CHAPTER 7 -CHILDREN OF THE SNOW
1206 Words
Magic? Powers? Spirituality? These things were always a foreign concept to me because I never manifested my powers as a member of my pack the Blakharts.
But here I was in a trance with the moon goddess. My senses were still there, I could smell the air, it was a lot fresher, the wind blowing on my skin.
It looked like the swamp forest but at a much different time.
“Beautiful isn’t it”
Mahina turned to ask me while smiling.
I did not say anything, just taking in my surroundings. It looked beautiful, peaceful, nothing like the sad gloomy swamp that we grew to know.
“Where are we?”
I asked, finally breaking my silence.
“The center of the swamp”
She replied pointing to the huge Oak tree. I did not notice we were standing right in front of it.
I noticed how its branches ran down and deep into the forest almost as if everything was connected to it.
“Yes child you are correct, everything is connected”
Mahina said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Ma’am, could you quit reading my mind?”
I blurted out instinctively, she just smiled and kept talking.
“ Everything is connected, my children were all one people a long time ago”
She said walking to the foot of the giant Oak tree.
“Come”
She said before bending over to touch the tree roots.
I came forward and followed her lead.
I bent down and touched the roots, and we were taken away again.
This time we appeared in front of what looked like a tiny settlement east of the swamp.
“Eastern wolves!”
I gasped as I noticed the Silver braids on some of them.
The rest has features peculiar to packs that originally came from the Eastlands.
“No not eastern wolves, my children”
I did not understand what she meant by that.
Were the wolves of the east only her children? Is that why they were stronger?
Is that why they had better powers?
Is that why they were more prosperous?
As if on cue, another set of members of a different pack came along. These looked like me, were they Blakharts?
They had Jet black hair and one even had hazel green eyes like me.
“Yes, they’re your kind”
Mahina said, looking at me.
At this point, I had gotten used to her reading my mind.
“I don’t get it”
I said looking confused
“Aren’t the two packs sworn enemies?”
I asked looking at Mahina
“It wasn’t always like that my child”
She replied.
“Everyone was my child and they all lived happily side by side”
She said as I watched what was happening play out.
“East, West they were merely directions every wolve was a child of Mahina, and every power they possessed was gifted to them by me”
She said as she started to sound a bit remorseful. But I didn't interrupt her.
“Every pack's power was an expression of some part of me IN them”
She said and took a pause, looking down.
“Perhaps my gifts to them were the beginning of their undoing”
She said looking back up at me.
“Some of my children began to meet within themselves, feeling that there was so much more power to be gained, used, and manipulated for their selfish ambitions”
This was the most I had heard her talk, but this was going to lead me to the answers I had been looking for since.
“They stopped being content with having everyday lives, farming, and getting produce for their families because that was what the powers were meant for. To help provide”
I was beginning to understand, she went on to explain how some of them decided to West of the central area.
“Were those my people? Wolves of the West? Is that how they settled there?”
I asked, interrupting her.
I was too curious to know.
“No, my child, these were not your people.
She said looking down, her expression suddenly changing.
“ These were the first children of the snow”
She said with so much pain in her voice.
Why was there so much pain In her voice?
“ They thought they had learned enough about their powers to go on their own”
She continued.
“Talks about harnessing the power to its full potential and expanding their territory”
I looked at her and saw regret in her eyes.
“That is what you get for giving Humans powers like this”
My eyes widened with shock.
“We were all once fully human and powerless?”
I asked, not believing my ears at this point.
“Yes, but I looked down and saw the everyday struggles and decided to help.
Mahina continued.
“What they did not know was my power is drawn from nature, Mother Nature”
“Wow”
I said
“So what went wrong?”
I asked before feeling a strong cold breeze hit my face.
I looked up and saw that we were in a snowy blizzard. The whole swamp had turned into a snowy wasteland and we were still under the Oak.
“What happened?”
I asked, looking at Mahina.
“When they went up West, they started to experiment different things with the powers given to them, they didn’t understand the delicate balance and caused a terrible snowstorm”
Mahina said, with guilt and sadness etched on her face.
“They did not know Mother Nature could be as ruthless as she could be kind”
She said looking down while a tear dropped from her eyes down to the floor.
“I summoned them and in front of everyone out of anger banished them from the mainland and stripped them of their powers”
“Oh wow”
I said.
“If you stripped them of their powers, wouldn’t that have brought an end to everything?”
I asked.
“It was too late”
Mahina said as the scene changed once more.
We were deep in the snowy wastelands way past the outskirts of my home in the West.
“They had already harnessed the power for themselves before I stripped them of mine, theirs was impure and held a certain darkness to it”
Mahina said as we got deeper into the wastelands.
“And they were that was how they became The children of the snow”
She said before an all too familiar cry came from a distance.
“Croonies!”
I exclaimed.
“Shhhhhhhhh!”
She quickly put her hand over my mouth
“The Croonie King is with them, he can see us even though we’re in a trance”
She said whispering as we took cover behind a snow-covered rock.
I stuck my head slightly from the side of the rock and looked through the crack.
My eyes widened with fear and terror.
The Croonie king was standing directly over the rock examining it like he had heard something there, his blue eyes staring directly at mine.
- Writer
