Zyon: The Alpha Of The North

Chapter Thirty-Two

6 hours, 49 minutes and counting.

That's how long the transition process is taking, as each bone in my body breaks and rejoins into a different position. This is tenfold more painful than my first shift. My first shift took me two hours, and my wolf made it easy on me, with little breaks in between the pain. But the past six hours, have been total and complete agony. The pain hasn't stopped for a minute, and every time I feel that I'm going to pass out, she awakens me back up. As if she wants me to feel the pain of each and every moment.

I'm on the floor now covered in sweat. I know Zyon's in the room. He crouches by my side, telling me to breathe through the pain. I hear him, but I'm not able to pay attention to what he says. The only thing my mind is focused on is completing the transition.

I know it won't be long now. At least I'm hoping it won't be long now. Almost every bone feels broken at this point.

I wonder if my wolf is doing this on purpose, making me feel the pain of each and every moment. It's meant to be balanced. Your wolf takes on some of the pain for your first shift, in attempt to join two souls, but the agony I'm experiencing is indictive of her coming back to life but distancing herself from me.

With a last ear-shattering scream, the last few bones in my body break and I feel myself transition. My eyes half open, I see the fur begin to sprout on my arms, that are shifting into paws.

I don't stay awake, long enough to see the transition. I fade into the background, passing out as my wolf comes to life.

When I wake, I'm unsure of what has happened, the time has passed, the sun now sets. I'm still in wolf form, standing in a different place as to where I passed out. In front of me, is a stream. It's clear to me that while I faded into almost nothingness, my wolf was conscious, alive. She was present, I was not. An unnerving feeling settles in my conscious mind. Is this how my wolf felt? Fading in and out of darkness? Waking up in a different place than where she faded away in?

I call out to my wolf multiple times. She refuses to answer, to give up control. I can tell she's highly displeased with me. She doesn't want to be one with me.

So I remain dormant. Letting her have control. She runs along the banks of the stream, through the forest that surrounds it- at a speed so fast, that no human could catch it. I feel the softness of the earth beneath her paws, I catch the greenness of the forest, the minute details of the trunks, intricate patterns of the leaves with her eyes, and the smell of every flower that surrounds me.

In the past several years, I have never felt more at peace. The thought brings me peace, but also makes me miserable. I gave up so many years of this and I missed it more than I realized.

My wolf feels my silence, senses my sadness and I think it prompts her to give me control. I'm grateful to her. It's more than I did for her in the past many years. With my bones cracking again, the pain is still agonizing but disappears faster within a few minutes, I transition back into my self.

I'm naked, on all fours. On the forest floor. My eyes narrow in on a plain white shirt, hanging of a tree branch. Someone must have left it behind. I grab it, throwing it over me, as fast as possible.

I begin to make my way back to the packhouse. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going. But I follow a clear path, that I think has been inserted into my mind by my wolf. This would honestly be so much easier if she just spoke to me.

An hour's trek later, I reach a clearing that I begin to recognize. My feet are muddy, my arms full of scratches from the trunks of the trees. And I know my hair is completely disheveled. But more than my appearance, I'm bothered by the soreness of my limbs. My body aches with every step I take. And I yearn for a long, hot bath.