Creatures of Nightmares: Silent Funeral

Chapter 38

Original Post Date: Feb 22, 2025

The original subtitle was Bullet Train.

~

“Apollo?” Astra was bewildered by what was in front of her. It truly was that Apollo she had lost so long ago. But how? How could he have been alive, after all this time? Apollo stepped forward, brushing his muzzle against hers. This was the wolf that his past version had loved so dearly.

“There were a lot of complications,” Apollo said, “But yes, it is, technically, me.”

“My son, how could this be?” Ridley asked, “You died.”

Apollo took a step back. His father had been the one to kill him, after all this time. He furrowed his brow, suspicious.

“You killed me.”

Ridley couldn’t help but lower his head in shame. He had, indeed, killed his only son. It was the only way that he could have transformed back to his true self.

“Apollo. You can trust him. He’s allied with Astra,” the voice echoed in Apollo’s head. Apollo sighed. He nodded. Reign tucked her wings in, while Pax observed closely.

“I guess I should explain how I’m alive?” Apollo let out a light chuckle, “I’m not really the Apollo you know. I’m from the past. I don’t know how it happened, but I managed to retain those memories of the Apollo you knew.”

“So you’re not really the Apollo we know?” Prince asked, confused.

“I suppose so,” Apollo said. He seemed nervous being around his supposed ‘friends’. They didn’t feel like friends to him, despite having the memories of their Apollo, “Now, I’m aware we have to… take down some evil force named Shadow?”

“Adira,” Prince corrected him with a snarl.

“Adira,” Apollo looked from wolf to wolf, “Where should we… start?”

This Apollo, while having the memories of his past self, was still clearly naive and inexperienced. There was only so much memories could do. Astra huddled up next to him. Apollo awkwardly stood still.

“Well, we were supposed to head to the Cloud Kingdom first in order to figure out how to save the wolves from Carnivore Island.”

“Oh yeah,” Apollo said blankly, “I forgot about that. Uh, where is that?”

“In the Redwoods, aye, atop its only mountain. ‘Tis one o’ the most dangerous biomes on the Island, but it’s also the most secure,” Reign explained, her wings fluffing as she spoke, “I could fly there meself, no bother, but there’s seven o’ us, so…”

“We’ll have to take the long route,” Prince moaned, “Time’s wasting. Why’d we have to chase, uh, Apollo down?”

“Because we needed to know the name of the wolf who saved our lives,” Jane snapped, “You wouldn’t know. You weren’t there when we were attacked by the humans. You weren’t there when Ridley almost bit the dust.”

“You were attacked by the humans?” Prince scoffed, “We really needed to get a move on.”

“We didn’ leave ye behind, even though we were all banged up. Coulda made it to the Cloud Kingdom without ye, no problem,” Reign laughed, her wings ruffling, “Yer dead weight, fer a Prophecy Wolf, ye are.”

There was a moment of silence. Apollo pawed at the snow.

“Can we go now?”

“Right. O’ course, follow me lead,” Reign said, ready to bolt off when a howl cut through the air.

“Wolves?” Jane’s ears perked up, “Perhaps they could help us.”

“That’s odd, though,” Ridley muttered, “If Shadow sent them all to Carnivore Island, then who-”

There was pattering in the snow. The smell of a corpse, and then, a voracious snarl. They all quickly conglomerated in a circle, looking around cautiously. Was it an enemy wolf sent by Adira?

“One, two, three- SEVEN wolves!” a male wolf snarled, “In OUR TERRITORY!”

The male wolf let out a growl.

“Who do you think you are?” a she wolf cackled, “To stumble into my territory?”

The wolf revealed herself. She was black, with an orange underside. Then, a squad of three more wolves ran up to her side. Each one was heavily scarred and their fumes were horrible. The she wolf was noticeably larger than the others. She must have been their Alpha, perhaps even the pack leader.

“Territory? What do you mean? All the wolves live in harmony!” Astra shouted back. All the wolves let out howls of amusement.

“Harmony?! Oh, you must be one of those… magic wolves, chosen by the whatever you call it, all that bulldung!” the Alpha said, “Darling, we’re wolves, all right. If anything we live up to the name more than you ever could. We’re REAL direwolves!”

“We’re sorry for trespassing on your territory,” Pax said, “Now we have to be on our way.”

“Oh you’re not off the hook that easily,” the Alpha wolf said, “I’ve always wanted to fight one of you scornful wolves. You all think you’re so mighty and noble, simply because you were ‘chosen’. You think you’re so strong, simply because of those pathetic powers of yours. You think you can create balance, simply by banding together in mega packs.”

“We really have to be on our way!” Pax begged her, “The world’s at stake-”

“Don’t pull that dung on me now!” the Alpha wolf snapped, “Fight me, like a real wolf would! Show us the way of the Island, show us how it’s supposed to be!”

“You leave me no choice!” green swirls culminated on Pax’s back, but out of nowhere, a fifth wolf jumped out of the snow and attacked Pax, preventing him from slowing down time. Instantly, the wolves were upon each other. It was a real dog fight.

The Alpha wolf stared at Astra with a glare. The glare quickly turned to a grin.

“You and I shall fight, pretty girl.”

“My name’s Astra, not pretty girl,” Astra swished her tail, and an ice club formed onto her tail “And we really shouldn’t be fighting.”

“Enough of the talk. You shall duel me, Bonebreaker, and I shall slay you where you stand.”

“Bring it on then.”

###

The tan wolf was standing upon a cliff, staring at the onslaught with a sigh. So be it the circle of life. Bonebreaker was right, in a way. There was a reason it had chosen not to give all wolves magic. Some were simply too dangerous with it.

“Not intervening and saving your precious wolves?”

The tan wolf looked behind it to see the man walking up to it. It had its eyes on a console interface.

“I shouldn’t intervene.”

“And why not? If you’re who I THINK you are, you’re the one responsible for this… mess,” the man laughed, “You’re responsible for giving me this!”

“I only strive to create a world where anyone can be who they choose to be,” the tan wolf declared, “Tyrants and dictators have no place in my world.”

“You tolerate everything else though, right? You tolerate, hmmm, bringing innocent humans into this world like toys?” the man raised an eyebrow, “You’re a real hypocrite.”

“If you hate your creator that much, strike me down.”

“I know that won’t bring any good. You’re probably not even the real deal. This is a projection, or whatever crap you like pulling off,” the man clicked on the console interface. The swirl on the man’s wrist only grew. The man looked at the wolf.

“I promise I’ll find you. I’ll find a way back to my old life. No matter what it takes.”

The tan wolf nodded.

“Good luck with that, my son.”

The tan wolf disappeared. The man rolled his eyes.

“What does it think it is? It didn’t create me,” the man looked off the cliff at the battle, “Even if it did…”

“It has no right to do any of this.”