Dire Wolf

Chapter 8

"What would the empire want from me?" I asked quietly while sitting next to the Chief of the Ogawara Province, who ordered his nephew and me to get inside his home and eat our lunch, "I already transferred all the financial assets and equities of the House Rosenbaum to the House Faulken the day after the incident happened. Do they even want the trust fund my relatives set up for me as well?"

The middle-aged and single man in his late thirties shook his head and sighed heavily, "It's not about money, Kynan, sorry, Keenan. Kady is shocked to learn what you just did, but she is taking care of your House's finances on your behalf until they found you."

"Then why are they still searching for me? Can't they just leave me alone?"

He shook his head solemnly, "As distant as it may, you are still related by blood to the House Faulken. Surely any sane monarch will want to safeguard their blood relations, right? Besides, as mature and cunning you may be, you are still an underaged brat. Forget about blood relations, and any self-respecting adult will try and lookout for a kid who suddenly went up and gone missing without a trace."

"I'm fine, as you can see," I said in a whisper as we heard Surt happily whistling inside his room while changing his clothes, "Finding a permanent home, a school, and successfully living all by myself in a distant continent. I did rather well for a shut-in, zealously guarded spawn of the Rosenbaums, don't you think, Your Highness?"

He waved his right hand as if I am a pesky and annoying fly, "You survived this long. I can give you that much, Keenan. But don't get ahead of yourself, with our world slowly entering an upheaval, don't count your blessings just yet."

"Tell me something, Chief Ren. My family knows about this stuff, right?" I asked seriously that made him drop his fork in confirmation, "Now that I saw your nephew transformed into a gigantic wolf right before my very eyes, I finally realized that the bedtime stories of my relatives are something more than that."

"What did they told you?"

"Myths about a fantastical past of our world, mere mortals wielding elemental powers and an empire so large, it ruled Scania, Kalalit, Riksent, and Maharlika in the palm of its hands," I replied casually that made his face lose its color, "Gods and goddesses, beings that represent everything in Gearth and their half-mortal children that wield godly powers so great, they can easily summon a vast mountain range, create a tsunami, whip a tornado and create a sea of flames at a single clap of their hands."

The chief nodded slowly and continued eating, "I shouldn't be surprised. House Rosenbaum is a branch of the House Faulken, the dynasty that reigned during the Second Golden Age."

"Second Golden Age? My grandmother might have mentioned something like that. Anyways, I will highly appreciate it if you forget that you saw me here in your province, Your Highness. I seek sanctuary here, and I expected that the Chief of the Ogawara Province will honor his dominion's oath of taking in anyone who is looking for a safe place to stay."

He blinked at me and inclined his head, "Would you want me to keep this as a secret from my nephew as well?"

"I think it would be for the best, Chief Ren. After all, I am no longer the head of House Rosenbaum. I am just a regular kid, finally..."

The feared chief took a deep breath and sighed before closing his eyes for almost a minute before opening them again and grinning in my direction now dangerously, "Fine. But you owe me for this, Keenan."

"Very well, Chief Ren. Very well," I answered in agreement before offering my right hand to seal our deal, and thankfully he accepted it as quick as he can.

"Anyways, I still can't believe that you and Surt are now officially an item!" he exclaimed loudly and excitedly right when my boyfriend finally got out of his room as if to tell me that we have to change the subject now, "Tell me, what lured you in? Is it his feral looks? The sunkissed muscular bod or his childish outlook in life?"

I laughed a little when Surt blushed profusely as he sat beside me after giving me a quick kiss on the cheek, "What sold me to him is his cooking and kindheartedness, Chief Ren. Though I must say, he really is well-built for his age. I am jealous, to be honest."

"Well, as you already know, before you two met, he spends most of his time running around my province willy-nilly. Why my naturalists and ecologists discovered countless unknown species of flora and fauna all thanks to his meandering!" he said rather gratefully, which made Surt smile a little.

I nodded at what he said and finished my meal before thanking him for the food, "Thank you for the meal, Your Highness."

"The least I can do to thank you for accepting my wayward nephew here. I thought he will be single and unsociable for the rest of his life here in Gearth."

"No need to thank me, he opened my previously closed eyes and mind to what is really happening around me. But Surt, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get the ability to change form? Did you learn it from someone? Did you have the ability since birth, or is it a gift from the past, as Ms. Peregrine always said?"

My beloved just sighed sadly and looked at his uncle, who shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly, "Don't look at me, Surt. It's either you tell him the truth yourself or let Ms. Peregrine do it herself."

"Well, yeah, I think I will let our history teacher tell you, Keenan. I know you have learned so much today about the reality in this world of ours, but I still believe that you learn the rest from Ms. Peregrine. That, and I'd rather bring you "there" with me so you can really experience first hand the truth about Gearth and our powers."

I inclined my head in confusion from what I heard, "There? Where is this "there"?"

"As I said, wait until tomorrow morning, Keenan," Surt answered patiently before looking up at his uncle, who is now patting his tummy appreciatively, "Can I stay in Keenan's house for tonight, please?"

He looked at the two of us and heaved a sigh before finally nodding, "Tell you what, I'll do you better. You can stay at his place every weekend."

"Yes!" Surt said as he hugged me suddenly and kissed me once more on the cheek, "You wouldn't mind, would you?"

I shook my head and smiled a little, "Even if I did, you would still force your way inside my home anyways."

The chief of the Ogawara Province laughed out loud when he heard that as Surt blushed profusely.

He is right.

Childishly innocent to a fault...

-0-

"YOU BROKE IT?!"

I flinched in fear as our history teacher screeched loudly when she learned what happened to the orb of air she has entrusted to me.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Peregrine," is all that I can say as she paced from left to right in panic.

"Where the heck did you broke it, Mr. Loussier?!" she asked angrily as I bit my lip to try and stop myself from crying like a baby, "Gods, and here I thought I found another safe recruit!"

I gulped and glanced at Surt, who nodded at me calmly as if telling me to placate our teacher sooner rather than later.

"I broke it in front of Chief Ren Ogawa, Ms. Peregrine," I said carefully that made her stop walking and look at me inquiringly, "Surt is the one who dispersed it eventually after it became a violent whirlwind."

Our teacher now looked at my boyfriend, who scratched the back of his head shyly, "I howled at it, Ms. Peregrine."

"Howled? You mean you showed the truth to Mr. Loussier?!" she asked in surprise, and he nodded in answer, "Well, that certainly makes things easier for me. Though I am definitely disappointed with you. I thought you have more patience than him, but clearly, you are another ticking time bomb."

I bowed my head in shame, "I apologize sincerely, Ms. Peregrine. The chief tried to stop me from following Surt when he ran off the in the forest and something, somebody, maybe it's just my brain that told me to get the jar and break it in front of him."

"Someone urged you to do it. Well, if that's the case, then I guess I just have to let it go," our youthful teacher said as she extracted a large book from her bag and hand it over to me, "Since the chief obviously approved of it and you already knew of Mr. Shimizu's secret, I guess its time for me to give you the real course material."

I accepted the heavy book from her and looked at the cover, "Gearth: Archive of History by Archivus Clite of the Muses. This is a rather ancient-looking book, Ms. Peregrine."

"It is, Mr. Loussier. Its age is unfathomable, and I went to great lengths to preserve it. Within lies several codexes, blueprints, and detailed accounts of the last two golden ages of our world," she then looked at me expectantly with a smile on her face now, "I didn't show it to you before since your mind is closed to all non-logical explanations, but now that you have decided to see things differently, I think you will find it rather illuminating, to say the least."

Surt nodded, and to my surprise, he pulled out a similar-looking book from his bag, "More than illuminating, it is enlightening! You won't believe this, Keenan. I learned just last week that all the dynasties of the kingdom descended from a single royal family of ancient times."

"Indeed, Mr. Shimizu. Dahl, Trent, Faser, Tiena, Bairal, Alric and Ogawa. All children of the Emir and Emira Regnant of the Province of Kalalit with Dahl being the eldest and firstborn, so he inherited the Royal Throne with his six siblings dividing the vast lands of Kalalit among themselves peacefully," Ms. Peregrine said nostalgically as if she was there when that happened in ancient past, "House Faulken did the same before the end of its first era."

I furrowed my brows and inclined my head in confusion, "First era?"

"Yes, Mr. Loussier. The first era or the so-called First Golden Age of Mankind. I guess that's will also be the first part of our in-depth studies as we delve into the rich history of our world," she said excitedly before picking up a piece of chalk to start writing on the board earnestly, "Now that you have finally accepted that there are a lot of things in Gearth that cannot be explained by existing knowledge alone, it is high time for you to learn everything that I can offer. No holds barred."

My boyfriend clapped my back rather hard which made me cough a little, "Who knows, you might get her approval for an immersion!"

"Immersion?"

Ms. Peregrine nodded in my direction after she wrote the name of the most known ruler of the political entity of a continent called Tiera, "Yes, immersion, Mr. Loussier. What better way for you to learn more than to experience history first hand."

"Experience history first hand. You mean we are going to an archeological dig site like the ones inside the mountain ranges of the Aristocratic Dukedom of Riksent, where they finally unveiled the site where the grand duke of old found the artillery cannon blueprints?" I asked in anticipation, but she just shook her head slowly.

"Nope, that is just some regular old dusty cavern or something. The immersion of all the students that have gained clearance from more than a dozen history curators, teachers, and specialists, including myself, will be located at an extraordinary place," she then looked at Surt, whose eyes are now glossing over as if remembering something so fantastical and unbelievable, "Mr. Shimizu here, because of his special background, spends three months each year immersing himself on that same place."

I looked at him, and he grinned at me excitedly, "Oh boy, Keenan, I will bet my life that you will love it there! For someone who thinks things through so deep and intently, that place will not only satisfy your curiosity but also provide you with limitless things to research!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Mr. Shimizu. He still needs to pass the finals with flying colors if I am to allow him to even go there. Only those who fully opened their eyes and mind to reality will be granted passage. That and it is a matter of national security as well. I don't want to get in trouble with the Pax Officials if I can help it."

However, my boyfriend still seemed so optimistic about it, "I am sure there will be no problem. He spent several sleepless nights trying to explain just what the heck you gave him, Ms. Peregrine."

"When did you finally give up, Mr. Loussier?" she asked curiously that made me sigh in disbelief as Surt laughed out loud when he heard our history teacher's question directed at me.

"The moment when Surt told me to see things from a different angle," I said simply, that made my only classmate stop laughing and began blushing profusely, "There are things in this world you can't just explain."

Ms. Peregrine shrugged her shoulders as she looked at the books laid open on our desks, "You can find an explanation on all sorts of things no matter how fantastical something is. The only question is if you are looking for the answers in the right place, that is."

"Is that so, ma'am?" I asked in wonder, and she just winked at me playfully.

"It is, Mr. Loussier. Prove to me this school year that you have what it takes to face all the realities in this world of ours, and I give you my word that all shall be clear when you reach the place we are talking about. There are currently more than two billion people living in this world right now, and not even eight thousand of them are privy to things so fantastical as what Mr. Shimizu here can do."

"So who knew about it? I bet all the current world leaders are privy to that kind of sensitive information, correct?"

She nodded in agreement, "Yes, the current world leaders and their immediate family are well aware of the situation. I bet most, if not all, of the current standing armed forces of the Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy and their families knew the truth. There is an upheaval going on right now, Mr. Loussier. Accept that truth is really stranger than fiction."

"Then I hope you will guide me through my journey to enlightenment then, Ms. Peregrine."

"With pleasure."