The Son of Artemis and Fenrir

Chapter 8 - The Message

Despite the fact that I knew I was dreaming, it was hard to distinguish what I was seeing from real life. I was effortlessly and peacefully flying under a full moon. Not a single cloud in the sky. The moon was reflecting beautifully off of my icicle blue scales. Every time I looked up I was filled with joy and both calmed. Despite the fact that I never truly knew why the moon has such an effect on me, I was truly grateful for the power it had over my unstable emotions.

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As I slowly woke from my shallow sleep, I could feel a powerful conduit of magic nearby. This magic was similar to one of the aspects of my own, I could feel it reaching out to this new source. As I was slowly getting up, I felt my body click in at least several different places from my movements during the day time. One of the first things I realised once my entire body had woken up was the lack of sound, or rather the lack of a particular sound.

Luna had gone, She was missing. She was not where I could protect her. Almost instinctively I felt my magic snap out of my hilt, this time it was slightly shorter, like a knife. I was already trying to track her, to find her scent. But whoever or whatever is the source of this magic was inhibiting my ability to do so. I practically flew out of our chamber, past the central cavern and out towards the exit.

As I reached the exit, I was almost distracted by the colour of the moon. It was a luminous blue, the kind of blue that can instantly calm someone if they are worried, the kind of blue that reminds you of bioluminescent algae. I then felt a surge of magic, it felt like I was close to the epicentre of the magic's source. Almost at the same moment as feeling the surge, I felt part of myself cower in fear. Unlike in the temple, it was my humanoid half that was made uneasy.

My vision was also starting to act funny, it was acting as if I was in Wolf form. I could see the scents surrounding objects and leaving trails of where creatures had been. Due to this confusion momentarily clouding my perception, I did not hear the person approaching. I was unaware of them until they placed a hand on my shoulder.

"My goodness, are you okay dear child?" A soft feminine voice asked. Her interaction practically broke my cloud of confusion.
"Who are you?" I asked as I reeled back in shock. I briefly observed that she had a body that seemed to be about ten or fifteen winters older than mine.
"I am Freya, Queen of the Valkyries..." She started.
"Your Majesty, if I may. Why the fuck are you here?" I asked as I looked down into her eyes.
"I am here because I believe you sent me and my fellow council members a letter. Since arriving here, Robyn has informed me of all of her experiences with you." She slowly explained.

"Yes, our first meeting was... interesting to say the least." I stated
"She said she unjustly attacked you despite you trying to reason her against it, why?" Freya asked. I just stared down at her in silence for a moment before walking a couple steps down the slope.
"She attacked me," I explained before starting to do a partial shift into my Wolf form, "because I looked like this" I finished as I turned back round to face Freya again. She looked both intrigued and afraid. I could smell her fear seeping out of her as if it was water through a crack in a wall.

"He has no intentions to harm you, my lady" I heard Robyn call out before landing in front of me. A few moments later Luna and Sparks came bounding up the slope stopping just before me. In a flash I had embraced Luna in my arms. "Where did you go? When I woke up you were gone, I could not track you. I feared the worst had happened, what if you had been injured?" I almost cried as I pulled her closer into my body.
"Jeez, calm down Brother. We were doing a little research. Robyn and Sparks offered to help." Luna attempted to reassure me but I knew she was lying, she was a bad liar.

I would uncover the truth later.

I then refocused my attention on Freya. When I turned back round, she was still studying me. "You truly do have the power that your father had. Though now I am curious to see if you have inherited any of your mother's gifts." Freya stated as I morphed back into my 'normal' body.
"If you may Freya, could you answer me this question. What species am I in this form. I'm just wondering because when I was caged by humans, they called me many names. They said I was Fae, others argued that I had to be a Jötun." I asked.
"Oh that is easy. You are a hybrid in that form. You are a Jötun-Fae hybrid." She almost chuckled.
"Okay. Thanks. When you say my Mother's gifts, what exactly does that mean. What am I looking out for?" I asked.
"Well she had a knife that was very special to her, she also was the only one of her faith who shared your father's ability of soul magic." Freya explained.