Thom sat back in the seat of his dad’s car as they drove in the countryside; he gazed out at the greens, browns, and blues of the beautiful outdoors. Thom and his father were quiet as the radio blared out music, “Thom we’re almost there.” Thom jumped up slightly as his father spoke; the pair had gone the whole few hours that they had been driving without speaking. He looked forward to see the cabin that they would be staying in; it was a small cabin to begin with but with it being underneath such large trees it was further diminished in size.

                Thom sat forward as the car pulled up to the side of the cabin, his father grinned at him as they stepped out of the car. “Are you ready for this? We’re going to be roughing it out in the woods for a bit.”

                The teenager looked around him and looked at the lush greenery surrounding him along with the animals that scampered in and out of the forest bush; Thom smiled at his dad and nodded. “Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Would it be alright if I take a walk in the forest while you unlock the cabin?” His father nodded and started to unpack the bags from the car while Thom walked away from the vehicle and walked down a path leading into the forest.

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                Thom smiled as the lush flora of the forest surrounded him, he had always loved the outdoors and that he was able to be here with his father was a great thing for him. As his feet brushed up dirt from the path he smiled at the smell of nature all around him, the breeze that came from in front of him, it carried the smell of flowers with it. He froze as a small shape ran out a distance in front of him; Thom could tell that it was a wolf as he had studied them for a long time as he had always loved the fauna of the forest.

                As the sound of the bush moving stopped, Thom sighed in relief and started once more down the path, albeit a bit more carefully. As the teenager walked through a break in the trees he grinned as he saw a pure mountain river, water that sparkled more cleanly than most people could imagine. Thom looked up the river to see a deer and an elk drinking from the river, Thom couldn’t help himself and bent down on one knee and dipped his hand into the cold water.

                As he brought the water that he cupped in his hand to his lips he smiled as he took a long drink of the cold liquid, Thom shivered slightly from how cold it was, but savored the pure flavor of the pure water. As Thom stood up he glanced around and noticed that the animals down the river had disappeared, he decided to head back towards the cabin to tell his dad about the water.

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                Steve grinned as he opened the door to the cabin; the insides of the small house were covered with tarps to keep dust from covering them while they were away. He walked around the room opening up the windows to let out the stagnant air and then started to pull the tarps off, after a few coughing fits Steve finally finished pulling off the tarps.

                As the man finally took a seat on a comfy couch Thom walked in with a grin on his face, Steve smiled at his son. “Hey, how did your walk go?”

                Thom plopped down next to his dad and stretched, “It was great; I found this river down the path that has some of the freshest water.”

                Steve chuckled, “That’s good that the mountain’s water meets your approval, now why don’t you change into a pair of hiking shorts. I think I’m in a mood to go hiking, don’t you?” Thom nodded as he stood up and walked into a side room to get dressed as his dad stretched himself to get changed, after a few minutes of getting dressed and making sure to be covered in suntan lotion they walked out of the cabin.

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                The pair walked up the mountain path admiring nature, instead of talking they quietly gestured to things in the distance worth noting. They watched as a family of rabbits hopped into a small burrow, Thom grinned as he saw a bear cub walk with its mother down the mountainside. Steve pointed to a pair of goats ramming heads against one another for dominance; they both chuckled as one of the goats finally gave after a good five minutes of beating on one another.

                As the father and son sat down on a log they took out a pair of subs and started to eat, they observed the mountain greenery and watched as a mother bird fed her children, though Thom had to admit that he didn’t care for seeing a bird regurgitating worms. As they finished eating they stood and stretched out their stomachs, “Pretty good food, eh son?” Steve asked with a satisfied smile on his face.

                Thom laughed, “Yeah dad, though it would’ve been better if you hadn’t taken a bite of mine…”

                Steve winked at his son, “You shouldn’t of let me get my hands on it.” Thom sighed and rolled his eyes as they walked further up the mountain, the trees started to change from normal oaks into pines as the air took on a chill and they came towards the peak of the mountain.

                The crunch soon became the only sounds they heard as the sound of river water running died out, Thom took a few swigs from his water bottle as they hiked on quietly. As they drew near the peak of the mountain Steve took a deep breath, “Nothing quite like the smell of fresh mountain air…” Thom couldn’t agree more as the air’s quality grew extremely clean; being in the city was nothing like being in nature.

                As the pair came to the top of the mountain, Thom couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of seeing the sprawling land going in all directions for miles. The sight of the river running through the growth of trees was breathtaking; Steve grinned at his son’s stunned expression and looked out at the scenery. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

                Thom nodded, “Yeah…” As the pair stood at the edge of the mountain, Thom felt like he could see the whole world for a moment but suddenly they heard a violent snapping of branches behind them.

                Steve and Thom turned around quickly and were shocked to see an extremely aggressive looking boar standing there, Steve pushed his son behind him protectively. “Thom, stay behind me.” Thom wasn’t sure what to do as the boar started to paw at the ground as it snorted, Steve’s muscles were tense as he looked at the obviously aggressive animal.

                “Dad, why is it so angry?” Thom asked as he felt his foot briefly near the edge the edge of the cliff, Steve ground his teeth as he felt his heart starting to speed up.

                The boar’s eyes narrowed as the muscles of its legs started to tense up for a run, Steve felt a huge pulse of fear run through his body but took a deep breath as he spoke in an even tone. “Thom, I love you son. Please know that, I would do anything to protect you.” Thom didn’t have a chance to ask what his dad meant as the boar charged them and he felt his father’s hand clench around his arm and was tossed far away to the side.

                Thom choked as his body hit the ground; he was able to flick his head up as he saw his dad get rammed in the chest by a boar and flew off of the cliff with the animal. Thom’s mouth flew open and he wasn’t able to mutter anything as he watched in horror as his father flew through the air until he disappeared into the brush of trees, the teenager’s eyes rolled up as the shock caught up with him and he passed out.

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                The moon hung high in the sky as Thom’s eyes drifted open; he was silent as he looked at the starry sky. As he lay on the cold ground emotions pummeled him; Thom felt like he wanted to scream, then he wanted to cry, but as his mouth opened up he turned to the side as he threw up. The teenager lay on the ground coughing up his food for a few moments before he stood up, tears ran down his cheeks as he drifted close to the cliff’s edge.

                Far below he couldn’t see anything but darkness and the reflection of the moon off of the river, Thom’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he looked into the forest below and remembered what had happened earlier. “Dad…” Thom spoke quietly as if the word was god’s name itself, he then opened up his mouth and screamed as loud as he could. “Daaaaaad!”

                As he screamed the word Thom felt all of the emotions come out at once and as the last of the word flew out of his mouth the word flew through the forest for what felt like hours, time seemed to stop as the teenager’s anguish lie bare to all of the inhabitants of the forest. Thom collapsed to his knees and felt the tears run down his cheek, “Man’s child, are you alright?”

                The question hung in the air, Thom froze in the midst of his grief and turned to see a wolf sitting there looking at him with piercing blue eyes. The wolf’s face was neither angry nor was it happy, it looked to be blank and expressionless. Thom was shocked, “Did you speak to me?”

                Nothing was said for a moment before the wolf opened his mouth and spoke once more, “Indeed I spoke man child, now I ask once more. Are you alright?”

                The air between the two was still as nothing was said for a minute before Thom started to laugh, it was a laugh out of pure grief and being pushed to the limit. “Am I alright?! I just lost my dad; I lost my dad to an animal who attacked us for no reason! You ask if I’m alright, well my answer is no! No I am not alright you disgusting mongrel!”

                The wolf stood up from its sitting position and silently padded forward towards Thom, the human fell back from the approaching wolf that stopped directly in front of him and sat once more. The wolf’s eyes shined with a light of wisdom that few animals had, “Man child, you have lost your sire. Is that correct?” Thom was stock-still for a moment before slowly nodding, the wolf was silent as he stood up and walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down to where the boar and Thom’s father had fallen.

                The wolf then turned his head up and let out a howl, a howl that carried far and wide carrying with it a message of remorse and sadness. As the howl pierced the air, Thom couldn’t help but shiver, the long drawn out wolf’s howl carried all of the emotions that he had felt. After a long while the wolf’s call finally died down and he went silent, he then walked back to Thom and sat down once more in front of him. “I have conveyed your story to all of my brethren across the forest; they will find the reason for the boar attacking you and your sire.”

                Thom wiped away tears from his eyes, “Thank you… but why would you help me?”

                “Because I lost my pup long ago, he was taken away from me by a man. The man took my son from me by piercing his heart with a black ball from a metal pipe; I quickly got my revenge though by taking his life.” There was silence as the wolf looked into the sky at the moon that hung high in the sky, “Though my intentions were pure, the moon goddess did not appreciate me taking the hunter’s life. So she gave me the intelligence of men and forced upon me the longevity of everlasting life, she told me that until I could work off the sin I have committed that I would be forced into this long life.”

                Thom was quiet for a long moment, “You helped me even though I’m son of man?”

                The wolf’s eyes even though they carried a cold and deep intelligence they seemed to lighten up as they looked at him, “I couldn’t help it man child, you remind me of my pup…”

                The teenager slowly wiped away the last of his tears and slowly stood up and looked to where his father had disappeared, “I don’t know how I’m going to get home…”

                The wolf was quiet for a moment before he looked to the moon; he was silent as the blue of his eyes seemed to pierce the sky itself. As Thom stood on the edge of the cliff he was shocked to find the moon’s light seeming to focus heavily on him, “What the…?”

                “The moon goddess, it looks like she’s given both of us a new chance…” The wolf spoke with a sense of awe in his voice.

                Thom turned to the wolf, “What do you mean?” As he spoke he yelped in pain as he looked down to see himself shrinking down, fur had rapidly spread over his body over taking any skin. A nice white color covered his chest now, as he looked at his hands he saw that they were becoming paw-like. Thom set his changing appendage upon the ground and felt his back legs changing as well, his clothes slowly disappeared as the moonlight encased his body.

                Gray fur wrapped around his face as his mouth pushed out into a muzzle, the changing teenager blinked in surprise as the edge of his snout popped slightly as it became a leathery black nose. The smells of the forest became more powerful as his sense of smell became far better, his ears popped for a moment as his ears transferred from the side of his head to the top of it.

                Thom’s body had shrunk exponentially as he changed not only form but age as well; the human had turned from his age of eighteen to the age of a six month wolf pup. His tail popped out as the changed Thom sat on the ground; he blinked a few times as his eyes became similarly colored blue eyes like his new father.

                Thom blinked a few times as he looked at his father who’s eyes slowly dimmed from the intelligence of man to a regular wolf’s, the moon goddess’s magic finally leaving his body. The wolf licked Thom’s furry cheek, “Come on son.”

                The wolf pup jumped up with excitement, “Yeah dad!” But as the pair were about to leave the pup turned back towards the cliff as a memory of his father passed through his mind, “Bye daddy…” Thom muttered before the memory disappeared and the happy new wolf ran off after his father.