Leo and Heidi

Sternenberg, Switzerland

Needless to say, Leo did not stop bickering in disbelief. Their destination? A farm just outside a small town in Switzerland! Never did he dream to make it to this beautiful and peaceful country under such dire pretenses. Who knew that Switzerland was the place that the oldest living European werewolf chose as his home?

When Seb did not cave in and explain more about this mysterious Peter Stump, saying that Leo will see for himself, Leo gave up on trying to squeeze out any more information from the old mage. Without a phone, he was left to his own devices to imagine what the oldest supernatural being in Europe was like.

‘Why are we even going there?’ he thought, thinking it too weird that Seb did not want to divulge the reason for this lengthy trip at all. Sure, staying in Germany seemed like a losing bet given that the Church managed to find them in the middle of nowhere. He did recognize, at some level, it was his fault.

‘Let’s face it. I did try to cast large and flashy spells when I was supposedly in hiding,’ he thought to himself, while looking outside the car window. He saw a large sign ‘Entering Switzerland’, meaning they got over the border between Germany and Switzerland, with no cop car or toll booth cop stopping them.

“Hey, do charms work on a casual passerby?” he asked Heidi, who was sitting next to him now.

She looked at him for a second, and parted a lock of her platinum hair behind her ear, before saying, “But of course, that is how they are designed to work. So that the masses, especially the muds, do not notice you.”

He nodded silently and noted that she looked more disheveled than usual, the road undoubtedly getting to her. There were no hot showers or both at old Hans's house, just a cold bucket of water. While in the old days it could do wonders for the farm workers, nowadays a girl needed something more to stay fresh. ‘I wonder, is there a spell or concoction to clean me straight up? I would call it crystal wash,” he chucked to himself silently but did not ask anyone’s opinion.

Turning back to his thoughts, Leo tried to remember what happened in the fight between the Bishop and Seb but alas to no luck. It seemed that the memory was blocked for some reason, or it was not there at all. Remembering the fight, he recalled how useless he felt, which hardened his resolve to get back to his training and meditation to proceed in the core levels. To do everything possible in order not to feel so useless again in a fight that was fought on his behalf.

Leo was starting to recognize that, while Seb fit the nice uncle type pretty well, it did nothing to explain why he was literally risking his skin and neck for him—taking in a fugitive? Sure, that is easy. Just hide them away in the middle of the forest and all will be fine. Fighting an honest to god battle of magic, at the risk of dying? Not so much. It made his neck itch for some reason. As if something was being left out.

He did not notice when he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of dark eldritch lighting thundering above his core, rocking his mana channels. Mesmerized he stared at the dreamscape and took all the details in. The vast core space was, as before, connected to somewhere. ‘Universe…,’ he thought in his dream and looked above, finally seeing his funnel connecting to the stars above. ‘These were not there before,’ he noted.

It was a bizarre experience for Leo, though not the first. He had experienced sleep paralysis and lucid dreams before, though rarely. All of their nightmares. Seven long, black figures looking at him in a circle, each of them with distinct features and giving off a sinister feeling. As if he was the sinner and was being judged.

This dream was different. It was so clear as if he was back in his core space while meditating. He doubted that he could have gone back there unconsciously while simply sleeping, though he felt that anything was possible given that he had just glimpsed at the mage world.

Willing himself to fly, Leo rose upwards and followed the mana funnel, observing the specks of mana filtering downwards to what he supposed was his core. He noted that here in the dream the flow was much faster. Not only that - everything was much clearer.

As he rose towards the stars, the lightning became more frequent, casting black and white something around him. It almost looked and felt like a light, but he knew that there was no such thing as black light.

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As he got near the stars, he noticed that they kept getting away, though the funnel stayed clear, and soon it uncoiled and joined a much larger flow of something white that stretched deep through the stars. He also noticed that his funnel was connected to the raging flow of white, although barely, just touching it. It reminded him of a river.

He rose closer to the place of connection and touched it with his hand, willing it to stick closer to the raging river, some instinct pulling him to do so. He saw that the funnel narrowed down and became thin as a thread. After what seemed like a second, it jolted, and connected to the raging river. Then everything went white.

Leo jolted awake and felt a slight pull on his core, which went away as soon as it appeared. Shaking his head he looked around and noticed that they slowed down and started driving down a dirt road of some kind, leading them into a thick pine forest. Looking upwards at the sky, he saw that the night was closing in and dusk was setting in the forest.

Leo turned to the right and noticed that Heidi was sleeping soundlessly. At the front, Evan had his head lolling to the side, slight drool flowing out of his mouth. Seb was driving slowly through the narrow dirt road. “Are you sure we are going the right way?” he asked quietly, looking Seb in the eye, which was looking back at him through the rear mirror.

Seb paused for a second and answered quietly, “Sure we are. Or what? Do you think that the wolves would live in the city and own a sports store? No, they need a place to run when the moon hits full. Preferably in a controlled environment, owned by them. Not many such places left, you know.”

Leo frowned, “I thought the Church would have eradicated all of them. Cannot risk the masses and all that you know?”

Seb chuckled slightly, continuing to look ahead at the darkened road, illuminated by the crossover’s headlights, and responded, “If only it was that easy. Were there not such individuals as Peter, they would have had their way. Or if the Pope would have stepped in personally. Neither of which was the case. They were lucky, I guess.” He shrugged and continued to drive.

When night finally hit, they approached the end of the forest road, and Seb pulled the car to a stop. This prompted both sleepers to wake up, Evan wiping away his droll before anyone could notice. At least that is what he thought.

Seb turned around to ensure everyone had woken up and said, “Listen up kiddos. We are literally going to walk in the wolf’s den. There are old customs to be followed. Especially, as we have come uninvited, as you understand.”

Heidi frowned at her uncle, but kept quiet as more instructions followed. “Do not look them straight in the eye,” he said. “That is the number one rule. Especially, as the moon now is approaching full. No need to trigger their innate instinct and answer your challenge. Next, do not wander off from your rooms, provided that we will make it so far.”

Evan interrupted him, “What makes you say that? They're gonna do what? Eat us?”

Seb looked at him for a few seconds and answered, “No, boy. They are not going to eat us. Best case? They are going to take us in and listen to our case. If not, I hope they will let us leave. See, they are not fond of the mages, though I hope to rectify that by presenting our boy mage here.” Seb said and pointed with a thumb to the now serious-looking Leo. “So let me do the talking.”

“And why is that?” Leo asked, concerned that he was used as a pawn in a game he did not understand.

“Because boy. Wolves notoriously hate mages from the clans. More so from the Church, as they have been taking away their land since the middle ages, confining them to few territories. Old Peter remembers how things were before. I am hoping that he recognizes that you are not from the clans. That you are a free mage. One he most likely has not seen for centuries.”

“And if he does not?” Heidi asked.

“Then you run. I would say take the car and run, but alas we are in the middle of the forest. Not much luck there. Just run. I will try to keep them off as long as possible,” he answered, face serious. “This is not a joke. If this goes poorly we are left without options.”

Everyone nodded in understanding. Seeing that he had made his point, Seb put the gear back in drive and slowly rolled forward on the dirt road leading up to a large wooden gate. It reminded Leo of something out of western movies, one that looked to hold the cattle in. As Seb opened the window, Leo proved to be correct, the smell of cow manure hitting his nose from all around him.

“Why are you opening the window?” Leo asked. Seb did not look at him, just raised one finger in the air as something shuffled at the wooden gate and jumped over it.

“Evening,” a voice said, suddenly next to the open window. A large man, in a red checkered working shirt, tilted his baseball cap forward, as if in a greeting. The man was huge, even when crouching, nearing three meters, Leo noted. He had bushy black and pepper hair, and a greyish beard. His eyes seemed to glow yellowish, as you would see on an animal if the light was being cast in their eyes in the dark.

“Good evening,” Seb said calmly, showing his hands. “I seek refuge with your Alpha under the old pacts. We come bearing important news.”

The man growled quietly and said, “Ah, the pacts. We do not welcome one such as you, mage.” He looked at Evan, then at Heidi, his gaze settling on Leo. Then he did something that a human would not do. He sniffed the air behind Seb, his eyes widening. Noticing this, Seb continued, “As you see, important news. No doubt your Alpha would want to hear.”

Taking another look at Seb, he growled, “So be it, mage.” Then he rose back up, showing his huge bulk, making Leo feel like the car he was sitting in was a toy next to the man. He went back toward the gate, jumped over it, and opened it up with ease, beckoning for them to drive through.

Seb hit the gas lightly and started to drive forward on the dark dirt road leading to the mysterious estate. Leo looked behind, to look at the man again, but he had vanished, without a sound. Looking through the darkness he noticed dozens of pairs of yellowish lights. Or was it eyes? Then a howl sounded in the dark.