21 Iris's Point of View

When I opened my eyes, I was in a meadow. Wait...how did I get here? Last thing I remembered was fainting from the pain.... Am I dead?

"Iris, calm down. We can think this through. Just relax and look at the scenery before us. Maybe we can find someone," my subconscious said.

So I did. I took a deep breath and focused on where I was at. The meadow was beautiful. The grass was long that came up to my calves. There was trees surrounding the meadow. There was a huge tree, bigger than the rest, by a pond that glistened in the night sky. The sky was clear. I mean there wasn't any clouds in it. Just a bunch of stars and bright full moon. The reflection of the moon on the pond made the scenery very beautiful. I walked over to the huge tree by the pond. It kind of reminded me of the Tree of Life from Lion King. I sat down on the roots and dipped my feet into the water. I expected it to be cold but it wasn't. It was warm.

Looking into the pond, I seen my reflection. I looked kind of different yet the same. My appearance was the same except that my feline ears and tail was out. And my eyes were like how they were when I shifted fully. But what confused me was the tribal marks on my face. They were red and covered around my eyes and mouth and down my neck. Actually they were on my whole body and weren't coming off no matter how much I rubbed them. It was like they were tatted on me. Looking at my clothes, I realized it wasn't the same dress I had wore to the ceremony. Instead it was like a native style dress. Something similar to what my ancestors would've wore.

A giggle pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked behind me to see a young girl around the age of 12 to 13. She wore a similar dress to mine but didn't have any of the markings like I did. In fact, she didn't have any. Her hair was short and white. And I mean as white as snow. She was fairly tanned that contrasted well with her hair, and her eyes were as blue as mine with a little bit of green. I stood up and cautiously walked to her. She didn't move at all. Instead, she stared straight at me.

The closer I got, the more features I could see of the girl. Like that she had two blue feathers tucked behind her ear. And that she stood just below my breasts. I also realized that her eyes were glazed looking, like if she was talking to someone through mind-link or if she was blind. But I wasn't too sure and felt uncomfortable to assume anything. I crouched down by her.

"Umm...excuse me? But can you tell me where I am?" I asked her.

She replied nothing back. It's like she never heard me speak. I went to touch her when a wolf came out of the trees and growled. The girl turned and smiled at the wolf. She looked up to me with her greenish blue glazed eyes, then ran to the wolf. The wolf bent down so she could climb onto its back. Then she waved at me to follow them.

I followed them to wherever they were leading me. It didn't take long to reach what looked like their camp grounds. The girl slid off the wolf and took my hand in hers before dragging me to who knows where. But it was somewhere here because I don't wanna die anytime soon.

We arrived to a house that was bigger than all the others. At the doorway stood a woman with bright white hair and really green eyes. She wore a dress that was thin and all white. Something you wouldn't find here. She smiled when she saw the girl. The girl ran up to hug her before running off with the wolf. Then the woman walked towards me.

I stood there as the woman walked up to me.

"Umm...where am I?" I asked.

"You're in a dream state of mind, my child. It was the only way I could get to you," the woman said.

What does she mean by that? Who is she anyways?

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Luna, the moon goddess. And you are Iris Lace, the last of her kin on earth," Luna said.

Okay, that was creepy... I didn't expect the moon goddess to know who I am. I didn't even get a chance to explain myself.

I stared at her in utter shock. Luna chuckled at my look. I mean, it's not everyday that you meet the moon goddess. A giggle and wolf-like-bark snapped me out of my shocked state of mind. I looked over to the girl and wolf from earlier come running past us. Luna smiled and told me to follow her. So that's what I did. We walked behind them to a clearing in the woods. The wolf and girl ran to the water that was there, while Luna and I sat on a log watching them play.

I looked over at Luna as she continues watching them play.

"So.... how did I get here?" I asked Luna.

"I brought you here. I seen that you were rejected by Lucius and were in terrible pain. So when he accepted the rejection, I had you faint and brought you to a memory of mine," Luna said.

A memory of hers? When did this take place?

"A memory? When was this?" I asked in curiosity.

"This specific memory was from when after I had became the moon goddess. This was before history was written. I was walking through these very woods. In a meadow, I had found a baby girl wrapped in native clothing that didn't look like it came from any of the packs. But I wasn't going to leave her alone in the wilderness, so I brought her with me to this pack and raised her as my own. Throughout the years, I soon realized that she was blind and mute, but that didn't change anything. When she was 12, she found her mate without even realizing it. She wouldn't have known until she first shifted," Luna said.

"Is that her?" I asked referring to the girl playing with the wolf.

"Yep. Her name is Iris. And the wolf is her mate, Michael. He's the alpha's son," Luna said.

"Oh. How old is she? She looks really young," I said.

"She'll be turning 16 tomorrow. I'm excited yet afraid for her first shift. Before I didn't know what she was going to shift into. I knew all the others in the pack were going to be wolves, but not her," Luna said.

"Do you know what her species is now?" I asked.

"She's a werecat, like you," Luna said staring straight at me in the eye.