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Chapter Five
Oz
Only two days in and everything had changed with my journey. With the piercing rays of the sun digging into my neck and the thick, blistering heat entering my lungs, I decided to swap out my regular schedule for something more palatable. At least, that’s what I thought. It turned out that sleeping in the caves with a small fire going had shielded me from the bitter, biting cold of the drop in temperatures here in the open land.
These lands had once been lush and full of life. Our books laid out stories of booming businesses and an era of culture and unity. There were places with every food imaginable and some beyond imagination. So much clothing and plastic being manufactured that the trash bubbled over into the oceans, making them inhabitable for the marine life.
There were buildings so tall, they blocked the night lights that we now built our lives and futures upon.
It was all gone in the blink of an eye. The same sun that tossed its anger down on me during the daytime had shot out solar flares that burnt up most of civilization. Only a small percentage of humans survived. Shifters survived because we were adaptable. Our animals gave us strength and supernatural healing abilities to withstand the hard times.
“What’s your business?” A gruff voice interrupted my thoughts as the day turned to night and I emerged from a cave. I had taken refuge from the sun, determined to journey during the night, hopeful it would be easier on me and my wolf.
“I’m passing through. I apologize. I didn’t realize I was in pack territory.”
The man, tall as an oak, looked me up and down. “You’re not on Forsaken Shadow land, but you are close. I only came over because I heard some movement in there, brother. Where are you traveling?”
Here was the crux. While our pack lived and planned and nearly worshiped the glittering lights and constellations above us, some didn’t. Either way, I had to tell the truth. Another shifter would know I was lying, and then this conversation would turn from friendly to unfriendly in seconds.
“I saw the Cursor and am on a journey to find my mate.” I squared my shoulders, firm in my convictions.
“What pack are you from?” he asked, stepping forward. His tone was eager, curious. At least he wasn’t ridiculing. There were some who stopped believing in the constellations at all and mocked those who did.
I told him, and we had a lengthy conversation about stars and Fate. He wished me well and said that he was glad to have a story to tell when he went back home for the night. The man boasted and stuck his chest out when talking proudly about his triplets and how they would enjoy hearing something new.
But as we parted, my eyes went back to the stars. The Cursor was again dimmer than the night before and the previous nights but still shone brightly in the sky, telling me where to go, leading the way to my mate.
I pulled up my fur-lined hoodie and wrangled my winter mask over my mouth, trying to keep as much of my skin covered and protected against the sharp night wind as possible. Though my motivation was abundant and my excitement grew each minute that I grew closer to her, my feet became heavy with the burden of the journey.
This would be a lot easier if I shifted into my wolf. He wanted to. He was more of the non-planning type. He wanted me to forgo all of my stuff, my books, my food, everything and just take off at lightning speed and get to her as soon as possible.
He was an animal, led by his instincts. Of course that’s what he wanted to do.
But I knew better. There was a chance that she wasn’t a believer, that she came from a pack that had forsaken the stars and their vast knowledge. I would be some stranger who showed up and claimed to be her mate, and she would reject me.
Rejection was something I wouldn’t be able to live through, not from her, not after staking everything on my life at the moment of meeting her.
Rejected mates didn’t make it in this world, even before the sun fought her own child, the Earth. They lived half-lives both in years and joy. They walked through life knowing their potential was stagnant, their happiness cut off at the knees. Because of this loss of what we wolves lived for, our mates and our families, they often died in their forties. My father always said they died of broken wolves. In our pack, there was a separate graveyard, kept for those who were shunned by the ones who should’ve embraced them.
But I knew that wasn’t my Fate. She was there.
And she was more than any other female. There was something special about her, not only to me but to the world, to the Earth that we lived on. What I hadn’t told my parents or any other person was that my Cursor was different. The stars aligned in a way for her that strayed from the others. The fact was only evident if you studied my Cursor against the others, against what a Cursor was supposed to look like, but I knew the truth.
She was special and so would be our bond.
Now to convince my brain.
My wolf knew better. He threw logic to the side and leaned fully on his instincts. That’s what wolves did. He didn’t care about food or water or that the cold wind was stabbing me left and right.
He wanted his mate. And now.
I traveled through the night, getting more distance covered than I’d hoped for. Yes, this traveling-at-night plan was turning out to be my best bet to cover the most distance. Just when I thought I couldn’t walk one more step, I saw two branches, placed in the form of an X. The X meant that there was a cave nearby for travelers. I would take shelter for the night. My stomach rumbled with hunger. All I had brought with me was the dried meat and some tough bread my mother said was fit for a journey.
It tasted like dry crackers and that was being kind.
I did, however, have a cup that I could heat water over and some tea. That would bolster my spirits and ease some of my tiredness.
Only a few steps later, I found the entrance to a cave. To my dismay, there wasn’t room enough for a fire, only my body and my pack. I wrote some notes in my journal by the waning light of the moon. In the middle of drawing the night sky, I paused, laying my head on the journal.
My doubt was bubbling up again. Maybe it was the incessant chill in the air or the aching in my muscles and bones talking, but it couldn’t be helped. There were some things a human mind simply couldn’t do, and apparently getting rid of my doubt wasn’t one of them.
Still, my wolf sent me thoughts of what could be.
And what could be was the perfect mate for me.
