Chapter 11- The Past

Crystal gave a heavy cough, water spilled over her chest fur. She rolled off her back and stood up. She looked up into a night sky filled with stars. She looked around but Shadow was nowhere to be found. She heard a cooing voice somewhere nearby. She turned to her right to gaze into a shinning colorful cave entrance. A multi-colored light was emerging from inside. Crystal walked slowly to the opening. The voice grew louder then suddenly stopped as she walked in. Inside, there were crystals of all colors along the ceiling and in a large pile along the wall in the back of the cave. As she looked around, she noticed more than just the crystals. Along the cave walls were paintings, paintings of wolves and other creatures like deer and bears. They shined white like sunlight fresh from the morning glow. One painting caught her eye. It was that of a couple of wolves sitting round a large circular rock. As she stared at it, it seemed to become more meaningful. “Fascinating this painting seems to be to you”. A voice said quietly. Crystal flinched in surprise. “Who said that”? Crystal asked. A small bat flew down from the ceiling. “I did. Let me introduce myself, I am Luna a time cartographer”. Crystal stared at her with confusion. “I believe you have many questions”. Crystal simply nodded. “Then come, I shall explain”. Luna flew over to the mass piled crystals along the cave wall. She perched herself up on the crystals while Crystal walked up in front of her. Luna had stunning blue eyes and had leathery brown wings. She folded them up and giggled silently. “A cartographer is someone that makes maps”. Luna explained. “So you map time”. Crystal asked cocking her head a bit. Luna nodded and gave a short hum. “I map time and revisit past events to try to learn”. Crystal looked along the wall at all the paintings. “How do these paintings help you even learn anything”? Luna giggled. “These paintings are not the half of what I can do. The true magic is what’s inside each of my paintings. My paintings are made from chalk like rock, mixed with colorful ground crystals”. Crystal look over at the painting she examined earlier. “You seemed interested in that painting”. Crystal looked at Luna and nodded. “It seems so familiar”. Luna rubbed her hairy chin and flew over to the painting. “Then let’s take a closer look shall we”. Crystal followed her and stared at the painting. Luna began murmuring words that Crystal could not understand. They were incomprehensible and sounded like gibberish to her. Luna spread her wings and chanted one last pair of strange words before the brilliantly lit paintings began to move. Luna fluttered down to the floor. “Now take a look”. Crystal watched the animated painting. The six wolves gathered around a large circular rock moved their paws in gesturing manners. One of the six stood up. The wolf stood on its hind legs. It was human like but wolf like in appearance. “Who is that”? Crystal asked pointing to the wolf. “Let us go inside and find out”. Luna said and she climbed up in front of the painting. Luna again began speaking strange words and she spread her wings over the painting as though to embrace it. Crystal looked up at her and watched as a pale light brightened and encompassed Luna’s form. The light spread across the cave filling it in light. Crystal closed her eyes in the brightness. There was a loud whoosh and everything seemed to spin around in Crystals head. The sound of wind blew in her ears and then suddenly it stopped and Crystal felt herself drop onto a rock floor. She opened her eyes to a magnificent sight. She was looking into a large cavern that seemed to be opened up into a large pit. There was a rock path that led to a rock pillar that seemingly rose out of the pit. At the center of the pillar, Crystal noticed several small figures gathered around a large rock. She gazed and squinted to see what the figures were. Luna suddenly flapped down beside her. “Where are we”? Crystal asked. Luna hummed again. “We are in the Cave of The Elders Wisdom”. Crystal surveyed the cave. “It looks nothing like the cave, I was there. It was smaller and didn’t have this pit and the pillar”. Luna nodded. “You had been in the more recent cave, this is the cave that the past elders used to discuss and meet”. Luna flew up. “The cave collapsed two years after the current time; all the councilors were killed except one”. Crystal looked up. “And who was the one that survived”? Luna shrugged her wings. “Vladimir, he wasen’t in the cave at the time of collapse, he was not heard from for about a year after the tragedy”. Luna waved with her wing telling Crystal to follow her. The two began walking up the rocky path up to the pillar. “This is the time when wolves were the highest and most advanced species on the planet”. Crystal looked up to Luna who flew about in a lazy glide. “Planet”? She asked curiously. “The land we live on, don’t think about it too much”. Crystal continued walking down the long rock path. She thought back to the river and wondered of Shadow. Although that did not matter at the moment. “Why are wolves no longer the most advanced”? Crystal asked cocking her head. “Humans were created this night; we are in the debate of their creation now”. Crystal took her gaze over to the figures on the pillar. “Let us listen to the conversation”. Luna said gliding off to the side and landing on the rock floor. Crystal stopped and sat. “Can they see us”? Crystal asked. Luna bobbed her head at Crystal. “No, they can not see or hear us, they are simply drawings of captured memory”. Crystal gazed over at the wolves. The anthropomorphic wolf with the human form appeared to be sitting quietly on the other side of the rock slab. It wasn’t saying anything but simply watching the others moving its head side to side. “That wolf there”. Luna said pointing to a golden brown wolf “He is Carola Benito, a male Italian wolf”. “Italian”? Crystal asked and she looked up confused. Luna jumped up on the slab and snapped her claws. The wolves froze in place and everything ceased movement. Even the winds seem to stop their whispering howls. “There are several regions on this world, Germany, Italy, England and all those”. Luna gestured to a painting that suddenly began drifting to her right wing. It was map of several large blobs. “This is the earth; those spots are the continents or lands”. She gestured her wing at the painting. “They were once known as Homigo, Gefance and Yomado and many others but were categorized and named differently by humans. Italian is the category from which the wolf is placed due to his region and where he lives”. The painting disappeared. Luna pointed to another wolf. He was brown as well but darker. “This is Dagmar Cora, German wolf, female”. Crystal looked onto the next wolf. This one was a bright gray and had shimmering blue eyes. “This is Aldric Cesar, French, male”. Again Luna swung her wing over to another wolf. This one was a white and grey color. “Here we have Thabit Hanbal, a Male Arabic grey wolf”. Crystal shuddered when she saw the next wolf. He had charcoal black fur and red piercing eyes. “And lastly there’s Vladimir Stas, Chanoue’s Russian ancestor, male”. Crystal went white. “I knew it”! She said to herself. But her eyes returned to the anthropomorphic wolf. “Who’s that”? Luna followed Crystal’s eyes. “Ah that would be Mother Nature herself”. Crystal’s eyes widened and her knees felt weak. Mother Nature was a god among wolves. She had created all life, wolves, deer, raccoons; all of it even the plants and humanity itself. Crystal felt honored to be in her presence even if she wasn’t really there. Mother Nature was draped in white glistening robes. Her eyes were a piercing watery blue and she had the complete body of a wolf but stood like a human. “Shall we let them continue”? Luna asked slowly. Crystal gave a small nod and Luna tipped her head towards the frozen wolves. “Very well”. She murmured a few strange words and snapped her claws again and the wolves slid back into action. “That’s ludicrous”! Crystal heard one of the wolves snap angrily. It was Vladimir, Chanoue’s ancestor. She looked over at him. His teeth were bared and his eyes were wide with anger. Their red glow seemed extremely bright as he glared over at Mother Nature. She didn’t react aggressively to his shout. She sat quietly looking back at Vladimir with a faint smile. Vladimir’s fur stood up like spikes. “Humans? You can’t make a more advanced creature than us! We were meant to rule this world, not some two legged beings”! Nature lowered her head. Her voice was like a melody of the forests; cool and calm. “Evolution must continue wolves will not prosper alone”. Vladimir gritted his teeth now. “You fools really think we should hand over our prosperous throne? Give away our most prestige honor of being the rulers of this world”. The other wolves did not respond but simply looked at Vladimir with confusion. Nature stood up now and walked lightly around the rock slab. She moved in a majestic manner almost hovering over the rock. Her pawed feet lightly tapped it and she floated in with her small trot. “I never intended there to be a ruler of this world. I wish for us to live as equals”. Vladimir puffed. “Equals? We are all different, all creatures on this planet respect and worship us, and they follow our orders”. “Or so you’ve made yourself think”. Nature said quietly now glaring down at Vladimir. She stood high above him. Her wolf ears folded menacingly. Vladimir seemed to be shaking under her gaze. “We were made for power, strength, and control. You can’t deny what we are naturally made to become”. Nature’s ears twitched and she seem to grow stiffer but she turned and strode away back to where she was sitting. “Wolves were most powerful in mind so they could teach and develop and you’ve done that but no further can you advance, only adapt”. Vladimir growled quietly. “We developed into what this world needs, leaders”. Nature shook her head. “Leaders are not required, peace and connection is what I seek. Are the rest of us in agreement”? Nature asked. She looked over at the others. They all nodded slowly with some quivering as they met Vladimir’s red hot eyes. Out of the quiet nodding, Vladimir suddenly burst out. “You traitorous rats”! He jumped onto the rock slab and his jaw opened wide heading for Aldric. Vladimir jumped onto him and managed to bite once across his chest before suddenly Vladimir was raised into the air. Mother Nature had lifted her paw up. The other wolves gathered around Aldric and looked up in shock at Vladimir. He kicked and barked. Nature turned him around to face her and brought him hovering over to her. “Never will you ever strike in violence against another counselor”. Vladimir stopped his struggle. “I will not stop until I destroy what you created”. He said lowering his head. “What will you do with me”? Nature pondered and she held her paw in a fist. Vladimir flinched with a sting. “You will be banished, forced to live out two years in the wastelands of the otherworld. Nothing but deserts and misty fog covered lands await you”. Vladimir nodded but growled quietly. “When your time has been paid you will return to the council for forgiveness, do you understand”. Vladimir gave a short and quiet “yes” before going limp. Crystal suddenly saw the scene around her fade. The giant white light returned filling the cave and embracing the wolves and all that surrounded them. Crystal felt the wind rush past her and the cold air brushed over her. She found herself standing back in front of the painting. All the paintings had stopped moving. Crystal was frozen in place herself. She had so many questions, so much didn’t make sense. “Luna”? Crystal called out looking all around. “Right here”. Luna’s soft humming voice said. She drifted down to rest on the rock floor and looked up into Crystal’s big blue eyes. “What happened to Vladimir”? Luna hovered up towards the ceiling. She was floating near a still painting that glowed with a green light. “He was banished to a wasteland, the otherworld for two years. When he returned, he held a firm grudge against humans and the other councilors as well as Nature”. Crystal settled against the cave wall. “Is that why Chanoue hates humans so much”? Luna nodded. “Chanoue’s ancestors through the years held the goal Vladimir sought to accomplish, destruction of the human race”. Crystal thought and she rubbed against the wall. “How does Chanoue hope to do that? There are so many humans in the world as it is”. Luna rubbed her chin and she fell back down to the ground settling into a pile of dirt. “Legend has it, one of Chanoue’s ancestors constructed a tomb in which he and all those before him were meant to be buried. All those being from Chanoue’s father’s side of the family, Mother Nature cursed it, and Vladimir’s sons were cursed to be locked inside for their afterlife”. “But how does that connect to Chanoue destroying the humans”? Luna stuck her wing out. “That’s the strange thing; it’s told that only a blood relative can open the tomb, what happens when it’s opened is unknown”. Crystal went wide eyed. “What do you think will happen.”? Luna laid back. “Truly, from all I know, I have no idea”. The sun was setting outside. “I do think it is time for you to go my dear”. Luna said lazily. Crystal quickly looked at Luna. “But I have so many unanswered questions”. Luna simply shut her eyes. “As do I”. Suddenly light filled the room again. The cave glistened and the brilliant white light overlapped the surrounding room. As the light seem to clear Crystal could hear a familiar voice saying “Crystal? Crystal wake up”!