Chapter 19: Chapter 19

She frowned and punched his chest but that was a very wrong move. She yelped in pain and held her fist.

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you I have tough skin. So you won't be able to punch me now like you used to,” he snickered at her.

“I'm starting to miss the wolf you,” she pouted and he laughed.

“You will miss the wolf me more when you will have to walk long errands.”

“But, since the curse has been broken, don't you remember your home? And your way back?”

Dakar thought hard for about five minutes.

“I can't. I don't remember anything. That same blockage I've felt for years is still there.”

“But why? You mean only your body changed?”

“Yes. Don't worry. It might take some time but I'll be back fully.”

“What about the beach? I mean the ocean. Will the water burn you?”

“Should we try? Let's go there.” He started to walk but Avril didn't move so he stopped.

“What?”He asked her. She bit her lip and looked at him.

“What is it?” He asked again.

“Uhm, it's a very long way to the beach. And right now, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. I have no strength to take that long walk, Dakar,” she muttered though loud enough for him to hear.

“I'm starting to miss my wolf form too. Your laziness is going to drive me crazy. Let's go up. I'll cook,” he stated and she jumped up in excitement. He began to walk towards the entrance and she ran to keep up with him.

“How are you still so fast? Slow down!” She said after him.

They finally reached the living room and Avril ran into the kitchen first. Dakar followed behind and began to arrange the ingredients to make pancakes.

“Get the honey from that cabinet,” Dakar said to her.

“You get it yourself,” she retorted as she gulped down orange juice from the previous day.

“You do know orange is a roughage and you're going to get super hungry because you're consuming too much,” Dakar nagged as he went to take the honey himself.

“Hopefully, breakfast will be served by then.”

Thankfully, breakfast was served few minutes later. They ate while talking about different things and laughing. They honestly enjoyed each others company with Dakar being in human form. After breakfast, they sat on the floor and sliced bananas for drying. Soon, Avril wanted to take a nap so she left for her room. Immediately she shut the door, Dakar stood up stealthily and went to his room. He brought out a clay bottle and opened it. He sighed deeply and brought up his left hand. He turned the bottle and poured the water onto his hand. For the first few seconds, nothing happened. But suddenly, the wetness of the water left on his hand turned red and began to steam. He screamed loudly as it burnt deeply into his skin. He shook his hand to remove all the water but he couldn't. He fell down in pain as the red liquid began to move up his hand, burning the skin it touched. His loud scream got Avril running from her room and into his.

“Dakar?”She asked as she saw him on the floor. She saw his burning hand and screamed.

“Dakar!” She ran to him and shook him. Then she ran to the kitchen and brought another bowl of water and poured it on his hand. Immediately, it cooled down leaving blacken lines on his skin. He closed his eyes and lost consciousness. She touched his face worriedly.

“Dakar, wake up. What happened? What's wrong with you? Dakar,” she sobbed as she tapped his face.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open. But they weren't bright green, they were red. She moved back in fear. His face tensed up and his muscles contracted. And like a snake, his burnt arm dived up to her throat and clasped around it. She yelled as she couldn't breathe. He pulled her up and got on his feet too. She began to choke and her face turned red.

“Dak…Dakar, please...sss-stop,”she pleaded.

“This is what you deserve for putting me in this condition. This is what you deserve!” he said between gritted teeth but it was not his voice that spoke.

Avril already lost all connection with oxygen and her strength began to fail. But then she saw that she wasn't the only one struggling for life. Dakar was too. She saw the red eyes flash to green and the grip on her throat loosen but less than a second later, it was back to red and the grip tightened.

“Dakar! I know... I know,” she coughed as he raised her higher.

“I know you're…in…there... please h-help. Please,” she pleaded as her eyes began to close. Dakar grunted and tightened the grip again. But his eyes turned green and back to red, then back to green and flashed to red again. He was battling inwardly for control of his own body. He had to take control or else he would lose her forever. And he would not be able to live with that guilt. So with a loud yell, he ripped his soul back in and let go of her immediately. She fell with a thud and lay down there, unconscious. He was panting heavily as he held his hand, as if it would lose control and go after her again.

“She's gone. Ha!” the ugly voice rang in his head. But this time, he didn't care about it. He didn't want to believe it. All that mattered was Avril and her life. He walked to her and bent down. Her face was still red and she wasn't breathing. He placed his index and middle finger in the hollow of her neck to feel her pulse. Luckily, she had one. It was very slow and small that only his Shifter senses could detect. If it was a normal human, they would have thought her dead.

Gently, he carried her in his arms and took her to her room. He laid her on the bed and opened her window. He walked into the bathroom and took water and a towel. He rubbed the already wet towel on her face and arms to cool her temperature. The redness in her face went away and her face turned pale instead. After about ten minutes, her breathing normalized and her colour began to turn up. He left her room and sat by the dining table. He raised his hand and stared at the big burn on the back of his palm, and the long lines that moved from the burn towards his biceps.

“How did that happen?” He asked himself as he rubbed the arm.

“You are foolish. Foolish!” The voice said. He sighed deeply and dropped his hand.

“Dojo,” he called.

“You haven't called my name since the day you first spoke to her. I'm impressed”

“Why are you still here?”Dakar asked, ignoring what the voice had said.

“What do you mean? This is my rightful place. You are my rightful place!”

“No, I'm not. The curse has been broken. Just leave.”

“Ha-Ha-Ha! Broken? No, you have not won yet and you will never win. Just because you broke the outward curse doesn't mean I am defeated. I am still here and it is just a matter of time before you become me totally. You think you can snap me out now, but let us see if you can in the nearest future”, Dojo whispered. Dakar felt his heart triple its beats. He palmed his face and bowed his head.

“What did I do to deserve this? This is too much suffering,” he cried as he felt his own body burning him.

“You can be free. Just agree with me and the pain and suffering will be over as I take control over you totally.”

“Never. I will never succumb to your will,” he blurted and sat up. Dojo laughed shrilly.

“Then watch me destroy everything. Starting from that little princess of yours” he stated and faded.

“You will not hurt Avril. I will never allow that. Never!” He got on his feet and walked out of the mountain house. He stood in front of his statue and stared at the face. He was a warrior, the best of his kind. But look at the way he fell woefully. Just because of one small mistake. How was he going to get out of this?

He reached forth and touched the rock hard statue. At that instant, a feeling like electricity traveled from the statue to his hand and to his brain. He gasped for air because he felt like he was being sucked through a narrow tube. He saw flashes of people, heard voices; familiar voices. He saw buildings, rivers, mountains and then the place it all started. The place the demon entered him. He fell to the ground and popped his eyes opened.

“Remus. The Kingdom of Remus,” he muttered.

It felt like just ten minutes lying down on that hard earth but in reality, Dakar was there for almost an hour. He was reminiscing his memories. He remembered his mother's face, his precious mother. For years he couldn't remember what she looked like. All he knew was he had a mother. Oh! How he missed his kingdom. His best friend and their adventures. The game nights where he always wrestled and won. Everything came back to him.

“Dakar?” Avril's voice sounded. He sat up surprisingly and waited for five minutes but didn't hear her voice anymore.

“It must have been my mind,”he said to himself as he stood on his feet. He was sweating so he went to his room and took a shower. He wore one of his old wooly trousers he had brought along with him the day he arrived. He ran his fingers through his wet jaw-length hair and dampened it with a towel. Then he sat on his bed and rested his head on the rock wall.

He didn't want to think about his kingdom or his loved ones. He didn't even want to think about Avril. If only he could leave reality even if it was for a minute. He would be very grateful to not have any worries for one minute. But was that possible? Not worrying about how to get the demon out, not worrying about hurting Avril, not worrying about the second part of the prophecy he had been scared to even think about.

It was possible though, because he soon fell asleep and didn't worry about all that anymore. He slept for three good hours and it was one of the most peaceful sleep he had ever had. As if the universe granted his wish of no worry.

He got on his feet after waking up, tied his hair in a short not-so-tight ponytail and walked to the living room. He was very surprised to see Avril standing in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace. He stood watching her for five minutes as she tried to open one of her candy. Her fingers kept slipping so she couldn't open it. She sighed and stopped trying.

“Let me help you,” he offered and she got startled before turning to look at him. She seemed to calm down after looking at his face. She stretched forth her hand with the candy and he walked forward and took it from her. He opened it immediately and handed it back to her. She placed it in her mouth and gulped down saliva with difficulty. She rubbed her neck and sighed. Dakar could see the red marks formed on her neck from his hand. He looked at his hand and tightened his fist. Avril saw what he did and the look on his face. She smiled and embraced him. Her hands encircled his torso and her face pressed against his chest. He felt so warm and comforting that she wanted to stay there forever.

Dakar was more than surprised at her sudden action. He didn't hug back. He didn't even move.

“I thought I was going to die,” she muttered.

“I thought the last thing I would see were eyes that were not yours,” she added. Dakar softened. He was afraid she was going to be scared of him and hate him. He had hurt her twice but she still trusted him. He hugged her back and stroked her hair as she cried.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered and kissd her hair. He couldn't say anything else.

She disengaged from him and looked into his eyes.

“So glad to see they're green,” she stated with a laugh.

He smiled at her. “I wish I didn't hurt you.I'm so sorry.”

“It wasn't you. I realized that. Dakar, tell me what's going on with you. I know you know. Tell me, please.”

“Not now. I need you to get better first. Sit, I'll get you some warm milk because I know your throat hurts,” he said kindly and helped her to sit down.

“Not yet. The menthol candy's still in my mouth. And yes, I have a terrible sore throat,” she confessed.

“Are you hungry? Should I get something for you to eat?”

“No. I'm not hungry.”

“First time,” he chirped and they laughed.

“I will still get you some soup, though. I think I have the perfect ingredients for a sore throat,” he said and turned to go. Avril looked up at his figure and her eyes caught sight of the tattoo behind him. The body of a wolf sprinting forward. It was a perfect drawing. All the outlines of the wolf showed well and even the fur was portrayed. The statue had that same wolf but Dakar's own was more realistic. The tattoo was well drawned. The head and forelimbs of the angry looking wolf was at his front, over his right shoulder and chest. While the back and hindlimbs were behind at Dakar’s back.

“Come to think of it, I don't even know anything about Dakar's past life. I didn't even ask how he got cursed” she said to herself.

Thankfully, after lunch of only thick hot cinnamon soup for her, Dakar decided to tell her what he remembered. They sat under a tree outside.

“This morning, I went outside after laying you down and I... I touched the statue,” he started.

“Don't you…always touch…it?” She croaked. Her voice had changed to deep and cracky.

“I do. But something happened this time. I…I got my memory back. I remember everything and I know where I came from now,” he revealed and her eyes bulged in excitement.

“Really? Tell me” she demanded.

“Uhmm,” he mumbled then cleared his throat nervously.

“I am Remusian. From the Kingdom of Remus. Remus means "twin raised by a wolf". Our ancestor, Remus was the twin brother of Romulus. They were both raised by a she-wolf and they both founded the city of Rome. My ancestors went and formed their own pack after they found traces of wolf characters in their body. They later found out they were not the only ones who were shifters,” he began.

“Shifters?” She asked.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Shifters are humans that can shift into a type of creature at will. I'm a wolf shifter, the kind of Werewolf that can shift at any time. There are other kinds of werewolves and wolves. There's the lunar wolves, they shift under the full moon. There's pure wolves, those normal animal ones you know of. We can communicate with them and control them. They get hyper active under the full moon too.”

“How come I've lived with you all these months and I never knew any of these?”

He chuckled then said, “Because you never asked.”

“Anyway, continue.”

“I was talking about my kingdom. I am the second son of King Castor and unfortunately, the only surviving son. My elder brother died in battle. My mother was a princess from a faraway pack before becoming Queen or Luna of my father's pack—”

“Dakar, you're a prince?” Avril asked unbelievably.

“Yeah. Didn't I ever tell you?” he asked back.

“God! No! You never talked about your—” she began to cough and he quickly handed her a jar of water. She collected it and sipped it with difficulty, even though she took it gently.

“Sorry,”Dakar mumbled.

“Thanks.”She gave him back the jar and he dropped it beside him.

“Prince, continue,” she jeered.

“Don't tease me. Keep calling me Dakar, never ever call me Prince,” he ordered and his tone showed he wasn't joking.

“All right ‘Dakar’, do you mind continuing?” She asked with a smile.

He chuckled and continued.

“Well, my father hadn't really been a good Alpha. By the way, Alpha means the leader of a wolf pack. And pack means a community of wolves. My dad loved women too much and he had a whole quarters for his concubines. My mother never cared about them, because she was a concubine too before he married her. My mother however hated my concubine, Ñiraka. After spending one night with her instead of going to watch over my sick mother, I got beaten up by her guards. She asked them to beat me up mercilessly. But if I wasn't with Ñiraka, I'm sure she wouldn't have—”

“You are so foolish, you know!” Avril barked and Dakar was taken aback.

“Huh?”

“Your mother was sick and needed your company, but you chose a woman's body instead? Were you that daft?” She asked. Her voice got clearer immediately and Dakar wondered if it was the anger that cleared it.

“Yeah, I was stupid. But she shouldn't have ordered for me to be—”

“Yes, she should have. If I were your mother, I'd have you hanged. What's with men and lust. Just because of a concubine? Disgusting.”

Dakar watched her as she crossed her arms and looked away, rolling her eyes and muttering things he could hear clearly.

“Some stupid girl... What did she have that made him lose his sanity? Eww... I can never understand men.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” He asked with a smile. She looked at him and scoffed.

“I'm going inside. Just looking at you right now irritates me,” she stated and stood up. She began to walk away.

“Hey, I'm not done with the story!”Dakar yelled after her.

“Tell it to yourself!” She yelled back as she stormed away.

Dakar had felt the aura radiating from her. It wasn't anger, it wasn't hate. It was jealousy.

“But what is she jealous of?”He muttered to himself. However, deep down inside him, he knew what and why.