Survival Instincts - Witherlore werewolf Academy series

Chapter 10

We looked at each other panicked, we could get lost in our minds if we stayed here, I started running towards the opposite direction of the steam not knowing whether it was the right direction, but at that point, I couldn't care less about the right and the right direction. I was pretty sure Nila had followed me, but when I turned around, I saw I was alone. I couldn't leave her there, but at the same time I wasn't sure I could redo my disguise with only the plants that were here, I needed to get something that would change my hair color and eyes temporarily to prevent anyone from figuring out who I was. The only way I could resist the pink steam was by changing into my wolf form and hope I could find something that would last to preserve my identity and my sanity.

As I ran forward, I could feel my bones melting and fusing back together as my muscles gained force and speed. My eyes dilated into the blood like red I knew they would turn into, my hair changed into fur and returned into its original black ink color. I knew very well that if anyone would see me, my normal ish life would be done, everyone would recognize my traits, after all we were the only changed family with an intense eye color. We never knew where it came from, but all the villagers told us that it was a sign that Iaos had blessed us, the villagers had never saw my real eye color but still assumed it was the same as my family's. My force and my speed made me feel the same euphoria as the first time I changed forms, I could feel the wind flowing through my fur and the dried leaves mixed with the snow sticking to my paws as I ran in the direction of the pink steam. The closer I got, the thicker the steam became, and I could feel it entering my mouth as I breathed, it was sweet, too sweet, I could feel it trying to make me feel joy and euphoria. It defenses mechanism was probably trying to make forget about my initial goal but making me reminiscence childhood memories. I could see Nila sitting down next to the pumpkin/flower, playing with herbs that stood next to her, she looked happy, but I could still see the fog covering her eyes, as if she was dreaming. As I approached closer to her, I realized she wouldn't be able to get on my back, I would need to drag her or change back to carry her, I didn't need to worry about my clothes as strangely it seemed to fuse with fur but come back to its original state when I changed back into my human form. She lifted her head and upon seeing me, she opened her lips as to scream, but soon turned back into her illusion. I was pretty sure she would forget even seeing me as she stayed for a long time under the influence of the flower. I kneeled next to her and took her on my back I then picked a few plants that could help me remake my disguise and transformed back into my wolf form. She started jiggling and laughing on my back as I ran forward, but as I was about to get at a safe distance from the pink steam, I felt the same thing as I did in the cave, and this time it wasn't the turquoises reflections of the water. I turned to see if anyone had followed us but couldn't see anyone. I did see the same purple color afar, but it could've been the reflections of the fruit on its metal like sides.

I couldn't really go back to check as I had to make sure Nila recovered and that I had put back my disguise before she came back to her senses. After switching forms, I picked up a round rock and started to mash the herbs I had picked up earlier, the first one was an orange herb that was normally used to change the eye's color, it was made to be swallowed after drinking water, as to make sure it would dilute itself in our system. The second one was used to change the hair color, it's effect mostly made your hair paler and faded that it originally was, the black flower wasn't hard to find, but most people wouldn't know what it was.

I could feel the effects of the orange herb as it reached my eyes, the world seemed to lose a little bit of its color as I blinked to get rid of the itching that had started to occur in my eyes. It was a feeling I could never get used to, still it didn't hurt as bad as my back did after carrying Nila for that short distance. The mark they had made in the beginning of the simulation still left an ache every time I had to do anything involving my back, I guess they didn't think anyone of us would need to carry someone on their back during the rest of the simulation, that or they wanted to see our resistance and tolerance to pain.

A few minutes later, I had finished restoring my dull disguise to its original form. I went back to find Nila who was sitting with her hands on her head, she probably heard me coming as she lifter her gaze from the grass. She looked as if she had just seen a ghost and whispered:

"I saw her."

At that moment, my world froze. I felt a drop of sweat running down my back, I hoped I didn't know what she was about to say, but I did. I could almost say it before she did. Nevertheless, I still had hoped she was talking about something else, anything else, anything but that.

"Who?" I asked feigning curiosity.

"Her, the monster, the red wolf." She whispered looking at me, at that moment I didn't see Nila, but rather a child scared of a dead myth, a story told to us by our parents to keep us quiet.

I tried to keep my face calm and neutral as she seemed to be scanning my face, as if to see if I believed her. I didn't reply for a moment but as I opened my mouth, she opened her mouth and saved me from having to answer.

"Never mind, you must think I'm crazy, it was probably the steam affecting my eyesight."

As I didn't want to insist on the subject, I proceeded to ask her if she was feeling better and she nodded remaining silent as if proceeding what she thought she had just seen. I didn't want to force it out of her head, but I didn't quite want to take the risk for her to sun her mouth, I guess I would have to see how she would act with the others, but she didn't seem like she suspected me or anything. I didn't want to live through the hell once more, I just couldn't, I would go insane if it happened again.

I never actively knew when I had earned that nickname, and if people actually knew what had happened, all I knew what their faces that reflected both horror and respect and switched with contempt and greed. I started hearing it in our new village after we moved, but no one seemed to know it was me and I was determined for it to stay that way. After all, no kid would want to live through what I lived. Then my sister left for the simulation and apparently performed well enough for us to become a changing family. She went on to Witherlore and I didn't talk to her since. We couldn't get in contact with her, but since it she left approximately five years ago, she probably found a job after her graduation, or moved to another city farther from Estol. I couldn't blame her; I would've done the same after what we lived through.

I did a few times, resent the fact that she never wrote us a letter, but I guess she had her reasons. The sadness isn't as overwhelming as it was before, and I could just remember the memories we made when we were children. She often told me that time would pass and that people would forget, but sometimes they don't had even if they forget the details they remember the person, Nila was a good proof of that. It had been a few years since I had heard someone say that name, but it clearly hadn't been erased from the collective memory of society or from the mind of the individuals, I was still a living nightmare that lived my life in the shadows hiding from what they saw in me, a monster. No one knew who I was, or rather what I was.

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