Chapter 267 - The Last Howl ( Part 2 )

"And I’ll keep living because I want to."

The words were simple. They didn’t make the pain go away. They couldn’t bring Lilia, Rudy, and Snow back. They couldn’t make up for the loss of her right hand and the Divine Swords.

However, Jennie was no longer trying to find the reasons to justify her right to live.

It was not something she had to ask for or earn.

All she needed to do was to make a choice.

Jennie took one more step and then another one.

The wolf got on its feet. Its gigantic body seemed to stretch along the ice of the frozen lake while its nine tails rose up. The wind howled, and the ice started cracking under Jennie’s feet.

"THEN WALK!"

The phantom wolf leaped forward.

The distance between them disappeared. Jennie’s eyes widened as the creature leaped over the entire lake, leaving trenches in the ice with its claws.

She rolled aside. The wolf landed on the lake’s surface, causing the ice beneath her feet to erupt.

An avalanche of ice shards rose behind Jennie, breaking apart and spiraling in mid-air. Jennie ran, dodging the ice pieces, but the wolf moved with lightning-fast speed and closed the gap between them in a second, grabbing Jennie by her neck with its jaws.

Jennie fell to the ground. The wolf hit her with its shoulder, throwing her across the ice lake.

For a brief moment, everything froze. Then the wolf walked closer to her. Its footsteps did not create any sound while its blue eyes seemed to burn with an ancient light.

"YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO LIVE."

Jennie tried to get on her feet. Her legs were shaking.

"Yes."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF DEATH?"

Jennie looked up at the gigantic beast.

Because she had already witnessed how death took everything she cared about. Because she had felt the helplessness of witnessing the death of people she loved. Because she was afraid of losing someone else. Because she was scared of dying before she would be able to do anything to stop Zuko.

Because, in spite of everything, she was just a girl, wishing to return home.

Jennie gulped. "I’m scared."

The wolf stopped moving.

Jennie struggled to her feet.

"I’m scared of death. I’m scared of failure. I’m scared that when I reach the other end of this battlefield, I’ll still be not strong enough to stop him."

She clenched her left fist.

"I’m scared that all the people I lost will be the only thing I’ll ever lose."

Her voice broke.

"But I’m still going to keep going."

The wolf bent its head down to her.

"AND EVEN IF YOU CANNOT WIN?"

Jennie met those eyes. "Then I will lose."

"AND EVEN IF YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING?"

"I will mourn," Jennie replied.

"AND EVEN IF THE WORLD WILL REMEMBER YOU AS A FAILURE?"

She inhaled deeply. "And the world will remember what it wants."

Jennie looked straight into those glowing eyes.

"I know who I am."

The wolf’s body turned into a blizzard of silver light. Its nine tails swirled behind it, and the wings opened up, spreading in all directions. The ice under the paws raised giant ridges and created a path between Jennie and the creature.

The last howl ripped through the darkness.

The wolf lowered its head, claws digging into the ice.

Jennie understood what was about to happen.

There would be no tricks this time. No weakness to use. No way out.

The creature was going to attack and Jennie needed to choose to run away or not.

She glanced at her right hand which was hanging uselessly. She couldn’t grab a sword with it. She wasn’t even able to close her fingers. She had only one hand which she could use, but even it was shaking from exhaustion.

Fighting against a creature which could tear apart whole mountains she had almost nothing.

She chuckled. "Well, this is going to hurt."

Jennie put her feet down.

The eyes of the wolf blazed.

Then the wolf attacked.

The lake exploded from its paws, wall of the ice surged ahead, rising higher with each step. The creature looked like a living avalanche, digging through the ice as its jaws were opening wide.

Jennie stood still.

Her instincts screamed at her that she should have dodged. Retreated. Found some way to avoid the hit without meeting the attack face to face.

She could almost hear the voices of the people she had lost.

Rudy calling her an idiot.

Lilia, trusting her to come back.

Snow asking her to stay alive.

Jennie closed her eyes for a beat. Then she opened them.

She was afraid. Exhausted. Hurt.

But she was still there.

The wolf was coming closer.

Jennie moved.

Not back. But ahead.

She ran directly towards the attacking creature.

At the last possible second, she bent down and slid across the ice. The wolf’s claws missed her only by a hairbreadth. Jennie grabbed a jagged ridge of ice with her left hand and used it to swing around.

The wolf turned in mid-charge, its jaws snapping towards her.

Jennie slapped the ice with her palm, using a wind magic to change her direction. Weakly, it was enough only to lift her off the ice, but it helped her move sideways as the wolf’s teeth snapped into nothingness.

The creature’s momentum carried it past her.

Jennie landed on one knee, ice cracking beneath her.

She could feel that the wolf was getting ready to turn around. This would be no second chance. Jennie knew enough to understand that this trial wasn’t going to end by giving her another chance to survive. It would end when she stopped trying to prove that.

Jennie rose to her feet.

The wolf turned towards her. She didn’t retreat.

Instead, she attacked.

Left hand hit the ice, using the wind magic to lift it up and force the wolf to shift its footing for a moment. Jennie ran forward, jumped over the ridge of ice and threw herself to the creature’s head.

The wolf snapped its jaws. Jennie twisted in the air. Its teeth grazed the edge of her coat, tearing the fabric as she was passing. She landed against its neck, grabbing a ridge of the spectral fur with her left hand.

The creature roared. Its body dissolved into the blizzard.

Jennie fell down, striking the ice with her shoulder, then rolling in pain as the pain shot through her hurt body.

The wolf appeared several meters ahead of her.

Both of them stood still. Jennie was breathing hard, blood trickling down her arm, legs were shaking.

The wolf looked at her for a long while. Then it spoke.

"YOU DID NOT RETREAT."

Jennie slowly rose to her feet. "No."

"YOU DID NOT KNOW WHETHER YOU WOULD SURVIVE."

"No."

"THEN WHY DID YOU ADVANCE?"

Jennie looked at the creature. For once, she didn’t try to give an heroic answer.

"Because I chose to."

The wolf’s eyes blazed brighter. The ice beneath them started glowing. Deep vibration rolled across the lake, rising from somewhere underground. Storm ceased, the wind died. Even the darkness above seemed to hold its breath.

The enormous wolf lowered its head. Then it bowed.

Jennie stared. "What...?"

The creature’s voice echoed across the frozen lake.

"THE HUNT IS OVER."

Its body dissolved into the silver particles.

Jennie cautiously took a step forward. "Wait. What did this trial want to show me?"

The wolf lifted its head one more time.

"NOTHING THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW ALREADY."

Jennie frowned. "That’s a incredibly annoying answer."

Sound which sounded like a laugh rumbled through the wolf’s chest.

"THEN YOU LEARNED SOMETHING."

Its nine tails swirled across the ice. For a moment the creature looked exactly as Snow in his ancient form of the Divine Wolf – majestic, intimidating, beautiful in a way which made Jennie’s chest ache.

She wanted to call his name again. She wanted to ask whether a piece of him was waiting for her here.

But she knew better now. The creature wasn’t Snow. It couldn’t replace him. And she didn’t need it to.

Jennie lowered her head. "Thank you."

The wolf watched her silently. Then it lifted its head.

And the final cry resounded through the icy lake.

It rang through the night air, deep and sorrowful, carrying in it an echo from time immemorial. It resonated among the mountains far away and through the ice below, growing louder until Jennie could feel the vibration through her bones.

Just for a moment, she thought she heard another cry in response coming from far away, an echo of a friendly voice.

But then the noise faded out and the spectral wolf disappeared.

Silence fell.

And Jennie was alone once again in the middle of the lake. She was breathing hard, trying to regain control over the shaking of her legs.

"Snow..."

She smiled slightly. "I will keep going."

A crack came from under her feet. Jennie glanced down.

The ice was transparent now. The dark surface of the lake under her shoes did not reflect the sky anymore but showed instead the bottomless depths beneath, filled with ancient ice and dark waters.

Something huge was moving in the dark.

Jennie’s smile froze on her face. The lake was trembling.

An immense creature was stirring underneath the layer of ice, so big that Jennie could not see where its body stopped. Strange light was glowing on its scales, like stars on a night sky.

Then it opened its eyes, and those were immense too—an immense ring surrounding the pupil of blackness of the void.

It looked right at Jennie.

The whole lake shook. Deep beneath, something ancient woke up.

Jennie took one step back.

"...You have got to be kidding me."

The immense eye opened wide. And the ice beneath her feet cracked.