The wildest of the hearts

Everyone in Tala Springs knows that there is something wrong with some of the inhabitants, with the animals living in the woods because sometimes, they disappear but the truth is far more surprising than what they think.
There is a legend in Florida that tells how some humans were able to turn into animals but what if it was the other way around?
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Plot 

There is a Legend in the County of Hillsborough, Florida, which originates from the time in which Native Americans were the people who populated the area. The Creek tribe had a legend in which the Brother Moon and the Sister Sun, wanting the animals and the Indians to live in peace and to make them understand each other, graced the animals with the ability of turning into humans so they could speak with the humans and make them understand that they could live together in harmony. The wolves, horses, cats, panthers, wild dogs, bears, coyotes, rabbits and many other animals were able to turn into humans at will and they talked to the Indians, letting them know how they were willing to live in peace with them and that they wanted to help them. The Indians accepted them, they were treated as totems and spirits of the community, and they kept a balance in which they could hunt down some animals as long as it wasn’t one of those graced by the god and goddess.

The legend said that at night and during the full moon, the animals would turn back to their original form, showing the humans their true nature.

As soon as the white men arrived to America, the graced animals hid and some of them lost their ability of changing, but soon enough, they found themselves living among the humans again, hiding, trying to avoid the human laws and living amongst their own.

What they didn’t know was that some animals lost themselves in their human disguise, getting trapped inside their human body and causing them to lose their minds.

The legend changed during the years, the Indians were hunted down and the legend was lost until it was no more than some scary story in which some humans were cursed by God to turn into wild, dangerous and murderous animals during the full moons to hurt the ones they loved. As time passed, the legend degenerated further and gave birth to the legend of the werewolf which was in fact based on those animals trapped in human bodies that weren’t able to fully change back into animals during the full moon.

However there is a place in Florida, a small town near Tampa, named Tala Springs, Tala meaning wolf in Native American, which is inhabited by those graced animals that have the purest bloodline in the world. They live among only a few humans who have no idea of who they are sharing their town with but knowthat there is something strange going on in the woods and with the animals which inhabit them.

• Location: Tala Springs, Hillsborough, Florida.

 

The graced: Animals that were gifted by the Brother Moon and the Sister Sun to be able to turn into humans.

• As humans, they are stronger than a regular human.
• They can turn into humans and back to animals at will.
• When they fall asleep or there is a full moon, they will turn into animals.
• When they are excited, under a lot of pressure or in extreme emotional or physical conditions, their eyes will turn into the animal’s eyes.
• If they spend too much time in their human bodies, they might lose their ability of turning back into animals and they eventually become wild and crazy. When the full moon comes, they will turn in a hybrid, a mix between the animal they used to be and the human body.
• They can also lose the ability of turning into humans if they forget who they are and spend too much time in their original bodies.
• They can’t procreate with humans, only with animals of the same species.
• The animals follow the rules of their inner nature. To learn more click here.

The animals: They are regular animals, wild or domesticated.

• They detect the graced animals and fear them; therefore they might try to attack them sometimes.

The humans: Your regular human, some of them notice there is something weird going on in the town, but most of them are completely oblivious to this.

Sister Sun and Brother Moon: The god and goddess from the Creek mythology that graced the animals. They have now reincarnated to live among the humans and try to save the graced animals from losing their abilities and control the ones who abuse their powers. No one knows they have reincarnated in a human form to watch over the graced and the humans.

• All of the animals have to do what the gods ask them to.
• The humans are hypnotized by them, they fear and respect them, not knowing why.
• They have the power to cure the animals and take away their grace.
• Brother Moon has a special connection with the wolves, panthers and other night creatures, he’s willing to protect them from any harm.
• Sister Sun has a especial connection with bears, rabbits and the rest of the creatures, and she’s willing to protect them from any harm.
• Between the graced and the gods there is a very big attraction that usually draws them together.
• Since they are in their human form they just don’t have much power.

Inspired by “The Howling Hearts” by April Bostic. Click here to read the book.