Time has passed since Mia had returned to the Harvest lands. So much had gone on, reunions, reanimation; so many things were returning back to the pack lands. Even as Spring turned the corner and stood at their doorstep, waltzing in, and the Pheromones of the females were at an all-time high; there was something that continued to bother the raven-haired woman. It was probably an unknown fact about the woman, but she had a very bad habit of bottling things up and ignoring it to the point it would explode. Even now as she could feel the hormones raging in her veins, demanding things she would never voice out loud.
It wasn’t like Mia was against having a partner, it was more she did not think herself worthy of one. So, while there were plenty of males on the pack lands, they were all tied to someone, which made this time of year more awkward for the young wolfess. It made it more difficult for the hormonal woman since she had set up camp so close to many others in the den.
No, Mia had struggled hard the last while to remain where her pack was, to tie her Gypsy spirit so that she could settle down with the family she had made. Old habits died real hard; Mia absolutely adored her entire pack, from her Alphas, to her betas, even to the new members and those passing through. She loved all of it and was the reason she had to make herself stop running.
With the nights leading up to the beginning of that week, she had a hard time sleeping as nightmares plagued her. More vivid than before, the fears that those that took everything from her was hot on her tail. These nightmares lead to many restless nights, but not like the week spring brought. An entire week and that the poor girl had not had an ounce of sleep, and it showed, thick dark circles colored under those vibrant sea-foam eyes of hers.
Why? Honestly she did not know, even with the burning desire running through her very being for something more than what she had, she knew something else was keeping her up. The more she thought on it, the more she knew it had nothing to do with the nightmares before either. Scraping every ounce of thought she could, the only thing that became certain was this, something was gone.
Something was amiss, something was missing, and she knew it she knew something was different… However, she always knew it was missing. Every since that day she was brought back. Something was gone…
What it was, she had not clue, but it felt like she should know, it was a part of her, part of who she was. On top of that, she was having a hard time shifting, in fact the last time she shifted was when she first returned… That night… She could feel it… it was the last she would ever shift… She didn’t know why she knew or how she knew it would be the last time. She could feel that part of her had been dead for a very long time, and that she had clung to a past that was no longer there.
She had clung to a person that no longer existed, not since that fateful day. Still on this night it felt colder than usual despite the fact spring was there, so in her small little hammock she pulled her knees to her chest as she watched the skies above. Why was she so terrified to sleep on the pack lands lately? That question was bugging her for the last week, what was hiding in the night that had her so afraid to sleep? She had been all over the world, traveled on many different terrains both Rural and City. She has slept on streets, in trees, over mountains, in bogs. There was not a place she had not slept! Worse of all, she has slept in these lands before. But why now…
That night, she hit her limit, she knew, she knew that night she would fall asleep, and her heart raced at that fact, at that thought. Why though? Somewhere deep inside her knew that when she woke she would never be the same again. That these lands, was where she was meant to be, that the person she will wake up as in the morning was meant to come. Why couldn’t she just let it go? “It is because you hold onto the past so tightly my child.” A voice floated from no where causing Mia to jump and gasp looking around terrified. But no one was there, smacking her forehead she would take in a deep breath and sigh “Great, you have not slept in so long that you are now Hallucinating!” she grumbled to herself before looking back to the skies. “You’re not wrong though” she whispered to the formless voice. She knew that voice, it was a voice that haunted her all these years.
Her mother, she knew her mother was there, she knew her father was there, she knew them well and she knew they were there now. “you must sleep, you are only making things worse for yourself little bug.” The male voice spoke out and Mia through her hands up “STOP! THIS IS MADDENING! I KNOW I NEED TO SLEEP LEAVE ME ALONE!” she yelled, could anyone hear her? Probably not, she didn’t yell loud enough for it to echo just yet. Just enough that dispelled the Hallucinations from her sleep deprived brain. There was a whimper near her as she turned to look at the pup that had taken to her in her first few days. It looked up at her from its comfortable bed she created by her side on the ground and she gave it a small smile “I am sorry Drake… I didn’t mean to wake you. I am fine I promise.” She said as he whimpered again and got up trying to get into the hammock with her.
Taking a small breath, she took a hold of the puppers and pulled his massive dire pup form into the hammock where he curled between her legs. Softly she ran her fingers through his pelt as she took in slowly its soft pelt “I wonder if you even like the name, Drake?” she asked, at this point. She had not shaken the pup from her side. He had been faithful from the start and never really diverted elsewhere. She needed that, a token to remind her the reason she would be staying here. Something to anchor her to the pack lands more than just the bonds she made. Though, even she would admit in her sleepless haze that she was looking for something else.
“Sleep little bug, you need to sleep” the voice rang again and she growled and launched herself backwards to lay down and cover her face. “leave me alone!” she grumbled as she peeked to look at the sky again. Her out burst had the pup looking up to her and tilting his head curiously. One ear lifted into the air the other flopped to its side as the fluffy pup watched her. “sorry… just… just go back to sleep.” She said flinging a arm over her face to hide her eyes from the sky.
Why couldn’t she shake this feeling that something was about to happen? She couldn’t even pinpoint if it was good or bad, but she knew change was inevitable. She could feel it deep within her being. Deep within her… soul? No… yes? no… Maybe… She wasn’t sure, maybe that was why she was so scared to go to sleep. Because she didn’t know. Not knowing was the most terrifying thing to her when it came to herself. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t long before her eyes finally drooped close and sent her into the realm of dreams.
“RUN MIA! RUN!” screamed a woman’s voice. Sounds of gunshot and fire cackling rang through the area. Mia would open her eyes to find complete darkness. There were no images, there was no scenes, but she knew this scene. “it is just a dream. “she told herself as she looked around holding herself tightly. “it is just a dream” “MIA! RUN!” yelled another voice and she screamed taking off through the darkness that consumed her. She did not know which was up, nor which way was down as floating images and scenes of burning fields and a thatched building popped up here and there. “THIS IS JUST A DREAM!” she screamed holding her head as she ran scared.
Sliding to a stop in the middle of the dark abyss she stared wide eyed at the two hanging corpses before her. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t cry, she couldn’t do anything as the lifeless eyes of her mother and father stared down at her while dangling from the darkness. There was no scene behind them for her to feel some form of comfort, they just hung there suspended in the darkness staring at her.
Tears streaked down her face as she tried to scream but no sound came from her. That was when her mothers head shifted from the angle it rested in death and looked her dead in the eyes. “Embrace us” her voice was odd, and cold, and the hairs on the back of Mias neck stood on end as she tried screaming and turned to run. When she glanced back, her parents remained hanging behind her as if she was not moving at all, despite how hard she ran.
They would lift their arms as tendrils began to protrude from their bodies and squirm into the dark abyss. It was just as dark but there was a difference, the tendrils that came to life held… sparkles? No… Stars… Mia attempted to scream as the tendrils took over the image of her parents, ripping them apart as they reached out to her. No matter how hard she screamed, there was no sound coming from her.
All she could think was “It is just a dream” she couldn’t even say it anymore as for some reason her voice just would not come. Ducking as she tried her best to dodge the tendrils, at the same time she fought to keep from looking at the scene. The last image that she ever had of her parents. It would hover in the darkness follow her every move. Each image would tremble before a tendril would burst through and shoot out towards her. Another inaudible scream came from her as she dodged another, terrified, she didn’t know what to do. This seemed more than a dream, more than just a sleepless hallucination.
This was real, it was tangible, she didn’t know how she knew, but she knew it was more than a dream. She came to a sliding stop as her sea-foam hues widened at a barrel being pointed right to her face. She remembered this scene. This... this was the scene of her death, the last breath she took before her Alpha found her. The male’s lips were curled into a sadistic smirk as he pulled the trigger. But there was no sound to it, in fact, the pain did not come from her chest… It came from her back.
Looking down she could see that one of the tendrils as shot through her chest, effectively impaling her as the image of the male dissipated. It was as if a heartbeat played and all she could do was look at the tendril shocked, horrified. From the abyss, an image slowly faded into view. Its eyes glowed a ghostly bright sea-foam hue. Her massive head lowered to look down into Mias own eyes and for a moment Mia couldn’t focus on anything.
As the creature before her sat down in the space slightly above her, Mia could tell that one of the tendrils that came from the creatures flowing tail had curled around, and as Mia followed the tail, she found that the tendril that had stuck itself into her, came from this creature. When it opened its maw, ghostly orbs fell from behind its razor-sharp teeth when it barred its fangs at her. “You will acknowledge me now!” its voice was feminine and felt as if it was an all-encompassing voice that reverberates through Mias entire being.
Mia was left stunned into silence as she looked to the creature. It growled as its hackles lifted up and Mia could see that its pelt looked as if the cosmos painted itself into each strand. “You have evaded me long enough! There is nothing left but to embrace me!” it growled again as its twisted tendril like horns pointed upwards in the dark abyss. “No more running child!” it said as it took a step down as if starting down steps. While there were no physical steps the moment its paw touched down, a light would appear and ripple out as if the creature had stepped in glowing water.
Struggling to break away, Mia panicked the closer this creature came to her until finally it stood before her. It was massive in its own right, much larger than Mia that was for sure, but still, it held delicate features, its pelt looked as soft as feathers while a few strands tendrilled out elegantly about its tail. When it came close, Mia noticed it looked… Just like a wolf, Ethereal orbs fell form its lips and danced around its form as it stood there for a moment before leaning its head forward. “You and I, are one now Child” it said as it pressed its nose against her forehead.
Outside of the realm of sleep, the entire time Mia was screaming to the top of her lungs, her body thrashing about as if being attacked. So much so the pup had leaped from the hammock and started to Howl and bark Alarmed. Trying to get someone’s attention as Mias body had arched and thrashed easily slashing the hammock into shreds. She continued to scream out in terror as the pup tried to get close only to jump away when her arms lashed out. While in the sleep realm, her screams were silenced, in reality, they only amplified the more desperate she got.
The pup rushed through the dens panicked and attempting to seek some form of help but not stopping at anyone in particular, along with the echoing screams that vibrated through the halls and amplified out of the den. The pup just ran trying to get someone’s attention. When the screaming suddenly stopped. The pup would slide to a stop and look back still in panic. Wondering if she was ok, if someone had stopped her from screaming. Padding back, the pup would pause as Mias form floated in the air, small ripples of light moved away from her body as if she was floating on top of water.
Her long raven hair floated around her as if it was also in water, soft tendrils dancing softly as if waves controlled it. But Mias eyes were open, yet not her own, they glowed bright enough to cause the room she had been glowed the same soft hues that came from her eyes. Her lips still agape and frozen as if she was still screaming but at this point no sound left her.
Slowly her skin began to crack as if porcelain, an eerie pale green light began to glow from each of the lines as they would spread across her entire body. With each new crack the sound of bones breaking rang through the room and dark tendrils began to seep from each of the cracks writhing around her before jutting off in random directions anchoring themselves to the ceiling, the floors, any surface they could before her blood curling scream returned.
The light began to pulsate from the cracks around the tendrils that had formed and protruded themselves out of her. Each pulse brought on a new shriek as her back arched up and the sounds of more bones breaking rang through the air, slowly one by one, the tendrils would pull from the surface that it had latched onto and curled around her form, slithering to wrap her in a cocoon of darkness.
The shrieks muffled in the cocoon as it hovered above where her hammock once stood. It would be clear there was activity going on within. The tendrils expand in spots here and there as if a forming a thin membrane to encased her writhing form. Her hand would form against the membrane as if trying to claw its way out, but the tendrils that wrapped her held her with in and the form of her hand sank back into the cocoon. The only glimpse of change the cocoon of tendrils presented was her movement, as she lashed out at the membrane.
Her back arched again within the cocoon as her features began twist and lengthen. With each movement she made, the cocoons membrane stretched tighter as if she was being sealed in an air tight bag. Each shift she went through shown clearly as the membrane stretched tighter along her features that began to morph into her more animalistic self until the muffled shrieks were silenced once more.
Her body twisted and stretched as the cracking sounds became louder again. More black tendrils broke from the membrane and wrapped themselves around the cocoon, only these were different. Each black tendril that wrapped around her shifting form, glowed with soft specks as if the cosmos had intertwined themselves around each tendril while they slowly tightened around the thrashing woman within.
It was not long before the movement stopped and the air went eerily silent and still, Slowly the new tendrils loosen up and small glowing ethereal orbs flow from the crevasse between. One by one they would unfurl. Giving way to a creature much larger than the woman who had been there before, its pelt made of the cosmic imagery. Slowly the eyes of the twisted yet elegant looking wolf would open and a soft glowing sea-foam hues shined from underneath its lids.
There was first confusion in the features etched in the wolfs face as its long twisted and spindly horns scraped against the ceiling above. The elegant yet otherworldly wolf slowly shifted its massive head looking back and forth as its breathing became heavy making it evident that it was about to start panicking again. “W-what happened?” her voice came out just as all-encompassing as the voice she had met in the other realm, only it held traces of a soft delicate trilling at the end of her words. While at the same time soft glowing orbs fell from her sharp razor fangs like soft glowing smoke of a smoke machine.
Those dark star speckled ears folded back hearing the sounds around her. While there were no pupils, it was clear where she was looking around at. Her breathing became heavy and the harder she breathed the more ethereal orbs fell from her maw. She was still in pain; it was as if she shifted from the first time once again. The sudden images that she was met with flashed before her vision as she was trying to remember what happened.
With a yelp at the memories her panic sat in and she began lashing out even more. Whipping around the long tendrils that adorned her long flowing tail flared out as if it was floating in water while she rushed at the nearest exit that was not blocked. That, was futile as she rushed to dive through the opening, she felt her head jerk back as those long spindly horns caught ahold of the cave entrance and she was forced the other direction. Panting heavily as she looked around frantically, she did not even notice her paws had not even touch the floor. Even as she rushed for another entrance her paws tapped the air causing ripples of light to expand from where she had stepped just before they would fade away as if they never existed.
That wasn’t something that her panicked mind observed; no, fear had stricken her, an uncontrollable urge to run, and uncontrollable urge to hide, an uncontrollable terror filled her being as she flowed through the room where her hammock once hung. Whimpers that echoed like the soft entrancing sounds of the ocean escaped her form as she fought to break free of wherever she was, she did not know at that moment. All she knew was she needed out, she needed to run away and her fear was clear with each movement and sound she made.
Had anyone attempted to touch her she would lash out at; her fangs would bare; her ears would pin back against her head. It would be clear she was scared. She was so terrified of what was going on that she even snarled when she snapped letting out more soft glowing orbs from her maw as she rushed to find her exit.