"The people who were once your enemies have the power to destroy you. They can and will, if we don't put a stop to it. Now." Dreadea says.

Yeesh. Sounds pretty hard, if it's all on me. Do I not get some kind of magical animal helper or something? No? Ok.

"Raven, this falls on your shoulders. You're part of a unique generation and family that has the powers and skills to mingle with humans. You'll have to do this, and you've already started." As she speaks, she punctuates with hand movements that spark small bursts a white and silver light from her fingertips, distracting me slightly from the task at hand.

Already started. Does she mean Viktor? He and I hardly even know each other, let alone "mingled".

"The humans family is one of the most powerful— and dangerous families. You'll have to convince them and their friends first, or else all else fails," she said, looking at me with a serious tone, her eyes searching my far for something. Resolve? Courage? Willingness? Bravery? I don't have much of those things, just plenty of cowardice.

Dreadea pulls me aside after her speech, away from Leif and the other dead werewolves.

"Raven, what I'm about to tell you is essential to your quest, but it's imperative none of the other werewolves find out," she burns, taking a breath, "look around you. You see the wolves? Every one of those is a both connected and separated from the humans you see. Werewolves were not meant to exist, but I willed them to be and they are. Each one I magically created, I ripped the life away from a human. The essence of life cannot be created, only given if taken from something or someone else." She sighs, her features saddening. "I didn't realize until it was too late. It's what contributed to me stopping, but my people must never know the truth. They believe me their protector, and I can't take that away."

I stay silent. Somehow I know the goddess needs to tell someone this, even if it's only a naive young girl who's learning the true history of her kind.

"You probably wonder how this relates to your task. Look at the birds. Each of them represents a human life that was taken. Each of their cries died unspoken, and those birds will never chirp or sing."

I nod, noting that there's quite a few, and that they are, in fact, eerily silent.

"A magical artifact, created by the ancient twin gods of truth and knowledge, Oztuna and Nophion, trapped the stories left untold in a magical hourglass, called the Obsidian Hourglass of Silence. They hid it deep in the forest, in a dangerous spot that is nearly impossible to get to by human standards, and even fit gods it's exceedingly difficult. We cannot open it though, only ones of human and wolf may open it, and only with the truce of a human. It holds both knowledge and truth, and you will need it to convince the humans of the importance of the future." She stops to take a breath; she's been talking for a few minutes straight now.

I mean, thanks for the cool history lesson and stuff, and this vert important artifact hint, but gee, could I not get some easier saving the world task? Like maybe having to go undercover and convince a few of Vikor's friends of the good of werewolves? Sure would be easier than the treacherous task I've been set.

Dreadea looks up at the sky, where the full moon is setting, and ushers me back to the pond. "You must go, child. The Pond of Worlds is easiest to use by werewolves on the night of the full moon. Remember what I've said! Find the hourglass, and save our kind! I believe in you..."

Her voice fades away as I'm falling into the pond and through the Upli Void, the vast expanse that connects the realms and worlds and houses Oztuna and Nophion. I half-expect to see the looming face of a god and goddess with twin black crowns, but I just keep falling until I reach a lightening blue pond beneath me, and fall in without even getting wet.

•••

So apparently the floating feeling from earlier was my body finally coming to Ionicia with me. (Because apparently it was some kind of semi-solid hallucination/illusion before?)

And now I'm falling from 40 feet in the air, screaming my lungs out and plummeting to certain death before my quest has even started. My life is amazing, am I right?

I vaguely remember Ma telling me something about what to do when you're falling, then telling me to stop climbing trees because I'm bound to fall from one someday. It's just that that day is now and it's not even a tree, it's a stupid pond that appeared in the air and dropped me back to Earth.

Wait! I remember what she said! Land feet first and relax my body, and if I can't land on my feet fall on my butt or thighs, since they have more skin and fat to protect me.

So, I do my best to flip myself over at about twenty feet and fully relax my body. (Well, as much as I can when I'm quite literally falling to my doom. Life is so fun right now.)

Finally, I hit the ground and collapse in a tangled heap of limbs. The fall was probably only a few seconds, but it felt like hours.

Someone runs up to me and nudges me. I don't even to turn away, I'm so tired.

"Raven?" the person asks.

I open my eyes and audibly gasp. "Viktor?"

Fangs and Fates, a Wattpad story.

Word count, 957