before was obscured by a mental haze, things started to come back to Balto. 'Hang on, I think I have met Mias before this. We were talking about… something. But he was alone; why was he alone? Did he take me to meet his pack? I don't remember anything like that. It feels like so much time has passed, but at the same time it hasn't. Ugh, my senses are so screwed up today. What's going on with my head?'

There was a brief silence as Mias' words sunk into Mayak, while Balto tried to make sense of what was going on. "I know it's a lot to take in, but it's probably for the best," Mias continued, unaware of the real reason for Mayak's silence. "I do care about you brother, and I hate seeing you in such pain."

'We were talking about something important… he was trying to tell me something… something that happened to him… and then-' As he recalled talking with Mias in the ravine, everything clicked in. 'We were talking about my pups and he wanted me to be honest. He said something happened to him before, but instead of telling me… he said he would show me.' The image of Mias staring at him with glowing yellow eyes surfaced, closing the gap in his memory. 'His eyes… they were just like the wolves in my dreams. I saw them, and then I felt so tired, and-' The realization came at him like a wave, causing him to freeze up in shock. 'This isn't real. This is a dream. That explains the time skips… but why does this dream feel different. There was something else. He said he would show me what happened before… which means this is more than a dream. This is a memory – Mias' memory. He wanted to show me this. But how could he do this? Just what is going on with Mias?' The answers only came with more questions, but when Balto tried to shout out to Mias, something was wrong. No matter what, his voice produced no sound. It was as though he'd become invisible, nothing more than a spectator. He tried to run over, but his legs were rooted to the spot. He was paralyzed and forced to watch the scene unfold before him.

He looked to Mias for any answer, but the two brothers had finished their conversation. Mias took a step back, and that's when the most horrifying thing happened. When the paw hit the ground, a metal trap sprang shut. First was the sickening sound of metal crunching through flesh and bone, soon followed by the bloodcurdling scream Mias gave out when the trap snapped shut on his leg. He collapsed in pain and saw the trap he was in, while Balto was still rooted to the sidelines. "No, not this, anything but this," he cried as he tried to pull free, but the trap dug painfully into his flesh. "Brother, please help me," he pleaded with desperate eyes.

Mayak looked at him for a moment, and then said the last thing Balto thought any brother would say, "I won't let you take her away from me."

"Mayak?" Mias asked, but the alpha turned away from him. Balto's heart raced as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Mayak was going to leave his own brother behind in a trap just to take Sami for himself. All this, and Balto was still unable to jump in and help Mias himself. "NO! Don't do this Mayak! Help me! I'm your brother!" he cried out, but Mayak continued walking. He kept on walking when Mias' wails became pleas for help from anyone, but Balto was unable to come and help.

'No, this can't be happening. If I'm asleep then this can't be real,' Balto thought as he tried to shut out Mias' cries for help. 'C'mon, I can get out of it if I just wake up. I have to wake up!'

"No… no!" Mias cried and started trying his best to pull away from the trap, but the heavy chain was fixed to the frozen ground. Balto soon saw the cause of Mias' newfound distress – a human was approaching, hunting knife in hand and ready to finish him off.

'I have to help him!' Balto thought, but the paralysis remained, keeping him on the spot. Mias tried to snap at the human, but he was quick to grab him by the muzzle, pushing him to the ground to hold him still. Mias was still crying for help through his closed muzzle, and all Balto could do was watch in horror as the human readied the knife. He shut his eyes, still hearing Mias' pained cries until they were silenced by the unmistakable sound of the metal slicing through his neck. Balto opened his eyes and trembled in terror at the horror of the scene. Mias lay dead on the ground, left by his own brother to die, all because of something he'd kept from him.

"NO!" he cried out, finding his voice had suddenly returned. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of the human, and he shouted out his companion who was just coming over the hill. The companion had a rifle in hand, and when he saw his friend pointing, he raised it and took aim Balto. Without a second thought, Balto sprang away, his legs released from their hold. He raced away from the hunters, but with the crack of the rifle, everything went black.

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Chapter 8: Not Exactly as Planned

"Balto are you okay?"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Balto sprang away from Mias; everything he'd just seen was supposed to be impossible. Somehow he had been taken into Mias' memories and got a glimpse of the wolf's past. If that wasn't scary enough, he had just seen Mias die, left by his callous brother. He was dead in the past, and yet he was here now, standing before him as clear as day.

"Look, I know it was a little confusing, but I had to speed things along to get you to the important parts," Mias explained. "But now you know why I'm saying what I am, right?"

"I don't… but how… how is this possible?" Balto stuttered. "If that was the past, then how can you be here? I saw you die! What is going on here?"

There was pause as Mias bit his lip, but he knew Balto deserved the truth. "Yes, I'm dead, but I can explain everything."

Any semblance of calm quickly left Balto, meaning the only reply that he could muster was a terrified scream. He was standing before a wolf that had risen from the dead, something that was supposed to be impossible. He yelled until his voice was hoarse, but Mias let him get it all out.

"How can this be?" Balto finally asked, his eyes wide in shock and his voice hoarse.

"Well, I think you already saw how I died-"

"No, I mean how can you be here?"

"Ah, now that is a question that even I have asked myself, and over the years I think I've worked out a possible explanation," Mias replied. "Let's start with what you already know about spirits."

"I've heard stories, but they're just that - stories," Balto replied, trying to keep his grip on his rational side.

"I think by now you can say that those stories are a little more than that," Mias replied. "Spirit guides supposedly exist in between this world and the next. We are still bound to this world, but can pass in and out of existence at will. We are here, but we are not at the same time. Do you follow?"

"I think so… Maska said something similar."

"Then I assume he also said how we are neither alive nor dead, but we can appear to be both?" Mias queried, and Balto nodded in reply. "Now, everyone's going to have their own interpretation on what that means, but I like to think we are echoes of our former selves, imprinted on this world for a reason… which brings us back to your question: How can I be here? I think I was bound to this world because of what happened in the moments before my death. I still cared for my brother so much, and I was prepared to give up something so that I wouldn't hurt him any more than I already had."

"You may have cared for him, but he still let you die," Balto added.

"True… but it was more a crime of opportunity than anything. He was acting out of anger because I'd kept the truth from him. If there is anything that can be learned from my story, it's that hiding the truth for too long can end up being worse than just telling it. You never know what kind of nasty situation you could find yourself in," he told.

"Yeah, but I don't think my pups would do anything that bad to me if they found out they were part wolf."

"No… but it could still damage the trust they have in you, just like how my secret damaged my brother's trust in me," Mias countered. "I still wanted Mayak to change for the better. I wanted him to have another chance… and I would get my wish." Mias started to grin as he recalled awakening as a spirit. "At first I thought I was just waking up from a dream, but when I saw my own body lying where it had fallen, I knew what was going on. I heard the sounds of the human's weapons, along with the howls of my pack - the human hunters had followed Mayak's trail back to them. I suppose that was some sort of retribution for my brother's crime, but I couldn't let him die if I could do anything about it. He was moments from being beset by the hunters when I pushed him out of the way, down a steep hill and away from danger."

"It's really amazing how all it takes is a little nudge to change someone's life. It can be as simple as telling a moving story, taking a different path, or… pushing them down a hill. I saved my brother, but I wanted to make sure he'd make good use of his second chance," Mias