Tasks

Adam woke on soft, warm sand to the sounds of waves and tropical birds. Raising his head, he blinked several times against the bright noonday sun, blaring down on him and energizing him. In his soul-form, he could move with absolute precision and painless grace, so he sat up without pain from his arm, which was whole in this form. After gazing shocked and awed at his reformed limb, he cracked a wide grin and laughed. He stood up on the sand and ran across the sun-baked granite particles. The heat seemed a wonderful opposite to the burning-cold wind of the arctic tundra.

"Child! Calm yourself and get over here. You have things to do."

The voice seemed to come from a forest to his right. As he watched, unhappy to have his revlry cut short by a simple yet obedience-commanding disembodied voice, a white-robed figure stepped from the woods gracefully and with an air of authority.

"Finally. I had thought you would never wake. Repair on your mortal body can only be accomplished when you are awake in your spirit form."

Adam scratched his spirit-scalp, remembering a strange dream. "What the heck was that I was dreaming? I saw a thousand trees all crowded around a fire, each taking a branch and adding it to the fire. And then the tree's limbs grew back, stronger than before. They did it to every branch they had, working from the bottom up.

"And then it switched to a white-washed room full of filing cabinets. I opened the first and it had a ton of cards, all itemized and separated by colors ranging from red to white. I plucked one of the white ones, and it had one word on it. Lie. That was it, just Lie.

"I chose a red one, and on it was written lust. Just one word again, Lust.

"I managed to rummage through them all, and I must admit, I was horrified. I put the last one away and a horrible sense of unease ran through me. I sat on the floor, waiting for it to pass, but it never did. I stood up and opened the first drawer and pulled out the first card. My name was on it. I riffled through them all again. All had my name on them. I was horror struck. I was verging on insane sorrow, when a profound sense of peace came over me. I went to the cabinets, not knowing what I would find. I opened that first one again, and there were no cards. No cards in any of them."

Adam rushed most of his recounting of his dreams, but the ancient, white-haired man with green eyes that seemed so familiar, simply nodded when he randomly blurted this seemingly useless bit.

"Ah, child."

Click! The pieces fell together in Adam's head.

"Uh... Aren't you supposed to be a bird?" He felt kind of stupid about how lame that sounded.

The old but strong man laughed and nodded. "Yes, child. I was an eagle in your realm, but in my realm, I can be anything, for I am everything. I am the Great Spirit in the sky."

Adam felt his ethereal legs go all jelly-like and he sunk to the scalding sand, enjoying the warmth through a haze of what can only be called a "holy-shit-this-can't-be-happening" kind of state of mind. And then he found himself standing on four legs.

"What the frik?!" Well, that was what he meant to say, but it all came out as a bark. He was a wolf. And not just any wolf, but a great, long-extinct, Direwolf, the six-foot tall cousin of the grey wolf.

"Calm down, child. As I can be anything, you can be anything. But our spirits tend to revert to our guide forms, mine is the eagle, whereas yours seems to be the wise, yet powerful direwolf. A perplexing choice indeed. The power radiating from your aura is immense and spectacular, yet uncontrolled and dangerous. Throughout your time with me, you will hone in on and channel this power. You will gain vast knowldge and immense wisdom. You will become a leader of leaders and a beacon to your people. But I must warn you of two taboos connected to your very soul of souls." The ancient spirit sighed, as if he had done this whole gig one too many times.

"First. You must take a wife as soon as you return to your realm, and she must bear you a child, son or daughter, before your second year. Second. You must not take your last breath outside the arms of your wife and child. Also, the woman you choose, must also choose you."

Adam stopped pacing, as he had been since his initial shock of finding himself as a totally different geneous, let alone different species...