“I will be okay, Eddie. I promise...”

Edmund didn’t reply. He just remained staring at Sebastian. Without blinking.

“Eddie? Eddie?” Seb’s stomach began to sink as he realised something was very wrong. “Edmund, seriously, this is starting to freak me out man.”

Ed wasn't moving at all. Neither was Luke. Sebastian’s hand went instinctively to his necklace as he looked around for what else was wrong. It was as if the world were paused. The river was as still as glass, and a few leaves that had been in the wind were left floating in place. The next thing he noticed was the lack of noise. It was so quiet that all he could hear was his own breathing. Until a voice said,

“Hello, Young One.”

Sebastian’s eyes snapped upwards to the moon which seemed to be glowing brighter, and significantly bluer.

“Please, be at peace. No harm can come to you here.”

“What the hell is happening...”

A light giggle rang through the air, and Seb could practically see the smile in the voice’s next words. “You are having a vision, of sorts. I wanted to congratulate you.”

“Right, um, for what?”

“Passing the trial.”

“The trial?” Sebastian frowned.

He remembered vaguely that Arte mentioned something about a trial of the chosen champion, but-

“I haven’t gone through any trial?”

“Yes, you have, Young One. Your trial began the moment that you reached out to me before the battle. You have done everything in your power to take care of your alpha and the omega pup. Even tonight, when faced with an attack from a rogue, you wanted to assist and used a sleeping spell. Then you took care of your distressed packmates and planned what to do next. You are caring, mindful, and undeniably worthy of this gift.”

Seb was stunned. “I... I am?”

“You are. Which is why I feel I can give you one more thing. Some information about the young rogue.”

Sebastian glanced over at the frozen sleeping form of the wolf. “Information?”

“She’s under a curse.”

“What?”

“I cannot tell you the full story. It is not permitted that I should interfere that much. But I can give you the knowledge you need to break this curse. After that, she will join your pack. Her knowledge will be helpful in the days to come.”

“The tyrant. Was that you warning me?”

“Yes.”

“So, she will help with...”

“The days to come. I’m sorry but I cannot give more information than that.”

“What’s this curse that she’s under?”

“It traps her in her wolf form and hides her true nature from others.”

“Is that why Quiver couldn’t sense her before?”

“Yes. She’s slowly losing herself. It’s scaring her. She is desperate to break free.”

“Who did this to her?”

“I cannot say.”

Seb was beginning to get annoyed by that answer, but since the voice had said they weren’t ‘permitted’, he decided to give them some slack. As frustrating as it was to not have all the answers, he could still get them eventually from the rogue herself. If she was willing to share her story. It would probably be rude to find out her whole background from a magical voice before he even knew her name.

Sebastian was tempted to ask other questions too. About the ‘tyrant’ or the destroyed elven dimension. But something told him he wouldn’t be able to get any answers if he tried. Not from this voice anyway.

So, there was just one thing left to ask.

“How do I break her curse?”

He wasn’t sure how, but he felt as if whoever had been talking to him was smiling at that. Then, the light of the moon began to do something weird. It looked as if it was swirling off through the air. There were strange sparks of white and purple in the bright blue light that slowly danced around like a firefly with a trail behind it.

The light eventually came down to Sebastian’s eye level. He watched with absolute awe as it made a swirl in front of him before circling his head. It circled his chest, his hips, ankles, and then went back up again before finally it moved into his necklace, causing the wolf’s eyes to glow once more.

In the literal blink of an eye, the world returned to normal. Edmund and Luke went from unnaturally still to standing normally, with small barely noticeable movements of their chests as they breathed and their eyes as they blinked. The water of the stream moved once more, the sound of it rushing by was accompanied by the soft blow of the wind, and distant chirping of crickets.

Sebastian had to close his eyes a moment as he adjusted to the sudden onslaught of white noise. He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Edmund looking at him very concerned.

“What was that?”

Seb blinked. “Did I do something weird.”

“You winced out of nowhere. Are you okay? Is it from using your magic?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine! I’m fine. Just... adjusting.”

“What?”

“Did you dip into the pocket dimension to speak to Arte?” Luke inquired.

“Um, no.” Sebastian chuckled nervously. “This may sound crazy, but I think I just talked to the moon.”

“...yeah, you sound crazy.” Edmund agreed, voice dead serious despite the slight smile on his face. “But you also have magic, and the two of us are werewolves, so that’s just another thing to add onto the list of weird but true things in our lives. I guess.”

Luke tilted his head to the side questioningly. “You’re making a list?”

Edmund chuckled. “No. I don’t think I could keep up with all the things I’d need to add to it.”

“Well, I have some more things you can add, if you ever do make it.” Sebastian half-joked half-sighed.

Edmund grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling tonight is going to end up being much longer than I hoped.”

“Yeah, we may want to sit down for this...”