Spirit of the Forest
Chapter 7

The day after the howling, Romelia emerged from her home to see familiar brown furred forms near her tree. Most of them were large, adult sized, while there were three small forms jumping around each other. The girl called down to them with a smile.

“Adolpha! Adal!”

“Romelia!” the largest female wolf, Adolpha, barked back. “Come down here for a few minutes please!”

“Okay! I’ll be there in a second!” Romelia started to go down the ladder when she remembered about Cyri. “Oh! I almost forgot!” She raced back into the main room to replace Cyri awake.

“Hey…” He said sleepily.

“Good morning Cyri!” Romelia said happily. As she opened the small wooden chest at the foot of her bed, she continued to speak. “I may be gone for a bit, not long hopefully. If you need anything though, I’ll be in the clearing outside. Okay?” She set down a bowl of porridge and a glass of water on the nightstand before hurrying down the ladder.

Botolf’s tail wagged as Romelia ran over to them. The pack all greeted the girl kindly, sniffing her hands and licking her palms, a tradition of greeting in their forest. Romelia laughed, scratching behind their ears in return. When she wasn’t with her friends, Romelia could be found babysitting the pups while the rest of the pack hunted. Romelia never minded it, in fact she enjoyed spending time with the little Xarxok and they always had fun with her.

Cana had large, green eyes, a trait she inherited from her mother, Adolpha, and puffy tail. Cana had the habit of always asking why, questioning everything around her. It infuriated her parents to no end, but Romelia encouraged it.

Cana’s younger sibling, Fridolf, was the only male of the siblings. He had light brown fur and amber eyes. Unlike his two sisters, he didn’t particularly enjoy fighting. Instead, he loved to hunt down bugs.

The oldest of the trio was the other female, Kiyiya. Her fur was lighter than either of her siblings, unlike the others, one of her eyes was a light blue while the other was a dark brown. This one loved to listen to howling. She even occasionally tried to howl, but everyone always ended up laughing.

“Do you want me to watch the children again?” Romelia asked after everyone was done with greetings.

Adal nodded. “Yes, if that would be okay with you, of course.”

“Of course I will!” Romelia clapped her hands together. “I love spending time with them!”

Sköll smiled at her. “Thank you Adalwolfa. You are a true dlaork.”

Romelia blushed a little at the wolves words. While they had know each other for a long time, the teen still had the tendency to blush at the simplest of things. “Thank you Sköll. So are you.”

“We should get going,” Adolpha pointed out to Adal.

The large wolf nodded his snout. “Right. Thank you Adolpha.”

“See you later Romelia!” Dotol yipped happily as they padded away.

She waved at their receding forms with a smile. “Bye Dotol! Bye Adal! Bye everyone! Be safe!”

“We will!” Adolpha called back.

When all of them were gone, the pups started running around Romelia happily yipping. “So what do you want to do today, Romelia?” Fridolf asked as they ran.

“Oh! I know!” Kiyiya stopped running to crouch low. “Let’s play Rabbit Hunt!”

“I’m really good at that!” Cana barked.

“That’s because you always ask questions,” Fridolf teased.

Cana growled playfully and jumped the small male. Fridolf didn’t see it coming. They both rolled around in the dirt at the base of the tree. Romelia laughed at their behavior when she felt a tugging on her skirt. Kikiya was looking up at her while one of her small paws tugged at the hem of her tunic. Romelia crouched down next to her.

“What is is, Kikiya?” Kikiya shuffled her feet nervously.

“Did you hear anything… weird last night?” she asked.

Romelia tipped her head. “Weird? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, did you hear any kind of weird howling last night,” she replied. Romelia then remembered the lone wolf howling she had heard the night before. Kikiya must have stayed up late last night to hear the nightly howling. Before Romelia could respond to the young pup, Cana jumped up from her roughhousing with Fridolf.

“Oh! I know something better!” She ran over to Romelia. “Could you tell us a story, Romelia? Please!”

“Oh yes!” Fridolf said. “Tell us a story!”

“Please?” Kikiya asked, forgetting what she was talking about with Romelia.

Romelia smiled. “Okay.” All three wolf kik jumped around her with excited yips. Romelia chuckled. “Okay guys, calm down and get comfortable.” They all sat down in a semi circle around the teen. As she knelt down, Romelia continued. “So what story do you want to hear?”

“Uh... “ Cana was the one to pipe up first.

“Tell us the one about how the world was created!”

“No!” Kikiya said. “Tell us the one about Wolf and Sun!”

“I actually wouldn’t mind hearing the one about the world again,” Fridolf said quietly.

Romelia smiled. “Okay. I’ll tell you about how the world was created and then I’ll tell the one about Wolf and Sun,” she added, seeing Kikiya’s disappointed face. It immediately disappeared as she cheered. Kikiya was then shushed when her two siblings jumped on her. Romelia smiled and started to speak.

“When the world was first created, before Naragari had created Wolf, or Deer, or Earth, the only thing was light. A light that never ended, but never began either. Without any company or pack members, Naragari soon became very, very lonely with this endless void of light. So Naragari took some of this light into her paws and held them to her chest. As she did this, the light shone brighter than it ever had before and went into her heart.”

“Why?” Cana asked. Everyone giggled and shushed her.

“Wait until the story is over, Cana, then you can ask as many questions as you want,” Romelia said gently. “Now, as I was saying. When the light went into her heart, the never ending light faded to reveal the world we live in. However, there were no animals. Still lonely, Naragari felt something in her heart stir. When she tried to suppress it, it only got worse. Finally giving in, she raised her head and howled. No one knows how, but from this howl sprung many things; butterflies, fish, deer, all of the animals of the world. The thing that caught Naragari’s attention was the big, black shape.

“It stood on two paws, unlike most of the other animals. It’s eyes were bright red with wonder as it looked around its new home. It’s fur was as black as the blackest nights when the moon doesn’t shine and when your eyes have stopped seeing. This was Volos.

“Naragari walked up to the wolf and said, ‘Volos, why do you walk on two legs when your pack walks on four?’ In a sweet voice, he replied to the white deer, ‘Because I can see your beauty better from up high than from below.’ Naragari flushed at this, not use to receiving such words. She said to the strange wolf, ‘You flatter me so.’ After this, they became very close. At least, Naragari thought.”

What Romelia didn’t know that Cyri was listening to her story.

Cyri had woken up at the sound of yipping. He had fallen asleep after Romelia had placed the food on the nightstand. There was more than one animal from what he could tell. It also sounded like wolves. When he heard Romelia’s voice coming from down stairs, he panicked a bit before he heard what they were saying.

“Come on Romelia!”

“Keep going!”

Romelia’s laugh came to him. “Okay, okay. Just hold on a moment.”

“Okay!”

After a moment, she started to speak in a different tone. She seemed to be in the middle of a story. “After a few days after the world was born, Naragari confronted Volos. She had heard from the birds that Volos was spreading rumors about the deer through black ink. When she questioned him about it, he openly said that he did start them. Angered, she lashed out at him, only for her attacks to go through him.

“She watched in shock as a dark liquid started to surround him. Volos spoke in a dark voice, much different from what he used when she first met him.”

A male voice joined in, trying to imitate a deep voice, but failing miserably. “ ‘You are a fool,’ he snarled. ‘You could have recognized the darkness I was emanating, but you were distracted by sweet words to see the truth.’ ”

There was giggling as Romelia spoke again, trying not to giggle along. “Let me talk, Fridolf.”

“But we want to act it out!”

“Yeah!”

Romelia laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll help if you need it.”

“Yay!”

“ ‘You’re the reason animals are being corrupted?’ Naragari asked. ‘You are the reason that evil has started to spread?’ ”

“ ‘Of course I am! You’re too dumb to even realize it!’ ”

“And with that remark, Volos lunged at Naragari,” Romelia said through her laughter. “She was scared didn’t look where she was aiming. Naragari stuck Volos in the neck, killing him almost instantly.” There was even more laughter from below. It was some time before Romelia continued speaking. “Only, he didn’t die. Instead, his body turned into the black liquid that we now call Nightmare Liquid. A deep voice that Naragari recognized as Volos came from it.”

“ ‘You are even more of a fool,’ he laughed. ‘All you’ve done is made me more powerful than before!’ ”

“And with that, Volos disappeared into the black liquid and the black ink was gone in a blink of an eye. Naragari stood in shock, unable to contemplate what had just occurred. When she finally did, Naragari knew she had a large fight on her hooves, possibly a war. But that, is a story for another day.”

“Great story Romelia!”

“Oh! Can you tell the one about Moon and Wolf??”

“Sorry,” Romelia said. “But your parents are back and you should head to your home.”

“Romelia is right Kikiya,” a motherly voice said. “We should be heading home.”

“Aww!” Three voices said at the same time.

“Can you tell us the story another time?”

“Of course Cana. Now go catch up with your pack.”

“Okay. Bye Romelia!”

“Bye Cana!”

Cyri didn’t hear much after that and he assumed that Romelia had gone somewhere. He tried to eat the soup that Romelia left for him, but he was too tired. Eventually, he just gave up and decided to sleep.