Lykiana opened her eyes. Her now mortal body was resting on the ground and she had never felt so heavy before. Spirits were made of Stardust and had no weight but now, even her eyelashes were weighing her down. She stared up at the cloudless summer sky. She had mostly visited during the night when the Wolves were most active and found herself surprised by the Sun's beauty. Varying shades of blue danced together, twisting and blending forming an ocean of colour. She drank in the light and basked in the warmth. She had never experienced such sensations before and she felt giddy with pure joy.

She tipped her head back, angling her face to the Sun's rays. She had never felt any warmth or cold, rain or shine and even the cold blades of grass she was winding through her fingers was new. She felt as though she had been missing out on all these new, wonderous sensations that the people got to experience ever so regularly.

Her bubble was burst rather quickly, however. Strangely, she could not hear the tell-tale loud noises of nature. Whenever she had visited as a Spirit, she never had a moment of silence with the chittering of insects and mating calls of animals. Lifting her body up to have a look, she found that she couldn't move. Her body wasn't used to being this heavy. She tried and failed a couple more times and just gave up, preferring to stay still on the grass. It was strange, the notion of waking up. Her body felt stiff yet content. She felt sated but still sleepy. It was like a drug almost, wooing her back to the deep ocean called sleep. A feeling she had never felt before but wanted to feel again. She let her eyes close and slowly drifted off to sleep.

She awoke with a start. She could sense there was an animal nearby watching her. Opening her eyes, she saw that her senses were right. A small white rabbit watched her, his head cocked in curiosity.

"Hello, little rabbit", she whispered. "Come closer".

The rabbit hopped closer, swayed in by her animal influence, it's black eyes glittering.

"Tell me little rabbit, where are the animals? Why has none of my subjects come to greet me?"

The rabbit did not have a level of consciousness but she was able to open a telepathic communication and granted the rabbit a mental voice.

"Wolf Spirit, how are you here? All animals believed the Spirit realm was cut off, and no Spirits have been seen since. There has been a dark evil that has overtaken the Wolves, they have been relentlessly hunting and murdering such that other species have been dying due to the hunting or lack of food".

Lykiana listened confused, a wedge of fear embedding itself in her heart.

"I do not understand, The Moon Mother has clearly stated that an animal cannot excessively hunt, why have they not been punished?"

"As I have said, the Spirit Realm has been cut off. There has been no help from above and no regulation".

"But how could my people, the Wolves, go against me and commit such evil?" She asked furiously, more to herself than a rabbit.

"There has been a new Alpha for the Wolf kingdom. He has allowed such things to happen".

"I must place a stop to this at once", she declared in anger. She could feel the strength slowly returning to her body and she was able to move her limbs with success now. A couple more minutes and she would have full control over her mortal body.

"Do you know why the Spirit Realm was cut off?" She asked the rabbit.

"No one does, it was sudden when it happened. Ten years ago-"

"Ten years ago?" She asked, interrupting the rabbit. He nodded in confirmation. Lykiana looked at him incredulously. That was not possible. She had left the Spirit Realm before it closed off, so had she been asleep for over a decade? How had she stayed asleep for that long?

"What- How could I have possibly slept for this long?" She asked in horror. The Moon Mother gave her a task and whilst turmoil gripped the Earth, she had been sleeping. The Spirit Realm was closed so there would be no one to guide their people and she had slept, the only Spirit left on Earth. She forced herself up into a seating position, ignoring the groaning of her body.

The rabbit skittered back nervously sensing her raw power as she forced her newfound muscles to work. Trembling, she finally stood and grinned vicariously at the rabbit at her success. Taking a few steps forward, she stumbled but then found herself and managed to walk normally. The grass beneath her toes felt deliciously cool and refreshing and despite the situation, she found herself smiling. It tickled her feet, crisp and damp beneath her feet.

The happiness was momentary because as soon as she turned around, she felt her heart sink. Looking at the place she had slept in for a decade, a place that kept her ensnared and exposed, Lykiana began to realise the severity of the situation. Inscriptions furiously marked the ground around her forming a large circle drawn around her, reeking of Dark Magic. The runes were an ebony black, engraved into the soil. She scanned them in horror. The smell was faint, but death decay tainted the air ever so slightly. Some runes looked somewhat worn and eroded due to the weather which is probably how she woke up. The ten years of weather had allowed the circle and thus the magic to break.

Lykiana flinched away from them in abject horror. After the Dark Reign, there had been nothing left. Dark Magic was wiped off the Earth. It was banished and destroyed. The scrolls were burnt and the Spirit Realm was purged. Dark Magic was supposed to be forever gone. She had made sure of that herself. How could it have returned? None could learn about it when there was no trace of it, no proof that it had existed. The newer Spirits had never even seen Dark Magic before, only the ancient ones.

Dark magic was forbidden. It went against the Moon's natural light and a Spirit's composition. It tainted the soul, a stain permanently clinging on. Thinking back to when she took the potion, she remembered seeing a silhouette chanting above her but she couldn't remember who it was or what they were saying. But because of them, she had been asleep for all this time. Her body had actually made a thick outline in the ground from where she slept, nature growing around her.

The betrayal rose through her like a hot storm, clouding all her emotions. Fellow Spirits ran through her mind as she tried to figure it out, but there was one dead end after the other. She just couldn't understand why. Glaring at the Dark Magic, she dug up the runes to negate their effect and placed her hands over it with her eyes closed. She felt the familiar hum of her power as she slowly purified the Earth. It poured out from the tips of her fingers and down to the runes. They sizzled slightly but were quickly overcome as they had grown weak over the decade. Since she had been asleep for a decade, her powers had accumulated but grown rusty and when it was done, she found herself to be exhausted and hungry.

She had never needed to eat as a Spirit and the sudden force of hunger made her nauseous. Gripping her stomach, she tried to make the pains subside but it hardly went away. She was also increasingly aware of the burning thirst in her throat as she craved water to ease the pain. She would have to comply with the demands of her mortal body to regain her strength.

Lykiana glanced at the ground again. Though there was the faint smell of smoke, it looked as if Darm Magic had never tainted it, grass sprouting from the ground. She sighed. It had been a long time since she had needed to use such power. Since the end of the Dark Reign, nothing else consumed as much power as purification did. She couldn't sense any more malevolence which could only mean that the Dark Magic was completely removed from the area.

Following nature's trail, with the rabbit behind her, she came across a small, glittery stream. The water like a continuous motion flowed pleasantly, the sweet sound of trickling filling the air. It was beautiful to watch the water swell over the rocks and the reeds sway in the wind. The day really was a different world from the night.

Lykiana drank the clear liquid eagerly, cupping her hands together to hold the refreshing water. The feeling was strange but welcoming as the cool liquid fell down her throat. Thirst quenched, she needed food but looking at the plants, she didn't know which to eat. There were too many, each a different colour and shape, unfamiliar to her. It was never something she had paid particular heed to, regretfully. Wolves were carnivorous by nature and she had only seen how her people would prepare meat.

Meat. She would have to find an animal of prey. Scanning the area, she noticed how little wildlife there was. An occasional bird flitted in and out of the trees but they wouldn't do for a meal. Her eyes wandered around until finally, they fell on the little meal-sized rabbit who had accompanied her.

She looked at the rabbit sadly, and the rabbit squeaked, sensing her intent.

Double update, baby!

I'm on a roll here. Probably going to release a few more chapters in the coming week.

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