“Wa…. ke….”

Five minutes before the full moon starts.

The sun is setting and the sky is getting darker and darker.

“Wake… up…”

Only a small fraction of the sun can be seen and the sky has this beautiful shade of orange and red. Some stars can be seen in the darker areas of the sky.

High in the mountains, the scene can only be described as beautiful.

“Wake up…”

As the full moon draws nearer and nearer, my head started to hurt. I feel as if a hammer is pounding my head over and over again. It isn’t bad as it was earlier but as time goes by, the pain I’m receiving is gradually getting stronger.

“Wake up… Wake up…”

‘Shut up.’ I shouted inwardly.

I started hearing these voices inside my head at the same time as my head started hurting. They are the same as the one I heard on the vision before. Telling me to wake up and repeating the exact same words over and over again like a broken record. Coupled with the fact that my head is hurting like hell, I kind of wanted to collapse on the spot.

The only thing that’s preventing me from doing that, however, is I’m afraid that visions will start to appear again once I lost my consciousness. I tried to stay conscious and endured the pain inside my head. I also started to sweat madly and my face was pale as ash.

Fortunately, Bel was focused on warming up and meditating that she didn’t notice the weird complexion I’m making on my face. If she saw this scene, she will obviously get worried and that may affect her mind on the full moon. I didn’t want to bother Bel since this is a crucial point in time and one mishap can lead to various problems. I tried my best to suppress this feeling that I got.

Since the pain I’m feeling right now is less than before, I managed not collapsing as I did earlier. Relaxing my body and taking deep breaths somehow elevates the pain. Even with all of that, the problem is how I can last through the whole full moon. The pain is getting worse by the minute and I’m afraid that this pain may not stop even if the full moon is over. If that happens, I can imagine having sleepless nights, enduring through the pain and hoping that it passes away.

“Wake up… Wake up… Wake up… Wake up…”

The full moon officially started. The sky was dark and the only thing that illuminates the surroundings is the moon and the stars above. Deep inside the forest, the surroundings are dark as tall trees are blocking out the only source of light. However, wolves have good eyesight, this also applies even if the surroundings are dark. Being nocturnal animals, this is only natural as they normally hunt and roam at night.

I laid down the picnic blanket I prepared beforehand. I closed my eyes and tried to relax my mind. I squinted my eyes to peek on how Bel is doing. Fortunately, she started out nicely and there doesn’t seem to be any problem that might occur in the meantime. I was also planning on checking how my younger brother was doing but my head is hurting like crazy so I couldn’t care less about him at the moment. Also, he has his butler with him anyway.

I tried to calm my nerves and focus my state of mind at the moment. I started to wonder if this is the effects of the full moon on me, finally starting to take effect after all these years. And the pain I’m suffering right now is because of how I didn’t properly prepare for the situation.

Even if that is the case, I pushed it off my mind since I’m confidently sure that what happening right now is related to the vision I started seeing this past few days. With the same voice, same words and the same sensation and pain I’m feeling back then, I’m pretty much sure that this is related to the vision. At the same time, I only feel myself getting weaker as the pain is getting harder to endure. If this is the effects of the full moon, I should be getting a boost in power.

This couldn’t be a mere coincidence. The course of events is too related to one another to dismiss the fact that this is an effect of the full moon. Then I remembered the mark on my chest. Maybe it’s sucking my energy once again, making my head feel sluggish.

As I stood up a bit to check, I noticed that my right arm is already covered with the dark mark earlier. ‘It already spread through here?’ I thought to myself as I checked other parts of my body.

I did a full body search and found out that the mark already spread through my entire right arm, half of my abdomen, and on some of the lower parts of my neck. The situation is already this worse. And what’s more, it is slowly getting bigger, spreading through the other parts of my body. What will happen when it completely covered my entire body? Will I get consumed?

I quickly covered the dark parts of my body. Good thing I prepared a sweater and a scarf just in case the area gets cold. It covers up the dark area quite nicely. Bel hasn’t noticed a thing, which is good. Unfortunately, I cannot do much since I’m starting to lost strength in my body.

I lay there helplessly as I tried to suppress the feeling. I’m starting to lose consciousness right now. I cannot feel my limbs as well. Good thing I didn’t disturb Bel. I hoped that she just sees this as me sleeping. I don’t want to worry her.

“Wake up!!”

Now that I’m on the vision world once again, the voice that kept pestering me all this time got clearer and stronger. The speed that it was being repeated was getting faster and faster. Or maybe it was echoing throughout the area. Either way, this thing is getting more and more annoying. The pain in my head remained as well.

After a good while of hearing the same words over and over again, an ample amount of time passed by. Since I was too distracted to keep my sanity, I lost count on how much time passed by. It was then that something changed inside the vision world.

The black world changed, my vision blurred and the landscape gradually changed. The scene turned out to be the same location as the camp I found for Bel. Though some of the trees on the side looked younger and smaller, the small pond on the side of the area remains and some other noticeable landmarks didn’t change. Thus, I concluded that the area was indeed the same.

On the center of the area, there was a small jet black wolf. The size of the said wolf was smaller compared to the normals size of other wolves. It seemed to be weaker in other aspects as well. The black wolf was alone on the area, carelessly sleeping like he owns the place. Sometime later, the vision fast forwarded and the small wolf grew into an adult wolf, though he still remains in his wolf form.

Just as I was wondering what I’m seeing, a group of normal wolves arrived at the scene. The howled and gnarled at the black wolf on the area. They are intimidating the black wolf and the howl back then was to alert the others.

I see. The jet black wolf was a lone wolf. He was probably cast away from the pack since he’s different from everybody else. Since they found him, I reckon that the others were looking trouble for him or they want him dead. The probability of the latter being the case was higher since the wolves that found him howled for reinforcements.

After calling for reinforcements, the group of wolves pounced at the black wolf simultaneously. The black wolf, however, dodged at a quick pace. Its little build was used to its advantage.

After breaking through the attacks of the first group, it ran away deeper in the forest at an astonishing speed. However, the result was futile. Just as he was going to escape, another group of wolves intercepted his escape route.

At the moment, he was surrounded at all sides. He cannot break out that easily and there was a chance more reinforcements were standing outside the encirclement. The wolves that encircled him was fierce but they didn’t let their guard down. As the saying goes; ‘the cornered rat will bite the cat’.

The black wolf desperately tried to escape from the encirclement. It was never successful though. The wolves encircling the black wolf isn’t attacking him in the slightest, only defending the encirclement, not letting him escape. After a number of attempts, the black wolf conceded and stood at the center of the encirclement, not knowing what to do next.

After a minute or so, one part of the encirclement was broken as the wolves make way for a larger wolf. This wolf is clearly the alpha of the pack. There are some noticeable characteristics such as larger build and the manner of how he carries himself. The other wolves retreated to make a larger space for the alpha wolf. A battle is sure to emerge, no, more like an execution since the black wolf clearly didn’t stand a chance to the alpha.

The two wolves held a staring contest for a while and after some time passed, the alpha wolf attacked. The black wolf tried to evade but the alpha still bit one of his fore thighs. The speed of the alpha was clearly faster than the black wolf. It was strong as well. Blood emerged out of the black wolf’s thigh. He tried to run away, but his speed was affected because of his injured thigh. There was also the wolves encircling him as well.

The next scenes were simply a one-sided battle. The alpha pounced on the black wolf ruthlessly. After the initial injury, the alpha wolf only used his paws to pounce on the black wolf. Though he is only using his paws, the power behind it was huge and every time the black wolf was hit, he will fly away from the sheer force exerted.

At this moment, the black wolf was clearly beaten up. The wolves encircling the battle howled, the alpha wolf also howled with them, confident of their victory. The black wolf stared at the alpha wolf in disdain. There are no traces of weakness in his eyes, only pure black hatred. Though I didn’t know the matter of the black wolf and the other party, that one look in his eyes told it all. This isn’t as simple at it looked like. At least, there should be some kind of background to this. Unfortunately, I have no hopes of knowing.

The alpha wolf saw this stare and it felt uncomfortable. It felt like it should end this wolf’s life as soon as possible. It once again pounced towards the black wolf, seemingly finishing it off. Just as when the alpha’s attack was about to connect, the black wolf disappeared out of sight. The alpha wolf was confused but he suddenly sensed an ominous feeling on his back, the alpha wolf turned around but it was too late, the black wolf reappeared on the alpha wolf’s rear and quickly bitten its hind leg.

Shadow Travel!

The alpha wolf reacted quickly and retreated. It observed the situation and was shocked by what it saw. Actually, I’m quite surprised myself.

What I’m seeing right now is the jet black wolf clad in dark energy.