I didn’t scream. It didn’t hurt.

And I was unfrozen!

Everyone was staring at my belly, mouths agape. So I looked down. I didn’t know what I expected to see, but what I saw was the same symbol that was on the tree stump imprinted onto my torso. What did Aku call it? The peace symbol? Huh. Then I remembered Lupe.

I looked around, but I couldn’t find Lupe anywhere. Finding him should have been easy, considering he was now a full sized wolf!

“Lupe? LUPE!” I shouted.

“Guys! Try and find Lupe!”

“On it!” Yon saluted. Everyone spread out and looked around camp.

The mark on my torso started glowing white.

“I’m behind you Elliot.” said a voice that strangely familiar voice.

“That can’t be Lupe, he can’t talk.The symbol is glowing, so is this sign on my belly talking? But I’ve heard that voice somewhere before. I think it was in Hermit’s tr-”

“I am the spirit of Tsara.”

“Yes! Tsara! That’s what I was gonna say.”

“I was transferred into Lupe’s body. Right now, only you can hear me since I imprinted the peace symbol on your body. We’ll be able to communicate when my spirit is active, or physically, when Lupe is no longer a child. Otherwise, he would just be normal Lupe, with a normal Lupe brain. Though I must say it took me a while to figure that out. I rarely inhabit animals.”

I turned around and spotted Tsara/Lupe, walking out from some bushes.

“Umm… Hi?”

“Hello.”

“So… Is this Tsara or Lupe speaking?”

“Right now, it’s me, Tsar-”

“Oh there you are Lupe!!” Immediately, all heads turned to me and Lupe/Tsara.

“Guys, guess what? Tsara is inside Lupe!”

Pri hopped towards Lupe. “Huh.”

“Cool!”

“Sssssooo… nothing bad happened?”

“Nope! Tsara’s spirit is inside Lupe right now! Her spirit is active when Lupe is a big adult, but dormant when he’s his tiny self. Tsara can talk to me in my mind when she’s active since I have this mark on me.” I lifted my tattered shirt to reveal a peace symbol.

Bea gasped, and Pri hopped towards me.

“Double huh!”

“Anyways, I really should be getting back. Can anyone show me to the river?”

“Sure!” Opa took off flying, and normal small Lupe and I followed behind.

“Bye!” they all shouted behind me.

“See you again!” I shouted back. Lupe barked at them.

Opa swerved left. Then she went right. She flew for a while, then went right again. She stopped. “The river should be right around here.” she said, looking around.

“There!” she flew left, then dropped down.

As I ran towards Opa, I could hear the rushing river becoming louder and louder. Whoop! That’s my way home!

I arrived at the river! “Here it is! Just follow it upstream until you reach your village! I gotta go now. Bye!”

“Good bye!” Opa flew away.

We walked along the river. “Hope i’m not too far from the town, or we’ll have to set up camp again. Luckily I make some mean grass beds. It’s getting late.” I told Lupe. We walked along the river for a few more hours. At least I think it was, since I didn’t have a watch. It was getting a bit too dark to walk without tripping in some random rock, and Lupe was yawning (cutest thing ever). Since there was no dry grass around, I gathered up some twigs and leaves to make me and Lupe some mattresses and cushions. And we slept under a leafy tree.

I was awaken by the sound of Lupe barking. I opened my eyes to find it was around dawn, still pretty dark. I took a look at Lupe, ready to calm him down and get back to sleep.

Then, I saw what he was barking at.

There were hundreds of wolves, every single one sprinting upstream along the river. Do wolves migrate? If so, they make quite a lot of noise. I watched for a few minutes, mesmerized by the mass of gray. When the last wolf of the seemingly endless chain of wolves passed, Lupe ran behind.

“Lupe!!” I ran after him, as he slowly grew into adulthood again.

Tsara was awake!