Page 35 of Wolf Proclaimed

"I can use magic," I confessed, not breaking eye contact. I stood tall, letting the surprise consume them, their shocked gasps mixed with the sounds of the roaring river below. I was Mira, the shifter, and Mira, the witch. It was time they knew the truth.

The moment they took in their surroundings, Gretel and Luna sprang into action, years of suspicion and caution fueling their instinctive reaction.

"It's a trap!" Gretel's shout reverberated against the cliffs, her eyes darting, hunting for an escape route. Luna was more silent, her body taut and ready, the perfect image of a huntress sensing danger.

"No, it's not a trap!" I shouted back over the river's roar below, but my words were lost in the rush of water and their rising panic. Their defensive postures made it clear—words wouldn't do here. I needed to show them this was a place of peace, not danger.

Again, I summoned my magic. It was a simpler spell this time, a freezing charm I had practiced a hundred times in secret. I extended my hands towards Gretel and Luna, their bodies glowing with a soft light as the spell took effect.

Gretel's shout of surprise was cut off as she and Luna were frozen, suspended in mid-action. I made sure they weren't hurt, just... paused for a moment. I'd release them once my sisters and I had spoken.

The gasps from my sisters were sharp in the sudden silence. I turned to face them, meeting their wide, frightened eyes. The magic had vanished from around my hands, but the residual glow still lingered, casting eerie shadows on their faces.

"Magic..." Petra's voice was a whisper, filled with awe and fear. "You...you used magic."

"Yes," I said quietly. The word hung in the air, a confession, an admission of what I had become—or perhaps, what I had always been.

"But... how?" This came from Syriah, her eyes wide and round as she stared at me, at the frozen figures of Gretel and Luna. "You were supposed to forget, to...to lose it."

I felt a wave of sadness crash over me. They were right; I was supposed to have forgotten my magic. And yet, it had clung to me, hidden in my blood, waiting for the moment to resurface.

"But I didn't," I replied simply, my voice hushed as if it had fallen over the cliff. "The magic, it's still in me. And it's time we discussed what that means."

I took a ragged breath. Before me were my sisters - Petra, Artemis, Jezebel, and Syriah, their eyes wide with a mixture of fear and awe. They were waiting, and their gazes focused entirely on me. I could sense the weight of the anticipation. It hung heavily in the air around us. I was about to reveal something that might change everything.

“I...I've started to remember more," I began, my voice quivering with emotion. "I remember who I was...who you said I was, and I don’t...I don’t like her.”

Silence swept through our secluded gathering; their surprise was almost palpable. They needed to hear this, to understand that the old Mira—the one they knew before, the one they'd warred with - was not who I wanted to be anymore.

“I don’t want to be at odds with any of you,” I continued, meeting each pair of eyes. “I’m stuck in this tug-of-war between two worlds—witch and wolf. I don't want to choose between you or Bastian.”

Petra, always the mother-hen, replied, "But Mira, it's not that simple. You have to..."

"No," I interrupted, my voice firm. "I don’t have to choose, Petra. Whether we like it or not, I'm both a witch and a wolf. And it's agonizing. The clash between the two natures within me, the memories lost… was terrifying!"

I let my words hang there, the truth echoing off the cliffs and the roaring river below us. I was not that person anymore who contributed to the discord, separation, and heartache.

"And that's why..." my voice faltered a moment before I steadied it. "That's why I want to propose something. A way to start over."

I watched the disbelief cross their faces, but I pressed on. This was a chance—perhaps our only chance—for reconciliation, for peace.

"I want to change our memories," I finally revealed. "All those bad things, the events that divided us, that set us against each other after the war...I want to erase them. To replace them with something good. To give us a chance to be sisters again truly."

This was a step towards healing, a chance to rewrite our collective history, to erase the pain. It was a gamble, but one I was willing to take for the opportunity of peace among us.

Silence hung thick and heavy after my proposition. They all looked at me, their eyes wide, their faces slack with shock. I held my breath, waiting for one of them to say something, anything.

Finally, Jezebel broke the silence, her usually fiery eyes clouded with uncertainty. "You want to tamper with our memories? You think it’s that easy to erase years of suffering, anger, and division?"

"I know it sounds drastic," I conceded. "But we've been clinging to these past hurts for so long. If we have a chance to change them, to rewrite the past into something better, shouldn't we take it?"

"But isn't that just running away from our past?" Artemis chimed in; her voice was soft and hesitant. "Isn't it better to accept what happened and move on?"

"Yes, Artemis, acceptance is part of the process, but it's not the entire solution," I explained, trying to make them understand. "We've tried acceptance, and where has it gotten us? We're still divided, still at odds. If we continue down this path, we'll always look over our shoulders, waiting for the next conflict to erupt."

A contemplative silence fell again. It was Syriah who spoke up next. She was the quietest among us, her words always carrying an air of wisdom. "If we do this...if we let you alter our memories...there would be no going back. We need to be sure that this is what we want."

I nodded, "That's true, Syriah. It's a risk, a leap into the unknown. But sometimes, we need to take drastic steps for healing, for peace. I don’t want us to fear returning to the past constantly. This...this is our chance to break the cycle."

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