By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 8

After a few hours when the sun was still not on the horizon however the dark sky had changed its hues signaling the slight and light footsteps of Aurora, Nina came out of the cottage and told that the babe is fine. Aurora would live. The sky was a billion pure eyes of light and the grass green underfoot, it was as if night and day had become one beautiful moment. Dawn had come.

The whole pack had waited the entire night just to hear if the babe would survive or not. Thankfully the wolves had not encountered any humans while they were out for the hunt otherwise it would have been the beginning of another disaster. Lukas had breathed out a sigh of relief when he had seen the tears of happiness streaking Nina’s face. He had come down to the ledge which was his favourite place.

He thought that how often we see the dawn and take for granted the sun, that we see the blackness become a vista, the world we love, our home... yet after that, do we think of the light and how it brings our world to life? Do we think of how it shows us colour instead of only grey and warms us from our skin to our core, ignites our thoughts to beauty, inviting that light and warmth to enter our hearts also, before respectfully giving us time to dream, to accept it as part of ourselves if we wish.... yet always giving us the moon and stars. So, this dawn, as the blackish-greens take on their vibrant and verdant hues, Lukas let it soak in a little deeper. As the sky changes from charcoal to soft dove grey I already cherish the blue that is to come. For the dawn is the invitation to the day, to the gift that is the present if we have the courage to see it fully and to love it with all that we are.

He was alone in his pain, oblivious and numb to its effect on his nerve endings. He was a dangerous animal who was just waiting, lurking at the fringes just to pounce upon something at the first hint of danger. But that was not he was. That was who his mother had turned him into within a day and a night. Nothing could change the fact that he was a freak. His parents, both of them, his father had wanted him to be and his mother even though did not want him had been forced to bear him. He was not unwanted, but he felt that he had been duped, at the very core of his existence. Lukas Masterson was a wolf with the blood of a sorceress running in his veins. Lukas Masterson who was the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack was not sure about himself for the first time in his life since the night of his first transformation.

“You know for an Alpha you are very young, not with the wisdom of the Ancient Ones, not blessed or touched,” said a voice out of nowhere. Lukas veered off and turned back almost dropping down the ledge at the utter shock of it. He did not know neither could he understand who would speak to him in that way at the place where there were no wolves or humans.

“You are a werewolf for heaven’s sake Alpha, and that too a cursed one, how come you are the one who thinks that there is no one around you even if you cannot see them?” asked the voice once again. It felt that the voice was coming from everywhere echoing it’s beautiful music and strange accent creating a hypnotic effect.

“It seems, rather it is evident that you know quite a lot about me but it is pretty unfortunate that I know nothing about you. So we can continue this after you show me your face or I can leave and I shall make sure that no one hears your voice ever again,” said Lukas, a hint of warning in his tone.

“Well if that were true Alpha, then it might have been possible that you would have done that when the woman whom you call to be your mother when she said that she had sacrificed the life of a young child to get back her powers. I think you ought to start looking at those things only of which you are capable at the moment,” said the voice as Lukas understood that the voice was coming from somewhere in the trees.

He climbed up the ledge in three jumps and the looked up at the trees on the ledge and said,” I like to converse with someone whom I can see. So if you are willing to show yourself we can speak, if not I am leaving. I guess I shall have to find another place for myself to be alone.”

There was a moment of silence all over, only the trees moving slightly with the wind and the sound of their leaves rustling just like a paper bell which did not ring but made an odd whishing sound when they blew.

Then there was a soft sigh from behind Lukas and as he turned he found a creature standing before him, a female creature but the physique that she held and her appearance was just like that of a tree. Lukas gasped at the sight and then closed his mouth thinking that it was disrespectful but he had never ever seen a Druid before. Her hair was long with shades of red, orange and yellow with slight tinges of green. Her eyes were soft, warm brown, rather hazel just like the moss laden barks of trees, her lips were light green, not the fluorescent shade but the warm viridian green. He clothes were nothing but leaves, but she was covered from throat to toe with different forms of leaves, tied together, rather sewn together from the ribs of the leaves.

“You are a Druid from the Fables,” said Lukas, looking at her carefully, drinking in the sight before him.

“Yes, that I am,” replied the Druid with a smile on her face. It was hauntingly beautiful. It was enchanting.

“I am honoured Madame to make your acquaintance,” said Lukas, as he curtsied before the Druid. The Druid just smiled at his gesture and did not say anything.

“You requested to see my presence before you and I stand before you in flesh and fluids, well it is not blood for us, so cannot say that,” said the Druid humorously and Lukas smiled at her.

“You have a very marvelous sense of humour, My Lady. I never thought that I would be lucky enough to see fables come true before my own eyes. This is definitely beyond my wildest imaginations,” said Lukas as the Druid laughed out loud at his words.

“Even after knowing that you have the power of one of the Greatest Dark Sisters in your veins, you are still silly to consider that the myths and the fables are not true. Humanity has a varied imagination for sure but not as varied as that of our Creator. She knows it very well that there would not be myths or fables in this world without any inspiration. Everything you have read until now has got the truth lying hidden beneath somewhere but you need to open your eyes in order to be able to see that. Why are you so stubborn to refuse the gift that you have been handed down by your creators?” asked the Druid, her eyes glazing.

“Because I don’t want this. I don’t want the blood of a sorceress in my veins. I don’t want this power. This is not what is written for me,” screamed out Lukas at the Druid but she did not even flinch.

She smiled at his outburst and said,” You wolves lose your tempers so fast that you don’t even understand the meaning of the gift when it has been handed down to you in plain sight. What are you Alpha? Tell me seriously? Are you a bumbling dumb-headed moron?”

“Well you don’t need to ask him to answer that. I now that pretty well that he is exactly what you say. And before you say anything else Lukas, I don’t care if you are my Alpha, you are my brother first,” replied Rhea as she came from in between the trees.

“If it is not the child who has been blessed by the Mother Goddess herself!!!!” said the Druid as she looked at Rhea who grinned at her wolfishly and winked at Lukas who was still fuming.

“I am not the Alpha but I am definitely his sister if not by blood then I have forged a connection with love so I am the one who is supposed to listen to this and then keep his ass on line. As you know, younger wolves tend to be a bit more immature than the others,” said Rhea, as Lukas glared at her. But it did not seem that it fazed her much.

“Who have the wrong idea if you think that you both are not connected by blood then you are entirely mistaken the Blessed one. Your father was a weird man with very weird ideas and notions but he loved both of since you were supposed to be his greatest creations. He knew that with the best of his blood and of the greatest of other creatures he could procreate an entirely new genus altogether and he was not wrong in thinking so. It seems that it has worked out pretty well,” said the Druid smiling at Rhea. Now both of them were looking at her with confusion etched on their faces. This was not at all what they had remotely expected to hear or even know.

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Rhea, her lips getting changed to a scowl.

“You are kin, daughter. You are the child of our sister, not any human woman. You have a bond to the Mother which is far greater than any living wolf at the moment. You are best of both worlds, the embodiment of creation and growth itself. Your womb is blessed,” said the Druid, with a pleasant and calm smile on her face.

“Dude, that is so grosss….I am only fourteen years. I have just started my teenage. I am not going to procreate or do that s**t aany time soon,” burst out Rhea and the Druid burst out in laughter.

“You have got the spunk of your father and the beautiful heart and caring mind of your mother. I am sure you are going to make a great Alpha some day. I know you do not want to be one but that is what fate has chosen for you. And Alpha, you need to start tapping into your own powers which are lying dormant inside you at the moment but if you don’t work on them they are going to be much stronger on you than they are on your mother. Heed my words carefully,” said the Druid as she vanished in thin air leaving the pair of them in bewilderment.

“We truly are siblings then,” said Rhea, as she sighed at the leaves which were fluttering in the wake of the disappearance of the Druid.

“I never considered otherwise, Sister,” replied Lukas.

“Right. Then we have work to do Brother,” said Rhea as they both walked towards the camp.