Curse of Eternity

Chapter Four

Maliki crouched down and forced himself to stay as still as possible. His rapidly pounding heart slowed and beat so gently he wasn't sure it was moving at all. "Still as the owl, hidden as a fox, and patient as the wolf. Always patient." As the words flowed through his mind, Maliki felt himself becoming one with the woods. Just as he had been taught to do.

He heard them coming before they ever came into sight. Four blurs of color zoomed past Maliki and completely missed him. With practiced ease, Maliki kept himself in control. Everything in Maliki's body screamed for him to launch out from his hiding spot. To unleash himself on his pursuers and remind them of who they hunt. Or what they hunt. His primal instincts roared and begged to feel their blood on his hands.

But he wouldn't. Shifter blood would not be shed by his hands. Not again. He had only ever killed a single shifter, and that one would haunt him for the rest of his life.

A fifth creature raced towards Maliki;s direction, but this one was slower. It was more patient than the rest, disciplined. The creature stalked forward and stopped less than ten feet away from Maliki. It was a wolf, blonde furred and amber eyed. Three scars ran down the beast's front leg, defacing its otherwise perfect coat.

For a second, Maliki lost control of himself. The sight of the wolf brought back the fear and guilt he had been holding at bay. The emotions gripped his heart like a viper and refused to let go. The wolf's head shot up just as Maliki's heart raced. But he only lost control for a second. There's no way the wolf could have heard it.

The wolf turned his head and looks directly at Maliki. They stared at each other for three seconds but for the boy, it felt like an eternity.

A loud howl came from where the other creatures headed and the blonde wolf howled back. A moment later, he was gone. Maliki stayed put for at least ten minutes before slowly moving away from the spot and backtracking, purposefully taking the wrong path four times in order to create fake tracks. On the fourth path taken, Maliki grabbed the small pack he had hidden away and checked that all his gear was inside. He had been taught to be able to travel far and pack light.

Pants, shirt, knife, skin, and... there it is. Maliki reached into his bag and pulled out a simple leather band with two items hanging from it by a centimeter or two. A yellow wolf tooth and a grey wooden crescent moon. Little red dots were scattered across them. The tooth belonged to Maliki's father, something he had gifted to his mother before being sent out as something to remember him by in case something ever happened. She used to wear it on the same leather band and never took it off after his passing. Now it was Maliki's turn to keep it safe.

With the band on his wrist and his pack full, Maliki slung the bag over his shoulder and made his way to the border of his pack's territory. He made the journey in silence, keeping himself aware of the surrounding area in case someone managed to follow the right tracks. He reached the border by nightfall. The smell of rain was heavy and thunder cracked overhead and Maliki smiled to himself. The rain would make it harder for anyone to follow him.

The boy turned and looked back at the massive forest he had been forced to call home for so long. "Mother," Maliki whispered, "i'm sorry. But I can't stay here. Not without you." He turned his back to the forest and ran away.

The light of the crescent moon lighting his way.