The large energy wall that stood in front of us was of course incredibly intimidating while also being the mixture of intimidation and beauty. From anywhere in the city you couldn't see it at all but as you get up close and a few steps away it suddenly appears and it looks like the Northern Lights but it was streaked with gold and crimson, the colors of Lighttran and the royal family, along with the normal green and red colors of the natural occurring auroras in the north of Cerenia.
"Open up section 168B of the barrier. I have someone the queen wishes to see." The mage orders and the nearby guards scramble around to follow orders.
"Why are the guards so disorganized?" Nig asks and I tilt my head wondering the same thing.
"They haven't had something this important to do since the last prophecy. As I'm sure you know was a century ago," the mage replies and I nod in understanding as the barrier opened up right in front of us giving us a path into the palace.
We walk through swiftly and the mage leads us through the large and confusingly immense amounts of different halls, corridors, and stairways. Just as I begin to feel that we were walking in circles like some old cartoon we reach the queen's chambers and we sit down outside the surprisingly small gold-plated door.
"So what are we supposed to do now? Wait for the queen to come out like a jack in the box?" I ask curiously and my comment makes Nig start to snicker since he was trying not to laugh.
"As a matter of fact Sylvester no. We simply let the last of the 5 animals that we were ordered to retrieve come and then enter the let you enter the queen's chambers" he snarled saying my name and any pronouns for me in disgust which is something I'm too familiar with given my past.
"Ok...then when do you think that animal is going to get here?" I ask and I get my question answered as soon as another dog walked in with a different mage.
"Speak of the devil..." Nig says as he nearly jumped when the new dog came in making me laugh a little.
"Hey, I'm Sylvester. My jumpy friend over there is Nig. It's uh a pleasure I guess to meet you" I say as I walk over to greet the new dog.
"Oh um hello. And yeah I guess it's a pleasure even though we were pretty much dragged here by force, not that I'm complaining, but yeah. My name is Luna and I have to say your name isn't too common is it?" she replied with a small laugh at Nig.
"Yeah. My name is about as rare as finding an untouched meal at the bottom of a dumpster," I say as I looked at her. She was a simple red and white Siberian husky with amber eyes and about the same size as me. The only thing that sets us apart at first glance is my fur color(which is black and white), wolf features, and heterochromia(bi-colored eyes. For Sylvester his right eye is Ice Blue and his left eye is Hazel Brown).
I walk over to the doors again and waited for the palace mages to open the doors and let us in. I could see this situation being a horrible crossover of some old movies and cartoons or something but I think I'll keep that to myself.
"Well then now that we have the last animal we shall proceed," the mage who brought Luna says before opening the doors and making a path for us to go in.
"Talk about a grand welcoming" I mutter just before walking ahead of the others and checking the surroundings of the queen's chamber.
It was a simple penthouse suite kinda place and set up like a regular two-floor house. The mages left and shut the door loudly behind us giving Nig and Luna a jump of fear. I make my way to the spiral staircase that was placed in a small inning on the right wall just next to the office and assume that we need to go up. I signal the others with a flick of my tail before heading up the stairs and into the second floor. Nig and Luna followed me quickly and while also taking a look at the surroundings in awe. I didn't feel the same awe as them though and this room didn't feel right. And plus the mages that escorted us said that the queen was supposed to be in here waiting for us with a few animals that were escorted here earlier than us and I don't see any of them at all.
"This is a test isn't it?" I ask loudly enough that anyone could hear but still less than a shout.
"What do you mean? How can th-" Luna starts but is shortly cut off by a voice coming from right in front of us.
"Quite right Sylvester," the voice said before the air in front of them started to shift and glow as the illusion magic was slowly taken down and the queen along with two other animals were exposed while the rest of the room stayed the same, "I am Queen Esmeralda, 689th queen of Cerenia. I take it you know why you were called here too?"
"Actually no but it couldn't possibly be because of the upcoming prophecy," I reply sarcastically.
The Queen lets out a small chuckle and nods, "This time 5 stars have fallen and given us quite a prophecy that we need the prophesied humans for. We've chosen you to be the companions of said humans."
"And are you sure that these humans ARE the prophesied ones? Considering a few past prophecies some of the prophesied ones were NOT the ones actually in the prophecy," Nig asks out of insecurity and fear.
"Of course Nig. Although the fifth animal we wanted to retrieve died shortly before my escort party reached them so I'd for you to replace him," the queen replies.
"I'll be honored to be of service," he says excitedly
"But why choose a useless wolfdog like me to be with one of the prophesied ones?" I ask but as I guessed, did not receive an answer from the queen as she was also unsure.
"But what about the other two then? Where are they?" Luna asks confused but also trying to look.
"They're in front of us still aren't they? From what I can smell it's a bird and a frog" I say partially glad I have a wolf's enhanced smell.
"Dang it...I thought I could do better." A voice says from the right of the queen.
"Well maybe you shouldn't have tried in the first place!" a worried and quite frightened voice from the left says harshly before the illusion faded away and revealed a frog standing there.
"And what good would that have been Albert?" the voice from the right which I'm guessing is the bird snapped back and put down the illusion to reveal a blue jay.
"I'm guessing Albert is going to be the second worrywart," I interject making the blue jay laugh.
"From what I heard from Nig yes. The name's Skylar. I'm probably going to be the annoying know-it-all" she says quite cheerfully and ecstatic due to the fact of our meeting.
"At least there won't be just one of us," I say
"And at least there'll be one that understands the other completely" Skylar adds.
"Alright, you five. I'll leave you here for the time being while we search for the five prophesied humans. Take the time to get to know each other, form bonds, and gain each other's trust. For you will have to fight together soon." The queen says before walking down the stairs and leaving her chambers, leaving the five of us alone in the room.
*~*~*~*~*
YOU ARE READING
A Howl To The Moon
FantasyIn a modern world, magic has been discovered and is used constantly along with animals who share this ability to harness magic to an extent according to their species. In this story you will follow through Sylvester's point of view, who as a half wo...
