Moon Wolf

Ocean

Mom, your memories are my life's only solace.

Cold. 

It was so cold. Maya felt weightless, with no ground beneath her paws. She couldn't feel anything because of the numbing cold seeping into her fur and straight to her bones, but she knew she wasn't breathing. And that seemed... okay.

Am I dead? her mind whispered. What happened... She thought as her mind became more conscious. She remembered falling into the ravine and hitting the water below. She remembered the current, getting bashed on the rocks- the pain. She winced at the memory, thankful she couldn't feel much of anything right now. 

Is that really a good thing though? she thought. I don't want to be dead... With effort, she slowly opened her eyes to reveal a clear abyss of blue. She saw rays of sparkling light seep into deep darkness, heard the beat of muffled waves.

She was in the ocean.

She trained her eyes up past a beautiful shimmering surface to the moon. She felt no pain, but also no peace. She felt... nothing. Floating, numb, surrounded by quiet, she felt as good as dead.

She just stared at the moon, her old friend and companion. The one she told things she couldn't tell anyone. The one she sang with, shared stories with, created lullabies about. It didn't tell the world secrets meant to be forgotten, it just listened and watched and sang. 

She remembered how Makiel looked at her before she fell. Makiel... what was he doing right now? I hope hes not crying over me, she thought. He knew I would probably die in battle. Although she knew he would grieve. They were close, everyone in the litter took a liking to the added brother. When Makiel joined their pack they grew attached to each other and they knew they were sister and brother even without being relative by blood. 

Tears started forming in her eyes and melded into the water around her. All she could see besides the contracting moon was Makiel's dark blue eyes before she fell and... died?

I don't want to be dead. She told the moon. I want to live. I want to see Makiel again. I want my brothers. I want my pack. She wanted to opened her jaws to say these things but she was frozen quite literally. No air, no noise, no movement beside the waves and the water. Nothing. Only the the circling ocean around her.

She watched the moon for a bit longer, waiting for a response, but the moon was just as quiet here as it was all those other nights she talked to it. She started closing her eyes again and was hit a startling realization that she was alone. Drifting through an endless abyss of freezing water, taking her wherever it desired. She didn't want this. She didn't want... I don't want to be alone.

Suddenly the sky above the ocean flashed and Maya raised her lids again. What was that? 

Another little flash of light above the surface and then a bright white light like lightening clashed across the moon but it sounded like a distant, muffled explosion sending out a wave of vibrations that shook the water along with the sound of a muffled horn.

The moon became brighter, covering the sky in white, contrasting the dark ocean into a black pit instead of a peaceful dark blue. Maya wanted to close her eyes, she was confused and the light hurt, but she couldn't look away. And when her sight was completely blinded by white, her eyes snapped open and she whipped her head back, gasping for air as she broke the surface.