The Chronicles of Moon

Forest of Memories

Moon wanders aimlessly through the unfamiliar woods, looking for anything that might show her where she is or where she is supposed to go.

He could have given me some kind of a clue as to where I was going, why couldn’t he do that at least? Moon groans. She feels like she is just going in circles. The woods are so quiet she can’t even hear any animals or birds in the trees.

I don’t like this at all. What are we even doing here? We need to get back. Colin is going to be worried, and they might need us. Kiara growls, her frustration starting to get the better of her.

I know that, but nothing is familiar here. Moon sighs, standing in the middle of the trees and turning in a slow circle. A flash of white catches her eye, and she snaps her head to look bad through the trees. What was that?

She slowly walks in the direction she thought she saw it in and glimpses the end of a white tail. She hurries to follow after it. Kiara, was that a wolf?

I don’t know how it could be. I’m the only white wolf, aren’t I? Kiara wonders, equally confused.

I thought so. Moon replies, but she hurries to catch up with the animal heading further into the trees.

***

Colin, we need you at the North border. Chris links him Colin shifts and takes off at a full run. The fighting and howls of wolves are the only sound he can hear other than the pounding of his pulse as he runs through the trees.

I didn’t think they would show up this soon, he admits to Farrell.

Seems they didn’t want to wait until the end of the week. Farrell huffs. Colin can sense the wolf is just as angry as he is, but somehow, he is doing a better job keeping a level head than Colin is. He wonders when that happened. Colin has always been the one to keep Farrell in check, but now it seems the roles have reversed.

***

This place feels familiar in a way. Kiara announces, I know where we are.

What? How can that be? Moon questions her.

I don’t know; I just feel like I know this place; I remember it.

Moon and Kiara press on, and every now and then, Moon catches glimpses of white through the trees but never sees enough to confirm her suspicions.

This is probably some kind of trap. Moon remarks feeling angry and vulnerable.

It could be, but I don’t think it is. It feels like a memory. Kiara says slowly, her head high and ears perked. She really seems to remember something.

They keep running after the strange glimpses of white until they suddenly find themselves at the edge of a wide clearing. Moon skids to a stop and hides behind a tree spotting the two figures in the clearing.

“Don’t worry; they can’t see or hear us.” The man leaning on the tree looks at Moon and smiles.

“Who the heck are you now?” Moon bristles. She is really getting tired of all these strange people popping up out of nowhere.

When she looks at the clearing, she sees the man is the same one that is talking to her now. he seems so familiar to her.

“I’m hurt that you don’t know me, but I guess that is to be expected. You have changed so much. I’m Helios. I asked Pan to bring you here.”

“Why? Why did you do something like that, and where is here?” Moon’s eyebrows shoot up in her shock. She is also trying not to glare at the god.

“This is a place of memories. This one happens to be one of mine, but you are here to find yours.” Helios informs her looking at the sweet scene of the lovers in the field. He looks so sad as he watches them. “You need your memories back, and you need all of them if you expect to defeat Eos this time.”

“What do you mean this time? And who is that you are with there?” Moon looks at the smiling lovers in the clearing and he slips a gold chain around the girl’s neck. Moon can now see that she is pregnant.

“It doesn’t matter who she is. That’s a problem for me to work out. You need to find your memories, Moon, and you need to hurry. They are going to need you soon.” Helios informs her looking at her thoughtfully.

“What do you mean what has happened?” Moon is panicking again.

“Things are happening a little faster than I thought they would, thanks to Eos. She knows she is running out of time, and you need to hurry now.”

Moon sees the wolf in the trees, and it is the wolf she dreams about. It looks like Kiara, but it clearly isn’t. Helios looks longingly back at the couple as the memory of himself strokes the cheek of the sweet smiling girl placing his hand on her round belly and kissing her.

“Go, for it is too late.” He orders, and Moon is startled by the sudden anger in his tone. The wolf turns from her and takes off into the trees. Moon is quick to follow it, but she takes one last look at the couple in the clearing, Helios’s memory of a time he was truly happy.

Moon chases after the wolf, and it leads her through the dark trees. Moon can’t tell if it is day or night through the trees, and this place is so strange it seems to change from night to day of its own will anyway.

They come to another clearing, and it is her. Still, at the same time, it isn’t. her clothes and hair are different, looking like something lost in time. The man she is with looks remarkably similar to Colin as well, and Moon’s eyes go wide.

“Helene, the people need you. Why are you hiding here?” the man says.

“I just need a break. Even with all my powers, they seem hell-bent on fighting with one another. What am I supposed to do?” Helene throws her hands up in exasperation and paces the clearing.

“Hey, it’s all right. We will find a way. You have me on your side.” The man reaches out and holds her arms, stopping her from pacing.

“I know, and I love you. I just can’t stand all this fighting. I know Eos is behind this, but how do you stop a god. I need to find that weapon. Selene told me of a weapon to kill a god, but she wouldn’t tell me what to even look for. How will I even know it when I see it?”

“We will find it together then.” The man soothes making her smile.

The image changes before Moon’s eyes to a battlefield the lovers caught in a war, fighting as wolves. His large black wolf falls at the feet of who Moon can only guess to be Eos herself.

“You really thought you could win against me? I will always triumph. I am the Dawn.” Eos yells over the noise of the fighting. Helene’s white wolf charges her but falls as well; both lost to the merciless god.

Kiara that was Colin and us. We did this before, and we lost… Moon trails off as the memory fades, and all her memories return to her, everything from her life before. This has all happened before the last white wolf was her, and she failed then. That was why she disappeared. Eos destroyed her.

I can’t let that happen again. Moon yells and runs at the memory. She just keeps running as her mind flashes with memories of her past life and her talks with Selene when she was a child. How had she failed, and all this time, Eos had just kept working at dividing the wolves and turning them against each other. Moon had failed before but she is not about to fail again not this time.