Chapter 8: The Reason He Found Me
1264 Words
Something changed after that.
It was not just me that changed.
It was him too.
He started watching me closely now.
He watched me during training and outside of training.
It was like he was waiting for something to happen or like he was checking if something he thought was true was really true.
I noticed this change in him.
Of course I did.
One evening I said to him "You are doing it again."
I was standing with my arms folded leaning against a post at the edge of the training grounds.
"Doing what?" he asked.
"Thinking without explaining things to me " I said.
There was a pause.
Then he said, "It is more efficient this way."
I said, "It is annoying."
This almost made him react.
Almost.
He came closer to me. I could feel his presence around me like a quiet storm.
"You are getting better at controlling your power than you should, " he said.
I said, "There you go again saying things like that."
He said, "Because it matters."
I stood up a little straighter. I was getting a little impatient.
"Then explain it to me, " I said.
He was quiet.
The silence was long enough to feel like he was doing it on purpose.
Then he said, "When I found you you were not just using your power."
I frowned. "I know that you have said that before."
He said, "No, you were calling your power."
I did not understand what he meant.
"Calling it from where?" I asked.
He looked at me. His eyes were sharp.
"From me, " he said.
I was surprised.
"That is not possible, " I said.
He said, "It should not be possible but it happened anyway."
I shook my head a little trying to understand what he was saying.
"I have never seen you before that night, " I said.
He said, "That does not matter."
It did matter to me.
His face did not change. Something in his eyes got deeper.
He said, "Some things do not need you to know the person, they just need a connection."
The word connection stayed in the air between us.
It was uncomfortable and unexplained and a little dangerous.
I said, "I do not feel any connection to you."
This was not entirely true. I was not ready to admit it.
Not even to myself.
He said, "Not consciously you do not."
That did not help me understand anything.
At all.
That night I felt something again.
It was not the chaos from before.
It was something like something was pulling me.
I sat up slowly. My breath was steady as I focused on what I was feeling.
There was a warmth inside me. It was not wild like before.
It was reaching out like it was trying to find something.
My eyebrows came together as I tried to understand what it was.
"What is that?" I asked myself.
It felt different from the power I had been learning to control.
This was not energy, it was like a direction, a pull.
It was soft and persistent.
Without thinking I followed it.
I got out of my room. I moved through the halls quietly.
No one stopped me. No one asked me where I was going.
It was like they were expecting me to do this.
The further I walked the stronger the pull got.
Until I stopped in front of a door.
The door was large and closed.
Behind it the pull was even stronger.
My heart started to beat
Something about this felt important too.
I hesitated for a second before I pushed the door open.
The room inside was different from the rest of the place.
It was darker and older.
The air felt heavy, but not with authority with something ancient.
My steps were slow as I moved inside. My eyes were scanning the space.
There were symbols on the wall markings that I did not recognize, carved into the stone.
They seemed to move when I looked at them for too long.
They were alive.
My chest felt tight.
"What is this place?" I asked myself.
Then I heard his voice behind me.
"You should not be here, " he said.
His voice was calm. It was sharper than usual.
I turned slowly.
He was standing in the doorway. His face was darker than I had ever seen it.
Not angry. Guarded, very guarded.
I said, "I did not mean to come, something just led me."
His eyes flickered briefly. I knew he noticed.
Of course he did.
He asked, "What did you feel?"
I said quietly "A pull, like something was calling me."
There was silence after that, heavy and measured.
Then he stepped inside. Closed the door behind him.
The sound of the door closing was louder than it should have been.
He said, "You are not ready for this room."
I said, "Then why does it feel like I am?"
This stopped him for a second but it was enough.
My eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you hiding?"
He did not answer me.
Instead he moved past me. His presence changed the air but this time it felt different, less controlled and more real.
I asked him "You said I called power from you, what does that mean?"
He was quiet again.
I felt frustrated. I said, "I deserve to know what is happening to me."
Then he turned to me. Something in his face had changed.
He was still calm. Beneath that something darker was showing.
He said, "You are right."
He paused, then said, ". You will not like the answer."
My pulse was faster. I said, "Try me."
He looked at me for a moment then he spoke.
"The power you are awakening does not come from your wolf."
I was surprised. I said, "Then where does it come from?"
There was silence again then he said, "From something "
I felt a chill. I thought, older than wolves?
That did not make sense.
Nothing was older than wolves.
Then it did make sense in the worst possible way.
The symbols on the walls the way the power felt the way it moved, alive and ancient, not wolf something more.
I whispered, "That is not possible."
He said, "That is why it was buried, hidden."
His voice was lower. I felt a chill.
I asked, "Why?"
He said, "Because power like that does not just change you."
My chest felt tight. I asked, "What does it do?"
He paused, then said, "It consumes."
The silence in the room was heavy and unforgiving.
My heart was pounding as his words sank in.
I said, "No, that is not what I felt."
He said, "Not yet."
The certainty in his voice sent a chill through me.
I asked, "Then why help me if I am so dangerous. Why keep me here?"
This time he did not hesitate.
He said, "Because I am the one who can stop you if you lose control."
His words were not comforting, not reassuring they were a warning, clear and cold and final.
I swallowed slowly. I asked, "And if you cannot?"
There was silence. His eyes did not waver and did not soften.
He said, "If I cannot then no one can."
I caught my breath. For the first time since all of this began I truly understood something.
This was not about power or revenge or proving anyone wrong.
This was something dangerous, something I might not survive.
Somehow I had walked straight into it.
- Writer
