Wolf Toks and Waterfalls

XIMUN

As Ximun suspected, the Council Members attempted to murder them but he truly didn’t think it would be that early. Well, he was prepared for their attack. But that was until he deciphered that their first attack was headed for Aysu who was walking ahead without a clue of the lethal arrow coming for her.

So, Ximun paused his words and screamed his warning.

Aysu quickly turned to face him, her hands crossed over her face as though she knew what was coming for her. At the same time, before Ximun could interfere, a force from Aysu hit the weapon and it sent it flying in the opposite direction without her having to exert a lot of power.

“Whoa!” Aysu exclaimed while her feet jumped.

Ximun was also surprised. But not for long. Another attack was launched from their hidden shooter or shooters, so he quickly jumped in front of Aysu and summoned a portion of his true strength to push the arrow back. Seconds later, a lot more arrows came towards them and without much fuss, Ximun returned them until groans of death came from different directions.

Those sounds satisfied Ximun who rushed to Aysu.

“Are you okay? Did any of the arrows meet you?”

“No.”Aysu smacked her lips with excitement. “Do you think I have powers? I never imagined that I could have them because it is rare for ordinary wolves to possess them.”

Ximun sighed while he continued to observe the ground around her. “Are you sure none of it met you?”

“I am sure I would be bleeding by now, Ximun,” said Aysu.

“We can never be sure.” He took the papers Omex handed to her. “That driver mentioned that the journey is two days right?”

“Are we going there?”

“Weren’t we already doing that?” Ximun asked, one of his brows jerked.

“Well,” she pouted, “it sounded like you were sceptical earlier.”

“I am not anymore. Let’s go to this Guardian Pack and start life afresh.”

“Yay!” Aysu excitedly skipped to him and hooked her arms with his. “This should be fun.”

Ximun wasn’t as excited as her but her joy was so contagious that he smiled grandly while he glanced behind them one last time.

It was certain that the Council would send more people after them, but since he was able to get rid of their first batch of attackers, he was able to buy him and Aysu some time. That, coupled with the hope that the pack Omex was talking about was indeed secretive, would help his quest to fully plan his revenge.

The journey was rough. Too rough in fact. Walking deeper into a very thick forest sounded easy when saying it casually, but doing it was very hard especially when the ground threatened to swallow them into its murkiness or when a wild wind from nowhere decided to send plenty of branches flying in the direction of the travelling duo.

Ximun looked ahead at Aysu who had earlier let go of his hand. She had become quieter and her focus became more than serious.

“Aysu?” Ximun called when they finally walked past the windiness in the forest. “Aysu?”

“We should be there soon. It has been two days.”

“Aysu, wait.” Ximun rushed to her side and stopped her feeble footsteps which were trying their best not to fail. His hands on her shoulders, he said, “We have to rest. We have been walking for way too long.”

Aysu looked him dead in the eyes. “I can’t.” Her head danced left to right. “We can’t rest, Ximun. We have to find The Moon Guardian Pack before it is nightfall again.”

“Even if nightfall meets us here, that Pack won’t disappear from wherever it is. And we have to rest to get there soundly.” Ximun quickly reached for a small water pack that he refilled before they reached the part of the forest that was trying to trap their feet. “Here,” he brought the bottle closer to her mouth. “You haven’t had water in a while.”

Aysu accepted his offer and after a few gulps, life returned to her eyes and she searched his eyes. Then, she asked, “Do you think we will find this pack? It seems hopeless at this point. We are following the map but all we keep meeting is disaster after disaster. We could have died back there, Ximun.”

“But we did not.” Ximun didn’t expect that Aysu would be the first to have a meltdown. He was so sure that it would be him. Once he returned the water pack to his bag, he held her shoulders once again and lowered his face so that his close presence would at least soothe her. “Aysu, according to the map, the only obstacle we have left is the waterfall. It also sounds like a death trap, but if we could survive a very muddy ground and flying tree branches that kept trying to pierce our eyes, we would survive the waterfall and find the pack before nightfall.”

“I thought it didn’t matter if nightfall met us here.”

“It matters now. This forest was more wicked yesterday the moment the moon showed up.”

“Shh.” Aysu placed a finger on her lips while her eyes perked with a certain joy. “The forest has ears.”

“Oh.” Ximun gave the forest a ninety-degree bow. “I am very sorry, dear forest. You are the most kind and wonderful. Please, ease our journey from now on.”

When Ximun lifted his head, he saw that Aysu’s face was wearing more colour. She was smiling more and that made the idea of continuing the journey sound alluring. So, Ximun reached for her hand once again and they began to walk towards the north.

“Do you regret not fighting the Court decision?” Aysu asked.

Her question was unexpected but it was one that needed to be answered.

So, after a quick nod, Ximun replied, “A part of me does. When I realised that the people believe me more than they believe the court, I briefly wondered if giving in to the judgement was the right thing to do.”

“But…”

“But, as ridiculous as it sounds, the court holds supreme power, even over the Alpha King. It is a shitty system, but it worked in the favour of the Council Members. So, if I had stayed back to fight, all I would be simply doing was giving the Council a chance to kill me.”

“I am glad we aren’t giving them that chance. But how do we go about retaliation? How would we get a chance to get back at them in the near future?”

Ximun was glad that Aysu’s thoughts were similar to his. “When that time comes, we will sort it out. And when that time comes, I will make sure that we win back what’s ours.”

“Do you think the waterfall will be a sight?” Aysu derailed their conversation.

Ximun’s mind conjured a potential image of the waterfall. “It should be.” His thought about the waterfall made his soul relax and for a minute, he closed his eyes and wished that the immense peace he was imagining would truly settle in his mind the moment they attempted to walk past the waterfall.

“I have never seen one before. Tarmish Pack only had beaches.”

Ximun chuckled.”I think I am beginning to like the idea of being banished. It is starting to feel like a vacation with the woman I love.”

“It’s sort of like a 2.0 version of the honeymoon we never had.”

Ximun grinned. “It’s my bad that we never experienced that. I was too blinded by my anger, I couldn’t give us a chance to fully enjoy the three-day honeymoon package that was fully sponsored by the palace.”

Aysu laughed. “You sound like a wolf-tok influencer.”

“Wolf-tok?” Ximun’s brows jerked while his eyes kept admiring his woman’s beautiful smile. “Isn’t that the app where people drop videos and sometimes do insane challenges?”

“Yes, it is. There was once a shifting challenge.”

“People took videos of their shifting process and uploaded it?” That sounded wrong to Ximun. But he was perhaps a he-wolf with an old soul.

“It was quite a challenge. But I have reasons to believe that you would have won it.”

“Really?”

“I heard from Magnetino that your wolf is one of the few majestic ones. He painted quite a picture while describing your wolf.”

“Well,” Ximun tried not to gloat, “my wolf is very majestic. Hey, I also want to hear about your wolf. Evalopus won’t let me access the memory of his night with Alora.”

Aysu gasped. “That’s the same with me. Alora has gone mute since that day. I wonder what happened.”

“Hmm. I am sure they will come around soon when they realise we are no longer in luxury.” Aysu’s shoulders shrugged slightly in response. Then, Ximun, with the grandest smile on his lips, asked, “So, what is the first thing you want to do when we finally find this Moon Guardian Pack?”

“I want to sleep.”

“We haven’t slept in almost three days,” Ximun said as the realisation hit him. “I had no idea.”

“Well, at least we know to search for a place to sleep the moment we arrive at the Moon Guardian Pack.”

“It is going to be quite a sleep, won’t it?”

“It will be.”

Nothing more was said from that moment. But joy filled Ximun’s heart because he was able to get Aysu out of her gloominess. It gladdened him that he was able to make her smile and chat as though they weren’t facing the toughest of times.

And he hoped that things would continue to be that way. That they would always find reasons to smile even on the toughest days.

Plenty of minutes passed before they reached the waterfall which was louder and heavier than Ximun imagined. Thankfully, the path they followed brought them to the base of the waterfall, so all they had to do was walk past the heavy strings of water in front of them.

Aysu looked prepared, so after securing their bags in his hands, he held her hand again and they walked through the heavy shower which drenched them the moment they took the first step.

But soon, it was over and waiting for them on the other side was the greenest land ever.

The beauty of the forest they stepped into made the duo doubt the authenticity of that moment. But when they checked the map and confirmed that they were indeed in the Forest of The Moon where the entrance to the pack would be found, the heavily wet couple heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, according to Omex’s instructions, they took twelve steps forward, three steps to the side then another two steps forward. And once they ended up in front of a huge rock that had spiral designs etched on it, Aysu placed her hand on the centre.

The drops of water on her palm were instantly absorbed and those drops circulated the sprialness of the rock till a blue light was formed.

Then, rumbling followed and the rock rolled to the side.

“I think we are here, Ximun.”

“It sort of feels unreal.”

“Well, let’s step in.” They did as she suggested and the city they walked into took their breath away.

And Ximun said, “Now it feels real.”