New life

Luna thought everything had faded away, but somehow she was still here. A childhood memory came to mind, one that she had forgotten.

It was a boy named Tom that she had befriended a decade ago. His face lost to time, but she could still pick out moments of clarity. Where had he gone? What happened to their friendship?

She may not have any friends at the moment, but living with Trey and his people in that community was the only place she felt safe back then. When her parents died, they had a falling out. She left and trusted no one ever since. How could she? They didn't have her best interests in mind.

Luna opened her eyes and sat up. Her head was pounding, but her wounds were gone.

'Wait, could this mean?'

She looked around and found the werewolf she saved last night sitting by the fire cooking something in a pan.

When the werewolf saw that she was awake, she gave her a warm smile. "I cooked some rat meat for you to eat. I tried to find something else for you, but you can't eat human meat yet."

"Human meat? I'm not a cannibal."

"Neither am I. I'm not human, so it doesn't count. I suppose you're no longer human either."

Luna gave her a confused look. Then she realized what she meant. "So it is true then. The myths, I mean. You can turn people into werewolves."

"Those who drink werewolf blood in return become werewolves themselves. But it wasn't my blood you drank, rather the blood of my master which I keep in a small vial."

"Okay? But why did you come back here?"

She hesitated for a second. Her demeanor changing from content to frustration. "Turns out you were right. I got lost and found my way back here. If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead."

Luna stood up and walked over to her. "Why did you save me?"

"You know the city. I needed a guide. Everyone I ran into was no help."

"Why do you use your master's blood to turn people?"

The werewolf sighed. "That's a long story. So I'll just tell you this. Turning people with his blood makes you stronger than if I had used mine. I suppose it has to do with him being the first of our kind."

"Now I have more questions."

"Some other time." She returned to check on the food. "I need to fulfill my mission."

"And what would that be?"

Luna could sense her frustration growing. "I'm done here. I needed to use his blood on someone else. Someone who can wield magic. But it seems no one here can. No human at least." She stood up to face her. "I wonder. Do you feel anything strange?"

"Besides my wounds being magically healed? No."

"Such a shame then." She sat back down. "I'll have to return with bad news."

"Maybe I can. Can you teach me how to use magic?"

Her ears perked up. "Maybe! It might be possible. However, I can sense how weak the magic in this world is. I'm still recovering my magic reserves."

"Magic reserves? How does that work? Oh, wait, you still haven't told me your name."

"Call me Raven." She said with a growl while shoving the bowl of food into her chest. "Eat, talk later."

As Luna took a few bites, she started to wonder what human flesh would taste like. She could probably eat it raw, but would it taste good? Perhaps her taste buds would change too.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask her new companion, but Luna knew she'd get mad at her if she kept pushing her. She couldn't afford to lose her one and only friend. The crashing of endless waves tormented her curious mind as she went back and forth wondering if it was worth it to keep asking her question after question.

In the end, she decided not to push Raven. She was content with her just being around her. Raven. It was such a beautiful name.

"Hey, Luna."

Luna snapped out of her trance at the sound of her voice only to realize that Raven was standing right in front of her.

"I want to test something."

"Y...es, of course. Whatever you need me to do."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

'Perhaps that was the wrong choice of words.' Luna thought.

"I just want to see if you're capable of using magic."

Luna's heart fluttered.

'Not only would she be spending more time with me, but she was going to be my personal tutor. No, stop it.'

Luna was getting too attached too fast. She barely knew her. Why did she have these thoughts? She slapped herself in the face to knock some sense into herself.

'Just act cool. Maybe I should pretend that I didn't really care?'

"Sure. I don't care either way."

'Shit. Don't say it like that. Now she probably thinks I'm weird.'

Raven placed her hands on Luna's back. "Just relax. I'm going to try and open a gateway in your spiritual body to allow you to absorb the natural energy of this world."

"Is this safe?"

She could feel Raven's cold stare even though Luna couldn't see her face. Luna needed to learn how to shut her mouth when she was around her.

As Raven continued her work, Luna felt something flowing within her like water. It was strange but calming. Instinctively, she entered a deep trance-like state to focus on the feeling.

Everything was dark at first, but then a glimmer of light began to appear. It illuminated the space around her just barely enough to see her surroundings. She was standing on a rocky terrain. She looked up to see a bubble of glowing light surrounding the area around her. The space was small. She touched the bubble and realized she couldn't pass through it.

Luna's eyes opened. "What was that place?" she asked Raven.

Raven sighed but told her anyway. "What you saw is the extent of your power. The space is small right now, but through deep meditation, it can be enlarged. The larger it gets, the more magic reserves you have."

"It was kind of bland. Just a rocky surface."

"Everyone's mind space is different and can change over time. For instance, I stand on a shallow pool of blood."

Luna didn't think that was good. If it was based off your personality, then she should be careful around Raven.

"Then how do I use magic?"

"It's too soon for you. You need a higher magic pool before you can cast anything. But to answer your question, everyone has different magical abilities according to their nature. Magic spells are based on the forces of nature: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, gravity, light, dark, and special. Most people can use one of these forces. A few can use multiple."

"What can you use?" she asked with a smile now that Raven was starting to open up to her.

"I can use dark, and gravity. But don't think you'll be able to use more than one. I'm a special case because of my master's blo..."

Raven frowned as she looked at her. "Fuck."

"What's the matter?"

"I don't want to talk about it."