Journey onto the Storm (BOOK 2)

Chapter 41

FENRER

Little Wolf.

Swirls of darkness pushed through the world when stalks of grass tickled his cheek and nose. Soft, warm from the sun at its highest peak in the sky. Auras danced and created a mixture of home. It overlapped in the flow. Silver and a thick icy mist clashed against a draining web, full of pain and torment in a flaming moment. Arrows stuck out of a large man's back when he stumbled up the staircases. Home. He had to get home. Home. Home. Home.

Too many people in his way.

Little Wolf.

It swallowed the world and he tucked deeper into the mixtures of home and family. Pinpricks swept through his spine as steel clanged behind him. A groan left his lips, but he listened for the truth in the broken piece of the flow when it continued to call out the name of his childhood.

Dad?

A large man sat behind a desk with a quill almost too small for his hand as he scratched at a quill. Stones crushed his bones when Fenrer tried to creep closer. Bells and shouts rang in his ears as he tried to call out to him, nothing more than a memory. Nothing more than what he left behind in the drums of war. The large man lifted his head when he came closer, grabbing the desk to keep himself upright. Life glittered within the green eyes he shared with the giant who could tear out trees from the ground — or maybe that was a childish notion.

You promised me.

Swirls of stars bit with flames as he tried to ask the same question. A stupid, childish question.

"Am I going to have to fight you? Am I going to have to challenge you?"

Dad chuckled, full of warmth, power, and strength. He set the quill atop the scroll and tented his fingers with a mischievous smile. "No, you're my only son..." He leaned closer. "Unless you get older and think you can do a better job than I can to be the steward of Sungrove and the lands within this county. The people depend on us to protect them, to give them succour, to support them through the toughest of times." His smile stretched to his eyes, and Fenrer winced when he poked him in the cheek, but he tried not to lose himself in the past when Dad cupped his face instead, squishing his cheeks. "Until then, Fenrer, my little wolf..."

'I am the Lord of Sungrove.'

Little wolf of my blood, a different, older voice said.

Fenrer faced the misty direwolf, scattered to the wind. "Kon?"

Memories broke apart, but he remained the constant in his life, never dragging him through it, but a supportive, guiding paw. Flames coiled around his temples and auras screamed with sharper teeth than a rampaging Derelict. Mixtures of colours brought him through the dark with the hush of silver grass. Moonlight cast a glow on the manor, his childhood home, where arrows protruded out of the scaled roof. No embers bathed the forge, where Mother observed the runesmith of Sungrove as he worked on weapons. Father sat in a chair, whittling a block of wood.

I wanted to be a giant like you.

Fenrer studied his fingers resting in the whispering grass.

"Little Wolf," Kon said. "I had not the strength to protect you a second time."

'I promise to return," Dad said in the hail of flames.

It's okay, Kon. I should've... I should not have been so foolish. Dew collected over his cheeks, and he rested his head against the dirt. Whispered silver begged for him to stand on his two feet, the same childish question on his lips. But it's like... I never grew up from that silly little child... who thought he could tear trees out of the ground. His skull pounded and bounced his thoughts around when he smacked against the grass, falling into Mother's embrace.