Spiral of Events: Death of Her?

Crystal kept an eye on the torches as she kept running. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a set of golden eyes blinking in front of her. Crystal hesitated. She began to shudder and folded her arms tightly across her chest for comfort.

The eyes lunged from the darkness, revealing a large, white ethereal wolf. A mystical third eye in the center of his forehead blinked in unison with the other two. The wolf opened his jaws, revealing razor-sharp white fangs. As Sue stumbled back, off-balance, the wolf creature grabbed her shoulder between his teeth, biting down hard.

"Ahh, no," she screamed.

The wolf released her, then began slowly circling around her, baring his teeth through a low menacing growl.

Crystal grabbed her shoulder in pain, blood oozing between her fingers. She looked toward the way she came, but faced more darkness.

The wolf’s growl turned into a rough warning to her, "I would not do that if I were you. My pack lies in wait for my order."

" You—you spoke," she stuttered, lips quivering.

"Yes, I spoke, what of it, Casalyian look-alike." The wolf snarled, advancing.

Crystal momentarily lost her fear, studying the beast in front of her. Her smell shifted from terrified prey to something unusual. All terror seemed to leave Crystal. Her heart beat faster but her eyes lit up. She dropped her jaw and cocked her head.

The wolf hesitated, unsure of the change in his prey. Then he continued to circle her, ears pressed low on his head.

Just as the wolf readied to lunge again for her, yelps and a rather loud smashing sound echoed from the unlit portion of the hallway.

The pack leader's ears perked up. "Beta, Omega, fall back and protect them. No pup left behind," the pack leader ordered.

Six pups burst out from the darkness, followed by seven adolescent wolves. Eight adult wolves brought up the rear. The unlit hallway immediately burst into bright light. A golem, evidently the perpetrator of the smashing noise, moved halfway forward and paused.

The wolves immediately moved into a circular formation with the pups in the middle. The adolescent wolves surrounded the pups; then the adult wolves surrounded the young ones.

The golem stomped toward them.

Crystal's legs shook. "Not again! Not again!" She kept repeating. She had faced one just like this a few moments before she came down this hallway. Her eyes darted around to the wolves, catching a peek at the trembling pups, the tense adult wolves growling, and the adolescent wolves looking ready to pounce.

The pack leader pressed himself down closer to the floor, his front paws spread apart. A savage growl escaped his throat. His ears pressed flat against the skull again. Wolves fight even though they know it will be useless. They fight to protect their young. They fight on his orders. Fear, they have to feel it, and yet they still fight.

Perhaps I need to learn from them, Crystal thought. They will possibly die from this thing, yet they lie in wait to take it down. I should have fought harder for Ashley, for Brandon, for Creed, and for Sue. I will fight! I will survive! Ashley waits for me. Crystal stopped thinking and withdrew the sword stationed at her side. Her legs steadied. Her eyes narrowed. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the sword in front of her.

The golem suddenly lunged and so did the pack leader. The golem swung his huge fist, connecting with the wolf and slamming him solidly into the wall. The first string of wolves moved forward. The pack leader's eyes immediately fell upon them. "Stay back!"

Now Crystal lunged forward, her blade slashing into the golem's arm. The golem turned to look at her and sent its left fist rushing toward her. Crystal ducked down, glaring, and she swiped at its legs.

"Food, what are you doing?" The pack leader growled, standing on all four legs.

"Fighting." Crystal answered.

"Well then . . . " before the pack leader could finish, the golem lunged its foot at him. The leader jumped, landed on the golem's leg and ran up the leg. He lunged for the wrist, clenching his jaws down tight. The jaws managed to break through the gold. The golem began to shake its arm, trying to get the massive beast off of it.

Crystal lunged forward again, striking the leg of the golem. The strike did no damage, but did draw the golem's attention as Crystal stood up. The golem went to hit her with the arm that had the wolf leader attached to it. It finally flung the wolf leader off, but Crystal held her arms open to catch the wolf. The impact caused her to slide backward, her back hitting the wall and knocking the breath out of her. She let out a soft "oof" sound.

The wolf touched down and tackled Crystal down. What is this food doing— why is she doing this? he thought. I'm just going to eat her in the end.

Crystal hit the floor with the tackle. The wolf pounced on top of her, pressing down on her wounded shoulder with his paw and baring his teeth into her face.

Terror began to worm its way through Crystal’s pain. She grunted, gritting her teeth, refusing to cry. She felt her face becoming a shade paler.

"Why?" the wolf snarled.

"Because I know," she spoke quietly. "I have one of my own."

The Golem advanced toward them.

"One of your own what?"

"A little one—I was a fool who could not protect her." Crystal's eyes narrowed, forgetting about her fear and pain. "I want to change, to protect her, to protect them."

The golem readied to hit the leader, aiming his fist in that direction.

The wolf crouched down. His third eye lit up as he turned spirit. The golem's fist went through him. "We fight as one then,” the wolf yelled to Crystal and he connected to the golem's arm. The leader bit the Golem cracking its armor, then retreated for his next attack.

The wolf connected to Crystal's arm and turned his body into a solid fur covering with his head at her fist. The leader's head snarled. The rest of the pack, except for the pups, let out a terrible howl that shook the hallway. The golem looked around.

The rest of the wolves turned white and wispy, connecting to Crystal's body. Once they were fully connected, the ghostly crew also solidified, creating a living fur armor. A wolf head protected Crystal’s upper face. His eyes became her eyes; his snout, her nose. Wolf heads covered her fists and the top of her feet. The golem aimed for her, but Crystal's body moved, reacting independent of her.

The leader spoke. "Our wills must be the same. Do you wish to survive?"

"Yes," Crystal answered truthfully. Then one of her fists shot out and smashed into the golem, creating an illusion of a wolf biting. The golem's face began to crack.

''Do you wish to protect our pups?"

"Yes." Then her right leg kicked out, slamming into the golem’s midsection. It cracked again.

"Are you pack?'' the leader asked her.

"Yes." Her right fist shot out with so much force the golem shattered. A mess of golden rubble spread across the floor. The eyes of the golem lit up. "I have failed."

The pups let out yelps of joy. The armor let out separate howls that became one cry.

The hallway behind them started to close. The leader growled, "Move out!" The pups and Crystal began running down the hallway as it closed behind them. A bright golden door suddenly appeared in front of them. Crystal stopped abruptly, studying the door as it crept open. Hemmed in, she cautiously stepped through.