The Moon Goddess' Chosen

477 The Smell of Rain

The sudden evasion came as a shock to not just Jason, but everyone watching as well. Bree had made sure to drop down at the last moment, keeping her ruse from the alpha long enough for him to perceive his actions as perfect.

After missing once, Jason wondered whether it would be a good idea to chase after Bree one more time and stop her in her tracks. The beta alpha gritted teeth and forged forward easily catching up to the female wolf and going for a low attack this time.

‘Her perception of her surroundings can’t be that…’ his thought stopped when he missed once more. This time the girl had leapt into the air this time, completely evading him. To his surprise, he felt like she’d soared high into the air.

Trusting his wolf’s senses was hard in this situation but it was also all he had. Bree had leapt much higher than the average wolf was capable of, clearly putting a difference between her and ordinary werewolves.

Something wasn’t right here…

Jason pushed forward, forcing himself up and forward.

However, Bree had other ideas. To make her point, she decided to show Jason just how much she was unhindered by her lack of sight and when she leapt into the air, she didn’t propel herself forward.

The girl jumped high enough to let the alpha’s body get past her before using his blonde mop as a platform for her next stepping stone. The wolf pushed off Jason’s head, slamming his body into the ground once more and rushed forward, wasting no time in creating a distance between them.

Bree rushed forward at top speed, not caring for her aching muscles or screaming lungs. If the alpha chose to chase her down after that, there was a possibility she couldn’t evade him again… but she’d never planned on actually defeating him. He was bound to get a pattern to her movements sooner or later…

.....

She’d utilised her element of surprise to the best of her abilities and now placed her trust in sheer speed.

As she pushed on, she started to involuntarily slow down. Her thighs screamed out in pain at the exertion. Her breathing doubled in difficulty and her movements became sluggish. It was only then that her right hand’s biceps started throbbing from carrying the lance.

She switched the lance into her left hand, but as that wasn’t her dominant hand, she soon switched it back to her right. The mental image in the girl’s head started to falter for the first time, but her instincts still remained sharp.

Bree had reached her limit… and the adrenaline was wearing off. Fortunately for her, the beta alpha wasn’t pursuing her any more.

Bree could also feel herself getting closer to the Sirius Waiting Room through the mind link. Her speed suffered even more when she tried to keep the mental image of her surroundings.

With each passing minute, it felt like holding it was sapping most of her energy. Interpreting everything picked up by the rest of her senses to replace the role of sight with an even greater form of vision was starting to take its toll on her mind.

This was her first time doing it and it had come so naturally after listening to the soothing voice of her friend, Honour. Knowing this, she was oblivious to any side effects of pushing past her limits that way.

Her wolf was tasked most with making these primal interpretations so that Bree wouldn’t get confused by the different things she was picking up with her senses.

Now that she was exhausted and no longer pursued by the beta alpha, everything was crumbling.

Her concentration… the image got even dimmer and for the first time since obtaining it, she bumped her shoulder into the trunk of a tree, sending a wave of fear and pain through her.

Her relaxation was now broken and her mental image suffered more. She was turning blind once more… just like she’d been at the beginning of the game, “You’re almost there, Bree,” the melodic voice of her best friend reached her ears.

As it turned out, the sound of her friend through the mind link, crushed her mental image even more. It was nothing like Honour’s soothing voice in the wind. While both sounds were soothing, Lina’s voice in the mind link felt even more oppressive and demanded attention.

The voice in the wind was… almost comforting. Like there were ethereal arms hugging her at that moment, whispering into her ear.

Lina was calling out to her through the mind link. Bree was indeed close to the large exit that led into the Waiting Room, however, she was tired and barely had the energy to walk.

Her throat was dry with thirst and a sharp pain went through her gut… a vicious stitch. Her breathing was laboured and her muscles were screaming for some form of relief… even then, she continued pushing forward.

“Just a little further, Bree…”

Now completely blind, the girl wondered why she hadn’t crashed into another tree yet… and that’s when she noticed the ground get hard and even. A pair of arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a warm embrace.

“I made it…” she muttered. The clang of the metallic lance rang through the room when she dropped it to the ground, “…I made it.”

“Yes, Bree, you made it,” Lina cooed, “And you made us proud. Now rest. We’ll take it from here.”

...............…

Jason rolled onto his back, panting with exhilaration and frustration. ‘It’s like she can see… Now that’s a talent. I can’t believe I was beaten by an ordinary wolf… Just how much lower will I fall? And ‘she’ could have seen all of that… ugh, this sucks,’ his thoughts at this point were no longer aimed at the Royal Games.

“Get up, Jason. This is not the time to daydream,” Cole’s voice rang through his head.

“Yes, your majesty,” the blonde alpha replied before standing up and changing course. It took him a few minutes to find the item he’d first spotted earlier before turning for the Lycaon team’s waiting room.

Upon arrival, he found the king standing at the entrance with a blindfold over his eyes, “You underestimated them, Jason.”

“Yeah, I know what I did,” the beta alpha said, unclasping the cloth over his eyes, “Although, I wouldn’t have expected a normal werewolf to have that much mastery over their senses. It wasn’t… normal.”

“Well, she is the first yellow-eyed werewolf in the Royal games… ever. There was bound to be something special about her,” the king chuckled before leaving the room.

Cole walked at an even pace, showing no hindrance caused by his lack of sight. Nothing could be determined of how well he could perceive his surroundings if he didn’t run… so the audience watched in tense anticipation.

When the beta alphas watched the king leave, they couldn’t help but wonder if the king had ever trained for something like this before. Jason turned to the screen and noticed there was a camera that was stationed right outside the Sirius Waiting room. Their contestant was already out. ‘Damn it. I wasted too much time,’ Jason berated himself.

....................

Crysta was the next in the arena playing for the Sirius team. Being a delta, her senses were a lot stronger than Bree’s senses… but even she was not sure she could pull off a performance as spectacular as Bree’s.

During Bree’s performance, she’d tried walking around the Waiting room with her eyes closed and this had yielded devastating results and slightly damaged her confidence in her abilities.

She’d bumped into practically everyone in Waiting Room.

Lina had tried getting her to relax but that wasn’t helping her at all. In the end, she’d settled with performing the blind hunt in her werewolf form… The form in which her senses were most sensitive.

Getting out of the Waiting room had been easy as long as she kept her footsteps steady and paid attention to her surroundings. Unlike her attempts in the Waiting Room, Crysta was surprised when she’d been prodding along for three minutes without bumping into anything.

Just when she was starting to feel comfortable, the grey wolf tripped on a tree root, bringing her to a frightening halt. Her breath hitched and the panic started to seep in once more.

‘It’s just a tree… Nothing so dangerous,’ she tried.

After finally relaxing, the grey wolf continued deeper into the forest, wondering what kind of item she was going to find. From the looks of it, the item could be anything. Jason had picked a ribbon in the first round while Bree had found a lance.

Both of these items would have been difficult for a werewolf to take, but that’s also when she noticed something with the wolf’s metal clasp.

Hanging on both sides of the strange contraption were two metallic claws that could be activated by a button on the side. Fortunately, the short man who stayed with them in the Waiting Room was more than willing to explain how the device worked…

‘This is going far worse than Bree’s time in here. How was she able to sense her surroundings so well? She was even better at it than Jason…’ she wondered.

This was the first time Bree was excelling at something so much better than her and additionally, she had done it so spectacularly as though she was born blind.

Just when she was about to stop for a rest, two scents hit the grey wolf’s nose. One made her feel like squealing in delight while the other made her shudder with dread… and curiosity.

The grey wolf raised her head to the sky… ‘That’s weird.’

The first scent was that of the Sirius team’s item not far from where she was. The second one… was much more peculiar.

It was the smell of rain.

...............…

Jason stood in the Waiting Room staring at the monitor and watching the frames that showed both team members on the field along with whatever item was most likely to be found in their current paths.

Cole hadn’t bothered to jog or run during the first three minutes that he was out. “Jason, when you were out there, could you hear the sound of the commentator?”

“No. Surprisingly, I couldn’t. That guy doesn’t shut up, does he?” Jason replied rhetorically before something caught his interest.

Cole had stopped walking.

“What is he doing? It’s not like he has all the time in the world,” Jason wondered.

“Well, the other team’s contestant is not doing so well either. Just look at her… she can’t even tell which way is south or west. I thought the girl who outsmarted you was their weakest, but this one is worse than her… far worse,” Kyle scoffed.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Crysta…” Jason paused, squinting at the king’s frame.

Cole now leaned against a tree and stared into the sky. If it hadn’t been for his experience behind the strange green blindfold, he would have thought the king could see through the fabric.

The soft rumble of thunder caught everyone’s attention, “What’s this? The weather forecast spoke of clear skies today. Don’t tell me…”

Kyle laughed, at first calmly before settling into a deranged laugh, drowning the voice of the announcer in the Waiting Room. Jason couldn’t blame him for doing so…

‘And I thought I was the only one who would try to use such underhanded tactics,’ Jason chuckled to himself.

“Well, it’s not against the rules,” Kyle announced with excitement.

‘Although, that’s even crueller than what I tried to pull,’ Jason sighed.

...............….

Cole leaned against the tree and continued to stare into the sky, calling on the powers he had recently learnt to control.

‘A little twister to put some spin on this competition,’ he smirked.