Sam
"Please, sit children. I've got spots all made up for you." Sage says, pointing to a worn couch in the middle of the cabin.
I glance around, it was a small place, with the kitchen and living room open and I could see an open door leading Into a bathroom. She must sleep on the couch...
"How did you know we were coming?" Darren asks as he sits down next to me.
I give him a daunting look. We came here to ask for help, not to interrogate her.
"Well young Fox, it's not everyday that Hati sends me a Speaker of the Gates. And if you look out the window, you see nothing but white. It's not hard to see a black and an orange patch from miles away." The wolf snaps.
I hold back a laugh at the woman's sarcastic remark.
Darren looks back at me, his face turning slightly red.
"Don't be upset young one, it's just hard to pass up an opportunity to embarass you. As you can tell I get so many visitors." She smiles, showing off dulled fangs.
"Well, I don't mean to be rude, but we did come here for a reason." I cut in.
"No no Sammantha, go right ahead. Who am I to delay the spirits?"
'Huh. It seems that this wolf believes you to be something of legend.' Red laughs.
'Where the hell have you been?' I growl.
"What was that?" Sage asks, wondering why I growled.
"Oh sorry. I wanted to know more of the moon dimension, if that's not to broad of a question."
Sage takes a minute to think, slowly closing her eyes. Darren and I look at each other again, I shrug my shoulders as he raises an eyebrow.
"Of course. You are being called there aren't you?" Sage questions as her eyes sparkle, "It's only natural for the moon to call back it's caretaker."
"Well...." I start, "the moon dimension is not exactly empty...."
Sage looks at me. Really looks at me, into my eyes and into my soul even.
"What do you mean?" She hisses.
"I believe there's a wolf trapped there." I nod, even as Darren gives me a confused look.
Sage's wrinkled face slowly pulls into what I could only describe as a smirking grimace.
"I always knew Arlene had gotten out, that sneaky mutt. I just had no idea that she actually found it."
I tilt my head, "How do you know Arlene?"
Sage laughs, "I'm a lot older than you think pup. Wolves live longer than most and spirit walker wolves even more." Sage stops to take a breath, her face quickly turing into a grin.
"Arlene was my sister. We were both born into a pack over in England, about the time of 'Jack the Ripper', one of the first werewolf serial killers. He was actually in a rival pack. But that's unimportant. Our Grandmother raised us after our parents died. She was also a Spirit Walker, one of the oldest." Sage closes her eyes as she relives the memories of her family.
"The Skoll uprising was already beginning back than, such as with 'Jack' we believed Skoll to be sending his spirits to possess our pack mates. We needed essence of the moon to bring them out of the crazy thoughts." I look over at Darren, who had now focused directly on the old wolf.
"Thing is, essence of the moon only comes from the Hati dimension, and no wolf had set foot in there since the time of Hati. So my grandmother was tasked with figuring out how to reopen the moon dimension and return with the essence. She enlisted mine and Arlene's help. I remember spending hours upon hours in that library, Arlene and I always across from each other, swallowing all the knowledge we possibly could."
"A rogue group of Skoll wolves found out about our little project. They came in when Arlene and I were hunting for Grandmother. We returned and she was long dead, throat torn to ribbons. We knew the wolves would be back soon, we gathered as much research as we could when they returned for us."
I watch as a tear runs down her face, opening the rivers of her loss. "Arlene and I ran into the trees, weighed down by the burden of death and our packs. We knew that the rouges were close and that we'd never make it out. Arlene got her leg caught in a bear trap, it was a stupid mistake, we knew the traps were there, but she told me to run. Of course I told her I was staying but I saw the wolves break the treeline. The last thing Arlene said to me was something about passage 19."
Sage glances towards the bookcase that took up the entire left wall, "as we were hunting earlier that day, she mentioned to me that she was going to discuss with our Grandmother that she may have found a way in. So I'm figuring passage 19 has something to do with it. Thing is, we left with over 300 books and I returned for the rest later on. There is no passage 19 that stands out in any of these books."
"So what does that mean for Arlene?" I ask.
"Before the rouges could get her I think she slipped into the 5th dimension." Sage nods.
I close my eyes, remembering the silver wolf under the blue sky.
"What does it look like?" Sage suddenly asks.
"What?" I snap, coming out of my thoughts, "Oh, it's dark, everything is black kinda. But the sky is dark blue, the moon is brilliant blue it's really pretty actually. There are even animals there. I remember birds flying past the moon." I stop as I slowly get absorbed into my thoughts.
"Do any of your books have moons on the covers?" Darren asks.
"Don't you think we'd check out the ones with moons first?" Sage growls.
"No. It's got nothing to do with the moon, it's the gates."
"What?" They both snap as they look at me.
"The birds....I've seen them before. They are there in the gates. Literally just a ton of ravens. So there must be a way to enter the dimension from there. I mean, even the gates and the moon dimension kinda look the same, both have the same kind of forests.....maybe Hati used part of the gates to create it."
Sage slowly nods, "It makes sense. I know that there is a true entrance into the moon dimension, like the sun dimension, but dimensions always seem to have backdoors, and the Gates would be a good place to start."
***
"Alright, children. I believe I have gotten everything I need now." Sage nods as she steps out of the bathroom with a large bag.
"How are you going to bring that with?" I ask, "Aren't the Gates just a spiritual place?"
Darren turns to look at me, "of course not. There's no way you could make it back to your body if you let your soul go there." He quickly remembers back to Artime, "Unless you're you that is."
"Well I know you can be in both dimensions at once, but for our purposes we need to physically go there." Sage growls, "I'm not as fast as I used to be, so I'm going to get a move on it."
I watch as the woman suddenly dissolves in thin air.
"Whoa." I sigh.
"Do you know how to get there?" Darren asks me.
"Uhh, I think so."
"Well, just remember to pull your entire self through this time, we can't risk anyone finding your body out here." Darren nods before vanishing into a puff of smoke.
I close my eyes and picture the Gates, without any effort, I easily locate the realm and dive in, feeling a more painful transition than the first time.
As I feel the ground below me, I open my eyes and scan the horizon, recognizing the familiar trees.
"I won't be seeing you for a while." I hear Red's voice boom as I look over to see the large dragon.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for one I cannot enter the moon dimension. And you cannot with my soul inside you. Two, I've much business to attend to now that I've seen what's been going on up on earth."
"So you're up here for good?"
"Hardly," he scoffs, "When I need you again, I will contact you."
I nod, "Thanks Red."
"For what?" The dragon asks as he slowly walks off.
"For saving my life back with Max. I owe you one."
"Trust me Black, I'll be cashing in on that soon." He laughs before disappearing in the fog.
"Looks like you found your way here just fine." Darren growls as he and Sage appear next to me, "Your first time and you beat us here by a long shot."
"Because she's a Gatekeeper. This is her realm." A slightly familiar voice rings as I turn to see my mother pad up to us.
"Mom..." I manage to stutter, the sight of her was still surprising.
"That's your mom?!" Darren cries.
"Yes, it is." Mom smiles, "and you are her friend right? The Kitsune she saved last time she was here?"
Darren nods, his orange fur blazing.
Mom turns to Sage, "You must be a Spirit Walker." she bows her head, "I'm honored."
"I'm just honored to be back among the warriors again. I miss the good old days." Sage smiles.
"I have a question for you." I say quickly, knowing that I'm not here for a family reunion.
"Alright..." Mom answers hesitantly.
"We are looking for the moon dimension. Do you have any idea where we can find the entrance?"
"Wow. I had not expected you to be so blunt." Mom raises an eyebrow, "I don't even know if you can actually get to the moon dimension from here...."
"The 5th dimension?" A gruff voice asks as a wolf with a classic timber colored pelt asks as she strides up to us, "You want to get to the 5th dimension?"
"Kelly-" Mom starts.
"Kelly?" I question remembering the name from a conversation I had with Dad, "Kelly as in Dad's mate Kelly?"
"The one and only." The wolf nods.
I turn my head down at the thought of her, she wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for me and dad would be a lot happier.
"I'm so sorry." I sigh, looking up at the wolf, "If you hadn't-"
"If I hadn't saved you, one of the most important wolves in history wouldn't be alive. So save it kid, I did my job." Kelly laughs, "And if you need someone to lead you to the moon dimension, I'll help you."
"T-thanks." I huff, still trying to remember the night she got killed.
"Well, I will return back to your father. See you soon Sam." My mother chuffs before sprinting off into the fog.
"I think I've found the gate, it's where the birds go sometimes and disappear. I know because I've chased a few of them until the just vanish." Kelly says as we all trot along beside her.
I take in my surroundings as we walk, the gates were not exactly as black and white as I thought, there was some color in the grass and trees. I also noticed a stream and the rocky cliff face.
"You think this is pretty, you should see what we call heaven. It's just a huge forest where wolves run through the woods." Kelly smiles.
"I have a question if you don't mind." Darren asks, looking at Kelly as she looks towards him, "How did you get out of heaven? Wouldn't they want to keep you there?"
Kelly laughs as Sage clears her throat, "Many of the supernatural beings in heaven can pass back into the gates easily but most don't. Since the life force that gave Fenrir life put him in charge of the gates, wolves have the easiest time going back and forth because they are the guardians of the gates."
"Yeah, we hunt down the things that hang around in the gates and drag them back to whatever crack or crevice they escaped from. Like demons." Kelly adds.
"Aint no rest for the wicked huh?" I laugh.
"Can't argue there." Kelly grins before suddenly pricking her ears forward, "This is it. This is the place."
I look ahead and see the fog was twice as thick as before.
"I've gone in there, but you get all turned around and end up back here."
"I'll try and see what I can find." Darren barks before rushing into the cloud.
After a minute or two, he comes rushing back out.
"Aha!" He shouts until seeing all of us standing there.
I slowly walk towards him before feeling the slight electric shock of those weird markings crossing through my fur.
"Whoa." He says in awe as suddenly the fog starts to separate as a rocky wall starts to glow with the same markings as my fur.
"The gatekeeper. Of course." Sage nods, looking at the wall.
"I guess this is where we part ways." Kelly says before slowly slinking off, "Good luck!"
The three of us look back towards the wall as it starts to crack. I move towards it, and place my paw against the rock, feeling myself slide through.
"Get over here!" I snarl as I pull through the wall, feeling Darren sink his teeth into my tail.
I feel myself flying through the air as I suddenly land in water. I quickly try to swim towards the surface before being swept away by the current. I flail my paws frantically, mesmerized by glowing markings. I slowly begin to black out when I'm suddenly pulled out of the water and thrown on shore.
"Sam! Sam are you okay?!" I hear Darren yelling as I look up and see both him and Sage with scared looks on their faces.
I cough, spitting up water as I try to talk.
"Save your strength gatekeeper." Sage smiles, "The travel to this dimension drained you." She looks back towards Darren, "Come now, we have much ground to cover."
I roll my head to the side and stare into the trees, scanning the area before spotting a glowing blue figure walking along in the woods a few miles away. I shake my head before looking back towards Darren and Sage, only to see past them and see the color of the souls, almost like a glowing orb.
I glance into the bright orange flames of Darren's demon soul and then over to the deep greenish blue hue of Sage's.
"No, Arlene is just over that way a few miles." I cough, nodding toward her direction.
I try to pull myself up, only to have Darren stop me, "Hey now, be careful and just rest a minute!"
"No time." I growl as I look up at the bright blue moon and slowly draw away some of its endless power.
The marks on my fur burn more brilliantly than ever before and my strength quickly returns.
"We are going to talk to her right now." I say as I begin sprinting into the trees.