18 years ago.
Lleyton slumped in his chains.
Each bullet that he heard in the distance firing felt like it impacted his own flesh. Tears streamed down his face. He heard a bullet fired every moment it seemed, and he knew what each piece of metal dispensed meant.
His former city, lightly guarded, was invaded. He watched helplessly as his defenseless people were gunned down by cowards with weapons. Every single one of them, from the balcony of his palace that he was confined to after losing the war to his siblings.
His view added a sadistic and twisted insult to injury. It was only a couple of months since the phony war was launched by his siblings upon him and ended, without them finding a shred of evidence implicating any of his people as the killers of their Inspectors.
Lleyton was not stupid. He knew this was the real plan all along. This grand orchestrator framed his people launching him into war, waiting for this exact moment where Lleyton and his people were most vulnerable, gathering his tyrannical grandfather Samuel's former soldiers and the non-Gifted to serve.
He couldn't do anything but watch in agony. He himself in cuffs and chained to his balcony overlooking his once great city. His once great people. Screaming and running helplessly, hoping for their leader who could not come to their aid.
He lunged angrily at the man who entered his chamber, the man who was responsible for all of this. He knew it was him before he entered, but he hated himself for being correct all the same.
Solan approached his cousin, a knife in his hand. An expressionless yet somehow happy face. He tried to cut Lleyton's cheek, but no blood spilt.
"As I thought," Solan said to him, taking a seat across from his chained cousin. He brushed dust from the great black table of Lleyton's chamber.
Yulia screamed for Lleyton as Solan's men chained her and collected her newborn son for themselves.
"I'll kill you," Lleyton could only say, angry tears streaming down his face as he kept lunging towards his cousin as he watched his son taken in front of him.
"Now, why would you want to do that, cousin? I'm here to offer you something."
Lleyton continued to strain his muscles. Pure anger attempted to tear the chains from their walls, hopelessly. Sixes, invincible beings like Lleyton and his siblings, were probably as strong as the Orcas, but neither Sixes nor Orcas could rip chains from their bolted roots, possibly not even Bears for that matter.
With his hands clasped, Solan said, "Please calm yourself. I'm sparing your wife, and I'm sparing your son."
Unbeknownst to Lleyton, Solan would also be sparing three other Wolves, and taking two of them for himself.
Lleyton calmed slightly, having thought they were walking to their deaths.
"I will be taking your wife, Yulia, and your son, Markus. Once you've done what I've asked, I will give you them back. I am a man of my word, cousin. You know this."
Perplexed, Lleyton asked, "Do what?"
Solan leaned forward, and said, "I know you remember what you saw. In the caves when we were young, when we watched Lisla die before us. Her bizarre yet... tantalizing death."
Lleyton looked to the ground somberly. As the bullets kept firing, his people dying, this monster before him reminded him of a childhood trauma he had tried to bury for years.
His eldest sister, while on a research expedition with his great-aunt, was reduced to ash within a south-west cave of the continent, her death excruciating and her screams etched in Lleyton's ears for the entirety and eternity of his immortal life.
"They are mobilizing, Lleyton. Lisla's death turned the sand in the hourglass, Gaiathal detecting the infection that is humanity. They will vacate their caves, in almost eighteen years, and descend upon mankind. Your scientists are foolish to think they will stay where they are. The Sea Steel Aimos fastened to the cave openings might as well be paper."
Lleyton believed him. There was no reason for Solan to lie to him, as his men butchered his people and he stood chained in utter defeat. He also knew Solan was the smartest man he knew, especially now after seeing what he was able to plan from the shadows all this time. Without Maeve, who could rival Solan's intellect?
And unfortunately yes, he was a man of his word.
"I offer you two things. The first thing I offer is quick, painless deaths for the people of this planet. A death your sister Lisla hadn't the privilege to go through. Tell me, would you rather a bullet to the head or to die like Lisla did?"
Lleyton didn't answer, hate for Solan still flowed through his body, wanting to break through his chains and kill him, but he kept listening and knowing the answer as he flashed back to the Gothreek caves.
"The second thing I offer you is justice. Your people, I would not be butchering them if it weren't for your siblings betraying you. This current butchery; it is just as much their fault as mine. Deep down you know this. You and I, Lleyton... We are different from the Alva's. The black sheep. They don't understand us, they don't understand our... convictions."
Lleyton continued to try breaking from the chains. "I'm not going to let you manipulate me, you monster. I'm coming for you, do you hear me? I will kill you with my bare hands. We're nothing alike."
Solan smiled, and then said, "It was your most trusted brother, Aimos, who played the final role in your defeat during the War. Ever wonder how the Field malfunctioned? The Orcas found a tunnel from the ocean to within your walls and sabotaged it. Ordered by Aimos, of course."
Lleyton knew Solan's words were true and closed his eyes. His most loving brother betrayed him. They all betrayed him. He had loved them all, was the most caring of the siblings despite not showing it as fully as he could. And yet, his city burned from within, after they waged a phony war upon him.
The final dagger was from Aimos's silver hand. The hand he had trusted most.
"My proposal is simple. I want you to exact your revenge on your siblings. I want you to destroy their capitals, your siblings, all of the people within the walls. Humanely, of course. Save the people from the horrors that await them. Because I promise you, cousin, the Dark is coming."
Lleyton stopped straining his chains and slumped to a seat along the wall. He didn't buy for a second that Solan wanted to humanely kill these people. It was part of some other dark plan he was devising.
"In each city, I want you to spare two of their Hosts. A male and female. Young, preferably. I need them for other important matters. If you do these things, I will return your wife and Markus unharmed."
"I'm a single man. I can't do these things you ask. You just killed my people. Go to hell," Lleyton said from his somber stupor.
Solan retorted quickly while standing with a snap, "It's why I'm giving you an army. My men will give you a map, to the world I've built underground, called the Labyrinth. Now that they have an invincible being on their side, they will follow you. Although, these Outlanders that serve me, they aren't like you or I. Their hate and resentment for the Gifted is the fuel that propels them. They wouldn't understand if I told them to keep some Hosts alive. You know how leadership is. They'd lose respect for me, and now you, if I gave such an order. So this will be our little secret. Keep two Hosts aside from each city, as I've instructed."
Lleyton stood, still chained, and said, "And if I refuse?"
Solan coldly replied, "Yulia and Markus die right now."
It was the nonchalant tone in Solan's voice that was most chilling. He viewed his wife and son as disposable pawns in whatever game he was playing.
Lleyton stared into the monster that revealed himself again, after pretending to be humane. "Why don't you do it, why don't you exterminate my siblings and their people? You and your scheming and intellect," Lleyton scoffed to himself. "You have my blessing."
"Because the most important thing that must happen is for your siblings to die. And as I've just demonstrated, I cannot do this," Solan said, brandishing the dagger that he held that couldn't puncture Lleyton's skin.
Lleyton thought it was a strange demonstration. What did his cousin expect? The Alva's hadn't seen their own blood for as long as they could remember.
Lleyton thought for a moment and then said, "We're invincible. No one can. Not you, not me, not anyone."
Solan smiled and said, "Actually, you can. You can kill each other." He then added as if reciting something from his memory, which Lleyton couldn't hope to make sense of: "'Without darkness there is no light, and with only light there is no darkness'."
"You lie," Lleyton replied, looking back below to the running and scattering cuffed Wolves that were still being gunned down by Solan's men. The dagger of his people's demise felt like it was digging deeper into his heart as each one fell. He couldn't bear to look any longer.
"I'll tell you what. Descend into the world I've created, below the surface. The majesty of it. The people that follow me, who will follow you. And then decide if you doubt the things I've said."
As the gun fire subsided and the slaughter concluded, a man with silver and black robes entered, a General of Solan's, along with a Gifted guard who was severely beaten and at gun point. The Gifted guard provided a key to Solan with a shaking hand.
The General then said to Solan, "Is it time?"
To Lleyton's surprise, Solan directed his General to prepare to unlock Lleyton's cuffs. Solan then callously slit the throat of the Gifted guard with the knife he redrew from his black uniform, which moments ago was ineffective against Lleyton.
He then said to his General, "It is, Warrax. It is time for our sacrifice."
Solan said, handing Lleyton a sword, "Soon the other provinces will be here. I am allowing you to kill my soldiers to keep our deception and our goals alive. Your brothers and sister will think the threat is over when you deal with all the Outlanders within these walls. It is my gift of first revenge to you. When they get here, tell them the guards let you free, too late, and that you killed the Outlanders one-by-one. That you're so distressed with your people's death, that you wish to live in solitude – this is also my gift to you, a life away from your siblings."
Solan laughed chillingly, securing the sword in Lleyton's hand, and said, "Which is what you've always wanted, of course."
Lleyton cursed Solan under his breath. His cousin seemed to know everything.
"I want you to devise a way to destroy your brothers and sister, the bulk of their people. When the time comes, I will destroy radio contact so your siblings will be unable to coordinate against you, and provide you weapons capable of destroying or incapacitating the Gifted," Solan said.
Lleyton took the sword in his hands, looking into his cousin's eyes. He contemplated striking him down with his blade, but for some inexplicable reason, Lleyton didn't. He couldn't. "And where will you be while I wait?" He softly said to Solan.
Solan grabbed his cousin's shoulder, Lleyton recoiling, as if the devil himself had touched him in comfort. "I have business elsewhere. If you fail, I remind you, everyone left that you love, dies. What's your response, cousin?"
Lleyton gripped the sword, looking into Solan's manipulative eyes. Into the eyes of this monster before him.
Lleyton would have his revenge. Not just on his brothers and sister, but on Solan, too. After he got his wife and Markus back. After he obliged Solan, after Solan gave his wife Yulia back, with his son behind him, he would find a way to destroy Solan and the Outlanders that did this to him. Then together as father and son, they would defeat the Dark, and rebuild and prosper again.
He gave Solan a curt nod, and Solan smiled.
**
After burying his sword in the last Outlander soldier with a grunt, a blood-soaked Lleyton fell to his knees.
He felt nothing. His revenge was not satisfied, as if he ate a feast but felt hungrier with every chew.
Each Outlander dying by his hand welcomed it, smiling even, in Lleyton's eyes, as they fought back weakly. It made Lleyton feel even more helpless than he already was. The conviction that these people had, their unshaken belief in whatever Solan's plan was, each welcoming death to achieve his goals, each stripped of any survival instinct and any semblance of humanity, was the most frightening thing he had laid his eyes upon.
This cult of death, it scared even him, an invincible being.
He held a bloodied map in front of him that Solan's men had left him. It would lead him to a group of Outlanders who would take him to the underground, to prepare him for war against his siblings and their capitals. He would go to it after his siblings answered the distress call, after he would have to look into their eyes and pretend he forgave them for what they had done.
Lleyton walked back into his palace and chambers, and buttoned up his black military coat over his red bare torso and wiped the blood from his face.
At the far end of his palace was where his Host's quarters were. While Veenta had died in the War, Chrea remained. He slowly walked to her family's chambers.
When he entered, he did not scream. He did not cry. He knew what to expect, yet he was numb to the horrors of everything. Chrea lay on her bed, chained and shackled and bloodied, along with her husband, both dead and dressed in white beneath the red.
Lleyton remembered the first time he met Chrea. Fierce and brave and loyal, her little hand in his as he took her as one of his own. She was now a woman, but far too young to have been taken from this world.
He grabbed her bloody hand and apologized to her, his eyes closed tightly.
Then, Lleyton heard something he was not expecting in the quietness and loneliness within his walls. It was a muffled cry. An animal? A survivor?
A baby?
He frantically searched the room for the noise of the baby, putting his ear to areas in hopes that the sound would grow, finally realizing it was loudest near the closet. He slowly creaked open the black closet door, and there in front of him in the darkness, was a crib and a crying babe beyond a chrome panel that gave way.
It was Chrea's youngest, he realized. Chrea must have had hidden her baby the minute she heard the bullets start firing. He couldn't see her eldest son anywhere in the room, undoubtedly dead somewhere outside in the streets.
He took the crib in his hands. In his hands was the last of his people. He had a duty to protect him. He made a promise to the Wolves, to Chrea, to every single one of them that he would protect them. This was Chrea's last message to her leader, her last plea: protect my son.
Lleyton calmed the child with a shhh, and gave the baby his wolf pendant necklace to hold onto. He slowly rocked him as the crying subsided and the baby fell into a slumber.
It was the last Wolf, Luka Fenria. He had to hide him from Solan, but also from his siblings. He would not let them raise him and ruin him, to be mocked and shamed as an outsider. He had to protect him, and he knew what he must do.
He would raise him as his own adopted son, and when the time was right, together with Markus he would defeat Solan after he fulfilled his obligations, and then together as a family, defeat whatever the Dark was that Solan referred to.
He would raise little Luka as an Outlander, keeping the secret even from him, and only telling him when they could destroy the Outlanders together, when the time was right. He would tell the Outlanders, even Luka, that he was one of them, an orphan he found in the great wilderness of Gaiathal, the product of the Gifted killing his Outlander parents.
No one could ever know he was a Wolf. It would risk not only Luka's life among the Outlanders, but also Yulia and Markus if Solan discovered they had missed a Wolf, and that Lleyton gave the boy sanctuary in secrecy. He would train Luka as a weapon. A weapon to destroy his evil cousin Solan and the Outlanders, as father and son.
Lleyton stepped out of the walls of his once great city towards his new home with Luka in his arms in sheets of silver. He would deliver him to the Outlanders along with his lie, and return to see each of his siblings for the second last time as he began making graves for his dead countrymen.
But before he could make his way to Solan's underground, he had one more trip to make. Because if Solan was somehow alive after all this time, Lleyton wasn't so convinced anymore that his twin sister, Maeve, wasn't alive, either.