Demons

Luna's Pov

After Indrik had finally recovered from the excitement of his accelerated healing which wasn't due so much to his growing tired of cutting his own skin as it was to my reminding him that daybreak would soon be upon us and he would lose his chance to train if he didn't get his act together.

His eyes gleamed with joy as he nodded vigorously. I would have called him a kid if I wasn't feeling so giddy myself. It wasn't everyday that one got to play a major role in making a wolf. But we had had enough playing around, it was time to get some things done. Like teaching a man how to be a wolf. Not an easy task. Especially if you were not a wolf. I wasn't.

"First," I started. That got his attention as he grew calmer. "To be a good wolf, a good fighter, a good protector. You name anything good you want to be. To be it, you have to first of all learn to become one with your environment. You have to learn to listen, feel and see before anything else. When I say see, I don't just mean your eyes. I mean every part of your body. Even with your eyes closed you have to be able to tell everything that is around you. From the scuttling of tiny ant feet to the roaring of the sea. Nothing must pass by unnoticed. So," I paused when I noticed that he seemed lost. I frowned as I tried to recall all of my words. I couldn't recall spouting any brain frying sentence so I continued. "We will start with your ears. Close your eyes and open your ears."

"My ears don't have lids." He grumbled and for a moment, I was tempted to give him a slap upside the head. Luckily for him, I was a teacher now. One of the greatest virtues of a teacher was patience even if, especially if the student was such a big meathead. That, and the fact that he remains my master. It would suck to be sent to find insect's spittle in the middle of the night.

"Of course, they don't. Do you mind shutting your eyes?" He hesitated for a moment, then he obeyed. "Don't open your eyes no matter what. Now, tell me what you hear."

"I hear you breathing." He quipped extracting a snort from me.

"Of course, you do." I gave him a good work's swat on the back. "Now, try harder."

His brows furrowed as he concentrated. His facial muscles clenched, then unclenched. His mouth opened and closed constantly like he had swallowed a live crab that was constantly snapping at his hard palate. I started to worry when he dropped to his knees and wrapped his hands around his ears, groaning in pain.

"Indrik!" I called worriedly as I placed an arm on his shoulder. He didn't respond as he fell forward, arching his back, his hands still on his ears.

"Stop!" He cried, his voice sounding like he was speaking underwater.

"Indrik!" I called again, more forcefully this time, placing an arm on his shoulder and shaking him back to consciousness.

He raised his head sharply, breathing heavily like someone who had just been pulled from under water. "Indrik?" I called tentatively.

His eyes filled with tears as he stared at me but something told me he was not seeing me. "Indrik! Come on." I called desperately. I wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of having to tend to a bawling man.

He fell back and I had to scramble so his head landed on my laps instead of on the hard ground. The force with which his head hit both made me wince and made me glad that I hadn't let him hit the ground. I tapped him on the cheek, his glossy eyes now fixed on the horizon, unblinking. It took a lot of prodding and calls but finally, he blinked and seemed to start breathing again.

"The voices." That was the first thing he said, his voice soft and brittle.

I waited for him to continue but he would not volunteer any more information. I figured that I had to know what had happened to him if I was going to be able to help him. "Tell me what happened, Indrik. What voices."

"It..." I could feel a shudder rock his entire body like putting it into words brought his nightmare back to life. He sat up, and keeping his back turned, started to speak again. "At first, it was normal sounds. The sound of a bird calling to its partner, the sound of the river churning peacefully, of people snoring, then it transformed. Seemed to become more violent. Like a thousand voices were vying for recognition. It was..." He shivered again before rising to his feet and turning to me. "Let's continue." He tried to feign enthusiasm but I could still see that he was very shaken.

"Are you sure about this? You can rest and continue tomorrow." I wasn't keen on seeing him experiencing something like that again. Especially not this morning. It did not help that I felt responsible for what had happened to him. For some reason, my nightmare returned, the voice of the monster sending chills down my spine. "Soon." He had said. I wondered if the monster had meant he would visit me through my master.

"I am sure." He replied stubbornly. "Where were we? Close your eyes and concentrate? Got it." And then, he shut his eyes and continued the exercise.

I watched him uncomfortably, waiting for blood to start running out of his nose or for him to start screaming and running into trees but nothing of the sort happened. Whatever demons had terrorized him seemed to either be under his control now or taken a break which was good because we still had a lot to do.