Awaken

Chapter 11

   Startled, her eyes shot open. It took her a moment to realize she had fallen asleep in the mind space. In the few years since she met Dia, this was the longest they had stayed in wolf form. She shook off the sleep, positioning herself to see better out of Dia's line of vision. The surroundings were unfamiliar, mountainous. A small body of water rested in front of the base of the rocks ahead, a handful of trees on either side. It was a clearing of sorts, someplace Nova had never seen in her life.

" Erm...Dia...where are we?" she asked.

Dia answered her with a warm chuckle. " We are home. Well my home. Those mountains are my backyard. Or at least they were a long, long time ago." " We've brought you here to where it all began for a reason."

" How long have I been asleep?" Nova asked.

" Not too long. But I am not surprised you nodded off, you needed it I believe. Don't worry, we will be back in time for dinner sweet." Dia assured.

Just then, the air in front of them shimmered and Dianna appeared with a bewildered looking Cora at her side. " Delivered upon request. Call for me when you three are ready to come home" the Vampire beauty chirped.

Dia let Nova come forward at the same time as Joan shifted for Rosalie. The three women looked at each other confused.

" Dia told me that they were going to bring us to where it all began, where she and Joan lived when they were humans, but there is nothing here." Nova advised, gesturing her hands toward the small lake and mountains.

Rosalie nodded. " Yes, Joan as well said she was taking me home. She said they wanted to tell us the whole story of what happened on the night they died, and that it was important for tonight's ritual".

Cora shrugged as she tied her long black hair in a knot on her head. " Well, we are no one to doubt them. They've always guided us in the right direction when we need. Come, let's sit down. If nothing else at least the view is gorgeous" she stated, heading toward a fallen log at the base of the lake.

The three women sat, taking in the majestic landscape before them, the mountains towering high casting shadows as the crystal clear lake rippled softly in the low breeze. The sun shone brightly, and the slightest scent of lavender filled the air, most likely drifting from a nearby meadow. In that moment, the Earth was still, serene.

Nova hadn't noticed Joan coming forward until she began to speak. " Rosalie is still here, but this will be an easier way for myself and Dia to communicate with all of you at the same time" she said simply.

" Let me out as well sweetest" Dia encouraged.

Nova stepped back into the mind space, allowing for Dia to have the reigns. " I am here now as well, Cora. Nova can still hear you." Dia assured her twin. Nova smiled as they clasped hands.

It was Joan who began speaking first. " You see this beautiful land before you, it has not always been like this. The huts are all gone now, but this spot, directly in front of the lake, is where our village once stood. Dia and I grew up here. We were the daughter's of a chieftain, and our Mother was a powerful healer, a witch really, by every sense of the word. They were both good people, gentle, loving and well loved. The town you live in now is made of buildings and homes and shops. Ours was simple, huts made of wood cut from the forest behind us. Everyone was generally happy. Our world was at peace and Dia and myself were two very happy little girls," she began.

" We grew up not knowing violence or hatred. Early on it was easy to see that Dia was very gifted like our Mother, always bringing home little rabbits or birds that had been injured and healing them. I was more studious, stuck to our Father's hip like he himself had born me. I was determined to be a great leader one day. Though Dia is older, her path was clear and so the responsibility was to fall on me to lead our people," Joan's advised.

" And I was happy with that arrangement. I didn't want to deal with the ins and outs of running a village. I was happy enough to make people well and practice my light work, making our little world remain as a happy and peaceful one. My Mother taught me how to move the elements, how to bring the rain when it was dry, and to move the wind when the air was too hot. She showed me how to heal a wound from the inside out. I was content. A very happy and content little girl. Until the day came when I wasn't" Dia's voice shuttered.

Nova watched as Joan lifted a hand to their shoulder, she felt the tight squeeze from sister to sister and the calm that came over their body upon contact.

" Please Dia, don't stop" she murmured to her wolf.

Dia took a deep breath in and continued. " One day, when I was just 19 and Joan 18 she disappeared from our village. She had been out in the wood, taking inventory in of supplies we kept stored under the trunk of an old tree and no one had seen her. I was supposed to have been helping her, but as usual, I was too busy with practicing my magic. You see, I had struggled with making fire, it was the one element I couldn't control and I refused to interrupt my training for Joan's needs. It was I who found her," the Wolf's voice broke.

Joan nodded. " Yes, sister, it was you who found me, but you were not responsible for that day. You see, ladies, I had been murdered. It turns out there was indeed life outside of our village that we were all oblivious too. A dark witch and her forces had come to our land, wanting to take it for their own. They found me, and they tortured me, trying to force me into telling them where the rest of my people were. When I did not break, the witch killed me, she set me afire after tying me to one of the trees. And my how she laughed," Joan's voice trailed off.

" But, my death was not the only thing that happened that fateful day. Just before I was attacked, a woman appeared to me. I know now it was Selene herself. She told me that my death would come, she told me how. The Goddess asked me if I would give my soul to her, my essence, to become one of her children. I was terrified at this mystical being in front of me, telling me I would soon perish. But, she lay her hand on me, right here," Join pointed to the middle of her forehead. " She showed me what would become of my spirit, who I would essentially become and that my human counter-part and I would be the Mother of the Elemental Wolves," her voice was brimming with pride as she finished her sentence.

" And so we know now, Joan accepted. The witch having killed her with fire, is the power she was reborn with. The ability to control the one element that I could not," Dia chuckled. " Meanwhile, I, having found my baby sister perished, alone in the woods, went slightly mad. I lead a war party, using wind to blow the trees apart, seeking her murderer any and every where. I found nothing and returned home, broken and defeated to find the very same witch my sister spoke of. She had our parents bound to this very log. All around us my people were screaming, dying as her own army tore apart everything I had ever loved," Dia's voice was cold.

" We fought, she and I. Magic against magic. I marred her. I cast a spell trapping her in the body of an old and feeble hag, and I managed to pull a lot of her magic from her. But ultimately, she defeated me. She caught me in a moment of vulnerability, I was raising a large boulder at her head in her new deteriorated state. She hit me with a spell that paralyzed me and then simply walked away. I lay, dying , watching my home burn to the ground, nothing left of the blissful life I had always known. I couldn't move, but as a last effort to keep this woman weak, I whispered a spell that cast her magic away. I sent it to my sister's charred remains and what was left, toward the lake, and that's when I met Amphitrite," Dia's voice was almost a whisper.

" She rose from the depths of that small body of water like Poseidon himself. The most glorious woman I have ever seen, hair flowing behind her like rippling waves, adorned in shells and rock with a tail much like the one Cora has when she transforms. And my was she big, bigger than I even when I am in my true form. She came to land and gently lifted me in her hand, her eyes a blue lake of their own. But when she spoke, her words were gentle, but a whisper. She too, told me this was the moment of my death, that I had fought hard and that I was not to blame for what had happened. By taking the magic from the witch I was a powerful being, Goddess like myself. She asked me if I would give my spirit as well, showing me what that meant, telling me that my magic and the magic I had cast away would be distributed into the three who would come to end the madness. She promised me my sister and I would find one another again, and I believed her. Her own child would be powerful, the magic I had cast into the lake given to her. My last words were my granting my soul away."

" On the day Nova turned 18, I was reborn, and now here we are. The three of you carrying the magic that lay within me. It is true, that Cora is powerful, strong, and the Onyx grants her a coat of armor that cannot be broken unless the gemstone is removed, but Nova, my dear, you must get over your fear of the water. You are just as strong as your twin, perhaps slightly stronger, because I am within you. Don't be mad please Cora, but it is true. The Opal, it allows you to heal and project as you have been, and though I am with you, it keeps you safe. Much like the bubble shield Cora can make, you can create a barrier between you and whatever harm is threatening you. But you can also run the waves and move the tide. You can rock the Earth. Your mind, it is powerful, and with it , you can do and move anything that's in your way. You can move any element except fire, that is Rosalie's strength," Dia finished.

They sat in silence for awhile, taking in the words of the wolves, understanding exactly who they truly were and why they were here. Nova shuddered, picturing a young and sweet Joan being strung up and burned alive, and Dia lying on the ground death upon her. Whatever darkness caused that pain could not be allowed to roam free. Realization dawned on her.

" Dia, you and Joan, you believe that whatever is taunting Alaric is the work of the witch who killed you both!" she exclaimed.

She shifted back into her human form. " Yes, Novalynn, we do. We fear the witch is seeking her revenge through you and our pup" Dia said solemnly.

Nova waited for Rosalie to come back forward before repeating the information to the other women.

" Well, if that's the case, we need to get back home immediately. There is no time to waste in throwing that evil b***h out of my nephew's head!" Cora roared.

Nova stood, her body thrumming with rage. " I will not allow my son to be some pawn of revenge. We will cast this darkness from him and finish it, once and for all. If the witch is working with Jagson, then I will tear her head off right alongside his. I know I have been meek and mild these last days, weeping at the what if's, but this is now war. It's always been war. I AM THE ALPHA!" she bellowed.

Having been quiet up until now, Rosalie stood as the air shimmered in front of them, Dianna appearing. " I am proud to be a part of this, your sister through the Goddess Selene and the Goddess Amphitrite. I too, will not stand to watch Alaric be attacked, nor will I have anyone threaten those that I love. It's time to finish this" she said confidently.

Dianna smiled at them, extending her arms for all three to step in. " Well then lovelies, are we ready to go home and get a move on ?" she asked.

Nova gave her a small hug. " I am more than ready, Dianna, and I look forward to you being by myside while I claim my first victory, our first victory, as Alpha" she said proudly. " Also, how is it you keep randomly showing up here?" she quipped.

Rosalie gave a small laugh, lifting her hand sheepishly. " That would be me, I have Felix on stand by" she said shrugging.

The four laughed and closed in tighter, the air beginning to swirl for Dianna to port them home.