Hopeless Chapter 28.5 – The Commencement (Side Story)

God stared out at the distant, glowing moon. The night was silent. His banquet had ended a few hours ago.

"I feel you are so far away."

The wolf quietly walked over and stood next to God. "I am right here," she said, looking up at him.

God opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself for a brief second in hesitation. He took a moment to reassure himself that the loyal wolf would never turn its back on him. "… Forever…?" he asked as he turned his head to look at the wolf, his voice almost inaudible.

"God, forever…" the wolf humbly bowed its head. "For me, it is impossible…"

God's eyes widened slightly as if he had just come to a realization. "I see." One day, they would all have to part from this world. "Yes, of course you would think it was impossible," he said as an idea came to him.

The wolf looked at God curiously, wondering what the cause of the delightful look on his face was.

"You need not worry. I can make our banquets eternal," God said with an excited smile. "I will tie us together with an unbreakable bond, all of us, for all of eternity. We will always be together. Not even death will be able to break apart our bonds."

The wolf once again bowed its head, this time apologetically. "God, I cannot…"

God's smile slowly faded away. "What are you saying?"

"It is as I have told you," the wolf replied gently and respectfully. "It is impossible for me."

"Are you going to abandon me?"

"… God, I would never abandon you. But I cannot remain by your side forever. These countless banquets have been fun. Being by your side and being able to protect you has been the greatest of honors. However, there will always come a time when we must part ways."

"You wish to leave me…"

The wolf spoke softly. "I simply wish to be at the side of the one I love."

"The one you love?" God asked quietly.

"God… I wish to be by the cat's side."

God felt heartbroken by the wolf's words. If the wolf can choose to leave him, then surely, the others can do the same. God simply couldn't bring himself to accept the thought of being all alone again.

A tear rolled down God's cheek. "You have betrayed me."

The wolf was taken back. "God… I would never…"

"If you, my protector, vanish from my side, the others will eventually follow you and do the same. If you leave me, you will bring an end to all of my banquets… and I will be alone again."

The wolf closed its eyes and lowered its head in sadness. "God, you have misunderstood…"

However, God did not listen. He put a curse on the wolf… a curse that would ensure its loyalty to him. The wolf would never again be able to turn its back on him. "You will protect our bonds from the outside. Should any threat befall my joyous banquets, you will be the one to stop them. However, most importantly of all, should anything come between our bond, yours… and mine…" More tears rolled down God's face. "… You will destroy them all."

And so, being the farthest away from the zodiac, yet at the same time, being the closest to God, the wolf monster was born…

Many, many years later, during one of God's festive banquets, the cat collapsed. After everyone drank to their eternal vow, and after the cat's speech, when all the other animals had already left, God remained by the cat's side.

"Why…" God asked sadly. "Why do you forsake me?"

"God… I have not forsaken you," the cat spoke. "… But I do not want eternity. The time we spent together was irreplaceable. Being by your side was happiness for me. However, that is enough."

God didn't understand what the cat was trying to say.

"We have all gathered here freely of our own will. If we are to be reborn, and if we are to meet again, then let us meet in the way we did in this lifetime… freely. Perhaps next time, all of us, you and I, everyone else… and the wolf… perhaps we can all meet under the sun. We can be surrounded by many new meetings."

Upon hearing the wolf's name, God understood what the cat meant. The cat didn't want to be tied down by a promise that didn't include the wolf. "Even you, the first to be by my side… even you are going to betray me…?"

The cat was confused.

"Has your love for the wolf caused you to betray me? Is that why you no longer wish to stay by my side…?"

The cat suddenly realized that God had misunderstood him. He had only meant that they should all be free to meet as many people as they wanted… to live as freely as they wanted. Promising an eternal banquet with only the thirteen of them would only become a burden as time went on. Surely, the wolf had realized this as well. Surely… those were the words the wolf had wanted to say to God.

"God…" However, it was too late. The cat had breathed its last breath. Its final words to God would forever be lost…

In his grief, God put a curse on the cat. If the cat didn't want to be a part of his everlasting banquets, then he, like the wolf, would simply watch from afar. They would never again to be included in their banquets. They would never again be able to fall in love and betray him.

All along, God's words to the wolf had been right. It wasn't death that would be powerful enough to shatter the chains that held them together or drive them away from each other. It was something greater, something that far transcended death itself… but that was something God wouldn't come to understand for hundreds of years to come…

A/N: I've always talked vaguely about the curse of the wolf and how it came to be but I've never adressed it directly. This was a story I wrote to explain just a little bit of the connection shared between God, the cat, and the wolf, and how the curse of the wolf and the cat came to be (in my version of course =P)

Hope you enjoyed reading it! And please leave a review if you have time! Thanks for reading =)