I knew I had passed out from the moment I opened my eyes and saw the alpha's son behind the wheels of a car I had no recollection of being in. I sat up in the passenger seat, taking in the interior of the car with his new car smell, and immediately regretted every motion when a pounding sensation erupted inside my skull. I grabbed a handful of my hair hoping that would ease the pain but the thumping continued.
"Drink this," the wolf reached inside one of the many pockets of his olive cargo pants and handed me a small glass circular object. It looks like a buzz ball you get from the liquor store but not as cool and with a potent honey smell radiating from the closed top. "that Hellraiser really did a number on you back there."
With a bit of hesitation, I took the cup from his hand and took a small sip of the mysterious liquid. To my surprise, the drink didn't taste anything like I would've expected. It tasted like egg tarts, the custard taste spreading across my taste buds. Before I knew it, I had downed the whole drink in seconds. However, quickly after finishing, I felt embarrassed as I realized how mannish and ill-mannered I must've looked doing that next to him. Embarrassed, I placed the drink down in the cup holder beside me, wiping my lips of the residue with the back of my hands.
I looked around the car noticing it was just the two of us. "Where's —"
"Your boyfriend? He's okay. I took him to the hospital and he should be fine and won't remember any of what happened to him."
I made a face but his head is pointed directly ahead at the road so he doesn't even notice. "He's not my boyfriend." I don't know why I felt the need the clarify that information to him but I did even though he didn't even really seem to care because he shrugged his broad shoulders at me and said. "whatever."
I sat up in my seat noticing the empty road we were driving on completely covered in a foggy mist that made it hard to see. I look at him wondering how he managed but then I remember this is a werewolf driving and everything starts to make a little more sense. I turn out the window to the empty grass fields, driving past herds of cows and horses passing often before we're met with the morning dew grassy fields again.
"Where are we going?" I ask questions that I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to.
"Halence." His voice rumbled, so deep and quick that it sent a slight chill down my back from how emotionless he said it like it was just nothing to him like I wasn't being forced to be relocated to a place I did not want to be. I exhaled a low sigh knowing there was no point in bickering. I don't even know where we are right now so even if I got out and tried to make my way back I wouldn't know how, and God forbid another one of those creatures come for again.
"You couldn't let go home first and pack some clothes? Toiletries? Snacks?"
The wolf finally turns his attention away from the road and meets my stare for the first time this entire car ride. His features are eerily sharp and sculpted like he'd been painted years ago. His thick brows raise at me, the dreads of his head balled into a bun onto his head moving with it. He motions to the back seat. "I packed for you."
I hurriedly turn to the backseat of the car and see my familiar silver suitcase. "What the hell . . ." I flipped back around in the passenger seat and my brows scrunched together. "you went through my stuff? How the hell did you even get into my apartment with no key? Did you even pack the right things? I don't know how you people in Halence do things but here on Earth clothes are supposed to match you can't just throw a bunch of shit in a suitcase and call it a day 'Mr. Cargo pants."
He blinks at me with those piercing almond-shaped eyes, crispy yellow flakes in his already golden-brown eyes almost as eerily creepy as this fog we drove through.
"You talk a lot." was all he said to me.
I folded my arms across my chest. "And you're bad at explaining things so I guess we both have our flaws."
"There's nothing to explain. I'm taking you to Halence because that's what was asked of me by The Order, you were knocked unconscious because you decided to fight a Cramoth on your own and nearly cracked your skull open in the process. I packed you some clothes and now we're headed to Halence. It's that fucking simple."
"But how did you get into my apartment?" I asked him.
"The same as anyone," he shrugged those shoulders again. "I broke the door down."
My eyes widened at his words. "Oh my God are you insane? My landlord is gonna kill me. He already doesn't like me."
"Gee, I wonder why."
My top lip curled into a snarl and I was about to let out a few choice of words for the annoying wolf but he reached out the radio in front of us and let the music take over the far drowning out anything that came out my mouth before returning his attention to the foggy road in front of us. Bitch.
I shook my head at him, arms folding across my chest again as I leaned into the passenger seat. The fog barely clears up the longer we drive, and the view is blurred like an old painting; it could be a great work drawn by expert hand but I'm no artist and I doubt the big bad wolf beside me knows how to hold a pencil correctly. The grassy fields and the trees are silhouetted black, two-dimensional. It doesn't smell right at all it smells of nothing but the damp trees not yet in bloom. Without the fumes of the traffic, its odor is as fresh as any meadow without a tincture of grass. Where the hell are we?
"How much longer until we reach Halence?" I found my voice again after an hour of silence, my eyes were glued to the windows seeing absolutely nothing but grassy fields.
"Reaching Halence isn't about time," he started, leaning back in the driver seat with one hand on the wheel. There's an effortless suave to him but then he turns to me with a look of disdain frown on his face and suddenly I don't see it anymore. "there's only two ways to get to Halence from the mortal world."
I raised a brow at him. "Really? My father used to go whenever he pleased."
"Your father was a man with a seat at The Order. They're granted these specially made rings enchanted with an ability that allows them to open portals whenever they please, but for us regular folks we have to find ley lines and let them guide us in," he answered and I let the information settle in my brain. I never really knew that about the rings but then again I never cared enough about Halence to question how to get there in the first place.
"Wait," I paused and turned to him again. "your father also has the seat at The Order. Why not just borrow his ring instead of having us pls Dora The Explorer in the middle of nowhere?"
He made a face at me at the last part, head tilting a bit and that's when I realized that this werewolf from Halence didn't know who Dora was. "That's not how it works. Those rings are specifically designed for each person at The Order. If anyone else were put them on their hands their heads would explode."
I grimaced. "Ew. . ."
We rode for a little while longer, a hand pressed up against my jaw as I looked outside the car window. I began to grow bored, a yawn escaping my lips in the process but then I saw it — or what I believed to be it. From my peripheral view, I can see a faint glow of yellow. Amid the heavy fog, it looks like a string of golden light trapped in the middle of everything.
I pointed at the glow. "Is that it?" I called getting the wolf's attention. He followed my direction, brown eyes sharpening. "Yeah." he simply mumbled before smashing his boot against the gas pedal. He makes a sharp turn and within seconds the car is off the road and onto the grassy fields beside us, the vehicle moving with so much force I had to grab ahold of the handle of the car to keep myself from being tossed around. He follows the trial of yellow light like a moth to a flame, going up grassy hills and pushing the car to limits I didn't even know it was capable of.
When the car finally comes to a halt the boy wastes no time getting out of the car. "Hurry up!" he yells at me not even bothering to close the driver's door as he makes his way around the car.
"Who the fuck taught you how to drive?" I yell back at him reaching the backseat to grab my poorly packed suitcase.
I closed the car with my hip as I watched as the wolf was making his way up the grassy hill with big steps, nearly jogging his way up with ease. He turns back around once he reaches the halfway point. "Hurry up!" he barked.
"Don't rush me, I'm trying!" I shout back knowing damn well I'm just now getting out of the car, but I don't care I hate when people rush me.
I begin to make my way up the steep hill dragging my suitcase behind me throw the grass which is a struggle on its own. I can't believe this guy has the nerve to drag me out here, break into my apartment, and pack my clothes, and now he wants me to run up some hill with him like I'm a football player. I peer up at the top of the hill seeing him already there with his hands on his hips looking down at me.
"Run!" he tells me and my face contorts on its own without me even noticing at first. Run? I don't know anything about that.
I scoffed, a slight chuckle coming out my mouth right after that I know he heard even from his position on top of the hill. "I don't run princess."
I could see him roll his eyes a bit, lips moving but I'm not a werewolf and I don't have abnormal hearing so I couldn't make out his words like he could mine. Suddenly, I see him begin to make his way back the hill. He's fast, like really fast to the point his limbs seem to blur in front of me from how fast he was running down the hill, and within a few seconds, he's at my side again, not a single droplet of sweat on his forehead, not a loc out of place on his head. That run would've killed me.
"How are you able to fight off a Hellraiser but can't run up a fucking hill?" he questions, snatching the suitcase from my hands.
"Priorities." I smartly reply causing him to glare at me, brows furrowing together before he began to make his way back up the hill carrying the suitcase on his shoulder with one hand.
Show off.
When I finally reach the top I'm bounded over the tufted grass with heavy breaths. I'm over the brow of the hill, but instead of letting my limbs go any further, I'm stopped as if my feet were magnetized to the field. There in the middle of the grassy expanse was the most pointless gate in the world; six feet tall, iron, with curls on its curls and a top that reminded me of the mosque. On either side there was no fence at all, its blackened catch dangled in mid-air as if resting on some unseen barrier. Is this some kind of joke?
"It's ugly." I don't know why those were the words to come out of my mouth but they did and there's no taking back now, not even after the wolf turned to me with the most unserious look I've ever seen anyone conjure up.
"Who the hell cares? Get in."
He steps in front of the gate and it swings forward with a creak as if it were mounted on hinges. Inside there's a blinding light and I have to use my hand and cover my eyes a bit the closer I get to it. I walked right through it, a chilling sensation tingling over my skin for a quick second before quickly being replaced but a sudden wave of heat. The light is so blinding inside I have to close my eyes but even then I can see small fragments of light from behind my eyelids.
Suddenly the light behind my eyelids subsided, and noise filled my ears but it wasn't just any kinda of noise it was voices, a lot of them. I open my eyes and I'm no longer in the bright light of the gate but instead a train station — or at least that's what I think this is. I don't have time to collect thoughts before someone bumps into my shoulder. I look back at the man in a corporate suit, briefcase in one hand as he uses the other to push back a strand of blonde hair that exposes his pointy fae ears. He keeps walking merging with the crowd of people around us.
I'm in fucking Halence.
I feel a hand grip my waist pulling me back into a wall, however, when I look back it's not a wall but the wolf's chest, his brown eyes peering down at me like a teacher scolding a child. "Do not leave my side," he growls lowly in my ear before shoving me forward into the crowded train station.
"I don't even know where to go," I say to him snatching away from his grip on my waist.
"Just follow me."
He makes his way through the sea of supernatural creatures in the crowded train station and I try my best to keep up because as crazy as it sounds following a 6-foot-something werewolf with a suitcase on his shoulder through a magical train station isn't as easy as it seems. I try my best to not stare at the supernaturals around me but it's hard when there's an eight-foot green ogre in overalls reading a book as he leans against one of the stone pillars of the station. I've been avoiding this place so long that I forget there are other species of supernaturals out there that don't necessarily fit the humanoid standard.
We make our way onto a train, a large hunk of metal that is larger than a regular train I would see back home, steam pumping through the pipes and into the open air. Halence is so modernized that it's almost eerie how comparable it is to the human world, but I guess that's the entire point of the realm. My father told me it was created with the intent to mirror the human world but to keep supernaturals safe and far from them at the same time. All those stories humans came up with the stories book, even the ones years ago about things like demons, centaurs, and creatures alike — all that started here in Halence. It's crazy how even the wildest fairytale can be traced back here because there's a little bit of truth in every last of them.
On the train, the seats filled fast but the wolf managed to snag two open seats with no problem. He places my suitcase overhead before motioning me to get the inside seat by the window. I make my way over to him, trying my best not to trip over the deer hooves of the half human half deer woman as she fixed the curls on her head, fur ears poking out from the brown afro looking at herself in a small compact mirror.
I take my seat by the window and the wolf follows, a low sigh escaping his pink lips and his eyes closing shut as he sinks into the seat.
"So what now?" I asked him, my eyes bouncing around the train as more and more creatures got on and took their seat.
"There's one more stop." He didn't bother to open his eyes as he replied.
It was my turn to let out a sigh as I turned my attention towards the window of the train. It takes off and the scenery changes from the crowded station to the outside world of Halence. The train is rocking to a maternal rhythm, anchored to centuries-old rails. It doesn't feel like it but we're probably going over a hundred miles per hour right now. For the most part, the view is nothing more than the countryside. The train passes through the greenery and rivers and everything looks like one masterpiece of art.
After a while however I can see the capital city of Halence and I know it's the capital because in the middle there's the Tree Of Fortune. The magical tree that's the first sign of life in Halence stands taller than the Empire State Building. It towers over everything, over every building. Years ago that same tree was the one to scream at me to never step foot in this realm ever again and now it's the first thing to greet me once I enter.
When the train stops the wolf is already out of his seat with my suitcase in his hand. I get up and follow behind him closely as we make our way off the crowded train out of the busy station and into the even busier streets of the capital. The sun beams down from the cloudless sky on the city and for a minute it feels like I'm back in the city back home with all the traffic noises, and pedestrians filling the sidewalks with meaningless conversation. The modernization of this realm is gonna take some getting used to because why am I seeing a group of sirens having drinks across the street in a coffeehouse?
"We're almost there." I hear him say beside me as he begins to walk down the sidewalk and I follow behind trying not to steer too far from the grumpy wolf.
When I catch up to him we're walking side by side, our slight height difference coming into play from our uneven shoulders. "So . . ." I started, my curiosity getting the best of me as we walked through the city. "just how close to the human realm is this place? I know their technology here was a little advanced but I didn't think you people would have trains and coffee shops."
He looked down at me for a moment, neck peering down just a little bit to make eye contact. "Civilization in Halence has been around just as long as the ones back on Earth. The sole purpose for Halence even being created was to mirror the human realm. It's a parallel hidden in the folds — everything that happens in the human realm will eventually or already have happened here."
We walked for quite a while and we finally came to a halt in front of a large building made of stone that reminded me of a large museum with its long pillars and stone steps. There are words above it that make out something but it's in a language I can't understand and like most readable things from this realm it doesn't shift into a language I understand. The wolf seems familiar with the place as he makes his way up the steps and I follow behind with a low sigh. First I was running up hills, then I was walking blocks and now I'm walking up steps. I can't catch a break with this guy.
At the top of the steps are large double doors being guarded by two men. Both of them cladded in black skin-tight armor that easily shows off their strong build underneath. I noticed the sheathed swords at their side at the ready. They wore what looked like a mixture of helmets and ski masks over their face that covered most of their features except their eyes, nose, and lips. I see the gold symbol of The Order just over their heart and that's when it clicked.
Marshals. In basic terms supernatural police. One would think in a world of magic there would be no need for the extra protection and a person could handle things on their own but I guess not.
The Marshals noticed the wolf beside me first, and then their eyes motioned over to me. I grew a bit uncomfortable under their intense stare.
"Name." one spoke sternly.
"Kannon Saint," the wolf stepped forward as she reached into his shirt and pulled out what looked to be an identification card around his neck. The Marshals expected it with sharp eyes for a quick moment before falling into a slight bow in front of the wolf. When they rise they open the double doors and he begins to make his way. I try to follow behind but the Marshals step in front of me before I can step foot in the place. "he's with me." the wolf informs them and they both turn to me with a questionable look.
I mirrored it with one of my own. "Yeah, I'm with Kannon." I realize this is the first time I'm saying his actual name instead of wolf boy or whatever and it feels weird on my tongue, like sour candy. The men move out of the way granting me access into the building and I make my way past them both, sticking out my tongue behind their backs as I enter.
Kannon rolls his eyes as he stuffs his little ID back into his shirt before making his way through the place. As I follow I'm hit with sudden deja vu, the white and gold tiled flooring with matching gold interior of the place making my head hurt as a memory tried to resurface in my head. It's not until we walk past a familiar no-smoking sign that I remember where I am. This is the place where I get interrogated when this shit happened last year. The Orders meet here and I was questioned in hidden catacombs below. It looks different this time around, a lot brighter and not as gloomy.
The Marshals standing around look like statues frozen in place. I can't shake their eyes off me as follow me I follow behind Kannon through the place. We made our way down a long corridor with too many doors I grew dizzy as we passed them all. However, at the end of the long hallway is a large double door. White with gold trimmings that scream open me. Two Marshals stood outside to keep guard but when they saw Kannon they moved out of the way and opened the double doors.
The room inside causes my breath to hitch in my throat. It's abnormally huge, like so much so I'm sure there's a store of enchantment here keeping the entire room in place because the ceilings alone reach heights that are bigger than the ones anywhere else in this place. Kannon places my suitcase down by the door and begins to make his way towards the circular middle of the room. I trail behind and look down at the floor seeing the intricate designs of The Order's golden symbol in the middle of the floor. I'm so enticed by the art I don't realize I'm in the middle of the room until my name is called.
"Ymir Amaranthus," a deep voice calls, and at first I think it's Kannon trying to sound authoritative but I look over at him and his lips are sealed. I look forward to the view in front of me. Seventeen seats posted up like thrones, each one for a designated member of The Order. Most of the seats were empty except one, the one where Akela Saint — the alpha of Pack Of Saints sat looking down at me. He's even more intimidating than I remember. His sharp eyes and brows cut into me even from my position below him.
I turned to Kannon but his eyes were too trained on his father to notice my concerned expression.
"What is all of this . . . your highness? wolf-iness? I don't know the courtesy for werewolves. I apologize." I tell him truthfully finding my voice, a slight echoing through the room.
There's a slight tug on the alpha's lip but it's not welcoming in the slightest. He pushes himself out of his seat and makes his way closer to the edge that separates us. Before I can even register what's going on the floor begins to rumble beneath me and suddenly chains erupt from the floor from both sides of me. Both chains wrap around my wrists so fast I don't even have the reflexes to run away before I'm pulled to the ground on my knees by them.
"What the fuck!" I yelled, feeling the chains grow tighter on my wrist the more I struggled. I turned to Kannon to see him with a confused look on his face.
"Dad, what going on?" he asked.
Akela ignores him and continues to stare at me. "Ymir Amaranthus you are under arrest for treason and suspension of conspiring with a known traitor of the realm!"
"Treason?" I repeated the words. I looked over at Kannon and he was already looking at me, eyes wide and confused. "You lied to me!"
"No I didn't," he quickly defended himself. "Dad, what is going on? You told me to bring him here to talk."
Akela shakes his head at his son. "And I am talking by sentencing him to his rightfully deserved punishment."
"I have done nothing. You can't arrest me, you have no right!" I yelled. Akela opened his mouth to speak again but the sudden opening of the double doors behind us silenced him.
"He's right Akela," the familiar voice of Madam Camille Dahlia sounded throughout the room. Her stormy eyes met mine and her brows furrowed together harshly. "How dare you go after him after I specifically told you to leave him alone!" her black stiletto heels clicked against the marble flooring of the room as she walked closer towards the alpha whose face contortions into an angered glare.
Madam Camille wasn't alone and behind her came two other faces that struck familiarity in me. One of the men rushed towards Camille who had made her way past me, and closer towards the edge that separates The Order from the floor while the other man came to the chains around my wrist. I could get a clear look at this face. I observed his sculpted jaw, chin, and cheekbones. On either side of his straight nose were two calming brown eyes, and a perfectly trimmed mustache above his thin lips.
Aleksander Narcissus — sovereign to the House Of Narcissus and the man standing beside Madam Camille was Joffrey Asphodel — sovereign to the House Of Asphodel.
"Akela what is the meaning of all this? How are you to give a trial against one of our own with no order members present?" Joffrey Asphodel raised his voice and asked the werewolf, his icy blue eyes looking back at me for a quick moment before returning to the alpha.
"I should cut out your tongue," Madam shouted at him. "This is your second time going against my orders. I told you to leave the boy alone the last time you took him into your custody without my knowledge and you stand here and do it again a year later?"
Aleksander Narcissus wraps his hands around the metal chains, almond eyes closing as he mumbles a quick spell under his breath and within seconds the chains opened on their own and dropped to the floor with a loud thud. "Are you okay?" he asked me in a lowly smooth voice.
I nod at him, hands rubbing my sore wrist. "I'm fine. Thank you, sir." He sends me one last nod before standing to his feet and joining the other sovereigns in front of the seats.
"Akela what were you even planning to do with him? This isn't a proper trial, you couldn't give him a proper sentencing if you even tried. Have you lost your mind? If the queen were to hear of this —"
"She would agree with me," The alpha sliced through his words. "everyone with a seat at The Order would agree with me on this except you foolish witches who are so blinded by loyalty to your own blood you can't even see what's happening right in front of you!" his voice sends trembles through my spine like a lions roar.
Madam scoffed, a manicured hand falling on her waist as she looked up at the alpha to match his glare. "And what would that be Akela?"
The alpha wolf turned his glowing eyes to me. He looks even more scary than he did that night he questioned me and I'm sure if the sovereigns weren't here in front of me right now he would probably shift and tear my head off no questions asked. "For the last year there have been multiple unexplainable attacks happening throughout the realm," he turns his eyes back to the three sovereigns. "bloodlines are being wiped out, villages are being left in ruins from the countryside to the high waters over on the north shores. In the midst of all this, there have only ever been two souls who lived to see the massacre firsthand and be able to tell the tell,"
"One is standing right here before me and the other is his father who hasn't been seen in a year."
"You think I murdered my entire coven? You're insane!" I yelled at him earning a look or two from the sovereigns most likely for speaking like that to an alpha wolf but I don't care.
Sir Narcissus turned back to Akela. "You just can't come to that conclusion on your own Akela. You have to have evidence to back these kinds of claims or else your words hold just as much weight as air."
"The proof is the boy's father," Akela's voice rose again. "the strongest witch in the world, and yet the minute his coven is killed he's nowhere to be found, and yet you people want to hold candle lights for a man who for all we know is responsible for everything that's been happening in the realm."
"No one even knows if Erik Amaranthus is even still alive," Sir Joffrey Asphodel said and I felt a pit forming in my stomach at his words. "we're having the candlelight at Kromnore to honor an entire coven of people who were wiped out Akela. The last breathing heir to House Amaranthus is standing right here and you had him chained up like some animal because of some sick conspiracy theory you and a few other members can't seem to let go. Erik was not a traitor and neither is his son!"
"And how can you all be so sure of that?"
"Because he's just a boy!" Madam Camille shouted, fist curling at her side. She exhaled a low breath as she stepped forward as if to help calm her nerves. "He's just a boy," she repeated her words softer this time. "he doesn't have anyone. He's all alone in all of this and he's innocent. Now I'm gonna say this one last time and one last time only so you better use those wolf ears and listen to the fuck up," she started, the alpha straightening his posture a bit.
"You don't mess with this kid anymore. I don't want to see you, your beta, your son — anyone from your pack even talking to him without my permission. Erik left me in charge as the representative of witches if something were to ever happen to him and guess what? Something did happen so I'm in fucking charge!" Camille turns around and points an acrylic nail at me. "That boy right there is my property. He falls under me, he takes orders from me, and he listens to me. You have your pack and I have my witches so do not mess with my people. If I even see a hair out of place on Ymir I will not hesitate to skin every last hair out of your little future heir and make a new fur coat from his shed." she turns towards Kannon whose face is stone hard at the words.
"Camille . . ." Sir Narcissus whispers but Madam ignores and continues. "Do I make myself clear Alpha?"
"You dare threaten my son? Have you lost—"
"Do I make myself clear Akela!?" the words sent a powerful shiver down my back and I doubt I was the only one who felt it because even Kannon closed his eyes at the threat. Akela steps forward with his arms relaxed behind his back, an unnerving expression on his darkened face as he looks down at Madam Camille.
"You do not scare me, Camille. You or that pathetic excuse of a bloodline you called witches. I am alpha — I am in control. Your threats mean nothing to me or my pack."
"I wasn't making threats. I was making a promise," Madam Camille told him, heels turning as he made her way over to me grabbing ahold of my hand and marching towards the double doors of the room. Madam shakes her head as the doors open on a whim and she steps out. "I need a fucking cigarette."
••••
EXCUSE ANY MISTAKES OR ERRORS
First day in a new realm and you're already on death row smh Ymir can't catch a break
Also I warned yall this story is very fantasy like with the last version I felt like I was so restricted with what I could write because even though it was fantasy it still took place in the real world and I felt like I couldn't really dive into that fantasy aspect as much as I wanted but now with this story I just feel like I have such a free range to write whatever because it's actual modern fantasy and it's only gonna get wilder.