A Werewolf's Sacrifice

Episode 5

There are moments in your life that you can remember so vividly that you know it had an impact on the rest of your life. Such was the rainy, ordinary day when my teacher softly spoke the words, “According to our elders.”

My head snapped up, and I was finally pulled to attention out from under my haze of irritation and anger as we began to cover some of our old sagas in one of my classes. Though my peers always groaned when our teacher began those lessons, I finally felt something other than soul-level loneliness as his voice wove the spell-binding tales as he walked down the rows of desks. Sometimes he would even break custom and would make a loud slapping sound or poke one of the students to get my peers to let out little screams or jump clear out of their seats to accentuate the stories.

Somehow, the tales always made me feel like there was something out there greater than my own small experience. Something significant had happened to our ancestors that had made them write such amazing, vivid legends that were full of life and passion but then place such harsh restrictions on our society. And, clearly, something like the ritual my mother had spoken of when I was a child had happened, as was evidenced in our behavior and fear of wolves to this day as a society.

I began to throw myself into my studies, determined to become an elder and read the sacred, hidden texts that would reveal the truth of the mysteries of our society. Though I never revealed the intensity of my determination to my peers, my friends could tell that I was too invested in the legends.

“Hardly anyone ever becomes an elder.” Lottie pointed out to me one day as we walked to lunch. “And women elders are even rarer.”

I glanced at her questioningly, for I had never voiced my interest in the sagas with anyone but my mother late at night as we debated the possibilities the sagas outlined in their histories.

She tapped the heavy textbook in my arms and raised her eyebrow at me. “Don’t play dumb, Odelle. You always have your head buried in these stories. It isn’t hard to put two and two together to conclude that you’re interested in following that path after graduation. You are considering it, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps, Lottie.” I shrugged her question off nonchalantly and went out to the courtyard to enjoy the sun’s rays.

I knew it would be hard to reach my goals no matter how Lottie cautioned me not to get my hopes up in her roundabout way. But I had to know how a society that condemned physical affection and public displays of overt emotion could also believe in the deepest parts of its soul that werewolves existed and terrorized our people. This belief was so fundamental to our way of life that wolves were hunted by our warriors for the simple sin of living and we were not allowed to even know the words of the sacrifice ritual in case a small child hummed it in innocence.