the shadow of a dream

[Chris]

The rays of the rising sun were just beginning to peek through the dense canopy of leaves overhead as a dark shape raced silently along the branches of the trees. A short distance back a large band of humans and elves gave chase as well as they could. They were faster and quieter than the other two-leggers he had encountered, but he could smell each of them and hear the thud of their feet hitting the ground despite their efforts. Suddenly there was an intense feeling that something was wrong. He lost his balance and fell.

Jaefeth woke up with a start, beads of sweat rolling down his face. The nightmares were becoming more frequent and more intense. As he climbed out of bed his limbs began to shorten and his hair began to grow longer and spread across his entire body. His whole form shifted until it was no longer that of a man, but a wolf. As he stalked off into the pre-dawn gloom in search of whatever beast would be his breakfast the dream kept tugging at his mind. He found himself mesmerized by a piece of twine that had snagged on a fence post at some point and was swinging lazily in the morning breeze.

Hours later Jaefeth was surprised to find himself at the gates of a city far from his usual hunting grounds. A woman wielding a short spear opened the gate and welcomed him to the city of Theia. Looking around curiously Jaefeth came across Panthra, who greeted him warmly and scratched behind his ears. Normally he would have been content to sit there like that for hours, but something tugged at his mind causing him to rush out of the sage's shop and toward a peculiar structure to the northeast. Something about the amazon temple tugged at his memory, causing him to investigate further.

As Jaefeth entered the temple and gazed upon the large statue it housed, something stirred within him.

*blink*

He had always been curious of the two-leggers. Their ways were so strange to him. Each of them seemed so different from all the others. As he watched from the shadows, those who were observant enough to notice him often fled, while others would chase him with sharp sticks. He wasnt used to being the prey.

*blink*

By now Jaefeth had lost his wolf form, much to the surprise of several amazons who had though him an ordinary beast. He ran a hand across the panther statue which stood before him, finding every curve and angle vaguely familiar. His hand passed over what looked like a gash just above the creature's front right paw

*blink*

Large drops of rain pelted his sleek fur, but he didnt care. The two-leggers had left something here. Perhaps he could learn more about them through it. Creeping foward cautiously, listening for any sign of danger, he nudged it with his paw. *SNAP* The thing he had though a lifeless object bit his paw and wouldn't let go! He tried biting it, but it was harder than a rock. He tried to run, but its tail clung to a strong tree.

After an hour of struggling he gave up and layed down to be devoured by this vicious creature.

He didnt hear her coming until she was just outside the clearing. This two-legger was stealthier than the other and walked like a predator stalking its prey. Phaedra opened the trap and set him free.

*blink*

Jaefeth rubbed his wrist absentmindedly, feeling a slight twinge of pain in the scar he had carried as long as he could remember.

*blink*

A day came when Vashteera, mother of all panthers, charged him with a task that would change everything. The two-legger who had freed him so long ago returned to his hunting grounds leading many others. She tapped her spear against the trunk of the tree he was sleeping in, waking him with a start. She was a stealthy one indeed. He guided them as Vashteera had commanded to a place that had always been denied to their kind before. After several months of travel they arrived in the valley of Delgana.

*blink*

For nine years he had hunted with the two-leggers, so different from how he had hunted before. His curiousity was at an all-time high as he continued to learn more and more of their ways with each passing day. Unknown to him and to the two-legger who had become his hunting companion, this was to be their last hunt together. The hunters became the prey and they found themselves fighting the fiercest beast either of them had ever seen. In the end both hunters and prey lay silent. A breeze blew in from the west, stirring his fur and hur hair. The breeze carried a voice they both knew well. Vashteera called his companion home, but whispered to him that there was still work to be done.

*blink*

For twenty years he lived among the two-leggers, finding it hard to fit in despite all the observations he had made in the past. As a child Vashteera had come to him and said that his wish of learning what it was like to live as a two-legger had been granted for one lifetime, but even the wisest cannot be certain of what the future holds.

*blink*

Something felt very wrong. Suddenly the ground began to shake as the world was torn apart. The agonized screams of Braialla rang loudly in his ears.

*blink*

He was twenty five years old and always would be. Time and again he had "died", only to reappear at the base of a stone tree. He missed the hunt. Wandering aimlessly he embraced his rage, becoming a werewolf.

*blink*

How long he had roamed the lands slaughtering abominations he didn't know, nor did he care. The rage consumed him thouroughly, making him fierce in battle, but clouding his mind.

A soft breeze blew across his fur carrying a voice that stirred something buried deep within him beneath the feral rage. The voice called him by a name long forgotten. He clung to that name as though it would save him from being swept away into nothingness. And so it did.

*blink*

After roaming the lands seeking some sign of who he had been before the rage, Jaefeth found a home among a pack of werecreatures who sought to heal the green mother and the world tree.

*blink*

Jaefeth suddenly realized people were starting to stare. The sun was setting behind the city's great walls and his legs ached from standing there so long. He knew who he was. He knew what he must do. He left the city's mighty walls behind, as in the distance a dark form watched from the shadows.