After a great evening of exploring the city with Sarah and Unique. I had gotten them home and into bed a bit early, tomorrow we had our dive with Dr. Silva and her team, so I wanted them to get as much rest as possible. However, while they slept, I was back out into the heart of Rio Grande, racing through the empty evening streets with only the moon being my source of light. Chasing after Esther who had long since abandoned her adorable little wolf form taking her more fierce and larger form. Her longer legs carried her faster than I could run, her fangs longer, sharper, and bared, a deep growl escaping her muzzle. Her lust for destruction and lust for battle was starting to overtake me as well. I was just as hungry as she was, I needed to fight just as much as she did.
However, that hunger brought forth a monster that neither of us were too fond of. A part of me that I always kept locked away, one that not even my dad on the island knew the full toltarity of.
I stopped running after Esther as a pounding feeling hit the back of my head. One so strong that it dropped me to my hands and knees, my knees stung as they came into contact with the cobblestone of this alley and my pointed nails clipped off as I ran them down against the pathment. “S-Stop it,” I whispered as I felt a horrible coldness starting to fill my bones. I let out a yell as I slammed my head against the ground a few times, trying to fight this old pain with a new one. “T-They are mine,” I gasped out as I forced myself to sit up on my knees. “Y-You hear me, they belong to me, they are my prey!” I pulled myself up to stand, grateful that Esther had returned to my side and was now leaning up against me to keep me standing.
“Are you okay?” She asked, now in her much taller werewolf-like form. Her claws were much longer and sharper, her muzzle longer, eyes bigger, she was nearly as tall as me in this form.
“I am,” I answered back running my hand against her muzzle for a moment. I turned to my left and found myself staring in a window. It was dark enough that I could see my reflection in the glass. My calm white eyes had turned a darker gray color, my own jepei aura starting to to turn the same color. My eyes looked like the wolves that I loved, looked much like Esther’s were. The corners of my mouth had a bit of spit escaping, I had been drooling just at the thought of a fight. This was not me, and if I kept going like this then she would come out.
And I could not let her come out.
So I took a deep breath before slowly getting back down on my knees, not from my headache but to do what I needed to do.
What I should have done the second this urge overtook me.
I prayed.
“Father my God in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it has been done in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, the honor and the glory. In Jesus’s name, Amen.”
As I finished praying the Lord’s prayer. I looked back in that window and my eyes returned to their calm white color, my aura back to normal, even Esther when I faced her. Had grown a bit smaller, still in her more deadly looking form but now she is at least a little less scary looking. “I’m sorry,” I said, lifting a hand to rub underneath her ear. “Momma got a bit too riled up and almost let her out.”
I could not and would not let Winter out. I would not be consumed by that hunger, a lust to fight the strongest, it was not worth the trouble it caused. “It’s a shame, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” Her voice lingered on the back of my mind like an unwanted sore. She wanted to come out, she wanted control.
“I let you out in New York.” I said before moving down the street with Esther once more. “You have the scraps, and I get the meal. That is what we agreed to.” I got no response. I hardly ever did.
I followed Esther as we finally reached the tall building where we had both seen that odd figure at the top. If a member of the dark order truly was here, we needed to find them, and see what they wanted. It was no coincidence in my mind that our search into a long since destroyed tower, and this member of the order were in the same place. And if the order was here looking for something, then that only meant we were probably in the right place to find clues. Because the order has fewer members than us, they cannot afford to send their members anywhere that was not bringing them money, or power. That is what I had been taught in my lessons on that order, a subject that only upperclassmen were allowed to take. The Dark Order only wanted to make the world into what their false savior wanted, Lord Blackthorn, I believe the 15th.
So whatever information this tower held was important enough for them to look into. Which made it more important that we find it before them, and to start that search. It would be best for me to find this member, and I get them to talk.
“You just wanna fight. Stop making excuses for it.” Her voice echoed in my mind again, as we eventually reached the top of this building. I had to use a combination of amplification and my drawn blade to make the footholds I needed to scale up the side. This building gave us a good view of the quiet city. I could see the beach from here and I could see where my group had been standing last night.
“I prayed, so leave before you're in pain again.” I said firmly as I stuck my head to the roof and took a long sniff. Another good thing about Esther was her sense of smell, one that I had also been gifted with as her user. I had a collection of scents in my head, ones that I would never forget in case something bad happened. The newests being that of Unique and Sarah, Unique always smelling calm and like citrus and Sarah always smelling of joy and sweets.
I was surprised when she responded, a voice similar to mine but also not mine. More dark and twisted, she spoke lies and yet truths. Hatred yet wisdom. Insults yet they seemed to be encouraging in a sick way.“Prayer only works if you truly have power over what you are praying against. It’s a shame you don’t let that power truly get rid of me… Emma.” Her voice faded deep inside my head as I prayed the lord’s prayer once more. She hated prayer, she was a monster, a demon, a beast.
One that I couldn’t quite live without yet.
“Have you found anything?” I asked, looking at Esther. There were some smells but nothing that seemed off.
“I think so,” Esther answered before looking up towards the west. “Over here!” She called out before running off and leaping towards another building nearby. Her sense of smell was still stronger than mine, I expected nothing less from my daughter in wolf's skin. Mid jump she transformed back into her wolf form, now running and jumping from building to building. She had a scent, and she would chase it till she found it. I had to use amplification in my legs, just to keep up with her far leaps and bounds. Occasionally having to throw my own blade into parts of the buildings to make a foothold or somewhere I could grab onto. I felt alive again, chasing after my prey, a true reason to fight was right in front of me.
They belonged to me.
Like he had done, Abraham so long ago. My father in heaven had sent me a ram when I needed something to sacrifice. An excuse to feed this lust for battle.
Or at least that was the excuse I would make when I stood before him one day.
An excuse why I refused to follow one rule in his great book.
Turn the other cheek.
I eventually landed from the building startling an older woman who seemed to be on an evening stroll to her home nearby. I was standing in front of an older looking building, a motel maybe. White in color with a few pale orange lights lighting up the first and second floor. A could see a skimpy dressed woman taking a drunken moving man towards one of the doors. A man was leaning over the railing to the 2nd floor smoking a cigar, a loud yawn escaped his mouth as he did. It was so much different from New York, that city never seemed to sleep, but this one seemed to be ready for bed. Esther was already climbing up the steps and heading down the wooden platform that separated this part of the motel from the first floor. I climbed up after her, giving chase with my hand held out ready to summon my blade if I needed it. She finally came to a stop in front of a room that was labeled as 209.
“This is it,” she confirmed.
“Good girl,” I praised giving her furry head a rub before taking a deep breath and knocking twice. All I needed was for them to come to the door, confirm they were a member and then I had a reason to fight. They were members of the dark order, and I was a member of what jepei users should be. Peaceful, loving and kind, protective of their family connected by this rare blood trait.
“Hypocrite!”
Before I could even question what she meant. The door opened up revealing a tall man that was letting off a dark blueish purple shaded aura. His eyes raised in confusion, he looked to be in his late 20ths or early 30ths. His hair was short, in a military style, he was wearing only pajama pants, showing off a scared but muscular looking chest. He gazed down at me in confusion for a few moments, yet something was off. This was not the same aura that I had felt only an hour ago. It held no malice or anger trapped within, no hatred or evil. However, one look at the gemstone hanging proudly around his neck showed me everything I needed to know. He was a dark order member, I could tell from the deep cracks that were in his gemstone. A shattered gemstone meant a shattered animal spirit, and only one group was known for that in my people.
I took a few steps back as he exited his hotel room, he stood at maybe 6’3 putting him a good bit taller than me. He had a goatee that matched his jepei aura. “I told the owner I had no need of companionship tonight, or did my foolish partner send you here as a joke.”
“Partner?” I questioned. So he was not her alone, he had helped. Two members of the dark order were here. I shook my head a few times. “I am not a companion.”
“I see,” he answered, his head glancing towards the sound of a door shutting. The man that was smoking had stepped back into his room, and as soon as he did. He kicked me against the railing of this floor and ran forward, almost like a wrestler on television he clotheslined me over the railing sending me trembling down onto my back. I heard a pained yelp as pain shot through my stomach and I saw Esther come flying over the raining.
I quickly sat up and caught my pup who was coughing from pain. I felt half of her pain as she was my spirit, yet even just half of her pain was sending waves of pain rushing through my stomach. A punch? No a kick. I concluded as I summoned Esther back into my gemstone for a minute. “Don’t come out unless he sends his animal spirit out to fight.”
The ground shook a bit as he leapt down from upstairs and landed in front of me. I rolled to my feet and in a flash I summoned my blade, letting a bit of light run off its icy white blade and onto the ground. “I am not in the mood for a fight.” He declared with a loud yawn. “So I am not sure what you are hoping to accomplish little girl, but go home. Do not pick fights with people you barely know.”
I answered by rushing forward with my blade held behind me. My feet slid on the stone floor as I reached him and went for a single slash. He hit me first, I had a reason to hit him as hard as I could. However, I could see more people starting to come out, probably to investigate the sound of a body falling over the railing. Mid slash I unsummoned my blade and stopped right in front of him. It was too much of a risk for jepei users to fight in public, it only made the rest of the world afraid of us. “Why are you here?” I demanded.
He hadn’t moved a muscle from my attempted attack. His dark eyes looked disappointed, almost mimicking the look my daddy would give me when I had gotten in trouble. “Go home,” he repeated before turning around and sticking his hands in pockets. “I am not here for a war between our different ideals. I am here to protect, that is all, if we come to blows then I will not go easy on you, Winter.”
My entire body froze as he suddenly said that name. “How do you know that…” I asked my hands, trembling slightly as he said her name. He never answered, instead he just calmly walked up the staircase leading upstairs. “How do you know her name?!” I demanded once more, feeling a few pairs of eyes looking onto me.
He didn’t answer me, just went back inside of his room and closed the door behind him. There were two members of the dark order here, which meant that something was worth looking for. How long had they been here? Did they find what we are looking for sooner than us? Was his partner this woman that we saw on the museum footage? I had a thousand questions running through my mind, but the one that was scaring me the most.
Who was he?
And how did he know Winter, The Wolf of Bray Road?
And what would happen if my friends learned about the real me?
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“Sarah please stop,” I said with a small smile as I turned the girl around once more. Giving her a slight smack to her exposed thigh to hopefully get her to sit still for a moment. “You are making this ten times harder the more you squirm around, little lady.” We had arrived at the spot we were gonna be diving today, we had woken up early and gotten what we needed for a long trip at sea. Snacks both nutritious and sugary to keep Sarah happy, I had also gotten a pair of noise canceling headphones in case she wanted to take a small nap. Right now we were in the bottom of an impressive research ship and I was trying to get Sarah into our diving suits. However, the girl seemed extremely sensitive to these suits and each movement only made her burst into laughter.
“I am trying,” she giggled.
I looked over at Unique who was not wearing a diving suit today. Explaining that it would be a very bad idea for someone with lightning flowing through their own aura to go into the water. She could go swimming and what not but she could only do it while suppressing most of her jepei aura. A lesson she had learned the hard way from the story she told us in this bathroom. The girl was wearing a flowing pink skirt, short shorts underneath, and a long sleeve white shirt that exposed her midriff. She had brought a book with her to help pass the time while me and Sarah dived into the water. She sighed a bit before closing her book and standing up. “Fine I will help,” the 14 year old declared. “Only because we are wasting to much time.”
After a bit more giggling and laughter from all three of us. We had finally gotten Sarah in this black skin tight scuba suit. Now to be fair we could have just sent down one or even both of our animal spirits and just looked through their eyes as we dived, but only spirit animals that live in the water could truly see underneath it. Even though Esther and Bonnie had good eyesight, it was still a bit blurry underneath the waves, and since Esther hated water with a burning passion. This was gonna be easier.
We eventually made our way to the top of this ship where our guide Dr. Silva was giving the last instructions to her own team. She was wearing light gray pants, and a matching vest that her bright white lab coat was covering. Her team consisted of five men and three women, six of them were already doing a bit of research on the wildlife and looking at some new samples they had taken from the water this morning. The other two, a husband and wife named Matilda and Mason were gonna be coming down with me and Sarah. They helped us get on our large oxygen tanks and taught us the ins and outs of how they worked. I had made sure that Sarah repeated their instructions back to them just in case, as well as explained that what they said goes down here. She had been on her best behavior since the remote incident, but I knew that all kids at some point got the urge to test their limits and get into trouble.
The last step, after making sure our underwater mics were working so we could hear each other and tell Dr. Silva, what we saw, was for me to grip Sarah’s gemstone and she gripped mine. Just in case we were gonna link our thoughts together just in case, something that I was not a fan of doing. Unique had chalked it up to me not wanting to know what was going through Sarah’s mind, however there was something different to it. I didn’t want to risk her, speaking out and Sarha hearing her. I was still coming to terms that a dark order user knew who Winter was. I had no idea how he knew who she was, or if he knew what she truly was. However, while I had sent her deep into my mind, she was still occasionally laughing. I had no idea if someone that could hear my thoughts could also hear her.
I didn’t want my littlest sister to hear those thoughts or hear her. I didn’t want them to know what I truly have been struggling with for a very long time. There was no half truth or lie that could fully explain what I didn’t understand.
“Can you hear me?” I was shaken out of my head as Sarah’s cheerful voice echoed in my mind. I smiled at her ruffling her hair swim cap covered head a bit making her laugh once more.
“Yes I can hear you,” I lifted her up and sat her on the edge of the boat in between Matilda and Mason. They actually looked like a small family going on a dive together now that I looked at them closely. They all shared a similar colored hair and skin color, Mason was the tallest of the group with Matilda being close behind. They had hit it off immediately with Sarah, saying that she reminded them of their little ones back home. I looked over at Unique once more who was leaning against a doorframe that led to the captain's deck. “Last chance to get dressed and come join us,” I said.
WHile the others couldn’t see it. She held up her arm and expanded her jepei a bit sending coils of lightning running down her arm. “I would but… I don’t want to risk hurting anyone. Have fun and if you need me, I can come down quickly.”
I nodded my head before joining the others on the side of this boat. After adjusting my mask and goggles, we gave the thumbs up before going over the edge and into the warm waters below. It took a moment for my senses to come back to me as a cloud of bubbles surrounded the four of us where we landed. On pure instinct I took in a mouthful of air, only to fill it with the oxygen from my tank. My flippers made contact with the water and I began to gentle tread water. The mighty Atlantic ocean swallowed us in its endless mouth of water. I could already see a few fish that shattered around us. The marine life here was beautiful and I could feel the heavy amount of jepei that was in the water. There were a few places that held the most jepei, natural energy or jepei as we called it, such as jungles, deep forests or swamps. The deserts endless seas of sand held more jepei aura than one would think and the mountains and finally the oceans of the earth. Anywhere that didn’t have too much man made products were filled with nature energy.
My eyes caught onto Sarah. Even under her oxygen mask I could just picture the smile on her face as she began to kick her feet a bit to get used to the water. Mason gave us a thumbs up before we began to descend down at a slow pace. Making sure to keep an eye out on the wildlife, he gave us a tour and an explanation of all the sea life we passed. We even saw a few shark species that we made sure to stay away from. Carefully moving deep and deep into the water, my lungs were now used to the air in my tanks and I grew a bit bolder as I kicked forward a bit to swim beside Mason, letting Sarah hang back with Matilda. Though neither of the couple could see the small griffen spirit that was leading the charge, mostly chasing after fish that came her way.
“This is amazing,” I heard Sarah say in my head. “It’s another world down here, I can see why Ariel’s family never wanted to come back to the surface.”
“Ariel?”
“The little mermaid,” Sarah answered.
I rolled my eyes a bit and kept following after Mason and after nearly 30 minutes of careful moves. Including stopping to let the king of this ocean, a large great white shark, slip past us. We eventually came to the bottom of this part of the ocean, and about 300 hundred feet in front of us, we could start to see a large wreckage of stone and rock.
An large area that was letting of faint but a strong jepei aura. One that seemed so familiar to an aura that I felt before. Way back in the council’s chambers that started this journey. We had arrived and looked to be a large broken tower that was laying on its side, long since sunken into the water.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as I came into contact with what remained.
Of the tower of babel.
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