Trip To The Inferno [OLD VERSION]

Part 46

A soft wind blew pass us as crickets played their songs. The fireflies still lingered around us and illuminated entire field. We still sat in the same position as before, with me straddling Laird who stole Tlaloc's body.

My mind was processing given information while creating even more questions about Laird and Tlaloc themselves, but decided to wait until Laird will tell me everything he needs to tell me and then bombard him.

'My guess about the tribe creation is that the brothers loved each other so much that they couldn't live without each other' I spoke, breaking the silence as I locked eyes with navy blue one. Laird rose one of his eyebrows at me that only now I noticed were very thick.

'Wow, your eyebrows are so bushy' I continued and spoke my mind out loud, my hand reaching for them on their own. I brushed them as Laird let out a short laugh.

'Technically they are Tlaloc's' he answered, but didn't stop me from brushing them. My eyes went wider as I looked at him.

'Oooohhh, yours are even thicker, isn't it?' I asked, amazed that someone could have such amazing eyebrows. I can't believe I didn't notice until now.

Laird chuckled at my weird quirk and took my hand. He kissed my inner palm and snared our fingers together.

'Only you can be amazed by such random things. You are weird' he couldn't stop chuckling as I felt my cheeks warm a little.

'Living with weird people is more fun' I countered and Laird smirked.

'True. Now, ready for some more history?'

I only nod and absentmindedly began playing with his palm as he began explaining.

'After the death of Luna, the pack didn't live long until it was eradicated. The only living pack members were brothers, who parted their ways in search of the place to settle down again. But they didn't live peacefully for long because after a few years, news of random people turning into wolves began flowing around and with two brothers living between humans, they could confirm it. Interestingly, the humans were all adults, some in their prime, others aged quite a bit, but only two people per town would change. No more, no less. Brothers knew that something must be done and gathered together in a first meeting after years. They told their own experiences and rumors and saw a pattern. All people, women or men, one way or another stood out from the rest of the community because they spoke towards preserving the forest and its inhabitants. They blamed the villagers for the annihilation of Luna's pack as greed continued to drive them, their eyes set on meat of the stags and elk, furs of foxes for winter and feathers of birds for arrows. They blamed villagers for destroying their homeland instead of upgrading their agricultural knowledge. Brothers concluded that their mother was behind the changes since she was the mother of their kind'

I rose a hand to stop him and give him a second of breather.

'How did they know it was their mother and not a simple disease or weird malfunction of a body?'

A silence stood for a moment as I watched Laird frown at me. A soft grumble left his throat as his eyes darkened.

'Did you just call me a disease?' He spoke lowly and my eyes widened, my brain instantly picking up on the insult I just unthinkably threw. 

'No! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, it just that to make such claim without evidence is risky' I quickly explained, panic seeping into my chest bit by bit.

'The Luna is the only creature that is close to their kind and was the only one existing at her time. Who else would trigger such changes?' Laird tilted his head a little bit to his right, speaking like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I bit my lip to contain the theories as of why things like that could happen, not wanting to annoy or anger Laird, so instead just gave a small shrug. He looked at me for a moment in silence, his eyes like black holes sucking all of your attention to them and then sighed.

'You want to believe it or not, that's the truth. Anyway, brothers decided that it is not safe for people of their kind to be part of the human community, so they began searching for a secluded place to create their own kind's tribe. And what's the better place than the territory feared by the humans themselves?'

'They feared the volcano?' I asked frowning and glanced over my shoulder at the natural structure that stood further back. It was just a mountain with a hole in it. And hot death, but there was nothing to fear apart from the eruption time.

'It makes noises during day and night. I guess it unsettled most of them' he explained, but I just blinked at him like an owl.

'I haven't heard any noises'

'It has been quiet for some time. It will reach your ears sooner or later.'

I glanced one more time to the black structure that was barely visible even with the help of the moon and then turned back to Laird. He had his head leaned back against the bark of the tree and his eyes closed.

'Are you tired? We can continue tomorrow' I spoke, finally remembering that I was the only one who slept through the day. Tlaloc probably didn't go to sleep at all and then Laird overtook his body. Who knows, maybe Tlaloc can't go to sleep until he gets the control over his body.

I watched as Laird opened his eyes and looked at me. Even though the face of Tlaloc looked weary and tired, Laird's eyes looked at me with lively energy.

'I'm far from tired, but this human body is at its limit. There is not much left to tell either way'

'Okay, continue then' I urged Laird, before he passed out completely.

'Three brothers went to the villages to find and talk with those of their own kind while other three began building the place you live in now. After a few weeks, brothers came back with those shifting people and settled down. From that day most of our kind is born in our tribe, but there is an occasion transformation in other villages. Since the creation of our tribe, the entire north side of the island, or in other words our territory, is off limits to other villagers. Because of that, people who suddenly are given the gift from our Mother, are exiled to these lands by the other villagers as monsters, but we see it as a trial to see if the person is worthy of joining us since the journey to our tribe is not the easiest. Any questions?'

My brain forgot about Tlaloc's tired body and jumped to work in creating questions for Laird. All of this information and just entire situation was like out of science fiction book and it excited me.

'Are all villagers like you? "Standing on two leg" you?' I asked and saw a small tug in his lips. He almost smiled.

'No. Most of our kind shifts in our Mother's body. In other words, a simple, but slightly bigger wolf. Only the Alpha bloodline stands on two legs.'

'Explain'

'The older brother was deemed the most fitting to be the first Alpha of the tribe, since he won in duels against everyone. While other brothers mated shifters that had Mother's beast body, their all children were born with Mother's beast body. But the older brother's children all were born like their father'

'So, let's say we have children. Then they would be born like Luna because my human blood will water down your Alpha blood, right?'

'No, my blood wins either way. Your blood and features will be more dominant in human bodies, but my features will be dominant in beast body'

'So, mini Lairds' I hummed and imagined a small Laird trying to stand on his hind legs. 'Awwwww, you must have been so cute!' I cooed as I pulled myself closer to him and pinched his cheeks. Laird's lips twitched into a small smile, but didn't say anything as I continued melting from how cute Laird must have looked.

'So, are we finished with history?' I asked once I was done with cooing and giggling. That took quite some time.

'Yes, unless you have more questions' he answered and I hummed, beginning to create even more questions to bombard him with.