Chapter Thirty-Six: Stripped and Renewed
Cameo yawned and stretched when he woke up. Warmth surrounded him, and his nostrils were filled with the scent of fat, plump prey. He opened his eyes and saw he was in an endless forest, abundant with life.
Then he sensed a presence. He looked around, trying to find it. Then the air around him shimmered. Eight wolves appeared in front of him, their images slowly becoming more focused.
“Disappear!” he gasped. “Winter!”
Cameo was astonished. He remembered Disappear as an old wolf with gray hairs and dull eyes, but the wolf in front of him looked much younger. Now, her eyes were a bright emerald green, and her pelt… her pelt looked like the very stars had been swirled in her fur. All scars had been healed.
Every wolf looks as if the stars had been swirled in their fur, Cameo realized. Frost glittered at their paws and eyes. They carried the scents of ice and fire and all the seasons, all mixed together.
“My pup.” Winter murmured. Cameo began to take a step towards her, but her head yanked up. “No. Don’t.”
Cameo was shocked. “But aren’t I dead?”
“You are dead,” Disappear agreed. “For now.”
Cameo felt as confused and helpless as a pup being deprived of a teat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you were stripped of your last life.” A pure-white wolf stepped out from behind Disappear and Winter. Her green eyes landed on Cameo, and her named immediately flashed through his mind. Ulrica. “You will be receiving eight new lives.”
Before Cameo had time to say anything, she stepped forward and touched her nose on his forehead. It felt like the coldest of ice and the hottest of fire. “With this life I give you humility.”
An image flashed through Cameo’s mind, one of the world widening, widening until Moon Star’s territory was nothing more than a speck lost among the rivers, meadows, forests, mountains, and so much more, all spreading out before him like an ocean. We are all a part of something bigger.
She stepped back, and was replaced by a silvery-white male, his eyes the exact same shade of green Cameo saw when he’d received the blessing of… Lupus!
“With this life I give you protection.” He breathed. “Use it well to defend your pack, from the youngest pup to the oldest elder.”
Cameo wasn’t ready for the bolt of ferocity that shot though him like lightning. He felt as though he felt all the fury of his ancestors, snarling at an attacker threatening the smaller, weaker wolves, ready to die if it meant saving someone else’s life… which he just had.
Then Disappear stepped forward. “With this life I give you patience.” She murmured, and Cameo felt a wave of calm wash over him. Time will smooth the stone, but never wear it away. Then realization dawned on him. Was Hazelnut thinking this when she named her pack?
Winter came forward. She nuzzled Cameo before lightly touching his forehead with her nose. “With this life I give you love.”
Cameo had expected something soft and sweet when she said the word love, but he was swept with even more ferocity, and he realized how long and hard a mother would fight to protect her pups. It was pure courage, pure… everything. Love is connected to many things in many ways, he realized.
A lean tawny she-wolf stepped forward, and Cameo didn’t know her, but her name flashed though his mind like he’d known her his whole life. Nuntis, the sun wolf. “With this life I give you tireless energy.”
Cameo felt like he could run forever, and outrun any enemy. He felt exhilarated, like he could clear any distance with a single leap, he felt sheer joy.
Then a dark chocolate wolf stepped forward, his chest chestnut brown. “Fang!” Cameo said, shocked that he hadn’t noticed him before. So he was accepted in Shooting Stars! Cameo was pleased.
“With this life I give you loyalty.” He murmured. “Use it well to protect your packmates.”
An agonizing pain, a jolt of anguish so great Cameo thought it would stop his heart, swept over him. He saw visions of claws and fangs and felt the pain of all of them meeting his flesh, and the vision ended in red- blood red.
The pain eventually ebbed away, leaving Cameo gasping. His flanks shuddered with every breath. He had experienced Fang’s death.
Then a creamy she-wolf stepped forward. Fides. “With this life I give you trust.”
Cameo felt as calm as a blue sky stretching out before him.
A gray-black male stepped forward. Tempestas. Cameo knew that name. Tempestas controlled the seasons. “With this life I give you pride. Use it well to judge the worth of you and your pack.”
Heat seared his pelt, until he glanced at it, convinced that he was on fire. But it wasn’t him that was on fire. It was the forest that was on fire, and Cameo was alarmed to see the eight wolves in front of him had disappeared. Smoke filled his lungs, the fire crackling as it killed the trees.
Then he tumbled through a dark, cold abyss, yowling in fear and alarm.
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Bet you didn't expect that! And btw, I gave him eight lives because eight turned on its side is infinity.
