Chapter 39 - Howling (8)

"Cold?" Nida rubbed her skin as she felt the cold. Her legs shuddered due to the sudden lowering of the temperature. She was wearing a mini skirt and heels, which made her feel worse being lost alone.

"Randell! Daniel Come on out! Heeeeeeeeyyy!! Randell! Daniel! " She's been calling her coworkers' names multiple times, but even though she walked back to where she came from, she never found her way back to them.

The railroad also disappeared together with the fog.

She's just walking aimlessly.

There was a frigid chill in the air, as if it was a cold winter morning.

"But this is Magarao!" she shouted as she felt ridiculous comparing the current weather to winter when Magarao is a tropical country.

Despite feeling strange in her location, she continues to walk to find her way out.

crisps!

crisps!

She steps into a brittle branch that makes a loud sound from being crushed into her heels.

As the silent place she keeps walking through, leaves that she's stepping also increases. 

crisp!

crunch!

crunch!

crisp!

Soon she found herself in the middle of a forest.

"Am I dreaming? When did I fall asleep if it was really a dream? " She wondered as the place became more unrealistic for her.

"Is this related to my awakening?"

She keeps looking at every detail of the mysterious forest. She walks deeper, looking for a clue to end this dream-turning nightmare. 

crunch!

crunch!

The crisp autumn leaves from the towering trees were strewn across the woodland floor, on their way to turning a brittle brown.

The sound of shattered glass accentuated the crunching of the leaves, as if you were stepping on them, driving their papery remains deep into the brilliant white snow that blanketed the ground like a fresh white cotton sheet.

The peaceful and intimidating forest has the allure of a forgotten region lost in time. The isolated woodland was preserved in a capsule, free of man's destructive essence. The forest's structure was formed by the dark shadows cast by the dense trees and perplexed plants. The impregnated bushes that had engulfed the hard sections of the forest had concealed the land from beneath the brilliant portals of the open sky, so the trees stood high and tall as guards of the arduous grounds.

She could admire the forest if she came for camping. However, the unknown forest is making her anxious because of its peculiarity.

A while ago, she tried to walk twenty steps ahead by marking her starting point, then tried to go back to her starting line, but she could no longer find the mark she made. The place changes every time she moves.

awoooooooooo

She froze in place as the loud howl echoed throughout the forest.

Her eyes shook the moment she thought about the wolf.

She bit her lower lip as the fear washed over her.

"W-what should I do?"

She was not that brave to move forward, but she couldn't back away either.

Her trembling eyes spread her gaze around the area as she desperately looked for a way to escape the forest. She didn't feel safe anymore.

Awoooooooo

"Why does he keep howling, scaring the fuck out of me? It's not even midnight!" She grumbled just to ease her fear.

But her knees finally gave in once she saw the sky.

"Haha! It's night time!"

She can't believe what she is seeing.

The full moon is shining brightly with its little stars freely twinkling in the dark, clear night sky.

Because of the brightness of the white snow-covered forest, she mistook it for daytime.

She feels like seeing a photoshopped photo, with a night sky above and a daytime setting of the forest below.

"Okay, I am dreaming! You are just dreaming! " She exclaimed, trying to calm herself.

"Ouch! Shit!"

She strongly slaps her face to confirm if she's dreaming or not, but the stinging pain from the slap indicates she's not dreaming at all.

"Did I go insane?"

"Maybe?"

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH

She shouted and crawled away from the cute voice that suddenly spoke to her.

"W-wolf?"

A cute grey wolf pup approached her with her tiny paws as if he was bouncing from the snow.

"What's wrong with you? Why aren't you moving out? Didn't you hear the howl?"

"I-I heard it, why?"

The little pup is too adorable to be feared.

She calmed herself and properly sat up to talk to the small, adorable, and fluffy creature. 

"What do you mean, why? It means we need to go back."

The pup bit her arm to urge her to move and run with him to go back to their other pack members. 

"Huh?" She looks at the arm that the pup is biting and she moves the paws that are supposed to be hers.

"W-what the!" She panics when suddenly the pup becomes bigger, or rather she gets smaller and becomes the same size as the pup.

She moved her paws and stomped her short, chubby feet to verify if she really had become a wolf puppy. 

AWOOOOOOOOOOOO

On the third howl, the other pup panics.

"Hey! Stop messing around and let's go!"

He stomped his feet and led the way for her to follow.

She'd done panicking, so she silently followed the pup to learn more about the situation.

As they both dash through the forest, they sometimes stop because Nida trips or falls every minute.

Suddenly, running on all fours is something she's not used to. She's human; that's why she runs on two feet, but as a pup, running on two is much harder.

"Are you hurt somewhere? Why do you keep falling and tripping?"

arf arf arf arf arf!

She responded by saying, "I am not hurt, I am just tired." But the way she heard herself, she was literally barking.

Her words are automatically translated into the wolf's language, while without effort, she also understands what the pup is saying to her, despite what the human ear hears as "barking."

"Are we communicating in wolves' language?" she asked herself, feeling amazed by the sudden ability. 

The pup moved towards her back and was surprised by the sudden biting of the pup at the back of her neck. Then he lifted her up to place her on his back.

"Am I allowed to ride in your back?" She cautiously asked, since she didn't even know the name of the pup.

"We need to hurry. We will get into trouble if we are not back within ten minutes after the long howl."

The wolf pup didn't wait for Nida's response, but immediately kicked the ground and ran at an abnormal speed.

Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was filled with air as she held her fur very tight to prevent her from flying away.

"S-slow down!" she managed to shout, even though her face was being slapped by strong wind and branches.

"Don't be ridiculous! We are almost there! I'll ask the healer to check on you!" The pup said, thinking that the pup on his back is injured because she keeps spewing out nonsense and couldn't even run normally.

"Here we are!" The pup happily stated as soon as he slid down from the trees that he had last jumped over.

Nida looked forward, getting curious about what a wolf pack looked like.

"Silver fur?" she mumbled as she suddenly forgot about her fears and admired the beautiful snow silver white fur that is both thick and shiny.

"Can wolves can this beautiful?" she said in dazed on everyone's gorgeousness as if she was enchanted.

She's been fearing the beast ever since the wolf attack and never thought she could admire its appearance like this.

The pup approached the group and blended with them.

Approximately fifty wolves have gathered in one location.

Each wolf is communicating with each other that they did not notice the two pups walking through the crowd of wolves.

Still on the grey wolf pup's back, Nida stared at the fur she was holding on to that served as her handle, then switched her gaze to the other wolf's fur and to her.

"Everyone's fur is silver. Why is yours grey? Is there another set of wolves else where?" She asked, cluelessly.

"You're really sick." The pup sounds worried that he has doubled his steps.

"Huh? Why? Are we lost? Is this the right pack?" When she said that, the puppy started running again, which caused her to grip his ears instead.

"W-why are you running again!" she closed her eyes in fear that she might fall.

"Randell! What's wrong?" An elder wolf shouted, and that made the pup stop his sprint.

"Randell?" Nida repeated the name she heard from the wolf.

'Why am I hearing Randell's name here? Is he here? He comes to save me?'

She dashes off to the pup's back to look for Randell, but there's no sign of the big, handsome man.

"I think she hurt her head! She can't even run properly!" The pup reported gesturing to the healer to check up on her.

"Randell, don't tell me you harm her."

Nida looked at the pup once she realized that the elder wolf was referring to the grey pup.

"Y-you're Randell?" She hoarsely asked.

"I didn't harm her! Hurry! She can't even remember me and our pack!"

"W-what?"