The Moon Wolf

Chapter 37 (First Draft)

* Media pic is what a soul-star might look like.

Ruuni clasped Nordin's hand as the goddess pulled them closer. She felt equally terrified and curious. But, a new thought crept into her mind that began to pollute her curiosity. Were she and the others dead? Was this the beginning of their afterlife? Did the Moon goddess greet all her faithful subjects like this when they left their mortal husks behind?

The thought that she might be dead and could not return to the pack grieved her. She did not dread the next stage of her existence. Being reunited with the Moon goddess was what everyone dreamed of and looked forward to from early childhood. And, at this stage in her life, she'd lived long enough and experienced enough to be entirely open to moving on when the time came. However, the Orthos pack was in crisis. The thought that they may not return to help support Alpha Troy, Penn and the pack at this difficult hour weighed heavy on her heart.

Before she could mouth a word of her concerns to Nordin, the Moon goddess spoke. This time, her voice passed over them like a warm summer breeze brushing against cool skin. Ruuni felt her anxiety dissipate instantly.

"You have questions," she stated kindly.

It sounded very much like an invitation to speak freely, but no one said a thing. It wasn't that the elders had no questions. Rather, it was that they each had too many and did not know where to begin.

It was Nys who finally plucked up the courage to ask the goddess something. She nervously cleared her throat and the rest of the elders turned to look at her with great expectation.

Ever the empathetic one of the six, she asked, "Are you here alone? Is everyone you know gone?"

The goddess laughed gently. The sound was sweet and left a tingling sensation that resonated inside them. 

"Not at all," she replied with a touch of amusement in her voice.

"But those ghostly figures outside the temple?" Lofgren objected, understanding intuitively the turn of Nys thoughts. He had experienced first had what it was like to pass through one of those apparitions. The thought of it even now chilled him.

The goddess response came as quite a surprise. "They aren't the ghostly figures in this realm," she explained. "You are."

The elders gasped and Ruuni feared the worst. "Are we dead, then?" she uncharacteristically blurted out.

"Not at all," the goddess assured her. "You are merely spirit-walking. In my realm, the immortal realm, until you ascend, you can only exist here in your spiritual state. Your mortal forms are at rest in the mountain shrine."