As You Draw Near

Untitled Episode

Present day

I suddenly jolted awake and sat up right. I grabbed at my chest and just started crying. That was possibly the most vivid memory of that night that I have ever had. I am basically sitting in a pool of sweat because it was so intense. I couldn’t believe that I remembered what I did. But those are some key pieces. I know that I will need to make my way back to where my old village was at some point again to see if I can find any sort of remaining items again. But the chance of that happening is so slim now, because it has been ten years now. I have been back and forth since I originally left. But only a handful of times, so that I would not be recognized by anyone or potentially caught. Most of the important things I had already brought with me in the first few trips that I had made. I think that I do have everything of my parents’ as well as my aunts and uncles. Though without actual records, it is hard to be certain. After stripping the bed and remaking it, I go take a nice cool shower to try and calm myself down. Sitting in the shower, I can't help but thinking about that flood of memories that suddenly came rushing back. There was nothing that I had done to cause them to come back in such a wave. The tears started running down my cheeks again. I missed my parents more than anything. I was an only child. My parents had talked about giving me a sibling, but things never panned out the way we all had hoped they would have. I finished my shower and made my way back to my bed. Wondering how I was going to fall back to sleep after that flurry of memories. I would have to do something about it. But only after I had slept.

I wasn't sure how long I had slept. It felt as though I had slept for forever. I didn't want to immediately get out of bed. I knew that I had much to research if I wanted to try and unlock more memories from the night of Ri's birthday party. I missed Ri a lot. She really was my best friend. Just because she was older than me, it was weird at first, but she was always genuine in how she treated me. Sometimes she treated me as though I was her little sister. Which was nice. It felt like I had an older sister that I could run to when I was having a bad day or needed help with learning a new spell or just needing someone to talk to because the other kids were being mean to me. Yeah, I was different, but still, I couldn't understand why the other kids in the clan that were my age or even older, always found different ways to bully me. I wasn't anything special. Surely they couldn't have thought that I had any kind of influence over Ri. Ri was the next in line to lead the clan whenever her father deemed her ready enough to take his place. I would never have done anything to jeopardize that. All I ever wanted was to help Ri and make her smile when she was sad. I always looked up to her. She was like a big sister to me. Especially since I didn’t have any siblings of my own.

I started moving around my room and getting ready to start my day. I can tell that it's going to be nice outside, so I should be out there where I know that I can remain at my calmest and my mind be in its clearest state. I gather what I need and walk to my little spot by the lake. The breeze is cool but calming. Perfect for open meditation before I delve into my research. The sun beams bounce off the lake and create the crystal like reflections that are almost quite blinding if you look directly at them. With being outside and connecting with nature, it is so easy to lose track of time and all sense of what is happening. But given the fact that I am alone and have no family anymore with no knowledge as to what happened to them, I can't completely lose myself. While I do remain hidden in plain sight with protection spells around me, I still cannot let myself be known to anyone that may come around.

Opening my eyes to see that the wind is more than a mere breeze now. The hairs on the back of my neck rise as if to say that I need to be on guard. My senses are heightened more than what they were when I came out of the cabin just a couple of hours ago. Something was amiss. I just couldn’t tell what. There was something that I was not seeing yet. Something that was not yet in my view. But before I could let whomever or whatever it is come into my view, I very quickly gather my things and make sure not to accurately trace my steps back to my secluded cabin so as to make sure that I am not followed. As I am winding down another path, the winds continue to pick up, signaling that a potentially violent storm was brewing. After making it back to my cabin, I lock myself inside. Peeking through the curtains as discreetly as possible, I saw a creature emerging from the opposite side of the path I took back to my cabin. This creature looks almost wolf-like but larger. Breaking my gaze from the creature, I move to the kitchen to make some food to munch away on before I begin my research on my once beautiful clan.

-Anonymous

POV-

Whose scent is that? It’s coming from multiple directions. It’s such a delicate sweet scent. Looking in all directions, I saw no one else outside. I know that there are other wolves from my pack wandering nearby because it is possible that whomever this scent belongs to is a rogue shifter, and we are delicate but guarded with the way that we handle rogues entering our territories. Suddenly, a mind link breaks me away from my thoughts. “Have you found anything yet?” "No, nothing yet." I lied. I could not let the rest of the guards that I brought with me know that I potentially had located a rogue within our boarders. The scent of this rogue is sweet yet subtle. Delicate yet strong. I have to know who is giving off this scent. It's driving me crazy. As I start walking in the direction of this lucius scent, I feel my wolf starting to stir. He's been quite dormant as of late because we haven't found our Goddess-given mate yet and it feels like he was blocking me out despite him literally being a part of who I am. "Ashton?" I asked dimly hoping to get something out of him. "Mate. She is near!" he exclaims. "are you sure?" "do you think i would have awoken from the deep slumber i succumbed myself to if she wasn't?" he bit back. "no need for the hostility old friend." i quip at him. "follow her scent. she's close. i know she is."

~Lana

still peering through the curtains as carefully as possible, i suddenly see this tall stocky figure making their way towards my cabin. no oh no this cant be happening. someone has found me. i noticed that the sky was becoming increasingly darker and it was growing colder by the minute. Was it this figure that was walking towards my cabin?