Nocturn

This is the beginning of what will be the centerpiece of the Nocturn series, which is a collaboration with Jake Reinhard. Before you think I'm crazy, yes, it starts with an epilogue.


Epilogue Part 1: Who Wants to Live Forever?


The sun’s orange haze crept slowly toward the blackish horizon. Oliver sat alone on a park bench and watched with a mix of anticipation and dread like watching the climax of a horror movie. He felt a faint spark spread across his skin as if awakening from numbness. Deep instincts commanded him to shield his eyes, to turn and run without hesitation, but he kept himself still. In less than an hour the sunrise would find him, engulf him, and leave behind only ash for the winds to carry where they willed. It was a clean way to go, he thought, a dignified way.
A subtle warmth, barely more than imaginary, sunk into his face and hands. He knew it would soon get worse. He didn't care. Hard as it was, he kept his regrets to himself. They were too petty to dwell on in the face of death, and tears had long since become a vestige of a former life. He’d only get one chance to face dawn with a smile and a bit of class; he figured he deserved at least that in his final hour. It wouldn’t be too hard, he thought. Dying would be easier the second time around. All the sentimentality and human trivialities attached to life died with him the first time.
The coming dawn’s stillness was a welcome reprieve from the past month’s chaos, but as much as Oliver tried to keep his mind clear, he couldn’t help but let his memory wander.
Lily. Poor Lily. What had he done?


Chapter 1: Fullmoon


A few dim rays of moonlight pierced through the heavy clouds, giving only enough light to add texture to the darkness and cast livelier shadows onto the forest floor. The moon was a faint ring of white behind the gray and black, but its image was bright and vivid in Caleb’s mind. Breathing slowly, he prepared himself.
Anton Miró paced back and forth, whispering some incomprehensible mantra to himself. He had his nose to the air like a dog sensing danger on the wind. “Focus, Caleb,” he said in a calm yet commanding tone, “No matter what, keep focus.”
Caleb’s muscles tensed, his breathing got faster, but reddening with strain, he kept himself still.
“Good. Now keep the moon in your mind’s eye. Picture it waning back into nothingness, into a tranquil black sky.”
Caleb felt something coursing through his blood, like adrenaline but warmer, faster. His joints ached and his hands clenched into a half-clutching grasp like paws. His hair stood up on end and a something sharp yet satisfying jolted through his vertebrae.
“Keep…awr! awr!” Miró coughed, “Keep your body still, your mind at peace. Focus on your breathing. Feel it breathing in time with you but know that it is not you. No…awr! Keep your focus!”
Impulsively, Caleb fell to his hands and knees, as if slammed down by something heavy. He gave out a choking howl of pain as his spine and limbs bent and stretched into foreign yet familiar shapes. His vision turned to a frenzied blur of black and white. He exhaled a deep sigh, then the pain was replaced by a feeling far more primal. Caleb tore away at the shreds of his clothes and stretched as if he’d just awoken. He felt warm beneath his thick, gray fur and comfortable in his proper body. Only one pain still pulled at him: he was starving.
Miró met Caleb’s hungry, snarling stare and shook his head like a disapproving father standing over a smashed vase. “What are you looking at me for? I’m not feeding you until you get this right.”
Caleb inched toward Miró, barking savagely, saliva dripping from his quivering fangs. Miró flashed a furtive smile and tossed a Caleb a small piece of raw meat from his pack. “Oh fine, one small piece. But it better not spoil your appetite.” Caleb pounced on it the moment it hit the ground and devoured it within seconds, then looked up at Miró, still hungry. “No, that’s all you get. You want more, go hunt. If you can’t resist the call you…rar…might as well embrace it properly.” In an instant Miró changed, mid-breath, into a tall, silvery-white-furred wolf and immediately ran off toward the smell of food. Caleb eagerly followed.