"Silence, men!"
Luna Maia warned, standing firm in front of her seat. The wolves look down on the floor. None dared to look at the Luna in the eye.
"I will not allow disharmony and violence amongst us, Shio!"
Other than that, none else dared to speak against her. After a momentary fuming silence, Alpha Shio sighed, then proclaimed his decision. "Alright... I don't want resentment in our pack either. I can see how important this friend to you is. But I warned you. Cados," he called, "lead him the way to the penitentiary."
"Right away!" Cados responds submissively. He throws a glance at me before shifting, ["This way!"] He left the hall through the doorway behind me. I bow my head for the Alpha and Luna.
"Thank you," I said, then ran after Cados.
I ran with two legs alongside him. It's meters away from the borders of the palace, inside the dark woods, in the mouth of a giant stone cavern we enter. Hopping above the piles of half-buried rocks. Stepping cautiously because of the darkness. The sense of smell is Cados's only guide. The path is getting deeper until we reach the spacious earth hole.
Crimson light is coming from the random huge thorns coming from the walls of the hole. It's almost similar to how religious humans describe the passage of hell. Cados tosses a rock into the hole, we heard it clatter when hit with the thorns, but not the dead end.
"This is where we throw down those sentenced with death penalties. It's about five hundred feet deep. Are you sure you're going down there? I've never heard anyone thrown there miraculously come up again. They were all extinct to death. I'm so sorry about your friend..."
I step down on the protruding rocks to look closer. Just the sight of it will strip anyone's guts. Yet if Dandeline is down there, I can't form any reason to adjourn. But why would she let this happen to her in the first place? I want to fix whatever is wrong with her. I gulp automatically when I hop to the spiky hole and submit myself to gravity.
"Hey—!" Cados can't believe it. "He really did jump..."
If I ever found her dead down there, I might spend the rest of my life blaming myself. It's my fault why she came here. I cross my arms against my head for protection and bend my knees while falling into this endless pit. Inevitably, I got gashes, cuts on my jaw up to my temple, tiny spikes pierced in my skin, and even my clothes were torn but I maintain my defensive position.
It's like catching the rain of arrows. Tears flew with the suffocating wind not because I'm emotional but because of the pain. How could they throw Dandeline here!? My open wound on my waist pricks. I've been holding my breath to endure. And I found relief when I saw the misty bottom of this pit. I fell into the sky after that deadly hole and landed safely on the rough ground on my knees.
Panting and crouching, I watch the drops of my blood falling onto the ground. My lips wring when my wound prick. This mist isn't just for disturbance in view but it's an acid, and when it touches my wounds it's like rubbing salt into it. Regeneration is slowing down because of the effect. I failed to compose myself right away so I stay put while giving myself enough time to heal.
Maybe others can survive that fall, but they'll end up dead once this ground socks their whole body. Just like the rotten corpses surrounding me. The distance between this ground and the hole floating above is as high as the cliff on the pond. The sky is an empty vast mist other than that hole. And the ground, surprisingly, has countless withered trees. I've finally overcome being immobilized but as long as I'm touching this acid mist, it burns my skin deeper, then regenerates afterward. Not even my sense of smell exempts me from the hindrance.
"DAAAN!" I continue walking around to find her. My frightened heart keeps pounding in my chest. My lips are quivering. And my thoughts are clouded more than ever if she is safe or not. "Daaan! It's me! Can you hear—!? Where are you!?"
Nothing but shallow loneliness responded to my call. Later on, I heard a creaking sound approaching me. I doubt it's Dandeline because of the number. I'm surrounded. The mist eventually uncovered the mystery before my eyes. I wasn't forewarned about these living skeleton creatures in the shape of wolves while each individual has thick string tails waving like a cat's tail.
I can't tell if they're looking at me but their skulls are in my direction, also their steps. I remained still in my stance as they moved closer like turtles. This place, and these creatures, I hope are creations of my father as well. I extend my arm to one of them and talk to it kindly for I'm not in an advantageous position to fight.
"Hey," my voice is failing, "can you understand me?" This skeleton werewolf rubs its skull to my extended palm. That leads me to a false assumption. "Have you seen a woman here recently?" I asked. My arm was stretched forth helplessly when this creature betrayed me! Its fangs pierce into my arms and it's pulling me closer with its paws. The rest of the skeletons attack aggressively like huddling with a single prey.
I shift into a tiny wolf, pass through the aperture of every bone letting them tangle with each other, then run away in my bigger form. However, this place has no definite dead end and it would be troublesome to find Dandeline if they kept on chasing me. I break my pace with my two legs, facing them and warming up my claws. There will be no forgiveness if I figured they harmed Dandeline!
From down to upward I swung my claws when they were about ten steps away from me, it brought a sharp, deadly wind that scratched them, and cut their bones into shreds. None of them were able to touch me again after I launched another huge scratch. Silence and waving mist. I turn my back and walk away to resume my purpose but I'm startled when sharp strings pierce through my legs and shoulder coming from the underground.
I almost forgot that dogs can dig! The ground splatter into pieces when this creature resurfaces itself and bites me drastically on my left arm. I fell to the ground bearing its weight above me. My movements are tightened by its tail. The pain of my flesh being pulled out of my body triggered my mouth to shout! I grit and bite the skull of this creature until it broke. I struck it next with my right fist and decapitated it.
I cut the string tails through my claws, bent my knees up to my chest, then kick it beneath away from me. I remained to lie on the ground while gasping for breath and writhing from pain! The situation is even worse when numbers of skeleton werewolves are drifting towards me again. I am always stuck in this kind of situation!
I yank a withered tree and swing it around to keep them away. What a ridiculous way to die! Another flying creature approached my direction and that stole all these werewolves' attention. "Acro!?"
["Keep north,"] she directed, then flew on the opposite route with the skeletons chasing her.
"That's south—! Oh..." Right. Lanasia can watch over me through Acro as well. I walk straightway to the north, staggering. Just the slightest regeneration of my body made me abuse it by running and calling for Dandeline, I've been doing it for a whole minute.
The hope slipped out from hiding when I found a person lying on the ground, unconscious. I hurried to help and to my surprise, it was an old woman hovering between life and death. However, her dress is similar to what I last saw Dandeline was wearing. And her smell... is the same. "Dan...?" Her skin is wrinkled, her hair is white, and her body is weak. She's been suffering this whole time, but I'm relieved she managed to stay alive until I found her.
When I was about to carry her the way she wanted, she suddenly fired an enchantment against me and I avoided it. She kept on firing at me while dodging. "Dan, it's me!"
"I know."
I leaped above and she shot me in the air, I got scorched, but her magic is too weak already to prevent me from crashing down on her. Immediately, I pin her wrist on the ground and exclaim, "Then what are you doing!? Why are you attacking me!?"
"Why did you come here, anyway?"
"I came here to take you, obviously."
"You knew already, didn't you? Don't be a fool."
"... You're the one who's making me a fool... for leaving me behind clueless. Mrs. Lanasia is worried about you... All of us, your acquaintances. We want to hear from you."
She's forming an enchantment with her ten fingers but she's holding it back while staring at me, tears sneaking on the side of her eyes. "I betrayed you."
"I trust your reasons."
"That's what made me a traitor!"
"Dan, please, this isn't the right place to talk about it."
"Then just let me rot here."
I stare at her eyes for a long time. Her fierce eyes, trembling, tears, tell me something. "Are you scared?" I asked very gently. She releases the enchantments in her fingers and subdues herself to her emotion. "Scared from what?"
"Hessuel... I don't deserve you."
"What?" I smile a little. "Is this about your age? You're afraid to reveal it to anyone? other than your unexpected ghastly plans? Are you afraid... I might dump you?" I assumed that her silence approves. "Dan. Everyone gets old eventually. I'm older than I look. I remember I'm an ancient werewolf. You don't have to feel bad about your age~" I presented a smile on her before I landed a kiss on her lips without the slightest doubt.
"You... You're such a saint," she complained and I chuckled once again. Perhaps that's how werewolves love. This time, I lift her with my arms and return to where the hell hole is. She's too weak to move on her own for now. There isn't any way to reach that above; no cliffs, no stairs, or thorns to climb up. I whistle three times consecutively.
Dandeline is frail than before when I visit my sight on her. Punctual than expected, Acro is coming this way, so as the skeleton werewolves. This happened before. It may repeat itself again this time. Acro shifted bigger as I requested when she arrived. We hop on behind her and fly towards the hole.
Unfortunately, the strings-like tails caught Acro's legs! We can't keep up! I made sure Dandeline is secured before I jump onto the ground again to cut the tails with my claws.
"Hessuel!"
I collapsed in their midst, expecting another pain in the body but I was surrounded by round glowing light underneath me.
"Jump!" she yelled.
I can't tell her to not overdo it herself either! When I jumped, another magic circle appeared in the air where I could step. It appeared to me wherever I jumped until I caught up. We're heading upward for real. We're holding on to the enchanted saddle as Acro flies rapidly. I cling one arm to the saddle and one arm locking Dandeline's waist. She's holding one hand to the saddle too and raises one arm to create a ring shield in front of Acro's beak.
The shield breaks every thorn that hinders the way. But the longer it takes, it's cracking. She raises both of her arms now to thicken the shield and I hold her very tight! The immense endurance we have is running out as this phenomenon is taking longer than falling down! Yet, miraculously, we made it to the top of the cave—Cados was startled when he caught a glimpse of us.
We came out from the top of the cave, like raging lava in a volcano. We were finally able to loosen, even Acro is flying calmly now. Our mouths remain shut as we watch the sun squinting between the clouds. I almost thought I could not make it out alive. Dandeline rests her head on my shoulder, and I'm staring at her old face. She's amazing as always.
"Stop staring at me," she said without any proof that I actually am.
I sniff her hair. “Now you smell like an old cake,” I said then I earned a leg tap. I lean my cheek to her head to rest for a moment, too. “Still my favorite.”