Chapter 2

The wolf walked back over to the patch of bushes, poked his head in for a second, and pulled out a branch; with a bunch of red berries on it. He brought it over to the boy and dropped it in front of him. “What’s this?” The wolf nudged the branch, “For me?” The wolf nodded, “Are they any good?” The wolf nodded again. The boy smiled happily and started eating berries.

’Hmmm…they are really good. They have such a sweet taste to them, and they smell fantastic!’

The wolf circled to the back of the boy and lay down to give him something to lie back on. ‘He’s really comfortable. Wonder why he’s staying with me?’

‘Because you saved my life.’

The boy spun around in great surprise, his face displaying the shock and awe of hearing the wolf speak for the first time. “What in the world; did you just talk to me?!”

‘Not exactly, I’m speaking to you mentally.’

The boy just stared at him with a skeptical look on his face.

‘I’m no threat to you, I promise. It’s because of you that I can speak. Your blood gave me quite a few special powers. I wish to serve and protect you with my life now.’

“You don’t have to do that.”

‘No, I must. I can’t even begin to thank you enough, please!’

“Um…Okay.” The boy said in understanding. They both sat there for a couple of minutes lost in the awkward silence that fell between them.

‘If I may ask, where did you come from?’

The boy suddenly tensed, as if trying not to remember something dangerous. “I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that it was a very dark and lonely place. I didn’t like that place, it was horrible.”

The wolf looked at the boy sadly and asked, ‘I hate to ask but do you think you can show me?’ The boy huddled himself closer to the wolf. ‘I just wish to know more about my master.’

The boy was silent. “I don’t really like you calling me master. It makes me feel weird.” The boy took a deep breath and said, “As long as you’re with me because I don’t think I could go back there by myself.”

The wolf nodded, ‘First finish the berries to keep your strength up.’

After a couple of minutes, the boy got up and kicked dirt onto the fire to put it out. “We don’t want to burn down such a beautiful place.” The boy turned toward the way he had once come; he breathed slowly. ‘Don’t panic,’ he thought. Then he started back the way he had come with the wolf trailing along beside him. After a while, they walked into a small clearing. ‘Ugh, what’s that awful smell?’ The wolf shook his head trying to get rid of that repulsive smell. The one that reminded him of the great death; that roams this vast great world. “Burning wood……. among other things,” said the boy in an emotionless tone and pointed across the clearing to another hilltop. He looked and saw a tall stack of clouds rising to the sky. The flames danced around the bottom of the building with a fury like no other he had ever seen. “I don’t really think you can learn anything from this place.”

‘Something is coming!’

They both ducked back behind the bushes just inside the forest. There they sat in silence watching as the horses and carriages strolled up to the burning building; and stopped so that the people inside could get out. ‘I can’t tell what they’re saying. I’m going to go take a closer look, okay?’ The boy quickly grabbed the wolf. He turned to look at his new friend and master. The boy was as pale as a blanket of snow on the ground in the winter. “Don’t go! It’s not safe!” He said in a hushed whisper.

‘How do you know, besides they could have just seen the smoke and come to help. Or see if anyone was still alive in the fire.’

“No…...no one has been left alive.”

The wolf just stared at the boy, and then he noticed it. The boy’s eyes were pointed with a faint glow of red in them. ‘How do you know that no one is still alive?’ The boy twitched, he was very uncomfortable and looked like he was in pain. The wolf looked back at the people pondering his thoughts for a while. As to what this poor boy had to go through to make him seem so beaten and broken. Especially to give him that presence that the wolf had felt when he first saw the boy use his powers. By this time the mysterious people were trying to put the fire out. They stood there and watched them for a bit, then the wolf noticed that the boy was taking deep breaths trying to control himself. After a little while, some of the people started going around picking up burnt pieces of paper.

‘Do you know what’s on those burnt pieces of paper,’ the wolf said turning to see if the boy would answer him.

The boy suddenly fell to his knees screaming in pain. ‘What’s wrong?! Are you alright?! Hey!’ The wolf looked over to see if they had been heard. Although he already knew the answer, the boy was screaming loud enough for the whole world to hear. The strange people were already on the way to their location. ‘Hey! Get it together we must leave, NOW! Hey!’He turned toward the boy, who was still on his knees screaming in pain and agony. ‘No choice; I will have to test out my new abilities.’ The wolf faced the boy, closed his eyes, and concentrated. He started to glow and change into a human form. He was dressed in all-black clothes; the kind he saw so many humans wear. His hair was jet black with yellow eyes that the people could see because they glowed slightly in the dark. The people; that where on their way over stopped to stare at the wolf in awe.

He took this opportunity to grab the boy and dash into the forest. “Please stop your screaming; it’s okay now. We’re leaving that scary place behind, and the people. They’re way behind us; so, you can relax now and stop screaming,” he said while dashing, as fast as he could, through the forest. After a couple of minutes, later the boy quieted down. Only soft whimpers came from him. He was still tightly grabbing his head in pain.

Unknown to the wolf, the reason the boy was in so much pain was that he was remembering all the things he would much rather forget. About thirty minutes after the wolf had stopped running; he sat the boy against a tree and sat down next to him. ‘Still not used to this new form yet. It took a lot out of me.’ He brushed his hair out of his face and turned toward the boy; he was calm now. ’Doesn’t look like he’s in any pain anymore...that’s good. We should be okay here, as fast as I ran we should be at least 100 or so miles away by now.′ He stood back up and went about getting a fire started so the two of them would not get too cold on this chilly night.