Chapter 49: *”
…greeted with something unexpected.”
W
The scent of flowers and the gentle breeze rustling leaves, accompanied by the sound of water lapping at a shore, had Alora opening her eyes. When she opened them, she was looking up at the long drooping viny branches of an enormous willow tree blooming with bright blue flowers. The sky above the tree was a light blue, with fluffy light gray clouds floating across it.
Sitting up, Alora looked around her and saw that the tree seemed to be on a slight hill. Surrounding the tree, protected under its draping vines, were twenty rows of waist high bookshelves. The shelves were ten deep, with wide aisles carpeted in vibrantly colored creeping thyme in between. The colors of the blooms on the thyme came in varied shades blues, pinks, purples, and reds.
Ten rows of the bookshelves were made of black marble with veins of white crystal. While the other ten rows of bookshelves were made of white marble with veins of black crystal. Covering all the bookshelves, were dark green leafy vines blooming with different colored flowers.
Looking further out, Alora could see an oval–shaped pond. Lining the pond’s shore was different shades of gray river rock and stone. Stretching directly over the center of the pond, was a covered Japanese style walking bridge made of red wood. Circling the rock lined shore of the pond was a wide even path of black sand.
All of this seemed to be in a clearing surrounded by a dark forest made up of all kinds of trees. The grass in the clearing was dark green carpeted with patches of colorful wildflowers. Alora was just taking all this in and wondering how she got here when she heard the rattle of chains. Looking in the direction of the sound, Alora let out a shocked gasp when she saw Xena.
Around Xena’s neck was a thick black metal collar that had dark gray vapors rising out of it. Attached to the collar were several thick black chains of the same material. Following the chains, she found that they led back to the giant willow tree, attached to a wide thick band of black metal that circled the trunk of the tree.
The metal band looked as if it was strangling the tree. Above and below the band on the tree were marks that made it look like it had been charred. Alora put one hand over her chest, she felt like something was tightening around her heart looking at the band on the tree. Turning back to look at Xena, Alora found that not all the chains attached to Xena’s collar led to the band on the tree.
Three broken chains hung from one side of the collar on Xena. It only took her another second to spot a large black metal loop coming from the ground near Xena. Hanging off the loop were three short chains with broken ends. Alora assumed this was where the three chains hanging off Xena’s collar had originally been attached.
Alora got up off the ground and walked over to Xena. Even sitting, Xena had to tilt her muzzle down just a little to look Alora in her eyes. Werewolves were exceptionally large beasts, coming from a time when the things that walked the earth were ten stories tall.
“What is all of this?” Alora asked Xena, gesturing to the chains and the collar.
“It is part of the binding spell placed on us at birth.” Xena told her, “The broken chains are the part of the spell that was supposed to keep us from transforming.”
Alora reached up and touched the collar and noticed there were cracks on it. Alora hated the sight of the thing on her wolf and just wanted to rip it off. Reaching up with her other hand she gripped the metal and something inside the metal tried to rise and attempted to attack Alora.
Instinctively, Alora used her internal power to grab it and turn it around, forcing it back into the collar. The collar snapped under the returned attack and Alora pulled it off Xena. There was an indent left on Xena’s fur from where the collar had been for so long. Xena stood up and did a whole body shake that fluffed out her fur and the indent from the collar in her fur disappeared.
Dropping the pieces of the collar in her hands onto the ground, Alora looked up at the band on the tree. A wind that felt rife with power started to swirl around
her. When the wind lifted her hair to float around her, Alora wondered absentmindedly when her hair had become unbound from its braid.
The vines of the willow moved in the wind. The sound of its leaves being rustled reached Alora as she walked up to the trunk of the tree. There were deep cracks in the band around the tree. Lifting her hands up, Alora gathered the power that was in the air. After gathering a large amount of power, Alora then forced that power into the deepest crack in the band.
Alora forced enough power into the band that it exploded outward, forcing Alora and Xena to duck to avoid the flying pieces. Power rushed out of the tree at her with enough force to knock Alora to the ground. As the power forced her to the ground, much of it filled Alora. When the wind calmed down again, and Alora was able to sit back up, she was greeted with something unexpected.
Sitting chained to the ground in front of the tree was another being. Alora looked at her and felt like she was looking into a mirror. Well….almost, there were several things different. The female’s upper fangs were longer than hers, and her skin was black instead of caramel.
The female was covered in shiny silver marks that looked like painted scars, and while her floor length hair was midnight black as Alora’s was, it looked intangible. It was like the female’s hair was made up of thick smoke and embedded with millions of tiny twinkling stars.
The female’s clothing did not leave much to the imagination either. Covering her breasts was a black gauzy material that twinkled with silver specks, the material shaped around her breasts like a strapless bralette. The ankle length skirt she wore, made of the same black gauzy material with twinkling silver specks, was like two upside down triangles tied together at her hips.
The female’s exposed left flank looked like it was painted thickly in silver, with wide and harsh strokes. Over that silver paint, was a white crescent moon and star mark that seemed to glow with an internal light. It was this mark that made Alora realize this female was very much a part of her and Xena.
Around the female’s neck was a thick metal collar, with several chains binding her to the ground. The chains and collar had deep cracks in them. Cautiously, so she did not startle the female, Alora reached out with both hands, and grabbed the collar. Xena clawed at the chains where they were attached to the ground as Alora forced a small bit of power into the deepest crack in the collar.
Xena’s claws broke through the chains at the same time the collar broke, freeing the female. Then a burst of power slammed into all three of them, forcing them to the ground. The sound of a gong rang loudly, the vibration of it so powerful Alora felt the sound resonate throughout her body. Then Alora felt it as her bonds to her wolf Xena and this new part of her slam into place.
It hurt, having all this power forced back into them after it had been bound for so long. Xena was whimpering with it, she felt like electricity was striking every nerve in her body. Alora cried out as she felt like her very blood had been set ablaze. The other female screamed her pain as it felt like the power entering her was shattering her bones only to remake them.
The three felt like this went on forever before it finally stopped, leaving them panting and trembling weakly on the ground. After a while, and with moans, groans, and whines of pain, the trio sat up and looked at each other.
Xena and Alora both looked at the new female in their space while the female looked back at them. The female’s eyes were wide, and she kept blinking. At one point she pinched her hand and hissed at the pain, then tears started to pour down her face.
“Mm.my n.n.name i.i.is Ss.sse.sselena, I.I.i’m ss.sso ha.ha.happy to fff.ffinaly m.m.mmeet you both.” The female Selena struggled to get out amidst shoulder shaking sobs. “1.1.I’m yyy.yyour Sss.ss. sssprite.
Alora, ignoring how painful it was to move, crawled over to the sobbing Selena and dragged her into her arms. Xena whimpered as she crawled over and wound her large body around them, placing her head in Selena’s lap. Alora held the female as she sobbed and muttered about how grateful and how happy she was to be seen and heard by her and Xena.
Alora thought about the fact that a Sprite shared their space. She could only have a Sprite as well as a Wolf if she was a Vampire Werewolf hybrid. This meant that Alora was never just an ordinary Werewolf and was in fact a hybrid just like her ancestor Luna Bloodmoon Heartsong.
This also meant that Bettina had a lot of answering to do. There was no way for Alora to be a hybrid, unless Allister was not her father as she had always suspected.
