Elliot's brain was buzzing with a series of events that had taken place. He could not fully comprehend what he had seen or heard. He wanted to think of it as a hallucination, but that would mean he was losing his sanity. He knew that could hardly be the case in this world as anything was possible here. As a human, he would have ignored the incidents or maybe even gotten help but given the recent circumstances, he couldn't.
Elliot had decided to wake up earlier than usual, to be received by Elder Zachariah and still make it to his training in time.
At that moment, he was walking towards the Elder's place through the village when he saw some of his fellow patrolling werewolves coming back to their homes; to their mates after shifting.
A surge of jealousy passed through him but he didn't let it overcome him. Finding a mate was nowhere in his priority list at the moment. All he wanted was to be able to shift without turning feral and talk to Elders about the familiar stranger.
"Elder Zachariah," he knocked on the door and went inside once he heard the Elder permitting him to come in.
"Elliot, I was going to summon you. What brings you here?" He asked in his authoritative voice which held a bit of concern in it.
After Elliot had recounted about his encounter with the blurred man, the Elder did not reply immediately. If it wasn't for his blinking eyes, Elliot would have thought that the Elder was sleeping with his eyes open, the way he used to when classes at high school got boring. The thought made him long for the simple life he had back then, for Lea.
After a long moment of mind-numbing silence, the Elder spoke up, "that person, you said sounded familiar to you, right?" To that, Elliot gave a swift nod.
"Were you able to recognize the said person by his scent? Or any minute detail that could lead us to him?" The Elder inquired as Elliot shook his head.
"That person had no scent and had the stealth of a leopard. Unfortunately, for some reason, my vision got blurred while he was around." He answered dubiously. He was desperate to come onto a conclusion, desperate for someone to tell him that he wasn't losing his hold on reality so the next few words that the Elder spoke were like a symphony to his ears.
"No Elliot, you are not going insane. While this matter has to be discussed with the others, I will personally recommend you to escalate your training. If any of what that stranger said is true, then you have to brace yourself for what's in the future for you." Elliot was listening intently, hanging on to each word that left the Elder's lips. But he couldn't grasp around the fact that why that stranger would talk about a certain 'her'. Was he talking about his mother? Or was it about someone else?
With such thoughts in mind, Elliot went back to the woods which looked scarier at that time of the day. But he didn't care. He was not going to dissipate any other second. He couldn't put the lives of his family or anyone in danger only because he was too big of a chicken to go through the pain of shifting. People trusted him, and he was going to live up to their expectations; to his father's expectations.
That day, Elliot gave his all and then some, while training. Beginning with shifting, Elliot went with the newest litter of pups to the big hall behind Elder Rian's house. Six trainees were presided over by Elder Cliamain. Out of the other five wolves, two were little cherub boys while the other three were girls.
To Elliot, it was embarrassing to train at something so basic that even the pups could perform smoothly whereas he failed at it, every day.
"You're pushing yourself too hard, Elliot," the Elder guided, "let it come to you naturally; try to let loose."
That was one of the biggest concerns for him; letting loose. How could he when so much was riding on him? The expectations of his family, the part he was to play to avenge his girl, how could he even think about letting loose at harrowing times like these?
Regardless, Elliot nodded. Steeling himself, he practised the breathing exercises he was taught on the very first day here.
"The key is not to compare your progress with others," the Elder pointed, "but to focus on yourself, on your body, your wolf and what it is trying to communicate with you."
She looked pointedly at Elliot, "let's take it from the top."
This time around, Elliot focused on his mind and tried to open the path, apparently linking him to the wolf. He ignored the snapping sounds coming from the boys and girls and ignored the sweat covering his hands, the slightest tremor he felt passing down his body. Instead, he fixed all his energy on the wolf.
Suddenly, the surroundings faded to nothing and he saw a man's form, walking towards him. When the man got close enough, Elliot recognized him as himself.
It was like looking in the mirror but not quite. The reflection, as it is supposed to, did not move with Elliot. The other Elliot smiled at him, reassuringly; a shine in his eyes, turning them glassy.
Elliot frowned in confusion, "what is the meaning of this? Am I hallucinating again?"
The version of Elliot in front of him shifted and ran away, zapping Elliot back to the present.
Wondering what it was all about; Elliot looked at himself, a spark of hope rekindling in his heart of having shifted. But disappointment came crashing down at him.
He had failed, again.
The kids smiled a pitiful smile at Elliot as they all left the hall, done for the day. When he was sitting outside the hall, on the steps, Elder Cliamain stopped by him.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it sympathetically, "don't let it get to you, it'll be alright. You have been through a lot in a matter of a few days, Elliot. I know the majority of us would have not been doing as good if we were in your position. Don't lose hope."
She patted him on the back twice and then left him alone with his thoughts.
Combat training that day, however, was a much better affair. Elliot managed to take down not one but two of the very highly trained wolves, out of a total of five. This was a huge accomplishment and left him smiling and feeling better. That was until Lloyd, one of the kind ones, came to him to share feedback.
"Your attacks are always on the offensive, Elliot," he sat across the table while Elliot had stew for lunch.
Elliot raised an eyebrow, "shouldn't that be the case, attacking means," he searched for an appropriate word but on coming up blank, he said, "attacking?"
Yeah, not one of my brightest moments, he thought.
Lloyd nodded, "it should but defending along with being on the attack is equally vital. There are times when your enemy might overpower you, protecting yourself becomes more important and practical than wasting your energy on futile offensive moves." He paused, "it also gives you a chance to observe the enemy's attacking strategy, look for weak points to counter-attack. Trust me, that is how the last three of your combatants won against you."
That made sense. Elliot's opponents seemed to have figured out his moves before he even made any like they were ready and waiting for him to do what he had done in the first two fights.
"Then what should I do?"
"Don't let the opponent goad you, first of all, but more so than that, don't fight in the same way but adapt to the rival's attacking style, change your tactics, make their weakness your strength and cover all your weak spots." Lloyd got up, dusting his jacket, he extended a hand, "here, let me show you."
Elliot firmly took hold of his hand, feeling equal parts grateful and resolute as they both went to the woods to put to practice what Lloyd had explained in theory.
Within an hour, Elliot could see what Lloyd had been saying and when he began implementing the same, Lloyd gave him the biggest grin that Elliot had received since he had come to this place. To say it did not make Elliot feel all warm and wonderful would be a lie.
In the evening, all exhausted from overworking, he met with Elder Crillian for his mental strength training.
The Elder's lair was full of trinkets from all over the world. He had a collection of talismans, bottles and vials full of weird-smelling liquids, charms and pendants, rings and evil- eyes all strewn on his table. There were multi-coloured dream-catchers and voodoo dolls, brooms and crystals placed in organized chaos around the room.
Elliot could hardly see free space in the room. Honestly, it resembled a witch's house, as they showed in the movies, more than that of a lycan's. Focusing on the task in hand, Elliot clenched his fists and bit his lower lip. This was the class that brought out his nervous side.
"Elliot, you're early today," the Elder settled himself on one of the couches in the corner as Elliot kept standing, waiting for permission from the Elder.
On the first day that he had arrived here, Elliot had made himself comfortable in one of the chairs. That hadn't pleased the Elder in the least. It had ticked him off and the Elder had gone all shades of angry red, talking about boundaries and permissions. Since then, Elliot had walked on eggshells around the man, never knowing what might trigger him.
Maybe that was the reason why they hadn't made much progress here either. Though, as Elliot's spirits were high due to his training with Lloyd, he hoped today would be different.
"Come, have a seat, child," the Elder said.
Once Elliot had settled next to him, the Elder merely gave him a moment before placing his hands on either side of Elliot's head. Fingers hovering over Elliot's temple, the Elder chanted words in the old language. It was the same as always, the Elder tried to revive Elliot's memories related to the shift, then attempted to form a link between him and his wolf. Every day, like shifting, they failed at both tasks.
But Elliot was to achieve the exceptional that day.
At first, he only felt the tingling of the Elder's fingers above the skin. He was used to it, the sense of his privacy being invaded and phantom hands touching his brain. Then, as if a dam had been opened, he felt a flood of emotions rushing from the back of his mind to his temple, then the eyes.
It left Elliot gasping for breath with an incessantly parallel pounding on his skull, but the Elder didn't stop. This was the breakthrough they had been trying to obtain and it was finally happening.
As though a film roll had been left moving on its highest speed, Elliot saw his memories from the day that he had shifted. He realized the Elder was sifting through them all, conjuring up the emotions that had led to his shift.
Then, it stopped right at the moment when Malcolm had been about to bite Elliot's mother.
Elliot could feel his own breath rising, a low growl releasing from the back of his throat. But just as the Elliot from memories was close to completely shifting, Elliot's fear of not being able to shift-back and of going feral again resurfaced, blocking all the other memories and emotions out of the Elder's reach.
His eyes snapped open. It was then that he noticed how his claws were retracting and so were his fangs. He had come this close to shifting; it burned the fire of fear inside him even brighter. He could have attacked the Elder.
Almost spent but less exhausted than Elliot, the Elder let his hands fall away.
"That was," the Elder breathed heavily, "good."
Elliot gathered his feelings, trying to calm his heart drumming in his chest. "What was that?" he asked.
"From what I gathered, your shifts are triggered when you go through the feeling of you or your loved ones being in danger." The Elder got up to browse through one of the many tomes he owned and then started to document the day's progress in it.
"However, the fear of not being able to shift back is what paralyzes you and all your senses, thus it keeps hindering you from forming a connection to your wolf." He looked at Elliot then, his expression serious, "if you keep at it, you will only turn your wolf even more restless and angrier."
"What will happen?" Elliot anticipated what the response would be yet he wanted to hear it to make it feel real.
"If you shift, the wolf will not want to turn back with the distress of you not allowing it to be free. You will be trapped in your mind forever while the wolf will lash out and might even go on a rampage. So you see how dire the situation is, and how important it is for you and your wolf to connect."
Elliot gulped with unease settling deeply in his belly.
When the Elder saw his agitation, he reassured, "I have an assignment for you, which will help truncate the gap between you and the wolf." Elliot nodded for the Elder to continue.
"You will try to talk to it, but even before that, you need to name your wolf to build a personal bond."
That sounds easy, Elliot thought, but he had forgotten that in his experience, anything related to his wolf never was.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:
The rogues, along with the half-vampires, were ready to launch themselves at whoever was descending the stairs. Celeste's heart was beating rapidly against her rib cage. While the male rogues were pretending to be tied to silver, Celeste and the remaining half-vampires waited for their opportunity.
"Is there any problem down here, Stewart?" The werewolf who had entered the cellar was now questioning the head vampire.
Shaking his head no, Stewart played along, "no sir, they are not in a position to be much of a bother." He faked a snicker.
Celeste was hiding in the cage where her mother was incarcerated but, thanks to her wolf-hearing, she could hear everything loud and clear.
"What about the females, Stewart?" The werewolf sniffed and then stiffened. The scent of all the female wolves was fading now but one scent was the prominent one. He looked at the wolves in the cages and scrutinized them. Then he saw what he had ignored before; they had been un-cuffed.
"I see the two species have befriended each other." He smirked. When Stewart took a defensive stance, ready to wallop, the wolf spoke, "the enemy of my nemesis is my friend. Robin Kohl." He extended his hand for the half-vampire to shake. Stewart hesitated at first but when he saw the determination in Robin's eyes, he shook his hand back.
Blayne was pleasantly astounded. This was Robin, from his old pack; that little kid from Xavier's ruling period. They had nothing to worry now; everything seemed to be coming along.
It had been five hours that Xavier and his wolves had been crouching low outside Ben's kingdom, waiting for the right moment to strike. Xavier was still not sure of the plan but the trust that his friends had put into them was definitely not going in vain.
Earlier, Gayle had informed all the rebels from Ben's pack of the plan. They were just waiting for a signal from one of the wolves named Robin. Apparently, Robin was the one Ben trusted the most. He was the right-hand man and was positioned as the Omega of the pack but Robin was never in favour of Ben's macabre practices of killing others and taking over. The secret of surviving in his pack until now was that Robin never voiced out his thoughts as he believed that the best way to take down a pack was to take it down from the inside. Alongside Robin, about thirty werewolves were waiting for their revenge.
Gayle's eyes glazed over as he seemed to be telepathically conversing with his pack. Is it time? He wondered ardently.
"There's an update," Gayle whispered as low as he could. They didn't want to mess up this opportunity just because they were too loud for their own good.
"A few rogues have freed themselves with the help of this girl. All of them are willing to side with us to avenge themselves." Everyone looked at Xavier, waiting for a response.
"Instruct them to wait wherever they are, they'll be intimated when to join us in the attack." Fear had now started to gnaw his heart for all the lives that were at stake but he was relieved as to how his son was safe, away with the Elders. It made him selfish, yet that would always be his priority, even if that made him a bad Alpha.
"We're ready, Alpha." Donnan voiced out and five of them lunged in the air, shifting into their lycan forms. They ran down the cliff and were amazed by how easily they were able to invade the enemy's territory.
Apart from Greta, Xavier couldn't contact anyone telepathically because when Xavier had abandoned the pack back in the day, the link had been painfully severed. Although they had gone over the plan one too many times, the hindered communication was becoming a bottleneck.
Following Donnan through the gates, their first stop was the dungeon where the rogues were stood alert but when Robin saw Donnan and Gayle come into view, they relaxed. The five of them shifted back to their human forms and changed into the clothes they had tied to their legs.
A gasp was followed by murmurs and when Xavier looked up to see the reason for whispers, he found his old friend; his Beta staring at him.
"Blayne," he whispered under his breath, not believing his eyes.
"Xavier," Blayne muttered, his eyes crinkling with the contentment he was feeling. Both the wolves walked towards each other. It had been eighteen long years since Xavier had last seen his childhood best friend; his partner in crime.
After hearing the conversation, Celeste had found her way back to her father. She noticed how her father's wide eyes held swirls of emotions and the feelings in the other wolf's eyes were even more poignant. Both the wolves squeezed each other in a hug, tears streaming down each of their faces.
Pulling back, Xavier greeted every male wolf in the room. There was a sudden ardour in the dungeons; positive energy. When his eyes landed on the female wolf that was looking at Xavier warily, he remembered how he was no more a part of the same pack. He had given up this life long ago, dragged his family away, only to land right back in the heart of it. He harked back to how he had surrendered his pack, in the time of need and had left them stranded. Suddenly, the energy was not so constructive. Just as the reality of what Xavier had done eighteen years ago washed over the rogues, they stepped back; looking accusingly at him.
"Stewart, this is our alliance. As you can see, they'll be leading us to dethrone the devil." Robin was about to discuss the plan but Celeste had something else going in her mind. She had been standing behind her father, watching silently as everything betided.
"No! I can see that my pack and my Alpha don't trust whoever these people are. We will not be allying with them." She declared with an obstinate attitude.
"Celeste," Blayne warned her as a low growl echoed through the dungeons.
"This is not the best time to fight over our past issues, little girl. As Robin said, we have a mutual enemy and for the time being it makes us friends," Xavier's gaze moved from Celeste to her father," even if none of us wants that to happen."
"Xavier's right," Greta was the one to voice out in urgency, "we might not need to harmonize once we are over this fight but we have to forget our differences and defeat that abhorrent wolf."
Xavier stood proud; love, respect, and tenderness emanating from him for his wife. As she could feel her husband's emotions, she smiled but the happiness was short-lived as they heard obscene voices from the floor above.
Xavier ushered everyone close together and they walked down the pathway that led to the woods, with Stewart in lead. No one made a sound, too scared to attract attention. A little too easily, they were moving towards their destination; towards their freedom. But that was what had been bugging Xavier. He knew from experience that when things were too easy, it was an indication of disaster.
As if on cue, a voice called out from behind when they were almost bordering the woods.
"Stop right there." The voice sent shivers of horror through Xavier's being. He knew the voice all too well. Ben's found us.
A low but menacing growl was heard next. From there, it was complete mayhem. Clothes were torn, bones were snapped, growls and hisses were resonating through the clearing as both the sides charged at each other.
While all the wolves were tearing each other apart, Ben was calmly standing on the sidelines, watching as half of his pack betrayed him. Xavier hadn't seen Ben look so composed, yet he seemed devastatingly daunting by the emotions swirling in his eyes.
With a look that promised revenge, Dante lunged for Celeste, landing right on her wolf. Celeste howled in pain as the brown wolf atop her pressed all its weight against her, with his claws deep in her fur. With the last bit of energy that was left in her, she rose on all her paws and gave a wild jerk. Dante lost his balance as well as his hold on Celeste's golden wolf. Utilizing the perfect opportunity, she jumped out of his way.
Dante was not even half as tired as Celeste, having healed from Celeste's attack in the room. He would have gotten his perfect retribution if it wasn't for Aaron's hard shove. He got Dante right in the stomach. Doubling over, Dante reacted as fast as he could to the sudden onslaught, but he was still at a loss as Aaron had used the surprise element formidably.
It came as a shock to Celeste as to why Aaron would betray his best friend when only yesterday they were sucking each other off. It was absurd that someone like him would have saved her. She hated being in debt of someone but owing something as precious as her life to a person like Aaron petrified her more than anything else.
On Celeste's right, she saw Xavier's black wolf jump towards Ben who had now shifted into his rusty brown wolf. Both the wolves charged at each other, growling so loud, it shook the girl from the inside. She was grateful that her mother was not there to witness the grotesqueness of the battle and of what happened next.
Blayne was surrounded on all the sides. Three wolves, that Celeste didn't recognize, were snarling at her father. For a moment she stood there, stupefied but as one of the wolves charged at her father, she wrenched herself away from the stupor and rushed to her father's aid. A werewolf's claws dug into Blayne's spine, ripping and tearing in long gashes, and the other one lunged for Blayne's throat.
Celeste pushed against one of them but it was useless – she was no match for him. The other wolf snapped its jaws but missed by a fraction as Celeste dodged the attack. At least she had distracted the one about to bite Blayne's throat.
The fangs of the other bloodthirsty beast sank further into Blayne's back, harder and steadfast until they clamped around his bone. He could not scream; the pain causing him to fall mute. Celeste's attacker was lying cold on the forest floor by now. When she noticed her father's wide eyes, she bared her razor-sharp teeth, sinking them into the attacker's flesh.
Simultaneously, she clawed and clawed until the wolf's hold on her father eased. Howling, the beast fell limp on the ground. After she had vanquished the third wolf as well, she hurried to her father who had now shifted back to his human form, a sizeable laceration covering his back; from shoulder to waist. She nudged him with her nose, sniffing for his breath. Sagging in relief as his father coughed, she shape-shifted.
"Dad, hold on for me. I'm going to get you help." Satisfied to receive a meek nod from her father, she sped through the bloody field to get her mother who was also a healer.
On the other side of the field, Greta huffed and puffed heavily. She hadn't been up for a lot of battles and this one was surely taking its toll on her. No matter how rarely she fought, she had been out of practice, given the household she had to manage and the son she had to raise. She couldn't believe that even after that they had been able to overthrow Ben's pack in order to help the wolves gain freedom.
A lot of lives were lost, most of them mainly being half vampires to whom a werewolf's bite was fatal. Stewart was looking up at the stars as the werewolf bite reacting with vampire's blood gradually eliminated his time on the planet.
Sighing desolately, she searched for her husband to find out that he was the one who had taken Ben down. A sense of pride surged through her as Xavier walked towards his wife. Everyone had now shifted back to their human forms, congratulating each other on the victory, tending to the ones who were wounded.
Xavier hugged Greta and whispered, "One enemy is down, but we still have the prime danger lurking over us."
Taking her husband's face in her hands, she nodded and pulled him in for a kiss with tears in her eyes, "you did it, my love. You're the alpha."