AUTHOR'S POV
Startled awake, Diana gasped opening her eyes on a soft warm bed. The familiar fear still lingered inside her mind as terror overtook her face. For a moment, she drifted back and forth from her consciousness until she's fully awake. Pushing herself, she tried to get up from laying flat, facing downwards. Smelling the fresh scent of baked bread and mouth-watering sweet aroma of hot chocolate, Diana heard her stomach grumble audibly. She groaned, as she get up slowly, and somehow, she wondered if she's in a dream. She looked at herself. Her clothes were changed, and the wound on her back is cleaned and bandaged. Messy, but somehow, felt right. She grazed her leg, only to find there's no more wound that she thought would leave an ugly scar. This isn't a dream, she realized.
Sitting on the bed, her eyes moved around exploring the small poorly lit hut made of stone, wood, and thatched roof. From where she sits, she spots the fire under an old silver cauldron that sends a delicious aroma of some soup, and the flickering light of a melted candle resting on an upside down ivory cup. Her stomach grumbled audibly. Diana closed her eyes and inhaled the savory smell of the dish being cooked. 'Must be a good soup', she moaned. She tried to stand up, when someone sitting from across the room cleared his throat and puffed smoke from his wooden pipe. "Are you feeling better, Luna?", an old man asked, who's been hiding in the shadows on a chair in the corner of the hut.
"Yes.. thank you for helping me", she replied, coughing from the smoke with a scent of mint and vanilla as the old man huff and puff.
"I did nothing much, the wound on your leg healed on its own.. ", he said, as he put down his wooden pipe on the table beside him.
"Ohh.. It did?", she shockingly replied. "So I really do heal fast", she whispered. She tried to see the old man she's speaking with. It was so dark, she can only see his silhouette. In this view, she can tell he has long tangly hair.
"The unusual Luna is a wolf after all. Just as I thought", Dolphus replied with a soft chuckle. This Luna doesn't seem to know what she is, he pondered.
'Still, I can't shape shift', she mulled in silence. She winced at the pain she felt on her back.
"But the wound on your back is something I cannot help you with anymore", he said, with traces of sadness in his voice.
"Oh..", Diana reached for back, from her shoulders. That explains the stings, she thought. Convinced that it must be infected.
"You're poisoned from the lycan's claws. We don't have antidotes for that here. A much stronger healing abilities can help remove the venom from your wounds. I'm very sorry Luna", he uttered.
Diana understood how it sounded like. As a doctor, she have spoken that perfect tone to the families of her patients several times, on how she did her best but still ended short to save one's life. "I understand.. You already did so much. Thank you kind sir", she replied, accepting her fate. She chewed over several what ifs in her mind. What if she just simply jump off? What if she just let the lycan fall off the cliff without attempting to incapacitate it?
"I'm Dolphus Crumbe. You can call me Elder Dolphus", Dolphus introduced himself as he stood up and went to the cauldron to mix the soup.
"My name is Diana.. isn't it a bit dark here, Elder Dolphus?", she asked, worried that Dolphus might get hurt from cooking in the dark.
"It was a similar night like this.. decades ago, our town was devastated by a lycan, Luna. The moon was round as a pearl when a large beast suddenly came attacking everyone on its way. I could never forget that night, because that was when I lost my sight", Dolphus said, as he pour soup on a bowl and placed it on the table.
"Oh! I'm sorry to hear.. that." Diana gasped in shock. "You're exceptionally familiar around here.", she asked in amusement, watching the blind old man maneuver around.
"Ahh.. I don't need my eyes to see, Luna. Actually, From where I stand, I can tell that you are afraid..", he said as he sit down on a chair by the dining area. "Come along, eat with me", he invited.
"I'm not afraid of you Elder Dolphus", Diana slowly stood up and groaned as she sat across Dolphus whose eyes were as white as his hair.
"Not of me.. of the truth.", he sipped from his cup of hot chocolate. "And those troubles gnawing you inside."
"Truth..", she uttered. Every time Diana dig deeper to seek for truth, she loses one person close to her. First is her mother, then next is Calvin. Her pillars of strength who builds up her resilience. As the truth shatter the lies she believed in, her troubles piled up, worming their way inside her... consuming every bit of her. Those little things that she fail to acknowledge was devouring her without her knowing. And in every chance she gets to face them, she looks away. Diana suddenly thought of Emilia, who she once met at the island with a gift of telling one's fortune. "You're like someone I knew.. but unfortunately she's gone.", she said as she whirl her soup in the bowl.
"What's her name?", Dolphus grab hold of his hot cup not minding the heat.
"Emilia", she replied, as she position herself comfortably to relax her aching back.
Dolphus twisted his lips at the name Diana spurred. "Ahh.. What did she tell you?", he sat very still waiting for Diana's reply.
"The big bad wolf is coming for me.. and it did", Diana sipped the hot chocolate slowly. "Elder Dolphus, you said, there's a lycan here before.. and it's been long gone for a while.. Why do you think it's back?", she asked.
"Luna, are you up for a story?", Dolphus asked.
"Where am I gonna go?", Diana replied as she eat her soup and broke a piece of bread.
"Hnmm..", Dolphus swallowed a lump and leaned back. "It was a beautiful night for moon bathing when we all got distraught from a frightening howl in the woods. Seeing the yellow eyed beast who unexpectedly appeared in our small peaceful town, we became wary of the creature who seemed to be cursed by a nagual..".
"The smart creatures who uses black magic", Diana blurted out.
"Ahh yes. So you've heard..", Dolphus clicked his tongue. "I assumed that a nagual turned a wolf into a monstrous slave of the moon who has endless hunger for blood.. Later on, we discovered that he craves not just anybody's blood, but the blood of the Luna. It can even easily track her scent even at a great distance", Dolphus said.
Diana remembered how the lycan followed her last night and attacked every single wolf on its way. Then she figured, the lycan in Dolphus story didn't chased just anyone's luna. It haunted its own Luna. "Did he killed… the Luna?", Diana winced, as she sit at the edge of her chair.
"Karin was a brave Luna. At first she was able to run and hide.. She fought well. I lost my sight saving her that night, and I never regretted it", Dolphus proudly said with a smile. "She did everything she could. Eventually, she didn't managed to escape the wrath of the cursed Alpha. She perished after two full moons.", he added, as he heard her sighed deeply.
"You saw Scott… change? Didn't you?", he asked, as he leaned forward.
"Right before my eyes", she said, as she stare down.
"So I was right", Dolphus said as his tight lips tremble. "Karin never told me anything. Until I had my first vision at the touch of her hand. Even if she didn't tell me… I knew that Viktor was the lycan who attacked the town.", he added as he feel sorry for Scott and for failing Karin from protecting her only son.
"More of my visions came in sight. However, before I could fully understand, Karin already steered clear from my abilities.", he said with a sharp exhale. "But tonight confirms that the curse runs through the bloodline of the Lockwoods.. Scott is now carrying the curse", he added as Diana listen intently enduring the sharp pains she feel on her back. "The night before the Luna died, she told me just one important thing, never let Scott imprint .. with no explanations.", Dolphus sniffing, clenched his hand on the table. "I kept mum to protect their son.. even though the townspeople started to make speculations.. They even called Viktor a lunatic, seeing him go mad…", Dolphus continued.
"Must be hard for Viktor to lose his Luna, finding out he caused her death", Diana thought as she pressed her wound leaning back.
"True. Maybe that's the reason why Karin thought it is best to keep Scott some place in the city with her brother, Stanley, where he cannot imprint. So, Scott cannot experience the pain of turning to a lycan, and come chasing his Luna for blood", he said.
"But, the imprint is something beyond a wolf's control. It's fate that he cannot escape..", Diana uttered. Then, she lifted her face up to Dolphus. "I heard there was a healer, Elder Dolphus", she said, as she stare intently at the wise man starting to talk about Daniel Woodsworth.