Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

-Jack-
I saw the gun, but I had no time to move. I heard the shots. I felt the pressure in my chest. I heard the scared yells, but then everything fell silent. I could only hear my own heartbeat, nothing else. I still tried to move. I tried to turn into a wolf. I had no idea if I was actually turning because my body had turned numb.
But only momentarily.
The pain hit me like a truck, and I suddenly couldn't breathe. When I looked down, I saw my jacket turning red. From my blood. I fell to my knees and looked up at the man who shot me. I thought no one was saying anything, but it turned out my friends were trying to fight, their lips spread in growls and yells, but I couldn't hear them.
My heart was slowing down. The world around me slowed down. The pain was still spreading, growing more intense, and I was sure I'd pass out. My chest was the worst. I pressed a hand on it, but something sharp cut my skin. I looked down and saw a tiny piece of glass in my fingertip. Glass, blood, and a hint of green liquid.
Wolfsbane.
I was a dead man now.
"Arch..." I whispered and tried to find my mate.
There were so many people around us, and more were coming. I had no idea where they were coming from. They just appeared out of nowhere. I saw chains in their hands as they tried to capture the few wolves.
"Arch...!" I coughed when I saw a glimpse of his brown fur just before I collapsed down to my knees. "No..."
My mate... They wanted to hurt my mate... But I was already dead. My body refused to move. It had no strength to stay up. And the pain... I could feel the poison slithering through my veins, spreading fast, already eating away at my flesh.
I drew air into my burning lungs and watched as they finally captured Arch, who was trying to get to me. I could feel his pain. I could feel his fear. I wanted to tell him I was all right, that he needed to focus on saving himself, but when I opened my mouth, only blood came out.
I was actually dead...
"Jack...! Jack!!"
I couldn't turn my head to see Oliver, who kept yelling my name. Odd... I could only hear his voice.
"JACK!!!"
I spotted him, but the enemy already had him chained. He was in his tiny human form. Why was he not turning? Where were his guardians? The enemy must've done something when he brought us here.
Jaden was not far from him. His head was wrapped with chains. He could not open his mouth. For a second, I wondered why, but of course... He couldn't use Howl with his muzzle so tightly shut. I wasn't sure if that would've saved me. Not with all the poison in my system.
The man who shot me suddenly stood in front of me with a mean smile on his face. He was... older. Thin. He smelled pure evil. He brought the gun up and shot me two times more, sending me lying on my back in the snow. I couldn't even blink anymore. I felt cold as I stared at the misty sky. The noises were going away. I could still hear Oliver screaming my name, and the wolves growling and whining like they were in pain. I heard laughter as the enemies celebrated this victory.
My mate... The enemy was going to possess my mate and turn him against his family. I tried to get up. I screamed and shouted inside my head to get my body up and moving, but in vain. It was so hard to even breathe...
The mist high above me rippled like something big made its way slowly past me, but I didn't see anything. It happened again. My eyes had stopped moving, and my vision was turning gray, but I saw the ripples. For a second there, I thought I saw a big wooden ship traveling past me in complete silence. Like I was... Like I was at the bottom of the sea, looking up at the surface.
The world fell silent, but soon I could've sworn I heard the distant echo of horns. Was I dead? Was this afterlife? Spirit realm?
Fenrir appeared above me, his face upside down at the edge of my vision. He stood next to my head with sad eyes, then kneeled down to rest his hands on my cheeks.
"You have to get up," he whispered.
"I can't," I told him and gasped for air. "I have no strength left."
"I know you're in pain, but I need you to get up," he said and smiled.
"My body... I'm cold..."
"I know, I know," he whispered, brushing his hand through my hair. "You will feel better soon, I promise. But I need you to get up, okay?"
"Fenrir... I can't... It's over," I said, feeling something wet run down my cheek. "I lost... We lost... The enemy..."
"You are my Champion," he said, interrupting me. "My Champion will never lose."
"I'm not..." I murmured and looked past him.
Now I saw the mighty vessels in the sky, heading toward the castle. I heard the horns in my heart. Fenrir looked up as well.
"Valhalla is here with you," he said and turned his attention back to me. "You are not alone."
"They shot me... with wolfsbane," I murmured, trying to look down at my bloodied chest, but my body was growing cold. Lifeless. "I died."
"You have to fight it," Fenrir said softly. "Champions never die. All you have to do is get up."
"I'm not a Champion," I whispered.
"Are we still arguing about that?" he asked and let out a sad chuckle. "You are my Champion. Now and forever. And now you have to get up and save the world. That is what Champions do."
"They got Arch... They have my mate," I whispered.
"All you need to do is get up. Then you'll save him," he said. "You can save them all."
I stared up at him because that was the only thing I could do. "Are they gone?" I asked.
"They're not inside yet. I can still see them. They are fighting back so hard. They are trying to come to you," he said, looking toward the castle. "But they can't come to you. You have to go to them."
I tried to lift my hand, but in vain. My dead body couldn't move anymore.
"You have to save them," I begged him. "You have to... You..."
"I need your help," he replied, and stood up. "Come, you are not done here."
"I can't move," I said.
"You can. You can."
"I..."
Arch... There still was time... If only... But Fenrir was wrong. My body was gone. I couldn't even hear my heartbeat.
"Stand up."
"I can't..."
"You have to stand up."
I would've shaken my head, if...
"Jack, you have to get up."
I saw the ships, the boats, the big and small vessels gliding through the sky. Everything around me was turning a darker shade of gray, with a little hint of blue in it. And as it got darker, I started seeing tiny lights everywhere.
"The world is waiting for you," Fenrir said calmly, like I was just having trouble getting out of bed.
"I'm already dead..." I breathed out. This was the Spirit Realm. It had to be.
"No, it's not. You have to get up. All you have to do is get up. Your mate needs you to get up."
I wanted to. There was nothing I wanted more than to get up at that very moment. I wanted to go save Arch. I wanted to help save the world. I wanted to make those bastards suffer. I still wanted my revenge after everything I'd been put through.
And I wanted my mate...
"Come on," Fenrir continued, his voice playfully taunting me. "You can't give up now. You have to get up. You have to fight it. Your heart is strong. It can deal with this. It's just a little bit of wolfsbane. All you have to do is stand up."
I tried again. I tried again, and again, and again.
"You can do it," he said, cheering me on, even though nothing was happening. "Don't let them decide when it's your time to go. You are stronger than that."
"I'm... not..." I whispered.
"Believe me," he said. "It's simple. You just have to get up. I'll tell you a secret, but after that, you have to get up."
"Secret?" I repeated.
"Yes. But promise you'll get up."
"I..."
"Promise."
"I'll get up, I promise," I said, lying.
He smiled and leaned against his knees, his face right above me. "You already died once. When you saved your mate from Henry, you died."
"Then how can I still be here?" I asked.
He leaned even closer and whispered, "Because you got up."
I only stared up at him. I was told my soul was so small and fragile it was a miracle I had survived.
"Get up," he whispered and stood back up. "Get up."
"I–"
"Get up!" he demanded, taking steps backwards. "Get up!!"
I heard a loud thud, and the air around me rippled, and the sea of Valhalla above me got engulfed in an angry storm. The horns were much louder now.
"Get up and show them my might! Show them the might of Valhalla!" Fenrir shouted over the horns, and another thud, even louder this time, split the sky and the sea. "Get up and show them your power!!"
I gasped so hard I hurt my throat, and it turned into a scream of agony when the pain hit me again. I closed my eyes half a second later to shield them from the sudden brightness I was surrounded by.
"Yes! Get up, Champion! Get up and unleash the true strength of Valhalla!"
My hands were freezing cold. Breathing hurt so much I wanted to die. The horns still blared, and the sky rumbled when I opened my eyes. I was sitting in the cold snow, but it was red. Red from my blood.
I brought my hands up and stared at my blue skin. Something small and shiny fell on my palm. I shivered uncontrollably when I brought the hand closer so I could see it better. A small shard of glass, coated in blood. Another piece fell, and I looked down at my chest. My jacket and shirt were torn by the bullets. With one sharp movement, I ripped the shirt open so I could see my injuries.
As I watched, my body pushed out more pieces of glass. The poison oozed out of the holes. The bleeding stopped. The wounds healed.
I looked up and saw the castle.
The world fell silent.
"Go, my Champion," Fenrir whispered. "This world still needs you."
I let all my fear, anger, frustration and hate out as one loud roar, my body finally turning into a wolf. The second my hands had turned into paws, I took the first step toward the castle. I nearly fell back into the snow since my body was still weak and shaken, but the second step was already more balanced.
They had my mate.
My body recovered as I continued stumbling through the snow, and soon I was able to run.
And then I was able to run.
'Show them why you are my Champion,' Fenrir said and laughed somewhere in my head.
In my anger and hurry, I didn't realize it at first... I ran as fast as I could, heading straight to the castle, but even though I was getting closer, it didn't become bigger the way it should have. I didn't stop to think about what it meant. I didn't stop to think about why my paws shook the ground. I didn't notice the snow falling off the trees as I passed them by. The size of those trees should've been a hint, too.
I reached the castle walls and saw the faces of my enemy hurrying behind the safety of the sturdy wooden doors. I heard panicked shouting. I loved the sound of that.
They better be scared.
And I finally understood my true power. I understood it when I easily jumped over the ten feet wall and caused a small earthquake when I landed on the other side. I had to look down to see the enemy, the humans who were the size of dolls compared to my body.
I counted a dozen men, all grabbing their guns, but the bullets felt like mere pellets when they hit my thick fur. With one swipe, I sent half of them flying through the air, and the rest of them quickly vanished.
Then I turned my attention to the main entrance of the castle. I assumed I was still small enough to fit through when I dashed toward it, not stopping until I was inside the castle. Turned out I was not small enough. I ignored the wall that came crashing down next to me, and let out a howl that shook the windows to let the enemy know I had arrived.
If they hadn't noticed it already.
'Your mate is straight up ahead,' Fenrir told me, like I needed directions to my mate.
The massive entrance hall gave me enough room to move, but there was another wall in front of me. The stones there were much bigger, and the wall did its best to hold its ground as I launched at it, pushing my head through the doorway and using all my strength to bulldoze my way through.
'Oh, by the way, you can change your size,' Fenrir said.
Oh, that was good news.
'Not bigger, you lunatic! You'll bring the whole place down!' he yelled at me, but it was too late.
As I grew bigger, the stones had to give up, and the wall practically exploded. The castle let out a miserable grumble when the wall came down, bringing a lot of the upper floor with it. No one important got hurt in the process.
There he was, my beautiful mate, lying tied at the opposite end of the big room with Jaden and Tilly. They were now in their human forms, and they were panting in exhaustion, unable to move.
Everyone in the room blinked at me with wide eyes.
I turned my attention to the enemies. Most of them vanished into thin air when I roared loudly, and the rest tried to shoot me with their pitiful guns right before I squashed them like bugs.
I knew the big bad enemy had to be still around, so I didn't waste a second. I turned my attention back to Arch, who was trying to crawl toward me.
"Jack?" he breathed out after pushing himself up. "Is it really you?"
I brought my nose to him to take in his scent and wagged my tail, hitting the wall so hard the windows broke.
"I thought you were..." Arch said, sniffed hard, then laughed. "But you're not!"
I took a good look at the chains around his body, then carefully placed my front teeth around it, snapping it in half. I did that same to a couple of more chains until he was able to wiggle free, then helped Jaden and Tilly, who were still staring at me in disbelief.
"You all right?" Arch asked as they stood up, and I nodded.
"So we're just going to ignore...?" Jaden spoke, gesturing at my size. "No. Never mind. We need to find Oliver! They took him somewhere else!"
'I found him,' Fenrir told me. 'You have to hurry. He's in danger.'
I gestured for them to follow me, and this time I let my size get a lot smaller so I wouldn't injure anyone with falling debris.
'You have to be quick,' Fenrir said, his voice growing increasingly worried.
'What's going on?'
'They are trying to take the Echo by force.'