The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 1: Kyle

My new cover is made by judtvr - thanks for your work! :)

Just so you guys know, I'm not Canadian so some of my facts about geography, climate, scenery etc. may be incorrect. Bear with me! Thanks :)

-Kyle’s P.O.V-

Pain flared up inside my body, twisting and churning inside my stomach. It slowly reached up to coil its fingers around my lungs and heart, making it harder to breathe by the second. The hard granite of the rock behind me dug into my back as I rasped for breath, clutching my sides with the effort of staying conscious. I was losing a dying battle, and I refused to give up the last shred of control that I had over my body.

I couldn’t let this happen, not now. It was unbearable to know what I would become if I let go. My emotions would rule over any rational thought, and raw instinct would come in to play.

The churning in my stomach was making me light headed and sick. With one last groan of agony, I let myself go. I had no fight left in me anymore; the pain had stolen it away from me. As soon as I had stopped fighting, the suffering doubled. It seared up my sides and crashed around inside me, burning everything in its way. My vision began to blur, and black spots danced before my eyes. Just as it was beginning to get intolerable, and death was nearing, I shifted.

Fur rippled across my skin and my teeth elongated, sharpening into fine points inside my mouth. I dropped to my hands and knees and my bones began to crack, deforming into smaller sizes to shape four powerful limbs. The fingers on my hands shrunk and widened, turning into paws before my eyes. My nails extended and formed deadly claws, digging into the soft earth as I awaited the rest of the change. My spine was too long for my body, so the excess bone trailed behind me. It was covered in fur, and helped with my balance, swishing back and forth gracefully. After the last painful twinge emitting from my stomach, it all stopped.

I swivelled my gaze to the bright, full moon and howled into the night air. The sound pierced the silence and echoed through the forest. My senses were heightened, and I took a whiff of the cool, fresh air around me. I could smell the familiar musk of the surrounding trees and the dense odour of the spongy soil beneath my paws. Among it was the sweet fragrance of something unknown. It smelled slightly like sweet honey and the perfume of an unknown flower, but I couldn’t put a finger on what it belonged to.

With determination, I set off. Running through the trees at a high speed was simply exhilarating; there were no other words to describe it. The wind rushed past my ears and gently combed through my fur. The ground was soft, but not too soft that your paws sunk into it. My nose picked up every smell of the forest, and it was amazing to experience the variety of unseen things that you could only smell from such a distance. I picked up the sweet smell again, it was closer. I dug my paws into the earth and picked up my pace, willing myself to get to the destination faster.

I leapt over moss covered logs and small rocks with ease, as if running this fast was second nature to me. I knew that I was moving at an almost impossible and inhuman speed, but I pushed the thought out of my mind. A jumble of boulders was quickly growing nearer, and they were a direct obstacle in my path. It would take too long to run around them, so in one bound I simply jumped over them. I kicked hard with my hind legs and flew over the scenery, enjoying the feeling of such power. I braced my front legs as I landed, a soft thud the only audible sound of my presence.

Even with my extra care in noiseless running, I still managed to snag the attention of a nearby wolf. It raised its head from a small deer that it was feeding on and bared its teeth, snarling viciously. The wolf’s coat was a beautiful light grey, touching on silver when it sparkled in the rare moment of sun. It immediately shifted its legs so that it was in an attacking stance, and I responded in the same movement.