By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 20

Lukas would have never thought of the sphinx in his entire life if Rhea had not mentioned that. He had no single idea when his sister became so interested in studies and she came to now so much about mythology. But there was so much that he did not know about her. He had still not mentioned her about the part where she would be needing to be spending most of her time in the forests with the nymphs and the druids who were going to teach her what she needed to know about herself and her heritage.

“Do you think this is really necessary for her to learn all these stuff? I don’t think you understand that she is also a wolf and being the sister to the Alpha means something really big in the pack and she has got powers probably which are far more than me!!” Lukas had argued.

“Yes, you are correct on that count that we have still no idea about what kind of enigma she is. But this is something that we owe to our sister. We had promised that we would take care of her child but we did not consider it necessary that because your father took her in the pack when she was a new-born babe and your mother took her as one of her own. She was cared and properly looked after, and we did not consider it proper to intrude but now when that is not the situation at all then we need her to know about herself Lukas,” said the Druid, whose name was Mirani.

“But she is not that grown up yet that I can leave her to be alone!!” said Lukas, and this time he was clutching at straws trying to protect his sister and keep her in the village.

“We do not know about any of her strengths Lukas. Neither do you. You told that yourself. That means that you accept this for a fact that she needs to be taken proper care of and given the guidance?” asked Mirani, in a kind tone but Lukas was hearing none of that.

“What do you want to say really? Huh? That I am not good enough to take care of my sister? Is this what you are trying to insinuate? She is my sister, she is my blood and I know that even though she is unique I am going to be there for her every time. I am going to be the one that gives her a proper and stable home unlike uprooting her whenever there is soil erosion and unlike you who have their roots in the soil so deep that they do not know when to run and when to move!! You guys die at the barest human attack!!” screamed Lukas, he was furious and he was at the verge of transformation.

“I am not even saying remotely close to anything that you are meaning from the past few minutes Lukas. I know she is half a wolf but in our years she has reached maturity four years earlier. She has a longer life span that all of you and she knows more than all of you because the time moves differently for us than for you Lukas. I am not saying that we are going to uproot her from where she is and we are going to do anything of that sort but just like you are trying to find your place in the world trying to embrace all that you have in you, the power, the rage, the anger which needs to be channelized through the proper methods just because you do not have a guide with you on this path does not mean that Rhea has to go through the same fate, does she?” asked Mirani and this time Lukas listened to her.

“What are you exactly suggesting?” asked Lukas, and the Druid gave him a dazzling smile.

“Now that sounds more like it. We are asking you to consider Rhea being taken away from the school she is currently attending and graduate with the other Druids of this year. She is going to gradate early and then she can join us as our teacher in the arts that we do lack,” said Mirani, with a smile on her face.

“Wow!! That sounds like quite a plan. But she is only fourteen, exactly what is she going to teach you guys? I mean you probably have the potential to a source of energy that we do not even know how to reach and that is quite deep. Whereas on the other hand Rhea is like a dynamite attached to a time-bomb. Even I do not know when she is going to explode!!” said Lukas as he tried to envision his fireball sister among these peace-loving Druids and nymphs.

“You really did not have any connection with any of the nymphs did you? If you did then you would have seen that they are peaceful on the outside but actually they are lawless and they fight dirty and they have to co-exist with us and that too in the same habitat because we give them something they give us something in return, but this is getting old and we are not sure that the balance can be kept up any longer..Look I know Lukas you have been unaware of all these things and we did not even want to bring you but Rhea is going to be not only the Leader or rather you call in your terms the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack in a few years but she is also going to be the Queen Mother of the Druids. That is the sole purpose of her to being born,” said Mirani and Lukas looked at her in such a way that it seemed that she was speaking in a language that he did not understand at all.

“What are you saying Mirani? Are you trying to say that you already know her destiny? Are you saying that it is set in stone?” asked Lukas, with horror growing in his heart and clearly expressed on his face.

“Destiny is never set in stone Lukas. You of all people should understand that. Who knew that you were a Halfling with the blood running in your veins to be blue? And still you ate the Alpha of the Greatest wolf pack in the universe. This is only a part of her destiny that we know about and now how she is going to shape it and how she is going to use it absolutely lies in her hands, now if you will help her in learning the right path just like she has been doing for you then we will know that you have understood the responsibility of being the elder brother to the enigma of our lives,” said Mirani.

“You really know how to sell your wares Lady…one thing though. I shall talk to her about changing schools and stuff but she is not coming here to stay with you guys under any circumstances. She is going to be living with me and that is non-negotiable. Is that clear?’ asked the Alpha, as the murmur of his power in the notes of his voice rang in the veins of all the trees standing there in the forest and the leaves murmured their assent.

“Looks like you have been heard Alpha…Rest assured, we do not renege on our words,” said Mirani before she disappeared in thin air once again.

Lukas had come back with a heavy heart because he still did not understand that what was he supposed to do with Rhea now along with his other problems of magic which he has still not been able to understand or fathom in the least. The Druid was true in saying that he needed a better hand at guiding him in the path of magic and he needed to actually learn how to wield it in case he wanted to fully utilize his potential. And staying here caring for his pack was actually not going to help him learn the things properly. He needed to do something different and before that he needed to know more about this creature sphinx which Rhea had mentioned so that he could understand where he was stepping before he went ahead and jumped in fire.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Rhea, as she found Lukas lost somewhere else.

“No just this thing that I wanted to talk to you about Rhea. After we finish this whole research about this sphinx character I am going to be away for a quest for some time as it is apparently clear to you by now and you very well know that the sole purpose of going on a quest is to come to know about yourself. So you will be staying back here and will take care of the pack along with Charlie and try to understand the powers of baby Aurora to a greater extent. I know what you are going to say and I know this as well that you are gonna be correct as always but sweetheart you need to allow me to make my own mistakes and then I will start learning on how to do better mistakes. So you are not coming with me, do not argue,” said Lukas as Rhea rolled her eyes in frustration but it was pointless arguing with him.

“Next thing is that do you want to change schools where you can learn something different and more and advanced and they will be absorbing you as their teacher for some subject in which you are far better than them. So are you willing to go for that? I mean you will be then graduating this year and you will become advanced in a few more things than other wolves of the pack which is necessary in case you want to be the Alpha some day!!” said Lukas, looking at his sister with question mark in his face and she was looking at him with an exclamatory mark.

“Where is this exactly coming from Lukas? Are you abandoning me?” asked Rhea, with a look of abject horror on her face.

“Heavens Noooo!! In the name of the Moon Goddess Artemis Rhea where did you get that idea from my sentences that I am abandoning you?” asked Lukas.

“No I did not think that neither did I understand that but I needed to make sure of that before we further went on to discuss something. So what school are you talking about which will alow me to graduate this year when the school where I have been studying for the past ten years dis still not giving me that chance and this new school will do that?” asked Rhea and this was pretty practical question on her part.

“Well all your teachers know that you already know more than them now if they allow you to graduate this early then this is going to be a big issue for everyone at the pack but this new school is going to welcome you with open arms because this school does not have any wolves. Only nymphs and Druids and their form of education and the level of their studying is much higher than the place where you are at the moment. They are saying that you have attained your age maturity long back and that you are already late than others in knowing things you should have known but you know things which the others in the school do not, that is the sole reason that I am asking you if you want to go there or not,” said Lukas, hoping that he had not overdone it.

“Yeah!! Sure, I will, why not?” said Rhea as if it was something new and pretty exciting, which probably it was.