An Unfortunate Dream [Wolf Dream Solo]

[Dizzy_Kat]

(cont. from the Spectral Wolf CYOA Oct 2020)

She woke to the feeling of her skin prickling rousing her into a strange surrealness. Unfortunate stood on shaky legs, unable to tell if she was awake or not. The air was sharp, cold, and felt almost as if it was a living thing filling her lungs. She opened her eyes to the dark fog, seeing the movement of shapes, creatures, kin? And one far larger than any living thing she had seen before.

The sight of the enormous wolf filled her with exhilaration, yearning, desire. She trembled. Oh to feel this intensely alive! A choice needed to be made. A decision. A path. She breathed deep of the damp air, oddly scentless. It being the only lack she felt thus far, as if the shape she held had been hers for always and not just for the night. It jarred her. But what choice? Others whom she barely recognized as separate beings from herself began to drift in different directions. She must choose.

To the Left, her ears caught hold of something her nose could not. It was there that she was drawn.

---

Scents rose as she dove deeper into the fog but they were confusing and unrecognizable. The sounds she followed weren’t much better, but at least she felt like she could follow them. The shapes that walked with them, wolves like herself, like the kin who walked beside her, flickered in and out of existence, appearing near solid then fading away into the fog. Or was that a kin disappearing into the swamp? She heard cries of distress… but chose to ignore them. She was incapable of helping anyway wasn’t she?

The sense of urgency grew stronger as the large packleader was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunate knew that was wrong. She was supposed to be with him, with the pack, but the pack was gone. The wolves, or were they kin, around her became more and more unrecognizable, foreign, strangers, enemies. She turned away from them, plunging separately into the swamp suddenly desperate to shake them. They weren’t pack!

Only one retained a sense of familiarity though she could not say why. A vague shape, translucent but growing more solid with every stride gained on her and pressed against her side. Was it someone she knew? She couldn’t tell but she felt warm, grateful for the wolf’s presence.

A bright light suddenly drew her attention, blazing through the fog and she turned, racing towards it with her companion at her side. It fluttered back and forth but didn’t seem to move far from its original position. As the pair drew closer Unfortunate began to make out the shape of wings as the small creature flitted from branch to bush to ground and back, circling and chirping out it’s distress. Was this the noise she had followed? Unfortunate couldn’t be sure anymore. She couldn’t remember what the sound had been. The little bird though, small and blue and glowing in a way that didn’t seem real like the wolf at her side, landed again on the ground and bounced around a small object no bigger than itself.

As Unfortunate drew closer she sighed sadly. It was another bird, bright feathers dimmed and scattered in death. The living one tilted it’s head at her in question and Unfortunate shook her head in turn. No, there was nothing she could do to help. The wolf at her side inched closer to the pair and for a moment Unfortunate feared it might try to eat the grieving bird. It only layed down, resting it’s head beside the pair and whuffing gently at the living bird’s feathers. Instinctively, Unfortunate laid down beside it, laying her head on her crossed paws and leaning against her companion. The small bird nibbled her toes gently then fluttered up to her back, wiggling itself into the thick fur around her neck. Content and suddenly quite drowsy, Unfortunate closed her eyes and yawned, within moments the fog and the swamp faded away to nothing.

Years later it felt like Unfortunate woke. She stretched, confused by the quality of the lights and sounds around her. She couldn’t feel her toes or claws...because she had hooves. She was kimeti. Not a wolf! When had she been a wolf? If only to further her confusion, at that moment she noticed the warmth of another body pressed against her. A wolf… one she knew and did not, with a small blue budgie sleeping on it’s back. The wolf opened it’s brown eyes and gave her a small lick on the chin before settling back down in the pre-dawn light.

(770 words)