Keroki

The Wolf in the Thicket

By Azural Cobaltros

To Keroki, the most precious friend

You stumbled along the gloomy forest floor, tripping over maliciously twisted roots, cutting yourself over hateful thorns and brambles, their scores burning as you went.

The local foragers warned you. They told you not to enter this part of the forest. They told you this part of the forest was cursed. They spoke of clueless travelers disappearing in these woods, never to reemerge. They spoke of tales of bizarre phenomenon, trees growing tall and twisted overnight, smell of death with no apparent source.

You did not listen.

Now as you force yourself onwards, utterly lost in the labyrinthine thicket, you saw wisdom in their warnings. The trees, their barks eerily dark, seemed to close in on you the moment you look away, hiding your trail, leading you lost. The canopies, oppressive and devoid of any sound, seemed to blot out the sky, letting through slivers of moonlight, only to have they play tricks in your frightened mind.

There was a nameless evil in the air, suffused within every fiber of this forest. It was watching you, toying with you. And you were certain that when it grows bored of you, it will claim you.

That was when you saw it, a blue light. Not the dancing wisps the forest made you see, nor the blinking glare of some predator stalking you from the dark. No, this light was constant, unmoving, like a lighthouse, standing resolute against the ever shifting sea.

You hurried across to the source of the glow, and you saw it was not alone. They were paw prints, a wolf's to be exact, glowing blue in the dark of the woods, creating a trail towards into the unknown.

Conventional logic would suggest that this was obviously a trap, a trick, an illusion. But staring at the azure glow you felt peaceful, the fear that had clouded your mind for so long seemed to dissipate. Even the woods seemed less malicious around the glowing trail, their shadows coiled around their ebony truck, unwilling to approach.

Perhaps it was indeed a trap, lulling you into a false sense of security, like an angler fish, luring its prey with pretty glowing lanterns.

You followed the glimmering trail, paranoia heightened your senses, but nothing came to pass but the constant animosity in the air, as if the trees wanted to get to you, but the glowing paw prints somehow kept them at bay.

Time was difficult in the shadowed woods, you did not know how long, but the distance between trees grew as your unseen guide led you onwards. The loamy ground beneath you gave way to more solid ground of rock and grass-held soil, and eventually, you came to a rocking incline leading to a rock, right in your path.

That was when you saw it, the guide, the unseen paws leading you.

It was a Wolf the likes you had never seen before.

It was fluffy, with a thick coat of black, silver, blue, and white, you were not sure if the colors alone occur naturally, but that was not the most intriguing quality of the Wolf's fur. The canopies of this part of the thicket did not fully cover the night skies, and as the Wolf bathed in starlight, its fur seemed to catch the light, glimmering and glittering.

You found yourself mesmerized, enraptured by the sight of this curious looking Wolf, and the more you looked, the more you realized that the Wolf is much more than it seemed.

A swish of its tail revealed that where there should be one, there were instead two tails, fluffy like the coziest blanket, and you had to suppress a sudden urge to touch them.

As the Wolf set its sight upon you, match your gaze, you found yourself incapable of turning away, enthralled as you were. The Wolf was changing, no, glowing, as if it was amused by your curiosity, and decided to reveal more of itself. Wispy bluish lights, identical to the light of the paw prints, crept their way up its paws, its ears, and the tip of its tail. And on its forehead and back, several concealed sigils lit up, pretty swirls, like runes on a tome.

You stared into the eyes of the Wolf, and you felt the Wolf's consciousness reaching out, touching yours. From behind those beautiful blue eyes you saw an intellect and benevolence utterly beyond the mundane world. You knew not how to describe, you knew not what to think, but to allow the Wolf into you, filling you with its glory.

You saw it now, that which was hidden from eyes untrained. Flowing floating glowing lines. A great crown, a pair of wings, of light and glory, of spirituality brimming…

And as quickly as you saw them, the Wolf broke eye contact, and everything immediately snapped back to normal. You blinked, looked around, your eyes trying to readjust to the gloom of the thicket once more.

Before you, you saw the Wolf move, it looked behind itself. Following its gaze you saw a path, a path out of the forest, and there, near the horizon, lights! Normal, warm light of hearths and candles!!

Jubilant, you hurried beyond the rock, eager to return to civilization. It was quite a few steps you took before you slowed yourself, and looked back.

The Wolf was hidden by the shadow of one stubborn tree trying to shroud your savior in darkness, only its bright blue eyes betrayed its presence. But it mattered very little, for the sigils you saw, the glory of its benevolence, was forever seared into your mind…