Destined {𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕊𝕌ℕ𝔾}

Chapter Ninety-One

It had only been a handful of days, and yet it felt like forever.

"I've thought about that, too," he finally admitted, sighing as he looked at his redheaded friend. "But we're at the end of our rope. This plan, no matter how full of holes or how ridiculous it may seem, is our best shot of winning. It's not a big chance, I'm... aware of this. But we have no other choice; if we let them come to us, which they would have in only a few days, or weeks at most... that would have resulted in slaughter, slaughter without a chance of having it all be worth something."

He took a deep breath and attempted a smile. "Besides... the Moon Goddess has lead us to this point, to this place. I do not think She would turn Her back on us at the last second. Perhaps... we do not need to be aware of the conditions in order for it to work. Perhaps that is the design of Her curse."

Seungmin's eyes lowered to the ground at that, fists clenched tightly, but he nodded all the same. Jisung wished the faked confidence would be able to convince himself. He wished he did not feel a painful writhing in his chest every time he moved. Before he was Han Jisung, he was the Alpha of the Sun Pack. And he would not turn his back on them.

Ever.

~#~#~#~#~#~

The Crimson Castle was vaguely visible from where he stood. Hyunsik could only stare at it, dread and hatred and fear all mingling together in his chest in a flurry of emotions so intense he hadn't felt them for decades, most likely.

Jeongin was in that place, that place that had ruined his life, and yet simultaneously granted him the tools to exact his revenge. And he'd gotten it – Chan would die. He would die the same way all those werewolves had died. The same way he had died, all those centuries ago; Hyunsik was nothing more than a walking shell. His heart had died with his Mate and his daughter – he had died the moment he'd been forced to part from them.

He'd found a semblance of that heart over the years, hoping to at least produce some good in this wretched, joke of a life of his. He had lived far too long; he knew what Chan would do to him the moment he stepped inside those palace walls, the moment he traded his life for Jeongin's.

A life for a life; it was a basic principle of nature, and it was one he would happily pay. He had never been afraid of death – as his life dragged on hundreds of years longer than it should have been, he feared that he would attain the point where he could no longer die.

Yet, he'd had a mission, people to care of, people to watch grow. But now... now it was his time. It wasn't so incredibly selfish to die for someone he loved, was it? Perhaps this life of his would finally amount to something more than just years spent with bated breaths, biding his time, waiting for his revenge.

He smiled softly at the Crimson Castle, fangs flashing in a terrifying, chilling grin. Chan would get what was coming to him. There was not a single doubt in his mind that Jisung would kill the bastard, and if he could enable it, if he could lend his support all the while saving Jeongin...

Death had never tasted so sweet.

~#~#~#~#~#~

Jisung stood at the edge of the forest, the only wolf still in human form. His ranks were swelled, full of wolves of all colours, all deathly, severely silent, ready to fight a war that would better the lives of their children, and that of their grandchildren and all those that came afterwards. On his right was Hyunjin, never fiercer in the pale moonlight, and on his left was the Alpha of the Silvercross pack, the only pack that had decided to fight alongside him.

The others could cower in their own homes for all he cared, there were more than enough. Not to mention, the wizards had decided to join them, finally acknowledging that the Vampire King posed a threat to them all – though... this was only achieved by the disclosed information of a vampire-wizard hybrid.

They hated hybrids, the lot of them.

If they ever found out about Jeongin, which he did not doubt would happen eventually, they would need to go through the entire Sun pack in order to get to him. He planned on inviting him to join his pack, once this was all over – give him a home he could rely on, people who would protect him.

Especially once... a lump formed in his throat as he thought of Hyunsik. He did not argue with him about his decision, only patted him on the back firmly. He was a good friend, but he also deserved to finally be at peace. Part of him must have been relieved – to finally be able to join the family he'd lost so long ago.

He turned around to face his wolves, the night wind ruffling his hair and the fur of his brethren. "Tonight we reap the consequences of the past centuries of abuse, the mistreatment the Vampire King has shown us." Growls and howls erupted around him, and his eyes swept over his troops; most of them would not return, and that was a weight he must bear.

"Tonight we raid the Crimson Castle in our final attempt to kill the Vampire King, once and for all. We will fight until we can no longer fight, and we will not return until he is dead. We fight not for ourselves, but for our loved ones, and the future generations, so they may look up and see a brighter future than the war we have all known." He himself Shifted, then, his speech lingering in the air, and he howled.

The others' howls echoed his own, and with that, the werewolf troops moved forward into the dark forest.

~#~#~#~#~#~

Felix's eyes snapped open, a light sheen of sweat gleaming on his forehead, his heart hammering rapidly in his chest as he sat up abruptly, taking a deep, settling breath. He was alone in his silver cell, Changbin having been urged by him to join the battle. He could not wrap his head around what he'd seen, or the urgency it instilled in his veins.

"What... what was that?" 

A/N: I have discovered the true struggles of writing a novel: the god damn rewriting process, fUCKKKKKK it's so.... I'm so done but I'm not done with the story I'm just done with this part of the story I've written about thrice, but I still have like 40k words left to write for the first book and it's like B R U H who let me decide to try and make a career out of writing because rn all I wanna do is yeet my laptop out the window. I am moving forward on my novel with nothing but sheer willpower and determination. <end frustrated rant>

Also y'all I apologize in advance I'm really not the best at writing fight scenes pfFFT (which is ironic since I'm literally writing a fantasy-action book woww)

Lots of love,

~Emilie