Oregon in the Fall - 14. Chapter Fourteen: Aten

My mother used to lead with the strength of a thousand winter storms, and once upon a midnight, when wolves still whispered secrets to the moon, she told me a tale about a lone wolf turned. His name was Adam.

Adam was not born with the wolf in him. He didn’t grow up with the voice inside his head. He couldn’t talk to him like the best friend he would be, even before he started speaking to the humans around him. No. Adam didn’t have any of that.

Instead, he was turned by his mate. It was a forbidden love, and it was a forbidden bond. The moon had not touched Adam like he had all the other cubs in the pack. And one night, he finally succumbed to his wolf, and he was gone. Never to be seen again.

My mother told me this tale not just as a story, but as a warning. The power to turn another comes at a great cost, and the bond forged is unbreakable, its consequences far-reaching.

What had I done?

We were huddled in a small alcove off the main passage, seeking a semblance of safety in this labyrinth that had tried to kill us. Clara, usually composed and in control, could barely mask her devastation. Her breaths were shallow, ragged, her eyes fixed on Dave, who was still unconscious.

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” she choked out, her voice barely a whisper. She turned her gaze to me, “What did you do? What have you done?”

The accusation stung, but her grief-stricken desperation wasn’t malicious, and I was in no better state. “Turning him was the only way to save him. He would have died otherwise,” I said, the memory of those flames seared into my mind.

Dave just lay there. He wasn’t moving, but at least he was breathing. What was going to happen now?

I only had to wonder for a few seconds. Dave’s body suddenly contorted as if every single one of his muscles contracted. It looked horrible. A crushing sound escaped his mouth. I’m sure he wasn’t able to scream even if he wanted to.

“Dave! No!” Clara shouted. I held her back as she tried to get closer to him. “No, let him be,” I said.

“You made him into a… a…” she trailed off, then spat out the words, “A monster. Like you.”

Did I?

“Maybe,” I muttered, voice low. “But this monster just saved your brother’s life.”

The silence that followed my words was thick, charged with unspoken accusations and simmering guilt. My gaze remained fixed on Dave, his body a battlefield of unnatural change. He was shaking violently. I longed to ease his pain, to offer comfort, but I had no understanding of the transformation taking hold—I could only bear witness.

Suddenly, Dave’s eyes snapped open. They were no longer gentle, familiar blue; they blazed with a feral intensity that chilled me to the core. A guttural growl, inhuman and primal, tore from his throat.

Dave lurched forward, his movements jerky and erratic, like a newborn colt testing its legs for the first time. His teeth were bared, gleaming in the dim light, and I glimpsed the unnatural length of his canines.

Clara gasped, her eyes wide with a fear now mirrored in my own. “Dave?” Her voice was a desperate plea, the only anchor to the human he had been moments before.

For a heartbeat, recognition flickered within the primal depths of his eyes. Perhaps he remembered, or maybe he simply sensed Clara’s despair. And then a low, ragged whine escaped him, a sound so utterly alien, yet laced with a heartbreaking whimper of confusion and pain. That was the sound that broke me.

The monster I feared wasn’t fully formed. Not yet. Dave was still in there, trapped within a body that no longer felt like his own.

he needs us. needs us.

What have we done?

his wolf. he doesn’t know him. he needs us.

I moved towards him slowly, cautiously, ignoring Clara’s warning cry. “Dave, it’s me. Grey.” I spoke softly, unsure if words even mattered anymore. “I’m here. We’re gonna fix this.”

I’d spoken with bravado, but deep down, I was terrified. What had I done? Dave blinked, and some of the wildness seemed to fade. He was staring at me intently now, a spark of recognition within those strange and beautiful eyes.

“Easy, buddy,” I murmured, holding out a trembling hand.

With a hesitant step, Dave moved closer. He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring as he processed my scent. His human body was still tense, his animal instincts just beneath the surface. But, tentatively, he leaned his head forward until it rested against my outstretched palm.

I exhaled, a rush of relief washing over me. It was a small gesture, but a thread of hope in the chaos I’d unleashed. The bond between us was stronger than I’d imagined, a lifeline tethering him to something vaguely familiar.

His touch. It was everything.

As his head rested against my palm, I felt my skin starting to tingle. Like tiny sparks, unseen. Yet, they weren’t unseen for long. They started to appear around the area where my hand touched him.

Oh, what the hell.

I leaped forward, embraced him, hugged him. Dave. Closer. Dave. His badly burned body felt rough, skin singed, clothes missing. But I was with him.

Everything got brighter, warmer. The feeling was exhilarating. It was just us. Us in a ball of warm light.

‘Grey?’ I heard Dave talking to me in my head.

‘… Dave?’

‘What happened?’

‘I… you almost died.’

‘And then I didn’t?’

‘I bit you.’

‘That sounds rude. Wait…’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh.’

‘Can you… hear him?’ I needed to know.

‘Who is him?’

‘Your wolf.’

‘I…’

Dave broke our embrace, violently. He fell over backwards from the kneeling position we were in, grasping his head in pain.

“What! Get out. Help me. Oh god, help me!”

“What the fuck did you do?” Clara said, voice furious. She shoved me aside and went to her brother.

“Dave. Focus. Please. The one you’re hearing is you. It’s your wolf. But it’s you,” I said to him, trying to calm him down.

“No… Get him out of my head!” Dave said. He was panicking, flailing about.

But then it hit me. “Clara… He healed! He is ok,” I said, my eyes wide open.

Clara tried to calm Dave down, grabbing his arms to hold them still, barely succeeding at that. She turned her head around, looking at me with vitriol, and said, “Would you consider this ok? Really?”

Clara’s words hung in the air like a curse. She was right. Dave might be physically healed, but the mental and emotional turmoil tearing him apart was a whole other nightmare. And how would he fare days from now, weeks from now?

A wave of guilt washed over me, nearly suffocating. Had I saved his body, only to destroy his mind? Was this a twisted mercy, trading one death for another?

My wolf instincts urged me forward. I wanted to wrap Dave in another embrace, to share my strength somehow, but a flicker of hesitation stayed my hand. The last time, it led to this chaotic surge of healing… and something else, something I didn’t fully understand.

“Clara, I didn’t know,” I started, voice hoarse. “I just… wanted…” My words trailed off, failing to convey the urgency, the desperation of that moment.

Dave’s cries turned to muffled whimpers, his body curling inwards as he battled some invisible tormentor.

this hurts. he hurts.

My heart clenched. My wolf ached to soothe him, to quiet the chaos, but how? The touch seemed to trigger even more transformation. What were we even dealing with?

“We can’t stay here,” Clara said grimly, her voice a thin thread of determination amidst the chaos. “Whatever is happening to him… it’s not slowing down.”

She was right. The shadows in the alcove seemed to writhe, fueled by the distress emanating from Dave.

need to find quiet place. safe place.

The wolf echoed my own thoughts. There had to be somewhere we could take Dave, a haven, even a temporary one…

“Help me with him,” I said to Clara, the beginnings of an impossible plan forming. “We need to move. Now.”

I wasn’t sure if a safer place even existed in this labyrinth, but the alternative—staying here as Dave spiraled further into chaos—was unthinkable. I reached out, a silent plea, a gamble…

It was not a hand I offered to Dave this time. It was my shoulder. A gesture of support, yet keeping a necessary distance.

“Can you walk? Lean on me if you need to. We’re getting out of here.” My voice was firm, echoing my determination to find whatever answers, whatever help existed within this maze.

Clara mirrored me on Dave’s other side. Between the two of us, we managed to leverage him to his unsteady feet. His body, though healed, was awkward, unused to its newfound power. Every step he took was a labored effort.

As we moved deeper into the labyrinth, the strange connection between us vibrated beneath my skin. I could feel the echoes of Dave’s fear and confusion, the raw power of his newly awakened wolf clawing at the edges of his consciousness.

I had to get him out of this place. If we wanted to keep him from going insane, he had to bond with his wolf. And for that, he had to transform and run in the moonlight. A wild guess.

moon. only moon.

Our journey wasn’t about reaching the heart of the labyrinth anymore. It was about keeping Dave alive, body and soul, and hoping that somewhere within these ancient halls, we might find a way to balance the scales of this disastrous transformation.

“We need to get him back into the forest. We need to leave here,” I said with determination.

“No shit,” Clara said.

We labored across the ancient hallways for a while.

“I have no idea how to find a way out. The way we got in certainly isn’t an option.”

“I think I do. Let’s just get to this large opening up ahead. I feel the forest getting stronger.”

The next room was not just vast but bathed in ethereal moonlight. Shafts of silver beams spilled through cracks in the ceiling, illuminating a scene of ancient grandeur and decay. Crumbling statues stood guard over a mosaic floor, their once-vibrant colors now faded echoes of lost glory. Vines snaked through the shattered windows, a testament to the relentless passage of time.

A surge of hope ignited within me. We had found it. An escape route, a chance for Dave to run beneath the moon’s watchful eye.

“This is it,” I whispered, my voice barely audible against the silence. “Clara, help me get him out there.”

With renewed determination, we propelled Dave forward, the uneven ground making each step a struggle against his uncoordinated body. Finally, we reached the center of the chamber. Dave stumbled, then collapsed to his knees, his breaths ragged, his eyes wild.

The moonbeams painted his skin with an otherworldly glow. His entire body trembled, and a guttural moan escaped him. This time, there was no mistaking it; the transformation was about to surge forth anew.

“Clara, get back,” I said, pushing her towards a sheltered alcove. “It’s going to happen again.”

The fear in her eyes was undeniable. Yet, with a nod of grim determination, she retreated to a safer distance. As she watched, the echoes of that first, horrifying transformation filled the crumbling chamber.

His bones cracked and shifted, his skin stretched and tore, his human face distorted into a lupine muzzle. But this time, there was a difference, a flicker of recognition in his primal gaze. It was as if he remembered what was coming… and braced himself.

I watched, my heart pounding a deafening rhythm in my chest, a mix of fear and awe battling within me. Was this the key? Would the cycle of chaotic transformation break once he’d surrendered to it fully?

‘Let me loose.’ The voice, rough, primal, yet undeniably Dave’s, resonated in my mind. It was his wolf. He wanted this. He craved the freedom and was desperate to unleash it.

I knew then what I had to do. I stepped forward, placing myself directly in his path.

“Hey,” I said, barely recognizing my own strained voice. “Let it happen. Just…” I swallowed, “Just remember who you are.”

In those strange, sunlight-filled eyes, a flicker of something human still burned. I held his gaze, an anchor in the storm, a testament to the bond between us.

He hesitated, and then with a final, almost-human growl, Dave surrendered. The shift completed, the howl that tore from his throat was a pure expression of animal instinct, but lacked the desperate undertone of terror.

In its place stood a wolf. Sleek, silver fur gleaming under the moon’s caress. Powerful, yes, but not monstrous. Eyes filled with a familiar intelligence, tinged with a wildness that spoke of release, not madness. So bright. Like the sun.

aten.

What?

he is. aten. he is.

A ten? What are you saying?

i. you. we are. wepwawet. he is our mate. aten is our mate.

For a breathless moment, my own wolf leaped within me. We were echoes in this ancient chamber, two souls bound by a power neither of us could yet grasp.

Dave tilted his head, sniffed the air. Confusion swirled beneath the surface of that now-predatory gaze. He needed instruction, a guide back to himself.

‘Follow me,’ I said to Dave without speaking. The thought was mine, yet echoed his own desires. I shifted, swiftly, without hesitation. My clothes ripped into shreds and fell to the floor. I turned my head, and with a final glance at Clara, her eyes wide with a mix of wonder and apprehension, I led the way out of the chamber and into the labyrinth’s winding passages.

Behind me, I heard the padded fall of paws against stone. Dave followed. We were on the run. Not just from this cursed place, but from something far more dangerous–the possibility that he might lose himself entirely. And I wasn’t going to let that happen. Yet, amidst the fear, a thread of hope shimmered. This wasn’t about escape anymore; it was about discovery, about survival.

Our paws thudded against the ancient stone pathways. This was our place now. It had always been our place. We ran. And ran. And wherever there was a doorway, it would part to let us through. I wasn’t scared of any traps because I knew this place answered to us now.

After what felt like an eternity, we came back to the room with the ethereal moonlight, dancing with yellow and blue streaks of wonder. We walked side by side as wolves. Clara was still standing there, her eyes open with awe.

‘Can you feel him?’ I asked Dave, not speaking.

‘Yes.’

‘How does it feel?’

‘We feel good.’

I let out a chuckle. A wolfey one.

‘You said we.’

‘He is me and I am him.’

‘How do you learn so fast?’

We reached Clara, and sat down in front of her, both our heads tilting to the side.

“You’re so… big,” Clara said, reaching out with her hands to pat our heads. She didn’t have to lean down, our heads were level with her chest. And we both leaned into the touch. Every so often, it’s nice to play domesticated dog.

‘Ready to shift?’ I asked Dave.

‘Sure. How does that work?’

‘Ask your wolf to help you. He’s usually the more intelligent one.’

‘Oh.’

‘On three. One… two…’

My shift back to human was instant, which was unsurprising. But Dave’s was too. Effortless. How?

There we were. Naked. In front of Clara.

“Whoa,” was all that Clara said.

“Now, can you forgive me for biting him?” I asked her.

“Maybe. But only because I like pets.” Clara then proceeded to hug her naked brother closely. “I thought I’d lost you. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dave said.

She held Dave at arm’s length and looked him over. “I know it’s been a while since I saw you naked and all, but you seem bigger.”

“I feel bigger,” Dave responded.

Yeah. I did notice, too. But I was seriously trying to control myself here.

“I called the cavalry, by the way,” Clara said, her gaze on me now.

“Ok?” I said.

“This room allowed me to reach out to the forest at least. And I think someone or something is going to pass the message along. See all those windows up there? I thought we were going deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, but I can see the moonlight. So…”

“So… druidic telegraph?”

“Sort of.”

“So we just wait now?”

“Yup. And you two are going to put on some clothes. And then we’re eating granola bars and spinach.”

“Spinach?”

“I packed well.”

So we did. We sat down on what you could call a stone bench. All the while, I did look at Dave a lot. And I wondered… this couldn’t be this easy, could it? Mark was gone, but maybe we finally caught a break.

Clara did some hand wavey things, and tried to conjure up some fruits, all of which worked. She handed me an apple. It was very tasty.

“So, is your magic fixed now? Did we fix anything?” I asked her.

“Far from it. But this place is like a sanctuary, and with the connection to the forest I have right here, just for the moment, I think we can relax.”

“The labyrinth listened to us…” Dave said.

“Huh?” Clara said.

“When we were running as… wolves, all the doors opened for us. And I wasn’t even concerned about the traps anymore.”

“That’s…”

“I think it recognized us.”

And then Clara started singing. In a normal context, this would’ve felt odd, but I was in awe of her. I didn’t understand the language, maybe it wasn’t even one. Melodies that I thought were impossible.

It was wonderful.

In twilight’s embrace, where shadows play,
Under Aten’s gaze and lunar array,
“I found you!” whispers the night to the day,
A secret dance, so far do we stray.

Wepwawet’s howl, in the moon’s soft light,
Druids’ chants, through the starry night.
In this realm, where sun and moon unite,
Mysteries unfold, in plain sight.

—The Abydos Papyrus