White Stag

Chapter 7~White Stag

So, he brought me down here to pull a prank. "Get off the ground, you goof." I giggle nervously when Axel doesn't move an inch. His body is so frozen in place, he looks like stone.

I move forward to touch him and the moment my hand makes contact with his shoulder, his head snaps up. "You-You're the White Stag" Axel stares at me with admiration in his eyes, but I feel like it goes deeper than that.

I stood there frozen. I gesture for Axel to continue speaking. When he doesn't, I blurt out, "What's the White Stag? I thought we came down here to fix my hair."

Axel stands up from his kneeling position. He brushes off his hands and points at the water. "That water is poisoned. It kills anything and everything that touches it. It is called the Drink of Life."

It takes my ears a few seconds to transfer this information to my brain. My wonder quickly turns to boiling anger. "You let me drink a poison... that could have killed me?"

Axel glances at me and shrugs. "It didn't kill you. You're the White Stag. You are invincible to its poison.

I put my hand on my forehead in frustration. "But what is the White Stag?"

Axel sighs. "Do you really need to know?"

"Yes. Tell me now. As your queen, or whatever—I order you." I stare Axel down, and he meets my hazel eyes with his guarded ones.

Axel paces slowly around the room, rubbing his hands together. I can see he is unsure whether he should tell me this information. At last, he sighs. "The Drink of Life is made from the tears of Eden, who is the God of reality." Axel motions for me to follow him down a different passage in the cavern.

"Odin, the God of the Dream Realm, saw how Eden was jealous of those that prayed to him. Eden slowly became consumed with anger towards Odin. The anger grew and grew. Eden had finally had enough."

I look back at Axel. "I'm assuming Odin is the White Stag, right?" Axel nods. His hand trails down to my lower back and he leads me down the passage where there are more murals like in the first passage.

I run my hand along them and it comes back covered in dust.. We pause in front of an elegant painting of an eagle falling out of the clouds. A white stag, like the one I saw in my dreams, is perched on top of the clouds.

"Eden became corrupted quickly. He twisted reality, causing wars between the creatures and their own minds. They couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. Odin cornered him and asked why he was doing this. He wanted to know so he could help him." Axel shakes his head slowly. "But Eden couldn't go back. He was stuck with his choice."

Axel trails off, leading me to one of the most gorgeous paintings I have ever seen. It is of Odin. His antlers are stretched out towards the stars. A string is tied to one of the stars and to his antlers, and Odin is pulling his neck back as if to pull the star out of the sky.

"Odin used his powers to pull a star out of the sky. None of the other Gods had ever achieved that. They hailed him for having such power; however, it made Eden more jealous. Odin saw Eden's anger escalate and planned to use the star as a last resort, before it came to war. And it did come to that. After battling Eden, Odin struck him with the star and banished him to Earth." Axel pauses for a breath before looking somber. "But Eden wasn't finished."

The torch produces a fiery glow on the walls as we walk. Our shadows entwine as we reach the next mural. It is horrifying. It shows a man sprouting two folded wings out of his back, screaming in pain. Eden is gazing down at the man triumphantly with a sinister look in his eagle eyes.

"After falling to Earth, Eden realized that Odin couldn't take away his powers. Eden wanted revenge. He created men with wings and the sight of an eagle. Eden called them the Leviathans.

"To counter them, Odin created men that could change into wolves, and he ordered them to work with other wolves as a pack. But this still wasn't enough."

By the time we reach the final mural, another silence has settled down on us. It's of a woman with flowing white hair and antlers. As I look closer, I see stars and odd symbols engraved in her antlers. I've seen these marks before.

"Odin spent nine days and nine nights creating the White Stag: She is a female with great power. Only one queen is born every 200 years. The White Stag Queen is a healer and has unimaginable power. She is able to travel in the Dream Realm and communicate with Odin." Axel gazes at me. "It's been 200 years, but now you are here."

I don't say anything. I want to wait for him to finish the story.

"The first White Stag Queen was called Queen Ophelia. She traveled into the Dream Realm and told Odin what Eden was doing on Earth. Odin made a God-banishing sword for Ophelia. She is the only one that knows the name. Ophelia traveled back, and with her pack, she slayed Eden."

"But wasn't it just a banishing sword?" I tilt my head towards Axel. He nods.

"Eden is able to come back. But right now, we need you to end the war between the Leviathans and the wolves." Axel stares at me.

My jaw drops. "What do you mean, 'we'?"

Axel looks away. He looks nervous to tell me, or perhaps ashamed. "I'm a wolf, or as you would call it, a werewolf."