Something Special
"Any more interesting questions, daughter?", Alva repeated. "You did find out Scott's story.. but you haven't discovered YOUR side of the story. Do you have questions like.. Where are your parents? Why did I keep you? Or.. Why aren't you wolf enough?", Alva fixed her brown plaid suit with a proud smirk.
Diana realized that she was so focused in Scott's life, that she forgot to focus on her own. She had a striking realization that her love for Scott have consumed her to the point she have set her own self aside.
"Alright Diana. Follow me if you want to unravel your life's mysteries", Alva said as she walk past Diana towards the hallway. She then turned back at her and said, "If you're interested".
Diana glanced at the open patio. She can leave at this moment, but then, she thought that it's about time to hear the truth from Alva. She's tired of making speculations, and completing the puzzles from her own perceptions. This time, she'll face Alva for the truth that she's been wanting to hear.
"As long as you'll tell me everything", Diana said as she clench her jaw.
"No more secrets this time", Alva replied without looking back.
Diana followed Alva down their dark basement. She grazed her fingers on the wall as she climbed down the wooden stairs. The last time she went down here was when she was younger. She heard loud squeals and shrills at night, and when she tried to hover around, her mother would rebuke her with a stern look from being nosy. She never came back down ever since.
As she go beyond the plight of stairs, the more she loses light. She followed the clacking of Alva's heels until they reach a large steel door with no knobs. Diana watched closely when Alva spoke a different language. Then heavy door opened slowly from the middle.
"Do you know that when nagualli come of age.. we are forced to live in solidarity?" Alva led Diana inside a dark hall.
"Hmm.. Our powers immerse at around eight years of age. And from then on, we are forced to discover, learn, and control our magic on our own. Just imagine a wild child who can turn to a black bird and fly across the beds of endless forests, or transform to a wolf who runs free in the woods.", the halls were lighted with six torches of blue flames with Alva's flick of a hand. Inside, there were three closed red doors. One door has a large moonstone inside a crescent moon, right at the center of the door.
"It was you all along?", Diana recalled the times she was saved by a wolf back in the island, the black bird that hovered around her as she hold onto the cliff for her life and same winged creature that healed her wound in the forest. "You constantly saved me", Diana touched her back over her shoulders as she followed Alva in one of the other plain red door.
"I've always been with you, child", Alva replied. "At all times. You know how much I care for you", she added with a grin.
"You.. you needed me alive", Diana said. "But how can you transform to a human?", she asked with furrowed brows.
"I was learning the basics when I discovered a rare magic of absorbing powers of other entities. My first kill was a Forest Selkie, the most gullible shapeshifters who copy human forms. It was effortlessly beautiful sitting on the riverbed playing a beautiful tune in a harp, hypnotizing me to go into the river. My instincts woke me up then I lure it out with a promise of being its friend forever. In a blink of an eye, I cut its throat with my fingernail bleeding its life out. When I swallowed it's dying soul, I was able to engulp its power. I kept such unique skill until the day found it useful", Alva said as she lighted the dim room with a blue flame on her palm.
"One day, while I was on my way hunting, I saw Karin playing around a bonfire. Her smile is as beautiful as her soul. I watch her dance around the beautiful ball of flames and ever since that day.. I wanted to become a better nagua.", Alva held up the fire on her hand as she smile at her memory.
Diana thought that the love between the nagua and the wolf was an unreciprocated love. The way Alva described it, she admired Karin from a distance. "She didn't love you", Diana uttered.
"Karin and I shared something special", Alva replied as she glowered at Diana.
Diana thought it's not a shared love, because if it is, Alva shouldn't have called it something special. "No. She didn't know you at all", Diana said.
Alva clenched her fist with the blue flame and lifted it up to light the lamp on the ceiling. It illuminated the room that showed Diana standing in a big circle drawn in red tint.
"You cursed the Lockwoods for nothing, Karin never knew you in the first place", Diana strongfully stated.
"She cared for me!! I know she did.", Alva confidently replied. "Your father knew", she added. "One time, I got wounded when a pack of wolves hunted me down, Karin was there to help me. While all other wolves beat me to a pulp, Karin chose to be gentle with a nagua like me.. I even told to her, that I'll get back to that wolf one day", Alva said with a smirk.
"Your father was really a daredevil during those times. He kept hunting me. Thanks to Karin, she forced me not to fight him.", Alva exhaled sharply as she rolled her eyes.
"Anway, when Karin imprinted, everything we had went down the drain. I became invisible", Alva continued. "Then, one night, the heavens must have heard my calls. The moon shone brighter when Viktor came at my doorstep with a wish to become the greatest and strongest Alpha on every land. That's when I saw the chance to curse Viktor Lockwood. I made him a slave of the moon who craves and hunts for the blood of his Luna. I made it more exciting as I extended the curse down to the very last member of his Alpha bloodline", Alva grinned showing her pearly white teeth.