Unknown Mate

Prologue

"Everything happens for a reason. You don't get explanations of why it happens, it just does. Its fate, drawn by a single thread of destiny that holds you together. You can't see it or feel it, for some people they don't even know its there. They have everything in there life the way they want it. Sure they may want the simple changes, like nicer hair or there eyes to be green instead of blue, but mostly everything could stay the same and they would be happy. But not me. My life was drawn by a dark fate since I was young. A fate I can't change but will always be mine. My fate decides who I am, what I will do with my life and how far I may go with it. It holds everything I want or would like to have and gives it to someone else who already have more than I could ever ask for. This is my fate. Chosen out of luck when I was five, my happy life changed for ever. Everything was taken and given away or just cruelly destroyed. Made an outcast, made to walk life alone, I curse my fate that doomed me to this lonely life. My fate that made me who I am today.

I've lived alone since I was five. Found an old tree house and made it mine. Thirteen years and the roof still leaks and the door won't close fully. Secluded, away from the rest I found a home I could be free. I could be myself and do the things that made me, me. Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire. Each contain the fate of the holder. For those lucky enough to hold a fate of water, wind and earth, they get to live the life I could only dream of. Water holders become healers, earth holders become builders and farmers, the wind holders control the heavens and change the weather. All three are the keepers of the light elements. Destined to do good there fates give them everything they need. Sometimes they get greedy but altogether they keep the good and bad in balance. Fire. The only thing that holds my fate to who I am. Fire holders altho help keep balance by destroying the old to make way for the new, are considered the keepers of the dark elements. They make the wind holders rainy days in to ferocious storms, that can last for days and nights. Or cause droughts that kill the earth holders crops, and sometime dry up all the water holders water. They are the outcasts, but that’s where I come in. I am the only holder of fire left.

The village I was born in was small. The people were friendly. Everyone smiled. But not to me. Every day I would go to the village. I would go to the temple, pay my respects, and start walking home. I would walk the alleyways back to the forest passing the happy people walking along in the sun. I kept to the shadows. Hiding my face, I walked straight. Concealed where no one ever looked. I never stepped out, and I never spoke up. Because if I did no one would answer me. They wouldn't see me. Or they would try not to. Those who just happen to look my way, or tell children to look at what you never wish to be, keep me hidden. The looks of hatred, or of fear of what I could do. A hundred looks a day but not one of them is a smile. People who smile then catch my eye immediately look away or frown. Always keeping a distance, they never get to know me. People I used to call my friends and family changed, because they were scared. That caused me to change. Caused my once happy life to become a life of hiding. The elders. The oldest and wisest. The force that made me an outcast. They spread stories of older days. Days of peace until the fire holders came to be. Spreading rumours of how evil forces concealed in the fire holders can destroy homes and forests in a matter of hours. How they shouldn't be allowed near the good and should be kept away. Made outcasts. Made to fight alone, in a never ending battle. A battle of self awareness. Kept away and made to wonder why. Why them. Why must they be made to look evil. Ridiculed for something they can't help or decide on. My life changed when I was five. The day my element was chosen. When I was five I lived a happy life. I would walk the main street basking in the sun. I would talk with anyone who looked like they would. I would smile at people and they would smile back. There were only three elements back then. The keepers of the light elements kept the village in balance. The keepers of the dark elements, the fire holders, were said to have passed away years before I was born. Since then our village was peaceful. The balance between good and bad was calm.

When a child in the village turns five years old the elders, and the lead holders of the elements come together. Its called, the day of fate. My day of fate was in late March. It was rainy. I was brought to the main temple in the centre of the village. I was sat in the centre of a large oval room. At the top of the room sat the elders and around me the element leaders. To my left sat the leader of the water holders. He wore a splendid blue cloak, his hair turned a pale blue, almost like ice. In front of him sat a bowl of water. To my right sat the leader of the wind holders. His hair and cloak shown a brilliant white. He sat with a tornado the size of my hand, spinning calmly and gently. Behind me sat the leader of the earth holders. He wore a cloak of green and had hair of brown. In front of him sat a growing bonsai tree. In front of me just before the elders sat a trough of fire about 5 feet long and 2 feet wide. The fire was the only thing illuminating the otherwise dark room. It sat there waiting holding the warmth like life itself. Everything else was still, no one moved, no one spoke. The room was deathly quiet, the only sound was of the rain hitting the roof and blowing against the door. As time when on the tension only grew. The quiet sound got louder and louder. Minutes felt like hours. The room altho large in size seemed to grow smaller and smaller with each breath that was drawn. I felt like the whole room would pop at any giving time. Silence broke and the first elder started to speak. Unraveling a old scroll he spoke in a commanding voice that filled the once quiet room. He read aloud a scroll that aged. Reading carefully as to not miss a word. On the scroll it wrote that once a child turns five then there element comes to show. Out of the four elements, water, wind, earth and fire, one will be chosen. Once chosen the powers of the holder emerge from inside. And that whatever element is chosen that element will hold the fate of the holder. After reading aloud the elders rows from their seats and walked towards me. Slowly they took me to each of the three light elements. First I sat in front of the water leader. Like I was told I put my hands above the small bowl trying to control the water inside it. But nothing happened. Next I was taken to the earth leader. Sat in front of the bonsai tree and spread my hands. Concentrating I try to get the tree to grow. Sitting there waiting nothing happened. Next I sat in front of the Wind leader. Picking up the tornado he placed it in my cupped hands, only to have it disperse into the air and disappear. That was when I knew. I knew that my life changed. Changed in the worse way, I made my way to the trough of fire. I put my hands together, concentrated, and opened them. When I opened my hands the fire grew. It rows three feet and changed to blue, making it hotter. After the fire settled my body gave off light. My skin turned ivory white, my hair a red. Even to this day I know nothing of what I looked like before. Just of what I looked like then. I’ve never looked in a mirror since. When the light grew dim and the area grew quiet, I looked around. I saw the shocked faces of the leaders, and the cold, heartless faces of the elders. Since that day I’ve lived alone. Outcasted I ran to the forest. Secluding myself away, I’ve lived with the fear of what I was. Since that day, thirteen years ago I’ve lived my life alone. I’ve had no conversations, I’ve seen myself through the harshest of storms, the coldest of winters, and the loneliest of nights. Thirteen years ago today. The one day of the year that haunts me. Every year it rains. Reminding me what happened on my day of fate. Coming out of the oval room. Seeing the shocked faces of those who once loved me.

Now the hour has come at last the soft and fading light, has crossed the west horizon and has bidden us goodnight. And what a lovely night it is to walk a moonlit field, to see the softer shades of my fire now revealed. When candles glow and all the world is at its very best. When families gather to feel the warmth. And it lites there world, so bright. So why is it that now, when all is quiet and at rest, my power burns with envy. Am I so wrong to wish that they would see things like I do? They seek the light it give and the warmth it brings, so am I so wrong to think that they might love me too? No. They wouldn’t. I will always be feared along with my power. Feared for something I can not control, I will run. I will run from those I loved and still do. Run from the family and friends that onced consoled me when I was sad. I will run from those who ran from me. I will run, but I will no longer be sad. Free to be who I am, I will run far. I will run to the east, where the light shines first. I will join my powers each morning to bring a brighter day. I will help the stars and the moon glow as to light the path home. I will be me.

Its funny how fate works. Never knowing what will happen, fate guides you on the path you're meant to follow. Everything happens for a reason. We don’t get explanations of why it happens, it just dose. You can’t see or feel it but it is always there. It holds you together. It hold the answer of why you are the way you are. It will help you travel the your path. Sometime its the path less traveled. Sometimes it a path you don’t want, but you will. Some people have a fate of good fortune living a life of ease, never thinking that there whole life could change. Everything could disappear. Walking along a path in the sun. I cursed my fate when I was young. I never knew what it could bring me. I had a chance to live a life meant for me but I was too blind by the things I wish I had to see it. I was too wrapped up in the past to see what laid ahead for me. Made an outcast, made to walk life alone, I curse my fate that doomed me to this lonely life, never knowing that it was me.. Never knowing that my fate was just a part of me wishing to have a life that was just for me. Even though time has passed, I wish I had the courage to said up and face my fate. My fate that made me special. My fate that made me, me.

THE END………"

I softly closed the book, rereading the pages that my mother had once told me as a bedtime story. Rising from the cold ground I stretched my mussels, my stomach let out a growl of hunger. I haven't eaten very well since the cold set in, food becoming harder to find the deeper the snow got. I needed to move today, I could sense the presence of rouges nearby. Rouges, they never meant good news. They were wolfs, feral by choice. They left there packs in search of power, harming those they came across, no matter who they could be and with the winter being as harsh as it is this year they wont mind eating another wolf for food.

I packed my small satchel my father had once giving to me packing the few clothes I had left and my mothers book. Setting it aside I shifted into my small wolf. My hands becoming paws, my jaw elongating, I stared sprouting golden brown fur. In my final form I stood shorter then the average wolf of my kind, I was a runt and I was alone.