by strange dark creatures that I have seeing in my dreams. They were in a straight line and let a black hooded man entering the cave. Despite of me not knowing, could it be the same person, who murdered my father.

"Well… Well… Well… you must be Eli?" the hooded figure asked me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm the one, who is going to open your eyes to the truth." he stated.

"How?! You don't have any power of the sort!" I yelled.

He just simply laughs. "I'm sure you do want to know how your mother and your younger siblings."

"What are you implying? They died from an illness!" I explained.

"That's what you think… but your mother and your siblings are mine." he said as he extended his hand and clutched his knuckles.

"This is not true!" I refused, as Balto knew that the truth may be revealed.

"They may died with an illness correct… however, who do you think how they got sick quicker." he added.

My heart beats quicker in pain and sadness overwhelmed me with disbelief. Balto was about to give me a muzzle.

"I'm sure you must to be the mutt, who was following and watching him." the hooded man talked to Balto. The wolf-dog's ears were pointed up and he turned to the hooded man.

"I'll did what I have to save him!" Balto exclaimed angrily as he let out a growl.

"You did what you did to save him… my little half breed." the hooded man joked.

Balto got angry that his were pointed back and let out a louder growl.

"I believe your tattoos should starting to glow anytime. You'll know the powers within you Eli… I could show you how to use well." the hooded man stated.

Balto warned me not to trust him. I was already in rage of the man who murdered my family like a plague. My tattoos glown like a bright lantern and I made my rush over to the man.

I threw my punches at him, but he kept dodging them with laughter as if they were joke fail combat. He than grabbed my right arm and nearly twisting it that could have broken my arm, but I grabbed my handgun in time to fire a shot at him. He felt like he was hit, but he lifted his to show his real face. He also showed the bullet where I shot him in the chest, but he absorbed it and recovered quickly.

"Don't ruin the coat!" he threatened me as he started to grab my neck and lift me up, then he tossed me out of the cave.

The toss flew me towards the tree where I impacted a tree on my back. I could hear the cracks, as if I have broken my back. The man appeared back to.

"My name is Axel and I'll my true power in darkness strength." he introduced his name to me. He starts to morph into the same creature, who murdered my father.

I only gasped in fear that my mind fully remembered what it was from my dream.

"Now you remember me Eli?! When I destroyed your father I destroyed him just like I'm!" he roars in his might.

My back was in so much pain that I could barely move.

"Yes… don't move… just like your father when I finished." he added. Axel brought out his knife that was the same knife that ended my father's life.

I felt like this was the end.

Balto jumped in time and started attacking Axel. From the surprise, Axel dropped his knife and was struggling from Balto's surprise attack. The morphed bear Axel threw Balto to the side, Balto regain back on his feet and jumped on Axel again. This time however, Balto got the upper hand from clawing Axel's head and nearly cutting off his. The morphed bear started to groan in pain as if his eye was cut off. Balto landed on the ground and stood in front of me like he was protecting.

"If you're going to attack Eli, you're going have to go through me first Axel!" Balto proclaimed in his defensively stance against Axel.

The morphed bear morphs back to the human Axel. As his hand was still covering his left eye in pain. He than uncovered his eye to see a large scar nearly an inch by his eye, even his eyes were bleeding.

"If you protect Eli and his family… you'll die with them!" Axel yelled.

The creatures were ready to fight and so was Balto, but Axel called his minions back and halt from attacking. The creatures then dispersed.

"This isn't over with you Eli and… your minging half breed mutt!" he yelled as he finally disappeared.

Balto let off his growl, before he came over to me. I still wasn't able to get up after being pinned to the tree.

"Don't try to get." he warned me. "You should stay down!"

"I need to stop him!" I said with anger.

"Not after what he did to you! Stay here and I'll bring the sled." He instructed me as he left to fetch for the sled. My back was in aching pain and I was starting lay my face down in the snow and started to snooze.

I then woke up to see Balto came back with the sled. He helped me stand up and I was on the sled again. Balto handed me blankets and furs, as I still have my belongings and strapped myself tight into the sled in case we caught ourselves a fall.

"I'm sure you're going through a lot recently." Balto tried to talk to me.

"You have no idea." I added.

"I have been through a lot as well. Like for my daughter-"

"You had a daughter? I always thought Kodi was your son." I interrupted.

"Actually, Jenna and I had five more pups. One of the six pups, Aleu was part wolf." he added.

"Like father and daughter, I'm sure you two had a great bond." I said.

"Well… when her siblings were taken in for adoption, she was the only left and no one wanted her." he stated. "One day, when she was older, a hunter nearly shot her, if it worth for me. Later I told her she was part wolf and she felt upset that she ran away."

He told me more that he had to go out and find his daughter. They found each other and they ended up meeting with a wolf clan. He also told me that Aleu found herself belong to the wolf clan and Balto himself found also about him as part wolf.

"It must've been a long journey to find your daughter and letting her go, also to find yourself. I could relate your connections for your own experience as I'm trying to find myself after my family's passing." I told Balto. "Maybe I should have done this on my own because it's my affair."

"Eli, whatever happens… we're going to do this together. I don't want you to be put in any danger. Especially when I found you." he came back to muzzle my cheek as I gave him a pat on the back.

"Balto…" I called for him as was about to mush.

"You could always… you know. What I saw is that you're willing to put yourself in front of me. I cannot thank you enough and you have my trust." I told him. He smiled back and he told me we're heading to meet with someone he knew that he could help.

He started to mush out and I was about to go for a nap, as I was just laying on the sled and being pulled. I could think back when my mother told me about companionship with somebody you could share a bond. Before my eyes were shut, I could hear voices from not knowing where, but I looked around to see no one else was there.

"Son… in life…. You will have a fellow companion when you travel on your own. I know you won't have your father, also having me and your siblings by your side any longer. It is important to know who the companion is. It is said in the Proverbs, 'So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous.' Also as well in Ecclesiastes, 'Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.' Remember too in First Corinthians, 'Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals.'" the echoing voice of my mother as the voice fades away, drifting me into a deep sleep.