Something Blessed, This Way Comes.

Episode two : Discoveries.

It had been several weeks since Jade had arrived and, in that time, we had become remarkably close.

I soon learnt that I have quite a lot of powers and abilities. Some of them even scared Jade, and she was a one-hundred-year-old human witch.

My wolf was eager to get out.

Jade had told me that shifting for the first time (and sometimes the second and third times), is extremely painful, bones breaking and re-aligning themselves to accommodate the transformation into a wolf.

And in some cases, the bigger the wolf, the more excruciating the pain is.

She did also add that after a few shifts it doesn’t quite hurt as much, it is still painful, but it’s a bearable pain.

Comes with the territory, I guess.

With my wolfs’ understanding (she too did not want to rush me, for the simple fact that it was going to hurt like a b***h), we decided to wait until the sixth full moon. That would mark six months of me being here.

And it would also give me more time to zone in and master my newfound powers.

So far, I had several abilities that didn’t really need much practice with. They were, being able to talk to both my wolf and Jade through telepathy. My wolf told me that I would be able to automatically speak to absolutely anyone through telepathy (I gotta admit, I thought this was pretty cool).

Now just for a moment, go back to when I first set foot in this place and started to build my house. Remember how I was able to build my house without any help from anyone? Yeah, well as it turns out, I was also able to pretty much think about what I wanted to do or be done, and it would happen. For example, I needed to chop down trees to be able to complete my house and furniture, so with a single thought I had several trees uproot themselves. Then with another mere thought I was able to de branch them all, then strip the bark off, do you get where I am going with this? Of course, you do.

This went on until I had everything I needed for my house.

However, I still needed to practice this ability a little, as it would sometimes get a little out of hand, but nothing too serious, yet.

I also found that my senses were way off the charts.

I could smell a small individual rabbit at least at least ten miles away.

My sight was impeccable, during the day and night.

Touch, well what can I say? Wow! Just wow. I could feel any living creatures soul. Yep, you heard it here first folks, I could feel living souls.

Taste was a little more stronger than usual and that was due to my wolf side.

Then there was my hearing. Now being half wolf, one would already have naturally good hearing, but because I was who I am, my hearing was exceptional. That little individual rabbit I could smell, yeah well, I could actually hear it’s heart beating, it’s breathing, the blood running through its tiny little veins, even the twitching of it’s whiskers, or when it scratches itself. I could hear everything that it did.

Now all that stuff isn’t so scary.

What scared Jade was the fact that by accident I actually made a spider die just by saying that I wished it would go away and die.

It did. It scurried away on it’s eight furry little legs about two feet away from me, and then it stopped suddenly, curled it’s legs up over itself and promptly died.

I have to admit, this was more than a tad scary for me as well. This was one ability I actually wished I didn’t have, just for the simple fact that if I got into an argument or was angry with someone, I could end their life by just saying the words.  

I was going to have to be extremely careful with this one, this power was going to have to be kept in check at all times.

I also discovered that I was able to regenerate and heal within a matter of minutes, depending on how severe the injury I had was. The longest I had to wait for my broken ankle to heel was an hour. I broke it after I slipped on a wet rock.

Month Three.

The weather was starting to get a little warmer now.

Jade and I had settled quite well into our daily routines etc.

We had grown even closer.

She even taught me a few little easy spells that were safe for me to cast.

Which was fun.

This morning I awoke to the sun streaming onto my face, and the smell of breakfast wafting up the stairs to greet my nostrils and empty stomach.

I got out of bed, stretched and got dressed.

I headed downstairs, and when I got to the bottom of the stairs I all of a sudden got a splitting headache.

It was that intense that even my wolf was whimpering in pain.

It truly felt like my head was going to split in half.

Jade saw what was happening and rushed over.

“Luna, are you ok?”

“Ye…. yeah, I think so Jade. Man, that hurt like a b***h!” I exclaimed once the pain had eased off.

“What happened?” Jade asked as she carefully guided me to my seat at the table and then proceeded to get me some water.

“I don’t know, but whatever that was it certainly was painful, even my wolf was whimpering in pain.”

Jade sat down opposite me and went into her deep-thinking mode. When she was like this you couldn’t get her out of it until she was finished.

Whenever Jade was in this trance like state, I always admired her beauty.

She had perfect smooth olive skin, her hair was about halfway down her back and a dark brown colour with sandy blonde streaks through it and slightly wavy. Her eyes, even though they were slightly clouded over, they were the most gorgeous silver-coloured eyes with specks of gold through them.

She was a little chubby but not too much, a healthy weight.

She had a cute little button nose, full pink lips and a small beauty spot just above the left corner of her top lip.

After a few moments she gathered herself and looked at me with concern written all over her face.

“Luna, you need to be extra vigilant and careful with what powers you use at the moment.”

“Okay…. Why pray tell?” I asked a little scared.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I have gotten a weird vibe from searching yours and your wolf’s thoughts.”

“You were rummaging around our thoughts?” I was a little angry at this.

“Calm down Luna, I wasn’t rummaging as you call it, I was actually searching through the fragments of your mind to try and get a better understanding as to why you had that splitting headache!”

“Oh, ok I am sorry.” I muttered.

“It’s fine, I couldn’t get much though, it seems as if someone or something had taken entered your mind and was causing the pain.”

“Um, excuse me? Someone or something entered my mind?” What the bloody hell was going on here. I had three more months left until my first shift and now I had to find out who or what was entering my mind. This was crazy s**t!

“It seems that way Luna, I’m not a hundred percent sure though.”

“Luna?”

It was my wolf.

“Yes, what is it?”

“I think you may have to shift sooner than scheduled!”

“Why?”

“Well, I am getting a rather strong sense that someone is coming. I don’t know what their intentions are but they’re coming none the less.”

“Oh great, that’s just dandy!”

I looked at Jade and telepathically told her what was going on.

Jade just blinked at me a few times.

We were both concerned, very concerned.

“Well, I’m not going to let this small mishap ruin my day. I have fresh water that needs to be collected, so I will go and do that.”

Jade just nodded.

I got the feeling there was something she wasn’t telling me. She knew more than she was letting on. Come to think of it, I think my wolf was doing the same.

I got down to the creek with out anyone trying to kill or kidnap me.

I did however get the feeling that someone was watching me, Lu (I decided to call her that, seeing as how we both shared the same name, I had to call her something).

“It’s about damn time you gave me a name of sorts. I like it.”

“I’m glad. Listen Lu, I get the feeling that there’s someone watching us?”

“Yeah, I feel it too Luna. Just not sure though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’ve been getting that feeling every time we come down here to get water, yet even with our super senses, I can’t see, or hear or even smell anyone or anything around?”

“Hmmm. What do you suppose it could be?”

“I don’t know Luna; I truthfully have no idea.”

I just left it at that.

There was no point in trying to decipher something that was hard to see, smell or hear.

After all the bottles were filled and placed back into my pushcart, I headed back to the house.

Jade was out in the flower beds, weeding them.

I got all the bottles of water inside and put the pushcart back in it’s spot beside the front door.

Over the last few weeks or so, Jade and I had added some more stuff to the house.

We added a veranda that went all the way around the house.

We built a little garden shed and filled it with all the appropriate tools for gardening.

We also built another little shelter that we stocked with enough firewood to last us for at least the next few months.

I walked over to Jade and began helping with the weeds.

After a while, Jade looked at me and c****d her head.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You seem different, Luna?”

“What? How can I seem different? I haven’t done anything to look, act or feel different.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Something is going on with you and I have no idea what it is.” Jade said.

I was beginning to get scared, real scared.

Maybe it was time for me to have my first shift.

The next full moon was in three days.

I guess the universe wanted me to hurry up and stop taking my sweet ass time.

Who knows, who really f*****g knows, this was all starting to drive me insane. I was feeling myself getting angrier and angrier by the second.

“I suggest you calm yourself down little one.”

What the f**k??

I was so freaked out by this deep, booming voice that I dropped the small spade I had in my hand and bolted to my room.

I managed to trip up the stairs three times, bruising both knees.

Once I was in my room, I slammed the door and locked it.

“Ahh my dear little moon goddess, you can’t run and hide from me, no matter how powerful you are, I am actually stronger and bigger than you.” The mysterious boomy voice said.

Ok, so let’s just say that sure I was petrified, why the hell I locked my bedroom door I’ll never know, I guess I did it our of fear? Anyway, this voice did actually sound rather soothing.

I heard Jade running up the stairs.

Then she was banging on the door screaming at me.

“LUNA, LUNA, OPEN THIS DOOR, ARE YOU OKAY, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED OUT THERE?”

“Calm down Jade, I am fine.” I said as I went over and unlocked the door.

“How can I possibly calm……” Jade stopped halfway through what she was saying.

She stood there in front of me, staring right past me, she all of a sudden went as pale as a ghost.

“What the hell is the matter with y……?” I began to ask as I slowly turned around and stopped.

I passed out.

Several hours later I woke up with another splitting headache, only this one had a different feeling to hit. That different feeling was due to the fact that as I passed out from sheer and utter terror, I hit my head on the side of my bed as I fell to the floor.

“What the hell happened?” I asked looking at Jade and rubbing my head.

“Ahh, yeah well um, it seems that we have a visitor. Well, you have a visitor more to the point.” Jade stammered.

I had never heard Jade sound so terrified in the short time I have known her.

But she was.

“I am going to leave you three to get properly acquainted with each other, I’ll be cooking dinner if anyone needs me.”

And with that Jade was out of my room as quick as lightning.

“At last, she is gone.”  The voice said.

“Okay that is enough. I think you sir, should get the f**k out of my head as it’s getting a little cramped in there and show yourself to me!” I was beyond pissed off at this point.

Having a strange voice invading ones’ head space is not the coolest of ideas.

“Hmmm, are you sure you want to see me?”

“Well duh, I don’t like foreign voices in my head thanks.” I said through clenched teeth.

“Ok, then very well, but I’ll have to show myself to you outside, if I try to appear to you in here, I’ll damage your room, not to mention this whole level will be out of order for a while.” I could sense he was smirking while saying this.

“Fine, I’ll meet you out the back.” I said as I headed out of my room.

“Where are you going?” Jade whispered.

“Why are you whispering Jade? Never mind, apparently if he shows himself to me in my room, we’ll be fixing the whole top floor, so I am meeting him out the back.”

“Oh. I see.” Was all Jade said and went back to her cooking.

She really seemed petrified of whatever it was that she and I saw. Of course, I don’t remember because I blacked out.

“Are you ready?” The voice said.

“Yes, yes I am ready.” I scolded.

And with that the voice that was in my head was now standing in front of me.

I couldn’t say a thing. It was like my mouth was glued shut.

After a few moments, I was able to speak.

“Holy. f*****g. Crap!”

Standing before me was the biggest, blackest and scariest looking wolf I had ever seen.

He had to be at least seven feet tall.

“Eight feet six inches to be exact.”

“Huh?”

“You were discussing with yourself how tall I was, so I corrected you.”

“Oh.” Was all I said.

There was something about this wolf that almost felt familiar, but I couldn’t for the life of me put my finger on it.

“Luna, let me introduce myself. My name is Skoll. I can see by the quizzical look on your face you think I am familiar to you, yes?” Skoll asked.

“What? Oh….um…. yeah kinda. I don’t get it though; I have never seen you in my life.”

I just couldn’t get over how tall he was, how muscular his body was, he was as black as coal, and those eyes, those eyes were as bright as the sun. I could literally feel them burning right through my soul.

“Luna, I was the one who created you.”

“You…. you created me?”

“Yes, you actually appeared to me in a vision, and when the last so called moon goddess failed, well my dear, you were and are our only hope.”

“Yeah, Jade mentioned something along those lines that I am the “chosen one”, blah, blah, blah.” I said sarcastically.

“This is not a joke or a game, if you fail, then we all fail. Future generations will not exist, and you, your wolf, Jade and myself will also cease to exist.” Skoll said firmly.

“I get all that, but I don’t understand is why this has been left for me to do, why have I been stuck with it, huh?  tell me that big boy.”

“Because I chose you. And I have seen what you will do, how you will go about it is completely up to you, but I have seen the outcome of your role and it certainly far exceeds what I could have ever imagined or hoped for.”

“Then Skoll, tell the moon goddess, her wolf and me why it has taken you over eight hundred, murderous bloody years to do something about it all? Hmmm how come Luna here was your last choice, why wasn’t she your first choice, then none of this would have happened in the first f*****g place.” Jade said.

Neither Skoll or I even heard her approaching us, and boy was she mad, no, no she wasn’t mad, oh no, she was downright irate.

“I beg your pardon Jade? Did I hear you right? Over eight hundred years?”

“Yes Luna, you heard me right.”

“Ladies, please, calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down he says, really Skoll? You have the nerve to show yourself to Luna, to me and expect us to be all calm about? Don’t think so mister!”

I had honestly no idea that Jade could get this wound up over something.

But she was right.

“Skoll?”

“Yes Luna?”

“Why are you even here?”

“My child, I am here to help you through your shift. I could have created you so that you could do everything naturally, and pain free, but you would not learn anything by me doing that. You need to be able to think, act and do things for yourself, like your home that you have built, you did that all on your own. And you need to understand what pain feels like, understand what your wolf feels and desires before you are even remotely capable of helping anyone else out.”

I was quiet for a moment.

I looked up into his eyes, and then, right then I gained another ability. The ability to know when someone was lying, and whether they were pure of heart.

Skoll was telling the truth. Granted he was my creator, my father if you like. But he was most certainly telling the truth.

“So, Skoll, I guess that because you were the one that created me, that technically means that you are my father!” I beamed.

“Hahaha, that is right.”

Now it was Jade’s turn to pass out.

I picked Jade up, using my powers and laid her on the couch. I pulled a blanket over her and let her rest.

I went back outside, but this time Skoll was down by the creek.

It wasn’t hard to see him, after all he was over eight feet tall.

“How is she?” Skoll asked. He was genuinely concerned.

“She’ll be right.” I said.

Right then it hit me. That feeling that Lu and I both had the last time we were here at the creek, was Skoll. He was the one that was watching us.

“Skoll?” I asked softly.

“Yes?”

“Do I have a mother?”

Skoll knew that this certain topic was going to come up, he didn’t know that it was going to be this soon.

“No. and for good reason. You see, mothers are too attached, too emotional, well most mothers are, the ones that have a heart, I should say are. I needed you to be strong and not let a mother’s emotions sway or interfere with your judgement and decisions.”

“Oh, I see. So um, will I ever be a mother?”

“My dear child, you will be the mother of all, all the decisions will be entirely up to you, and if you want to be a mother, and I am assuming you mean by the whole having your own baby etc, then I can’t see why not. After all what better way to feel emotions and pain. As a mother giving birth you will feel all of that, and then some.”

“Hmmm, well we will wait and see, I guess. I might not be cut out to have babies.”

Skoll just laughed.

“So, your planning on your first shift to take place in three full moons?”

“Yes, that’s right, I don’t think I am quite ready to shift yet.”

“Do you think that is wise? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to rush into anything, I just want you to be sure of the time you are taking, that is all.”

“Now who is  the one being all motherly.” I laughed.

But seriously, the more thought about it, the more it was all starting to make sense.

I honestly didn’t think Skoll created me just to be the moon goddess, I think he created me because he was lonely.

“Skoll, how am I going to do all of this?” I asked. I honestly had no idea where to even begin.

“You’ll know. You will be surprised at how much you knowledge and information you already hold in that little head of yours. Like I said, you will do great things and for that alone, you will be loved by many.” He looked down at me with those burning yellow eyes and smiled.

“How come you haven’t changed into human form?”

“Because I can’t. I lost that ability a long time ago. Let’s just say that this is my punishment from another higher power!”

I could sense the hurt and regret in his voice.

“Well, Luna, I must make my leave. But I will come back when you have decided to do your first shift. All you have to do is just call out my name and I will be here.”

“There will be no need to call out to you, just be here the day of the full moon.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I have made up my mind.”

“Okay!” Skoll gently nudged me with his nose.

And there, right there I felt the love he truly had for me.

Wow this was going to be a journey and a half.

After Skoll disappeared I headed back to the house.

Jade was finishing up the last touches to dinner.

“Well, how did it go?” she asked me.

“Firstly, Jade, I want to ask you why you got so angry with Skoll?”

“I honestly don’t know. I guess I was inadvertently blaming the last eight hundred years on him. I knew it wasn’t his fault entirely, and I am sorry you had to see that side of me.”

“Hey, it’s ok. He created me.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait, so that means that he is part of the higher power!”

“Yeah, and technically, he’s my dad.” I said all chuffed.

Jade’s mouth just dropped open.

We ate in silence for the rest of our dinner.

“So, I have decided to shift on the next full moon.” I tell Jade.

I could instantly tell that both her and Lu were super happy.

“Are you absolutely positive about this?”

“You know Jade, I really think I am ready for this, I know it’s gonna hurt, but I need to do it and the sooner the better.”

Jade came over to me and wrapped her arms around me and gave me a tight squeeze.

Three days until I shift for the first time.

Was I really ready for this?

Once I shift and gain the rest of my powers as a moon goddess, there’s no turning back.

Well, it was the day of my first shift.

To say I was nervous was an understatement.

Skoll was already here, he must have gotten here just before dawn.

He and Jade were talking outside. Because Skoll could no longer shift, he was sitting down on the creek side of the fence while Jade was sitting on a blanket with her back against the fence. It seemed as though they had patched things up and were in deep conversation.

I grabbed myself a cup of tea and headed outside to join them.

 “Morning there sleepy head.”

“Morning Skoll, Jade.” I said still rather sleepy.

I sat down on the grass in between Jade and Skoll.

Jade smiled and nodded.

“Today’s the day huh? Well, I should say tonight’s the night.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” I said.

“Hey, Luna, Skoll and I know how this must feel to you, heading into the unknown, but we are both here for you, ok?”

I looked at them both in turn and smiled.

“Don’t forget about me either Luna, I too am here for you, always.”

I didn’t have to verbally acknowledge Lu; she knew how I felt. After all we are one in the same.

There was still a bit of stuff to do before my shift.

So, without wasting anymore time, Jade and I finished our chores around the house.

Skoll found a nice little spot by a pond. Which I later came to realize was about five minutes up stream to where I collect our water from.

“This will be perfect.” I said, my voice a little shaky.

It was getting close.

There was only about four hours until it was dark.

“So, uh, Skoll does Luna have to shift when the moon is at its highest point, or what?” Jade asked.

“Her wolf will know when it’s time.”  He said quietly.

Jade and I both nodded in unison.

I decided to take a nap until it was time.

At least that way I wouldn’t be irritable and getting even more nervous than I already was.

And from what little info Skoll gave me about the shift, being that it is exhausting, a nap was definitely in order.

“Luna, it’s time.” Lu whispered. It was almost as if she was whispering into my ear, like she wasn’t in my head anymore.

Of course, once I properly woke up I realised what was going on, I made myself focus.

“Okay, well I guess this is it then.” I said looking up into the night sky at the full moon.

The moon itself seemed to have a gold tinge to it, as well as it having a gold and a pale pink ring around it.

That was really weird I thought to myself.

“That’s because the moon is waiting for you Luna, every living soul is waiting. I reckon once our transformation is complete, those rings around the moon won’t be there.” Lu whispered again.

“Lu, why are you whispering all of a sudden?”

“Because this is a special moment, we need you to be calm, I need you to be calm.”

Makes Sense.

Without warning, it began.