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The Reef always seemed to have ghosts of their past haunting him at every turn. This time he had been searching them out. Haru had warned him that he could bargain for more than he had hoped for. It didn’t matter to Lycan.
Lycan needed answers.
He stood at the edge of a dark carven inside the far stretches called the Tangled Shore. It had been nothing but empty rocks and violet skies.
Yet something beckoned him.
Haru appeared close to him, “You’re still sure about this? I’m here for you. But please, don’t press your luck. They could find you…”
Lycan cupped his twitchy ghost.
“I know, I know…but I have to. Can you stay close to me?”
Haru squinted his eye at him, “Don’t think that I won’t be!”
Haru nestled himself inside his hood as Lycan walked inside the cavern.
A corsair in the Vestian outpost had one day approached him with a location from within the Tangled Shore.
“It’s Lycan? Right? Let me talk with you in private.”
He didn’t recognize the Corsair. Her green eyes were hidden beneath her visor and tuffs of blue hair stuck out from her helmet. She always found an excuse to look away from his face directly as she spoke. Pacing around nervously as she spoke.
“Another Lightbearer is taking you to the city. We can’t have you navigating the shore .”
“But I’ve cleared it with Petra-“
“Listen to me!” The Corsair grabbed his shoulders, “It’s for your good…you shouldn’t be pursuing the path that you’re on anyways,”
And Lycan didn’t listen to her. Now he was here.
This place stretched on endlessly. Only lit by small awoken globes but even those stopped. Eventually, the small light at the foot of the cavern was swallowed in only darkness.
Something stirred in this place.
“Lycan-“
Eyes opened in the darkness and gave a toothy smile.
“Welcome O Friend Mine. You come to me with a new face this time though”
A new face?
Small globes began to emit an eerie indigo light that revealed the massive amethyst room and all he could see was the coiling tail around them from a creature that wasn’t quite a basilisk.
“I don’t understand…?”
Lycan backed up into its tail. It tightened its coil. It spoke like each word was made of silk.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t with this new face. A reintroduction is in place for the both of us, O Friend Mine,” It said, not waiting for him to say anymore “I am Typhoon, I was a loyal friend of your old face. What is your new face you are wearing now?”
Fear seized his body as he stood frozen. Staring at the eight eyes of the beast.
This creature knew him from before?
He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, “They-they call me Lycan,”
Typhoon laughed, “So a wolf now, O Friend Mine?”
“Yes, I-I am with them yes,”
Typhoon coiled around him closer, its tail wrapping around their body. It was nothing but teeth and glittering eyes. Even as Lycan tried to wrestle away from the great beast, he found himself trapped around its cold embrace. Haru twitched uncomfortably close to his head.
“Haru hide…” Lycan pleaded.
Haru flew between the two of them and stood in front of Lycan. His shell scrunched up, twitchy.
“You’ve been good company, however, both of us need to leave and head back-”
“Do you let this little light speak for you? You truly are a new face. But I can show you your old one. You desire to know more, you can if only you wish it,”
Typhoon squeezed Lycan like a constricting snake to its prey, a persistent smile of knives Lycan reached for Haru only to be yanked away by Typhoon. Typhoon lunged out to his ghost but Haru darted over to his hand and dissipated into light.
“Make sure your little light does not interrupt next time, O Friend Mine,” Typhoon scolded, wagging a finger in front of Lycan, “Now where were we,”
“Let me go please…” Lycan begged, pushing against its tail.
Typhoon loosened his grip and pushed him deeper inside the room as it moved to block the exit. Still, Typhoon kept its tail wrapped around him and reached out with one hand to pull them closer. Even as Lycan tried to back away again, it seemed intent to keep him close.
“Apologies, but I must keep you close for both of our well-being,” Typhoon sighed, “You understand this, do you not? After all, there are those who wished for you to stay far from here and there are those less fond of my kin,”
Lycan widened his eyes and looked down at the ground.
“You know?”
“I always watch over mine and I am always close even in this new face of yours,”
He glanced out from behind Typhoon at the exit. That Corsair would have already figured out that they snuck off the outpost and would be looking for them. Especially if she got a lightbearer to come to take him away. This might be their last chance to find out anything about themselves since this creature seemed to know him before they were a lightbearer.
“You said you knew my old face…? You knew who I was?” Lycan asked, their voice shaking at each word.
“You desire to know, O Friend Mine, I can show you but only if you wish it,”
“I…I do,”
Typhoon gave a sharp smile and its eyes glittered like stars, “It is nice to reforge this old bound, O Wish Maker Mine,”
Only one of them laughed as they spoke and the wish began to take shape. Memories became a sweeping reality. A flood of thoughts, agonies, and joys.
In the end. They weren’t sure which of them left that cavern. The fox or the wolf.