Xavier

The ground was icy under my paws as I dug into the earth, taking in deep breaths through my nose, searching for any kind of lead. We have to be getting close, right? Surely after three years in this place.

Deer, dirt, squirrels, humans. I gagged as the stench hit my nose and whined, covering my snout with my paws. My father dug beside me, turning his head to scout the distance. His fierce brown eyes scoured every inch of the dense forest. Pine trees rose high into the array of colors of the setting sun. It was getting dark.

We should go hunting. The deer in the area will be settling into their burrows soon. I told my father. He nodded and shook the snow off his black fur, but then froze as the wind blew. The faint scent of what—or rather who we had been searching for drifted through our noses.

My father howled and bolted. Following closely behind him, my heart raced as we darted between the trees, startling the small animals nearby. Is this it? Have we found them?

This was the third state we've been to, and the closest any of us has ever been. Upon entering this godforsaken world, we found ourselves in a place called Wyoming. We spent a year there, following the trail left behind by those who came before us. The humans called this place Colorado. It reminded me so much of home. But I couldn't think about that right now. We're so close!

We followed the scent for miles before the trail went cold again. My father let out a menacing growl that turned to a human scream. Bones cracked as he shifted from his wolf form.

He kicked the snow and punched a nearby tree. The cold air turned his pale skin pink, and he sank to his knees in exhaustion. I approached him slowly and sat. A high-pitched whine left me as I nuzzled his shoulder.

Time in this world was driving us mad. Three long years and nothing to show for it. Only glimpses of what we needed to go home.

Father, shift back... you'll catch your death like this in the snow.

"I can't keep doing this..." his voice broke as he stared off into the distance. "This wretched place is driving me mad." He seemed to echo my thoughts.

I know, father... I miss our home and mother too, but the goddess said we couldn't return until our mission was complete...

He let out a long sigh before standing up, bones cracked and his limbs morphed and shortened. His wolf was back, though his head hung low.

I will return to the camp. I can't stand to be in this forest any longer. Hunt down some game to replenish our stock and watch out for humans.

My father's voice resounded in my head before he turned and headed towards the mountain. Turning the other way, I started walking, stopping to sniff the ground for any trails. A deer would be nice, a buck even better...

Father was starting to worry me. He never used to be like this. Every few years the chosen pack would pick two wolves to send after the ones who broke the sacred law. None had ever made it back. They were all slowly driven mad by this place, lost forever. When our pack was chosen, instead of choosing two of our best hunters... father volunteered himself and chose me to come with him. We believed we would be the ones to stop this madness. To save our people from this useless mission. Why the goddess cared so much about this was beyond me.

He used to be strong and sharper than any knife you could throw at him. Now he was a mere ghost of the man who left home to save his people. We needed to find the deserters, and fast. One more year and father might not make it home. It didn't help the fact we had to deal with humans along the way, filthy creatures they were. They ignored the magic embedded in the soil, filled it with trash, and took their lush world for granted.

The thought seemed to summon them as their scent filled my nose. A couple of teenagers were setting up camp. Two guys argued over how to set up the tent. The girls were piling wood and rocks to make a fire pit. It was strange to see. Why were they camping in the freezing cold? They barely had any means to keep warm and over our travels, I knew they had great huts to keep them warm. I will never understand the human mind. It was scary to think that they looked so much like us.

They could be much better if they stopped and focused on healing. Instead, they thrived for power. The soft scent of pine filled my nose and then I caught it. A buck!

My legs seemed to move of their own volition. Darting through the trees, the scent grew stronger as I neared. Propelling myself in rhythm with my racing heart. I skidded to a halt when I saw him, the massive beast was sharpening his antlers on a tree.

It was good that I was bigger. Slinking low to the ground, I approached him from behind, barely making a lick of sound. My heart had gone steady, as even as my breathing.

When in position, I paused as the buck stood looking away from me. He twitched as if he heard something, but I had him where I wanted him. In one swift jump, I was on his back, sinking my teeth into his neck, tearing the flesh. He made a sickening sound of fear as he trashed about in an attempt to knock me off him. I clamped down harder, dug my claws into his sides and shook my head violently until I felt the satisfying snap. The buck went limp, and I had my meal.

Father would be pleased.

Dragging the buck back to camp took longer than I thought it would. Had a run in with an eager mountain lion thinking it could steal my hunt.

My father sat clothed by the roaring, crackling fire. His eyes closed and his hands clasped together. As if he were in deep meditation, or maybe, he was sending a prayer to the goddess.

After dropping off the buck near our skinning table, I walked to my tent, which was set up in a small alcove. Slight, sharp pain exploded throughout my entire body as I shifted. My bones cracked and my thick white hair disappeared. Leaving me in the cold, as naked as could be.

I ducked into my tent and threw on my clothes. The cold wasn't as bad as it was in Brithari. But It still sucked that I had to shift outside of the tent. Back home, I could walk into my heated hut before shifting. I rubbed my hands together and blew into them as I stepped outside.

My father was no longer sitting by the fire. He had gotten up and was now examining the buck I had brought in. I warmed myself up before joining him at the table.

"You did good. This will last us a while. Get the rack ready and hand me my skinning knife." He ordered.

While he cut into the animal, I turned to set up the rack. We would hang the carcass until it was ready to divide up and dry into jerky. Some pieces we will save to throw into a stew to keep us warm on particularly wintry nights.

My wolf stirred at the thought of jerky. If he had it his way, we would eat the carcass raw, but it would only last us a day. It was much easier to sate our human side than our wolves.

From our storage chest, I took a blue vial and began drawing a complicated glyph around the rack in the snow. The one good thing about this world was the untapped battery within it. It made even the simplest of spells stronger and quicker to cast.

"Occulto." The word rolled off my tongue, encoding the magic to conceal the rack within the glyph on the ground. This would keep the hungry predators from finding our food while we slept. The glyph glowed and a shimmering dome formed around the rack.

Magic was definitely handy. After finishing the buck with my father and putting it away. We ate the remaining rations from the last hunt in silence next to the fire.

I wished there was something I could do to help, some new lead on where the bastards were hiding, but I didn't. All the magic in the world couldn't locate them. Goddess knows our best Scryers tried their damnedest.

"We'll find them, father... I know we will." I glanced over at him. He was staring into the fire with sunken eyes. He looked tired. We both were. But I couldn't lose hope. It was the one thing that kept me going. The hope of seeing mother again, and our home.

"I wonder how your mother is doing with little Fia. That spitfire of a daughter is probably driving her mad." my father pondered. "How long has it been?"

"Three years, father." Though little Fia wouldn't be so little anymore. Blue eyes and fiery hair running through the streets of our village. Her effervescent giggle echoing across the valley as her smile lit up everyone around her. I wonder how tall she's gotten.

"Three years... we've missed her first shift." his voice cracked and tears burned in his eyes. His hands had turned white from squeezing too long and his face reddened.

She would have turned sixteen last month. Her first shift marked her journey into womanhood and finding her mate. If we had been there, we would have hosted an enormous party. The daughter of an Alpha was a big deal, and all the other Alphas would attend with their children. It was a chance for a strong pairing. As the Alpha's son, I had attended my fair share of these celebrations and seen many great pairings. But I still have yet to find mine.

"I wonder if mother arranged for the Alphas to visit and if Fia found a mate." Though it would thrill me for my little sister to find happiness and undying love. I couldn't help the pang of jealousy that rose inside me at the thought.

"If she has... I hope he or she is a good person, though I hope it hasn't happened just yet, so she will be there when we return."

I nodded, took a long drink of water, and stood up. It had gotten pretty late and my bed roll was calling to me. But before I could wish my father good night, it hit me in the face—a god-awful stench—tainted blood.

It was them!

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. I attempted to say something, but my father had already shifted. I followed his lead, my paws dug into the snow in time with my heart. This was it... I could feel it. We finally found them! We were going to go home!

The forest blurred around us as we raced along the mountain side. Moonlight dancing off the snow on the ground and in the trees. We didn't slow down until we arrived at a clearing where the scent was the strongest. But there was nothing here... my father let out an angry growl and began sniffing the ground. I did the same, following the scent to a human sized impression in the ground with footsteps leading away.

Strange.

It was like the person had fallen out of the sky. There were no footsteps leading to the spot, only away. I looked back at the clearing. Something was definitely off here.

Father over here! I called to him and he trotted over to investigate the strange impression. He looked at the shape in the snow, then the footprints, before turning his gaze to the empty clearing. Coming to the same conclusion I had.

Do you think magic is involved? I asked. Pawing the snow, we were so close. I just knew it.

No doubt... My father started to feverishly dig into the deep snow. Little by little, a faint bluish glow emerged.

A ward! He growled, his gruff voice echoing in my head, making me wince and whine. They were hidden behind one of the biggest wards I had ever seen. No wonder we couldn't find them. Not only did it conceal them from the outside, but we couldn't pass through it.

We knew Willow was powerful, but I never thought she could pull off something like this. How do we break it, father? I asked.

She's had years to perfect this spell. I'm not surprised. We need to find the elemental seals and destroy them in order to break the ward. Start digging. He replied.

Following the smell of blue blood that marked the ground under the snow, we dug around searching and when we found one seal, we would slash our paws over it. We had found them all after thirty minutes of digging, and my body was exhausted. There had been seven seals. This ward was the most protected one I had ever come across in all my studies of magic. It was sad that such a talent had been driven from our home.

I looked down at the last seal. It was the symbol for earth, of which all things are born and all things return to. My father gave me a nod, signaling the go ahead. I slapped my paw onto the symbol, my claws piercing deep into the earth, and then slid sharply across, slashing the last seal. The wind around us howled, and the ground trembled. The shimmering shield revealed itself and then collapsed. The dome disintegrated from the top, showing the land with sparkling magic.

Slowly, as the walls came down, we noticed the mountains curved inward and a small valley split between them. As if a whole other world had been carved out and hidden away.

As we neared the bend, a soft glow emanated from the other side. This was it. We had found our prey.

The small wooden cabin nestled into the mountain side was quaint and charming. The door and shutters of the house were painted a soft shade of green, and its front porch ran the entire length of the house. A warm amber glow emanated from inside—a sign that someone was home. The rich aroma of garlic and spices filled my nose as we got closer and loud voices broke through the wooden walls.

It sounded like an argument. I glanced at my father. His head turned to the side and his ears perked up, listening closely to the conversation.

The door opened and a woman with long black hair stepped out. My father and I froze.

"Come on! We have to find her! I've got the tracer ready, though she can't have gotten far." she yelled into the house. I could hear the fear in her voice and wondered who she was talking about.

"I told you we should have told her the truth. What's wrong with letting her have a little freedom? There has been no sign of them in ten years, it's nothing but forests for miles. I'm sure she'll be fine." A man called from inside the house.

She let out a frustrated groan, "We don't know that! She's been bound for so long I fear what will happen when it's freed. I can already feel the spell waning, hurry up, William!" When she saw us, she paused, her eyes wide and frantic.

"W-William!" she called, and her hands glowed with magic. She faced us with narrowed eyes and a firm stance. Her back straight and her hands up, palms facing us. "You are not welcome here. Leave. We have done nothing wrong. We only wish to live in peace."

William came up behind her. His body tensed when he saw us. His skin rippled, Willow stopped him with a simple gesture of her hand. "No, it's been too long, you are stronger like this," she whispered.

My father looked at me and I nodded. The goddess may want them dead. But none amongst our pack did. It was one of the reasons my father volunteered. Not only to save our people but also the man he once called his best friend. Willow must know of a way to send us back and give the illusion of the mission's success.

We mean no harm. We only wish to speak. I said.

©2022 Jessica Powell. All Rights Reserved

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