Crossing

It wasn't very often that anyone ever hiked through the woods that Travis was even now walking through at nine o'clock at night. There had been reports of attacks by wild animals in the area: large, viscious demons that came at you from the cover of darkness, leaving no chance of escape. Of course, there weren't any real witnesses to any of these supposed murders, and the only thing that could be deduced for certain was that some individuals had disappeared, but the fear was more than enough to keep the local populace away ... after all, better safe than sorry.

Travis was different, though. Born and raised in the Bronx, and now the fine age of 25, he knew enough about survival to know that true terror didn't keep hidden behind a mountain of superstitious hooey. If there was anything out here, he'd have known about it by now, and if anything did show up ... well, his Desert Eagle would take good care of them. He'd even gotten a fresh clip of ammo just for this trip.

He stepped over a broken branch covered with maple leaves and kept on the overgrown trail. Why had he undertaken this trip anyhow? He thought to himself as he trekked through the cool, bitter night, his visible breath wafting up from his lips. Maybe ... he just wanted to prove the silliness of believing in this North Carolina version of the Jersey Devil. He'd told the local ranger that he'd just needed the exercise, and after showing them both the Desert Eagle and his gun permit, they'd permitted him to go, provided he know the possible dangers lying herein, and they accept no liability, yadda yadda yadda ... you'd think they'd just let him go peacefully like the "crazy fool" he was. After all, if he died, just one less person, right?

He stomped the ground with his foot annoyedly. DAMMIT, he wasn't going to fall for that demon crap. There was NO such thing! There was---

That was when a shimmer of moonlight through the trees caught his eye to his right, towards the Appalachians to the east. It seemed odd, there was a blue tinge of color to the light there, and it stuck out against the scenery like a sore thumb. At any rate, a blue light wasn't the same as a demon, and it warranted exploration. He started over the rocky terrain, stumbling once or twice in the darkness his flashlight didn't uncover, but otherwise making steady headway. All the time the light just seemed to be growing dimmer and further away, even though the young man was positive he was getting closer. It seemed like forever that he was walking, all the while the light staying in the distance, until with an suddenness that startled him, he was at his destination, the rim of the light on the ground visible behind a dense grove of trees. He pushed his way past the thick trunks, squirming and grunting as he made headway, until that too was surpassed ... and what was within nearly frightened him to death, as he jumped back against the trees, crying out in horror.

Before him was a large werewolf! He turned around, shrieking as he clawed his way past the trees, struggling to get away, get ANYWHERE, before the thing got him! Geez, it must have been nearly ten feet tall! He'd be no match for---

The silence gave it away as he finally calmed down enough to realize it. For all intents and purposes, the beast he had seen hadn't followed him, hadn't given chase. Mustering his courage, he forced his legs to turn around, taking the smallest of steps back towards the thick wall of trees. He crept as close as he dared and peered through a narrow space at where he had seen the creature.

For all he could tell .. the beast hadn't even moved.

This puzzled him immensely, and dread gave way to the smallest hint of curiousity, and he squeezed his way back into the small clearing within the grove of trees. The large wolf-like monster remained still. Travis approached it head on, looking over it in morbid fascination, his whole body tensed in the ready pursuit of fight or flight.

The large wolf was, indeed, nearly ten feet tall from head to toe, and its head was completely like a wolf's while its body, which shown a light grey in the blue light overhead, was more human. Its two fists were clenched tightly in a somewhat threatening pose, long fingernails visible on its digits. Down past the fur of its barrel chest, Travis could make out the impression of muscle; it seemed quite taut and developed. Further down towards its belly the human could make out---

He recoiled in disgust! The thing was ... well, it had male bits! Years of modesty got in his ways as he averted his eyes from the sight, even going so far as to gag a bit on his knees, creating quite a scene.

The creature still hadn't moved.

Getting back up from his crouch after he had calmed down, he walked around the inanimate wolf, looking for any sign of movement as he kept his line of vision above the waist line. None occured. Holding a hand tenatively up, he brought it closer to the wolf, then finally pressed into the fur.

Still nothing, and it was cool to the touch; this wolf-being was as lifeless as a statue.

Amazed as his discovery, he pulled back and looked more over the statue. It was quite realistic, now that he had the opportunity to really take it in. Every hair looked down to fine detail, the grey fur on its back and sides giving way to rich white on its underside. Behind it over its rump (which he didn't dare look at) jutted a long tail, nearly two to three feet on its own and quite bushy. As he'd observed and just now felt, the muscle was quite hard and ripply under that layer of soft hair; it was a wonder the creature WASN'T alive. Its two ears were perked straight ahead, just as its yellow eyes were, seemingly looking at something ... through something. The whole body was set on two digitigrade legs, ending in large pawed feet that shared the same half-wolf/half-man look the rest of the being did (save for the head, which, again, looked all canine). Finally, the curious artistic side of Travis got the better of him and he permitted himself to look back at what he'd noticed about the wolf-man: a large thin-furred sheath sitting heavily in the wolf's groin, a small black dot marking the opening at the tip, and his two large testicles sitting in his scrotum. He shook his head as he looked back over the whole creature.

Someone has a sick sense of humor, he thought to himself.

He'd almost wished he'd brought his camera with him, just so he could capture this rare sight on film. What could he do though? It was way too big and WAY too heavy to even think of carrying. And he knew this was an important find, even if the accuracy of the thing still startled him. What could he do?

He got out his map and tried to get his coordinates down. Using some common logic (he knew his starting point and had been walking north all day), he calculated how many miles he had gone and marked a rough estimate of his location, marking the area in a large red circle on the paper map. The most he could do for now, was to go to town, get some sleep, and return the next day with either a camera or someone else who would know what to do ... probably some art collector who might even pay him money for the discovery. He checked his map, and found out he wasn't far away from a very small village in the area, only about 10 miles to the east. Packing his things into his backpack he started in that direction, wiggling through the grove of trees, but not before he had the impression his name was being called ... he turned and gave the statue one last look, expecting it to be looking back at him.

The statue did nothing.

Back in the town, Travis was trying to explain just what it was that he had seen to the local populace, amidst his bottles of Bud.

"I'm telling you, it just stood there! A huge werewolf, and it didn't even attack me!"

A bearded man scoffed, "Hah hah, yeah right. You saying you saw the local monster and it didn't even TOUCH you? You're so full of it!"

Travis grunted in exasperation and took a long swig of his beer. Looks like he was going to do this on his own ... He went to the local general store and purchased a cheap Kodak disposable camera, then checked the Holiday Inn for a room. Not surprisingly, many were available, and he was able to get a cheap one for the night. He changed into his flannel pajamas, eager to get an early start tomorrow to take shots of the wolf statue, and drifted off to sleep under the large comforter of his bed.

A dream came to him on that starlit night, making his body writhe and turn in his bed, sweat beading on his forehead as the imagery took control of his brain, coming first as a blur, as if he were emerging from a dark tunnel into the light ... and he found himself back in the small clearing, facing the monstrous image of the wolfman statue, standing proudly before him as it had in reality, with its hungry, feral look on its face. He found himself walking around it again, the blue moonlight shining down on it perfectly as he looked over its whole body. It seemed a lot larger to him now, and a strong sense of inferiorty passed like a wave through him, making him tremble as he came again to the front. And the expanse of flesh in the beast's crotch, a true testament to sexual prowess if he'd ever seen one, appeared more ominous, more obscene in his dream. He looked at it before him, the furred length of the sheath unmoving in the cold air, and Travis approached the figure tepidly, very much afraid of what was happening in this dream, this fabrication of his unconscious mind ... and most of all, why it wasn't stopping.
His hands reached up for the lush sea of fur again, placing them into the white underbelly of the wolf. Before, it had felt cold and lifeless ... and yet now, the flesh of the figure was warm to the touch, as if blood were rushing through arteries and veins within the monster. He started rubbing through the patch of fur under his palms, taking in the soft feeling, the warmth it gave off ... and the wolf creature's arms lowered towards the human's body ...

Travis woke up with a shock, gasping for air as he lay in his sweat-soaked sheets. My God, the thing had tried to TOUCH me! he thought in a panic, looking around and assuring himself of his safety. Bit by bit he calmed down, rubbing his hands over his face as the dream took its toll on him. What could it possibly mean? He sat awake for about an hour, in the gloom of the hotel room, and as his hands came down to the matress he caught a glimpse of the blanket he lay under.

The part over his waist was propped up like a small tent.

The realization hit him like a hammer. He'd gotten a hard-on from that dream! He physically shook his head, mentally denying it ... Shit, that COULDN'T have gotten me hot ... it just couldn't! I've had girlfriends before--and it's a large fucking WOLF, for God's sake! How could I possibly--

Travis ...

A small voice could be heard in the back of his mind ... like a faint whisper. A deep, very masculine voice, with a hint of gutteral quality to it. It spoke again.

Travis ... come to me ...

What could it mean? He looked around, trying to find a logical explanation as he once again heard -- or possibly imagined -- his name again, beckoning him.

Beckoning him to WHERE? Or WHAT?

Then it struck him. It couldn't possibly be ... or could it? The dream had been so real ... sweat started to form in his pores as he thought how real the dream had been ... what if the beast truly WERE alive? And what about how it had moved?

What was he getting into?

The voices in his head had a patient sound, yet retained an underlying urgency, a very unique quality he'd never heard before. No matter what happened, he had to act on this. He know that somehow, the statue was calling to him. He quickly got up, put on his clothing and jacket, and departed into the night, through the town back to the west.

The night seemed still as he penetrated the forest, making his way to the small grove that concealed the wolf from sight. His heart beat fast and quick in his chest, nervous thoughts about what was to happen when he got there filling his brain. Would it be as lifeless as ever? And what if it DID move? All these and more told him to turn back, turn away before it was too late ... but some part of him WANTED to see this through, WANTED to know what would happen between himself and the creature ... he remembered his stiff reaction to the beast's endowments, and tried to keep his mind on getting where he was going, the crisp air making the night chillier than it would normally be. Unlike yesterday, he seemed to reach the grove in no time at all; probably because of all his thoughts as he went. He scarcely even felt tired after the long trek.

Eyeing the ring of trees he looked at his digital watch. It was a few minutes to midnight. Somehow, that made a lot of sense to him; special things were known to happen when the clock struck twelve, in common folklore.

He pressed his way past the barrier of trees, his heart now pounding hard like a drum, his pulse echoing in his ears ... his breathing deepened greatly, his arms and legs reaching past the last few trees first, followed by the rest of him, and he looked at the sight before him, a bundle of nerves ...

The creature was there, as still as ever, posed exactly the same way as the human had left it.

The voice in his head had long ceased, and the silence that pervaded the wood at this hour was like a shroud, blanketing itself over the man and the figure, but making him shiver more instead of comforting him. Was this it? Had he come all the way out here to---

Travis ... you've come ...

The statue hadn't moved, the words still being spoken directly into his brain. He stared at the wolf in awe, half expecting it to move towards him as it had in the dream, but he couldn't just give himself over to it like he were a prey creature. He had to assert himself ... but how does one look down to a ten-foot werewolf?

"Wh ... who are you?" he asked aloud, his throat trembling and making his voice quiver in the still night, very much afraid.

I am a spirit of this forest ... the embodiment of all contained within these primeval halls.

"Wha--what do you want with me?"

I want what is best for you ... because you belong here ... a mistake can be fixed, if you so choose.

"Belong?? Mistake?? What does that mean?"

Your place in the human world was not meant to be. This forest, this realm primeval, this was where you were to live and thrive, in another physical vassal. But there is still time ... you can begin anew, and inhabit this land as the wheel of fate dictated long ago.

"I still don't get what you're saying! Was I not supposed to have the life I led?"

No, young one ... for your body of a man was ordained to be that of another being, but your soul was misplaced to where you are now. Do you not feel it?

To be quite frank, Travis was too confused to feel much of anything except the aching in his brain as he struggled to sort the situation out. However, the more he thought about himself, the more he remembered ... how dissatisfied he had been up to now. For as long as he could remember, his lifelong dream was to get to live in a small house -- one could even call it a cottage -- in the middle of a forest somewhere, away from civilization where he could commune with nature. However, the demands of modern America had made that dream difficult to achieve from the get-go, and each day he felt a little sullen that money and formal education were given such priority over the return to one's more primal roots. And more oddly, he remembered that, once or twice, he had actually resented humanity itself in ways that he thought were less than healthy. Enough that he had turned to self-mutilation in his teen years in the faint hopes that something better would come out of his human shell and live in a better world. Something better equipped for life without government, or capitalism, or anything that resembled the human way. Something ... natural.

Travis looked up at the immobile wolf.

"... Yes, I feel it. But, how do you know this about me?"

I am the essence of nature given flesh ... and it is my duty to watch over the souls of its creatures. However, having abandoned nature for the realm of technology, humankind has become unaware of my existence, and what you see before you is but the feel of an eye over the shoulder over such a being. However, you are not human in spirit ... and the veil has been lifted for you to see me, and if you knew it to be what you wanted, you can return to Mother Earth through me. Is that what you desire, Travis?

"Return to ...? That's what I've always wanted ... I know that now. But, how is it possible?"

Without a word spoken, Travis' dream was brought back to his memory, and before his wide eyes, the large beast moved his majestic head down to better look at the comparitively-small man before him. Travis remained still, a shaking combination of fear and intense wonder, locking gazes with the large wolf. The wolf's broad paws lowered down from their menacing position and set themselves on his shoulders, just sitting there.

If you truly desire to regain what has died before it could be born, you must show that you are ready to accept this great gift you have been offered. Bond yourself to me.

"OK ... bond. That sounds simple enough. How does it work?"

Without a word, the lupine let his paws wander down the human's back, trailing his claws over his jacket, until they came to rest over the curves of his rump, while the beast nudged his hips forward a little.

"N--no! I won't let you do it!" Travis stammered, backing away from the spirit.

What are you afraid of, Travis?