Into the unknown
Two hours later.
Eda and Oswald come back to a empty cabin , bullets on the floor and a note was left on the fridge.
Dear Oswald and Eda. Luz is missing we’re going to out looking for her.
P.s we ran off a female brown that broke into the cabin.
Fuck we’re too late! / shit! Oswald and Eda shouts running back outside to shift into silver and brown wolf form and running off into the woods.
_________________________
Luz dashed through the trees, over the dead leaves and branches—barely feeling anything on her new paws—she climbed rocks and over tree stumps before, finally, she was desperate for a rest and she collapsed in a small patch of soft snow. She fell onto her side, gasping for air, her heart feeling like it was beating a million miles a minute. She shut her eyes, trying to shut everything else out.
'This is all a dream,' she thought. 'I'm just having another weird dream. Maybe there's something in the air that's making me dream like this. When I wake up—I'll be back in my bed and everything will be alright. One… two… three…!'
Her eyes snapped open… and she was staring at the trees in the middle of the forest, with her brown fur getting soaked with snow and leaves.
'No,' she thought miserably. She forced her tired body into a sitting position on her back paws. She looked around her trying to see anything but trees; she didn't have the slightest idea where she was. She put her head down on her front paws and felt her heart breaking. She was so intent on getting away from the cabin she didn't realize what was really happening. She wasn't a human anymore. She was a dog… a wolf for that matter. Her friends didn't know it was her… and most likely were afraid of her…
They were sure to find out that their friend was missing and think that she ran away or something terrible happened to her. (Both were true ) She knew that she wasn't going home… not like this.
Not knowing what else to do, she did the only thing that seemed natural. She reared back her head and began to howl in sadness.
'What's happening to me?' Luz howled, still hoping against hope that she would somehow wake up. This can't be real… this is just a bad dream… she'll be waking up soon.
And then she heard something from somewhere above her that brought her back to her senses. She stopped crying and turned her head sharply, expecting to see her father, Eda or even amity standing there. Instead… she saw someone that she had seen only once running around the fields before.
There, staring at her through the trees on top of a hill, was a wolf. He was large and beautiful, standing as tall as a a German Shepard, with golden fur as the desert and red eyes . The only part of him that was black was his nose which looked like a piece of coal sitting on his long snout.
She knew right away who it was—Golden guard…..one of the hunters called him during a campfire story. It couldn't possibly be anyone else.
She stared at him, transfixed… while at the same time, he too seemed to be fascinated with her—as if trying to figure out who she was. For some reason, the dog couldn't seem to turn his head way from her face.
After a long staring contest he reared back his striking head and began to howl, 'So there you are! About time we found you.'
His voice was gruff, and yet soft at the same time. It was both harsh and gentle…
she suddenly had an urge to answer him, just for the chance to hear his voice again.
'Who are you?' she howled at him. 'Please help me!'
He looked at her curiously for a moment before he slowly walked off the hill and made his way to her. She stood back up on all fours as he drew nearer and nearer to her. She knew that she should be afraid, but she was so desperate for someone to help her that she was willing to take whatever chance she had.
She stood very still as he finally reached the foot of the mound and walked causally over to her. Nervously, she held her breath as he reached her. They stood just a foot away from each other; he stared deeply at her eyes, as she also stared back… as if hypnotized. They looked like tiny pools of melted gold that just seemed to look into her very soul.
He blinked, and suddenly she was snapped back to reality and remembering her problem. He came even closer, and she felt herself freeze as he put his nose right into the fur on her neck and took a deep breath. He was breathing in her scent… suddenly wondering what he smelled like, she put her long nose as close as she dared to his fur and sniffed.
He smelt like pine trees, fresh air, bird feathers, and… apples? … she couldn't quite figure what though. It was like something you would come from a spice rack. But she knew that she loved it.
( me holding up a spray bottle: Don’t you hunter x luz fans even think about it)
All too quickly he pulled away from her to look into her eyes again.
'Who are you?' he said. He didn't howl, but he didn't open his mouth either. It was like she heard his voice inside her head.
She didn't know how to answer him… so she merely thought, 'luz … but how can I answer you?'
'You just did,' Golden guard said in confusion. 'So luz… who are you? I know that I've never seen you here before. And yet… why do I feel like I met you somewhere?'
Maybe in another life they met, she was still a human, but something told her that it wouldn't the best idea to tell him that. Realizing that all she needed to do was shout out the words in her head she told him, 'I don't know. I don't know how I got like this. Please help me.'
He tilted his head slightly, but before he could say anything else—they heard it. An almighty bang echoed throughout the area like a cannon. Fear striking her core, Luz knew right away what it was… gunfire.
'NO!' Golden guard screamed loudly. 'The others!'
He turned back to her and said, 'This way! It's not safe to stay here! We can talk about what we're going to do with you later.'
'But…' luz started. But he turned and began to run from her. Not knowing why she did it, she followed him. She raced after him, but no matter how hard she ran she just couldn't seem to catch up.
'Hurry up!' he called to her. 'The rest of my pack's in danger from those lousy humans!'
'But what's happening?' Luz screamed at him. 'Why are you in danger?'
'Don't you know anything?' he yelled as he leapt over a rotting log. 'This is the time of the year when humans come here in our territory and hunt us when we migrate.
When they come, we usually move up into the mountains… but thanks to that snowstorm we had no choice but to stick around a lot longer than usual. But now that we're finally able to leave, the humans start flocking here in drones.'
'That's terrible,' luz called back, panting for breath. 'But why are your friends in danger now?'
'Because,' he howled, 'Thanks to some damn human traps, we all got separated. I picked up their scent from downwind along with some humans. That was just before I found you. But I got to find them. Humans already killed one of our pack members not to long ago. I have to stop them before they kill someone else!'
Luz felt her insides freeze as she thought of the wolf that one of the hunters called Alador spoke about that wolf was a friend of his ? But if they were in such danger, why did they wait? She was sure that they could've gotten through the storm; wolves were made for that kind of weather.
'This keep getting worse,' He went on. 'Not only are we wait too long, but Ava going to be having her pups soon.'
'Ava? Luz called.
'Pack member,' he shouted back. 'She and her mate Owen are near to having pups. That's why we couldn't leave yet. A snowstorm might've been too much for her to handle.'
Oh, that explains it. They were worried about their friend so they waited until the storm was over. She ducked down from a low-hanging branch as she continued to follow him, forcing herself to keep running as she panted for air.
'But what are you going to do once you find them?' she asked, suddenly feeling worried for him.
'Who cares?' he growled. 'I'll figure something out once I get there!'
'But what if the humans have guns?'
'Guns?' He asked confused. 'You mean those long metal weapons of theirs? I'll deal with it! We already lost one friend; I have to stop them from wiping us all out! They drove us from the valley where I was born, and into these woods. But they just keep coming! One after another! Once they kill something, they don't eat it, instead they take the bodies back with them and no one knows what they do with it! The one they killed recently 10 years ago ? Their names were Alador and Odalia and now their children is left without parents. We don't know what they did with their bodies…..all we know is that they …'
He didn't seem to be able to finish that sentence.
Guilt… cold waves of guilt was flooding her. her family invited the hunters to help take down belos…but it seemed they had other plans.
She suddenly felt the overwhelming need to make up for this crime. She gritted her new canine teeth and forced herself to run faster so she could catch up to him. 'Let me help you!'
'Keh, If you think you can,' he answered. 'You know, we were wondering who you were and why you came here. We heard you singing a few nights ago but we couldn't seem to find you.'
Luz was confused. 'You heard me singing?'
'Yeah,' he answered as she ran closer to him. 'You kept calling for us, but we couldn't find you. Tell me, which pack to you belong to?'
'Ah…' luz said, understanding what he was talking about. She guessed those dreams, truly weren't dreams. But she was a human then… how come she could understand and communicate with them? She wondered what she should tell him. She could see that he didn't think to highly of humans—not that she blamed him, especially if they hunted and killed his friends.
But how was she supposed to let him know what happened to her if she didn't understand what happened herself?
Finally, she said to him, 'I don't have a pack… not anymore anyway.'
She expected him to stop and demand that she explained herself. But instead, he turned his head around to look at her for the briefest second before he called out, without even slowly down, 'So your pack kicked you out? That happens. Especially for the wolves who in the north.
The black wolf leader has no problem shunning the ones that are no more use to him. To tell you the truth, we didn't realize that there were any other werewolves in this region. There are only few other packs that I know of and you don't look like you belong to either of them.'
'I come… from a region far away,' she answered. It wasn't a complete lie, she just wasn't telling the whole truth. 'My family—my pack—they,' she couldn't go on. Thinking of her family and friends was so painful, especially when she realized that they were probably aware that she was missing by now.
'I understand,' Golden guard answered. 'To us wolves, our pack is our family, and it's hard to lose them. But why were you shunned?'
It took luz a moment for his words to sink in—us wolves he said. 'I ran away,' she answered truthfully. 'My pack… well… let's just say that they didn't like what I became and… and I just couldn't stick around any longer.'
She was gaining on him and soon she was running just a few feet behind him. 'But we can talk about all that later, don't we need to save your friends first?'
'Yeah,' he growled, getting angry and worried again. 'Humans found our den, on the day that we were getting ready to move back into the mountains! When they found us they were using those pieces of metal, guns you called them? And attacked us. We all had no choice but to scatter and separate. I led most of the humans away… but what's going on now?'
'I'm sure they're alright,' luz panted as she ran.
'They better be,' he snarled fiercely. 'But until we find them, just stay behind me and I'll take care of everything.'
'But…'
'Look, I appreciate your help, but these hunters have been after me for years. I'll deal with the humans, you help get my pack out of here and I'll catch up later. We can talk then.'
He looked to his right as he said that and Luz followed his gaze. It was hard to see anything through the thick trees that rushed passed them. 'See those cliffs in the distance?' he asked her.
She strained her eyes, trying to force them to see pass the blurring foliage and saw what he was talking about. There were tall, white cliffs shaped like a wolf skull that were reflecting sunlight and gave them the impression that they were glowing.
They were the very same ones she saw when she first arrived at the cabin and they looked even bigger than before. She looked back to her new companion and cried out, 'Yeah, but I still don't…'
'Help them get to those cliffs. Humans rarely ever go there and it should be safe for us all to lay low for now, got it?'
'Look, I understand you're upset, but you can't deal with all those humans if they have weapons,' Luz gasped at him as she began to run out of strength to sprint.
'I can take care of myself,' he growled. 'But it's my pack that needs the help. Some… and when I say some I mean most… are completely hopeless. Especially, Ava at the moment, she's about to have her cubs at the worst possible time.'
He reared back his head and began to howl, Luz knew what he calling to find his friends, 'If any of you die, I swear that I'll kill you!'
For a moment, nothing else happened as his howl echoed around them, but then…
'We need help!' yowled a voice from somewhere nearby, but it sounded high-pitched and not as gruff as his did. Luz wasn't positive, but she suspected that it was a female who just answered.
‘ Emira!,' he barked. 'Well, things must be bad if she's asking for help. She's usually the most reliable one out of all of us.'
'I'm guessing that this emira is part of your pack?' Luz asked struggling to keep pace.
She couldn't see his face, but she somehow knew that he just rolled his eyes. 'Who else? And can you believe that the humans call her and her brother the illusion masters? With a nickname like that, you think she could handle things like this on her own.'
Nickname?
She never thought about wolves already being named…
But now that she thought about it, Golden guard might not be his real name after all. 'Sorry I didn't ask,' she wheezed as they ran through a small brook and started climbing over rocks with wet paws. 'But what is your name?'
He barked out in laughter. 'Was wondering when you'd ask. Humans call me the golden guard … but my real name is Hunter… one of the alpha wolves of this territory.'