Questions

We walked together in silence for several minutes, Zahyr leading me toward his camp down an old path that I hadn't noticed until now. Deciding that now was the best time to ask some questions, I asked, "Could I ask a question?" Zahyr glanced over at me, "Sure, what's your question?" I took a moment to think about everything that I wanted to ask before finally asking, "I want to ask, what is with that forest, the Duskmire as you call it?" His face seemed to darken for a moment, "The Duskmire is a region in our realm that has been corrupted by darkness," he replied, "We aren't able to get rid of this darkness, but we have been able to fight back and contain it to that region, but only the Guardians know how long we can hold it back."

I sensed this was a sensitive subject for him, so I decided to change the subject. "I also want to ask, what is this place this ... world that I'm in?" "That's a simple question," Zahyr replied, "As for the place, you're currently in the Lightning Realm, and as for the world, we call it Tenoria." I pondered his answer for a moment before I asked a follow-up question. "So you said I'm in the Lightning Realm, does that mean that there are other Realms in Tenoria?" He gave a short nod, "Yes, there are other Realms in Tenoria," he replied, "There are a total of five Realms, you have Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, and of course, Lightning."

"Any reason why they are called by those specific names?"

"Yes, it's because each Realm of Tenoria is named after the Elemental affinity of the Nyorans that live there."

"And what do you mean by elemental affinity?"

"Here, I'll show you," Zahyr said. He raised his free arm and put it in front of him, with his palm facing up. I started at his palm, wondering what he was going to do. Without warning, lightning started crackling from his palm. He raised his hand and pointed it away from us, shot the lightning out, and struck the ground with a loud boom.

"So that's what hit the branches," I thought to myself. "And I'm assuming when you mean Nyorans, you mean what you are?" I followed up. "Good you're learning," he replied, "as you guessed, we call ourselves Nyorans, which makes you a Nyoran as well." That comment surprised me, realizing that even though I didn't have any memories, the fact that I was now a wolf, a Nyoran, shocked me. Wanting to distract myself, I asked, "And does every Nyoran have markings just like you do?"

"Yes, every Nyoran in Tenoria has markings like these that run across their body," Zahyr replied, "Though the color and shape of the markings changes depending on what realm they are from. The eye color also matches the color of the markings, if you ever go the city of Elyria, you'll see what I'm talking about." He paused for a moment before adding, "But you're different," he said, "You're the only Nyoran I've ever seen that has had white fur and no markings showing their elemental affinity whatsoever."

I walked with him in silence for several minutes, trying to mull over all the answers that Zahyr gave me. Mostly everything that he told me, the Realms, the world of Tenoria, those things I was able to understand. But I wasn't able to understand some things, like their connection to the elements, and this darkness that has plagued their land. But the one thing that I can't wrap my head around is the comment that Zahyr added when talking about Elemental markings. "I'm the only one that looks like this?" I thought to myself, "The only one that has no sign of any elemental affinity... Figures, even as I'm in this world, I'm different from everyone else."

My mind continued wandering until I remembered what Zahyr muttered under his breath when I told him that I had woken up in the Duskmire. "I have one more question that I want to ask you." I asked him. "Considering this is the last one, I'll be sure to answer it." He replied with a slight smile, "When I told you I woke up in the Duskmire, you muttered something under your breath," I said to him, "You said 'By the Guardians, could this be the one?' what did you mean that I might be 'the one'?" His smile faltered, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "That's something that I can't tell you, not yet, when the time is right, I'll tell you what I meant."

He looked away from me looking ahead, and I looked at the ground and wondered why it was something that he couldn't tell me yet.

"That's enough questions for now," he said to me, "We've arrived."