When I woke up the next morning I was lying on the bison fur with the lynx fur covering me like a blanket. I couldn't remember when I brought it back into the tipi, it had to have been last night. I didn't remember much from last night or the day before, I knew I was hungry, but my head no longer hurt, and nothing was swimming. Steppingout into the sun, i found my companions over by the fire, there was a pot roastingabove the open flames, and it smelled wonderful.

"You must be hungry" Korinna said handing me a bowl of stew. I sat down next to them looking out at the village. We ate breakfast in silence, only the sounds of the birds and the fire filling the air.

They let me bath and rest before the next part of the ritual. "you have successfully found your spirit guide and now we must grant you, your totem"

"you will need to focus on your most powerful sense; scent. Your totem is hidden in the woods, you must retrieve it. To finalize the bond between you and your spirit."

I stripped down and phased into the massive black wolf.

"Focus on your surroundings; close your eyes and listen, let your feet acclimate to the soil, then breath in"

I nodded, closing my eyes, and doing as I was told. The first thing I heard was the chirping of birds, but as I focused more allowing my surroundings to encompass me. I heard the river, felt the dirt part around my toes. There was a hum through the ground, it was a low beating from my two companions. It was easy to discern humans from the animals that I hunted.

I inhaled deeply; the scent of the forest encompassed me. The earth, soil, spruces and then there was something else. Something that stood out from the, trees (pines and spruces) it was fruity. A scent that was out of place.

Cedarwood and Mango.

The moment the scents filled my nostrils I felt a pull, and could see the tendrils leading in my mind. I opened my eyes, the tendrils were still present, one was faint and pulling me south (towards home). The other was pulling me east, towards the rising sun, it was stronger than the other and stationary.

I inhaled one more time, committing the strange smell to the silver blue tendril, ignoring the brown one that led home. I took a few steps the pull getting stronger, the thrum of electricity flowing through my paws. In a second I took off running towards the source of the pull.

The pull led me through the woods and over fallen trees. I could feel the earth cave under my feet and splay up behind me. The birds remain chirping as if there wasn't a 6-foot-tall wolf running through the trees.

The greenery filtered by my face at a fast pace that it would appear as a blur to a human. The closer I got to my target the stronger the pull got and the more my feet tingled with energy that radiated up my body. I stopped in an instant when the tendril disappeared. With my nose in the air, I looked around noticing a bright silver light catching my attention.

I focused my eyes more and found two pendants hanging from a limb. One large stone and a smaller one hooked to the leather with a smaller string. It reminded me of the soldiers dog tags. It was made of a grey stone; I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was carved. Hector's white wolf appeared with Korinna on his back, she grabbed the pendant before getting down.

"The wolf, loyalty, strength, courage and leadership. This is your spirit guide and the voice inside of you. Protector of the animal kingdom."

Korinnaplaced a leather string around my neck, attached to it was a stone. I wassurprised that it fit over my neck. I wanted to look down at the stone that hungaround my neck, but my muzzle would not allow it, but I could feel theimportance as it clung to my skin. She kept the second in her hands

Hector howled once before leading us back to the village. Where we all sat around the fire.

I held the stone to see that it was my stone, now carved into a wolf. On the back there was a word carved in it.

'Aniu'

"when we are given our spirit animal we are given our tribal name. Your's is Aniu. The first wolf and the name of our creator. It signifies your position as the protector."

Next to the wolf was a small bead "is that an antler?"

"yes, your first kill is always important. While our clothes may fade the antler will not."

"and the bison fur?"

Hector smiled "it is given when one completes their spirit quest. Part of the journey includes your sleep being compromised. It also signifies your willingness to continue."

"we do have one more step of this ritual. Then we can relax for the night, before your second ritual"

I laid on my back and watched as Korinna brought out the other tools we made. As well as some bowls and I finally realized what they were for.

Tattoo's.

"thisone is placed above your heart." I closed my eyes as she got to work. "the wolf.This is the only tattoo of ours that is not red and black. The green adds tothe importance, your connection to mother earth is through your spirit.

When I opened my eyes I saw curled up wolf sitting right on my chest, it was red, green, and black; the head looking right up at me. It was like it was curled around my heart, protecting it.

The rest of the night flew past, Korinna and Hector told me about their spirit quests. Hector recalled having such a bad experience that he swore he would never be the same. He said he saw strange shadows and flying creatures. By the time he returned back to the village his clothes were tattered and torn from fright.

We all fell asleep that night with laughter and happiness filling ourselves. It reminded me of home, both in a good and painful way. I missed them, I missed my mom and Eve. I've never been apart from them, not this long at least, it's been a week in a half. It took me four days to get here, and I've been here 10 days already.

The next day Hector prepared me for one of my final tasks. Killing a bear. I would be required to do so in human form. He taught me where to strike and how to fight it.

So, with that in mind he led me to where the bears stay. A hibernation spot. I was supposed to wake the bear and then kill it.

"Why do we do this?" I asked looking at the man as we followed. His spirit guide was a bear, why would he want us to do this?

"Killing the bear grants you knowledge and health, as well as success in family relationships. The killing of a bear is extremely difficult and many often fail this test."

"oh" I replied as I got followed him to the mouth of the cave.

"Bears are abundant here, of course only the Native tribes can hunt in the valley. That just means there is a plethora of them hidden away in our homeland."

I nodded.

The hunt was not what I was expecting. From the way Hector told it the bear would be enraged and aggressive, and it was but I stumbled into a cave with two bears. I don't know how, since bears are solitary animals except in mating season and that was not right.

One of the bears was bigger than the other so I assumed it was a momma bear and her cub or not cub since the other bear was full grown. Hell, it could have been male and female couple.

Despite the two of them I managed to successfully defeat them. I was smaller and faster than them, which was my saving grace. In the end all it took was one hit each. Which was confusing since Hector said it was so hard. It made me wonder if some of them went over their heads with the bear, overconfidence. Or maybe they got scared and ran.

When I retreated to the mouth of the cave Hector was waiting for me. His posture was nervous and rigid.

"you did it?" he asked in awe.

"it wasn't as hard as I thought... and there were two of them." I replied still confused, even with two this wasn't that difficult. For a human, yes this would be near impossible, but I was just as strong as the bears, just as fast or faster. And I was smarter.

"Two?!" his eyes bugged out as he stared into the mouth of the cave "It should have been the most difficult task..."

I shrugged "It was harder than the others, but I was faster and patient. I waited for my opening, and then hit the right spot. The hardest part was getting the knife before the other bear got me."

His eyes got wider when we got into the cave. We hooked the bears up to a sling of sorts and carried them back to camp. Hector helped me take the bears back to the village, since I couldn't carry both at once.

The rest of the day we spent skinning and preparing the hides. The meat was prepared specially by Korinna as it was such an honor.

We spent the next few days preparing the bears. The largest was given to Korinna who was doing something special with it. Hector homed in my abilities as a wolf. Tracking, running, he showed me how to get the upper hand on my enemies. I was small than Hector so it would come in handy, though all the Quileutes – so far, were shorter than me. They had more muscle that was for sure.

On the night of the full moon, we sat by the fire, waiting. The night was calm, quiet, only the crackling of the fire filled the air.

"we are one with what surrounds us, brothers to all we see. We are wolves, we protect those in need."

"that's why we were created? To protect the people?"

"to protect all creatures" Korinna added. "This is why we exist, to protect the world from Niju"

"What is Niju?"

"Niju is all that is bad, all that is dangerous. Red and Yellow eyes."

"Vampire?" I asked.

"that is only one of the many forms Niju can take" Korinna nodded "the other is more commonly known as Werewolves"

I paused thinking about it "does that mean all Vampires and Werewolves are bad, all of them are Niju?"

Korinna smiled gently "no, Werewolves are normal humans, for the most part. But they get stronger as the moon does, that's when the Niju in them is strongest. That is what we protect people from, that is what we eliminate. Vampires are more complex, we had met a few who fought the Niju inside them. A treaty was made. Only those who kill without mercy, those that threaten our world are consumed by Niju."

"what does that mean?"

"it is up to you to decide which ones are consumed. Traditionally we protected our tribe, our valley and allies."

"I... I don't think I'll ever be like our ancestors. I don't think I can be the right one to make that choice" I sighed. I knew my time here was coming to an end.

"You have the true spirit of the wolf. The spirit of our people is routed so deeply in you. Once you find your center, you are sure to succeed."

I looked at Korinna "I don't feel like it"

Before Hector could answer a howl infiltrated the air, Hector looked up at the dark sky. The silver moon shining and lighting up the sky. "you will"

Hector stood and phased urging me to follow. I quickly stripped and followed after him.

'the beasts have burdened these hills for a long time, and I have hunted them protecting the humans. Only two are left. Our job is to kill them.'

'what if I can't?'

'you are too strong to fail, you have the spirit of the Wolf and Bear. You can do this; it is who you are'

We walked through the woods, stopping occasionally to track the beasts. 'what do you smell?' Hector asked.

I inhaled deeply 'pine, the forest' I sniffed the air, closing my eyes I focused on the image of the beast from my dreams. Then it came to me. 'rotting wood, sweat'

I sniffed again 'blood'

'that's the smell of a werewolf, they're close' Hector walked forward letting me lead, I followed the red tendril to the edge of a river.

From the woods I could see the beast lurk into the moonlight. It was just as ugly as I remembered. It looked more like a bear than a wolf. Its razor-sharp teeth glistened with saliva and its coat was covered in blood. It killed recently.

'we must hurry before it catches wind of the other humans in the valley'

Just then another appeared behind the other. Hector held me back.

The wolves sized each other up before viciously fighting, ripping the other apart until only one was victorious, they were lone animals. When the weaker of the beasts was ripped apart Hector called. 'now!'

I took off across the river, my paws sinking into the edge of the riverbed, launching my body into the beast, knocking it to the ground. The beast wasn't expecting the intrusion and yelped but caught himself before fighting back. His teeth clashed together in a vain attempt to bite me; his claws scratched furiously trying to throw me off.

He got a good cut in on my ribs, but I launched back at him earning another claw on my shoulder. I gained the upper hand though, my teeth finding purchase in the beasts exposed neck. I tightened my jaw, teeth crunching as I pulled at his throat. With my back legs I pushed myself off. The beast floundered a little before I was able to finish the job, ripping its head from its neck.

Hector appeared on the side of the river, 'we must bury the pieces, the body will decompose, and they will return to mother earth'

I nodded before grabbing the pieces carrying the beast to a secluded location before burying him.