believe, and sounds crazy, but you must believe me, for everything happened exactly as I tell it.

“Okay,” Balto said, “What did you do?”

Aleu sighed.

“Well….”

The next morning Aleu left the cave, and started across the island.

She didn’t know where she was going.

“But there’s nothing left for me here now,” she thought.

She didn’t think anymore, she just ran.

Aleu was again in the cave.

She’d been running across the island for the better part of the month, and so far, she had yet to see anything but snow and mountains/

She hadn’t had any visits from Muru either.

She was starting to wonder if her dreams had been real.

She looked around the cave.

She didn’t see Muru anywhere.

“Muru?” Aleu asked.

“Not quite,” a soothing voice said from behind her.

Aleu turned to see a beautiful white wolf standing behind her.

She immediately dropped, looking at the floor.

“Stand up my child.” The wolf said.

Somehow Aleu knew that this truly was the great Aniu, and not Shade again, a soothing feeling came over her.

“Are you the great Aniu?” Aleu asked.

The wolf laughed.

“Call me Aniu, please, you are my granddaughter after all.”

“Yes I suppose I am Aniu,” Aleu said.

“And I should think that you have a great many questions, some most likely, I will not be able to answer at this time, as it would affect the outcome of the situation, but anything you want, ask, and I’ll do my best to answer it.”

“How can you be my dad’s mother, when you died over ten thousand years ago?” Aleu asked.

“This was all so that you would be here.” Aniu said, “you are a necessary element in my plan.”

Aniu sighed.

“I figured out that soon Shade would be killing everything that came to this island, and my clan would starve. So I set about beating Shade, so that my clan could leave the island. However, he is very powerful, able to stay in a physical form for much longer that I or Muru. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to beat him, because he has both a physical and spiritual form, and he is able to maintain his physical form much longer than I.”

Aniu sighed again.

“I needed me before I died, however, that was impossible, so I did the next best thing, I created a new me.”

“Me?” Aleu asked.

“In a way yes,” Aniu said.

“I found a wolf who was about to die, and just after she did, I took her body, in effect I resurrected myself, however, as long as I remained in that body, I was unable to take my spirit form, so basically, I lived out a second life, led a pack for a while, and eventually met Balto’s father.

Finally Balto was born, and I knew that there was something special about him, he had a sensitivity to the spiritual world that equaled or surpassed my own. He was supposed to be here, however we were separated, and I feared that he had died.

It wasn’t until that body wore out, and I died again, that I was able to see where he had gone to.

Aniu paused.

”Well I watched Balto go out and save the town, and even became myself for a short time, to keep him from quitting.”

“Then you were born, and your sensitivity is better than mine, you are extremely special, and with some instruction, you can defeat Shade, and release my clan from the island.”

Aniu looked at Aleu.

“You are the chosen one.”

Then Aniu vanished.

“Aniu?” Aleu said, “wait, I have another question to ask you.”

Muru stepped out from behind the crystals.

“You can ask me.” He said.

“Muru?” Aleu asked, “Why, why was the pain, why were their deaths necessary?”

“You are referring to your clan?”

Aleu nodded.

Muru sighed.

“That was Shade, he feeds on fear and sadness… and death.”

“It wasn’t Aniu who appeared to Julious, was it?” Aleu asked.

“You are becoming smarter,” Muru said. “No, it was Shade, he told the clan to cross, and they listened to him.”

“But why, why didn’t Aniu stop them?” Aleu asked. “you told me everything has a purpose, that everything happens for a reason, what is the reason?”

Muru looked at Aleu.

“Would you be here now had they not tried to cross, would you have abandoned them to complete your quest?”

Aleu thought about it for a moment.

“No,” she said.

“You see,” Muru said, “everything does have a purpose, for now you are free, free to complete your quest.”

“But they didn’t have to die.” Aleu said, “you could have stopped them.”

“True,” Muru said, ‘but then you would have stayed with them, and this is not how it was meant to be.”

Aleu didn’t understand.

“That’s a little selfish of her, is it not? Does Aniu not care how many of her own kind die, as long as her clan gets saved?”

“Aleu,” said Muru, “you must not speak this way, of course Aniu cares, it bothers her extremely deeply that this had to happen, but it had to happen.”

“I don’t understand.” Aleu said.

She turned away from Muru.

Muru walked around in front of her.

“No one expects you to Aleu, it is very difficult to see the greater good when someone you care about has to suffer for it.”

“But…” Aleu said, a tear coming to her eye. “but Heamer, he was barely a year old, why Muru, why him?”

“Though he is gone from your world, you must remember Aleu that, as I told you, all things are possible here, in the other realm.”

“What?” Aleu said, “you mean that I can speak to him, I can see him?”

Muru sighed.

“Not yet, for your training is far from complete, Nava himself learns new things everyday, and so will you, when the time comes, but I can.”

“Can I… can I see him?” Aleu asked.

“Certainly,” Muru answered, “Heamer!”

The young wolf walked into the cave.

He smiled.

“Aleu?” He said.

Aleu couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“It’s impossible,” she said, “I… I watched you drown.”

“I told you all things are possible,” Muru said, “you have simply to believe.”

“Aleu, what happened to you?” Heamer asked.

Aleu walked over to him, reached out and touched him, he was real, fur and all.”

I… I don’t believe it.” She said.

Muru sighed.

“That is why you cannot do it, I told you, you must believe.”

“Listen to him Aleu,” Heamer said, “I know what is going to happen to you, and though Aniu has cautioned me not to tell you anything, I will tell you that your quest is not an easy one.”

“Heamer?” Aleu said.

She nuzzled him.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

He smiled.

“Don’t worry about me Aleu,” he said, “I’m well cared for here, we all are.”

What’s… What’s it like?” Aleu asked.

“Well, it’s… it’s indescribable really, except that… I don’t grow any older here, and we don’t have to hunt for our food, there is plenty, more than plenty.”

He looked at the floor.

“I must go now, but there is someone else who wishes to speak to you.”

Heamer vanished, in his place stood Julious.

“Julious.” Aleu said, her voice hinting at more than a little anger.

“I know that you must be mad at me,” Julious said, “it is my fault… well, Aleu I don’t have much time here, so let me ask you…”

He paused.

“Will you forgive me?”

Aleu looked at the ground, when she looked back up a few moments later there were tears in her eyes.

“Of course,” Aleu said.

Julious smiled.

“Thank you…. Aleu,”

Then he too vanished.

“Where did they go?” Aleu asked, but Muru was gone as well.

“Hmm,” Aleu thought, “every time I leave here it seems that I have more questions than when I came.”

Chapter 3

Aleu woke early the next morning, and started to make her way across the mountain range.

She journeyed down to the lower levels, thinking the journey would be easier there.

She was wrong.

Travel was easier, as the torrents of snow didn’t fall from the sky, like they did on top.

Snow just drifted lazily from the gray clouds above her.

Aleu still had no idea where she was going, but she trusted that she would get there.

She had made it a little over half way across the mountains.

Aleu wasn’t alone.

She heard an earth shaking roar and turned to see the bear that had been following her leap down from the surrounding mountainside.

It roared again, and Aleu told it to go away, but it wouldn’t listen.

It seems something else was having trouble finding food in this desolate place.

She tried to back away, but there was nothing there, nothing there but air.

The bear had followed her until it was sure that she could not get away.

Aleu had unintentionally back herself against a cliff.

She growled again.

“It appears I’m going to have to fight it.” She thought.

This was not something she was looking forward to.

She leapt at the bear.

“If I’m going out,” she thought, “I’m going out fighting.”

Aleu landed on the bears back and tore into the hide on the back of its neck.

The bear roared in pain and threw Aleu off.

She hit the snow and slid about five feet.

Aleu rolled over and ran at the bear again, but this time the bear was