Gallant Luna

1. First Encounter

It was right after sunset and Riley was on her way back to her new home in Wulfuric Hills, riding her bike along the empty road which was illuminated by her flashlight.

With both sides of the road covered in nothing but thick trees, she knew it would take a while to get used to that road. She had only recently moved there with her mother, who had suddenly made arrangements to make it their new home.

Despite the eerie silence as she rode her bike, she was anything but terrified and it was because it was her nineteenth birthday, but like every other year, those she held special in her life seemed to have forgotten. The more she thought about how bad of a day she had, the more her disappointment grew heavier in her heart.

With a sigh, she stopped for a moment, got off her bike and held onto the handlebar. Even if she was aware it would change nothing, she couldn't help but lament to the sky as she wondered why it was as though she was so insignificant that it was the same situation on each birthday. 

As she continued to look up at the sky, still lamenting, her senses suddenly heightened and she heard rustling from the trees. Unable to handle the disorienting sounds, she covered her ears with her eyes shut.

Despite her efforts to shut it all out, it wasn't just the rustling that became a bother, her sense of smell had also heightened and it allowed her to detect scents from miles away. She could smell the mix of decaying leaves, damp soil, and something that caught her attention above all else. It was a scent like no other, one that made her close her eyes and relax to inhale more of it.

Though she didn't understand what it was, it didn't matter. It was all she could focus on.

Unable to just stand still, she abandoned her bike, shoved her phone in her jeans, held on tightly to the flashlight and stepped into the thick woods, hoping to find the alluring scent that made her shut out everything else she could pick up.

As she moved deeper into the woods, her heart raced with a mix of curiosity and fear. With every branch and leaf she stepped on with her boots, the sound was magnified by her heightened sense of hearing.

With the alluring scent leading her deeper into the woods, her anticipation grew, her eyes darting nervously between the trees. She hoped nothing would jump out from behind.

Although she feared the unknown, nothing could make her turn around and return to her bike. She needed to find the source of the alluring scent.

When she noticed the tall trees growing thicker, with their branches intertwining overhead, she clenched her fists to stay calm.

Suddenly, among the sounds of crackling twigs and leaves on the ground, she picked up a sound of stomping and at the same time, three new different scents which seemed to grow stronger.

In a few seconds, low growls echoed through the woods and her steps came to a halt as she held her breath. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked around, searching for the source of the sound.

When the stomping faded but the growls grew louder, she looked behind her and noticed three brown wolves that were so thin she could see the outline of their ribs. Their stance was as if they were ready to attack.

At that moment, she knew she had just found the source of the three scents, but not the alluring one that had brought her into the woods in the first place.

For that moment, she needed to forget about finding the alluring scent and it was because she needed to survive.

With her heart pounding hard in her chest, she faced forward and put on a sprint of speed, panic already setting in as the aggressive stomping from the wolves only seemed to get faster. It was at that moment that she regretted abandoning her bike.