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"I've been here before; why am I here again?"
Dante looked around himself and saw Packs of wolves in the distance, running and playing along the edges of the forests and out onto the plains. It was so idyllic and serene, but he didn't know why he was here: he knew he hadn't died again; last he remembered he'd fallen asleep with his mate in his arms safe in their Castle.
He looked down and found himself standing on a silver moonlit path leading into the distance. With nothing else to guide him, he began following it as it wound its way up a hill and across the plains. As he walked, he could hear the howls and yips of the wolves in the distance. It was quiet otherwise, not even a breeze stirring, and he walked for quite some time before he saw a great tree looming up ahead of him on top of a hill.
"Unless I'm mistaken, that's the same tree I saw the last time I was here when I spoke with the First Champion."
Dante picked up his pace a bit as he made his way towards the base of the great tree. Just as he crested the hill where the tree was standing, he stopped in his tracks. Waiting for him like a Mother waiting for her child to return home, floating a few inches above the ground, was the Goddess Luna Herself. She beckoned and Dante reverently made his way to Her and arriving, he bent to one knee and bowed his head. For only the second time in his life he heard the ephemeral and lyrical voice of his Goddess, laced with such ineffable power and warmth.
"Welcome home My son, My Champion. Rise and greet me properly; it is good to see you whole and well once more." She stretched out her arms.
Dante rose to his feet before tenderly wrapping his massive arms around his eternal Goddess and gently weeping tears of joy into Her breast. Luna gently ran Her hands through his hair as She enjoyed the mortal warmth of one of her most beloved children returned home to his eternal plane.
"My Goddess, You honor me so, but I am not worthy. Thank You for your love and comfort, and for restoring the life of my beloved mate and children. You saved me and them in the same moment, and I will forever be grateful."
Dante released his Goddess and stepped back, gazing reverently into the infinite depth of her eyes as she floated serenely before him.
"My son, save for your Great Love there is no other as worthy as you, chosen by Me to right the wrongs that were brutally carved into the very souls of my children a millennium ago. I am the Arbiter of who is and is not worthy, and I have deemed you and my daughter Lily as worthier than any others. If the Hoffstedder couple, your Pack, and others wish to revere you and your mate, you shall suffer them to do so with good grace. General Astrid Bonchance is wise to insist upon protocols that maintain a suitable distance between you and your Great Love on the first hand and all others on the second; this reverence they offer is not for your benefit but theirs. I will not hear you complain of such things again."
Dante bowed his head apologetically.
"Yes my Goddess; I will strive to be the Lycan you wish me to be, and the King our kind needs."
Luna smiled at Dante tenderly before maternally stroking his face in comfort.
"Blessed are the days that come upon us. You, My chosen Champion, are about to become a Father, with your Mate alongside you. Your children will be the first ones in a thousand years to be born continuing the bloodline that has slept in a secret place since being lost to Lycan ken so long ago. On the next full moon, eight days hence, your children will be born under My loving gaze in fulfillment of this destiny. But you my Son, your own birth was a blessed yet tragic event in itself. It is now time for Me to tell you that you were loved dearly by your Mother and protected heroically by your Father when you were born under My gaze during a time of lost hope. The beginning of your life was a tragedy I could not shield you from, but which made you strong and forged you into the wolf you are today.
Therefore before you become a parent yourself, it is time for you to meet your own parents. Come with me my Son, they are awaiting us."
Dante's eyes went wide when he understood the gravity of what his Goddess was telling him. He was about to finally meet the Mother and Father he never knew; he would soon learn who he was and where he'd come from! He reverently took his Goddess' outstretched hand and the world around them dissolved as another scene coalesced into his awareness.
They were standing atop a mountain summit, its range stretching into the endless sky under the same full moon as before. Luna gently guided him around and once he'd turned he saw a man and a woman holding each other's hands and smiling at him. The man was around 6'5" with dark black hair that was cut short against his handsome face with ice blue eyes and powerfully built. The woman was beautiful and lithe, but also tall, standing next to the man at 5'10" with wavy long black hair and the same ice blue eyes as the man. The man spoke to Dante.
"Hello son, we are so very proud of you and we have missed you terribly."
Dante fell to his knees as the truth of what he'd heard slammed into him and he began weeping tears of pure silver.
"Dad? Mom?"
The beautiful woman smiled down at him.
"Yes Dante, we have awaited this day ever since the last moment we saw you as a babe when we were required to leave you on the steps of St. Peter's Orphanage that tragic night so long ago. We are so sorry we had to leave you alone. It broke our hearts and we both died soon afterwards."
At that point Luna reached down and gently lifted Dante to his feet before speaking.
"Your Mother Amanda and your Father Damian are two of my most faithful servants and beloved children. At My command they did something they would have otherwise found inconceivable: they abandoned their only child. But nevertheless, you are more loved and cherished than you will ever know, for they did what they must to keep you alive."
Dante approached his parents and wrapped his massive arms around them both. All three broke into tears, and they wept in each other's embraces for several minutes.
When they finally collected themselves, they released each other and Dante stepped back so they could speak. Questions began tumbling out of his mouth.
"Mom, Dad, what happened? Why was I left at the orphanage? Why was I not left with your Pack or my own kind? I don't understand any of this, please help me."
Sorrow crossed his parents' faces at the painful memory. His Father Damian responded first.
"The Silvrash line is ancient and can trace its way back to the First Champion and our Goddess' first Lycan, although the name was not originally in that juxtaposition. A thousand years ago the last of the Royal Bloodline, a Royal Alpha named Sigemunt Shavrils, had been warned by Luna in a dream of the tragedy to come, and thus secretly adopted his firstborn son to a trusted nursemaid prophetically named Lily Silvrash, who was instructed that when the cub became old enough to understand, she was to tell him who he was and to continue raising him with her own surname. They moved to a distant country, the Royal Bloodline continued in secret but forgotten to time. As it happened, that is to say by Luna's design, the name Silvrash is an anagram of the original surname of the Royal Bloodline: Shavrils, which means in a lost Lycan tongue, 'Silver Champion'. Silvrash in that same tongue means 'Silver Guardian' as a prophesy which has now been fulfilled in you. Our heritage was kept as a secret known to almost none, certainly none still living in your world save for those born under the bloodline such as myself and eventually my mate Amanda.
"After the great tragedy befell our kind and the entire known Royal Bloodline was slaughtered, the final remaining Shavrils/Silvrash heir and his descendants remained in hiding, biding their time until our Goddess' will was made manifest again in Her next Champion, you, my Son. We were never part of a Pack since that time, living in secret as rogues, the firstborn of each generation always a male and hoping by chance to find his mate and to continue the line until some unknowable time."
Dante's Mother Amanda picked up the narrative.
"I was part of a small Pack in the outskirts of France when I met your Father as a wandering rogue. I fell in love with him instantly and left my Pack to be with him. I'm sure they never learned what became of me, but I was happy. In time I discovered who Damian was, and that our shared duty first and foremost was to continue the line. We traveled, constantly in secret, always doing our best to remain safe. But we were hunted. There is a dark and ancient power that hunts our line; it is the power behind your current foe, Viktor. Our true foe... yours, ours, all children of Luna and Luna Herself... is a dark god soaked in malice, greed and hatred that lusts for power and the destruction of Luna's children and all who follow Her ways. He sees Lycans as no more than warriors to be twisted into furthering his desire for power and the conquest of your world. It was his influence that led to the massacre of the original Royal Bloodline some thousand years ago, and he still exists today, biding his time and working in the shadows towards his goal. He and his kind have hunted the Silvrash line ever since the beginning when the first Lily Silvrash grasped Luna's Torch, knowing that within our line would reside Luna's hope for a Son and Champion to be reborn and to push back against the darkness and defeat the evil attempting to corrupt us.
"When I became pregnant, your Father and I were overjoyed, eager to hear your first cry and to raise you, continuing the family tradition. We continued to move around and wound up in New England shortly before I was to give birth. It was then that our Mistress came to me in a vision, warning me of the coming threat of ruin. She told me you'd be born under the next full moon and under Her full gaze, and that you were to become the Silver Guardian of legend and the one to return our kind to our rightful place within Luna's grace.
"I was elated, so proud to be the mother of the Champion who would unite us once again. But with that joyous news came despair as well: she told me Damian and I would not remain alive long enough to witness these things coming to pass. The hunters were closing in on us in great numbers and there was no hope of our escaping them. We knew we couldn't leave you with another Pack, they would simply be slaughtered, and you killed with them. No matter what we did, nobody remaining alive would remember our line or know of the importance your life had to Luna Herself and to our race. Luna ordered us... and this time had to convince us it was the only way, a mere command wouldn't suffice, not even from Her... to do the unthinkable, leaving you alone to be raised in the human world while we drew your aspiring murderers away from you in our final act of protecting our beloved baby.
"We left you on the steps of that orphanage in Boston only a single week after you'd been born under Luna's gaze and your Father's and my love before we had to leave you behind and save your life. They tracked us down just a few days later in a Canadian forest, where your Father was slain defending me before I was captured. They tortured me... no, I beg you not to ask for details... but I told them nothing and eventually succumbed to my wounds. But we never allowed them to find you and have been watching over you ever since then from here in our Mistress' domain. You'll never know with how much love we've always held you in our hearts, but our Goddess does!"
It had taken quite a while for Damian and Amanda to tell Dante everything, and his heart was broken at the tragedy of his parents' lives, of their heroic sacrifices, and how they'd been lost to him. Still floating aboveground, Luna glided to his side and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"It is almost time for you to awaken, Dante; I brought you here tonight so you could gain some closure on who you are and how your beginnings had come to pass before the birth of your own children. But time is running short; you must say your fare-thee-wells for now, until you and Lily join them here sometime in the distant future when your task has been completed and you two have ruled for a century or two."
Dante nodded sadly but gratefully, understanding the immense blessing he'd just been given.
He turned to his Father first and embraced him.
"I love you, Dad. Thank you and Mom for all you did for me and the ultimate sacrifice you each made to keep me safe. I love you so much, and I promise to make you proud, I swear it."
Damien smiled through his tears as he embraced his son.
"I love you too Son, and already have you made your Mother and me so very proud! You've found yourself an amazing mate, and I know you will be the nurturing Father to your children that I could never be for you. You need to know, your full name is Dante Damian Silvrash. In our line the first-born son always takes his Father's first name as his middle name. As your Father, I ask you to continue the tradition with your own son."
Dante's silver tears were falling freely, but he tried to contain his sobs as he embraced his Father. He stepped away and turned to hold his Mother in his massive arms as her small frame draped against him perfectly.
"I love you so much, Mom! You and Dad gave everything for me, even your lives, and I never even knew! Thank you for telling me everything and thank you for the ultimate sacrifice you each made. You'd love Lily Mom, she's the most amazing woman I've ever known, and she loves me without end, just like you did Dad. I'm not alone anymore, and I've never blamed you or Dad for leaving me. I never knew why, but I always had hope. Luna has again blessed me in our meeting here tonight. I love you both so much. Until we meet again."
With that Dante stepped back and turned to face his Goddess, but Amanda had one more thing to say. "My son, we can see everything from up here, and your Father and I love your Great Love with all our hearts. Please tell her that."
"Thanks, Mom; she'll be thrilled to hear that." He then turned back to his Goddess.
"Thank you Mistress, for the gifts of knowledge and love and closure. I swear to make you proud and to see your will be done through Lily's and my hands. I'm ready."
With that, Luna smiled maternally at him and bent down and placed the softest of kisses against his temple where his hair had turned the color of the silver moon when she had visited him in his own plane. Dante's world briefly flashed white and then went to darkness.
***
"Dante! DANTE!"
Dante woke up with Lily hovering above him, fearfully peering into his face.
"Dante, what's wrong, baby? What's going on!?"
Dante realized he'd been sobbing in his sleep and had awakened Lily; his face was wet with his tears.
"Lily? Where are we?" He looked around; according to the dark windows, it was still the middle of the night.
Lily could tell Dante was confused, but at least he was coming awake.
"Baby, you were sobbing uncontrollably in your sleep and you wouldn't wake up! I tried everything to awaken you, but you wouldn't respond to me and all I could do was hold you and try to keep reviving you. What happened, baby??"
Dante pulled Lily down to his chest, soothing her and bringing her comfort as he emerged from his vision.
"I'm so sorry, my love, I didn't mean to frighten you. But it's all good. Luna pulled me into her plane, and I went on another Spirit Walk."
Lily leaned back and looked Dante in the eye, shocked at what she'd just heard.
"Our Mistress called upon you? Why? What did she have to say?"
Dante took a deep breath, recalling his latest journey.
"She told me things about our pregnancy, to start with. On the next full moon, in eight days' time, She said you will give birth, and She will be watching over our children as they come into this world. With them comes the reemergence of an ancient bloodline that was kept secret ever since the great tragedy of a millennium ago."
Lily's hands went to her stomach as she cradled it, and tears, good ones, filled her eyes as she smiled in wonder.
"Our children will be born in eight days, on the full moon?"
Dante rubbed his hand on her stomach as he wrapped his other one around her shoulders and hugged his mate to him.
"Yes baby, in eight days they'll be born under the full moon and Luna's loving gaze. But there was so much more, baby. She took me to meet my Parents. I met my Mom and Dad and spoke with them! I finally learned who I was, and my family history, and how I came to be left on the steps of that orphanage in Boston! There is so much more I have to tell you, and so much we need to prepare for, and to tell Astrid and the Hellhounds and the Elders about, too. This vision changes everything that we thought we knew about me, and it answers so many questions for us. The Silvrash line is descended from the First Champion himself, and it was kept in secret and held in trust throughout the ages to protect the line from our eternal foe."
Lily had gasped loudly, and her eyes were huge as she took in everything Dante said.
"Slow down baby, and start from the beginning, tell me everything."
It took Dante quite a while to tell his loving mate about his entire Walk and everything he'd learned, but by the end they were both holding each other and gently weeping together as liquid silver fell from Dante's eyes and onto his mate's bosom. Lily spoke to him.
"Your Parents loved you so much Dante, and they sacrificed everything for you! It explains so much and answers questions we've always had. And now we know why the first great tragedy happened, and the forces behind it, and who our ultimate enemy is today. We have to talk to Astrid and her Lieutenants about this immediately. It can't wait, baby."
Dante agreed and reached out to Astrid through the bond.
Astrid, we need you to get your mate and Hilde and Bryn and Freydis and come to our suite immediately. I was pulled into Luna's domain tonight. I just got back, and we need to talk right now.
Astrid responded immediately and with reverence and haste.
Yes, my King. It will be done, and we'll all be there in five minutes. Are you and Lily unharmed?
Dante reassured his and Lily's closest friend.
Yes Astrid, we're safe and sound, but we must talk.
***
The sun's rays were just peeking through the stained glass in the living room of their suite as Dante finished telling his closest friends, protectors and advisors about his Spirit Walk leaving everyone awestruck and shocked to their core.
Astrid, as General of their forces and head of the bodyguards, spoke first.
"I can confirm that the surname of the Royal Bloodline was Shavrils. It's an historic detail that for centuries has been known only to the highest-ranking Hellhounds of the Royal Pack. In idle moments I've often puzzled about its similarity to your own name Dante, but I could never put my finger on it. But now everything is falling into place and makes so much more sense. We have to prepare and take extra caution against the dark god who is our ultimate enemy. Viktor is just a pawn, one we must kill for certain, but he's just a pawn for this far more dangerous dark being. We need to pass this along to our allies, as well. My King, during today's video conference you must let our allies know what you have learned. You don't have to tell them what your parents told you, that's private, but the other information they need to know, including the nonsense about you and Lily being 'just folks', your most august Royal Majesty; I trust we can put that to rest?."
