Son of The Flame

Chapter 3: An Explanation

Rian's eyes flickered open, the dreamscape around him focusing into a crisper image.

He was lying on a silver colored blanket of vegetation, dim light twinkled off of the blades of grass closest to his eyes. Hesitantly the lion lifted his head to survey his surroundings, only to realize that everything around him was the same color as the grass beneath him.

Rian was suspicious of the new landscape, so he quickly got to his feet so that he could try to make better sense of where he was.

Silently the King stalked through the forest, but everything looked the same where he went, silver and glasslike.

"Rian!" The voice was familiar, but still scared Rian enough for him to roar in defense.

Turning quickly, Rian saw Milo and cut off his growl, relaxing at the sight of the familiarity.

"Sorry I got all crazy on you, but I can elaborate on that in a little while. Follow me." The wolf barked.

Cautiously Rian followed his student through the forest, still uncomfortable with the reflectiveness of every surface. After about five minutes the pair hopped over a creek that flowed silver and emerged into a clearing. Milo continued to the center of the clearing while Rian halted at the tree line. The whole clearing was filled with strangers.

Of course werecats were highly social within their prides. However being surrounded by all strangers, all being wolves for that matter, wasn't a comfortable situation.

Rian snarled openly, narrowing his eyes to slits at the wolf nearest to him, who had deep brown fur with green vines wrapping around its body. The wolf immediately shied away from the insult, flattening its large ears to its head.

As Rian swiveled his large head around the rest of the clearing, he noticed all the other wolves, Milo among them, each had striking features that made their elements clear.

"Rian, please join us." A shining voice resonated over the clearing.

The voice belonged to a wolf who blended in the silver landscape, her pelt just a reflective as everything else. It was almost hard to see her, blending into the trees. She was considerably larger then the Elemental wolves, and she was only slightly smaller than Rian himself. He puffed himself up to make himself appear that much larger, sharply staring ahead as he hesitantly edged his way into the center of the circle.

"I'm sorry, I brought you here without consent, but it's time you understand your purpose in affiliation with these eight wolves I've gathered here." The mirror-like wolf spoke softly, her voice echoing around the clearing.

"I'm assuming you're the wolf goddess." The lion rumbled.

"Right you are Rian, I am the Moon goddess. We aren't here to talk about me however, it's you we are here to talk about you, The Keeper of the Elements." She replied, her silver-line frame weaving its way toward the King.

"So I was told." Rian huffed in return.

"Yes. Well here with us are the eight elements. You've met Fire of course, and you've been working with him, yielding small results." She stated.

"He's afraid to let himself loose, he's hesitant goddess. To be hesitant is to be weak." Rian explained, defending his small progress with Milo.

"Well Rian, you saw what happened when Milo let go, he couldn't control himself, he hurt members of your pride remember? Wolves are not the same as cats Rian, wolves will take over their host and it's hard to rip them back into awareness. Werecats are fine-tuned with their hosts, look at you for example. You and your cat are the same being, you've grown up as the same person. The reason for hesitation in Milo is that he's fearful of hurting someone, most of all you. He can't control himself." The Moon goddess justified, pacing left and right as she explained all of this.

Rian said nothing, contemplating and absorbing the presented information, trying to understand how it involved him.

"Now as the Keeper of the Elements you are immune to any of the powers of the eight wolves before you. Any elemental trained by you will have no fear in causing you pain. They can learn to explore their fullest ability without fear now, with you leading them." The silver wolf continued, turning her large head to lock eyes with Rian.

"I don't understand why I have to do this. Why they have these gifts." Rian interjected.

"Nobody does just yet, something is occurring under our noses in the supernatural world, we need someone to stop it." She said solemnly, "In the meantime, we need to get the rest of the Elements to your pride Rian, they need training."

As Rian looked around the clearing for the wolves, he found them gone, faded from existence. Obviously noticing his confusion the Moon goddess spoke,

"I released them from the dream, but I still need to speak with you."

The silver goddess turned and trotted out of the clearing, Rian following her back through the forest until he stopped in a collection of trees and sat.

"Much like you, being out in the open makes me feel vulnerable." She stated as Rian laid down on the silver grass.

"Rian, these wolves need to become a team, they need to become strong.
I think a lion pride is the best place to build the feeling of tightness between them. You can help them... Can't you?" The Moon goddess whispered.

Rian could feel himself fading from the dream, almost felt himself stirring back in the real world. He nodded his large head, invigorated about his new power.

"I'll see you soon, good King."

The dream ended, blackness blanketing the lion. However, it wasn't over. Milo entered the blackness of his dreamscape, fur glowing lightly, gentle flame licking at his pelt. It was obvious he was a Fire wolf.

Then, another wolf appeared, replacing Milo. It was the wolf Rian had scared back in the clearing. It's fur was brown like trees bark, green vines trailed every which way, moving like extra appendages. It was the Wood elemental, although wood seemed sort of like a lame name for such an interesting gift.

Next, a larger wolf appeared a ridge of rocks protruding down its spine to its tail. It was mostly a rust color, like clay, but it clear that this was the Earth wolf.

Another Elemental replaced the earth wolf, a bushy, thick white pelt blanketed it's body, the only color contrast would be the blazing blue eyes that stared into Rian's soul. Little white flakes whipped and swirled around the wolf, twinkling under some unseen light source. Although the lion had never seen snow before, the Ice element came to his mind.

The next wolf that appeared to the King was thin like an abounded wildebeest calf, but looked strong in another way. The deep, grey fur resembled an angry storm cloud. A fierce wind whipped at the wolf's thin coat, allowing Rian to classify him as the Air wolf.

As soon as the next wolf fizzled into existence Rian felt anxiety bubble within him. This wolf had pitch black fur with blotches of yellow in random spots. The air crackled with electricity as tendrils danced on the dark surface of its fur. It looks fearless, and intimidating, the fact that this wolf was gifted with the control of electricity was obvious.

The next wolf faded into view, it's fur was a light brown, basically it just looked normal. However, one second the wolf was there, and a blink of the eye revealed that is had disappeared. Based on what he left to choose from, Rian determined that this was the Light wolf. Mysterious indeed.

Although Rian suspected who and what this last wolf was, it still appeared to him amid this strange transition dream. However, one glance at this wolf exposed all of its secrets. The Water wolf had blue fur, like tye-dye, and a dazzling pair of blue eyes to match. The most unique part was defiantly the fin that replaced the wolf's tail. It was like a fish's tail with scales and all. Smaller fins protruded on each of the wolf's legs, and a larger dorsal fin ran up its back. Rian could see how this wolf would have power over the others, it was just so different from the other elements. The wolf disappeared into the darkness just as the other seven had.

As the lion felt himself break back into consciousness he almost hear the hushed whisper of the moon goddess,

"Good luck, good King."

And his eyes flickered open.