Wolf heat: TEACHINGS PT.2
#11 of Wolf Heat
Ok folks time for chapter 11. Now we'll see the second part of Ventus training. So sit down, relax and drink some herb tea and we'll get starting.
TEACHINGS PT.2
FIVE RISING MOONS
In the horizon the fifth sun rise was rising, marking the end of the training session called the five rising suns. Ventus lied panting on a rock watching the sun. His every muscle was sore beyond belief and he found that he couldn't move from the spot where he had collapse the moment he felt the sun warm his weary body.
His master Ardor stood next to him. He was an old wolf, probably at the end of his life. His fur was once brown, but now mostly grey and white. Also he had a lot of bald spots making him look as rundown as an old tree. But once he had been a large wolf, with muscles covering his now shriveled body. But in his eyes a great strength still burned.
'Well done Ventus. You have completed the five rising suns. Five suns rise of uninterrupted training your body.' Ardor said smirking at his worn out pupil.
'...S-so now what? 'Ventus asked still panting hard.
'Now it is time for the second and final part of your training. But you won't train under my guidance.' Ardor answered him.
'Huh? What do you mean master?' Ventus asked, puzzled and a bit worried.
'...Come with me.' Ardor said and begun walking.
Ventus tried to push himself up, but his legs gave in and he fell flat on his stomach.
'...Sorry master. It seems I can't walk right now.' Ventus said with an apologizing smirk.
'I see...' Ardor said. Then he called on Calculi and Silex to carry Ventus.
As the two young wolves managed to get Ventus laying between their backs they both smirked at him.
'So the great Ventus needs a piggyback ride? Aww , that's ok. We're happy to oblige.' Silex teased him.
Then as they passed by Tenacis, who finally had healed enough to start walking around a little, Calculi shout to her;
'Hey Tenacis! Guess who we are!' Then they both started fake snarling and imitating Ventus from his first arrival, when he had come carrying Tenacis.
'Hey Ventus do Tenacis.' Silex said smirking to the wolf lying on his back. Tenacis couldn't help but to giggle at the sight of poor Ventus lying there rolling his eyes, giving the young female a annoyed look before he was carried out of sight.
Ventus was carried to the small glade where he had received his first lesson from Ardor. There were cliffs sticking out here and there from the ground, with moss growing on them. And a small waterfall coming from a rock wall. The entire ground was actually covered in light green moss. There was something utterly peaceful over the glade.
Silex and Calculi dropped Ventus there and left to look for someone else to bother or that was to Ventus assuming. He looked over to his master.
'So...Why are we here again?' Ventus asked looking around as he managed to sit up.
But no sooner had he asked the question before he felt soft fur press up against his back and he went stiff.
'Hello dear.' The old wolf female said as she leaned over Ventus shoulder, pressing up against him.
Ventus shivered, finding the situation somewhat awkward.
'...Hi.' He said as the old female alpha of the pack got of him and walked up to Ardor that just smiled deviously.
Ventus had not met her since the day he arrived. In different to her partner Ardor she had all her fur intact, and it was in a beautiful white color, like virgin snow. Ventus turned around as he heard someone coming.
'Mom could you stop showing up on guys like that? It's embarrassing!' Said a young male wolf entering the glade. He much like the old female had the same smooth snow white fur, but unlike the alpha female he wasn't nearly as undetectable when he appeared.
'Oh, Hiems dear, you got to let your old mother have some fun.' The old wolf female said to the young wolf.
Then looking at Ventus as if she saw him for the first time she smiled.
'Oh I'm sorry. We never got the chance to get properly introduced did we? My name is Nebula, this here is our son Hiems.' She said, as to which Ardor node.
Hiems walked up to Ventus politely lowering his head, his ears horizontal and waging his tail showing a friendly greeting.
'Nice to meet you...Ventus am I right?' Hiems said looking down at the now half sitting Ventus.
Ventus looked him over. He had a long torso and as said snow white fur. His voice was soft sounding almost like a female. In fact Ventus had to take a second sniff to make sure Hiems was actually a male.
'Yeh...Nice to meet you.' Ventus answered trying to sound as polite as he could even though he felt he just wanted some sleep.
Hiems smiled timidly. Then his father Ardor got his attention and gestured for him to leave.
'See you Ventus.' He said before leaving the glade.
Ventus looked after him, and then he turned his attention to the two elderly wolves.
'So what is the rezone for this?' Ventus asked.
Both wolves smirked at him.
'Well we thought that only one of us training you would be unfair. So we decided to chare the fun.' Nebula said and Ardor node in approval.
Ventus felt a bit puzzled.
'Oookay? So Nebula will take over supervising my training then?'
Ardor node in response.
'Well I leave you two to it. I'll be seeing you later Ventus.' He said before he too left the glade.
Ventus sigh.
'So what is the second part of my training Nebu...Teacher?' Ventus asked. Though he still only barely could move he wanted to know what was in store for him.
Nebula smirked.
'Ventus the second part of your training is called the five rising moons. This training makes up for the five rising suns, by giving you five night times of physical rest. In this time you will instead train your spirit. 'Nebula told him.
Well that made sense; Ardor had told him that he first needed to train his body before training his spirit.
'Ok...And what about Hiems?' Ventus asked, as his appearance this far seemed a bit random.
Nebula chuckled
'Oh he follows me around everywhere...He really isn't very independent I'm afraid.' She told him.
Ventus thought on that for a moment. He would ask Tenacis about him later.
'So how will I train my spirit?' Ventus asked.
Nebula frowned.
'Perhaps training isn't the right word. By the harsh training you have already received your spirit should have grown with your body. What we will do now is sooner to make you aware of your spiritual power and perhaps fine tune it a bit, teach you how to use it properly.'
And then the second part of Ventus training started. First of all Nebula taught him some relaxing breathing exercises that was suppose to make him relax his body and mind, and help him focus.
Ventus still was too exhausted to move much, but he got visit in the glade by Tenacis the next day.
'Hi Ventus! Not to elaborate on Silex joke the other day, but looks like the roles are changed.' She said smirking as she walked up to him. Her legs were more or less fully healed by now and she could walk and even run without much difficulties.
'Nice to see you too Tenacis.' Ventus said smiling back sarcastically. The five rising suns he had spent away from the rest of the pack, only meeting one of them from time to time.
'You have no idea how much commotion you have created in the pack Ventus. Not enough that an outsider passed the test, but now he's being trained by the alphas. You're the talk of the pack. Some wants you here; they think you would be a great asset to the pack. The others say this is all a disgrace and wants you ripped into very tiny pieces.' Tenacis told him still smiling.
Ventus frowned.
'Well isn't that nice...'
Tenacis lay down next to him, leaning her head on his back.
'Don't worry. As for now you're under protection from the alphas. No one will hurt you.' She reassured him.
Ventus thought about it. This pack had some odd tradition, but still it was odd that he was accepted by the leaders so easily and to such high degree. He would have to ask Ardor about it later... He wasn't quite as comfortable talking to Nebula. And that reminded him.
'Tenacis, do you know Hiems?' He asked her.
She looked puzzled by the question.
'Sure I have played with him a lot...He's usually a bit of an outsider though. And he doesn't seem to be very comfortable with the other males. ..I know they hanged around a bit in the past. Why do you ask?'
Ventus ignored the question. He had his assumption about Hiems, but in the end that wasn't really anything he cared much about. But he was a bit curious.
He got his attention back to the present and felt Tenacis lean her head against his back. She then turned around and snuggled up against him. Ventus wasn't surprised; he kind of had seen this coming. He didn't try to move away. As for now he saw no rezone to, even though he had a strange feeling in the back of his head. He decided to enjoy the warmth of a female against his body.
It was probably a couple of hours later when Ventus woke up. He felt sort of drowsy. He could feel Tenacis soft fur against his body and opened his eyes slightly and watched her white fur.
'...Wait a minute...White fur!?' Ventus said opening his eyes wide and leaping away from the wolf next to him.
That was of course non other then Nebula, watching him smirking.
'God morning Ventus dear. Tenacis left some time ago.' She said while getting up.
Ventus should have noticed Tenacis leaving but he had no thoughts on that. He shuddered quietly.
'You...You are...Never mind.' Ventus said getting over the shock of the elderly wolfs appearance.
Ventus continued his training till late afternoon, when he decided to go see Ardor. Nebula let him go as her son Hiems came to be with her.
Ventus found Ardor on top of the highest cliff. Climbing up to him Ventus sat down with his master.
'Master I need to speak with you.' Ventus told him.
Ardor was quiet for a moment.
'Shouldn't you be calling Nebula master now?' He said smiling.
Ventus told him a bit annoyed that he could very well have two masters. Ardor chuckled but node.
There was another moment of silence. Ventus had lost track and had a hard time to start talking again. Luckily Ardor broke the silence.
'The view from here is magnificent. Isn't it Ventus?' He asked looking over the landscape.
Ventus node in response.
'Yeh...It reminds me of the mountains where I was born.' He said thinking back.
Ardor seemed worried.
'Do you mean that mountain?' He asked gesturing towards a big mountain in the horizon, however looking like a small blur.
'Yeh...I never knew you could see it all the way from here' Ventus said thoughtful.
Ardor sigh.
'You had a question?' He asked already knowing the answer.
'Yes master. Why do you accept me like this? Why do I receive this training? I'm an outsider!' Ventus asked, almost throwing the words out.
Ardor was silence, thinking before he answered.
'There is going to be a battle Ventus. A battle between our pack, Terra's pack and those wolves in the mountain' He said. A grim look on his face.
'I don't understand master. Why would it be a battle?' Ventus asked giving his master a puzzled look.
'Ventus. Tell me how things were in the mountain. Tell me also how things were when you left the pine forest where Terra has his territory.' Ardor said slowly, as if this was one lecture he rather not give.
Ventus reluctantly thought back. He was not a person that likes to look back at his past, yet he couldn't deny his master.
'In the mountains things were hard. There wasn't much food and competition was tough. But everyone was happy... In the pine forest...Well I don't remember much, everything's kind of a blur. I remember in the mating season only the alphas were allowed to mate.' He told his master.
Ardor thought about the blurs in Ventus memories. The test that every one receiving training had to pass, that of the honey filled forest had been know to cause amnesia and similar to some of the few that survived.
'That's correct. Because of a shortage of food. It is the same here. All the packs have more wolves then prey to feed them. So therefore I can tell that soon a battle over territory will emerge.' Ardor told him.
Ventus thought about what he had been told.
'But master that makes even less sense. If there will be a battle I might just as well be fighting for your pack as Terras, or even those from the mountain. Why do you train me!?' Ventus cried out.
Ardor chuckled.
'Ventus, the teachings do not belong solely to my pack. You have potential, you're a survivor. In the end this is about natural selection. It's our duty to reassure that the most potent will go on to give birth to the next generation. No matter who wins this war it will be the fittest for survival.'
Ventus reflected upon that as his master left him alone to think. As he lied there on the top of the cliff he slowly drifted into sleep.
To be continued...
Ok I can't say I got everything I wanted into this chapter. I wanted to have more details on his spiritual training. Maybe we will hear about that later or I leave the details out. Either way this chapter got a bit messy and a lot of things might seem random. I'm sorry but I kind of come up with details as I go. Also I needed to lay down some ground for the newer characters.
New names for the chapter still on Latin:
Nebula: mist, fog;
Hiems: winter, winter time
Ok hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please rate it and if you got the time, comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.