The Moonweaver's Choice

Chapter 3 - The Last From The Past

After arriving back to the underground prison chamber the council created for lycans, Liam Cornelius called for a nearby guard. "Take the refined silver and applicator from Dr. Alisa Rivera and deliver it here. Call for a meeting and send out the word that all lycans must come to witness the punishment against traitors." The man nodded in response and left for his expedition.

The air was thick with tension and fear. Whispers of impending punishment with the use of refined silver were spreading, and when the news came to Monica, Ivan, and Cecilia's cell, they shared worried glances about the punishment beyond usual restraints.

"What did I say?" Parker mocked the group, his smile was evident on his chapped lips.

"Shut up!" Cecilia stood up, panic gripping her heart. "I can't believe it, he's gonna brand us like we're some sort of criminals!"

"Well legally-" Parker raised his finger but was greeted with an unhinged glare from the frantic Cecilia, silencing him. They looked like a mess. Cecilia's long, wavy, blonde, hair now turned frizzy and crinkled. Monica's left eye was still bruised from the hit she had taken earlier, her dry tears imprinted on her rose cheeks. However, those failed in comparison to Ivan whose whole face was still healing from the results of his previous battle with Liam.

Cecilia gripped the silver bars holding them in the cell. "Agh!" The burning sensation caused her to immediately take it off. "We need to find another way to get out of here!" She tried to brush away the burn on her hands which were now rough.

"Itsh no use, this berry woom ish covered in shilver, you know zhat." Ivan tried to say coherently, his mouth still purple from the beating. He hugged the sobbing Monica with his left arm, and she leaned to her father who couldn't really provide much comfort in the situation.

"I'm sorry about your face, I would transfer my power to heal you but I used most of it on Evelyn and the fight with Liam." Concern momentarily distracted Cecilia until Parker spoke once more. "Savor it."

"What?" Cecilia asked, dazed in confusion.

"Once they brand you with that rune, you'll have no sense of self. It doesn't make you human, it makes you nothing. Savor the breaths you take now because once they mark you with that wretched rune every breath you take will be heavy and painful. Every Karavat in your body will become needles that pierce through every pore. You'll want to die but they won't let you. It's worse than death. Every move burns, scorches, and aches. You'll be stripped of everything that ever made you yourself." A moment of solemnity, even for a man who lost his sanity like Parker, showed the gravity of the situation to Monica and the child ran to the silver gates. It didn't burn her because she was not a lycan yet, but her attempts remained futile. The bar stood still, the only thing wavering was Monica's hope for an escape. Her father's embrace could no longer satiate the rapidly expanding fear within her. "HELP US!" she begged to whoever might hear them nearby.

And for a moment her hope came to surface when several footsteps were headed toward the direction of their cell. But what Monica saw would only crush what hope she had left. It was Liam Cornelius, Hector Santiago, and five new lycans dressed like them, wearing the robe of the council.

"Meet your replacements, Cecilia and Ivan, these dare the new council members." Liam raised his hand to his side, to point out the new faces.

"You're restructuring the council?!" Cecilia yelled at him, flabbergasted by his choice to replace almost all the council members who showed the slightest bit of opposition, even Phoebe.

"Silence!" He ordered, his eyes enlarged, displaying his desire for control. "I'm in charge here, you are in no position to challenge my authority, traitor!"