V

Stephen woke up early for the flight he reserved earlier this week. Him being excited is an overstatement. This is not the first time he will travel by plane but it feels giddy and very exciting.

But this will be his first time traveling to Samar, the place where Biringan could be found. He wakes up the wolf before going to the bathroom to wash up and eventually get dress.

The wolf groans and asked him what is wrong. He replies with a chuckle before packing snacks incase he get hungry during the flight.

The wolf sits up and looks at him with curious eyes. "Where are you going? Are you leaving me?" he asks.

The boy frowns and replies, "I am," The wolf looks at him with wide eyes and he smiles. "I am going to Biringan. Don't you want to come with me?" he asks.

"Biringan?" the wolf asks.

The boy nods then laughs when the wolf realizes what will they be doing in Biringan. "Wait? That is today?" he exclaims with excitement.

The boy nods as he did that, the wolf jumps in excitement and howls. The boy tries to calm him down before he will trash his whole place.

When everything is pack, they went on their way to the airport.

They ride a taxi and when they reach their destination, the boy immediately went to the ticketing booth to present his passport and his plane ticket.

He left the wolf on a bench as a lookout for their things while he lines up to the ticketing booth. It hasn't been a minute later when a guy screams in fear.

He looks back and saw that he is standing near his things. Good thing that he already paid for the ticket and was about to get his things when the man screams.

He immediately went to his things and asks what is the problem.

"Excuse me, what is going on?" he asks. The security guard looks back at him and answers, "Who are you?"

The boy smiles and said, "I am the owner of the bags," he simply answers.

The guard looks at him asks for his passport to check if the bags are really his. He nods and gives it to him.

After the guard confirms that the bags are really his, he asks the man earlier to follow him in the office to be interrogated because apparently, he claims that those are his things.

The guard excuses himself and the man away from the boy. Stephen just said goodbye to them and proceeds to the gate terminal where he waits to board the plane.

He waits patiently and when the time comes, he prepares himself.

He prays first for a safe flight then proceeds to the attendant asking for his ticket and his passport. He walks past them then he enters the plane.

He looks for his seat number. When he found it, he comfortably sits.

It didn't take that much longer when the pilot announces that the plane will take its flight. He relaxes once the plane reaches its altitude.

Moments later, a flight attendant asks him if he needs something before offering snacks and drinks.

He did not accept the food but he asks for the drink. He takes his bag and pulled out the snack that he prepares earlier.

Stephen does not prefer airplane snacks because it makes him sick. So, he brings his own snack bag.

After eating, he falls asleep immediately. Seeing this, the wolf sits above him as he meditates for the remaining hour of the flight.

No one could see him except Stephen so it is fine. Hours later, something wakes Stephen up.

A voice coming from somewhere.

He stirs up then he looks around and found that the passengers and the flight attendants are not there. Even the wolf is not there.

Out of instincts, he stands up and walks past the chairs into the cabin door, he grabs the latches then the plane door opens.

He was about to jump when the wolf grabs his waist and loudly closes the door.

"Are you insane?" the wolf exclaims.

Stephen looks up at him and gave him a confused look. "We are twenty thousand feet above air and you have the audacity to jump?" he adds while he drags the boy back to his seat.

"Snap out of it. Don't listen, you dumbass," the wolf said with pure malice in his voice.

Stephen's dark brown eyes suddenly went back to normal and look at him, "What happened? Where are we? Where are the passengers? Why is it so dark?" he rambling asks.

"Shut up and listen to me," the wolf said putting all of his attention on him and not to the voice.

"Stop listening to that voice. Snap out of it. She is trying to distract and kill you, goddamn it," he said frantically.

Stephen then tries opening his eyes when he saw dark smoke covering up his eyes then he hears something that resembles a cry.

He closes his eyes then he opens them again. What he saw next gave him such a relief.

The moment he opens his eyes, he saw the flight attendant smiling at him and telling him that the plane had safely landed and if he is ready to go out of the cabin.

He smiles then nods at her. He looks beside him and sees that the wolf is a bit anxious.

He can't talk to him right now because people might think that he is crazy so he will just keep that thought in mind then talk to him later when they are all alone.

They ride a taxi and asks him to drop them in Caltar City.

The driver nods and they went on their way. He puts out his phone and pretends to call someone. As he places the phone in his ear, he speaks.

"Hey, I safely landed in Maras. How are you there?" The wolf looks at him funny before laughing. "Stop laughing at me, you jerk," he said.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," the wolf said as he wipes the tears away from his eyes.

"You are saying?" the wolf asks back.

"Right. Are you okay? Did something happened?" the boy asks with concern in his voice.

"It's nothing," the wolf answers.

The boy is not satisfied with his answer so he tried pushing him until he gives up and tells him the problem.

"Fine. Can you still remember your dream? Or the nightmare?" the wolf asks. Stephen taps the phone as a way of saying yes.

"That's Uran, a storm wolf. He is trying to send us a message of caution. There must be something going on in Biringan," he said in defeat.

The boy just looks straight ahead when he noticed that the driver is looking at him by the rearview mirror.

He looks away when the driver suddenly stops the car and asks him to get out. The boy was confused at first but when he noticed the uneasy wolf, he went out.

The driver did not bother to get his payment so he just road away. Stephen and the spirit wolf was left in the middle of nowhere.

"What just happened?" Stephen asks as he pocketed his phone.

"The tree," the wolf said. Stephen looks around but he did not find the tree that the wolf is looking for. "What tree?" he asks.

"The tree to Biringan is dead and the driver knows that," the wolf said as he sat down on the pavement.

The boy looks at him with a question.

"Most of the people of Samarika have third eyes or they could just see spirits. I think the driver saw me but act like nothing but when he heard me saying Uran, he asks us to go out," the wolf explains.

'Wait, what? Most of the people of Samarika?' the boy thought.

He looks around to find something that could help us travel when he noticed a man standing over the bridge then he taps the wolf's shoulder.

"Hey, look at that. Is he going to jump?" he asks. The wolf looks over then widens his eyes.

"Oh no. They are here. That shitty driver, f*ck! Let's get out of here before he sees us," the wolf said as he scrambles to his feet and grabs the boy's arm.

"But where are going?" the boy asks as he was being dragged into the cornfield on the other side of the road.

"Anywhere but here. Stop being a burden and walk faster," the wolf said pissed.

The boy nods and walks as fast as he can but still unknown to him the danger they were in because of the taxi driver.

He let the wolf leads him to the bushy part of the woods and asks him to hide there. He complies with questions in his mind,

'Who is the guy?' and 'Why are they hiding?' will still remain until the wolf tells him the whole story.