Chapter 15
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Asuna POV

 

Asuna…What’s going on? I’m starting to think this isn’t a dream…

Oh, honey…It’s not…

Rieka, you must not open your eyes!

I knew if she opened her eyes, she’d probably scream or something. She was already somewhat of a crazy being, I was really not sure what she would do actually…

Why not?

Please Rieka…You will feel pain in your wrists, then your hair will be cut…

Suddenly, I could see, as Rieka had frighteningly opened her eyes and looked around.

“Quick, finish it up, she’s awake.”

“She’s mostly done, hang on.”

I told you to close your eyes!

Seeing Rieka kick one person and then another, she suddenly shifted into our wolf form and I wondered if I could get excited if we were able to get away.

Could we do it?

 

“Quick get her!”

I could see Rieka becoming serious and her instincts were taking over. She had lived a long time as a wolf, never shifting back to being human, so I really wanted to believe that she can get out of this…But…

There was like twenty of them, five already shifted to their wolf forms…

I didn’t want to be cruel, but I honestly didn’t have the confidence that Rieka seemed to have.

I know she could take on a few, but…So many…

There was no chance to get away, even if I let her become stronger!

With a wolf charging straight towards her, I watched as Rieka bent her head down and growled, before digging her claws down deep into the ground and pouncing on top of the incoming wolf. As the wolf went to bite her, Rieka had done what they hadn’t expected and pounced of his body to go further away from where they had tried to tie her up.

But, two wolves came towards her then from that direction, so Rieka turned left and found another two wolves. Charging towards the two wolves, she ‘looked’ like she lost balance, falling to her side, but instead, she skidded in towards one of the wolf’s necks and bit down hard, shaking her head to stop the prey from doing anything she didn’t want it to do. Just as she was letting go of the wolf’s neck in her mouth, she was pushed by the other wolf and she shook her head quickly and regained her bearings to continue to fight.

She raced towards a direction, which she had no idea which direction it was, and went to look like she would jump over a wolf, instead she rolled to the side and suddenly went another direction, stopping suddenly to see the edge of a cliff.

I widened my eyes and couldn’t believe the sense of dejavu! My memories of the past invaded me so much, that Rieka was seeing them as well.

I couldn’t help it, as soon I had awakened, until now and saw that cliff, the nightmare of my sacrifice had started!

After seeing the cliff, the bites, the hair cutting, the knife…

A howl stopped me, and I found that Rieka was the one howling, as a wolf went for her front legs and two men jumped on her.

Then…An Alpha was speaking…The Alpha tone was loud and clear!

“Shift!”

 

I knew Rieka didn’t have Alpha blood in her, but even though I had previously, it wasn’t enough…Rieka had no choice but to comply…And then found herself quickly being tied up once again. This time her feet was tied at the same time as her hands, with more people helping.

Her naked body was not covered this time, as the dress went into tatters when she had shifted just moments ago. Blood was on her face and on a bit of her naked body, but if one looked closer, you could see some old scars that hadn’t completely healed because they were made with silver.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I told myself that this was the outcome I was expecting right?

Calming myself down, I opened my eyes and felt Rieka start to laugh hysterically.

Her thoughts of my memories, and now sure that she wasn’t dreaming and only to see that she was going to die, sent her into an inner sadness, that she didn’t want to show.

All this time, she had been too scared to accept such happiness, and that was why she had called it a dream.

To be honest, I felt it to be ironic, because it had seemed silly to me at first, but now…As she laughed, to hold in her sorrow, I was sorta glad that she had made the best of her ‘dream’, while she could…

But…Now that she had to accept it as reality, she found that there was no point…Death was the end…And it was imminent…

I felt her pain run through me and I wanted to crawl up into a ball just like her. Now it wasn’t just me that knew of our sad fate…The little one now knew as well…And we were both filled with grievances, our hearts and souls were a mess of sorrow…

Tears from the little one’s eyes flowed down, and I did not have a clue on how to comfort her…Nor myself. There was no escape, and I really needed to hold myself together! I needed to!

 

“Add silver shackles, I don’t want her to get free.”

“I…Re…Member you…” I heard Rieka’s dead voice say.

The old man in front of them had a white beard and he smirked back at us. “Oh? I remember you too.”

Rieka didn’t say anything more, as I felt her wonder if he was her father and if he was, why would he do something like this.

To be honest, I was glad she was thinking again, having quietened down from her crazy laughing, I was worried she would just fade away or something.

“You are such a good girl, providing your maternal pack with such a blessing.”

“Unwillingly.”

Yes, very unwillingly! I agreed with the silly girl!

“Nonetheless, it is muchly appreciated, let us start! Alpha…Luna…”

“Elder.” The Alpha said, standing up with his Luna and walking towards us.

I cringed, knowing about the incoming future.

I’ll take it all! Don’t worry!

I stopped…That damned silly child!

She never wanted to give me any pain, she never…She…

Suddenly I wanted to cry. She had accepted that I had awakened late, not being upset with me as much as I thought she would be. She had learnt to be strong, when I told to be stronger, even though I should have helped her more! She didn’t want me to carry the burden of pain, taking as much of it as she could, crawling up in pain in front of my very own eyes! She talked to me like I had great ideas or that we were always friends, even though I had mocked her and called her stupid…Even though her thoughts weren’t always that nice about me, she never said them to me directly and didn’t disrespect me at all!

Even though I shook my head to her silly antics on how to entertain herself, I…I can’t help but think…They were the best years of my existence! I knew she had been put into this type of fate, to be this type of person, and she…Still wants to do well by me, by taking all of the pain!

That…Damned, silly child!

 

After the shackles had been placed, the ceremony started and Rieka felt protective of me.

I told her not to worry about it and to share the burden, but she was not letting me have the chance to feel any part of it.

When the Alpha and Luna simultaneously bit into our wrists, Rieka stayed as calm and indifferent as possible, not letting me feel a thing.

It looked like it didn’t even hurt by seeing her face, but…I knew that it did hurt, I just couldn’t take it away from her. We weren’t in sync, we weren’t completely connected, I couldn’t accomplish much without using the wolf powers that I had stored.

But…Luckily, this time, no wolfsbane had been used.

I wondered why for a short moment, but I was interrupted by Rieka showing no emotion to them cutting her long, white hair.

I suppose it wasn’t painful to cut the hair…But, I knew, just how much time was needed for it to have gotten that long…I knew that, with hair that was now cut to her shoulders, it would be too cold for us to stay in our home to the north…We would probably freeze to death…

Up north, in the cold, where we had the most freedom…Perhaps we should have done everything within our power to stay there…In the cold north…That we can no longer stay in…

 

Honestly, even if we survive here now, will Rieka be okay? She always wanted to stop herself from getting hurt, she said she had a cold or frozen heart, but I knew what she had…Fear…And I don’t blame her!

She was tough, but…Through the experiences that she had seen and been in…I could feel her fear again now, just like the other times…

Fear of being abandoned again, fear of being outcasted and bullied, fear of being used and hurt…

I couldn’t help but be scared as well…Scared of the present, scared of the future…Scared of both of our life’s…

Scared that…Our mate doesn’t even know that we are in terrible trouble…

I could send out a message…But again, it would take away what I may need for us to potentially survive this. It…Ha, it was great timing, I suppose…We hadn’t connected to the pack, so we didn’t have a link with anyone, and…We still hadn’t been marked, which, I’m sure, would have helped us with the connection between our mate and us. But…It wasn’t like that, and I had to accept that our mate may…Never know…What happens here today…

I promise, little one, that we will both be ok again one day. I promise!

…Don’t worry about it…Again, I wanted to cry. She didn’t blame me at all, she was also looking at this with a different kind of thought…That perhaps she was ready to die…

Was she giving up? Was she accepting this fate? Telling me not to worry because it was the end anyway?

Then…The knife came towards us, both the Alpha and Luna holding it, and I became completely serious and prepared myself.

Even if she had given up, I haven’t!

As I expected, after the knife, we were removed from the silver shackles and neck collar…Then we were thrown down the large cliff, again by both the Alpha and Luna…

The complete sacrifice…To apparently give a complete blessing to a bond…The fall of the sacrifice, suggests something about luck, and pushing it away…But…I can’t completely…Remember…

…I could no longer feel Rieka, yet, our faulty connection let me use what I could, already healing her rapidly before being thrown off the cliff…Upon finally hitting the bottom…

My promise!

 

Focus! Focus! Focus!

 

Regenerate…Please, Rieka, little one, come back!

 

I could only see the dark, since being pushed off the cliff. Being only spiritual, I was unable to get the dagger out of our body, until I forcefully regenerated from the tip of the blade outwards.

I hated to say this, but I felt like I hadn’t the power I needed!

As time went on, I still had bones to reconnect and her head to clear! The regeneration rate might not be good enough or fast enough!

I can’t stop now! For years and years, this is what I was doing!

No way can I stop!

I pushed myself to the limit, to regenerate as much as I could, and as fast as I could! Even though I had started to regenerate straight away, with the wolf powers of nine or so years behind me, I was still feeling like I was dearly overwhelmed with too much work!

Even though the knife was gone, and the heart was mended, I surged onward, unable to stop myself from thinking of the worst circumstance…

The water wasn’t far away, as little waves came up onto the beach and I blinked back my tears, knowing that I had died before this place once before.

Never again!

The little one doesn’t deserve it! The little one may be weird and strange, but she has a beautiful personality!

If I hadn’t had interrupted her with my memories, when she shifted into a wolf before, she probably would have fought off a lot of those shifters too! She was strong! I will tell everyone how strong she is!

And they call lone wolves, rogues! The rogues are The Misty Ice Pack!

Blinking back another tear, I focused once again!

 

For what felt like an eternity, the brain was restored, and our chest was mostly recovered, through regeneration. Then, I focused on her spinal cord and tried to pump up the heart, hoping it hadn’t been too long…

But…Had it been too long!?

God! How long had it been!? If I had taken too long, then what was the point!?

Is there a chance!?

I promised! Dammit, come back!

As our heart didn’t seem to beat on its own, I focused the wolf powers there even more.

Pump, pump, pump…

Come on!

I dearly wished that I wasn’t just a spiritual wolf using the wolf powers, so that I could pump her heart myself.

Upon this realization, I forcefully and painfully swapped places with her, her body turning into my wolf and I breathed in, my lungs hurting like hell!

Straight away, not only the pain, but even the slight breeze could be felt, upon a lot less furry coat. I was unable to stop a slight shiver…That will most likely not go away for a long time…

After many more shivers from the cold, I was still laying there, breathing as best as I could. And it was the hardest thing I had ever done before! How the hell can something so involuntary, be something so hard to do! I nearly wanted to stop breathing because it hurt so much!

I had taken over…And…The pain was so immense that I had forgotten to focus on anything else besides breathing!

I wanted to cry, as Rieka had held this all away from me! She had indeed taken it all! This pain is unbearable, and I couldn’t believe I had been able to focus as hard as I had…If I had known or taken some of it…

This silly girl was…

A tear fell down my wolf’s face and I found even more resolve to make things right for her…For…If I had taken too much of this pain, I probably would have failed!

I felt her, she was where I was supposed to be, not that we hadn’t done this before…But, she was still laying there in a heap, as she had been here outside…It just sucked that we spent so much extra effort for us to change spots, because our connection was really bad…

It’s ok little one, take a rest…I…I will look after you now!

 

By the time the full moon left the night sky…I had run out of all the wolf powers that I had stored all these years.

But…I was still quite unable to move. Nothing else mattered, even the rumbling that echoes a lot more now across the sky and earth…Just surviving…That was all that mattered…

Now…It was only my natural regeneration powers that could help and that would take longer to heal this broken body…

I was really glad that I had stored so much, having thought beyond being stabbed. The impact of falling down the cliff was what took everything out of me. Bones, and even organs, had been broken to a point that I had thought that they wouldn’t be able to be fixed.

…Nine years, nine years of saving up wolf powers so that I could regenerate what needed to be regenerated…And it still had not been enough…

I, having been able to see the damage, am not surprised…This body had been a mess and I felt like it was a miracle that we were still alive!

Time…

There was nothing else but time…And I was completely exhausted…Even if we can move, at first, it will be to move into a safe place near the cliff side…Anywhere else, we wouldn’t have the energy for…

Seeing that the little one could only move as much as I could, it was still something that made me happy.

I had saved her!

My mission…Was now complete…Yet, if it happened again, there would be no survival…So then…What will we do little one? We won’t be able to go north…Will you want to go back to our mate? Can we? Can…We go back…To our most precious, beloved blanket…

And that seemed enough to have me black out into a deep sleep.

 

(To all those wanting to see a scene of the two from the prologue...Yep...It's next! Let's see what they are doing in the next chapter! With all the rumbling...I wonder if their game of chess is truly under way!)

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