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The Resurrection of Eric - Chapter One

© Jake Atkinson

P.O.V. - Kin'ara

Suddenly drawing breath and sitting up, Cer'in pitched over the edge of the dais and collapsed to the ground. "By the Goddess, he lives again!"

"I've always had faith." exclaimed Jade'ara in muted awe. "But I never thought we would be the ones to..."

"We must begin the relocation spell at once!" I hissed tightly. "Keep him still!"

P.O.V. - Dr. Brittney Strathern - Museum Curator

_Oh dear, what's this docent's name again? "_Calm down uh, Merriam. The last time he went missing we found him planted on a toilet with a cigarette in his muzzle. There's a derelict group of adolescents that get a real kick out of propping him up for impromptu photo shoots. I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

"My name's Melisa, you scatter-brained Coyote!" snapped the testy Desert Hare. "And if you had been paying attention, you'd know that Paul and I already checked the bathrooms!"

I sighed.Damn these distractions, how am I ever going to get all this stuff cataloged? And 'Melisa'... ugh! The things I have to do to keep the customs department off my tail! The annoying little snipe! Daughter to the inspector or not, if her attitude doesn't improve...

Melisa scowled and snapped her fingers in front of my nose. "Hello?! Crisis here! Paging Dr. Strathern!"

"That's it!" I slammed down my pencil and snatched the badge from her chest. "Get your haughty little tail out of my museum!"

Verging on an apoplectic fit, Melisa thumped a hindpaw authoritatively and crossed her arms. "Are you going to pin my badge back on now, or would you rather wait until after I've spoken with my father?!"

I dropped my head into my forepaws. First those emissaries from the Nara _'__ chuk_ province, _and now this!_Exasperated but resigned to my fate, I met her gaze again. _"_Melisa shut your carrot-hole, and put it back on yourself!" I tossed the badge back at her and it dropped to the floor.

With a triumphant gleam in her eye, she retrieved the badge and pinned it to her blouse.

"As I was saying," she drawled sarcastically. "I'm sure it was those_natives_ you had in this morning. Paul was telling me you didn't even stay with them! I wouldn't be surprised if they stole half our exhibits."

The fur on the back of my neck bristled. "The reason they were unattended was because you were late! And really, how would they have stolen him? I was at the front desk the whole time. You know, that place _you_were supposed to be stationed?! They would have had to parade him right past me."

Melisa rolled her eyes. "Hah! With the way you're always so spaced out?! They could've had sex right there in the foyer and you wouldn't have noticed."

My ears flattened and I caught myself growling. "Not only did I see them leave the exhibit hall, I escorted them back to the train! And they certainly didn't have a mummy with them, or anything else! You know the way they dress, they couldn't conceal an arrowhead!"

Her attitude unwavering, Melisa replied, "Well they could have hired a smuggler or something!"

"Oh please!" I countered dismissively. "And how would they pay your supposed smugglers, with beads and honey? They're so unfamiliar with our culture that they couldn't cross the street safely, let alone engage in dark dealings with the more nefarious elements of our population."

Paul must have heard our raised tones and appeared in the doorway behind Melisa. "Ya know," said the Brown Bear. "I saw those rowdy kids in the exhibit after the emissaries left. And with you gone and Melisa unavailable," he shot the Hare a dirty look. "I couldn't be everywhere at once. Maybe they set him up on the trolley again."

"Great minds think alike Paul!" I said with a smug grin. "Why don't you take Melisa and check out the trolley? And if he doesn't turn up there then hit the nearby public spaces, like Circle Park."

A disturbing thought suddenly occurred to me. "Oh no, you don't suppose they positioned him to look like he's mounting our town's founder again?! Maybe you should check there first."

Paul snickered. "Have to admit, a perfectly preserved, poseable mummy_is_ pretty tempting when you're a bored, punk kid."

I huffed impatiently. "Be that as it may, I don't want the Mummy of Cer'in simulating carnal acts upon our town's statuary, so get moving!"

P.O.V. - Cer'in (Eric)

The ground fell away a second time and hot gravel bit into my palm-pads and knees. And despite feeling the heat of the sun rapidly warming the fur along my naked back, the world seemed impossibly dark. Confused, I swept my head from side to side, trying in vain to orient on the horizon. Understanding only came after I painfully bounced my forepaw off the end of my muzzle. "Ow!"

Rolling around to sit down in the dirt, I rubbed at my nose. It was then that I realized my eyes were stuck in a severely cross-eyed pattern, the movement of my fingers barely registering along the periphery of my vision. The main focal point of my sight was lost in darkness but at the fringes I could see the top of my muzzle in a blurry, double-vision sort of way.

Crap! What's up with that?! I thought to myself as I stood, brushing the sand from my fur. This sucks, I can't see sh#t!

Tentatively at first, I began stretching and performing simple exercises to check for injuries.

Everything else seems fine, and I still feel and smell like a Wolf so that's a relief! Although I doubt I could have assimilated properly into the vacant body of a cat, you never know! And oop, there it is. Yup, still male too. Ok, so things could be worse. I'm still alive, I'm a male Wolf ... and I'm naked, blind and lost.

Then I remembered hearing voices when I fell the first time. "Hello? Is anyone with me?"

A mocking bird whistled its song in the distance, leaves from a nearby tree rustled in the wind, but no other response came.

I fell into my old habit of talking to myself out loud. "Great! Without so much as a pair of sandals, my hindpaws are going to be a bloody mess by the time I get... wherever it is I'm going!"

Pointing my muzzle at the ground, I tried to use my peripheral vision to find my way, but the action proved futile. Differentiating blurry dark from blurry light proved to be the extent of my visual acuity. Feeling a headache coming on, I finally closed my eyes and fumbled my way towards the origin of the rustling leaves.

Panting and thirsty, I found shade in short order and leaned against the trunk of the tree. "These leaves on the ground sure feel like oak leaves. And the scent of something akin to white sage is strong here too. Actually I wreak of the stuff, along with something sour... fermented limes maybe?" I said to myself as I sniffed at the fur on my arm. "Did I land in the coastal mountains of California? Sure seemed like I went further than that. And what language were those two speaking earlier? For me not to recognize so much as a word of it, it had to be something obscure. But I've got more pressing concerns, like dehydration. I don't smell any water, and I can't see to find low ground where streams might lie. Soooo... what can I do? I guess I could go out of body and scout around. It'll be a hell of a ride though, going out again so soon after that huge jump. Ah well, not like I haven't been insane before."

Resigned to my decision, I slid down until I was lying flat on the ground. But as soon as I started shifting the energy in my chakras to make the jump, I got a taste of just how different my new life was going to be. Whereas before when my spiritual energy had an ethereal quality that had to be built up over time, it now instantly cascaded forth with unexpected ferocity, catching me totally off guard. The resultant rush charged upwards through my spine and erupted out of my crown chakra, just above my head, impacting the trunk of the tree with a resounding crack.

The massive oak groaned and shards of splintering wood flicked at my ears. "Holy sh#t!"

Scrambling to my paws, I made it to safety only moments before the tree collapsed, its branches brushing at my tail.