“Flight nine hundred and sixty traveling to Red Lodge, Montana is now boarding.” The woman over the intercom woke me from my deep slumber.
“Come along Peg.” I stumbled along behind my father, my legs still asleep. The boarding gate of United Airlines was stuffy and I felt a bit claustrophobic. We waited in line and my nerves started to jump in my stomach. I had never rode on an plane before and I did not really want to now.

“Can't we drive there?” I had asked Dad. He had explained that it was much faster by plane and that he did not want to drive for the days that it would take to drive there. I told him that I would drive but he said that he did not trust me driving his car. That had really pissed me off. But now here I was about to board this flying contraption and leave behind the South Bend, Indiana that I had known all my life. I really hoped that it would not plummet to the ground.

We took our seats in the mid section of the plane. The young flight attendant went through the standard safety procedures. I began to feel nauseous. Dad had bought me some gum to prevent my ears from pooping but I was afraid that if I chewed any I would throw up. The plane began its motion across the lengthy airstrip. The plane finally began to ascend and I felt a tingling sensation crawl across my skin. It was a frightening experience as the plane reached steady flight and broke turbulence. I wished that I had not picked the window seat. The earth stretched below me and I felt even more quiesy. Just as I was about to reach for the paper bag the attendant had explained was meant to puke in, my father saved me by asking if I wanted to get some sleep. I replied that I did and soon I was drifting off seemingly safe on the ground again.

The sky seemed to part as the red sun baked the horizon. The air was slightly muggy and I looked around confused. Were had my wolf pack gone? Not a single one was visible in the dying sunset. The air was cooling but the shadows scared me. I longed to be within my new family's protective company. I was lost and alone in an unfamiliar earthly residence for my wolf pack had never once said where we were. I was like a newborn child who had just opened its eyes to them. One never explains much to children. It would only confuse them unnecessarily. That is how they felt about me, I was sure.

The silence that had been only seconds ago deafening was interrupted by a violent thrashing sound. Above my head there fluttered a jet black raven who's feathers showered down in curtains around me. None fell on my person. Instead they fell in a ring surrounding me in a perfect circle. I knew that it should not have bothered me. I mean they were only feathers after all, but I was fearful to move outside the enclosure. Trapped by a bird ha! I laughed at myself. Come on now, Peg. They are only feathers. You just have to reach out your hand and-” My fingers hit against an invisible force field. I instinctively withdrew my hand as a tingling sensation slithered up through my veins. My skin was tinting to a lemon color and I was shaking. What the hell was happening? The raven cawed and glared at me making eye contact.

I woke to flashing lights. The plane was shaking violently. My chest tightened and my breathing quickened. Panic lashed out against my mind which knew that it should stay calm. The pilate yelled over the intercom for us to stay calm but he sounded anything but that. “It's only a little turbulence. Nothing to worry about.” And then as quickly as it had begun the shaking halted and my breathing returned to normal.

“Are you okay, Peg? You were shaking.” I focused my eyes on my father and forced a fake smile.

“Yeah, sure thing, Dad. Perfectly fine. Ecstatic, even. I mean, why wouldn't I be? I'm going on a dream trip and riding on a plane for the first time. This is wonderful”

I could tell that the dreams were becoming more insistent. I thought about the bits I could remember as my father and I walked toward the Dunraven Lodge. We would be staying at this lodge in Pebble Creek for the next three days. The lodge was a dusty brown with a slanting slope for a roof. Each room boarded up to two people so I would have to room with my father. That was a downer. I quickly unpacked noting the neatly made beds and the blinded windows. It hadn't occurred to me until now that I was no longer in Indiana. It should feel different but it didn't. I had the foolish notion that maybe I was still in Indiana and the the government was lying to us all. There were no far off states and countries because a place so far from home could never feel this identical. The atmosphere was as dull and flat as my life had ever been filled with.

“Little one, listen to me carefully. You have been misguided by the ones that you think you know. There is much deception in your life. The falsehoods of your past and even your family. I wish that I could tell you the full extent of these falsehoods and enlighten you but it would be much too painful for you. You would not have the strength to fulfill your purpose. You must now fight for our cause, Little One. Please, very soon you will come to us.” I felt palsied by this twist of fate. I, who had been so confused with what to do with my life, now finding out that none it mattered because it happened to all be a lie was hilarious to me. I broke into an incessant drone of hysteria filled laughter. The voice rang again. “Stop! Get a hold of yourself. You are a crucial element is this fight. We have no time for you to freak out which is why I am only telling you the bare minimum. Now go and hurry. We urgently request your power.”

Finally, we were going to the field. I was going to the see the wolves soon. That ever present visitor of my dream's voice came to the surface of my mind. “Hurry time is running out.” I could only remember bits of my dreams but I knew that the voices were urgent. I was needed somewhere. Hopefully the wolves could possibly tell me something. What was I thinking? How could the wolves tell me anything?

The henna earth under my feet felt somehow empowering as we traveled through the heart of nature. I had seen almost no wildlife so far. I was losing hope of seeing any wolves when I caught a glimpse of grey black from the corner of my eyes. I ran off toward it blindly without a word to my father. He would only hold me back and probably think that I was crazy. I needed to follow that blur. I knew in my heart that it was Efrium. I knew that he was calling to me. He wanted me to follow and I had to heed his command. So I ran on leaving my father behind in wonder or anger. I do not know which for I did not stay long enough to find out.

As I ran the earth seemed to rotate, spinning uncontrollably. I knew that I must just be imagining it so I keep on running. The air swirled around me and my vision began to have a copper tint to it. My body started to lean to the left against my will. My eyes fluttering and blurring my vision. They started to become itchy and I had to restrain from scratching them or I may have bodged my eyes out because of my running strides. My mouth filled with an acrid taste and then I lost consciousness.

When I came to my head felt constricted as if someone had blown it up like a balloon and it was about to pop. Then I noticed a little black body laying beside me. I was started but soon I realized that it was the pup from my dreams. His little head was anchored on my stomach. He released a little sigh each time my abdomen rose and fell. He looked so peaceful and content. His eyes were turned up in what looked like a smile and I felt an urge to pull him closer to me. He resembled that puppy that I had lost so long ago. He began to whimper a bit in his deep sleep. Just as I was about to shake him awake out of fear I saw a silver form looming above my laying self.

“Leave him. That is just what puppies do. He is not in any pain. He is dreaming about wonderful things,” I knew that it was her talking but her mouth did not move in any way. She seemed to notice my confusion for she continued. “You have many gifts Ariadnee. One of which is to hear the voice of any whom you choose. This is but a telepathic link that has been reached using the powers that you posses nothing more. You are not going crazy and I am not speaking your so called English. A telepathic link speaks with thoughts not language. It only seems to be English to you because that is how your own thoughts have been programed.”

“Why have you called me here? What is it that you want me to do?” I pleaded.

“Relax, Ariadnee. First thing is first. I must expose to you the subterfuge which is your current life. You have always been here. You have always known that you were here. You must only remember. The evil queen Acrinus has disrupted your mind. You have never been Peg. You have always been Ariadnee the Powerful. You are of the full blood royal bloodline. We need your powers to stop Acrinus from her tyranny.”

“What is my power? I have fallen victim to this fate. Does that not make me powerless?”

“The ability to hear my voice alone is a powerful gift. You have much power. It is just buried deep within your consciousness. You must learn to shovel through all your doubt. Shift through the insecurities that your old self, Peg, has instilled within your being. You are no longer Peg. You are no longer living a lie. You are now Ariadnee the Powerful..The source of all light within our dark realm. You hold more power than any other including Acrinus. You only need to believe in yourself, and hone in on your skills. Your whole other world lives within your mind. Your power is called 'The Knowing.' Its fuel is your spiritual energy. You hold the spiritual energy but you must call upon the powers of the Goddess, Amble, to release that power.”

“The Goddess?” I asked.

“Yes. The goddess Amble is that which holds our universe together. She is all of us, and we are all her. All of everything is connected. That is the key to 'The Knowing'. I am you, and you are me. Acrinus's goal is to sever this universal bond. To break this bond would be to go against the natural order of things. It would make everything disconnected and we would be helpless against her will. She would be able to run rampant over all that we hold dear. I do not know why she wishes to control us all. Maybe she is only a derived psychopath, or she could be a lost soul on the wrong path to redemption.”
Sephera seemed lost in her own thoughts and I felt out of place. I started to try to push the pup off of me but as soon as I touched him his little eyes opened.

“Hello! I'm Blaten! How long have you been awake? I can not believe that I actually slept through you waking up. Do you want to play with me?”

He panted a bit out of breath. His tail wagged wildly. I was taken aback by his effervescent attitude, especially since the mood had been so serious. Silver's eyes filled with light as she looked down at the pup.

“Mommy, can we go play for a little while?”

“Now, Blaten, you know that Ariadnee has much to learn and that we do not have much time to be wasting.” Blaten's eyes began to fill with sparkling tears.

“Oh, all right,” She gave in. “But only for a little while.”

Blaten ran off into the dense trees and I obediently followed. When I reached him he was holding a big stick in his mouth. I took hold of one of the ends and he began pulling backward. I tightened my grip, pulling in the opposite direction. As we tugged at the rope the rough bark scraped painfully on my skin.

`“Ow,”

“I am sorry. I am still teething so I pull really hard, or at least that is what mother tells me.” He wagged his tail again.

Just then Sephera appeared through the trees and called to us. “I think it has been long enough. If you still want someone to play with your sister is down in the clearing.” He ran off happily and Sephera padded up to me.

“We shall start your training now. Up to now I have been sending you my thoughts. Now you will need to initiate this linking bond. I am now cutting off my thoughts. To talk to me again you will have to be the initiative.”

It went silent. Deadly silent. I had no idea where to even begin to connect to her. I sat upon the ground in a meditative stance. I sat in silence trying to clear my jumbled mind. Thoughts of my father and other things from my 'fake' life kept surfacing. I was having a hard time comprehending the fact that all that had been made up.

Or had it? Was Sephera lying to me? What reason had I to believe anything she told me? I had just met her. There was no prof to anything that she had said except for her speaking its self. I could easily have gone insane or have been put under an illusion. If what Silver said was true and there was an evil queen, Acrinus, then it could be just as likely that this whole thing was an illusion that she had put me under to trick me into helping her. For all I knew Silver was this Acrinus. There were many reasons that I should be weary of following this Sephera, but weirdly enough my intuition told me to listen. So I continued focusing my thoughts.

Through the abyss of my mind I saw a faint spark. It was bright and I was drawn toward it. As I drifted through the darkness to the spark I could feel all of the tension of my body drift away. I reached the spark and I felt a circling of air swirl around my body. Heat radiated across my skin. I felt a release of energy then there was a small voice in my mind.

“Well done.” I opened my eyes to see Sephera laying in front of me “Let us take a break now.” I had not realized that my skin was drenching in sweat until now. When I started to get up my muscles were all sore. The sun had also died away behind the trees. I must have been meditating for hours. I stretched a bit and then it occurred to me that I knew nothing of this place or the situation.

“Is everyone here a wolf?” I wondered. “Oh by the Goddess no!” She laughed. “I guess I should explain to you more about this place. This land is known as Stellvia. It is a diverse nation with many followers of the Goddess. The Goddess Amble has since long ago blessed this land and we have prospered. The land is filled with forests like this one and meadows like where the town of Hichet resides. That is where we shall travel as soon as you have completed some more training. You shall be then trained by Garret. From there we will travel to the town of Timbet. Timbet has a grant temple devoted to the Goddess Amble. You will then be able to channel directly with her. You are always able to hear her voice even if it is not direct words. Look at the trees around you.”

I truly looked at the landscape for the first time. The floor was caked with a soft green moss which squished between my bare toes. There were little green shrubs littered around creating an arch in front of us. The trees were stretched upward far beyond my head. The leaves were each glowing yellow orange. The sun made each appear as a little fire burning in the sky. I could also peer into the clearing from here and it was a sanctuary of gold. The floor was covered with little baby's breathes. There were also flowers in an array of purple and pink. Each petal looked as soft as cream and radiated brilliance. I felt the urge to go frolic through them.

“Everything you see is the Goddess. Can you feel the breeze?” It blew flipping my hair back. “That is her voice. You see the colors? That is here music. This life that you contain that is her song. She is always with us even though sometimes it may be hard to believe.”

“What did you mean when you said that I had always been here?” Saphera looked away in what appeared to be shame.

“It is okay, Saphera, I will take over now.” I turned to see the alpha (Efrium) standing resolute. Saphera looked at me for a moment longer before running off into the clearing and joining her two pups. “Ariadnee, you have always been here, you have. You used to know each of us. You used to run wild and free. Before Acrinus put that horrible spell on you you knew not of that other world known as Earth. She cast a spell on you to stop you from stopping her. You fell into deep sleep which we were unable to relive you from. Saphera blames herself. She feels that it was her duty to have woken you but we could find any way of doing so. We could only connect with you in the way of dreams. The only reason you have reawaken now is because you so wished it. You followed me in your waking dream and longed to help us. That will power alone is what saved you, us.”

“Now that you are awake I hope that you will gradually regain your memory, but there is a slight possibility that it may never fully return to you.” He grew silent and I dwelled in my thoughts. My other life really had never existed. I had had another life which had been torn away from me. I had never felt so defiled in my life (at least the life that I remembered). My body began to shake and I did not care that Efrium watched every shake. I no longer cared what these seemingly strangers thought of me. I could only focus on the pain that my heart felt. I knew that there was something else even worse that Efrium was keeping from me. I could see it in his eyes and a part of me was glad that he remained silent. I did not want to know what could be worse than finding out that your whole memory was a fake. What had I really been doing for that time? Had it been days? Weeks? Months? Even years? I was too afraid to ask. Had I really been trapped in a void that whole time? An empty abyss of nothingness holding onto a delusion. It was too much to comprehend.