Chapter 13 – The Protection of a Wolf

Lumina’s POV

It is a strange thing to be both awake and asleep at the same time, contradictory even. But I had little want or need to ponder this development.

Instead, I was trying to search my memories. Upon inspection, they felt…fragmented. I remembered small details: I was a dragon, my power was unique and strange, I was the Dragoness Heir. However, I couldn’t remember where I was, why I was in this odd state, and who the current Dragon Queen was.

I tried to recall these illusive memories, but they slipped from my grasp. I knew they were there, I knew that my memories were incomplete, I knew I had to recall them. But they never came.

Despite my state of both slumber and wakefulness, I was still able to sense small fragments of my surroundings.

First came the feeling of terror, relief, and evil. Then as soon as it came, it left. The years swept by after that, I lost track after a while. For all I know it could have been one year, or one millennia.

Second came the feeling of excitement, joy, and innocence. It was a strange contrast to the previous sense I felt. Thankfully, it did not leave immediately. In fact, more senses flooded me, and I was certain that I was never alone.

One sense came more often than others. If I had to describe it, it was the feeling of joy and innocence. Identical to that of before. I often bathed in the radiance that this sense emitted, basking in a glow that managed to rival the sun.

But this radiance didn’t last.

After a short while, the sense stopped flooding me, and I was once again alone.

I had felt lonely before meeting this joyful sun, but upon its prolonged absence…I started to feel empty. This sinking feeling consumed me, and once again I lost track of time. But I was sure that this time, centuries passed me by.

New senses constantly bathed me, shooting through in waves of hundreds. Some were wild, others tame; some were a strong flame, others a weak spark. Yet, they were nothing compared to the joy that had long since left me.

Within these centuries I came upon a sense that was eerily strong. It was similar to the wild powers that I had long since ran into. But it was much more refined, and much, much stronger. While it didn’t fill the void in my heart, it at least ignited a small flame of interest.

Once again, I found myself counting the times in which this power visited. It was always accompanied by various flames of wild, untamed power, but they were dwarfed in comparison. They sometimes changed, and sometimes didn’t, but they were always wild.

I anchored my sense of time to this being, using its visits as a marker to stop me going insane.

In the time between the visits, I studied my predicament. From my incomplete memories, I was able to piece together that whatever condition I was in was not natural. Dragons were beings that ascended into the sky, and ruled the air above and land below. We were not meant to be caged within our own minds.

Whenever the power visited, it would always snake its way towards me, coercing me to acknowledge its presence. I didn’t fully understand why, or how it had done so. None had done so before, or at least not successfully.

Still studying both my memories and condition, I was interrupted by the annual visits of weak power.

I was able to sense various traits: arrogance, excitement, power, weakness. All flooded into my receptive mind. But then, one sense caught my attention.

It was ever changing, but always unique. Memories clicked into place for me, reminding me of my core, and the ability for me to find other cores as well.

I did exactly that, and peering into this strange, changing power. It had a strange assortment of colour. Various shades of reds, greens and blues were entwined around the core of their magic. Which, upon glancing at my own white shaded power, was a striking comparison.

I examined my power much more closely now, curious as to why I had not been able to gaze upon it earlier. It was a shining light amidst the void that surrounded it. Its various strands, swirled slowly but thickly, meshing together with each other as they did so.

It was then that I noticed something odd – my power…was not alone.

Uncased within the power, lay a pure white wolf. I should have questioned as to why it lay within, but instead, I was enamoured by its steady breathing.

More memories clicked into place, why I watched the wolf. Pieces of my past came to me, and assured me of the wolf’s presence, my wolf’s presence.

After recalling my memories, I reached out with my mind, steadily closing in on my wolf.  Within moments, I felt my mind brushing against my core, touching the strange glowing mass. In doing so, my wolf suddenly awakened.

Her eyes were clouded with panic and terror, and I couldn’t understand why. I tried to calm it by lightly brushing her fur, but it achieved nothing.

Panic still clouding its gaze, it began pacing, eyeing my core’s inner walls. After a few moments, she burst through my core, and took hold of my mind.

She then forced my eyes open, and I realised I was encased in some sort of clear gem. I noticed my power leaking out as my wolf battered against the walls of my prison, leaving small cracks scattered throughout it.

Leaving my wolf to her work, I scanned the room, I didn’t like what I saw. Hundreds of people of all manner of races lay before me. Sweeping my gaze across the room I examined their power. Luckily they all seemed relatively weak, so I had little cause for concern.

But then, my gaze widened as it rested on one lone human. Her hair was jet black with eyes that glowed a faint ruby red. It seemed so…familiar.

But I had little time to ponder further as my wolf completed her work. The gem exploded, no longer able to handle the building pressure.

Then I felt it – a large wave of familiar magic dispelled in the wake of the shattered gem.

Fragments of my memories crashed together, fusing and moulding to become whole. Then I understood, then I knew, then I remembered.

Mother… I sobbed.

My mind broke, my magic exploded from my core, brushing against various nearby cores as it did so.

I couldn’t think, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t even function. So I let my wolf seize control.

Sorrow engulfed my mind, How did this happen? I thought.

Vaguely aware of my surroundings, I noticed my wolf roar in sorrow.

Weren’t we the strongest? Weren’t we indestructible?

I vaguely registered various strong sources of power burst into the room, and various weak ones leaving.

She left me…she died…why didn’t she let me die with her?

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“—at me.”

How dare she leave me alone!

“—look at me.”

How dare she die on me!

“Lumina, look at me!”

Both my wolf and I agreed, as we snarled in response to the voice.

I then took in my surroundings. Various fully grown wolves were scattered within the hall, prowling around me as they snarled.

“Enough!” A small girl snapped, and the wolves quieted.

The girl was tiny, but beautiful. A fragile beauty of white hair, wolf ears, and amber eyes. If I wasn’t careful I might crush her with one of my paws. Which I might do, if she dared order me to do something again.

Her order was strange, and I realised that despite my anger at her, I did exactly what she demanded. Strange, it didn’t feel much like magic. In fact, I did it mostly on instinct.

The girl stared at me. No fear or uncertainty within her amber eyes, only authority. I found myself wanting to obey her every whim. My sorrow was a distant memory as I studied this strange girl, curiosity somewhat clouding my grief.

She used my name, I thought.

Ordering my wolf to back off, but not retreat, I took hold of my mind once again, “How do you know my name?” I asked, growling and snarling due to my dragon form.

“Because it is my duty.” Vague. She reminds me of that strange boy from my dreams, Janus.

Shrugging off her evasive answer, I decided to shift. Logically I should have remained a dragon, but this girl just felt safe. Like I would come to no harm, regardless of my form.

I let my magic surround me and quickly shifted to my Beastman form. It was an odd feeling to go from towering over the girl, to becoming her exact same height. But regardless, I let my wolf once again take over, trusting her to protect me if things should tur for the worst.

The girl’s gaze softened as I did so, as if she knew I let my wolf take over.

“You don’t have to be so nervous around me, child.” She stated, confirming my suspicions.

I found myself once again wanting to believe her, but I pushed aside those feelings, too wary to let them guide me.

She reached out a hand, trying to grasp my shoulder. But my wolf jumped us back – covering metres in seconds – and let out a ferocious snarl in response.

“Calm.” She stated, and I felt my muscles relax slightly, “You will come to no harm from me.”

Neither my wolf nor I still trusting her, we tensed our muscles again, snarling as we did so.

Knitting her brow, the girl said again, “Calm.” Her voice soothing me once again.

I didn’t like that, I didn’t trust her. Every word she said demanded obedience. It dripped with promises of protection. But nothing can protect me, not from those things. I immediately regretted shifting to my Beastman form, but now I couldn’t change back.

My wolf was in total agreement, and took total control of my body, preventing me from shifting back to our strongest form. She backed us up slightly and rested on the balls of our feet. I felt our teeth grow larger and sharper as we did so. Then my wolf glared at the girl, and released a menacing growl, warning her to back off.

The girl however didn’t do so, and instead ordered, “Enough.” Her amber eyes were swimming with a mixture of worry, dominance, and pity.

My wolf then began darting our eyes around the room, looking for any and all exits, but found none not already covered by numerous wolves.

The girl took a step forward, earning a louder, and more vicious growl. My wolf stepped up to meet her, not daring to back down. The girl said nothing, merely meeting my panicked glare with that same mixture of emotions.

She took another step, to which my wolf greeted with a snap and another step of our own.

The girl then gave a loud sigh, closing her eyes for a brief moment before snapping back to me. All pity was absent from her gaze now, and only unrelenting dominance rested in the amber of her eyes. Her teeth lengthened, her eyes turned feral, and she started growling in response to my disobedience. Clearly she let her own wolf out to play.

The girl grew as her wolf came out, changing from a small girl, to a fully grown woman. It was a strange sight, watching her limbs, torso and face change before my eyes. It looked rather painful, but the girl, now a woman, showed nothing of it if it did.

My wolf was still growling however, even if weaker and more frightened than before.

The woman’s wolf then titled her head, obviously confused at our behaviour. Perhaps now that she was out, she expected me to immediately back down. Not missing a beat, the woman began taking long strides to my position, no longer small and tentative in her steps.

My wolf was slightly shocked at the complete difference of her attitude, but didn’t take long to recover. She lunged at the woman, who in turn widened her eyes in response, obviously not expecting us to react so violently. To her credit, however, she recovered in record time. Meeting my wolf’s flurry of tooth and claw.

My wolf burst our hand out fast, aiming to rip the woman’s throat out with claws that replaced nail. However the girl caught us in mid-strike and with a sharp movement, had us with our back facing her. My wolf looked back the woman, glaring daggers into her amber eyes.

“Enough. I don’t wish to harm you, child.” She said, eyes softening slightly before returning to their feral state.

Obviously, we didn’t comply. Instead opting to shift our weight and give a sharp kick to the woman’s knee. However, instead of the expected buckle that should have followed, nothing happened.

It did not escape her notice though, and with a sharp push had us pinned to the ground. Before we could react, her fangs then closed around our neck, lightly pressing against our throat. We went completely slack then, not daring to contest the obvious message.

“Good.” She stated after pulling away from our throat. She then gestured to one of the black wolves, and it stalked up to us. “Get on, we have much to talk about.”

Still not trusting her completely, but not daring to argue, my wolf complied with her order.

As we climbed onto the wolf, I thought back to my fear upon finding the woman’s fangs upon my neck.

I was afraid. Perhaps I wasn’t so sure about following my mother to the grave just yet. But if that is the case, what should I do? What would Mother had wanted me to do?

As I passed the huge doors of the room, riding the black wolf, I pondered, What do I have to live for?

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Author Note

Day late from what I promised, but I had an unexpected RL thing.

However, here it is.

There may be a few mistakes, so if you find any, be sure to tell me.