In Another Forest

At the sound of her scream, the wolf tilted his head. “Are you hurt?”

Calla found herself alone in a forest on the ground after whatever that episode was with the lily. The large wolf stood over her. Little specks of shadow floated away from his fur where the speckles of light allowed through the canopy above. His eyes glowed red as he looked at her. His head tilted the other way. “Are you? I’m sorry if I scared you, I can’t help it.”

His voice was quiet and kind, far from the hungry growl she had been expecting from this creature. Words didn’t usually come from wolves. Her horror turned to confusion as she noticed what was around the two of them.

Trees rose out of the ground in all the colours of the rainbow and the leaves that hung from their branches matched. The ground was littered with all sorts of multicoloured fallen leaves, flowers she had never seen before, and moss. She lifted a hand and found purple moss beneath it. Her eyes widened.

“Wait… where are we?”

“Did you hit your head?” the wolf asked as though she had asked something silly.

“This doesn’t look like the forest I was in. Everything is… different.” She stood up and found herself only slightly taller than the wolf. She had always been tall, and she was taller than any of the other fourteen-year-old girls in her class. She wasn’t used to feeling so small. This wolf made her feel small.

She took a step and almost fell over. She grabbed at the wolf, holding onto his fur to steady herself. He gently turned his head far enough that he could look at her, then looked back beyond the tree she had been leaning against unconsciously. “What did this other forest look like? Maybe I can help you find it. Also maybe you should rest for a while longer. I can carry you if you need to. It will be bad if we stay here.”

It was then that she heard the noise that didn’t belong. Maybe she had heard it as she was waking up and it was soft enough that it had been blending into the rustle of the leaves in the invisible breeze. Now it was louder. It sounded like a waterfall, or maybe a steady stream of falling sand. “PssssssSSSSSSSSHHHHHH.” It was getting closer.

“What is that?”

“Death.” The wolf growled. “Now come on.”

She knew she had no time to waste as she climbed onto the back of the wolf with his help and he began to run away from the sound. As the two moved away from the sound she looked back and her eyes widened in terror. Behind them, there was a sudden end to the forest, and that end kept moving towards them. As it met obstacle after obstacle, everything turned to dust and blew away in the wind. A dust storm waged beyond the edge of the forest and she could barely see the landscape. She saw the barren wasteland beyond for a moment as the dust broke.

“It’s… killing the trees.” She said quietly.

“It will kill everything it touches. It leaves nothing alive. If you had stayed there for a little while longer you would have become dust too. How did you survive this long without knowing that?”

“I told you, this isn’t the forest I was in. That forest doesn’t have a moving death wall of dust.”

The wolf easily outran the dust even when not sprinting and soon she could no longer see it. He slowed to a brisk walk. Though she couldn’t see it anymore, on the wind she could still hear the sound of dust blowing away from that which had just been living.

“But that’s impossible. There are no other forests aside from this one. There’s no way there’s a forest out there without the barrier of dust.” He walked up to a rock and laid down, letting her get off.

She climbed onto the rock and sat down. There was a frown on her face. “But it’s the truth.”

The wolf tilted his head and then moved his face so his nose was close to her head. He drew in a long sniff before backing away and looking confused. “You smell strange, different from anything else I’ve smelled in the forest, and you also look kind of different. Your shape is right, but you’re made out of something different. And those clothes… is that a new style in the Roving City?”

“Roving City? No, these are just normal clothes where I come from.” She said looking down at her red shirt and jean shorts. Then she looked back up and squinted at the wolf. “You don’t look like the wolves I know either. They don’t have glowing red eyes for one, and… their fur doesn’t do that thing yours does when the light hits it.”

“You know other wolves that aren’t made of shadow?” The wolf appeared to smirk.

“Well no, because the wolves I know of can’t talk like a human and do their own thing in the wild. Dogs are kind of related to them, but dogs are different enough that they’re not wolves.”

“Interesting. I assume a human is what you are?” he bowed his head. “I am Augustus. I think I’m curious about these other wolves. Will you tell me all about them?”

“Sure.” She said quietly, hoping that Augustus wouldn’t want her to introduce him to a normal wolf. If he didn’t freak out anyone going about their day as they walked together to the zoo, he would have freaked out the wolves they went to see. As she imagined all of this she began to feel sad. Her mother would be missing her if no one else. She couldn’t miss school. She needed to get to this young artists' club meeting. “I’m Calla.”

“Like the flower? That seems fitting considering I found you in the moss like a flower.”

She blushed. “I don’t know how I got there.”

“A patch of moss is a great place to sleep. Would you like some help getting back to this other forest?”

She nodded quietly.

“Then I will help you. I know someone really smart who is for sure going to be able to help you get home. He just needs some help first.”

“What kind of help?”

“He has… is currently being imprisoned by a witch. I need you to convince the witch to let him go.”

Her eyes widened. “There are witches here?”

“Yes. Is that strange?” he sighed. “I would try to talk to the witch, but she doesn’t like me. No matter what I say I think she will only say ‘no’, but if you go we at least have a chance. Just make sure she doesn’t find out that I sent you. Will you do this?”

“I can do this.” She said quietly. This was starting to feel more like an adventure.

“Then follow me. I will lead you to her hut.”