Chapter Forty-Seven – Child of the Sun, Child of the Moon
Jack scooted closer to Vince. A chill had snuck inside him – how, he didn't know, because he had so much fur to begin with – and it seemed like he couldn't get warm no matter what he did. Vince was doing his best to lend him his body heat, but Jack was just short of having his teeth start to chatter.
"Jack, what's wrong?" Vince asked. Even if the guardian was doing his best to hide how troubled he was, it was obvious even to someone as oblivious as Jack that something bad was happening. Vee wouldn't get shaken by just anything.
"I can't… get warm…" he mumbled. He felt his eyes rolling in his head, and not in a good way.
"Jack!" Vince had to be shouting, but his voice was already fading, as if swallowed by dark waters closing between them.
"Where am I again?" Jack protested, mostly to himself since he was alone.
Apparently, he was inside a… hole. Yes, it had to be a hole in the ground, because if he tipped his head back, all the way back, not just a little, he could glimpse a patch of blue sky above in a square shape.
It was deep, too, like a well. Like in a horror movie. Was he expected to crawl out of there, hair hanging like vines around his face, ready to eat brains or simply scare people?
At least, he wasn't so cold anymore. Jack stepped forward, backward, left and right. Yes, his preliminary observations were correct. This hole in the ground was manmade because it had smooth walls made of granite.
"How am I supposed to get out?" he asked out loud. Maybe he could put his feet against the walls like a ninja and then climb very slowly. "Yeah, right," he snorted.
Again, he wasn't a wolf here. He was having strange dreams and he was alone in them, without claws, or fangs, or fur.
Jack sighed and sat down, his legs crossed. "I'm a clairvoyant, a seer," he recited. "I am supposed to read the future, but right now, I just don't see a way out of here, which means that I'm not that good at reading the future, whatever it may be."
"Do you wish to return?"
The voice asking that question had come from above. Jack looked up, but all he could see was the patch of sky and nothing else. Definitely no one else.
"Return where? And who are you?"
"I am your father," the voice said.
"Oh, no," Jack whispered. "I heard that somewhere before, and it wasn't good."
"You definitely didn't get such quirks of personality from me," the voice continued. It was low and warm. Like it belonged to a deity or something equally cool. Hopefully this deity didn't have a preference for wearing black clothes and breathing with difficulty.
"Wait, are you saying you're my dad?"
"A bit slow," the voice commented, but it wasn't particularly judgmental.
"Well, my mind works on several different threads at the same time. Now, I don't particularly care about this strange dream, but I'm curious. Why do you think you're my dad?"
"I know it," the voice replied.
"Great. That makes sense. And who's my mom? By the way, I was once with a foster family that wanted to make us all call them Mom and Dad, but they were mean, so I'm sure you don't want me to compare you with those people."
"I am incomparable."
"A bit arrogant, don't you think? This is all a little weird, not gonna lie."
"She told you. And you should know it, too. Child of the sun."
"Wait, what?" Jack couldn't see himself but he was pretty convinced that his eyes were so big now that they risked jumping out of their sockets. "Like literally?" he shouted.
"Yes, literally."
"You're… you're… the Sun?"
"Yes."
"And I'm your kid."
"Yes."
"No way that's true."
"Why wouldn't it be true? Have you ever known your parents?"
Jack knew the answer to that. But it made him angry, so he closed his fists. "Are you telling me that you abandoned me?"
"No. We sent you into the world outside the veil to fulfill your purpose."
"Purpose? What purpose? To eat cheap ramen and be alone?" Jack rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. All this had to be a stupid dream.
"No. To guide the alpha of Whiteflame back to his pack."
"You can't be real," Jack murmured. "By the way, Theo abandoned me and Vee. So, I don't know about this purpose, but it's all a bit weird and not well planned out. Wait, so the Moon is… Mom?"
"They are terms you can understand," the voice replied.
Jack crossed his arms and turned away from the patch of sky. "You two are really awful then. By the way, I am well aware this is all a dream. Feel free to lie to me all you want, and I will feel free to tell you that you and Moon, aka Mom, are the most horrible parents ever."
"Do you truly mean that, Jack?"
"Is that even my real name? Nah, don't tell me. I don't want to hear another lie. Do you have any idea what the first twenty years of my life have been like? Until I met Ryder and Danny and the whole gang, I was--"
He stopped himself in time. After all, what did it matter if he used this weird dream to vent his frustrations? He didn't need dream therapy or whatever this was. Ha! Wasn't he delusional for real now? All orphans fantasized about having rich famous parents who lost them because of evil plots and now cried and searched for them in vain.
But he, being Jack and all, had to go over the top, and imagine that his parents were no other than the Sun and the Moon. Yeah, even for him, that was a pretty outrageous lie.
***
"You two," Vince grunted, turning his eyes to the wisdom tree and the nehesh whose eyes were glinting in the greenery, "you better start talking now. What is going on with Jack? He is completely unresponsive."
His efforts to wake Jake had been in vain again. If he, a guardian, was supposed to find a solution to this, he didn't know what it was. What ludicrous thing was expected of him now? All that business with the fairy seemed to have left him more vulnerable, because he felt like he couldn't bear the thought of being alone.
If anything happened to Jack… If Theodore failed to find his way to the wisdom tree…
"Patience, guardian," the nehesh hissed slowly. "You cannot choose for others. Only for yourself."
"You are of little help, if any. How can waiting lead to anything good? What is happening? Why is Jack like this?"
"He is facing his own choices. You cannot intervene."
"What is my purpose, then?" Vince shouted. He held Jack's wolf body close, trying to keep his friend warm.
"You'll face it soon enough," the nehesh replied.
Vince was about to give the wise-ass snake a piece of his mind, when he heard a lonely howl in the distance. Before he could even process what his instinct dictated, he threw his head back and howled in response.
The howl was repeated, closer now. Vince pushed himself up, with Jack in his arms, and stared into the distance. If his imagination was playing tricks on him, it would be a mean bag of tricks.
His eyes slowly made out a shape rushing toward them out of the distant fog. It was a huge white wolf Vince could recognize out of thousands.
"Theodore!" he shouted, worried that the wolf might miss them if he didn't do something.
The giant wolf leaped through the air, fast as an arrow. He turned into his human shape midair, landing as the Theodore Vince knew right in front of them.
"Is this Jack? What's wrong with him?" Theodore asked, taking the other white wolf from Vince's arms.
"I have no idea, and the two mythical beings over there," Vince pointed at the wisdom tree and the nehesh, "are extremely tight-lipped about it. Something about choices."
"Choices?" Theodore echoed. His handsome face twisted into a frown. "But there is no choice to make." He stepped before the wisdom tree. "I met the Moon. I don't have to choose. I can have my pack, and Jack and Vince, too."
"What are you talking about, Theodore?" Vince asked, following closely. "Ah, you're finally before the wisdom tree. And we're all here. Wait, the prophecy--"
"Yes, the prophecy," Theodore said impatiently.
"Only the wolf whose heart runs true and free
May walk the path where stands the wisdom tree.
There waits the pack, forgotten yet alive,
In twilight's glow, their unbroken souls revive."
That was the nehesh reciting the words in the stone. Vince looked around. Any moment now, something would happen. It had to happen. Theodore was here, so his heart, true and free, had led his path.
But it was not yet evening. Would they have to wait? And what about Jack? So many things crowded into his mind, making him dizzy. Whatever was happening, it wasn't normal.
Vince felt the hairs on his back bristling with apprehension. Wait, what hairs?
He turned, landing on all his paws, growling, his muzzle to the ground. An entire army emerged from the shadows, tall, blackened trees, their branches moving slowly and menacingly.
***
Vince's menacing growl made Theodore turn, too. Jack was heavy as lead in his arms, lost in a world of his own.
And the enemy was here before his pack had gotten a chance to be revived.
It didn't matter. He had told the Moon that he would sacrifice himself if that was what it took. Not only for his pack, but for Jack and Vince, too.
"Stay behind me, Vince," he ordered. "This is my battle."
"Our battle, Alpha," Vince growled in a deep sonorous voice that resonated with Theodore's soul in an ancient, familiar way. Maybe they had met before in other lives.
"You must protect Jack," Theodore said.
Vince appeared to waver. "You can't face this army of darkness on your own."
"I must. You two are too important to abandon."
"What are you saying, Theodore?"
"You are mine," he replied, the simplest truth that he should have realized a long time ago.
He placed Jack gently on the ground. With a battle cry, he shifted into his wolf, going straight for the first enemy that broke the ranks of its brethren.
Twigs, dry and thick, broke underneath his paws. He had done this before. He had battled such trees, but this time, he would win.
The first enemy fell. Theodore stepped on its crown, grinding it to dust.
"Do you see this?" he growled, facing the army that stopped at the same moment, freezing in place. "This is the fate that awaits you. I will destroy each and every one of you until nothing remains."
"Do you expect us to stop attacking you?" A collective voice emerged from the trees. "You are mistaken, Alpha of Whiteflame. Nothing will stop us now. Our revenge will be complete. No one will win."
Theodore felt his sneer revealing his fangs. "I don't expect anything from you. Only to die the ignoble death that you deserve."
If he broke all the bones in his body, and he spilled all the blood in his veins, he wouldn't let them have their revenge.
He believed now. He was the foundation, the heart of his pack, and he would protect them, even if he couldn't see them or feel them or hear them.
***
Vince stood guard. He watched as Theodore went alone against the darkness, a single patch of white against a sea of black tree trunks, moving so fast that the tips of his silver fur seemed to paint the immense terrible canvas before him with tiny stars.
They were like a wall. If Vince looked up, he couldn't see their end, or where their crowns should be. And they were advancing, despite Theodore's bravery.
"Theodore did what the prophecy wanted of him," he shouted at the wisdom tree and it companion. "What more do you want?"
"He didn't understand it, not completely." This time, it was the wisdom tree that spoke.
"I am with Jack. You two make no sense," Vince growled. "Look at him. He cannot fight them all. Not alone. He needs his pack. Where are they? Whiteflame," he began yelling, "if you hear me, if you are here, let it be known to you that your alpha is fighting for you, and you are leaving him alone!"
"We must help," the nehesh suggested. "Love should come easily to such emotional beings, don't you believe?"
"I agree," the wisdom tree said serenely. "Wolfshifter, guardian, and seer. They have their hearts in the right place, but somewhere between heart and mind, something intervenes."
"Are you two done analyzing human nature?" Vince admonished them. "Tell me what I should do. Before it's too late."
"You are the arm that protects, guardian," the wisdom tree said. "So, protect. For now, let love fight the battle for your alpha and your seer."
Vince clenched his fangs tightly. They were criticizing them for not being influenced enough by their emotions? Then he needed to let them take over.
What he felt was anger. His eyes turned red as a cluster of trees overwhelmed Theodore, dragging him down.
***
"Do you wish to remain here for long?" the benevolent voice asked. "The evening will come soon, and Theodore will need you."
"As if," Jack snapped. "He is busy doing who knows what. Ah, and by the way, I saw the future, and Theo is very happy in it without me. Because he has an entire pack and doesn't need me anymore."
"How can you be sure? You're the one who is giving up on him. And don't you think that dreams are just dreams?"
"When did I think that? And I want this dream to be over already because I'm starting to get really bored." If he talked fast enough, he could forget how Theo looked so happy without him and Vince.
"Then all you have to do is make your choice. What will it be, Jack? Do you want to return to where you came from? Or do you wish to stay and fight for Theodore and your guardian friend?"
"What is that even supposed to mean?" Jack moaned. "Return where? If what you say is true, and you're the Sun, being your child means that I'll have to transform into a little ray or something like that."
"Something like that," the voice confirmed, as gentle as ever.
"As cool as that sounds, I don't think it's for me. By the way, I'm just playing along because this is a really boring dream. And what choice would that even be? Of course, I'd choose Theo and Vee, if that's a real choice."
"But you don't believe that it's a real choice."
Jack sighed and pushed himself to his feet. He looked up at the patch of sky above. "How am I supposed to believe anything at all? I mean, I'm trapped in a dream, and I'm being told crazy things, like how the Sun and the Moon played the flowers and the bees and had me."
"We didn't do that."
"Don't tell me I'm the result of really kinky sex because I don't think I can take it," Jack said.
The voice laughed. It was so strange to hear that laughter, but only because it sounded like it could make the whole world laugh. "No, nothing like that, either. She made you from a feather in her frock and a star in her sky. All I did was to offer a kiss."
"Sounds… nice, I guess." Jack pondered. "Will Theo really be okay without us? Like having his pack and all?"
"I can't tell you that."
"What about Vee? Where will he be?"
"A guardian will always have someone to protect."
"Great, that means that he doesn't need me, either." Jack worried his bottom lip. "How am I a wolf, though?"
"All children of the Moon are wolves," the voice explained.
"Ah, dammit. You know you drive a tough bargain. I mean, being a sun ray sounds pretty cool. And if Theo and Vee both will be find without me…" Jack trailed off. He felt so warm here, in this deep hole in the ground. Being part of the sun meant that he'd be even warmer. Also, he'd be with one of his parents, as weird as that was. "Okay," he said, taking another deep breath. "How should we do this?"
"Is it your final decision?"
He would never see them again, right? That was enough to carve a hole in his chest. But if they had their happiness and their lives, who was he to stand in the way?
For a moment, he closed his eyes. And weirdly enough, he saw… something that wasn't completely black as expected.
It was a battlefield. Theo and Vee were fighting together, and Vee kept shouting something, pointing back, in Jack's direction.
Too bad there was no sound. Jack opened his eyes, and he was back in the hole in the ground. Only that now he was floating, moving slowly upward.
What was going on? He closed his eyes again, and the battlefield with all its noises rushed to him.
"Go to Jack now, Theodore!" Vee was shouting.
"We must keep them at bay! I told you to protect him! You can't fight alone!"
"You can't fight alone, either! Theodore, don't be stubborn, for fuck's sake. We need Jack!"
Jack gasped. "Wait! Put me back down! I mean, put me back where I was," he said quickly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I mean, it was nice meeting you, Dad, but my friends are in trouble, and I'm definitely their secret weapon."
He fell through the air, flailing his arms. It looked like it was going to be a pretty long fall, but nothing really surprised Jack anymore.
TBC