Luna

{  Vynetta  }

The future of the earth….

Those last words that grandmother spoke held more weight to me than the entire story she just told. Because that was the reality of what I was up against, that was the reality of what was at stake. The fate of this planet. Whether they receive peace and a hopeful future or whether they remain under tyranny and I am forced to supply the heir to continue that tyranny.

I heard my grandmother exhale and I knew she was waiting for me to speak. I just didn’t know which question to ask first. I replayed the entire story, the entire prophecy in my mind. Then it hit me, I knew what I wanted to ask.

“ I need no medicine, ever. My bones that I broke on occasion as a child healed within a day. Cuts and scrapes are scarred over in a matter of minutes. I sleep 6 hours and feel more rested than you or mother do when you sleep 10.”

I turn and I face her as I say this. And I watch as her head slowly nods. Still she doesn’t speak. She is waiting for me to ask her the real question.

“Am I a werewolf grandmother?”

She sighed but then I saw her lips turn up slightly. “No my dear, you are not a werewolf.”

I sensed a but, so I waited with my eyebrow raised.

“Technically, you are the Mother of werewolves.”

I know my face held nothing but confusion and possibly some annoyance because the next think I knew she was chuckling, and I was struggling too see how any of this was funny.

“In the prophecy, it speaks of Luna. Did you hear that part?” I nodded yes, but she raised an eyebrow so I asked.

“Can you repeat it grandmother?”

“Mother Earth will send her spirit to be born again in her bloodline. The bloodline of Gaya. This baby, this girl, this woman, will be Luna. She will be born with the spirit of the Earth Goddess and her elemental abilities.” She paused and waited for me to catch up but there was no need for that. I was caught up. And my heart was pounding as she continued.

“The Moon Goddess will also bless this woman, she will give to her the gift of a wolf, not a wolf given or born from a curse, but a wolf formed and given from the moon itself, born of love and grace. Luna will be the mother of all werewolves. She will be the Queen, the leader and the source of guidance. She and her mate will organize the wolves and they themselves will produce the first line of true blood werewolves.”

Mother. Of. The. Wolves. I was the woman with the spirit of the Earth Goddess. I control the elements. This woman was also the queen of the werewolves. But I wasn’t a wolf.

“In 37 days, your 18^th birthday will arrive and with it, you will receive the gift from the Moon Goddess.” Excitement danced in grandmother’s eyes as she said this last part. As if the knowledge of it was somehow a gift in itself.

I sat on the floor, a chair seeming too high all of a sudden for my vertigo. My grandmother waited patiently as I processed this new information and answered each question as they came.

“On my 18^th birthday I will receive my wolf. The mother of all wolves. And I will transform into a werewolf.”

“Yes.”

“WHY did no one tell me this until now?” I felt my anger rising more each minute.

“Because you did not need to know till now.”

I scoffed, “I didn’t need to know?”

“Not until your 18^th birthday, then you will be ready and you will transform and leave.”

“And on my 18^th birthday I will also be able to find him. My other half.”

“Your mate, yes.”

“Why do you use the term mate? Why did the sorceress use the term mate?”

“Well, the sorceress revealed what was to be true, she could see the word but not the meaning of the word. I use the term mate for the same reason. He is your soul mate. Why this will happen, I cannot say. You will have to ask the Goddess herself of that one, but what I know is this. You will be drawn to him through what has been referred to as the bond. What that is, I also can’t further explain. But this bond, and your mate, are a gift. A rare and precious gift from the Moon Goddess that is given to you and your wolf. It is apart of your destiny and without it, without him, you cannot fully gain control and ability of your powers and you cannot stop Kayden.”

“So they don’t think I can do this alone?”

“They don’t feel you should have to do this alone.”

I pondered the difference between those two ideals for a moment before another question reared its head.

“How would I ask the Moon Goddess, as you said?” This seemed rather impossible and peaked my curiosity.

“My child, you are the spirit of the Earth Goddess herself, do you not hear her from time to time?”

I nodded. I did in fact. She speaks to me when I use my powers. She guides me to certain plants when I am searching for a new medicine or food. I hear her giggles when I do something silly with nature.

“Then I suspect, that once you receive your wolf, and are connected to the Moon Goddess, she will want to speak to you as well. This power you hold, this position they have given you, they know how overwhelming it will be. They chose you carefully and they chose you wisely. You are the one my darling. I have always known it. And now it is time for you to know it. And to show it.”

I always knew of who I was. Being the Earth Mother reborn was something I had been for so long I no longer felt intimidated or frightened by it or weight of what it meant for my future. However, being the Luna, this Luna that the world needed was a position that frightened me. The weight of rebuilding the world was one thing, but the weight of being the mother of an entire species, being the leader and builder of a new species. I would be setting up rules, regulations, guiding them through peaceful interactions with humans. Would they even live around humans once this was over? Would we put humans back in charge? Wait was I technically in charge? No there is still more humans than wolves and I am only the mother of wolves. So would we separate us from humans? Would the humans ever accept us after what Kayden did…

I shook my head realizing how easily I had identified as one of them even though I wasn’t yet. It’s as if I already knew I was one of them, as if I already knew who I was, even thought I didn’t. The Earth Mother knew, and maybe deep down she had already told me in her own way.

I had been lost in my own thoughts for so long when I looked up and saw my grandmother still rocking in her chair humming to herself I realized that I forgot she was even there. I assumed she had left once I had zoned out but clearly she was content as is. I smiled, inwardly thanking the Earth Mother for giving me her. Our bloodline was made up of only women. Generations and generations, as far back as possible, all the way to Gaya herself, the Earth Mother. We were a long, well established line of powerful women. While I was the first since Gaya to have actual powers, the rest of the women all possessed something even greater in my opinion, wisdom. I called it their ability to see beyond because in some instances, that truly was what was happening. My grandmother has always had a sixth sense. A natural instinct that was only ever proven right and it occurs in circumstances with no evidence in her favor. My mother was a walking talking heart beat monitor. While they both couldn’t quantify it, neither mother or grandmother denied this ability. She could sense heartbeats around her. Sometimes within miles. It was extremely handy in cases where you need to be unseen. She told me stories of how it had come in handy when I was a baby and they were moving us here to Haven, giving them just enough notice to hide better or run when she sensed someone nearby.

I glanced back at my grandmother again as she hummed a lullaby she used to sing to me as a child. I wanted to ask her one more question but I was hesitant in case she was peaceful. I pulled myself up to standing and eyed her.

“My love, I am not asleep. If you have more questions please ask. We have only a few days left and many more questions to ask.”

She startled me and I sat down next to her as I answered.

“I have only one more that is pestering me, my mate…”

“Mhmm…”

“Is he already a wolf? Or will he become a wolf, like me?”  

She stopped rocking and after a few moments her eyes opened and met mine.

“I honestly don’t know the answer to that. This man, your mate, he will be the father of wolves. He will be the rightful King, unlike Kayden. He will be a strong and a peaceful wolf. But I cannot tell you whether he already is. I will tell you that if he is already a wolf, if he was born a wolf, He shifted at 16. And when you meet, you will be able to tell.”

“Are all wolves recruited by Kayden? Could he be one of the men I was born to fight against?”

“He could. Kayden keeps tight reigns on wolves, if he or his parents knew as a baby or child, or even not until he shifted then he would have been recruited by Kayden’s army, from what we have gathered for information. He makes it nonoptional for wolves to join his ranks, he feels they belong to him. So in order to not be, he would have had to have been hidden for at least the last 18 years if not more, and that would be difficult, but not impossible.”

“When will I leave Haven?”

“That will be your choice. Upon turning 18, you will be fully mature in your powers and you will have your wolf. However whether you feel you need more time and training will be a different question. Once you step out of Haven you will have to be on guard, and you will not be able to use your powers. Kayden has eyes everywhere, he will find you and you will never have a chance to find your mate. You must be competent and confident in your abilities to do that before you step out of Haven.”

“Do you think I am ready?”

I held my breathe as we looked me in the eyes, searching for answers I didn’t know if I wanted her to find.

“I think you are close. And I think receiving your wolf will answer that question more. She will change you. Whether that causes you to become more or less reckless, we will have to see.” With that, I left back to my room.

Gabryl arrived back at Haven a week before my birthday. I sensed his aura as he crossed into our mountain range and I couldn’t help the smile that formed knowing he was home.

We called Gabryl our guardian, but the reality was he wasn’t just ours. His bloodline goes back as far as ours, to the beginning and the time of Gaya and Tellus. Some say that Gabryl bloodlines is in fact that of Tellus, but all we know for sure is that as long as we have been around, a member of Gabryl bloodline has been around as well, watching over us. They were chosen as the guardians of Earth. Their purpose to protect our identity and if needed, our physical well being. As I grew up I gained more control over my sense of auras and from Gabryl’s I could tell you that he possesses power. But what that power is and how he can manifest it, I have never received an answer for that.

I asked my mother and grandmother once when I was younger, and they dismissed it, saying if he had powers then they would have seen them at some time or another. It was then I realized they truly didn’t know. And it wasn’t my place to tell.

I heard boisterous laughter coming from my mom’s den, telling me that Gabryl had made it into the home, only she could make him laugh like that. A few minutes later I heard my grandmother’s soft chuckle followed by light footsteps. I had been in the training room most of the afternoon, working on my physical strength, taking a break from practicing my powers.

I felt him before I saw him and when I turned around and my eyes met his, he drew in a breathe so sharp it startled me. Before I could process what had happened he dropped to his knees with his arm drew across his chest and his fist over his heart. His head was bowed and he solemnly spoke only one word, “Luna.”