Aahh... so you have come to find me, seeking me out. Here I stand. So what shall you do? Run from me, like most do? Or sit and listen to my tale? You have yet to decide...
I was born a blue lupe in a small village far north. I had one sister, a red lupe named Falayei. We were isolated, and living was hard in the harsh, frigid weather, and the deadly beasts that lived nearby came to us often, hunting us. But life goes on, and we flourished as much as one could in such an evironment.
I lived this simple, happy life for seventeen years. It wasn't entirely safe, but it was life as I knew it, and for all I knew, it would go on like that forever.
But happiness can never last. For me, it was the small, wavering candle flame that waited to be... and was... snuffed by the dark hand of misery, of hunger, of transformation, of death. We were doomed from the start. If something were to happen to our little village, who would know? Who would help? All we could do was hope for the light and pray the darkness would never come.
But after the day, the midnight darkness always descends...
I remember it perfectly. It was midnight. I was in my little bedroll, suddenly awoken, and I heard snarls, roars, screams, and clawing at the walls. My dad told me to stay inside, and he grabbed a sword and ran outside. I heard a man's scream, a blood-curdling howl, and I never saw him again. I couldn't resist, I had to see what was happening. I ran outside.
Werewolves were attacking the village! One, a gray-brown monster, glared at me and bounded toward me. A pendant hung from his neck. I picked up a spear and started stabbing wildly. Then the beast clawed my back, making three stripes down it, now scars. I slew the werewolf, and proceeded to destroy the others.
Soon, they all lay dead. The full moon gleamed down at me, unwelcoming. I saw a shadow kougra lying dead, and recognized the mangled body of the village shaman. I felt a sudden dread. Then I saw another dead body, a rainbow lupe, my mother. When I looked into her gray eyes, dead eyes, I instantly knew something was very wrong. An eerie chill crept over me as I surveyed the battlefield.
They were dead. They were all dead.
I was alone.
I screamed in anguish. My past, my future, my life was torn from me. I did not see a dead red lupe, my sister. I did not even look for the body. I didn't want to see her dead, to look into her golden eyes that were likely now frozen, wide with a horror, horror that would never leave her face.
I walked over, back to my hut. I saw the dead werewolf next to the door. I noticed the pendant around its neck. I undid the clasp and took it off the werewolf. I studied it. It was a dark blue string with a werewolf's claw attached to the middle. I put it around my neck.
Excruciating pain shot down my legs, my arms, my head. My vision went foggy, and I fell to the bloody ground, clucthing my head. I screamed, and screamed, and screamed, and wished for it to stop, for it to all end...
Then it all stopped. I stood up, feeling ravenous. My eyesight was far better. I could see through the shadows and I could smell things I had never noticed before. Then I looked at my reflection in a puddle.
I had become a werewolf.
I was a dark browish-gray, with giant black claws and ivory fangs curving over my jaw. I was still wearing my pants, but they were now bloody and ripped, merely shreds. Only my eyes were the same, the same bright cyan, but now with a hopeless, miserable outlook. The amulet gleamed around my neck.
Then it hit me; I had to take off the pendant. Then I'd be a lupe again, then the horrible hunger would end. I went to take off the pendant... it was stuck, fastened to my neck forever, and I was never to walk as a lupe again.
I was doomed to be a werewolf forever...
I closed my eyes. If I had ever known defeat, this was it. It was hopeless; why did life go on? Why couldn't I just surrender, and give my life away? Why couldn't I be free? I begged for an answer.
Then, something clicked within my head. I opened my eyes, dark with a new resolve. Life was hunger, life was pain, life was curse. I was cursed too, now... cursed in the worst way possible. I would have to live remembering my failure every second, I would wake up being my own demise, my worst nightmare... so why brood over it? I was a werewolf now, and nothing would change it...
I ran off into the forest. The amulet flopped around my neck, the cursed black werewolf's claw eerily glowing red. I felt the wind at my face, the branches hitting my back, felt the hunger, the pain, but ignored it as much as I could. Memories danced in front of my frosty eyes, fading with every panting breath I took. I stopped at a pond to drink. As I stared at the unblinking face gazing back at me, I began to forget what I used to look like.
I was almost completely gone when I saw a red lupe running swiftly away from a giant rock snake. She seemed familiar... then it all hit me. The memories, the hunger, the pain was back. The red lupe... Falayei was still alive! The giant serpent was advancing on her, ready to strike. I roared and leapt forward, running as fast as my limbs would allow, and stabbed the snake in the heart a moment before its venemous fangs would have plunged into Falayei's skin.
She looked at me, and I gazed back. In that moment, I had to make her know it was me, or all would be lost. She would flee. I sifted through my brain, and tried to speak. But I only managed a snarl, and she ran away from me, screaming.
I tried to run after her, but the sun peeked from under a cloud on the horizon and I fell to the dirt in a self-induced stasis, unable to walk in the daylight, never to see the glorius brightness of the sun again.
Meanwhile, while I slept, Falayei heard a thud, looked back and saw me lying in the dirt. She stopped running and turned around, facing me. She cautiously took a step toward me, then when she realized I was unable to attack, she walked toward me. She coldly stared at me and pulled out a short silver dagger and aimed it at my throat. But she hesitated with the final blow. Falayei had always been too caring, too kind, and she could not stab my throat while I lay helpless, unable to even lift my arm to block the would-be-fatal blow. She turned and fled.
After the day ended, the darkness filled the sky, and the last traces of day were soom flushed from the indigo sky. I woke up from dreams of a happier time and winced, crushed from the sudden blow of reality. I had dreamed of being myself again, and I had dreamed so intensely, so long, that when I woke up, for a moment, it was like being transformed all again. I slowly stood up and analyzed the situation. I knew what had happened - Falayei could not stand murdering me, so she fled. I would have to give chase. There was no chance she could escape the northern Dark Forest unscathed.
I ran off into the night. The moon shone almost too bright to look at to my eyes, adjusted to the gloom as they were. My paws pounded, my tongue lolled, and I only thought, "Breathe, breathe, breathe...". I ran as if being pursued for my life... I had to save Falayei, I had to. She did not know what waited for her. It was a lopsided battle, looking for her. She could travel all the time, whereas I would never see the sun again and could only prowl when the moon shone down in the forest domain. I could run faster than her, but I was only guessing where she had gone. All I knew is that I had to save her... she was the only one who could save me...
It was about 3:00 in the morning when I found her. I was getting hopeless - I was famished, and it was only two hours until the sun rose; I knew that if she got another day's head start, I wouldn't have enough time to find her. I had saw some light, so I angled toward it. There was a little campfire with a red lupe sitting by it. I stopped running and stealthily sauntered over to a few fallen logs. I climbed up to a point where all of me but my face was masked by two other logs as quietly as possible and spied on her. I would make my move after I determined if her dagger was near enough to grab, or if I could block the way. If I was stabbed with silver, it was the end of me.
As I watched, the branch cracked and I fell. Twisting, I landed on all fours. With a sharp breath, Falayei twisted around and saw me. I cautiously took a few steps forward. She picked up the dagger and glared at me. There was pure hate in her golden eyes, I could see it. She would stab me through the heart if I got any closer. I raised both my paws above my head and took a step backward, making sure to keep eye contact. We stared at each other for a few minutes, before she lowered the dagger. The loathing faded from her eyes, and she quietly asked, "Who are you?".
I tried to reply, but at that moment the moon faded from the sky entirely and I collapsed into the dirt, never to walk under the sun-drenched sky again.
I woke up again at nightfall. I sighed. Three nights under the shadow of the curse, and I missed the sun already. I stood up, only to find myself tangled in a few blankets. I thrashed until they shrugged off me and got to my feet.
I saw a little fire and a red lupe sitting next to it, gazing at me testily, as if daring me to attack me. I was happy that my cursed luck had taken a turn; the fact that Falayei had decided to stay was incredible. We stared at each other for a few minutes. Finally, she spoke.
Quietly, she said, "Finally, you've woken. I had forgot you could only walk under the moon. What a terrible curse, never to see the glory of the sun as it ascends its heavenly path again... I doubt you can talk. If you could, you would have done so beforehand. And just as surely, I am positive you do not mean me harm and can understand speech." At this, I nodded vehemently. Anything to prove my docility. Seeing this, she said, "Are you you cursed? It seems so, as most werewolves simply turn back into what they truly are at daybreak, but you are permanently one..." Seeing my nodding continue, she said," I am terribly sorry for you... I see the pendant around your neck, and it looks enchanted. It's glowing. Is it stuck on you? That black thing that's glowing red... that's a werewolf claw! That settles it. And you can't get it off? We have both suffered... Werewolves killed my family, my village... my sister."
At this quote, I perked up and nodded violently, thumping my tail against the grass. The 'conversation' was going in the right direction, but this was a chance unlikely to ever come back.
Looking at my desperate behavior, a spark rose in Falayei's golden eyes. "What are you getting at... if only I knew what you were saying. It would almost seem that-" Her eyes opened wide, and she threw herself at me, flung her arms around my neck, sobbed into my coarse fur. "Falayi," she sobbed. "It's you, I know it's you. Oh, what happened? How did you survive?
As I embraced my sister, the only one who could see through my mask of darkness, I wished I could respond...
I don't know how long we stood there, hugging each other. I was tainted, shrouded, but never hidden from Falayei, the only person I had left. Finally, I broke the embrace, looking down. I wished Falayei didn't have to see me looking like this, so tainted by darkness. I didn't know what to do... half of me wanted to flee, the other more rational half of me knowing I had to set aside my shame and protect her. I sighed, the sound coming out as a half sigh, half snarl. Falayei didn't seem alarmed this time. I wondered for a second how she managed not to flee with a repulsive enchanted monster snarling at you. Then I walked over to the edge of her camp, careful not to look at the fire. The light made me sleepy. It had to be something to do with the necklace. I sat in the darkness, in the shadow of a tree, lying between the forest and the fire. Falayei stared at me sadly, then looked away slightly. I couldn't see very well in the light. Even a candle flame was near blinding to my eyes. Even if I could stay awake in the daylight, it would be torture. And I would still never see the sun again...
Falayei was quiet for a while, staring at the last glowing embers of the dying fire. After a while, she looked at me and said quietly, "I thought you were dead...". I nodded slowly. I didn't want to talk about the village. As much as I tried to block them, memories began to flash through my mind; having my back torn open, my mother lying dead; seeing my reflection after putting on the necklace. I shut my eyes, but my failure still danced in front of my eyes with a horrible clarity. I shook my head violently to clear my mind. A single silver tear rolled down my cheek, matting my dark fur. When I opened my eyes, I saw Falayei looking at me, concerned. I wished she wouldn't worry herself over me. She looked up, suddenly alert. "What was that?" she said, looking around. I glanced at her worriedly. I hadn't heard a thing. "I can swear somebody just told me to stop worrying..." She trailed off, and suddenly I knew.
I thought, with all my concentration, conviction, and will, a single thought. "Falayei, that was me. Falayi."
She jumped, and then looked at me. "Did you say that?" she said. It was more like a squeak, actually. And I thought, "Yes... perhaps I am not so mute after all.". For now I knew... My mouth would never form words again, but I could use my thoughts to speak.
Using my newfound telepathicity, I told her of all the events that had happened to me. I left nothing out. I talked the whole night, and did not notice when the dawn came. So, yet again, I was forced to sleep by the curse for the day.
When I woke up, I did not delay and went right to finishing the tale. She studied the necklace and tried to get it off several ways. But the more she pulled, the tighter it got, and the more she tried to cut it, the tools became ruined.
But my reacquaintance with my sister, just like my newfound happiness, was short-lived...
While toying with the necklace, Falayei suddenly let go and perked up. I did too. I heard something. Suddenly, pain erupted in the back of my neck, and I fell down, blood gushing from my wound. The werewolf stepped over me and toward Falayei. She turned to run, then looked at me, lying helpless again. She didn't know it wouldn't attack me; I was another werewolf, and I had just been in the way. Only she was in danger. Suddenly, five more emerged from the trees, followed by far more. The whole pack was here. She couldn't fight them; there were too many, and I was fading away. "Run!" I screamed in my head, before losing consciousness.
I woke up the next night. My neck was sore, but the bleeding had stopped. There was no sign of the werewolves, and Falayei was gone. I sobbed endlessly. When you've had a taste of how life could be, misery becomes thousands of times worse than it would have been. And I was alone again...
Only this time, the misery didn't have an end. And so, my story will.