Death's Knocking ⏸

Rewind ⏪ (couple of hours back before the execution)

Arriving at the Oasis, Abraham & Mamadou got off the camels they were riding and unloaded some things off of them.

"We'll leave Maira here and go searching the area," Abraham said, "If you find any grotto, signal me. I'll do the same from my side."

"Okay," Mamadou responded.

Moments later... (The execution is now taking place)

The sky was no longer sky blue but a darker shade, whether it was in the desert or in Earth Moon Pack, an execution was about to begin. Both men had looked very thoroughly for the grotto at the Oasis and failed miserably. However, they both found one item each.

Mamadou had found a thin necklace, but it was particularly strong. It was made out of diamond and was laying right next to a palm tree with writings on it, writings he couldn't understand. On Abraham's side, he had found a cave with a clear white round quartz, which he placed in his sahara scarf for safe keeping.

"Did you find anything?" Mamadou asked Abraham, meeting back at the rendez-vous point.

"No," he responded, disappointed. Abraham was mad at himself for being so useless in helping Maira, he was downhearted.

"Me neither," Mamadou sighed, "but I saw some writings on a tree,"

"What didn't you say anything sooner?!"

"Because it won't help us,"

"How do you know that?!"

"We won't understand the writings, it's a different language,"

"I see," Abraham said, looking down, "I mean, I would've told you to take me there, but if we can't understand the language, what's the point?"

"Yeah, the writings are really strange,"

"Hmmm,"

"How is Maira holding up?" Mamadou asked.

"Let me go check on her,"

"I'll come with you," Mamadou said following behind Abraham.

"Maira how are you?" Abraham asked worried, touching her forehead.

"I could be better," she muttered, weakly.

"Shh! Don't talk."

"You just asked me a question-" Maira coughed sorely.

"See! Don't say anything," Abraham said wiping her body with a cold cloth as Mamadou watched.

"Water please,"

"Here," he said pouring some in to her mouth.

"I'm sorry but we didn't find a grotto... and now your time is up! Even if we wanted to move further to find another Oasis, your body won't-" Abraham said, with tears in his eyes, disappointed he couldn't save his friend.

"It's alright," Maira said, holding his face between her palms, "At least I'll die knowing, two courageous men tried their best to save me,"

"Don't say that," Abraham said, not letting his tears fall.

"I guess it's my time to leave this world, and I can't escape it. Whether I had left home or not, I would've died today," Maira said, coughing.

"How?" Mamadou asked, sadly.

"I was suppose to get executed today," Maira said letting go of Abraham's face and looking at Mamadou.

"Executed?! I'm confused," he said approaching Maira and Abraham.

"We don't need to know Mamadou. Let her rest in her last moments,"

"Let's recite the Holy Coran for her," Mamadou suggested, sitting himself down next to the dying werewolf.

"I would love to hear you both chant it for me," Maira said, with a weak smile.

And they both began to recite the holy words of the Quran, "Yaa-Seeen, Wal-Qur-aanil-Hakeem, Innaka laminal mursaleen 'Alaa Siraatim Mustaqeem, Tanzeelal 'Azeezir Raheem, Litunzira qawmam maaa unzira aabaaa'uhum fahum ghaafiloon, Laqad haqqal qawlu 'alaaa aksarihim fahum laa yu'minoon, Innaa ja'alnaa feee a'naaqihim aghlaalan fahiya ilal azqaani fahum muqmahoon, Wa ja'alnaa mim baini aydeehim saddanw-wa min khalfihim saddan fa aghshai naahum fahum laa yubsiroon, Wa sawaaa'un 'alaihim 'a-anzartahum am lam tunzirhum laa yu'minoon, Innamaa tunziru manit taba 'az-Zikra wa khashiyar Rahmaana bilghaib-"

Unanticipatedly, they were interrupted by a crack sound of a branch outside of their caravan.

"Did you guys here that?!" Abraham said, alarmed.

"Is someone here?" Mamadou asked.

"Shh!"

"Okay," Mamadou sighed, with tears falling down his eyes as he watched Maira suffer.

"It's life," Abraham whispered, wiping his friend tears away, as he let his fall too.

"Humans, so helpless!" an old lady stated, entering the caravan, "Don't watch the girl die! Do something!"

"Stop!" Mamadou ordered, "Who are you & what do you want?" he asked, getting up.

The old lady ignored his words and advanced closely towards them.

"Didn't you hear the question?!" Abraham yelled, blocking her away from Maira.

Unfortunately for them, she wasn't the one they could use their authority on. With a swift of her hand, a force sent them both flying completely on the left side of the caravan.

"Sorcery!" Mamadou grunted, rubbing his body from the impact. He slowly turned his head in Abraham's direction only to find him coldly knocked out. "My prince! Are you okay?!" he panicked, barely able to crawl to even help his friend.

The old lady sneered as she bend down to feel Maira's forehead. The poor werewolf was narrowly breathing.

"You'll all be okay, you don't have to worry about him or Maira. Just yourself," the old lady explained, "For once, be selfish Mamadou."

"A witch you are indeed!" Mamadou confirmed, turning over on his back, his body in deep discomfort.

The old lady murmured to herself "I knew she wouldn't have found the grotto, luckily I arrived just in time," as she poured a white liquid into Maira's mouth from a mini glass bottle.

***

"Maira, Maira, wake up!" Amira said with a gentle smile, waking her daughter up. Maira then woke up observing her location and her mom. After a few seconds, she broke into tears in her mother's arms.

"It's alright, it was all a bad dream," she said rubbing her child's head gently, "It's all over now,"

"You promise?"

"I do, I'm here,"

"You are? Are you really?" Maira said looking into her mother's brown eyes.

"Yes, we all are," Amira said, with a wave of her hand, everyone in their immediate family appeared around the bed.

Maira let go of her mother's embrace and watched everyone surrounding her. So many emotions were swirling in her eyes, she had missed them so much and now she didn't know how to feel. They were all suddenly here with her, in her bedroom, as she cried of happiness. It was also a way of her to release all the built up tension she had in her heart.

"What's wrong?" her mother asked, rubbing Maira's back.

"Nothing," she laughed, wiping her tears away, "I just missed you guys so much,"

"Well we're here now," Amira said initiating a family group hug. A group hug that didn't last because of an explosion.

BOOM!

"What was that?!" Maira panicked.

"Amethyst," Samia whispered.

"What is that?" Maira questioned, puzzled. What did Samia mean by Amethyst?

"Let's go!" her father ordered, as everyone changed into their wolves one by one.

"Mother?!" Maira cried out.

"Come on darling! There's a big war coming, we have to leave this place," her mother said transforming into a peanut colored wolf.

"What war?! What's going on?! Why is it suddenly night time outside?!" but no one answered her questions because they were all running for the door to escape the house. Maira tried to transform as well to join her family but she couldn't.

"Why am I not transforming?! I'm commanding myself to, but I can't!" she yelled with impatience. Everyone was already out the door and she was left to be alone again, "Why aren't they waiting for me?!" She was angry and hurt.

She ran to the door as fast as she could in her human form, but the door harshly closed itself. Confused and scared, Maira tried to open it with brute force.

That didn't work.

Instead, the door disappeared leaving Maira cornered by black walls. Four black walls that had blood oozing out of them like crazy. In the moment of her being shook of what was happening around her, a clog of blood fell onto her big toe. It transmuted into a diamond necklace with a round ball of clear quartz as the pendant.

She picked it up, analyzed it and wore it around her neck to hold onto it for future purposes. As a result of her action, her body paralyzed. Maira stood there for seconds, minutes, hours, days even, telling her mind to calm down and not to panic. She wanted to yell and scream and cry, but she was a big girl. Maira remembered how she was also a werewolf, a warrior, a fighter. She had to be strong till she found a solution.

On the third day of being paralyzed, Maira found her body starting to function. Not functioning as in she could move, but in a way that she felt her lungs gasping for air, her tongue craving for water, her scalp itching for comfort, her eyes blinking for clearance, her skin sweating for release and her damn heart beating for dear life.

On each wall, the blood had come together in a big round ball sticking itself up. Instantaneously, her necklace flashed a bright light that made the four round balls of blood transformed into four black figures.

Maira didn't know how to feel or react anymore, she was awaiting her death. Who knows, maybe she was already dead and only experiencing the punishments of hell.

The figure on her left said, "I'll be the reason of your quest," the figure on her right then said, "I'll be the reason of your hardships," in the back of her she heard the next figure say, "I'll be the reason of your downfall," and the last figure said, "and I'll be your tormentor, your end, your savior and beginning."

With that, all four figures caught on fire!

Maira watched the flames burn and take over her house. She couldn't move or do anything about it, all she could do was accept her fate.

Hell?

That's why maybe her mother left along with the rest of her family. They left without looking back at her, just like she had escape the dungeon and abandoned them in her pack that was boiling with trouble. Maira missed them with all her existence, she was scared, she was lonely and she was hurting.

As the smoke entered Maira's lungs, she felt them burning and itching. She was having trouble breathing and her head was feeling dizzy. Tears were swelling up in her eyes as she smiled because she knew deep down she was meant to be so much more than ashes.

Maira felt her skin burning as the flames got closer to her who was positioned in the middle of the space. Her body started moving but it was now too late, the flames engulfed her.

Death was knocking and she welcomed it with grace...

***

Next day after the execution...

6:00 AM, MONDAY

"A crow's brain, a peacock's feather, a headless chimpanzee and a wolf's tooth," Alpha Ezekiel murmured to himself, watching the items carefully on his office desk, "What could they possibly mean?"

"Maybe witchcraft," Beta Tadashi answered.

"But by who? And how did Maira escape our dungeon?" the Alpha questioned. Hoping for an answer, he got up from his chair as he watched his Beta and Omega intensely.

"We don't know," Omega Nicholas answered.

"Well find me a f**king answer!!" Ezekiel roared. You could feel his Alpha aura spreading thickly into the atmosphere. It was demanding, angry, frustrated and impatient.

"Right away, Sir!" both his subordinates replied.

"Nicholas, clear all the warriors training on our first field and gather all the guards that were on duty yesterday for the execution there," Tadashi ordered.

"Yes, Beta!" he said, excusing himself from his Alpha's office.

"Tadashi, assemble a council meeting for noon! And let Darell and Xander know what I expect from them,"

"Yes Sir! Anything else?"

"Yes, find me a healer or a psychometrist,"

"Where and how?"

"That's up to you, all I know is I want it done by the end of this week!" Alpha Ezekiel said, his back facing the Beta of his pack, as he observed his map on his white office wall, "You'll have more chances finding one in the Water Pack or by the Pixie Lake."

"But the water pack only has healers, not psychometrists," Tadashi stated, "And healers can't tell you what all these items on your desk mean, can they?"

"You'll be surprised by Water healers & Pixie Lake may have one or two psychometrists,"

"If you say so, Alpha,"

END OF CHAPTER 8 ▶️

***

My BIRTHDAY was yesterday!! 🎂🎁✨🎉 (DEC 8th)

Maira can't seem to escape DEATH 😩🤦🏾‍♀️

Thanks for reading 💖 Add my book to your library or reading list for more chapters!!

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