The Darkness Within

15 - The Beginnings of a Journey

She should not have opened her eyes. The lights above her were bright and her eyes were sore. Therefore her eyes were unable to adjust to the light properly and her eyes snapped closed immediately. After a few moments, she tentatively opened her eyes again. They adjusted to the light better and she was able to handle the pain as she squinted at her surroundings. Familiar black fur filled her vision on all sides and above her the ceiling was a simple stained wood color.

She sat up, Tala's huge body sleeping around her protectively. Her body protested with a general ache throughout it, and she released a groan of pain as she moved. The room was quiet except for the gentle breathing of sleeping people and a few steps of quiet footsteps. Still within the warm circle of her wolf, she surveyed her body. It felt strange and she wasn't sure she liked its transformation.

Through her furs, she couldn't see the changes to her limbs, but based on the memories, she assumed her form would be more angled and inhumanly thin. Despite the pain as she moved, she could feel the new ease at which she moved and the strength of her body as a whole. Her gums ached more so than some other parts of her body and she ran her tongue across her teeth, revealing an entirely new pattern to her teeth. Both her top and bottom jaw had a set of huge double canines, larger than an alpha's canines, and her teeth had readjusted to accommodate them. They were lethally sharp, and she accidentally pricked her tongue on one, filling her mouth with the coppery tang of blood.

With a sense of rising panic from the changes, she reached a hand up to her ear. She remembered them feeling like they were being ripped apart, and upon inspection, she discovered that they had changed forms to be pointed. As she tuned into her surroundings, she could make out more sounds than should be possible, including her wolf's heartbeat. Remembering the swirls on the statue of the Dark Goddess in the library and the white or gold swirls on Light in her memories, she tentatively pulled off a glove from her hand. Her sleeve covered the brutal band of scars on her wrist, but it didn't hide the inky black marks on her skin covering the back of her hand up to her fingers.

With the panic digging in, she wished for her old body back. She didn't want this body, it was strange and foreign and weighty. She was not ready for what the body meant, and she desperately wished she had someone to guide her in this new form.

She felt a strange bubbling in her body and power flowed into her through the open door in her mind. She looked down at her uncovered hand to see the inhuman angularity and the Goddess swirls fade away, returning her to her familiar body. Her panic faded, but she could still feel the magic humming under her skin, ready for her to call upon it.

She pulled her glove back on and turned to her wolf. Her Champion. She was surprised to see the wolf watching her with meadow-green eyes, now flecked with silver, but even more surprised to feel the flow of emotions from her wolf to her and from her to her wolf. Tala was calm, but she could feel the underlying worry within. It was strange, feeling another's emotions and she quickly pushed them to the back of her mind and stood up, thankful that her body felt normal once more.

Tala, seeing Ciara struggle to stand, moved so that the handle on her harness was in reach and helped her companion stand up. Ciara gratefully grabbed the handle and put a large amount of her weight on her wolf as they stood up. Despite being in her normal body, she was still undeniably sore throughout and moving was excruciating.

Once she was standing, she turned to look around the room. Evelyn looked up from where she was sitting beside her twin and her eyes widened with joy. She immediately stood up and ran towards her, wrapping her in a fug. Evelyn hugged her tightly, and she hissed in pain from the soreness of her skin and body.

"Oh, Ciara I'm sorry, are you okay?" her friend asked as she pulled away, clearly hearing Ciara's hiss of pain.

"Yeah," she reassured her worried friend, "I'm okay just sore."