Sorceresses of Gaiah
The question echoed loudly in my mind, insistent and relentless in its search for an answer. The kiss felt faint like the leftovers of a dream slipping through my grasp. I hoped for a face, a voice—anything to make some sense out of it but came up with nothing.
Was it Higan? No… it didn’t feel like him. The kiss in my memory was raw and consuming, driven by something more profound than desire—a connection that transcended reason. Higan and I did not posses that.
Did I dream of it? Was it another dream like the one I had with the white wolf tearing my gut out?
Frustrated, I rubbed my temples and let out a groan. My pulse still raced from the phantom sensation. Was this another trick of my scrambled mind, or something real I have long forgotten?
The afternoon dragged on, and despite my best efforts to stay awake, exhaustion eventually claimed me. My eyes grew heavier with each passing second until I finally surrendered to sleep.
I knew what was coming and it did come.
The scent of rain-soaked earth had become sharper and invigorating. I stood in the same otherworldly forest from before, this time but was bathed in shimmering moonlight. The silver-threaded canopy stretched endlessly above, glowing softly like a living, breathing entity.
Something was different about it.
An unfamiliar sense of calm settled over me, though, tinged with something more intense—anticipation, perhaps? I glanced down and found myself barefoot once again, the soft moss cool beneath my feet.
The breeze whispered through the trees, carrying my name like a lover’s call. Something had definitely changed about the forest, it felt more alive and real.
Shadows danced between the trees, watching but never approaching. I took a tentative step forward and the earth pulsed beneath me, thrumming in rhythm with my heartbeat in response.
“Woah,” I laughed to myself. Whatever my imagination was conjuring, it was doing one hell of a Job with the sensory experience.
The dream seemed to be drawing me deeper, guiding me toward something or someone waiting in the shadows.
And this time, I walked toward it.
“I like the lack of hesitance,” a familiar giggle teased the wind before it reached me.
“Am I meant to hesitate?“ I continued walking on. There wasn't a clear path yet I somehow knew where to step.
“Most people do when they have to confront unknown parts about themselves,” She said in whispy words. It was calming to hear. If she wanted to get me comfortable to kill me, it was working.
“Well, I’m not most people, am I?” I replied, my voice steady as I moved deeper into the dream. The pulsing earth beneath me seemed to guide my steps, pulling me toward a destination I couldn’t see.
But then I frowned. Who was I talking to so casually?
The giggle sounded again as though carried on the wings of the wind. “No, you’re not. But you already know that, don’t you?”
I froze for a moment, the familiarity of the voice sending a shiver down my spine. It wasn’t just familiar. It was mine. The last time I was here, I got attacked by a wolf and I was quite sure it wasn't the wolf talking to me.
“What…” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the rustling leaves. “Who are you?”
“You know that,” she replied, stepping out from the shadows.
And there she was, or rather, there I was.
She looked exactly like me—same face, same physique, same height—but her presence was different, more graceful, more domineering. Her onyx hair moved in a watery motion, flowing endlessly, and her colorless eyes were haunting to look at.
A memory surfaced with a jolt, and I realized I hadn’t remembered her until now. The last time I saw her, she asked me to find the owner of a bite mark on my left shoulder.
“You…” I scoffed. “We’ve met before.”
She smiled a knowing, almost playful smile. “You did what I asked.”
“What you asked?” I echoed, frowning.
“To find the owner of the bite mark,” she said simply. Her words felt heavy, as though they carried an entire world of meaning I couldn’t grasp.
“I don’t believe I did…” I muttered, confused still.
“Oh, you did,” she replied, her tone light and teasing. “You just don’t remember. Not yet.”
Great, even my dreams were missing from my memories. But, I decided to play along. After all, this was just another lucid dream —an elaborate, unsettling lucid dream. “Alright,” I said cautiously. “Let’s say I did. What now?”
She tilted her head, her colorless eyes studying me. “Tell me, Harlyn, have you ever heard of the Sorceresses of Gaia?”
“The Sorceresses of Gaia?” I repeated. It was a mouthful. The title sounded mythical but it didn’t spark any knowledge I had on sorcery. Afterall everyone knows only Melbringers do sorcery. “No, I don’t think I have.”
It was probably something my brain conjured.
She hummed. “You will.”
Before I could ask what she meant, a wolf’s howl pierced the dreamscape, resonating through the woods. The sound was sharp, vibrating through my very bones.
I turned my head toward the direction of the howl, my body instinctively bracing. It must be the white wolf.
The sound of heavy paws thudding against the earth inched closer. I assumed the wolf was charging through the woods. The air around me seemed to thrum with its approach, but for some reason I stood still, waiting. It felt like my fear was missing.
The entity, my other self? My doppelganger? Whatever she was, watched me with an amused expression, her arms folded with regal grace. It was odd seeing myself in such a light. I was inclined to think I was... beautiful.
The wolf burst into the clearing with feral grace, skidding to a stop just in front of me. It was massive, its white fur shimmering under the moonlight, its golden eyes locked onto mine.
The last time I was so close to it, I closed my eyes instinctively before it struck me. I didn't get a good look at it.
We stared at each other, the air between us electric. The gold of its eyes was alarming because I'd seen it before. Right? But where?
“Well,” my doppelgänger said softly, her voice carrying an edge of humor, “aren’t you going to say hello?”
I narrowed my eyes at the massive wolf before me, my pulse steady despite its imposing presence. "Why should I say hello?" I asked, crossing my arms defiantly. "It’s not exactly some long-lost friend. Last I recall, it attacked me.“
“She!“ a commanding raspy voice echoed in my mind, smooth but edged with warning. "Leave."
I blinked, stunned by the correction and the command. The voice was unmistakably female yet she carried an authority rivaling an Alpha's. My gaze snapped back to the wolf, its golden eyes burning with intensity.
But despite its apparent dislike of me, her rejection sparked my annoyance. "Excuse me?" I snapped “Exactly what insect clawed up your ass?”
The wolf’s snarl reverberated in my chest, but before she could respond, my doppelgänger rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Oh, stop being so dramatic,” she drawled with a threatening smile. "She’s already here; you might as well explain instead of barking orders like some overprotective guard dog."
The white wolf's growl deepened, shaking the ground beneath us. “You put her life in danger bringing her here.”
“I saved her life by bringing her here!” she shot back, sharply stepping closer to the wolf. “You think leaving her and staying clueless would’ve helped?” she snapped with a shriek that tingled my ears.
Their heated argument left me reeling and dizzy. My life was in danger? I took a look around to try to guess what was so dangerous about being in the woods with a strange floating doppelganger and a wolf of such towering size.
If anyone asked me, they were the most dangerous to me.
“Enough!” I shouted, cutting through their bickering. “Someone explain how my life is in danger!”
The wolf’s gaze locked onto mine, fierce and unyielding. She took a slow, deliberate step forward, her massive frame radiating her overwhelming power but I stood my ground.
“You’re a werewolf,” she stated coldly. “But haven’t you wondered why you’ve never transformed under the full moon since you turned fifteen?”
Her words struck me like a thunderclap. I staggered back, my breath hitching. I opened my mouth to deny it but stopped short.
Wasn't this supposed to be another world of its own? Was my mind manifesting my shortcomings as a plot point?
I bit down on my lip as I nodded confirming the wolf's concerns. I’d never transformed. Not once. Not even on my seventeenth birthday.
The full moons came and went, and each time, nothing happened.
I thought… I thought I was just different. I was simply born a weak Omega despite both my parents being fully functioning werewolves.
“You're not an omega!“ The wolf suddenly growled, “You're being stunted!“