Howl Your Appellations

The Return

BOEN OPEOR

It’s all too familiar, this feeling. The length of Imus’ fur mesmerizes me like how tall grass sways in an unbothered field, almost wave like, almost like the sea. Somehow, I convince myself that this isn’t the first time I’ve experienced something like this, that the clarity of my mind is almost at its clearest. There’s still something I’m forgetting but there are more important matters at hand.

After I told Imus that the fae parts might actually be inside my grandfather’s cabin, his eyes widened for the first time, at least for me. I think that was the final piece of the puzzle that he’s never able confirm. The dead faes were never found, and the eerie cabin where an elderly human, probably old enough to have helped with the betrayal, just happens to be unapproachable to Weres. I inherited something sinister, something grim and right now I can feel what I felt that night that I set out. I was an i***t to think that I could take on the forest at night, I cannot believe the gall and ignorance my past self had. With everything that I had encountered, I should have known that the night would end badly.

It’s infuriating to have this kind of knowledge now. All I can do is try and make up for it, and to repay the forest and the Prince of the faes for all the grief and turmoil that my kind has caused.

Imus is careful with the way he traverses the forest. He’s running incredibly fast and with his size, we’ll be able to reach the cabin in a few more minutes. He’s careful to avoid large tree trunks, bushes, vines, aries, and other Weres. There isn’t a hint of distraction in his gaze, he’s like an arrow with a fixed destination, the destination being the bull's-eye. As for me, I’m holding on tightly for dear life. I recall the words he told me before he allowed me to climb on to him, “If you fall, I wouldn’t be able to tell. Hold on tightly.”

“I’m holding as tightly as I can. I apologize for twisting your mane like this Imus.” I think to myself as the arboreal background changes at break-neck-speed.

I’m unfamiliar with the direction Imus’ going, and as I thought this, Imus speaks, “The number of airies have increased. And Prince might be the cause of this, the fastest route has become the most dangerous one.” he explains to me.

“I understand.” I scream in reply. He doesn’t hear me and the wind carried my words far behind us. Even if he did here my common response, it wouldn’t change a single thing. He’s steadfast and unwavering. I have to try my best to support him. I’m the only one who can enter the cabin after all. I’ll have to gather all the part outside and figure out how to open the heavily locked chambers of the cabin, I thought would be my new peaceful home.

A memory enters my heart while we’re getting closer and closer to our destination. “Soft, Beanie, Isa, I’m finally back. It’s been so long. Soft….I hope you’re doing okay.”

We reach a place with a familiar smell, and I realized we’ve reached the small river. A few months ago, I was innocently passing this river as if the world was normal the moment I stepped into Abalone. And just like that, we’ve reached the tunnel leading to the cliff that harbors the cabin that is a secret coffin.

It took a while to be able to process that I’m finally outside of The Train, instead of softening my grip because Imus has finally hit the target perfectly, I clutch his fur more and sort of become a flea. The scenery that was originally mine and was familiar with seems a bit lonely and uninviting: the trees and the bushes doesn’t even sway that I’m back, to them, it’s like I never left, and was never there in the first place.

“Are you afraid? I would be too, the fog and the stench is unbearable. I can’t believe that i***t Lissana managed to stay here for more than a second.”

I take a deep breath.

Lissana managed to cross the tunnel twice if my memory serves me right. The only Were person to ever come so close to the cabin. She’s nothing short of incredible.

I loosen my grip of Imus’ soft white fur, I almost feel like I’m letting go of my own safety. “No, it’s not that that I’m afraid of. I don’t see or smell the fog, even though I spent so much time with you guys, I’m still not the same as you.”

“That’s a good thing. Listen to me carefully Boen. You should collect all the pieces in one place, gather them so that each piece touches another piece. There should be nothing left behind. ”

“Will that stop the fog and the stench?” I ask.

“It’s an old fae ritual. I cannot guarantee it, but I think if you do what I told you, there would be less malice. I’ll be able to get in.” he explains. “If by any chance, the Queen’s undestroyed pieces…no that’s just wishful thinking. I don’t think there’s anything left of her in this world. ”

He lets me down, and the feeling of solid ground made my legs wriggle in a way that worms would when the burrow out of soft, cultivated soil. I pat my skirt of the debris of the travel: a few leaves and tiny twigs. I look up,

“I believe there’s something as important as what you’re saying. There are a few rooms in there that are heavily locked, with the keyholes not resembling any normal ones. My grandfather’s study, I think something very important is in there.”

Imus is silent but his gaze tells me that he trusts me, I smile at him and proceed to walk back ‘home’. “I’ll follow you after you’ve done the fae circle. If all your bright ideas fail, I’ll pry open your grandfather’s study with my cold claws.” his voice trails off as I start to descend into the unknown.

I have been gone for a long time but the plants and moss didn’t even overgrow. It’s as if the area’s unable to grow normally and I only just noticed. The grass for the front yard stays the same length and I face my grandfather’s cabin with much contempt. It stays unchanged just like everything else. It doesn’t feel as welcoming as I remember. All I want to do is burn it down, until nothing is left.

I climb up the stairs slowly, I have a feeling that if I show any sort of urgency, I’ll end up making a mistake. Slowly but certainly surely, I pick up the spare key under the out of place doormat and unlock the door.

Wide open, the inside of the cabin has three generations of dust. I can somehow see the fea parts neatly placed on the conversation pit. My heart won’t stop beating like a drum. I wait for her. I hesitate to call her name in the fear of no response. I open my mouth and I hear a faint ‘meow’.

“Soft!?! Soft!? Come here baby! I’m home! I’m back, I’m sorry!” I run towards the living room where I heard my precious cat’s call, “Soft come to me!!” I call out. And there in the middle of the conversation pit and the fae parts, my cat is nestled like a dragon in its liar.

Soft meows loudly and repeatedly at the sight of me but she refuses to move. I couldn’t hold my worry and tears anymore and hugged my companion. Thankfully, she didn’t run out of food, and got a bit chubbier from her unregulated meals. She places her paws around my neck and meows and purrs but that’s when I noticed that, her paws had become white.