THE TALE OF A LONE WOLF

CH 2- SAVING DYLAN

MIA'S POV

Finally, the long wait had come to an end and the day had arrived. I freshened , packed my things and got myself ready to leave the home which was much dear to me since past years. It was the only place which had witnessed me live my life the way I was than the outside world, enduring all the sufferings and pains alone. My home held the most precious memories of my life. Well, you can call my home my world. I stuffed all my things into my bag and to my horror there weren't much that I wanted to carry along. I always limited my life to minimum things so that I would never be attached to anything in particular. Realizing it, a thought ran through my mind.

“will I ever return back for all these?” I asked myself.

I was up to a journey whose destination I had no idea about. It was the much-awaited days of the lycan world and my first festival in which I would participate as a wolf. I had no clue about the end what my journey would have to face because I was into something which could decide and effect about many things regarding our world. so I took a deep breath and just believed in my fate to decide what was to happen.

I wore my jacket and looked into the mirror. I examined myself after so long. I wasn’t at all surprised to see myself so different than what and who I was. My entire appearance had changed. My body was stiff and skin was tight like that of a warrior. The intensive training I had given to my body was clearly visible in my skin. My hands were tough with the use of swords and weapons. There was a drastic difference in me but its didn’t bother me. I had no time to waste thinking about such stuffs.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I suddenly felt a vibration in my jeans pocket. I took out my phone and saw that it was her. It gave my lips turn into a slight curve. Although didn’t feel to talk to her at the moment still I attended the call and waited for her to start her nagging.

“all set huh?” she sounded kind of teasing but her voice was emotional too. She had been away from me too long and the way she missed me ran through her humble voice.

“hmm” I simply gave a reply and she read my mind through it. She was a great mind reader especially mine so I never had the guts to lie to her as she would have irked me by interrogating more and more until I confessed it. So my attics were either I remained silent or I would just try to blurt. And I chose the latter this time.

“I...” she began to say something which I was well aware of. I didn’t want her to repeat it again so I interrupted her. People always try to discourage their loved ones when they are set to go one something dangerous and she used to try the same with me even if I didn’t care about it.

“don’t...learn to take care of yourself and stop being such a cry baby” I never wasn’t a sweet talker so I shut her up and hung the call. My words never hurt her and she was one of the persons who had known my soul. I had to do it, else she would have followed me until I returned back home.

I didn’t waste another second as I began to feel my heart pound faster every passing moment and I turned my path to the door. I locked it and walked away. Taking a few steps, I couldn’t hold myself from turning back to see my home one more time. It was a beautiful heaven. My heart got out of control and my eyes saw him smiling at me from the door biding me a bye. I felt my body grow heavy and eyes tearing up. I gave out a smile to him and clenched the key on my hands. I took the locket I had worn in my neck and I put the key with it. My locket was of a wolf’s teeth and it was my most priceless asset that I would treasure for my life time. I kissed it and it released me of my pain and I walked away and this time I did not turn back.

My destination was just two mountains away from my home and it only took me 3-4 days to reach the place. The territory was completely different from where I lived in. It had a different vibe to it I had felt it strike my veins the moment I had stepped in the borders. I stopped by a stream for a break and looked myself in the water. It was a crystal-clear stream that made the nature look so magical. The water was cool and it was the best medicine one could have used to calm their distressed mind.

As I immersed my head in the water to feel its magic, my ears sensed a tremor in the ground. My body became alerted and senses began working from all directions. I was a well-trained warrior girl and sensing danger near me was mom’s play. But all my worries washed away in the water when the sound of music hit my eardrums. I was in the right place after all. I calmed myself and climbed up a tree to see the distance I had to cover further to reach the festival. It wasn’t at much distance and as I saw it I sat on the branch and took a short nap.

I didn’t wake up until the sunset and when I did, it was already dark around me. I hastened myself and after an hour or 2 reached where I wanted to. In front of me was the great gate which let us enter into the world of triumph, the biggest festival in the lycan world.

A feeling swept through my blood tingling my nerve. I couldn’t distinguish whether it was of thrill or fear. But my mind kept on telling me to go for it. I made my way to the gate and was stopped my 2 huge wolfs who were the guards. Besides them stood 2 girls who were assigned to verify the people who entered the arena.

I took out some papers from my bag and went forward and submitted it to the girls. They were daughter of omegas of one of the 3 packs and the way they managed the certification with utmost care showed their sincerity in their work.

“Mia from Hawk’s eye pack” seeing my papers, one of the girls asked me to conform it from me and I nodded.

“player or watcher?” she asked me and I took a deep breath before answering her.

“player” I answered in a rough tone and she handed over my papers to the other girl who directed me to the registration desk where I had to register myself as a player.

I made my way to the office. There were lots of boys and girls from different packs all over the world who had travelled to the head territory of our world only to be a part of the magnificent festival. Before moving ahead let me tell you what triumph stands for.

It is a festival started years ago by the lycan board and is celebrated once in every 2 years by the lycans who travel from all around the world and come to the headquarter territory to be a part of it. Triumph is actually not a festival. It is actually a game of adventure which is played by the player wolfs who register themselves and the other watch and enjoy the game with tons of excitement and thrill. The game has 4 levels and each level has its own uniqueness. Each level is based on different aspects of a wolf’s life, i.e., their knowledge, skills, tactics and finally speed. Each level is played according to the changes in the arena in every games and so the game lasts for a very long time. It also depends on the minds of the wolf players as if any disputes occurs then the game can also be extended. This celebration of triumph is much like a festival hence is became to be known as the triumph festival more than the triumph games. What the game actually signifies?? It is played to teach the lycans some unforgettable important lesson in their lives. Every player gets to learn something from each other. The games where actually meant to keep the lycan world united by showcasing each other their unique skills and learning from each other. Triumph was a tradition and was much resected by everyone.

I waited in the queue along with others and then the line started moving. Players in front of me got registered and came my turn. I stood in front of the administrator and gave her my papers. She smiled seeing my papers and looked at me. I had a blank reaction on me.

“this is the first time your pack is sending a girl as a player. Welcome to the games Mia” she welcomed me and I got the pass card and the keys of the room in which I was accommodated in. I found the room and to my disgust I was to be sharing it with some other players. It really pissed me off being strangers that too in a single room.

I was the first in my room and choose the bed which was near to the window. A cold breeze blew and it gave me a great urge to explore the arena and to go for a run in the forest. I unpacked my stuffs and arranged things in its own place. As I had OCD, I kept my kingdom nice and clean. I was going to leave when came the players who were my room mates. One was a girl and other a boy. Both were younger than me and from their awkwardness to each other it was clearly evident that both were smitten by each other in the first look.

They looked at me some kind of expectation of getting a warm welcome but I have them an unexpected kind of welcome.

“call me Mia. Now get your ass in and keep in mind 2 rules. Rule no.1- don’t dare to blabber when I am inside with you and no.2- keep the room clean” I became the cold-hearted bully for them and their face expressed how they didn’t like it.

I walked away and the kept-on staring at me. I didn’t care for it and continued my journey with exploring the arena. The place was massively crowed with enthusiastic people. I saw many well bodied male players who looked like giants due to their huge size and were armed with weapons. Most of the people seemed to be really glad to meet their acquaintances after so long but what caught my attention was the feeling I saw deep in their eyes. They had a kind of strange hope in them that made me grow curious. From what all I knew about triumph; people whole heartedly enjoyed the games. But here people had dreams and hopes and about what it was I had no idea about.

I moved on came to the most important place of the arena. The flag post . It was the spot which was the favorite of all the players of triumph because to win the triumph you had to climb the post and lift the flag. And it was the task which was never solved by anyone other than the great alphas and the heirs of the legendary packs. No one before or after them had ever been able to solve the mysterious way of lifting the flag other than them. It was a spread rumor that the great alphas had taught their heirs the solution that was why they had easily unveil it. But some also denied such a happening because they gravely believed in their alphas and trusted their honesty. They argued with the haters that the heirs had themselves solved the mystery and had succeeded. I looked at the great post and had a sudden rush of memories go through my mind.

It made my mind and body fall weak. I had known that this would happen with me when I get to see all those views but some moments were uncontrollable by me. I quickly diverted my attention and made my way to the dark forest. There was complete peace and silence once I was inside the forest. The moon goddess was shining brightly as ever and the peaceful breeze calmed me in a magical way. I went deep into the forest and got to a spot and I understood that I was in the west forest. I rested myself against a huge tree that stood in the spot and went into my own world.

I began thinking about some past moments that had completely changed my course of life. I was a person who had a twisted relation with her fate. At one point I would decide that I would be the one to write my own fate and the next moment fate itself surprises me with introducing my life to unexpected twists. By the way I was nothing less, I was a dare devil who challenged it to try me in the first place. But sometimes life plays some serious games with us which can even end up deciding our horrific life ahead and I was a victim. Whatever life had played with me, I was not going to let it rule on me.

I had drowned myself in the thoughts but my senses where still on and it made me vigilant to the smell of something that ached my nose. Even though it was the slightest aroma of the thing, it had its own power. As soon as it hit my brain, my body over powered myself because it was nothing but wolf bane’s scent.

I hurriedly climbed the tree and took a watch around me. I heard the steps of someone and the scent was increasing every passing minute. Was it for me or for any other purpose? I gave a quick thinking on it and came to my own conclusion that for whatever it was, it shouldn’t have been around at this time of the day. My senses alerted me that something was fishy and then my eyes fell on some people hiding behind bushes far behind me. There were low on ground maybe that's why they hadn't seen me. My assumption came true when I saw a tough man standing alone in a little distance in front of those people.

I doubted whether those people where any hunters because of them carrying bow and arrows but was sure on the fact that the head quarter territory was always protected from hunters and it was impossible for them to enter the territory without being noticed. Something was quite fishy and there was no one else in the forest other than us. I kept on watching over them and as they shot their arrows on the man, I jumped from the tree in my wolf form and took the arrow on myself saving the man. The moment the arrow hit me; my body felt a deadly pain of death. When the hunters saw that their plan fail, they fed the forest but were stopped and instantly put to death by the guarding wolfs.

The man took me in my wolf form in his arms. Due to the effects and pain my visions blurred out and I couldn’t see the man or know who it was but I was completely aware of the fact that my fate had brought a man who was the one to change the whole reason for my arrival at the games....