Mia
I let Madness carry me through the forest, each step pushing us further and further through the trees. My body feels lighter than it has in days, all thanks to whatever magic Merida used on me.
And despite her complaints that I should stay in bed for at least another day, I'm grateful for her gift.
To think, my own step sister is a demi-god. Or rather the child of one. I was still confused on the terminology even after she explained it.
Every child of the Wolf God Lykos is, theoretically speaking, his direct offspring; making every member of his bloodline a demi-god.
Bringing more air into my lungs, I push Madness to carry us as fast as we could go in my human side. The trees become blurred as we continue our endless sprint, testing ourselves with each step we take.
After learning that Kristen managed to kill the witch, Peter allowed the pack to roam freely again. Something I'm also deeply grateful for.
I don't feel Madness could've stayed another day in that cramped house. Before we got here it wouldn't have been a problem. But now...
Now, I doubt I'll ever be able to go back to that life.
The crisp air fills my lungs again, and I feel like I'm flying. To think, this is the extent that a free wolf can take me in human form. I wonder what else we could do?
Taking that thought as a challenge, I let Madness guide me to a specific destination. Twisting and turning through the forest, we come upon a fissure in the ground that opens to reveal a gaping abyss. The break was about a yard thick. But the fissure isn't the part I'm concerned about.
The other side of the forest calls to me as I push myself faster. I can do this, I think as we approach our obstacle. I can do this.
Finally, my arms spread as wide as the grin on my face as I take my leap of faith. Within a breath, I soar through the air over the abyss as I brace myself for the impact on the other side.
My knees buck as I crash into the earth, rolling over through the dead leaves. I spring back up in a moment and take a second to admire my accomplishment.
I did it. Bubbles of joy rise within me. I actually jumped across a chasm. A literal chasm.
A laugh erupts from me has we turn to head deeper into the forest. Picking back up on a light jog, we continue our exploration.
As we start to pick up our pace again, Madness quickly jerks my body to a halt.
Red.
My body goes on alert as I brace myself for an attack. Every nerve electrified as I search through the trees searching for the threat.
The wind picks up and I push my nose into the breeze, hoping that Madness can latch onto a scent.
"Come on girl, give me something". I say to her, desperate to figure out what our next move should be. "Run or attack? Which one?"
A sudden sharp noise draws my head to my right. The second crack that follows sends me on edge. "Run or attack, Madness?!"
She gives me nothing, simply lurking behind my eyes. Watching. Waiting.
As I decide to trust her calmness, we wait for our opponent to show themselves.
Breaking the silence, I call out to them the moment Madness catches on a scent. Male. "Who are you?"
The cracking steps come to a halt momentarily before continuing once again. "You have nothing to fear from me." The voice says.
The familiar timbre melody that fall from his lips leaves my body shaking as the memories of my past slam back into me.
A voice I thought I'll never hear again. A voice... that I remember hearing the moment I thought I died in that cave. The voice of my father. Desmond Agrinya.
"Dad." I breath weakly. Pinning to ensure myself this wasn't a trick, I shift my body to get a better view.
Madness growled inside as our father came into view. He's just as tall as I remember him eight years ago. His dark skin glowed as he stepped out from behind a tree.
He wore a thick tan jacket over a green shirt with the same jeans that I remember him wearing the day he left. His black sneakers moved carefully as he approached me.
My father's aging brown eyes met mine as he came towards me and my body ran to him before Madness could stop me.
My father's not a threat. I tell her.
"My little earth." He cries as his strong arms wrap around me. I bury myself into his loving embrace. "If I'd known... I would've taken you with me."
Madness keeps me from breaking down completely as she registers his words. She wants me to pull away. She's suspicious of him.
But I don't.
My father is not a threat. I tell her again.
It's only when he steps back to look at me that I finally understand what she means. My father's not a wolf. So why is he here? In the middle of a forest next to a pack.
"Dad." I say. "How.... why?" I stumble over myself, unsure of what to say. I haven't seen him in eight years. And the last I recall, he doesn't know anything about this world.
Madness's justified suspicions seep into me as I come to a slow realization. Why is my human father within the territory of a wolf pack?
"I needed to see you." He tells me.
Not knowing how to tread the conversation, I come out and ask him. "Do you know?" I said quietly.
He nods. "I knew before I left with your sister eight years ago. I knew everything."
Madness moves me away from him quickly, taking a step back to ensure us a safe distance. "How much?"
"The Orishas told me enough. I know you're a werewolf. I know about the pack. I knew about Peter and Merida before they arrived. I knew.... I knew Stephanie would go to him."
Confusion overcame me as my father leaned in to touch me again, but Madness pulled me away.
"Omo, I know you're untrusting of me. But I ensure-"
"How do you know?" Madness spoke through me. "How do you know about us?"
"Like I said, omo mi." He breathed.
"My name is Madness." She growled.
My father shook his head as he glanced upon my wolf with sad eyes. "That is not the true name I see for you." He took a step back. "The Orishas told me. Please. Let me tell you why I am here."
Nodding, I forced Madness to settle as I waited for him to continue.
"I didn't want to leave. I never wanted this for our family." He began. "If I'd knew how this would change my own daughter, I would've never agreed." The distain laced in his voice elicited a growl from Madness who found the statement insulting.
"I don't hate you, omo mi, I see you as one of mine. You were apart of their vision."
"I don't understand." I questioned, shaking my head.
"There'll be much you will never understand. But you'll have to accept it. As I had." Leaning back against a tree, he settled in as if he were ready to tell a long story. "Three days before they'd met, the Orishas had sent me a vision within a dream. They showed me.... the two of them, together, my wife and Peter. Happy and in love. They told me to accept it. That it needed to happen."
"When I was young, my father warned me never to question their decisions. But still I asked, 'why? Why make your shaman suffer?' And they told me, 'It was not my place to question.' I hated them, for a long time. As I watched your mother shatter again and again throughout the years, I hated them. As I watched, your sister live without a mother and you without a family, I hated them. As I watched, throughout all these years, I hated them. But still, they were right. It was not my place to question."
I waited as he continued, absorbing the information.
"I was so angry, that I blocked them out for years when they tried to come to me. When I opened myself to them after eight years, I was going to question them again. But then I saw it. Saw him. Darkness had been blocking your connection to the Orishas." My father seethed.
"Darkness is dead, Merida told me he died along with her brother."
"Everything the Orishas have done has been for this. They needed Stephanie and Peter together because they needed Merida and you to meet. I only took Alexandra with me because I believed she was the next Shaman but I was wrong. I was wrong and I've paid the price for it."
The memory of my father's voice in the cave came back to me as well as the memory of a price he's likely paid.
"They told me there was a price for saving me."
"There was but Ṣangó deemed that Darkness's interference was already enough." He whispered quietly.
"Isn't the price invalid now since Merida was the one who saved me?"
"No, she only healed you after your soul was returned." He told me.
"But, I don't get it." I tell him, returning to the main topic. "Merida's brother is Darkness. But he's been died for years."
Father shook his head. "That's the reason I'm here. Darkness is not dead. The child of Light's brother is still alive and he is willing to do anything to protect his sister. Even if that meant killing my own daughter."
I paused as the weight of his words pushed into me. "Darkness....tried to kill me?" My body shook as the truth rooted it's way into my heart. Not only was Merida's brother alive but he tried to kill me.
"Yes."
"But why-"
"Because of who you are. What you are. He believes you're a threat to him. To the both of them." He says. "We are shamans. Able to communicate to the Orishas at their will. Able to see what others cannot. Foretell what others cannot. We have a power within us that even Light and Darkness together can't take away."
The knowledge I'd gained from Merida spread through my mind like wildfire. "Are we like Peter and Merida? Servants to the gods?"
"No, omo, our Orishas are not like their God. We don't borrow their power. We have our own. Your divinity is within you, my child. You're much more powerful than you realize. Never forget that. Especially in the war to come." My father tilted my face up with the gentle palm of his hand. I couldn't believe this. I just couldn't. But what was there to believe when the truth was staring me right in the face. "You're a shaman of Ṣangó."
Something within me drummed like a heartbeat that wasn't my own. It rose from the earth and coursed it's way through every vein in my body. A shaman.
"But we do not have much time. Which is why Ṣangó allowed me to deliver his message to you personally." He took me by the shoulders, grounding me to the earth. "Listen to me, my child, and listen well. Darkness is linked to Light, which means he is tied to you. As long as you are with his sister, he will do anything in his power to keep you blind."
I watched the earth brown color of my father's eyes change to black. The sight chilled both Madness and I to our core.
"In a time that is neither near nor far, you will come upon two paths. You will need to decide which to take. I warn you, for both, Darkness will come for you, it will be a fight that's inevitable. However, for one of these paths, you will survive him."
"Which one should I take? How will I know?" I questioned as his eyes returned to normal.
"I cannot tell you your future, Mia. That is a choice that is yours alone to make. But I am not the Orishas and I will tell you this. We will meet again."
I bit my lip as I awaited his next words. Everything inside me was spinning.
"When your sister comes for you, go with her, and do not look back."
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