Story Beyond Worlds

CHAPTER 3

They made smooth and steady progress till dusk, having covered much distance and being not far from exiting the rainforest. Sapphire didn't even get off her father's back to be able to go anywhere the rest of the journey, though it wasn't an order from her parents to do so. They even asked her if she would like to, but she refused every time.  The near death encounter slightly traumatised her, her first and most painful one, not finding herself capable of surviving any more pain than that. While her injuries already stopped bleeding, the pain was yet to give away, and the injuries were not fully healed yet.

While they were called Midnight wolves, it was largely due to the color of their fur, they still preferred to sleep through the night and move during the day, knowing very well nights were far more dangerous in the rainforest to be wandering about.

Sapphire was also still in her humanoid form, waiting for her injuries to heal. She also noticed that her clothes regenerated faster than her body, the holes in her clothes made by the piranhas having been healed completely by now. This was why she decided to remain in her humanoid form. This way, her injuries were not exposed to the dirt or anything which could worsen them, or cause an infection. She has seen a wolf with an infected foot once, and she remembers how horrifying it looked and how much pain they were in.

The wolves stopped to rest not far from exiting the rainforest, both her parents having already went to sleep. Sapphire felt uneasy and scared from her traumatising experience, so she decided to walk nearby, not too far so to not get in any trouble again. Slowly getting up she tiptoed around her parents, trying to not disturb their sleep as they were sure to be tired, and made her way to the denser woods, hoping the nature will help her relax her nerves and fall asleep.

After just a short walk she felt much better and prepared to head back to her parents. As she returned, out of the corner of her eye she noticed a bright blue glow, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn towards it, her eyes widening from shock.

"Wow..." She gasped as she made her way towards the glow.

The source of the glow happened to be the flower known as the 'Midnight Bloom'. Sapphire has only ever seen it once, when she was very little, even then she remembered very well how the bloom looked. It was a flower that only bloomed during the middle of the night, the moment it turned daytime the flower died and scattered seeds around that bloomed into new flowers after several weeks, after being carried to unthinkable distances by birds and squirrels. It was impossible to keep track of their location and so they were considered one of the rarest flowers ever. Seeing one in bloom was considered the greatest honor in Midnight Wolves, a sign of a blessing from the Goddess of Wolves.

Afterall, the flower represented their species. All twelve-petaled flowers represented one of the major species in existence, also sometimes called the 'Origin Blooms' in certain ancient records, something Sapphire knew due to her mother. Midnight Blooms possessed six bright blue petals above, with six comparatively darker petals in the gaps left, slightly below the others. Each petal was mainly a shade of blue with a vein of black running down the center of the petals and branching out like a river through them. It was truly a beautiful flower, and Sapphire was in awe and almost forgot she needed to return before anyone noticed and got worried.

She didn't know if it was the right thing, but she knew it was the only thing she could do right now. It wasn't possible for her to keep watching the bloom for too long right now, and who knew how long it would be before she sees another, if she even does. No one ever tried it since these were considered sacred amongst the Midnight Wolves, but Sapphire couldn't convince herself to leave the flower. She slowly and gently broke the stem of the flower and raised it to her eyes, its glow reflecting from her eyes. She gently tucked it into her inner coat pocket, right above her heart.