The Bliss of Running

Running.

What I loved mostly doing when I was a kid was running. I could feel the bliss of it. I usually kept on running until I couldn't feel my legs. There were times when I fell to the ground exhausted, mostly unconscious, then I woke up in the next morning with my naked human body.

The cold of the air breeze of the Green Valley sometimes woke me up in the morning. Crawling in the darkest night with only the blue moon as its light was the thing that I usually did. What always looked too close to my head was the blue moon. The bright light made me dizzy and it kept on forcing me not to stop running with my four strong furry legs. They were my strong werewolf legs.

And as for tonight, I kept on running because I felt the bliss of it like usual. I wasn't running from reality, but the reason was I was running because that was what I did. What I did was I ran as a werewolf.

[No, you ARE running from a reality.]

I knew that a werewolf didn't have a lizard brain like a serial killer had his own alarm at the back of his head each time the danger was approaching or when each time he made a mistake. But here, I had it. I believed it was because I was a descendant of an alpha. So it was just obvious that I had the lizard brain like a serial killer.

But then I thought again about it, I guessed I was. I was running from the reality. I still remembered what Rizvan, my dad said to me,

"You are a werewolf! How come you love to run by yourself too much? You're supposed to be in a pack with the other young men from our beloved village. Are you a werewolf, or not? Are you my son soon to be an alpha, or not?" my dad yelled at me.

And just like what I usually did, I left and ran. My dad addressed me as Akrem the lone wolf. I was born as a werewolf but I had never felt like one. I always felt… trapped.

At certain times I dreamed of my very best friend that I had never met before, saying:

[Birds of a feather flock together.]

And I kept on saying the same answers in my dream with," What if the bird was in a cage, how come they could fly together?"

Well I wasn't a bird. I was a wolf, a werewolf that the cage didn't suit me. Even though the cage was my own pack, then my very best friend in my dream would say, "I recognize that, coz your heart is free."

Therefore, I usually woke up after hearing that last line.

It puzzled me all the time, who might be my very best friend. At some occasions, I could see a gleam of silver neck-length silky hair. It looked like it was a she, but she had a strong line of face that told she was weighed with wisdom and maturity. No, she didn't look old at all that even she looked like she was as old as I am. She just… looked mature.

Truth be told that each werewolf had his or her own true mate once they fell in love, then the mate would be with the werewolf forever. I wonder if my mate would be from Akhmedov clan here in the Green Valley, or from outside of this valley.

I wished that she came from another place, if she were from around here, would that be so boring? If that happened, I could never go out of this valley. I could never fly. Well, then. I wasn't a bird, I was a werewolf anyway. In the pack was where I belong.

Suddenly, there was a crisp sound in the bush behind my back. I rushed to get alerted and was warned. My ears and my tail were tense waiting what had approached. I was ready with my claws and my sharp teeth. Then there was…

[What? Why are you so tense like that? It's just me!]

My little sister, Claire appeared and spoke through mind. We communicated through minds when we were in werewolf shape.

If I were with my human palm at that time, I'd squeeze her thick red hair head for making me almost jumped like that.

[Why were you following me?]

I shot my question through my mind.

[Dad summoned you, there's something he needs to talk about, only to you.]

She answered.

What now?!

That was the sound of my lizard brain, not the sentence I said in my mind for Claire.

I sometimes didn't get it why it was wrong to be a lone wolf. Why should I always travel in a pack? What if living in the pack just didn't suit me. What if their ways of life were something that I didn't like? Should I be someone that I was not?

I ran back to the head of the clan's house with Claire beside me. It was the biggest house with many rooms for meetings, located in this Green Valley. There stood a charming man with built body, broad shoulders and strong muscles reflected his glory. Rizvan Akhmedov, my dad, the alpha and the leader of the clan in the Green Valley. He suddenly stood from his magnificent big leather chair when I walked into the main room.

When he saw me, he smiled gloriously.

"Yes, dad?" I started to speak.

"Akrem, my only son," he replied. And yes, there were only Chaital, my big sister, Claire my little sister and I, his only son. Our mother had long passed away when she gave birth to Claire.

Claire was the only werewolf with magic, a hybrid. That explained why mother had to pass away. Giving birth to a werewolf was already excruciatingly painful. Giving birth to a magical werewolf or a hybrid like Claire was even more dangerous that took the whole magic handlers in the village to help our mother. Still… she couldn't be saved.

"I think it's time for you to go to the Main Land…" he continued calmly.

[What???]

My lizard brain got jolted.

"What do you mean, dad?" I tried to hide my curiosity. You know that too much curiosity could kill you that I didn't want to die yet because I hadn't met my true mate.

"I need you to find the way to break the curse…" he asked.

"Come again? Which curse?" I was absolutely confused by his request.

"The curse of alpha leader will die and be replaced by the son…" he lowered his voice and I could see there was an extremely sad tone in his voice.

"Oh… that one." There wasn't much to say about that certain curse. But surely it had been there since thousands of generations of Akhmedov werewolves. It was a curse passed down from the ancient ones down to my dad for now. Rizvan's dad died and Rizvan had to be the head of the clan without knowing how to run the clan.

Rizvan was devastated that it was in only one night he had to be able to be the leader of the Akhmedov clan. He was 20, he was too young to be able to manage the clan and the only thing he was good at was conquering other werewolves in many duels. Therefore, the Green Valley werewolves accepted him as the alpha of the Akhmedov clan.

That case for me, I didn't think it would happen that way, or at least not yet. I couldn't even beat Jacob the second in command's son. His dad was our beta at the moment.

That hot big brown werewolf was so fierce that I couldn't stand a chance to beat him. The only thing I was really good at is my speed of running. He ran after me and I kept on running until he was exhausted and he couldn't reach me. I was howling under the big blue moon and the clan thought I won.

I had to explain to them that no one was winning that night. Neither Jacob nor I won. I had to make a story that Jacob lost my track and he couldn't find me, which was impossible. It was always impossible for a werewolf to lose track of his friends or prey, especially vampires.

Jacob frowned and had to agree because he was not the kind of werewolf who liked to be in trouble. He thought that being disagreed with the head of the clan's son would put him into trouble. He was wrong, and we were good friends since then because he got closer to me. Being my friend was inevitable for him. The only brother I had in the clan.

I read many stories in the library about this curse. It had been in the Akhmedov clan for thousands of generations. I just didn't think my dad would ever bring it up to be solved.

Here I thought my life would always be boring, but I think it was about to be exciting.

"What makes you think there's a spell breaker for the curse?" I asked Rizvan how the plan would work.

"There's a campus in Main Land that has an all-know library…" he stopped because I interrupted him,

"Never heard and read about that before, but what's so special about this campus?"

Rizvan didn't continue, he just sighed and stared at me.

"Sorry…, please continue your highness…" I tried to calm his nerve by calling him by his title.

"It's not the campus, Akrem. It's the library," dad looked so serious.

"Are you saying I have to be the student of this campus and find out about how to break our curse in that library?" I guessed randomly.

"Attaboy! That's my son!" he finally looked cheerful.

Again, here I thought my life would always be boring, but I think it was going to be exciting.

"What makes you think this all-know library has the answer?" I critically attacked him with my in-depth question.

"It's because of its fame for having any kind of answers. Passed down to generations since the creation of the universe." dad sounded excited.

"If it's so famous, how come I had never heard about it before?" my logical thinking spoke out loud.

"Because you never run with your pack, and you're always running alone, the lone wolf!" dad replied and looked upset.

"So do you think I'll replace you by being an alpha one day? I don't think that way… I can't even beat Jacob. His dad is just a second in command. He's just our beta at the moment. What blood runs through my veins? Am I really your son or not… Am I really an alpha, dad?! Coz I don't feel like one…" I sounded even more upset than him.

"You ARE an alpha! My blood runs through your veins! I'm an alpha. It's just obvious you'll be an alpha. That's how the Akhmedov clan works for thousands of generations!" Rizvan's voice pierced loudly in the main hall. He looked so fierce who was typical of a strong werewolf with strong wisdom and determined will.

"Please, Akrem. I need you to find the way to break the curse." now he pleaded with low voice, almost like begging.

"I just wanna be with you, Claire, and Chaital longer," now Rizvan was just being a dad, a dad that I always adore.

"Well if you said so, I'll go to the Main Land." I finally answered.

He smiled from ear to ear looked ecstatic.

"And I'll mingle with the humans?" I asked for his confirmation.

He nodded still with his smile, now with his big puppy dog eyes.

"That wouldn't be a problem, right? You've always wanted to fly solo…," now he grinned mischievously.

"That's not a problem. The problem is… how am I going to find a place to run when the full moon comes?" I asked a question that seemed absurd. But that was just who I was. I was an absurd wolf. I hoped I wouldn't be an absurd alpha.

Dad chuckled, "You'll always find a way. The beach is always a nice place to run. You can see the moon clearly."

"One more thing… How am I going to go to the Main Land? Should I swim? Think I'm gonna die trying. I'm not a bird, I don't know how to fly…" the annoying me took place of the absurd me.

I became that spoiled rich brat asking for anything to his rich dad. Assuming I was rich, which I wasn't. I was a werewolf, how could I be rich like Batman? I didn't live in a cave of wonders and had a magic lamp to rub then asked a genie for some money. Oh sorry, that was Aladdin.

"You'll go to Main Land with a big flying ship with two giant sails." Dad answered flatly.

[Wait, what???]

I was extremely confused to the point that I knew it was dangerous to know of what came next. I unconsciously opened my mouth in awe. My jaw dropped to the floor.

"There's a lot for you to know about being Akhmedov, because running is the only thing that's important in your head," Dad sounded like mocking.

"I thought werewolves are poor because they don't do business. We have to feed and eat a lot because we stay in the pack," I stood my ground about what I had read in the library.

Dad laughed, "If you were a werewolf in the middle age era, ya… that would apply. But this is the alpha generation era. Akhmedov clan has its own way to live a life as werewolves."

"It's time to try and see. That's how you learn nowadays." Dad added and grinned widely.

"I didn't know we're that wealthy…" I was still in awe. Now I feel like Batman.

"Keeping humans safe from the vampires for thousands of generations makes you wealthy when the vampires' assets left behind because they turned to dust, and don't know where it should go. So yeah, we have money..." Dad told the story as he was telling about what menu he had for lunch.

"That's so new that I didn't know if Akhmedov life is so exciting. I could go traveling on adventures with that money," I accidentally spoke my mind too loud…

-to be continued-