Hunt

Chaper 84: Soul Searching

How many days have I spent meditating? Time seems to blur into one congealed mass. Every day I meditate and every night I lose control. It didn't take long for David to deduce that Reyna's ritual had screwed me up worse than just a little imbalance. He had known something was wrong the second I stepped into his house. But after the days we've been in the forest it was quickly found out that I would transform every night as if it were the full moon. The rising of the moon in any phase would spur my other half to forcefully take control. Fortunately it relinquished control back over to me once the sun came up. Not leaving me unconscious for a week like before.

"You're still not clearing your mind. Every thought has to vanish Kyle." David scolds as I open my eyes to the morning sun on my face. "I know this is difficult. But I can't help you if you can't get past the first step."

I sit up out of the dirt. Another night had passed. Another night where I wasn't in control. According to David I'm quite obedient around him when my other half is in control, a trait that isn't retained when I'm awake much to his disappointment. I grumble some profanities under my breath as I shake the stiffness from my bones.

By midday I'm back to meditation. Trying and failing to clear my mind of everything. Every thought, every fear, every emotion. Every time I feel like I'm getting close to that point a stray thought will poke in through the void. Emotion would eat at the edges. I'd lose my concentration and be back to square one. But this time I was too exhausted to think at all. It's been days since I got descent rest, and I was starting to feel the effects of it. With my eyes closed I could feel myself slipping into sleep. Like a warm blanket had been wrapped around me, I relax into the comforting embrace of unconsciousness. In the comforting darkness a single phrase comes to me. Words I've heard somewhere before, but I can't recall from who:

Find me where the stars shine bright.

When I open my eyes I'm laying on my back. A dark sea of stars shines above me. It's night already? No that cant be it. I'm still in control...

A warm breeze blows the grass I'm laying in, tickling my skin as it brushes against me. It was calm here. I felt relaxed for the first time in days. The weight on my other half isn't present like it had been in David's presence.

As I slowly sit up I begin to recognize the area around me. I know where I am. The familiar field, silhouette of mountains in the distance, the glow of the moon just behind them. I was in the same spot I woke up in when Reyna performed her ritual. The dark forest is still behind me, where I know my other half would soon emerge. Being here felt like a case of déjà vu.

Looking down at my hands I see that they're both human. Both mine. Not some combination of me and animal that I remember now so clearly. Everything begins to come back to me, as if I had just been here moments ago.

As if on cue the underbrush back in the forest rustles and shifts. Pushing its way out from the brush emerges a large grey wolf with amber eyes that seem to pierce through the darkness like the sun. We lock eyes from across the field, a sudden tension building between us that I hadn't felt before between us. The other times I had been in the wolf's presence it was like it had accepted me, but now it felt like I was staring into the eyes of the enemy. It felt like I was out on a hunt. Standing up fully I square off against the beast that is now beginning to circle me as it approaches. Its lips pulled back to reveal razor sharp teeth that shine in the darkness.

"It's just me. What's the matter?" I ask out to the beast in front of me, which only growls in response. A low rumbling that can be felt through my feet.

We almost touch. Then another me appeared. Wait... I shot myself last time I was in here. I rack my brain for any clue as to how to get out of this alive. Running through all of the events that I can remember when I was in this place last. A bark from the wolf pulls me from my thoughts. It had gotten close, hackles raised with a rage burning behind its amber eyes. I wasn't in any shape to fight... myself? I don't even know what to call it anymore. Before I can protest the beast lunges. Breaking off from its slow circling to attack me directly.