He came to realize that there was light building around him, filling the room. He lifted himself up and looked around and he was aware that he was surrounded by people and wolves. The light continued to increase around him. Even so, the light was becoming painful to his eyes. As soon as his mind registered the pain though, the light ceased to increase around him. He lifted himself to his feet and studied this new room.

The first person he saw was Mr. Davis. The large man was standing behind a rather old group of people with his arms crossed in front of him. There was an old man who was sitting in a large ornate chair almost directly in front of him. The chair towered over his head in an elaborate head piece that featured two fish chasing each other in a circle being watched by a wolf overhead. The man’s head was covered with a few wispy hairs but otherwise he was bald. He was clean shaven and was unmistakably Asian of some kind.

The old man was flanked on either side by other people and wolves. There was a small, old, but self-possessed, female red wolf sitting on a raised platform to his left. To her immediate left sat a very proud but also very old and much larger grey and white timber wolf, also sitting on a raised platform. To his left sat a man who looked no younger than the old man. However, even though his face was deeply creased with the wrinkles of old age, he still had a full head of hair. It had grayed to the point of being almost white, but it was there. That man was wearing a charcoal grey suit jacket over a black turtleneck shirt that reached up to his chin.

Looking back towards the center and the bald man’s right, sat a woman in a much less ornate chair. The head rest barely crested her head and he couldn’t see anything of the chair except for the plush comfortable looking blue seat cushion and the simple arm rests. She was sitting up straight in her chair. Her dark hair flowed down to her waist, as it showered down past her shoulders. Her dark eyes were deep and penetrating. Her skin was darkly tanned to a rich brown. She was wearing a sky-blue dress that left her right shoulder bare. The blue fabric was adorned with golden stars and sunbursts.

She gave him an appraising look and suddenly he didn’t care who else was in the room. He barely registered the older woman sitting to her right who looked just as old as the others that were seated in the room. She was wearing a simple peach colored skirt with a white blouse; her hair had also gone almost completely white but he could not pull his eyes off of the beautiful dark woman.

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The old man in the center broke the silence before he had any real chance to stare at her. “William, welcome to the mountain.” His voice was raspy, like dried river reeds would sound if you were to brush them against each other. His voice sounded old, and something told him that this man was probably older than William dared to believe. The fact that the old man knew his name barely registered.

“What is this place?” William’s mind was a hailstorm of questions and he saw his chance to get some of them answered.

The old man looked over to his right and shared a knowing glance with the beautiful woman to his right. He turned back to him with a smile on his face. The woman had a look of wry amusement on her face as well.

“William, this is a city of the shape shifters. My name is Huan Li. I am the first speaker amongst the Elders.” The old man motioned to those that were seated around him. Huan was in the center and he motioned to the wolves and the people sitting around him. William took the time to study the beautiful woman to Huan’s right. She is way too young and beautiful to be an Elder. She is a child next to all these older people. It was true. She looked to be about his age but the other Elders sitting in their chairs looked every bit as old as Huan did.

“I see some confusion on your face, young William. Perhaps you are wondering how a beautiful young woman earned a seat with all of us decrepit old farts?” William couldn’t argue that that was a question that just so happened to pop in his head. “You don’t have to say anything, I already know. You might even live long enough to find out that answer one day.”

William jerked his head back at the reproach that stung as if the old man had slapped him. Had he insulted the elders in some way by having the audacity to want to ask questions? There was such a huge contradiction sitting right in front of his face, how could he not want to ask questions?

Huan sat there with a wry smile on his face and shared another look with the woman to his right. William took the time to glance around the rest of the room. The space was filling with light. It was brighter now than it was when he first entered this room. Aside from the six that were seated in front of him, the room only held five other beings. Mr. Davis and four werewolves, three greys stood behind the old people and one giant brown one stood behind him. It might have been Ares but he couldn’t be sure and he didn’t want to turn around to confirm his suspicion.

“William, we know that you have been through a lot. The trials you have passed through were a test, nothing more. You performed admirably.”

“What was the point of those tests?” William asked.

“As infants newly born to this world we must crawl our way out of the darkness. As it was in our birth so too it must be in our rebirth.”