The savage wild

4. The meadow of life

to the side you'll find a picure of Selene :) enjoy!

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I awoke groggily. I felt like a heavy blanket was draped all over my body. Everything was heavy, everything was slow paced and numb. I lay on soft grass and it smelled like a meadow in the fall. Which was stupid, because it had been close to autumn. I heard sounds of leaves rustling above my head and many birds chirping and fluttering among them. It was so peaceful here. It almost felt like I died and went to heaven.. if my body hadn’t been this heavy.
I finally managed to open my eyes, and my sight confirmed my earlier assumptions made with my other senses. I lay in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by huge trees. The sky was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. All cycles of the moon were displayed besides the blazing sun, which represented the full moon. Or rather, it was a very, very bright full moon. The sky color varied from light blue to the darkest of nights. I was currently in the full moon’s blaze.
I slowly sat up. I didn’t know when, but apparently I had shifted and I was now a human. I didn’t feel the injuries on my back and my wrist, which furthered to make me believe that it was heaven indeed.
“So you are finally awake,” a voice like I had never heard said from behind me. The rich quality held such power that I felt almost crushed by it. The strength and confidence radiated mightiness. I felt like a bug scrutinized by a giant. But, weirdly enough, I did not feel fear. 
“You called me. I pulled you here because I did not feel like touching the earth today,” the mighty voice continued, “what is it you seek from me?”
I swallowed. The voice still had not shown herself to me and from what she just said I reckoned she must be Selene. My goddess. My creator. Awe filled me, at being here, at hearing her and at feeling no pain whatsoever. But then I remembered my family. My friends. My father. Blood filled my vision. Screams filled my ears. Pain stabbed me in my gut, but I could not cry. Not now. I needed my revenge. The Law must be pursued.
“I wish for revenge,” I spoke, surprised by the steadiness of my voice.
“Revenge?!” The voice hissed, getting closer to me. I heard the faint rustle of robes. “And for what, my dear? Did somebody take your teddy bear? Or perhaps they’d stolen your candy,” taunted the voice. Nerves flickered in my stomach. At least I tried, I thought, at least I tried to wipe the spilled blood from the lands of my parents. To erase the screams that filled the air. 
“I..I.. No. I wish revenge for the deaths of my family. They weren’t killed according to the Law. That is all,” I said softly, knowing full well that I shouldn’t speak against a god. But really, what was there to lose? Only my own life. The others were long since gone. 
The voice stayed silent, then I heard her getting closer to me, till I felt the heat radiate at my back. The closeness of the contained power suffocated me, but I endured it.
Then, I felt the slightest brush against the back of my neck. Her fingers pressed against tmy skin. An electric shock went through me and then I relived the night when my parents and my pack were slaughtered. Silent tears ran down my face, but I didn’t make a sound. I did not want to shatter the peace in this little meadow in the middle of the most beautiful forest I’d ever seen. I did not want my horrors to fill a place so beautiful. Stains were never pretty. 
The fingers released my neck and another thoughtful silence commenced. Then the voice spoke again, this time somehow gentler than before. “I grant you permission, my dear. I also grant you strength and power. I grant you the strength of a werewolf even in human form. I grant you the support of all mountains, of all forests and all lakes. I grant you life. But, there is one condition.”
I felt the happiness coat my body, excitement was like a drug in my veins. But I knew that this condition, this little condition, was going to be my biggest obstacle yet. I swallowed and listened, but I knew that I would agree to whatever condition she stated.
“If you do not succeed to take revenge in the name of the Law, your mate will be mine.”
I snarled. I couldn’t help it. I was three, but I knew of the bond of the mate. I saw it in my parents and good friends. I saw the strength of it, the love. I understood. I understood what she wanted from me. And with a feeling of doom, I agreed. I agreed to her terms.
“Yes. I understand the condition. I agree,” I said.
“Good,” the voice said satisfied, “now, train your body, your mind and your soul. Be strong, my daughter and show them what happens when you break my law.”  She pressed her lips softly against my neck and then she bit down, hard. I screamed, and then blackness enveloped me.

I woke. My paw was healed, but my back was still slightly ablaze. Nonetheless I felt strength like no other. I was still in wolf form, and I wondered at the transition. My soul must be more human than wolf, I mused.
I stood on shaky paws and stretched cautiously. I did not know where I should go. I was scared to go to save pack. I felt ashamed and I didn’t want, whatever threat had killed my parents, to find them. So I sat down again, indecisive, when a sound erupted from the bank opposite from me. A normal wolf emerged from the thickets. She saw me and abruptly stopped. She sniffed the air and smelled the coppery smell of my blood. Weirdly enough, she did not attack me. Instead she lay her head down on her paws, telling me to not fear and then she jumped over the little stream and touched her nose to mine. ‘The mountains, the forests and the rivers will support you,’ the voice of Selene whispered through my mind. I understood now and smiled a very wolfish grin. I whined against the wolf’s snout and she whined back. Then she took my gruff in her mouth and carried me away towards I don’t know where. I only knew that this is what Selene wanted for now. So I listened.