The Moon Goddess' Chosen

508 Awakening

The bear nudged the petrified woman, snapping her out of her trance, “Right! Thanks, Brian. Follow us, huntress.”

With that, the woman jumped onto the brown bear, exhibiting more energy than someone her age was supposed to be capable of. ‘What was in that moon lotus?’

Samantha bore the Agility Prometheus gift which allowed her to easily keep up with the dashing bear. The three of them tore through the woods, the lotuses surrounding them slowly increasing in number the deeper they ran into the forest.

Fauna stretched her hands outward and formed fists as if she was holding onto cables tied between two pillars. In a strained motion, she pulled her arms together…

Nothing happened.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Samantha asked.

She’d heard of her extraordinary nature powers that allowed her to manipulate her surroundings with frightening precision and power. This was meant to be such an incident… but unfortunately, nothing happened.

“Not unless there is a stronger power around… and there are few of those. I can’t believe it. Isn’t this too soon?” the woman dipped her hands into the thick fur of the bear, containing her emotions as they dashed into the woods.

Ahead of them, the lotuses exploded outward as the trees stopped, giving way to a memorable field of bright blue moon lotuses. This was the same place where the Lost Luna had vanished a few years ago.

.....

‘What are we doing here?’ Samantha wondered.

Her question, however, vanished from her mind when she noticed someone in the clearing. A large hulking figure was kneeling with one knee on the ground and the other supporting her elbow as she bowed to nothing in particular.

Samantha easily identified the figure as that of a woman mainly because of the hair that she had pulled back in a tight ponytail.

That, along with her face, were the last features that could easily convince Samantha of the woman’s gender.

Everything else about this woman screamed masculinity. From the brown furs that covered her body, to the steel sledgehammer that lay on the ground beside her, she looked like a warrior who’d fought many battles, abandoning the delicate features of her femininity to the throes of war.

Samantha couldn’t recognize her.

“Hey, Stranger. You’re not from around here. Identify yourself,” the hunter ordered. For all she knew, this woman could be one of the rogues causing all the chaos in town.

“Huntress, she is not our enemy,” Fauna mentioned.

“How do you figure? Do you know her from somewhere?” Samantha snapped at her.

The woman looked up from her position, “I’ll identify myself in a moment. But until then, I would like to perform my duty here without hindrance, please. It would be a shame for ‘her’ to find allies bickering.”

“What?!”

“Care to join me?” the woman’s beautiful face cracked into a mischievous smile. Something about her expression made Samantha feel… diminished.

Fauna didn’t let her answer. Instead, she jumped off the bear’s back and knelt next to the large woman, bowing in an identical position.

The bear, Brian, shuffled over to Fauna’s side and bowed its head as well. Samantha wanted to scream at them for explanations but that’s when her brain started to pick up on the subtle meanings behind this.

It was one thing for the two humans to bow their heads… but another thing completely for the bear to do so. Other than Fauna, the bear didn’t show any interest towards anyone or anything else but its lunch unless ordered by the Voice of the Wild.

The wind suddenly picked up and the leaves rustled loudly, howling greatly as a blue mist rose into the air. Waves of blue pulsed through the blue flowers, bringing with them a feeling of otherworldly power. With each passing moment, the hunter felt like she would be crashed by some unknown force that only seemed to be getting stronger.

The swirling mist continued to spin and condense at the centre of the field of lotuses forming a large glowing ball of blue air.

Samantha watched with a frozen expression as the ball began to glow brighter and brighter. Till it was too bright that the hunter was forced to close her eyes completely.

Listening to the chaos and feeling the intense pressure of whatever being was contained within the ball of wind, she found that she had to get on one knee as well lest she risk being carried away by the sheer ferocity of the wind. Or crushed by the powerful aura coming from within the ball.

She waited for what felt like an eternity but when the wind finally died down, something had changed. She could feel it… Her bizarre companions could feel it too.

It was a feeling so familiar that she could never forget it. And with it came an overwhelming sense of hope… and crazed conviction.

Samantha opened her eyes.

A thick blue mist hung over the clearing, rising from the ground in sizzles. The hunter attempted to take a step forward, only to be held back by a calloused hand.

The large warrior-looking woman had a firm and careful grip. She beckoned for the hunter to get back down and wait a bit longer.

After what felt like forever, the mist began to clear, revealing the being clothed by it.

Curled up in a ball at the centre of the clearing was a large snow-white wolf, the blue mist swirling around it in an odd ethereal embrace.

The flowers surrounding it had grown taller, as though providing the wolf with the same kind of nourishment that Fauna had extracted from one much earlier.

The longer she stared, the more certain she was about what she was staring at… or rather ‘who’.

Two furry triangular protrusions flickered from within the ball of fur, scanning the surroundings like antennae before a big white head rose, its ears directing it to face directly at them.

At the same time, its bright blue eyes opened, revealing a storm of emotions within them and a piercing level of clarity that was absolutely rare to find… except when staring at one person in particular:

Katie Sirius.