Kimberly's POV:
"She's waking up…" I hear the soft and melodious voice of a lady. My gently opened eyes spy around the surroundings around me. The fact that I am still able to hear and see things means that I am still alive.
Did someone rescue me?
I try to sit upright but to my utter amazement, I don't feel a single tad of pain in my body. I examine my whole body from my toes to my legs, my stomach to my breasts. I find all of them doing just fine. Like I had never fallen from that rock cliff down to the surface of the earth.
"You're awake."
I hear the most bold yet the most melodious voice that I have ever heard in my whole life. I spin my head to look around.
This…isn't … a regular place at all.
How have I not been able to notice this before? I was so much engaged in looking over my body that I didn't think of the place. Seriously, what is this place?
This cannot be real. I can see the clouds floating in the sky so closely like they are not clouds but some 3D effects in some studios.
"This cannot be…," I try to touch the clouds and yes, I can touch them with my hands. As soon as I touch it, it floats away just like a thick water vapour. I hurriedly get down off the bed, I am. I was sleeping in the bed of clouds.
"Where is this place? I have never heard of a place like this and never seen the one too?" I talk to myself.
As time passes, I start to feel strange and fear starts to overcome within me. This isn't normal. Nothing of it.
"Don't get too much intimidated. You're doing just fine." I hear the same voice one more time.
I can't believe, I hear that voice one more time. I inspect all around me. No one is there. There is only the thick series of clouds around me and to be honest they are amazingly beautiful, just like heaven.
Wait!
Am I already … dead? Is that why my body is as clean as ever? Is that why I am not feeling any pain in my body?
"I'm dead."
The voice comes out like a whisper.
"You think so?" The voice emerges again. I am not getting it. From where is this voice emerging? Who is talking to me and why not showing herself?
"W- Who are you? What do you want and W-Where am I? Show yourself." My feared voice shouts out to that stranger.
"You called me yourself and you want to know who I am? You utterly wanted to talk to me, question me and blame me for your dreadful destiny. So, here I am, as per your wish. Now, as you have confronted me, it's your chance to know about the blues of your life." The voice halts over there.
And then, I see the thick fluffs of clouds emerging a few metres away from me. It approaches me and suddenly stops almost ten steps away from me. Slowly, the clouds start to disintegrate and the image of someone starts to become vivid.
And in a few seconds, a beautiful lady stands in front of me with a white dress covering her body from her shoulders to her toes showcasing only her neckline and neck. Her face is as white as the moon and she has some spots on her face. Her doe-like eyes are large with dark black eyeballs with beautiful long lashes. Her lips are as red as the cherries. Her long wavy brown hair cascades down her shoulders up to her hip. They are such beautiful curls hanging from her head. There is a beautiful diamond tiara around her head making her look even more gorgeous. She is beyond all the beauties of the world. I have never encountered anyone with such an immense beauty all my life and yet there is not a single strand of pride in her face. Her face looks calm and peaceful and her lips never cease to give that gentle smile which seems to be more precious than even the smile of Mona Lisa.
Is she… Is she… Am I right?
"Yes, you're right. I am the MOON GODDESS whom you want to meet so badly." She states. If she is the Moon Goddess then, she must have heard how much aggression and desperation was there in my wish. I hated her for making me go through such a terrible situation. And yet, she is so calm and polite with me. Is it because she is the Moon Goddess and she knows more about the world and truths than all of us in the world?
"You know what I am going to ask you?" I say in a polite voice. I ain't raise a voice in front of a goddess when she is calm.
"I know but you have to ask them specifically if you want the specific answers to your question," she replies with a gentle voice. She doesn't have a single pinch of aggression in her voice still.
"Do you have answers to all of my questions?" I ask.
"I do. But it depends on which should I answer and which I shouldn't. You have the right to ask your queries and I have the choice to answer the questions that are needed to be answered and not answer the questions that aren't to be answered." Still calm.
"Okay… Then tell me, why was our pack attacked? We have lived in harmony for years. So why?" I question.
"Search in yourself. You are carrying the answer to that question in yourself," she says.
"Me? Carrying an answer?" I take a glance at myself. I feel perplexed. What does she mean by it?
"Can you please elaborate?" I request.
"I can only give you hints. You have to search for the rest of the answers. I can only guide you, you have to make your way and reach your destination yourself."
I thought… I thought she was going to answer all of my questions but she is confusing me even more.
"This all happened because of the thing that you have inside you. The thing you are carrying within yourself has enormous energy and power you can ever imagine," she explains. I guess she isn't supposed to tell me that.
"I can tell you the cause but the effect is in your hands. Your decision is going to determine the effects of what may happen to you in your future," she clarifies.
"So, you mean, this all happened because of… this stone?"
I stare at my chest. There is this stone, still in my chest. Mom advised me not to look at that pouch and take it to Nathaniel without any disruption. But I was curious. I was so much curious to know what was inside the pouch. I shouldn't have opened that.
"Did that happen because of me? Because I opened this pouch?" I ask.
"That incident happened because of that stone but the thing that happened to you happened because of yourself. You brought that upon yourself, child. You haven't yet transitioned. You haven't even reached the year, eighteen. You don't know how much power your wolf is going to possess and how much she can hold. Without your wolf, you have something that every pack wants to attain for the strengthening of their pack, strengthening of their power," she says.
"But our pack collapsed. They were burnt down and my dad and mom…," I stop. My heart feels colder than ever. I feel as if there is a tragic and acute pain in my chest and I don't realize when that pain melted into the tears.
"Look! She is tearing up," I hear another voice from the background.
"You're tearing? No one tears over here but you are. If I am not wrong then, it's all because of that stone. This seems interesting. This has never happened in the history. Maybe I will get to see some new destinies to look after this time," she smiles.
"My mom and dad… Are they…Are they…?" I cannot speak a word after that.
"That's your destiny to know about it. The stone in you already determines that you're life is not going to be easy at all. That stone is going to bring wholesome of troubles in your life. Be ready for it," she says.
"Stone… Stone… Stone… Didn't you say this stone possesses a lot of power and it is going to strengthen the strength of the pack? Then, why are my parents in that state? Why is my pack like that?" I ask.
"Maybe your Alpha never used that stone. Maybe he knew the immeasurable power of that stone that could benefit him but he also knew the repercussions it might bring if other packs knew about it. There might be a loophole in your pack. There might be someone who leaked the information to other packs and they knew about the existence of that stone," she explains.
"B-But what am I going to do with this stone? I don't know what should I do with it?" I ask.
She treads a few steps towards me and smiles as she stands in front of me. She puts her hands on my shoulders and says, "This stone can protect you child but this stone is also going to bring huge chaos in the werewolf world and if human knows about it it's going to be even more dangerous. You have to be careful child. Don't ever get closer to any male wolf until you transition and get your mate. You have to protect this stone at any cost. Do you understand?" she presses her hands on my shoulder.
Her words are terrifying to me. I am just a seventeen and ten-month werewolf who hasn't yet transitioned. I have been trained a little bit of martial arts but that was just in the initial phase. I am not of the level that I could even protect myself. Then, how am I supposed to protect this precious stone?
"You must get what you have to know. I cannot tell your future. Your future is beyond my imagination. Many people have chosen that stone but that stone has never chosen its owner until now. You have that stone within you means it has chosen you. There must be a reason behind it. Trust yourself, until you learn to control that stone. Do you get it? For now, I am going to conceal your body, so that nobody can see that you are carrying that stone with you. The day you choose your mate and your mate chooses you, he will be able to see that stone within you and so will the others. You together have to protect this stone. Be careful in choosing your mate," she says.
I don't get this. Isn't the Moon Goddess responsible for choosing our mates? If she is going to choose my mate then why should I be careful with it?
"I cannot see through you because of that stone. You have to make your own decisions and wisely. So, you are solely responsible for choosing your mate," she says.
I am more confused now. She is making everything more complicated. I wish I was dead rather than being in this complicated scenario.
"You have to go back now. Remember! Always! Always choose yourself before others. That's how you can protect yourself and the stone. The day you choose someone over you, that stone will be in danger and so will you." The smile remains on her lips just like before.
And then her lips turn into an 'O' shape as she blows a thick white vapour from her mouth. My body slowly starts to flow away as she blows. She smiles as she sends me away.
Suddenly, my eyes open and I am in the same spot, still lying on the cold ground and in that same dense forest. I don't get it. Did I meet Moon Goddess? Did I? Was that a dream? Or was that real?
The snow is still falling. I am not dead and at this moment, I don't have any single thought be being dead. I'm going to live, right? I don't care whether it was true or not. But I want to believe it strongly. Yes, that's how I can live with the belief that I even don't know is true or a lie.
But I have to stand up from here to move. Whatever she may tell, the truth is the stone is really inside me. But I don't know how to control it. It might help me but...
Just then, I hear someone's steps walking through the roughness of snow. Someone is nearing. The footsteps are getting closer and closer. My ears can hear the unpleasant sounds of those footsteps walking toward me.
It's getting louder... Louder... And so much louder...
And suddenly, someone stands right in front of me. A tall, hunky man in a black thick furry jacket, his body all covered in black from his head to his toes except for his eyes.
"Archie! Someone's here," he shouts. I hear more of the footsteps nearing me and in no seconds, the cluster of men surround me.
What are these men? What are they? Are they hunters? With their attire, they seem like the one. Will they do anything to me?
"Let's take her with us," I hear the voice and it scares me to the hell.
"No...Please... Don't..," I try to shout out but my voice doesn't come out of my lungs.
"P-Please... don't take me... Please, Moon Goddess... Please help me," I pray earnestly.