All I Can Do Is Howl

“Deirdre! Where have you been?” asked Hige.

‘I just said: running from those slowpokes at the marketplace! They were really slow, but there were a lot of them, so it took a while to ditch ‘em.’ Deirdre nosed through the box she grabbed. The meat in it was raw and slimy, but her wolf nature made her eat it. ‘Come on, the meat’s not bad. Eat!’

Tsume picked a piece up and then said, “I thought you said that you could
outrun anything. Well, what happened?” he glared at the meat as if it would bite him, but then decided that it wouldn’t and chomped into it.

‘They managed to block off most of the alleyways that I was gonna run through, so I had to jump up and run across rooftops for a bit.’

“Whatever. Well, thanks for drawing them off. It was…brave.”

‘Thank you!’ she raised her illusion and beamed. She was radiant when smiling. Tsume looked away, glad his dark skin wouldn’t show the color he knew his cheeks were getting.

X X X
They left the town after they finished eating. They ran and ran until Cheza couldn’t run anymore and it got dark.

Kiba and Cheza waited by a lake while Hige, Deirdre, Toboe, and Tsume went to check out the surrounding area for any humans (particularly crazy old guys with guns). They found none, so they went back.

But, there was a blond woman in a white lab coat watching the Flower Maiden. As the wolves brushed by, she gasped. The wolves stood with their paws in the water as the woman dropped to her knees and began to cry. Cheza glanced at her with sightless eyes, then turned and walked away.

While they went away, Toboe asked, “Hey, wasn’t’ that the lady from the lab where Cheza was being held?”

Deirdre tapped his shoulder, her face obviously asking, What lab?

Toboe responded, “Cheza was apparently created by alchemy and was being studied in a lab. Kiba and Hige saw her being stolen by some noble, and we found her again when she jumped outta that noble’s ship.”

She nodded to show she understood.

“I won’t hand Cheza over no matter who comes after us.” Said Kiba. “Not that woman, not anyone!”

X X X
The wolves trekked along a stone path. There were trees to the right and mountains to the left.

“Cheza seems to be feeling well. At least there are no humans out here.” Said Toboe. “But…she seems kinda sad, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah. It’s probably because of so many wolves dying back there. I bet she’s depressed.” Replied Hige.

“It’s her own damn fault.” Growled Tsume.

“Don’t blame her for everything!” Toboe defended.

“Don’t try to tell me that it’s not her fault.”

“But it’s not fair to give her all the blame.”

X X X

“So, does this road lead to Paradise?” asked Tsume gruffly.

“I dunno. She’s trying to lead us somewhere.” Replied Kiba.

“Not again. It’s not gonna cause another outbreak, right?”

“Even though she seems well, we should just take it easy,” said Hige.

“You seem optimistic. Don’t you worry that we’ll just get hunted down by humans again?”

“If that happens, we’ll fight.” Kiba said.

“And you’ll let them destroy everything again?” Tsume glared at the white wolf. “As long as we’re with it, we’ll always be fighting.”

“Stop it, Tsume and Kiba! You’re upsetting Cheza.” Objected Toboe.

‘Exactly! Quit it, guys.’ Said Deirdre, dropping her illusion so that she could speak. ‘What happened to us wasn’t all Cheza’s fault. Those wolves probably would’ve attacked us anyways for trespassing on their land.’

“Yeah…Cheza?” Toboe lightly touched Cheza’s shoulder.

“This one will be fine. As long as there is moonlight and water, this one won’t wither and die yet.
“And…this one is sorry, Tsume.” Cheza said quietly. “This one’s sorry.”

“Go to hell.” Tsume scoffed.

They stopped in front of an enormous cave. “Do we go in here, Cheza?” asked Kiba.

“Yeah. This way.” Cheza and he walked in.

“It’s dark in there…” Toboe whispered. He sounded scared. Deirdre lightly touched his arm
and nodded to show that she was a bit scared too, and that she was there.

“What, you scared? It’s just a cave,” Hige taunted.

“T-This is nothing!” he stormed forward into the cave. Deirdre took a deep breath and marched in after him, descending into the gaping maw of the earth.

X X X
Toboe suddenly drew his foot back after stepping on a rock. “Hey…these rocks look like people!”

“Nah. C-Can’t be. It’s just your imagination.” Hige responded. “They don’t smell like corpses.”

Deirdre couldn’t see very well in the dark, but she could tell that the rocks were starting to look like people. People who had become stone and fused with the walls…

She blinked when she felt her eyes sting as they adjusted to the sudden bright sunlight.

“They were all friends of this one.” Said Cheza. A large monolith stuck up from the ground. It was made up of the people-shaped rocks. “They were all born here before this one was. But…they knew that they were going to wither and die.”

“So, all those bodies in the cave…they were all Flower Maidens’?” Hige deduced, shocked.

“When the flowers knew they were going to die…they chose to become their own tomb!” Tsume realized.

“They chose this place so that the moonlight could reach them, so that they wouldn’t be lonely. They came here so that the wolves could hear their voices. But…they can’t sing anymore…their voices can’t be heard anymore…” she knelt and caressed a stone face. “Everyone…this one is back. This one’s found the wolves…” she began to cry.

Suddenly, there was a cracking noise from inside the cave. Cheza clamped her hands over her ears as the wolves formed a protective wall around her.

“I smell…danger.” Said Hige as the cracking and crunching continued, getting louder and louder.

Black birds burst from the mouth of the cave, shrieking out and dropping their black feathers all around.

“T-The cave is coming alive…” Toboe whimpered.

The top of the monolith suddenly was cut away, smashed to bits. Cheza screamed, a horrible high-pitched noise which made Deirdre, Hige, and Toboe cover their ears.

‘Cheza…There’s nothing to be sad about.’ Someone was speaking in the manner of the wolves! ‘Their sole purpose was to bring about your existence…and then wither away.”
A tall man in a black cloak stepped out of the cave, holding a sword. He continued speaking in the same voice as the one that was projected in their minds. “Cheza. You still exist here. That alone is enough to ease the pain of your friends.”

“The noble!” Tsume exclaimed.

“He’s the guy from before…” Hige muttered.

“What’re you wolves going to do with Cheza?” the noble asked. As he stepped closer, Deirdre noticed he was wearing a white mask that covered all of his face except for his right eye.

“We’re going with her to Paradise.” Kiba growled.

“You’ll never be able to make it to Paradise. Not even with here.”

‘How do you know?’ The wolves had dropped their illusions to try and better protect Cheza.

“Tell me…what do you wolves really know about Cheza? Do you really want to open Paradise? For this reason, other nobles have tried to steal her from me.” As he spoke, the noble’s words were so menacing that they forced the wolves to raise their illusion again! “But…none of them succeeded, neither human nor wolf. They all wanted to keep Cheza for themselves. That will never change.” He dug his sword into the stone above Cheza’s head. “Not a single person has made it to Paradise. That’s because…I am the only one who understands Cheza and knows the true path to Paradise.”

Just as Kiba was about to lunge, someone shot at the noble. He blocked the bullets with his sword. This allowed Kiba to bite the noble’s arm and knock the sword away.

The shooter stepped into view. It was the lady with the lab coat! “Phew.” She exhaled. “I made it just in time.”

The noble backhanded Kiba and sent him flying.

“Cheza. I spent so much time studying you, but…I knew nothing about you.
“But…one thing is for sure. If being with the wolves is your true destiny…” she stood between the noble and the wolves, “I’m gonna make it happen.”