Daughter of a Demon

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO - Guards of the Moon

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Guards of the Moon

I sat up in a cold sweat, my limbs trembled and my breath came out in short gasps. The only thing that prevented me from standing was the nausea clogging my bloodstream.

Noctis had visited me in my dreams again. Strange shadows - some with dark armour and others with horns and long limbs - still lurked in the back of my mind.

Controlling shadows with my mind takes a toll on my body - physically and mentally - since I am only partly demon, only a part of me can cope with the stress. Humans weren't made to handle the power that flows through the natural world.

Imagine taking on the strength of an earthquake - absorbing that power into your being - and not having your bones break and your muscles tear under the force.

Of course, I would not be able to do that. Perhaps not even Noctis.

He came to speak to me in my sleep again. I think it was a warning. Although one can never be sure with what's what in the land of dreams. Things change. People turn into wolves, and trees into mountains. Sentences can sometimes be morphed into one - hardly legible - word.

So, when Noctis whispered in my ear that the forest would catch alight and that giant creatures made of fire and flesh would walk among the pines and oaks, burning all in their path. That these creatures would eventually reach and touch the moon, melting it like candle wax. I didn't know what was real. What was he warning me about?

I sat up slowly and rubbed my cold and dusty hands together in an effort to warm myself up. Although the nausea had faded, goosebumps still tickled my flesh.

Cuan murmered in his sleep beside me and, when I looked across the interior of the cave, I saw that Shoba was missing. Most-likely to get away from the stuffiness of the cave.

I didn't know if I trusted him. With his sister 'dead' and her shadow trapped in my body, I doubt he trusted me.

I took one last look at Cuan's bare back and ruffled hair - over the last few weeks, he had let it grow longer - before I stood up and walked out the cave.

The outside world was brighter than I expected, and full of promise. A light breeze pulled at my hair, tempting me to join it in the downward plunge to the forest below. I smiled. I felt older somehow, warier of the world around me. But then again, I have never fully trusted that world either. So here I am, stuck in this half-state between what was and what could be.

A whine and a yawn behind me and I didn't even have to think before I knew who it was.

A tremor of shock jolted through my skin however, when - instead of the usual thick fur pressing against my side - bare flesh brushed against my shoulder. I turned my head slowly to see Cuan standing in all his human-glory beside me. Shoulder to shoulder, watching the forest awaken.

Maybe it was a wolf thing, or maybe we were transforming into the very creatures that walked so far below us, but we no longer spoke as much anymore. I knew his language and he knew mine. It was a tongue of no words, rather subtle gestures and stances.

And even though, I had become well accustomed to this language. Even though I knew he was aching for the start of the day. I could see his muscles tense and a sort of wild freedom - perhaps even recklessness - overcome him. When I looked at his darkened eyes, hidden by the morning sun, I did not know what emotion lurked there. The thoughts in his mind were as foreign to me as the thoughts of my own mind.

Perhaps not that foreign at all then? Nevermind.

I sighed and nugded him with my shoulder.

He stumbled a bit and looked at me strangely. I did not know those eyes.