Chapter 42 - Separated (2)

"Ma'am! Slow down, we might fall! " She shouted while the majestic silver wolf ran at high speed.

"We cannot slow down! We need to reunite with others! Just hold on to him tightly! "

Nida just hugged the pup and grabbed the back of the neck of the wolf with her mouth.

They rescued the puppy, but he was unconscious and only started breathing after Nida performed CPR on him. It is a miracle that she managed to CPR a pup with her pup body.

huff huff huff huff huff

The adult silver wolf finally stopped and took a momentary rest after running for an hour at great speed.

"Aren't we lost?" Nida asked since the path that the pack created is nowhere to be seen.

"No, we are not. There might be a snow storm when they pass; that is why there is no path, but I can still smell their scent. " She reassures her child that is looking more anxious than before.

"Are you hurt?" She rubbed her face against her child's to check her body. The pup is okay, and nothing seems to be wrong with her body, but her expression doesn't look good. 

"Ma'am, the pup badly needs to get healed." she said worriedly.

The pup, Randell's, body is colder, and that makes Nida anxious.

'Is this really an illusion? Why does everything seem so real? Should I just let him die since this is an illusion?'

She asked herself because she was getting scared of the situation. 

"We have a healer. Don't worry. Ride on my back, let's run again."

Nida nodded and did what the adult wolf said.

..

She's back holding on to the pup while the wolf is working hard to run in the deep snow.

"Ma'am, it's a cliff!" 

"I know, my dear." The wolf stepped back and looked around the area, confused. 

"But I can smell the scent of everyone here."

She pokes her nose again at the snow to look around, but the scent really leads her to the cliff. 

She cautiously peered into the cliff to see what lay beneath, then quickly backed away.

"What's wrong? What's below? " Nida didn't have the chance to look down because the wolf stepped back in a hurry. However, by simply approaching the cliff, she allows herself to smell the fishy scents, which have a similar scent to rust.

"There are spear-like stones on the ground, pointing upward." The majestic wolf describes what she saw to her pup but hesitates to tell her the gruesome thing that happened to their pack.

She wondered how their pack members fell off the cliff, as the entire line was affected by that, making everyone die.

She growled, still perplexed by their situation.

"Did they all fall off the cliff?" Nida asked, and the adult wolf responded by slowly nodding her head. "Ah, so what did I smell was blood?"

Nid tilted her head, puzzled at how the entire pack fell off a cliff without any survivors.

"What now?" She said, worriedly mumbling to herself, especially since she still had two injured pups on her back.

"Is it hard to join another pack?" Nida asked, as she could feel the concern of the white wolf. She's about to suggest finding another wolf pack because she feels not that sad for the pack that tragically lost their lives together.

"Let's move first to where the pack was supposed to go."

She was about to turn around without looking back at the cliff that became their pack members' grave, but Nida tapped her head.

"It's okay, you can bid farewell to them."

She hesistates for a moment before she steps closer to the cliff again.

This time, Nida had a clearer view of what happened.

The wolves are all pierced with sharp stones pointing upwards, like a barbeque. In the area below, the cliff was like a custom-made trap set to catch the wolves.

"Who in the world will do this?" Nida's eyes shake as she looks away. The view is too bloody and tragic to stare at.

Awoooooo 

The majestic wolf continues to howl at the cliff's edge as she bids farewell to the lost soul.

"Ma'am, why are you howling like that?" Nida asked, as she could not help but ask the wolf what she did if it was like a way for the wolf to say goodbye to the dead.

"I howl hoping that they will show us what happened to them."

"What's the need?"

"So I'll know the enemy."

"Isn't what happened here an accident?"

"No. Our pack wasn't stupid enough to fall off a cliff on its own; there must be a trap that lured them into their deaths."

Nida was about to ask more, but she saw something in the air that was very familiar.

" Silver dust!" She shouted.

The majestic wolf turned around to see what she was talking about, but there was nothing she saw in front of her.

"Nida, we cannot play pranks in a situation like this," she scolded the pup.

But Nida really saw a mass of silver dust rising from the ground below the cliff.

She jumped off the wolf's back and peered over the edge to see.

"That is dangerous!" The wolf that ran after her then bit her neck with his mouth to pick her up.

However, Nida has no time to pay attention to the majestic wolf's words.

Her eyes are glued to the souls that she clearly sees rising out of the dead wolf's body and later becoming silver dust that spreads upward into the sky.

"My silver dust is made of wolves' soul?" she shouted in shock.

"Is that why I sometimes feel like I can talk to them?"

She realized, as she felt the dust in the air, that she was a hundred percent certain that it was her dust.

The adult wolf throws her upward to get Nida on her back.

"I said behave, Nida!" She expressed her reservations about her child's monologue.

Then the majestic silver wolf started to walk away from the cliff and decided to take the path the pack had originally planned to travel.

"Does this illusion's purpose be to show me the source of my powers?" She mumbled while looking down at Randell. "Then why is Randell here? What is his role? "

After some thought, she decided to try to collect the silver dust that was created due to the dead wolf souls.

"Come here," she gently said, as she opened up her paws to the silver dust.

Even though she asked the silver dust to come in a gentle manner, it didn't react the same way as she commanded. A huge mass of silver dust gathers around them and then comes after them like a tsunami. The majestic wolf finally noticed the dust and was shocked.That made her kick the ground to run even faster, not knowing Nida was the one who called it.

Even though she gritted her teeth and stretched her legs to get away from the silver dust, the tsunami ate them at the end.

Nida felt pain from absorbing too much dust. The feeling was very concentrated.

The three of them rolled down the snow. Nida was thrown away by the adult wolf and the dust followed her, leaving the other two alone.

"Nida!" the wolf yelled, leaving the grey pup alone, and walked over to the silver dust that covered Nida.

Arf Arf Arf Arf

She could only bark at the dust since it wouldn't let her in no matter how much she smashed her body towards it.

Because of its large size, the absorption takes awhile. 

aarff arrrf aarff aarff

Knocked out for a moment, her eyes twitched once she heard the bark.

She lost consciousness after the excessive dust absorption and was woken up by the bark and howling of one silver wolf left.

Awwwwwooooo

"Ma'am" she called to the panicking silver wolf after she absorbed the last final dust in her body.

The majestic wolf hurriedly checked on her, licking and rubbing her entire body.

"Ma'am, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you."

"What was that dust? Is your body okay?" She asks her child worriedly, but soon her expression changes.

"Are you having fun?" the silver wolf asked while looking at the silver-furred pup wagging her tail. But in reality, Nida is wagging her tail because of the dust that she has absorbed, which has a caffeine-like effect on her.

It was like she had taken so many stimulants, which increased activity in her brain and nervous system. The dust increases the circulation of chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline in her body. She suddenly felt refreshed and focused.

"I am not." she said as she jumped up at silver wolfs back looking more healthy.

"Mama, let's pick up Randell." She said, pointing at the still unconscious grey pup lying alone in the middle of the snow.

"Your calling me now mama?" The majestic wolf no longer knows what to do since her child is acting very unstable.

"I actually hit my head just awhile ago, mom. Now I am fine."

"Your fine?"

"Of course I am, Mama Mila."