Keeper

Cassidie walked through a wasteland. Dead, gnarled trees littered the area, graying grass crunched beneath her boots, the sky overhead was cloudy and dark with the impending threat of a storm or tornado. Nothing moved, but then again, nothing could.

Everywhere she looked, she saw dead monsters lying around. They were burned, beheaded, shredded or dismembered; it was an... interesting sight. In the distance, she saw a great palace and thought that someone there might be able to help her understand what was going on. In the background, she heard the sounds of a mob marching and they were singing a song.

Cassidie stopped to listen to the lyrics, wondering what kind of song it was. “We will fight till the end, and if you can’t comprehend: if you ever come back we’ll make your world turn black. Don’t dare to turn around or we’ll stomp you to the ground…”

Cassidie stopped walking for a moment to look around, wondering where the sounds were coming from. She assumed that there were hundreds from how heavy the feet were pounding and they were definitely in varying sizes. But she saw nothing, aside from corpses and wasteland, so she continued on.

As she drew closer to the palace, the sounds grew louder and she continued to glance behind her only to find no one there. Finally, she reached the castle and there, in the center of the courtyard, was a large fighting circle. Standing in the center of the circle was a brown-spotted white wolf with a humanoid body, standing on its hind-legs. The wolf held a regal stance with its front arms behind its back and its head held high. Cassidie wondered briefly if she was supposed to bow, but decided that answers were more important than courtesy at the moment.

“Uh, excuse me?” the blonde called, moving forward cautiously in case the wolf attacked. “Could you tell me where I am?”

“Hello, my daughter,” said the wolf in a female’s voice. “I am glad you have finally come. I knew you would be the one as soon as you were born; I felt it. I am proud of you for coming this far.”

Cassidie stared at the wolf for a moment, wondering what was going on. 'My daughter'? What does she mean by that? She doesn’t look like my mother… Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Cassidie looked back up at the wolf and said, “Not to be a puffball or anything, but who are you?”

The wolf smiled and replied, “I am your ancestor, Kadmina. I am the reason you are who you are now and who you will become soon enough. But that will all be explained later. For now, I need you to listen carefully, daughter.” Cassidie slowly nodded her head and motioned for the wolf to continue.

“There is a very important book you will find. When you do, be very careful whom you talk about it with. Hide it in a safe place and only tell your mate where it is. No matter what the prophecy says, your mate and their confidante are the only ones you can truly trust. Is that understood?”

“My mate?” Cassidie inquired. Does she mean like… my soul mate? “What are you talking about?”

“Things will happen in the future that will require difficult decisions, but you are strong, Cassidie. You are a smart young woman; I am certain you will know what to do whenever trouble arises. There is a spell in the book for every problem you will face. And don't worry, you’ll know which spells to use when the time comes.”

Kadmina looked up at the sky. Cassidie glanced upward as well and noticed that everything was becoming blurred and distorted, more than before. The large white wolf turned her gaze back to the girl in front of her and said, “I believe it is time for you to leave.”

“Wait!” Cassidie ordered. “What are you talking about? What book is it? And what spells should I use?”

Kadmina smiled as her image began to distort as well. “The answers will come to you with time. Goodbye for now, Cassidie. Be well.”

“But how do I know where to find the book?” No answer came and Cassidie found herself surrounded by blackness.

Shooting upright in bed, Cassidie gasped and looked around, purple eyes surveying her room for any figure that wasn’t supposed to be there. Finding her room bright as always due to the sun being high in the sky and no large, white, bipedal wolves in sight, Cassidie gave a soft breath and sighed.

Standing from the bed, she made her way to the kitchen for a noontime snack. “If I keep waking up from dreams like this, I’ll start falling asleep at school tonight,” she grumbled, making a peanut butter sandwich.

“But what could this one have meant?” she wondered aloud. It wasn’t the first time a dream like this had happened to her, but this was the most vivid and it had also been the first to introduce that anthropomorphic wolf creature.

Shaking her head to clear it, Cassidie chewed at her sandwich in aggravation. “Ugh, I must be going puffball. Maybe some more sleep will have me feeling wicked again.”

Yawning, the blonde made her way back to her bedroom, settling back down in the bed and covering herself. “Maybe I should talk to Gabs about it...”

A pair of large brown eyes watched her from the window and long brown hair was pushed to the side as a smile appeared on pink lips. “Well, I think it best to warn the Council. It’s almost time.”