Hunter stared at the wall.
He was trying to summon the courage to shadowwalk all the way to Wisconsin. It was a far trip that he wasn't even sure he could make it to. It was miles away and the farthest he had attempted alone was outside of town.
His father had left for work 10 minutes ago and he knew he needed all the time he could get. So with that, Hunter ran forward and felt his body become enveloped by shadows.
The cold darkness of the void enveloped him as he kept one place in mind. Greyrith Wisconsin. With every push he felt his body grow weaker and weaker. It was a struggle to push on as he felt a slight warmth on the tips of his fingers.
The bright lights of the sun hit his face as he stumbled to the ground of an alleyway. Hunter's eyes adjusted to the light as he took in his surroundings.
Based on pictures he looked at earlier, it seemed to be the right place. The only difference was the layer of snow that covered the ground. That Hunter was now laying in.
It had yet to snow in Maine, but he knew it was coming. It was no shocker that Wisconsin had snow, he was just hoping it wouldn't. But when did anything go the way he wanted?
Hunter stood up and saw he was outside of a diner. The one he was shooting for was called "Betty's Diner" and had direct access to the woods nearby which was perfect. Somewhere deep inside them law the portal to the Spirit World.
The walk to the entrance was short and it gave him just the right amount of time to shake the snow off of him.
The inside of the Diner had a small section of maps that was of the surrounding area. Hunter looked around and saw a woman sitting at the front table.
As he got closer he noticed something, mage marks along her arms.
"Hey buddy, my name's Charlotte but everyone calls me Cherry," Cherry said. It made sense as her hair was a dark auburn color that he assumed was the source of her nickname. "Now I've never seen you around her so what is a boy like you doin' in this neck of the woods?"
Hunter pulled out the map he got from the stand and opened it.
"Um, I'm looking for the Spirit World portal and I know it's in this area somewhere. I just don't have an exact loca-" Hunter was interrupted by the lady.
"That portal is dangerous buddy, you shouldn't be goin to it alone," She suggested.
"I'm only popping in to take some photos, I've done my research."
"Well, you didn't get this from me, but," Cherry pulled a pen out from her hair and circled on the map.
"This is the diner," She said. "And this is the portal."
Cherry circled on the map the location of the portal. It was south-west of the diner seemingly a simple 20 minutes away.
"Now if you run into any pesky wolves out in the woods you don't tell em I showed you where it was, alright?" Cherry asked.
"Thank you," Hunter smiled shyly.
His eyes caught a frame with a family photo in it. None of them were of Cherry but a family of a man with brown hair, a women with black hair and a son that hide the same matching hair as the man.
"That's the alpha and his son," Cherry spoke up. "Cade's the lil' one. He's going to be running this pack one day. Him and Teddy are either going to be great alphas and betas or burn it to the ground. But don't go telling anyone I said that now."
"I won't," Hunter laughed. "Thank you again."
"Don't mention it buddy," Cherry said.
Hunter took off across the street and into the woods. The ground was covered in one to two inches of snow that wasn't too hard to walk in. He was already tired from shadow walking so this barely affected him.
Twenty minutes later Hunter came across a small frozen lake. He was certain this was the location of the portal as the small circle Cherry had made surrounded this whole lake that appeared only as a small blue dot on the map.
Looking all around the lake, Hunter finally came across a small tunnel in the side of the cliff overlooking the lake. It was hidden nicely and one would only find it if they were looking for it.
From the side of his bag, Hunter pulled out a flashlight and headed inside.
It was a decently sized cave that only got bigger the farther you went in. Hunter couldn't stand up straight when he entered but the deeper he got the more he could.
He came to a sudden stop as his eyes noticed something up ahead.
A slight glimmer appeared in the middle of the cave. A rippling indigo wave shimmered in the cave ahead of him. It's effects were calm but as he got closer it expanded and glowed brighter and brighter until it was a foot ahead of him and was bigger than his body.
The portal to the Spirit World.
There was no turning back now as Hunter extended his hand into the rippling and pushed through. It was like swimming in jello as his eyes were filled with bright colors.
The farther he pushed, the more shapes he was able to start making out. The tips of his fingers pushed forward as he felt them poke through and the cold nipped at them.
He stumbled out of the portal and gasped at what he saw.
"Holy shit," He whispered to himself, shocked.
It was beautiful.
His body was encapsulated in a golden aura that slowly dimmed into nothingness as he took in his surroundings.
Trees larger than ones on earth with leaves of various blues, purples, indigos and violets. Vines hung from the branches of the same colors with some having bulbs of light hanging off of them.
The landscape was filled with various plants of the same blues and purples. Cliffs surrounded the whole area and waterfalls fell into rivers that passed by him.
Little wisps of various colors floated along in the sky. And the sky, completely different than the one back on earth.
It was night and the stars were out. The sky was dark blue with streaks of magenta throughout it.
Two moons sat in the sky, one burnt orange and the other dark gray.
Hunter looked down at his feet and made out a stone path that led deep into the forest.
Emrys wasn't lying when he said the spirit world was beautiful.
Sadly he wasn't here to sight see and continued along the path, he knew though in the future when he was with Zekaj. The two would return.
The farther along he went the more buildings sprung up. They appeared to be tips of towers or cathedrals that stuck out of the ground. He was close to the main building of the city as it could be seen up ahead.
He kept his eye out for anything of interest. Emrys had mentioned spirit beasts roamed the area and Hunter was hoping he wouldn't run into any.
He had seen spirits phasing around hiding from him or many simply watching from a distance.
The cold wasn't very bothersome, it wasn't worse than a typical winter day.
It wasn't hard to miss the castle that stuck out of the ground that had many parts of it collapsed. The place had seen better days as a lot of it was overtaken by vines and parts sat in river beds from the various cliffs and waterfalls that surrounded the area.
So far, he had seen nothing that could pose as a threat. Hunter hoped it would stay like this.
As he walked further through the sunken city, Hunter came upon the main castle. It was just like the photos but he was seeing it from a different angle.
The castle was obviously partially sunken into the ground, hell most of it was. Only parts of it stuck out of the ground and a small section was jutting out of a ravine.
Hunter cautiously peered over the side of the cliff and down into the ravine. Parts of the castle stuck out into the ravine. The wall had collapsed bits that had fallen down into the ravine and now lay in the river.
Quickly, Hunter's body was enveloped in shadow as he sunk into the ground. He soon appeared in the whole in the castle's wall. He tumbled forward a bit and nearly fell out into the ravine.
The inside was barren as if its occupants had moved out long ago and left only furniture. Many parts of it were destroyed due to age. Random tables and dressers were broken due to their support giving out over time and carpets torn up but Hunter assumed the various animals that lived in the area could have been the cause.
At the end of a room lay a door, that Hunter hoped would enter into the deeper parts of the castle.
Slowly the silver handle turned and the door squeaked open.
The hallway had the same abandoned feeling the room prior had. The ceiling had cobwebs and intricate designs that's color seemingly faded to a deep blue, almost black color.
Where one would expect paintings, portraits, statues or anything. The halls had none. They were bare of anything that could hint at what life was like for the spirit demons who once lived here.
Hunter pulled his flashlight back out and flicked it on. Parts of the tunnel had the light from the outside shining in but the other parts were dark.
The castle was huge but Hunter had a good idea he knew where it would be best to look. One wouldn't keep a portal to hell in a place that was easy to access, but in the deepest parts where people hadn't stepped foot in for thousands of years.
Hunter looked down every coorider, in every room for a staircase and had yet to find one. He finally did when he came to the end of one. The only problem was the fact that it was filled with dirt. Keeping his distance, he turned around and headed back, checking in every room again.
He came to the end of another hall when he saw something weird. The ground was covered in muddy footprints that led to a small staircase that led deep into the castle.
Hunter hadn't seen any of these footprints anywhere else in the castle. As a matter of fact, it looked like they had just suddenly appeared in the middle of the hallway.
Shining his flashlight down, spiders suddenly scurried away and Hunter yelped in surprise. He held in all of his fear and slowly started going down the darkened staircase.
The bottom came out into what appeared to be a room that Hunter couldn't make out what it's intended purpose was. Based on the little that was left behind.
Glass bottles, blank parchments were around the room on shelves and tables seemingly without care. Hunter shown the flashlight around the pitch black room and saw some even had liquids in them. Various shelves even had the occasional book and an armor stand with leather armor in it.
The weirdest thing in the room lay in the very back. Hunter crept towards it slowly and saw what it was. A narrow passage way that he was sure he could pass through.
It appeared it was some sort of door that had malfunctioned when it opened so only part of it now did. It seemed an animal or something had been upset with this as scratch marks were all around the entrance. Hunter got closer and peered in and saw a hallway on the other side of what seemed to be a magical magenta barrier halfway down the narrow path.
Hunter yelped when a sudden bang could be heard and his flashlight slipped from his hand. Something in the room must have fallen.
Hunter saw his flashlight had rolled across the room. He slowly walked over, trying his best not to run into anything in the dark.
Leaning down, his fingers slowly grasped the handle of the light. The flashlight had stopped rolling right at the boots of the leather armor.
It wasn't a normal brown leather like ones you'd see in video games but a set of black ones with gray accents. Hunter backed up a bit to get a fuller look at it. There was a cape attached at the shoulders and a set of swords on the back.
His light stopped at the hood and instead of a mannequin head or a metal pole holding up the armor. There was nothing.
Just empty blackness and a mask that went over the nose and the mouth.
Until it wasn't.
Glowing white eyes appeared in the darkness of the mask.
With one quick sweep before Hunter even could react, a hand grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against the wall.
Hunter couldn't even yell as his body was filled with terror.
He was staring into the eyes of a killer.
The bane of all wolves.
Slayer of alphas.
The Pack Killer.
A/N:
And I oop-
Finally after being introduced like 34 chapters ago. The Pack Killer finally makes his first appearance in this series. And It won't be his last!
He's a very interesting character who I can't wait to delve into more. Theres a lot of secrets about him that you honestly won't know for a looooong time. Not even in this book, or the next lmao.
So what do you think? Why is the Pack Killer even here? Shit is finally hitting the fan and these next chapters are gonna be a lot of fun to write! <3
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Thanks for reading!
-MEK <3