Chapter 3- Mountain Top

Chapter 3- Mountain Top

 

 

Crystal shuffled along in the knee deep snow snorting as the heavy blizzard blew in at her nose. Shadow was leading the stride moving ahead of her and climbing up the mountain. Old frozen rocks and dead trees greeted them as they climbed usually slipping on a hidden patch of ice. “Shadow the storm is getting worse; I hope David was right about this shrine”. Shadow looked back. The fine silk David told them to take was clasped in his teeth. He mumbled back to her though she couldn’t understand him. “I wonder if Nature is possibly dead and that’s why they hadn’t they heard from her”. Shadow thought to himself for a moment. Nature couldn’t be dead. She’s nature; Undying and eternal. But then what if she was dead, then what would happen. A voice came from inside his head. “You lose and Chanoue completes his goal, Sarina dies, you die”. Shadow shook his head in protest. “No one else is going to die”. He thought. The cold stiffened his joints and he gave another slip on his paws. He looked back and Crystal still struggling to climb the snowy mountain. She was wearing a thick leather bag carrying the piece of the Shadow Stone they had managed to secure from Chanoue. Shadow lurched forward again. He looked up and noticed the top growing closer. His feet met flat ground and he pulled himself up. He looked up another small snowy mountain and at the top appeared a large statue of a wolf on hind legs. Crystal pulled in behind him panting. “Oh great, more climbing”. Shadow turned and opened his mouth. “Don’t worry were almost there”. The silk slipped out of his mouth and began to blow away. “No”! Crystal shouted lurching for it but missed. It began to float off when suddenly a long grey paw snatched it out of the air. The paw moved up close to the creatures snout which gave a sniff then lowered the silk and smiled at Crystal and Shadow. Shadow watched for a moment, mesmerized. Crystal stood up from the snow gawking. Standing on the small snowy plateau was Mother Nature herself. Her striking human-wolf form stood still in the snowy breeze. She was wearing her same long white robes that Crystal had seen her wearing in Luna’s old cave. Her dress like robes were now covered in snow and appeared slightly worn. Her face appeared aged and faintly wrinkled. “It appears that David sent someone to find out of my whereabouts, please come with me”. Shadow and Crystal looked to one another unable to respond. “Here let me help you”. She lifted up into the air, her long dress flapping in the wind. She raised her paw up and with that, Shadow and Crystal began floating in the air. Shadow felt as though he was weightless and flying. He closed his eyes capturing the brief moment. He felt himself silently place back in the snow. They found themselves in front of the large statue Shadow had seen at the top of the mountain. “We must go inside, it will be warmer”. Crystal finally spoke despite all the silence she had been carrying. “Inside where exactly”? Mother Nature reached up and pressed her paw against the statues’. “Inside the shrine, I’m sure David told you about it no”? Shadow and Crystal remained quiet. The bottom of the shrine statue slowly opened up revealing a passage. David had failed to mention the detail of this secret. Mother Nature climbed down gesturing to Shadow and Crystal to follow. “I’ve lived here for more than over a hundred years at least”. Shadow observed the passage as they walked. The walls were engraved in old worn brick nothing like the statue outside. “The ancient followers built the passage as a way for me to live on earth instead of living as… well, anything”. Shadow cocked his head at this. “What do you mean”? For a moment he felt like he was actually talking to a regular wolf. “Well I have many forms, the northern lights, common wolves and even the weather at times. This is my true form”. They entered a large room which looked like an old castle room adorned with a blue midnight carpet with a moon in the shag material. A fireplace burning what appeared to be a smokeless fire sat inside. Several arm chairs were placed around the room. Another hallway revealed a bed and table in the next room. Mother Nature took a seat in one of the chairs resting her paws on its sides. “Take a seat please”. Shadow attempted to heave himself awkwardly into the chair before managing to sit himself upright into its cushion middle. “Now tell me your names”. Shadow spoke first. “I’m Shadow”. “I’m Crystal”. Mother Nature nodded holding her paw against her chin. I should have already known that but anyways tell me then, what have you come for? David sent you I’m assuming”. “Yes but…” Shadow started but trailed off. “Something terrible is happening, Chanoue, a wolf is planning on eliminating humanity”. Crystal burst out. “And David sent us because you have done nothing to stop him”. “You’ve gone quiet over the past few years he says”. Shadow added. Mother Nature wasn’t looking at them now but instead looking all around the room. “I knew one day it would come”. She said solemnly leaning back into her chair. “I’ve been doing my fair effort to stop the Stas family from doing this for centuries; the war with humans during the peek of there creation and so on so fourth”. “So there was a war with humans and wolves”. Shadow said quietly. Mother Nature nodded. “I convinced the war’s leaders that the species was doomed if they continued the war. The wolves went into hiding and humans rose in numbers but so did their thirst for revenge. They told stories that stretch to our time. Stories such as The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. All ancient tales formed under the common belief wolves were all evil.

 

“I watched while I waited for the Stas family to strike again. It all started with Vladimir. I banished him all those years only for him to return and kill all the council members. He even found my fathers old stone”. Shadow looked at Crystal holding the bag that was around her neck in her teeth. “You mean this stone”? She dropped the bag to the floor and the stone piece rolled out. Mother Nature’s eyes widened and she lifted a paw rising up the piece to her. “So it still exists, even after all these years, you know what this is”? She gripped the stone in her paw examining it.  “The stone your sister made right”? Mother Nature shook her head. “That stone was not made by my sister, my father made it. He hated me and didn’t want me to be Mother Nature. My real name is Cassandra. My father passed the stone to my sisters so they would overthrow me and become the creators of earth’s life”. Shadow looked from Crystal to Mother Nature overwhelmed by the questions but he remained quiet. “But the stone is powerful, too powerful. It caused their greed to grow and they became fearful of losing their power. They slowly killed each other off as a result. It was slow and painful. There were several fights that I remember. Runna was the last one to die. She returned to earth before she died. That blasted stone has caused so much suffering. I’ve seen it do more things than show old memories”. She looked up at Shadow. “My father passed away long after my sisters died. I took myself and hid it in the same wasteland I sent Vladimir to. Unfortunately while he was there he found the stone and used its power to collapse the council’s cave, killing all of them. This stone has passed many hands from ancestor to ancestor. The Stas family saw this stone as a key to their victory. And it may very well be catastrophic if used by the wrong hands”. Shadow sputtered out suddenly. “But what about this tomb Chanoue is opening, how will that help him destroy humanity”? Mother Nature raised her tired eyes again. “That tomb is the cursed tomb I sentenced the Stas family’s members to after Vladimir killed the other councilors. I was blown into blind rage and used an irreversible curse. When a male family member dies their soul is cursed to stay in that tomb forever. I wanted to reverse it seeing the error of my ways but could not”. Shadow remembered his dreams of an old tomb with ghostly wolves wandering the halls. “But as the years passed my irreversible curse had flaws picked out and now being used to open the tomb. The Stas family wants revenge for all I’ve done; starting with humanity and those souls will form an army large enough to destroy the human race”. “But then how did the Stas family find out about these things Chanoue has been collecting, who supplied him the information”? Mother Nature sat forward again, rubbing her chin with her paw. “I believe this may be a result of a Nature born”. “A what”? Crystal asked confused. “A Nature born is a wolf born under me. I’m not ashamed to say I had a mortal wolf mate named Rovider. He was a good friend of mine. When the world was still growing I liked to visit the world in a form of a mortal wolf. Rovider and I spent years together. We fell in love with one another. We had a litter of pups but unfortunately since I live much longer than mortal wolves, I had to watch him age and die. It was very tragic watching your loved one age on while you sit stuck with the same young age. Our pups went on to live their lives. I believe only a few lived as some became deformed and lived shorter. It’s an unfortunate effect from the breeding of my kind to mortals. I think that Chanoue has contact with a Nature born. Nature born wolves have abilities similar to mine and even posses some of my memory. This means that Chanoue is using the memories and clues stored inside the Nature Born’s mind. I began learning of the many things a wolf would have to do to open the tomb but that was after I began to age”. Mother Nature rubbed her face which wrinkled up like old leather. “I began to fall apart and I gave up hope. I’ve been watching the world slowly swallow itself up in war and violence”. Shadow looked annoyed. “You don’t want to try to stop him? Don’t you have powers”? “Dear boy, I am too old to fight, I can barely even conjure old magic I once could”. “That’s it then; you won’t even die trying to fight”? Mother Nature narrowed her tired eyes. “Listen to me. The world is going to be destroyed. I thought I could keep the world in order but your kind and all others will destroy each other. The world is doomed no matter what I do or even what you do”. “We still have a chance to stop this”. Shadow protested. Mother Nature stood up. “No you don’t. Chanoue may or may not win but the world has no hope either way”. “Well if you’re not going to fight then we will”. Shadow jumped down from the chair. “Do you know someone by the name of Donvu or the meaning of the journal David and his wolves found”? Mother Nature pondered for a moment. “Yes, that journal was my sister Runna’s journal. She never wrote in it but she did the final day she lived. She became badly injured by Javora after she attacked her, she settled herself on earth here in an old oak tree which later became a hideaway of sorts. I don’t know who is there or what but that’s for you to discover”. Crystal jumped down now and walked over by the fire. “Your victory or loss will account for nothing. I created something that I can no longer keep control of”. Shadow glowered at her. “We can’t use that kind of nonsense excuse to explain our failure. We must be the change if life is to prosper, with or without your help”. Mother Nature waved her paw in the air and a light filled the room. “Go then, do what you must. The road ahead is dark Shadow. I have never met anyone as determined as you”. Shadow watched her as the room around them filled with light. They both felt themselves being lifted up and out into the air. The rush overlapped them and suddenly they crashed into the ground. Cold wispy air brushed over them as they stood up. Shadow looked around noticing colorful leaves of orange and yellow. A strange feeling of familiarity cast over him.