"What are you talking about?" Isadora asked Vorcan. That strange occurrence a few seconds ago, when Vorcan placed that stone on her forehead, had left her feeling dizzy and tired. She could make no sense of what was happening.

The cave was hot and humid, and the fire made it even worse. Her throat was parched and she could hear the sound of her stomach grumbling. She hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. Sweat dripped down her neck and back.

The next set of events happened too quickly for her to react to. She saw Ivory dive towards the fire, reaching for something on the ground near it. The four werewolves turned towards him, shifting into their animal forms, and then pounced on him all at once.

The fire disappeared and thick, heavy smoke filled the whole cave, covering it all in darkness. Isadora could only hear the growls and sounds of them slamming into each other. Then she heard something similar to a pebble drop beside her. Just over it a rift appeared and opened up into a portal, like the one she had traveled through last night, but this was a bright swirling mass instead of a dark one.

Inside the portal, she could make out a hazy form of a door and Ivy hanging over the frames of windows. "Isadora!", Ivory's voice called out from somewhere between the smoke. "Go!" He ordered her.

Before she could ask him how exactly she was supposed to get out from these made-in-hell chains, the metallic chains suddenly turned into a loose bundle of ropes, which easily slid off her hands. She got up and made for the portal.

Passing through the portal was like dreaming that you were falling from the sky and suddenly waking up to realize it was just a dream. The few seconds that she fell into the nothingness of the portal made her panic and wonder what if she would get stuck there, and not be able to come out of the other side? But then the darkness gave out to a big, lovely house with a chimney blowing out smoke through the roof.

It snowed lightly around, little icy specs falling gently on top of the already heavily snow-covered land, enveloping the whole scene around her in white. Isadora had never seen snow before, having lived far South in Terricia, and had never experienced this much cold. She was still wearing her mother's sleeveless blue dress, which provided no comfort from the immense cold. She hugged her arms around her chest tightly and rubbed her upper arms to get some warmth. Why had he brought her to this place?

Her teeth chattered and her body trembled, as she turned around towards the portal to see Ivory just coming out of it. Smoke from the caves followed him. Under the portal was the black stone which Vorcan had placed on her head, and Ivory quickly picked it up. The portal closed up, and they were finally out of reach of the werewolves.

"To be honest I was not sure the portal would work for me. But magic isn't that hard to figure out, even dark magic," he said, looking pointedly at the stone in his hand. "WHERE ARE WE?" Isadora screamed at him.

"Oh, umm..., this is my home in Luna," he replied sheepishly.

Luna? Goddesses' sake! "Take me home. P...please. You know how to use the portal now, right? Please take me home."

"Isadora, I can't. There's something really important I need to tell you. The chief needs to talk to you."

"You don't un...understand. My parents must be so worried! And...and Alex. He turned! Didn't you see him? I need to know what happened to him. I...I need to go back." She could feel the wet and slick curls of her hair on her shoulders. Her toes were burning. She never knew that cold can get to a point that your skin felt like it was on fire.

"Let's discuss this inside, I'll get you some warm clothes," Ivory moved towards her but she stepped back. "No, I want to go now."

"Isa-" Ivory fell on his knees before he could finish her name. He put a hand on his chest and the other on the ground to hold him upright. His face contorted in a way that reflected immense pain. Isadora kneeled beside him. "What is happening?" she asked, panicking.

He fell flatly to the ground. Unable to speak, he pointed towards the door of the house they were in front of. His eyes fluttered and Isadora wondered if he was dying. Did the werewolves injure him? She could not see any blood on him except for the dried blood on his forehead.

She rushed to the door to get help, banging its wooden frame loudly. A lady opened the door. She was wearing a thick coat with a hood, over several layers of clothes, and gloves over her hands. She was quite older than Isadora, with bright and soft blue eyes, and silver-white hair. She was surprised to see Isadora, but after looking past her, the lady's expression changed into a panic.

"Neith," she called out to someone inside the house, "Call the chief! It's Ivory, he's hurt!" She walked past Isadora towards Ivory. "Help me carry him inside."

Isadora obliged, and a tall well-built young man, with a white beard and features similar to the lady joined them in carrying Ivory inside the house. Neith, she assumed, dropped a thick fur coat over Isadora's shoulders once they stepped inside, and she was immediately thankful for the relief from the cold.

They then carried Ivory through a long corridor and down a staircase into a big room filled with various herbs, potions of a variety of astonishingly bright colors, medical and healer supplies, and many other curious things. There were five beds in the room, and they placed Ivory on one of them. "I'll get the others," Neith said, leaving the room.

The lady checked Ivory for any points of injury, and after finding none, let out a sigh of relief. "Sit," the lady told Isadora, pointing to the bed next to Ivory's bed. Isadora did as she was told. She wrapped the coat tightly over her body trying to cover every inch of herself. "Will he be alright?" She asked.

"Yes," the lady said, looking at Ivory fondly. She combed her fingers through his hair with immense tenderness. "Sometimes, magic can take a heavy toll on you. It seems like my little brother used too much of his power at once. He's just exhausted."

"Little brother?"

"Yes. I'm Avyanna, Ivory's older sister. And you are?"

"Isadora."

"Okay, Isadora. So, what exactly happened?"

Before she could start explaining the series of events that took place in the last couple of days, an older man entered the room carrying a heavy air of importance. He was big and strong and carried a long wooden staff in his hand. He looked at Ivory through his sharp eyes and shook his head. "Careless as always," he remarked in a hoarse voice. She guessed he was the chief whom Avyanna and Ivory had referred to earlier.

The man then turned to Isadora and furrowed his white and bushy eyebrows. "Who are you? And what the hell happened to my son?"

//Hey Reader! 

This is the first half of Chapter 5: Luna. I'll be posting the second half soon. 

Stay tuned and let me know if you find any errors or mistakes anywhere. //