Freedom

I was slowly drifting on the cool waves of an endless ocean, sitting cross-legged directly upon the water. The glowing blue water was being illuminated by the glow of the full moon hovering in the sky above me. It seemed to be closer than usual. It's raised seam to engulf the entire landscape in wonderful white fluorescent light. The sound of the calming breeze gently blowing against the water is the only thing you could hear. I could feel the splashing of the frigid water against my legs stunning with each touch. This place also had a weird aroma that smell like lavender on a spring day. but even with all of this it was calm. I put my hands on my knees, closed my eyes, and bowed my head.

“I am safe here,” I thought to myself. “But it doesn't matter because eventually I will have to go back.”As that thought crossed my mind, I felt the presence of two entities.

“Here you are again trying to escape,” Said a Deep dark voice from behind me. “I know you are a coward, but to turn your back on the forest even for a second is inexcusable.”

“Oh leave him alone Tryn,” proclaimed another voice from behind me. “Hunter feel free to come back to the forest whenever you feel ready.”

 “Or you can just stay here and sulk for the rest of your life,”Tryn remarked.

I opened up my eyes, and looked behind me to see two wolves. One that was darker than night with dark red soulless eyes, and the other one was as pure as snow with eyes as blue as the ocean.

“What are you staring at,” The black one said with the voice of Tryn as he let out a little growl.

“What did I say Tryn?” The White Wolf snapped.

“Don't tell me what to do Kiera! Just get back to the forest!” Yelled Tryn growling again but this time at Kiera.

But in that exact moment something changed. They both looked to me, and spoke simultaneously.

“It's time to go back to the forest."

With that a very bright light opened up in the center of this place. The bright light grew larger with every second that passed. I shielded my eyes for fear I would go blind. I did not want to go back but it seemed I had no choice now.

Silence...

I took a deep breath in and out. I opened my eyes to see I was once again in the one place I did not want to be.

Tryn called to me. “Welcome back to the forest.”

Fresh green grass waved in the wind and the smell of cedar fill the air. It would be very easy to think of this places as calming if I did not know the truth behind it. I looked up, and had a good view of the bright sun from the grass clearing I was sitting in. As I stood up and started walking my crude dark brown robe got stuck to the tree stump I was resting upon, with feelings of frustration. I unhooked it from the tree stump. I continue to walk forward to the outer edge of the forest clearing. My bare feet felt the heat of the Sun coming off of the grass with every step. I want to stay in this clearing, but I knew Tryn, and Kiera would never allow it. I stopped at the very edge before a large plot of trees. My heart began to race like it always did, and I began to remember the other times I did this.  Before I could overthink what I was doing I bolted off into the forest running past trees, and rocks, jumping over obstacles, and sensing the area around me.

I was like a machine. Like I've done this a hundred times before. Eventually I came to a river. I stopped and waited I felt like something was up. I looked around nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but I still cannot shake the feeling I was missing something. The river that day was pretty calm. Its surface glistened in the sunlight like some sort of reflective mirror. I walked up closer to the river to look upon it. It was probably the beauty of this place that made me not hate it, as much as I do. Inspecting the river more closely probably saved my life because in that moment in the water I saw the reflection of what was known as a wendigo lurking in the trees above me. I wanted him to think he still had the element of surprise. So I leaned down, and looked like I was about to take a drink. As I went in for the drink I heard him land on the ground. Little did he know I picked up a rock instead of going for water. When I could feel his breath on my back I stood up, and went to bash his skull in with the rock, but he caught my hand.

I was standing there in a power struggle with a wendigo, but I could not be scared. I must be strong if I lose hope I would have surely died.

“Damn Wendigo! Trying to sneak up on me. You should've just made it easy, and let me kill you with this rock,” I screamed.

 Silence followed… Like I was actually expecting an answer from a wendigo. They do not care about talking. They only cared about the hunt. I grew tired of the game the wendigo, and I were play. I unleashed my strength I held Within myself. I screamed menacingly. Surprising the wendigo forcing him to jump back to gauge the situation. I began to tremble as the power was coming over me. My eyes begin to glow as bright as the moon on the darkest of nights. My hands, and feet turned into a claw like versions of themselves. This would be fine but my power comes with a price, I become uncontrollably bloodthirsty when I awaken it inside myself. I could feel the desire for blood coming over me. It getting harder to tolerate every second that went on. I rushed straight for the wendigo. He didn't have time to react. I sank my claws deep into his jugular, and ripped out his throat covering my body in a fountain of blood which ran all the way down to my toes. The wendigo's lifeless corpse fell to the ground, and I fell to my knees trying to regain control. I could hear Kiera speak in one of my ears.

"You can fight it. You can regain control."

Focusing on her voice gave me the strength I needed to re-lock away the power within myself. I could feel my claws turning back into my hands, and feet. I began to stand up slowly. I was a little dizzy, but I was fine.  I wiped the blood from my face, and then I looked back to the wendigo corpse, and his throat which was still in my hand.

I was covered in blood. It sank into my robes and my long brown hair. I had to wash it off, or it would attract more unwanted attention. So I took off my robes, and put them by a tree that was overlooking the river. I tiptoed into the middle of the cold river, and knelt down, and Splashed my face with water. Soon after I sat cross-legged in the water, and closed my eyes. I had no idea how long I had been in this Forest. I remembered I used to have a life outside of this place, but one day, thanks to my powers my parents thought it would be better if they left me in the woods. They left me to die alone like some sort of monster, but I did the one thing nobody was expecting. I survived! But I knew I could not leave this place for fear I would surely die. All of the sudden I heard a twig snap. I quickly open my eyes, and stood up from the water looking in the direction of the sound. To my surprise I saw another's eyes looking back at me. It was a beautiful redheaded girl with brown eyes peeking out from behind a tree, like I didn't see her. The second our eyes met I felt strange, it was like our souls were meeting. This is the first time I had seen another human for a long time. I was very unsure what to feel.

I disconnected my eye connection as fast as I could. I thought clearly this was one of the forest tricks. I began to run back to the clearing for I thought I was not ready to handle such an encounter. I left in such a hurry that I forgot to grab my robe. Running through the woods at lightning speed like I normally do passing trees and rocks, felt all of a sudden differently. I made it to the clearing where I had my stump. I stop to catch my breath. As I finally caught it I turned around again to see the same eye staring back at me from behind a different tree at the edge of the clearing. I saw her and she saw me.Then I used my flash pulse technique. I was still trying to perfected it before all this. A technique where I could moved almost at the speed of sound. I used it to get to a tree behind her. Flash pulse put a terrible strain on my body but it was worth it now I have the upper hand. I could see her looking around for where I went to and that's when I got closer to confront her.

"Why are you spying on me. You do know it's dangerous out here don't you," I exclaimed.

"Holy! How did you get here? How did you get behind me?"she asked.

"Shut up! I'm asking the questions around here. why are you spying on me," I said angrily. "okay! okay! I was wondering around the forest when I heard something. So I came to check it out. Then I saw you taking a bath in the lake and I realize you're not  from around here. So after you were done with your bath I was going to come up to you," she explained.

"Stay out of my forest!" I smeared "Get out of here now!"

she began to run back towards the river. I took a deep breath, and went back to my stump the sun would be setting soon and I need to get food.

Later that night I was sleeping at the foot of my stump like I always do, but inside my dreams a storm was raging. I saw myself in so much pain, trapped by chains, while I was in flames. I saw people fighting each other blood running down their faces, and me not being able to help. I also saw a man with such compassion. It was freezing and my body was also shivering next to my stump. I thought for sure, I would have died there from the cold but the next morning I woke up. There was a red blanket on top of me. Also next to me was folded up blue jeans and a black hoodie. I smelled the blanket and it had the same scent as the girl from yesterday. I was angry that she came back but I was thankful that she did or I would have died from the cold. I put on the hoodie and jeans even though it took me a little bit to figure out how they worked. That's when I saw her again staring from behind the same tree our eyes meeting again.

She waved at me from behind the tree and then proceeded to shout out.

"Hey is it alright if I come into the clearing," she shouted.

I thought to myself. "I shouldn't let her in, but she did kind of just save my life." So I waved her on in.

she walked up to me, and said. "hello again. how are you feeling after such a cold night. I'm glad I thought about you, or you could have frozen to death without that blanket."

"Thank you for that. I would not be alive if it wasn't for you at that moment," I perceived. "How can I make it up to you."

"If you tell me your name, and we can be friends. I will call us even," she offered.

"Okay these terms are agreeable," I agreed. "I guess I am Hunter. What is your name?"

"My name is Cara. It's nice to meet you hunter," she assured.

That's where my life took a turn. For weeks on she came to visit me. We shared stories, played games, and had a lot of fun. The days used to creep by, but now they flew by. Even Tryn, and Kiera did not mind the change too much, and life just kept on going. In my spare time when she wasn't around I would hunt down, and kill the monsters of the forest to make sure she has safe passage to my forest clearing. I didn't have to hunt animals anymore for food because She brought me all the food I needed. I showed her around the entire forest. Telling her the names I gave to places. She told me about her town, and a place that she referred to a school. I showed her things in the night sky, and she taught me some history and math.

Then I told her my secret. I told her everything. I told her about the monsters, I told her about my inner power and and I even told her how I got here in the first place. At first she didn't understand but eventually she accepted and actually thought it was pretty cool. This made me think she was a wonderful person and everyday was more beautiful than the last. Even my out look on the forest got better. The forest was calm and protected. Even the first day arrived it wasn't like that. It was perfect... It was Paradise... and it was love... or at least it would have been...

But one day we're walking back to my stump.

"Hey I'll race you back to the stump, but you have to run like a human being So no cheating with your flash pulse alright," Cara challenged.

"Okay you're on!" I shouted and took off for the stump.

We ran through the forest as fast as our legs could carry us. The wind blowing through our hair with the sun on our faces. I ran through the clearing, and touched the stump first with Cara right on my tail. Then something happened that I did not expect. The sunset completely, and the moon rose. We heard howling from something circling the Forest Clearing. Without warning a werewolf broke the boundaries of the clearing.

I screamed out. "Cara stay behind me!"

I charged at the werewolf with all my might, but he hit me aside with little effort. Throwing me into the trees lining the clearing. The werewolf got closer to Cara, but then I did the only thing I could do to save her. I awakened my inner strength. This was the first time I ever used it in front of Cara. My eyes began to glow, my hands and feet change to claws, and I was enraged. I flash pulse to the spot in between the werewolf and Cara. I hit the werewolf  as hard as I could with my claws but it didn't effect it at all. so I kept striking the werewolf but it shrug them off like they were nothing. It started fighting back but I was too quick and nimble for it to hit me again. The fight could be heard throughout all of the forest. Halfway through I was on my last leg and there was no possible way I could win, so I called upon even more Inner Strength. At this point my quickness was slowed and I started taking quite a lot of hits. I could feel myself slipping away. I grew a tail, and ears right before it took over completely and then everything went black.

Here I was again in a strange place. This time standing up on the water. Looking up to see a beautiful blue moon above me.

Before long I heard Tryn begin to speak. "You Idiot! You overdid it. You need to learn control."

 "He did what he could but it wasn't enough," Kiera responded.

 "You're weak! How are you going to protect her in such a sorry state," Tryn interjected.

I ignored them both. Staring up at the Moon inside my mind. I thought of everything that happened to my life. All of the monsters that I killed to keep the forest safe appeared, and were standing around me. I looked around to see all of their dead faces. I began to scream up to the Moon of my mind. Tears came from my eyes as I let out a howl that could be heard all throughout time and space. My howl shook the water and split the Moon. Destroying this place from the inside out. The darkness returned.

When I finally came to, I was still in the clearing. I stood up and dusted myself off. My entire body was in pain, but I was surprised I was not dead. I looked around for a couple moments, and notice that there was a werewolf corpse laying there but I could not find Cara. I followed her Scent and I found her outside the clearing scratched, cut and face first in the dirt. She was clearly dead. So I ran as fast and far as I could. Which led to me destroying a lot of the trees of the Forest in pure rage. That is when, I saw a silhouette among the trees. I ran at it. I was going to murder whatever got in my way, but the Silhouettes grabbed me. The Silhouettes hit me in the back of the neck knocking me out.
They were taking me somewhere, but I do not know where. This was the first time since my parents drop me off at the forest that I actually got to leave it.
No more hunting...
No more monsters...
No more pain...
I was finally free.

I was taken to some facility where I awoke in Chains, and I had people staring at me through glass windows. The entire room was white tile, and smelled like cleaning chemicals. I resign there for many weeks. People came in occasionally to give me food, and water. The first couple days I didn't want any of it, but after awhile I realized if I was going to survive I would need to eat and drink. Instead of talking to anyone at the facility I just growled at them. This kept most people out of my room, but one guy came and always sat in the corner of the room. He reek of the smell of different type bones rotting. I thought he just wanted to add me to his collection, but everyday he came and sat. He would always talk to me even though I would never answer. He would ask me how it was going, and he would always tell me stories. Eventually I took a liking to this character.

One day when he was talking to me he said the weirdest thing. "Tell me your name and we can be friends."

I looked up at him. He walked over and removed my chains.

"I guess I am Hunter. What is your name?" I said.

 "My name is Aiden, it's nice to meet you," he responded.

From that day forward I joined an organization called The Order Of Secrets. I joined Aiden's company of acolytes called Backbreaker and when on missions to fight the monsters of the world and to keep it safe from the things that lurk in the dark. I learned how to control my power with a lot of training. Eventually I made peace with the death of Cara, and I figured out there were others like me. Other wolf shamans. Now that I'm free it's time to enjoy freedom.