The Story of Lily & Rowen: Amarusa

The Story of Lily & Rowen Book II - Prologue

Lily's mind was silent. She existed in a dreamless and unnatural state, one that offered the she-wolf a convenient respite from the latent torment and anxiety of the recent events in her life. Her state was a questionable one, teetering on the edge of existence and whatever lay beyond. For days she had been engulfed in this limbo, strangely aware that something was amiss but unable to deduce anything beyond that.

As time passed, Lily was weaned back into a conscious, and therefore troubled, rest. Something tormented the white she-wolf. Someone. It was a prying presence, but it wasn't the only affliction. Something had been left behind. Something dear to her. But what, or who? Left behind? Where was she?

Before any answers allowed themselves to be known, Lily felt a strange sensation. One that was familiar, yet hadn't been experienced in some time. A return to the physical realm. She could feel. Her muscles writhed beneath her skin, and her eyelids receded to allow a bright flash of light to blind her. Still silent, she squinted and turned her head away in protest in what was more of an instinctual motion rather than a deliberate one. After what seemed like eons of toiling in a perpetual state of non-existence, her primitive and visceral sensations gave way to complex thought, and she was at last able to link these feelings to the events and experiences that had elicited them.

'You left me.' a familiar, tender, and masculine voice uttered in her mind.

With her retinas at least partially adjusted to the intrusion of light, Lily's eyes scanned about frantically as her head remained resting in a perpendicular fashion to her forelegs. She left somewhere, or something? Lily pried through her memories. Yes – she had fled. She recalled that much. But she had left someone? She had never lived with anyone. She weakly raised her head as she realized it was something she had control over. A war – rather, a coming war. Fleeing eventual persecution to...the Akaru Territories.

'Home.' she thought to herself, recalling her geography. 'No, my ancestral...'

She recoiled at her recollections and the foreign ability of reasoning, afforded to all sentient creatures. As her thoughts and considerations grew more complex, so too did her eyes become more alert, opening fully to project her electric-blue irises into the world. She raised her head once more with a newfound strength, noting the snow intruding at the entrance of what seemed to be a lit, circular cave.

'You left me when I needed you the most.' the voice that had been previously forgotten suddenly returned.

The voice registered in her mind first. It brought her joy, a sense of safety, belonging, and the prospect of a clear future. One of companionship and of newfound purpose, and a sense of no longer being alone. The words themselves, for the time being eluded the she-wolf as the thought of the voice lulled her back into the ethereal world, but one of consciousness. Gone was the ambiguity of existence that permeated her previous, and seemingly endless, slumber.

Lily was at last transported to the dream world, which manifested itself as what seemed to be a serpentine cave lit by crystal deposits of various colors. They existed on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cavern, lending the otherwise dark and dank atmosphere a glowing aura. The majesty of the colored crystals could only hold her attention for so long, as movement soon demanded her attention. She could resolve two wolves in the dimness. A large black wolf accompanied a smaller white-furred one, and they walked closely together and in sync. A sense of familiarity washed over Lily as she observed the pair walking through the cave. It hadn't been the first time she'd dreamed of the two wolves. Despite the sense of familiarity that their appearances evoked in her, she could not identify them.

"This is the only way, my love. We were denied our lives." the white wolf uttered.

"Profane as it is...as wrong as it may feel..." the black wolf's voice bled uncertainty.