William had to almost die from hypothermia to change into this form. He couldn’t help but feel apprehension at what Ares would do to him to facilitate his ability to change back into human form. William looked back once more through the forest. He couldn’t shake the guilt that he felt at what he had done to Nicolas. He was glad that he had mastered some control of himself at the end but by that point the damage had already been done. He felt a familiar ripple spread out over his mind. Let’s see who’s laughing when somebody does something like that to us. His other made no response at all and his mind was calm. William knew there was nothing he could do about Nicolas right then and even if he could do something he was sure that Ares would have issues with that. He turned back around and followed Ares through the forest.
The two walked for a time in silence. William was thinking about his fight and trying to figure out what he could do in the future to prevent his other from taking control. The scary thing about this last time is that he was almost unaware of his other taking control. He wanted to keep pounding that guy into the ground. His other was getting stronger and more sophisticated with each new attack. Even now, he was unable to sense the definitive boundaries of the knot of emotions that was his other. For obvious reasons this scared him.
Ares walked deeper into the forest and William followed. William was aware of the dimming light that shone around him. Night would be here soon but Ares continued walking. The two walked for a long time. William became aware, not for the first time, that this forest was a lot bigger than he had originally thought. Ares made his way through the forest and in no place in particular he sat down with his back up against a tree.
William looked down at his teacher. Ares had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping. William was completely lost. Ares was supposed to show him how to change back into his human form. Instead, Ares had led him to the middle of nowhere and then just fallen asleep. William looked around. The cavern ceiling was darkening very quickly now, and he was able to pick out individual flecks of luminescence in the ceiling. This place really was beautiful at night. He could be outside the shape shifter city and back in his valley. But he knew that he wasn’t in his valley, and he had work to do.
He looked down at Ares once more. The wolf was sleeping, his chest rising rhythmically and deeply with each breath. William was amazed that Ares could sleep like that. He had tried to sleep comfortably sitting up, but he was never able to do it. He had always had to lie down. He shook his head and cleared his mind of those thoughts. Looking around at the surrounding trees he had no idea how he was going to accomplish that job at all.
He looked back down at Ares. “Thanks for nothing, teacher,” he said it under his breath but he knew that if Ares was awake, he would have heard it. Ares might be awake now but William didn’t care.
William knew what he had to do, change back into his human form. As he thought about that he realized that this was the only way for Ares to do it. Looking at his sleeping teacher he understood what Ares was trying to do.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
William stood there and thought about himself being human. After several minutes of envisioning himself as a human again he said to himself. “It was worth a try.” He stood there for another minute or so and then, “Ok well that didn’t work, not that I expected it too. Let’s see… change back, back into a human.” Nothing happened.
William was standing in a ridiculous pose of a mime trying to push something impossible heavy. He laughed at himself and shook his body for a few seconds. “I guess I can’t shed my werewolf form either.”
Over the next few hours, he tried everything from standing on his head, to talking to his other for extended periods of time. Nothing got him any closer to changing back into a human. He even tried to wake up his teacher for some advice. He had tried to shove Ares over but Ares was securely positioned against that tree and even his werewolf strength wasn’t enough to move the living rock that Ares had become.
The surrounding light had dimmed, and he was able to pick out all the individual flecks in the ceiling of the underground cavern. He looked at them and pretended that they really were stars and he was outside in the cool breeze of the night. He looked down at his sleeping teacher and stopped. Maybe there was a connection between how he had changed into a werewolf and how he could change back into a human. He slapped himself upside the head for not thinking about this earlier. It would have to be something from the inside. He had never been conscious for the transformation back into a human being he had always been asleep. But he had slept through the night, and he was still in werewolf form.
The thought had taken hold of him though and he was not going to let himself talk him out of trying it. Besides it had to be better than standing around here making an idiot out of himself. He felt a slight ripple wash out over his mind. You like that, do you? He was getting irritated at the comments that his other would make at his expense just by laughing at him. Well, he couldn’t worry about that right now. He had to figure this thing out. With a determination in his step, that he wished he could say he felt, he walked over to a nearby tree and sat down in the dirt. He was facing Ares and he let his eyes close.
William allowed his body to relax. He started by letting his hands unclench and relax. He concentrated on his shoulders and his breathing. His arms relaxed and he felt his legs shift from under him as he let them relax. He tried to make himself as solid and relaxed as Ares was. Behind the blackness of his closed eyelids, he began to feel himself sinking down into his body. The dark void that was his closed eyes seemed to be getting higher and bigger. As he continued to breathe deeply, he let himself relax more and he felt like he was falling deeper into himself. His arms and legs felt like they stretched out for a mile or two each and he was a very small thing, inhabiting the impossibly huge space that had become his body.
He found himself in an empty forest. He looked up and saw stars, actual stars not flecks in an underground cavern ceiling. He looked around and instantly knew where he was. I’m back in my valley. The idea that he was back home was impossible, but he was happy to be here. He looked down at himself and saw that he was human once more. His white arms and legs reflected the moon and starlight. He ran his fingers through his brown hair and looked over his forest with his human eyes.