Bramble's Prophecy: Not Alone
"Jackson! What are you - Jackson - Jackson!" Rick called desperately, "Jackson - Hello? Are you there?" He continued to ask. Bramble, who was tired of waiting for Jackson to continue, eventually smacked his paw against Jackson's face, and Jackson came back to earth.
"Huh?" Jackson asked, clearly unaware that he had been staring off into space for the last couple of minutes asked, "What's going on?"
Rick replied, "you were telling us that you had some questions. You know what, that's enough. We will continue this conversation in the car on the way to the doctor's office. Grab my arm, we are going to my ATV. I want you to hang on to me to prevent you from getting any more hurt than you already clearly are." Jackson and Rick were on the way out of camp when Rick paused and, assuming that he may have seemed incredibly rude, added "Thank you for taking care of Jackson as you much as you have. I really appreciate it, but I think it would be best if I took him to the doctor right now ." Rick turned and led the way back to his ATV. Bramble called back "your welcome!" and the wolves headed to their dens for the night
***
Bramble was having trouble sleeping so he walked quietly through camp and headed out into the territory that surrounded. He stopped by where the tribe went to the bathroom and continued surveying the territory when he picked up a strange scent. He followed it, and as he followed it the scent got stronger. To keep out of sight, Bramble crouched down to the ground, trying to stay out of sight. After crawling on the ground for around 10 minutes. He eventually peeked over a bush to see another Wolf and one that he did not recognize. Breaking his cover, he jumped up out of the bushes and pounced, and much to his surprise, there was nothing there. He landed awkwardly, got up and continued on his walk.
Then, he felt a claw grab his tail. He jumped both from the pain, and the surprise. He turned in the process, feeling some fur leave his pelt, and turned to face what seemed to be attacking him. Thanks to the reflection of the moon, he saw a pair of eyes. Not just any eyes, but these eyes seemed to have a distinct glow about them. "There is a need" a voice whispered.
Startled, Bramble stopped his attack and jumped backward.
"What?" asked Bramble.
"There is a need" The wolf whispered.
The pair of eyes disappeared, fading away like fog in the morning. Bramble took a moment to gather himself and galloped back to camp. Tons of questions were ringing inside his head as he headed home. His mind was racing, contemplating what he had just experienced. Was that a member of the Packs of Old? Something else? But as his mind was dodging back and forth between several different scenarios, his mind somehow remembered a couple of nights before.
***
It was really late, and Bramble had just earlier had a difficult conversation with his mentor, and leader of the Tribe of the Falling Sun, Phoenix's Sun. He had been having some trouble sleeping since the discussion, so he trotted across the camp to see if Pheonix's sun was awake. Once Bramble arrived at his den he peeked inside to see if he was still sleeping, and as he expected, Pheonix's Sun was asleep. Because of this, Bramble decided to head out of camp for a late night hunt to clear his mind.
He exited the camp through the two large Brambles that protect the entrance to the camp. Even though he had grown up inside this camp, he seemed to not get passed the prickles that his skin. Over time, however, He started to build a tolerance for them. He glanced up and tried to find the Northern star to find direction. Once he found it, he continued to trot throughout his territory. He eventually turned Left, Then Picked up Jackson's scent. Bramble decided to track it just to make sure that Jackson was safe since Bramble was pretty sure that Jackson was alone. Bramble smelled around just to make sure. Further investigation confirmed his thoughts. While he was examining, he eventually spotted a shoe print, and he could only assume that was Jackson's.
He lifted his head slightly, then heard some movement and picked up a strange scent in the air, and felt a slight chill surround him. He crouched down, and then laid there. He felt the brush around him begin to move, and nd then a mist filled the air. About five minutes passed and the air turned back to normal. The scent, however, was still there, mingled with Jackson's. Not daring to move the brush that was around him, Bramble crept onward, slowly for a little while, but once he felt safer he stood up. Glancing around he spotted a fallen tree from a major storm that had passed through a few days prior.
Bramble jumped up onto the fallen tree and landed as softly as he could. He crouched down again, trying to stay out of sight. He looked up and saw Jackson, with his typical black and gold backpack, slung over one shoulder, and his bow and quiver over the other. Curious Bramble continued moving forward. He jumped down and accidentally landed on a twig. In the silence, the crack was so loud that Bramble was confident that the tribe could hear it in camp. Knowing that Jackson was armed, Bramble instantly laid down.
Bramble heard three footsteps and then heard Jackson ask who's there. Petrified with fear, Bramble did not want blow his cover. A few seconds later, Jackson drew his bow. Bramble felt sick to his stomach because for a few heartbeats the Bow was aimed in his direction. Jackson walked away from Bramble slinging his bow and arrow set from side to side. Once Jackson felt comfortable, he slung his bow back over his back and put the arrow that was in the bow away. Relieved, Bramble continued to follow Jackson, but first, he glanced up at the sky to get his bearings.
About 10 minutes passed, and Bramble was still keeping a watchful eye on Jackson--moving when Jackson moved and stopping when Jackson stopped. Bramble saw Jackson stop, but this time it was different. Bramble saw the mist again, gathering in Jackson's blind spot and getting closer. Bramble felt like he had to do something, so thinking quickly, he looked on the ground for a stick. Shortly after, he threw the stick so it hit a tree a few bear lengths away from where the mist had been gathering. Feeling like a mentor, Bramble judged Jackson's response time. Instantly, Jackson hit the ground, as was trained. The one thing Bramble did not like was Jackson's use of the flashlight that he got from his backpack.
From Bramble's vantage point, he could tell Jackson saw something. Much to Bramble's surprise, Jackson stood up. Jackson then took a step back as Bramble could just barely pick up some words on the breeze. Confused, Bramble cocked his head to the side and took a few steps closer. Every single muscle inside of Bramble's body was telling him to jump in and help Jackson, but Bramble's mind discouraged action because he wanted to see how Jackson would handle the situation. Jackson continued to step backward and fell. Ready to jump into action, Bramble noticed that Jackson was getting up slowly. Bramble started moving toward the exchange at a quicker pace than he had been prior. As he got closer, he began to hear Jackson talking to the mist.
Bramble then began to see Jackson starting to run, but it was frantic and clumsy. Having started galloping, Bramble was trying to catch up to Jackson. A few minutes later, Jackson tripped over something and fell down hard. So hard in fact, that he did not get up. Bramble started running full speed. Fearing the worst, Bramble reached Jackson ready to start applying first aid. Instinctively, he put his head underneath Jackson's arm and lifted it up. Bramble immediately pulled his head out from underneath Jackson's arm, and the arm fell limply to the ground. Bramble jumped into action, looking for anything he could to put under Jackson's head. Noting the difference between human heads and wolf heads, he could not find anything that was the right size for a human neck, so he used the only thing that he could think of: His Body.
A long and grueling 6 minutes passed and Jackson came too. Feeling Jackson move, Bramble gave Jackson some time to regain his bearings. He eventually asked Jackson to see if he could stand. Jackson could, so they started walking back to Bramble's Camp. They walked for a good 10 minutes in silence, Bramble on Jackson's side in case he fell. After that time, Bramble asked, "What happened back there?"
A few moments passed and Jackson answered, "It's all kind of a blur."
Bramble continued pressing, keeping in mind that Jackson was most likely a little woozy, "Try to remember." He urged.
"I don't remember much, all I remember is a voice telling me that you are here for a reason."
***
After Bramble got back to camp, He went to sleep, his mind searching for some sort of reason that he would have an encounter like he had earlier that night. He blinked awake because he had finally thought of a reason - the phrases that were given to both him and Jackson seemed to be the start of something bigger. You are here for a reason. There is a need - but that need was yet to be determined.