Fed To The Wolves

"You mind if I ask you a few questions, Sky?" Dante asked me. Dante sat on a log right behind where he was standing, leaning forward without breaking eye contact with me. I could feel the cold wind blow between the sweaty gaps in my fingers, seriously, what was wrong with this guy? Why did I feel like this?

"Are you aware of where you are… where we are?" I pointed behind me.

"That's a beach. We live there. Why?" Dante's look of anger dispersed, and he began to laugh, holding his belly and leaning backward on the stump.

"You have quite the sense of humor! I'm talking about this Island, not the beach you guys live on. How far have you gone into this forest behind me?" He asked, putting himself in his original position.

"Just to a statue on a cliff, we retreated to this beach because there's easy access to water, and now we're building a base on it." I felt chills start to climb my back, and into the backs of my arms.

"Oh? That statue only White Stone's can enter, right?" My stomach dropped to the floor. How could he have possibly known about that? I didn't tell anybody about that statue and why I was the only one who could've entered it.

"I can see it in your young eyes. You want to know how I know about that statue?" Dante asked me.

He pointed in the exact direction of the statue, northeast of our current position, before beginning once more.

"This Isle… it's so much bigger than this beach, you know. You're not the only people here." I gulped,

"I know… Lia came from somewhere else too, then that means you're from the same place, right?" I nervously asked him. I found myself slowly backing up, but if I went too far, I'd fall off the incline we were standing in front of.

"I am from somewhere else… so you really don't know anything about this Isle, do you?" I shook my head, smiling while pointing towards the beach.

"I know, I know, don't talk about that damn beach again. I just thought I'd pester you with questions. There's a lot I want to ask a White Stone." I covered my left hand.

"Why do you keep calling me that even when you know my name?!" I finally rose my voice, and I could even hear the chatter within the base come to a close. I felt gazes behind me.

"Why do I call you that? Are you even worth your own name? Tell me what you've done that states that you're worth a name like 'Sky'." I paused.

"I… I killed a deer with rabies… I stopped a fight in my home… I made a bow…" I muttered. Dante laughed again in that demeaning tone.

"Does that really cut you out for a name?" He asked me. I stood my ground.

"You're using that term like its derogatory, why? What makes it bad?" Dante clicked his tongue and finally stood up once more. He was just about my height, but I still felt like he towered over me.

"Orion was right, White Stone's really awakened with no knowledge at all. You don't know anything at all, you just know the things you've already experienced, right?" I didn't answer that question.

"Now, a question I've been saving for the end of our little chat… I need you to answer as honestly as possible, are you ready, White Stone?" Dante asked me.

I felt sweat bead at the end of my eyebrows and fall off my forehead and my body subtly shake. Those same chills ran up my spine again as he began:

"Do you know what it's like to die?"

[SYSTEM ALERT: DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!]

I back-stepped at the last possible second, watching the tip of Dante's blade barely scathe my face. The sun reflected off of the blade of his sword and I lost my footing, falling on the beach directly on my back. I lost the air in my lungs, staring up at the sky. Dante looked down upon me, smiling wickedly.

"Count your minutes, White Stone. They're limited. Go ahead, Lia." My eyes widened while I was on the floor, and I quickly launched my body back up onto my feet and ran towards the gate after watching Lia jump from the forest into our base. That was a ten-foot jump and an eight-foot drop, how did she land that seamlessly?!

I curved my body while running and climbed up the logs from the outside, landing hard on my feet and staring at the gate. Lia captivated the attention of everybody in the base, and finally, the deafening silence was broken by a howl.

Then another.

Then another.

"Lia… those are wolves on the other side of that gate, aren't there?" Her emotionless face didn't move.

"If you open that, we will die!" I yelled out to her.

"You didn't seem to catch on with Dante… Sky." I shot her a confused look, and she turned back towards the gate, slowly pushing the rock between the gate's doors with her foot.

"Dante was told to kill you. We have orders, both of us. We were told to kill the White Stone that woke up on the beach." Her look didn't adjust to the severity of what she just said, but mine did. Kill me? What did I do? Was the deer their pet or something?

"Whatever I did, I'm sorry! You can't kill me, I haven't done anything wrong! Or, I don't know what I did wrong, so please!" I yelled out to her, but she wasn't even acknowledging me.

"You don't think you've done anything wrong? Look where you're standing." I looked down at my feet and then back up at her.

"Do you want this beach?! I can leave!" Lia shook her head and bit her lip, I could just barely see tears falling from her eyes.

"You just don't understand… so let me explain it to you. Orion told us to kill you, simply for appearing yesterday. I don't know why you're such an important target, only being a day old, but I'm his slave, I was given orders, I will complete them." I clenched my fist. For some reason, what she said just made me incredibly upset, especially because I could see her crying.

"Then let Orion kill me himself! He shouldn't be dragging you into his dirty work! I can see it in your eyes, you don't want to do this! So don't!" I could see Lia hesitate again in pulling the gate open, but Dante chipped in.

"You pull that damn gate, or I'll kill your little friend." Dante pulled back the string to his own bow and aimed it for Lia's dog in my house.