Lunar Vow

Ashes of The Pack

The words hit him like a freight train, echoing in his skull, refusing to settle and make sense. His chest tightened as the world seemed to tilt beneath him. It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under him, yet he was still standing suspended in a moment that shouldn’t exist.

The words continued to echo in his mind; everything around him felt muted. None of what he had just heard made sense. Passing over the fact that his wolf just spoke to him, he asked out loud, “What do you mean, where my lineage started?” He asked the wolf, awaiting an answer

“The truth you are seeking is not mine to tell. To find the answers, you must enter the building and seek out the hidden memories from your past.”

In the building, he hears a soft melody, unable to make out what it is, he walks further into the building to seek it out. With each cautious step, the melody grows clearer. Entering the room, the melody is coming from he gets the sense of familiarity as if he has been there before. As the melody continues to play, he hears a soft humming sound coming from the right of him, but he is alone in the room he stands in. When suddenly the humming becomes louder, quickly realize it isn’t humming, but someone is singing. Trying to make out the words, he gets closer. The further he moves in the building and up the stairs, the clearer the words become. Once he reaches the top of the stairs, he is finally able to make out some of the words. He walks into a room on his left where the sound is strongest. Suddenly, they become clear as day, and he can hear a woman singing the words

"Moonlight, little wanderer, hush your restless paws. Stars are keeping watch for you, under silver laws. Close your eyes and tuck your tail, night will keep you near. Every shadow in the trees bows its head in fear. Hush now, little wolf child, wind will sing you home, through the dark and through the pines, you are not alone. Heart of thunder, breathe in slow, let the wild grow still, Dream of running soft and free over moonlit hill. Lay your ears on quiet ground, listen to my heart, let its steady beating be your nighttime start. When the dawn comes soft and pale, gold along your fur, you will wake in safety where my arms still stir. Hush now, little wolf child, let your bright eyes close, let the forest guard your sleep where the river flows. In your dreams, your paws are light, and your worries will fade. You are loved in every shape, every shift you’ve made.”

Listening to the song being sung, he gets the feeling of warmth in his chest when he feels a small tear drop on his cheek. Rubbing it away, he searches for more, searches for answers. When he steps into the center of the room, he feels a slight rumble under his feet. Suddenly, everything around him starts to change. The room starts spinning like he's on a merry-go-round. In a dizzy daze, he collapses to the ground unconscious. When he opens his eyes, still in the building, but this time it's different. It looks like it's just been built. Looking around, flashes of his dream from the other night appear in front of his face. Still, this time clearer, this time it seems real, as if he's there in real time. He turns his head and sees a woman staring down at a crib singing the same melody he had heard when he entered the building. Fenris realizes he’s back in his dream, but this time, instead of a dream, it’s a memory.

As he’s standing there watching everything unfold once again. He starts staring at this woman, so soft and gentle, the man strong and stern. He feels the ground shift once more, and everything around him starts to change. Within seconds, he is no longer in a bedroom watching two parents fondly watching over their precious child, but in a living room. The mother is hovering over the sleeping child lying on a pile of blankets under her chest. The father is blocking doors and windows, shutting off lights, creating a barrier between them and whatever they are hiding from. Suddenly, a loud bang comes from the room that they were just in. Loud footsteps approach them. In a hurry, their emotions go from peaceful and calm to frantic and terrified. “Please, no! I'll do anything just leave my family alone,” he hears the man say, trying to block the men who’ve entered their home forcefully. “Give us the child, and you will remain unharmed; failing to do so will result in death.” One of the men says as he is holding a sword to the father's chest, “Do what you must, but I will not let you take my child,” he says, still blocking them from the mother and infant. “Fine, have it your way then,” the man says as he lifts his sword in the air. “No! Lucius!” The woman screams as she lunges herself in front of him, her body accepting the blade as she drops to the floor motionless . As the men begin their attempt to grab the now screaming child, Lucius loses control. In a fit of rage, he uses the wind to throw the men across the room , as if in one motion, then a ball of fire releases from his hands . A fire breaks out, burning the men and everything around him. With the only sound being his wolf howling out for his lost mate.

Once again, the ground shifts and his surroundings change. The child and the man are no longer in the house but instead racing through the tree lines. Cold wind blows onto their skin, snow cracks with every step, and the pounding of the man’s heart rings in the child's ears. The man’s heart pounds so loudly you would think it was trying to escape his chest. The screams of the pack behind them echo off the tree tops. Then suddenly, silence, stillness, and warmth disappear, and safety abandons him. Loneliness sinks in. When a woman appears, leaning down and grabbing the crying infant, she then retreats into the home, saying, “Mom.” At that moment, the memory ends, leaving him standing in the middle of the rundown building alone.