There was silence for some minutes, so I also kept to it - mute as anything.
"Diana should come to see me today, right?" I asked the long gone voice, trying to figure out whether it actually stopped, or only paused for a while.
As soon as I raised my head and looked up to the skies, I quickly felt something itch my jaws very hard. I was about thinking it to be a normal thing - that after all, it was my beard.
So, as I shook my head twice, the moon was darkened!
There were two kinds of the dark weather change in Manelda, and I had long discovered that there was a kind of dark moon which only serves as a herald of the real full moon, but was not the full moon.
I took the strange weather transformation to be the herald moon.
"But, if the full moon was going to appear now, the voice could have told me already... or, maybe not..." I blabbered disgustingly.
Everywhere had turned as dark as Hell!
I was changing little by little, feeling as if I was being blended with a machine!
I never knew what was happening that could have caused that though, but I only guessed the full moon was near.
It was nearer than I had thought! Now, it was time to transform into that wolf in me, but I might not like to see Diana shift, as well.
Suddenly, my head grew very large; my skin developed some kind of bushy hair; my eyes were blue like the Diliuni Sea, which later turned very red; I had my neck lengthened upwards, as it also held too much hair down my shoulder.
That Alpha in me had come!
"Ih Alfa ha apparito!" I screamed in valor, meaning that the Alpha in me had appeared.
In some seconds, my hands which had gotten claws were wet, so I started wondering what made them that wet. Then, I remembered Pappo Reye's message, again:
"If your hands are wet in a full moon, don't fight anyone!"
I took a deep breath after recalling this, and I stood up from where I was sitting, determined to see Diana notwithstanding.
"Grrhhhh!" I groaned hungrily and angrily.
In a jiffy, I began to see different creatures hop and spring around very playfully and childishly.
I was angered at such mischief. I winked at them as if I was pleased with their noise and fun, so as to get a way through in their midst and show them some hell.
"Grhhh!" I groaned again, louder than before.
Coincidentally, the creatures stopped playing and faced me, as if they had rehearsed that, beforehand.
They seemed to be sorry, at least. And so, I became calm for some minutes and I slept off. But then, before I knew it, I was awoken by their noise.
This time, I wouldn't forgive them!
Very slowly, I drew my head round and round where they were, shouting and making merry and immediately, that ground shook, dashing sixty of them down. The rest of them decided to escape, but then, I spotted a red eagle mark on their forehead, so I knew they were ghost whites - the ghost offsprings!
When I noticed this, my anger was kindled against them and I rose up from where I was resting.
As I was five feet closer to them, I heard a voice again - it was the same voice that was speaking to me not long. So, I paused and stomped my feet on the ground instead, allowing the creatures to continue playing till I'm done listening to the voice.
"Gently, kids!" I warned them and rested my back on the wall.
"I am here again, Herdy!" the voice started.
"Why did you come this time? I was about crushing these stiff-necked brats... Did you come to appease me?" I asked the voice, a bit angrily.
"If you knew me, you wouldn't be talking to me this way" it retorted.
"Then why didn't you permit me?" I questioned the voice.
"Look at your back!" the falling and rising voice commanded.
As it said, I looked backwards and saw three beings, covered in pure white apparels. These beings seemed to be ghosts, at first.
"Ah! Are these ghosts?" I asked, rather shyly.
"They are the first three redeemed spirits in this forest... One of them is me, talking with you now..." The voice explained and paused for a long while.
"Wow! That means, they are all clean spirits? Does it mean they can now live again as normal humans, or can shift into whatever kind of creature they want to shift into?" I asked the voice, expecting details of an answer.
"Spirits that can live again as normal human or werewolves must have been clean, according to the law of the spirits..." the voice paused again, clearly expecting me to give an interrupting but agreeing rejoinder.
"Clean, like me? Like Diana, or Alliana?" I asked keenly.
"In a way... Do you remember anyone called Pappo?" the voice asked me.
"Yes... One of my old fathers was christened Pappo Reye"
"It's because he is a man of justice - that is the meaning of his name. Do you know whether he is alive or not?"
"Pappo has long died. I can even say anything about the date, because I lost half of my memory then" I explained in response.
"Till another time... Before I leave again, let me tell you... be ready for a prolonged combat with some enemies. I will also advise you to expect Diana's arrival here, to help you through... Till then..." the voice cautioned and faded away.
"I wish the voice didn't leave..." I said to myself.
As I lifted my head to see the creatures that were disturbing me earlier, I saw none of them. Perhaps, I was meant to have numbers of challenging and perilious encounter this dark moon.
Then, I decided to stalk away from that environment, so I moved eastwards.
Five minutes later exactly, I felt somehow dizzy, but I was still able to detect reality from fantasy, a bit.
Far around the east lies Diliuni! How I always wanted to visit Diliuni!
That Diana should be around there, after visiting the clouds and the heaven maidens, was my thought.