《Stairway to the Moon》


 First Meeting

    Within the obscured depths of the rainforests, where trees touch the sky with their outspread branches all tangled up making foliage as thick as lambswool, even stars and the moon have a hard time peeking inside it. Only fireflies can illuminate your path. Don¡¯t get too mesmerized by the beauty of luminous plants lest it becomes too late and you lose your way amidst the fog that appears during twilight and lasts till dawn.


    New lives boom in one such rainforest. A white wolf cub laid there sleeping soundly, basking in the glory of the moonlight. It could be seen that the moon could not hide its enviousness for the moon continued to glance at it.


    Upon feeling the presence of something bright over his eyelids, sleep could only wait as Cub yawned with his small mouth and opened his drowsy eyes, watching himself surrounded by a strange white light. The cub couldn''t help but be curious and shift his gaze towards the moon, One look was all it took for the cub to be entranced by the moon as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. As the cub''s mother was feeding the other cubs, the white cub unblinkingly kept staring at the moon until it went out of the cub''s view.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Months passed and now the white wolf is no longer a cub. It has become a full-fledged wolf but during all this time some things never changed, The wolf''s fascination for the moon only grew with each passing day. It would always chase after the moon from where it rises to where it sets, howling all night trying to communicate with the moon, but the moon never answered his pleas.


    Instead of giving up hope, the white wolf became even more headstrong, in the hope that if he tried hard enough every day the moon would reply to him someday. Even though the white wolf had to take leadership of the pack, he refused to, because if he did he would not be able to give time to his darling moon. His act of prioritizing the moon over the pack caused the elder wolves to be angry and led him to be forsaken by the pack. In the end, the pack still allowed the wolf to follow them but treated him harshly for being a lovestruck fool for chasing after something so ethereal.


    The White Wolf cared ever so less about it for as long as he could see the moon, he would be happy. His saddest days would only be the days the moon was barely visible or when it rains. The White wolf would still wait on the cliff at the end of the jungle for rainy skies to subside so that he could see his darling once more.

 The Calamity Approaches

    The peaceful atmosphere of the enchanting rainforest could only last so long, one day the White Wolfs pack encountered many species of animals running away or in search of more territories, even fighting over them with other species who have their own territories.


    One of the wolves managed to make a fox stop to ask him about the situation. The fox made sounds and gestures to explain that two new types of animals had come and taken over a huge territory and that they might take over more. The presence of two unknown creatures not only made the pack feel anxious but also gave them a sense of crisis should they decide to expand their territory.


    The pack leader asked the fox to describe how the two new animals looked. The fox tried to stand on two legs to explain that one of the animals could stand on two legs.  For the second one, the fox picked up a stick and imitated an elephant, The pack leader asked in confirmation if it is an elephant? Fox shook his head in a way of saying no, no. It is much bigger than an elephant and it gives off smoke from its back as it walks, said the fox imitating smoke with its hands.  And the animal with two legs can ride on the second creature and then they go out and destroy trees.


    The Fox left in a hurry afterward, The wolf pack leader warned the entire pack to stay on alert, other animals might not fight us over our territory, but the same can''t be said for those of our own kin.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    The rainforests environment became heavier with each passing day. The feared day came much sooner than it was expected, The White Wolfs pack got a challenge from another leader to abandon their territory or fight till one or the other is defeated.


    The White Wolf thought of it as his chance to show the moon how strong he was and the moon might finally get impressed and answer him, so he decided to join the fight.


    Under normal circumstances, a fight would have stopped once the wolf pack leader is defeated but it was a fight for survival as the other pack leader didn''t have his territory anymore and his pack wolves were not safe outside, and the territory they were fighting for couldn''t sustain two packs.


    What started as a normal fight escalated into a bloody fight, luminous plants were drenched by blood radiating a red glow, and even the soil had turned red as wolves were fighting with their life on the line. On that day the skies rained as if it will never rain again. It was as if the skies were crying their hearts out grieving for the loss of lives. Blood flowed in the water further tainting the forest red with blood.


    Every wolf fought valiantly causing both packs to sustain heavy losses, but the White Wolf was more heavily injured than the rest, as he was fighting for something more than just his territory, he was fighting for recognition of the moon, but to his dismay, the moon never showed up as the skies were covered by the rainy clouds.

 Climbing the "Stairway to the Moon"

    Already being heavily injured, the White Wolf started to feel drowsy. All he wanted to do was to cradle into the moon¡¯s arms and sleep soundly. As minutes passed by his drowsiness got heavier. As his eyes were to close down he noticed that the rain had stopped falling. He knew that the rainy skies would clear up soon and that his darling moon would come out.


    He thought to himself, ¡°I cannot be late¡±. I need to see her. He started limping towards the cliff. He had only walked a few steps but due to sustaining heavy injuries a bone in one of his legs broke completely and he collapsed on the ground. His vision became blurry, but he knew that he could not fall down. He needed to see the moon. He needed to see her no matter what. There hadn¡¯t been a single night where he had not seen the moon.


    He barely balanced his heavily injured body, his 3 remaining good legs, and started to walk slowly. Because it was slippery and there was much mud, he continuously stopped and collapsed over and over again midway staining the path he walked with blood.


    He kept thinking, ¡°Just a little bit more, Just a little bit more and I can see her again.¡± This kept the wolf going all the way. Even after his body gave up, he dragged his body slowly with his hind legs.


    He somehow managed to reach the cliff but then he realized he could not look up no matter how much he tried, His neck was injured, it''s not allowing him to turn his head. After trying over and over, every last bit of energy he had left was exhausted and he collapsed near a pool of water created by the rain.


    The Wolf tried hard to make his body turn, but his body refused to move. As the moon shined her light over the wolf to know about his condition, White Wolf had long turned into a bloody wolf with his fur color tainted red by blood. He looks to be just a step away from death.


    As White Wolf tried to make his last ditched effort of raising his head, everything ended up as a futile effort but what happened next made him happy. The moon had acknowledged his efforts and came right next to him, Upon watching his darling moon in the puddle of water right next to him, the White Wolf closed his eyes and rested happily, cradled under the light of the moon.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Something unexpected happened at the next moment. The rainforest became concealed by a blanket of thick fog, The fireflies which were gone into hiding due to chaos came out, Luminous plans which were covered by blood were cleansed by the rain and were shining much more brightly than before. It was as if the rainforest had been born anew in its full glory.


    The moon appeared to be five or ten times its actual size and a staircase started to appear from the moon all the way down to the cliff. A pure white girl shining brightly just like the moon starts to walk down the stairway towards the wolf. She was shining so brightly that none of her features were visible, but from her height, she appeared to be a 10-12-year-old.


    Moon Girl approached the White Wolf and touched his blood-red fur, causing the White Wolf''s body to glow and turn back into white color and soon White Wolf shrunk down to the size of a cub. Upon feeling the touch of someone, the wolf opened his eyes once again but only to realize that he had become smaller. However soon his attention was taken away by the moon girl standing right next to him. He became so happy that he started jumping around and started playing around her legs.


    Meanwhile, while the White Wolfs pack was looking for injured wolves and bringing them to a safe place, they noticed a trail of blood and signs of a struggle to walk so they followed the trail and found the body of the white wolf, who was no longer white. They all surrounded his body and started howling.


    The white wolf cub who was playing around the girl noticed the pack surrounding both sides of the stairway and howling as if wishing him good luck on his journey and the cub howled back in thanks and continued to play around the girl as she stroked his head and then started climbing the stairway to the moon.


    It is said that on that day all the wolves around the world howled together towards the moon, and to this day people are unable to figure out the reason why wolves would howl towards the moon. Maybe only wolves know the real reason behind it.


    ~ Fin