“You have far more self-control that I do.” He says softly.
I feel Lukas push his wait to his toes but I don't turn. I just keep walking.
“We'll see.” I mutter.
Lukas knows he's outmatched but will that stop him from letting his wolfs rage control his actions? I want to believe that the Lukas I know is still in there. That this side of him is due to his new role as Alpha, thus putting him at the mercy of his base, animal instincts. He is a Lycan after all. He watched his Alpha murdered and was expected to kill my mum to secure his new role in the pack. Though he threatened her I don't think he would have actually done it. At least I hope not.
Logic seems to win out when he doesn't move. He just watches us walk away from him. We're still in hearing distance of him.
“What did you do to the pack?” I ask as I glance up at Alistair. I barely come to his shoulder.
“I didn't hurt them if that's what you’re wondering.” He quirks an eye brow at me and I shoot him a glare. He chuffs.
“As it turns out, the cage they had me in fits three mutts.” His smile is devilish. “I suppose it's a good thing you didn't kill him because he's the only one that knows the pass code.”
I feel Lukas tense. His feet grinding in the soil. His low growl flitters through the trees then he turns and runs towards the ranch.
I sigh as I feel the forest around me. The animals scattered throughout. The ancient trees and the unfathomable power sleeping beneath the volcano. I've missed being able to feel and listen to it. To touch the minds of the creatures all around me. They feel happy and content. Everything is balanced and peaceful. As it should be.
Alistair watches me take it all in. Walking with me silently as I commit every detail to memory. The poison is gone and I can expand my senses further than ever before. Then I once again feel something that is... nothing. Three sets of feet but nothing causing them. They walk towards us.
I pause and Alistair gives me a questioning look.
“What are Skinwalkers?” I ask tensely.
“No-one really knows. There aren't many of them and they're usually on their own. They can't be killed. They just sort of... move to the next recently dead body.” He says darkly scanning the trees.
As one gets close enough that I can hear its feet crunching in the leaves I force my senses towards it. Into it. It's like an empty void. I push deeper and deeper but it doesn't seem to end. Like the nothingness of space within a decaying shell. As deep as the depths of the ocean but not cold. It's just... nothing but dark.
Alistair stiffens as it comes into view but I don't stop diving into the void. There must be something that gives it life. It moves so it must think. Alistair says it just moves to the next dead body but what is it? It can't just be nothing because how would it exist? Then I feel something. It's far away, tucked away in the centre of the void. Power. A small barely detectable grain of energy.
It feels warm and comforting like a mothers love. I hear a whisper but it's distant. It's soft but desperate. I can't make out any words but as the Skinwalker gets closer to me I swear it's lifeless eyes look almost pleading. It reaches out a mangled hand but it's shoved away by shadows. Alistair's shadows.
The other two appear either side of us. I delve into them as well. I plunge through the darkness. Deeper and deeper. The void engulfs me in a dizzying wave but I push through it. I dive into the dark and then I see and feel it. A blue grain of light that feels like ocean and the flow of the sea. In the third Skinwalker the grain is the boldest pink thrumming with Love and desire. I feel their souls as Gaia's words echo through me. “Fall into the darkness to discover the light deep within its depths.” She wasn't talking about her son at all.
Alistair puts up a wall of impenetrable shadow. They're blocked completely by the wall, but I can hear them scratch and tear at it. Their screeches rend the air and echo painfully in my ears. I wince but one of the screams pierces the air more than the others. It sounds like a despairing cry for help and it freezes my blood more than the ear splitting screams.
“I think it's time we leave Yellowstone behind. Gwen is waiting.” Alistair encourages as he holds out a hand.
I try and see through the shadow. To get one last glimpse of the forest I love. To see that ancient Oak tree again and commune with Gaia. One day I will come back here. I know it. The screams intensify and I take his hand. An inky black hole rimmed in smoke appears at our feet and we fall.
Chapter 24
My stomach lurches and smoke fills my lungs. I can't tell which way we're moving. Up, down or sideways. I try to breath but it feels like when you go too fast on a roller coaster and your breath gets trapped in your throat. Am I screaming? I honestly don't know.
Me feet land on solid ground and my knees give out. Strong arms hold me up and take the brunt of the sudden stop in momentum. I breathe deeply then look up.
I can't stop my gasp in wonder as I look upon a twilight world with no true sun light. The air is thick with silence, broken only by the sounds of flowing rivers. The close landscape is barren with ashen trees and rocky plains. Everything is faded grey in tone as if the colour and vitality have been drained from it. There's no moon. No stars. Just the bluish tinge of twilight. That is only a small area though. It's a circle of death that surrounds us. Beyond that are more lands just a half mile away in a perfectly divided circle around the statue at my back.
“Welcome to the Underworld.” Alistair says with a smile as he slowly lowers his arms from my waist.
A short way in the distance ahead of us is a palace of Obsidian stone. Cold and imposing. It's spires are the tallest thing in this realm. The tips of its tallest towers almost touching the cloudy sky. Blue and gold light shines from the windows and glitters on the surrounding stone. It's the most terrifying and beautiful structure I've ever seen.
At my back is a huge statue of a women sitting cross legged. Her stomach round with pregnancy and her hands upturned on her knees. Blue and gold fire burns in her palms and within the fires I see constellations circulating through time and space. Her head is tilted back, her eyes closed in serenity. Her face is astonishingly beautiful. I instantly know her as Gaia. The mother of all creation. I gaze upon her in wonder. She's magnificent. Her hair streams down her back in waves as she sits completely naked. Her entire body glowing with life. Vines wrap around her body with flowers dotted around her.
Tears fill my eyes as I gaze upon her. She looks how every women should see herself. The most powerful, beautiful goddess to live, who has found her place and purpose and no matter what that may be she is at peace.
In segments around the statue of Gaia are the realms of The Underworld. They narrow to their closest point to the statue at the edge of the barren circle we stand in. They fan out the further into the distance they go. In a perfect circle they're equally divided realms.
