The Curse of
Part 1
I’ll start with the rain.
Because the rain that day poured down onto the earth as if the sky itself was crying. The leaves on the trees were splattered with a mix of blood and water. The stench of death filled the air.
It began here in the forest on that rainy day. War had broken out between the mountain and forest packs. I was but a yearling then. My father and mother were the alpha male and female of the forest pack. This dreadful war was bloodier than any other I had seen.
But little did my pack know that this wasn’t a war over territories, no. The mountain pack was after the wolf that was the female reincarnation of Kiba, and was to be the one to open paradise, or Rakuen, as the wolves call it. It was also said that Cheza, the flower maiden, had given this wolf the powers to see into one’s mind. I had no knowledge that that wolf was me. My mother and father had kept my powers a secret. For that reason, they would never let me battle with them. But on that strange day, something seemed to call to me, and I snuck out to fight alongside my pack mates.
“You should really go back to the den Haruki,” my younger brother, Inu whimpered. ”Oh hush Inu,” I replied “I’m not going to get hurt. I backed out of the den and sprinted down the slope to the edge of what seemed like a graveyard. There were dead wolves’ bloody bodies everywhere around me. I stared at the horrifying blank expressions of the torn corpses. Their eyes no longer had the glow of life in them, but the look of someone who had forgotten where they were. I thought a howl of terror would burst out of me, but all I could do was stare into those lost eyes.
“so,” a voice that sliced through the wind and rain like a knife came from behind me, “You’ve come at last.” I jerked my head around and there stood the alpha male of the mountain pack. He was at least twice my size with horribly large fangs. “What do you want?” I stuttered “I want to kill you of course,” He grinned strangely. I stepped back, almost stumbling on the bloody corpse behind me. “Why?” I asked trembling. “You ignorant yearling,” he snarled as lightning struck behind him followed by a boom of thunder, “Must I explain to you? You are the one with the powers of Rakuen, the one who will open the true paradise. You are the she-wolf reincarnation of Kiba. But unlike Kiba, Cheza has given you the power to read minds. Whether you can read my mind or not, you have Kiba’s soul, and I’m going to rip it out.
I stood there shaking violently. “Kiba’s soul?” The enormous alpha sprang at my revealed throat, his mouthful of fangs snapping at the air. “Move, move!” my thoughts were screaming, but I was frozen in confusion and fear. Suddenly something stirred inside of me. I leaped into the air and was locked on the alpha’s throat. Something strange had appeared on my mind. “The alpha’s thoughts! I can read his mind!” And suddenly I knew that he was going to try to tear me down my left side. In a split second I swerved to my right and my fangs met his throat. I tore his head clean off. His body and head landed in different spots in the wet grass. I landed on all fours with nothing but a scratch on my left side. I just stood there for a moment, taking in all I had just learned. “How can this be true?” I spoke to myself, “why me?” I looked at the mess of blood and fur lying in the already drenched grass. “The one with the powers of Rakuen, the one who will open the true paradise.” I howled so mournfully that the earth itself seemed to tremble under my paws. Then…I ran. I ran as far and as fast as my legs could go. Into the darkness of the forest. Leaving my bloody past behind me. Deeper and deeper until not even a hawk could spy me. “I will go to the land beyond the forest,” I said. “Where I will find and open