Kiba

A bead of sweat broke out on my forehead.

Its watery essence trickled down the side of my face to settle at the crook of my collarbone. All the while, powered on by the stuffy atmosphere that prickled my skin. Progressively, my stance grew jittery and unstable as I flexed my cramped-up palms to ward off the stiffness that afflicted their form. Licking my chapped lips, I cleared my throat and conjured up an orb of throl energy between my hands which hovered above each other.

༄
Come one come all. All elements heed the call to summon the Seer, Zena, whose connection to this world I seek..."
༄

Instantaneously, the amassing ball of energy dissipated as I shook my head at the incorrectness of my actions. The potency of a summoning spell was highly ineffective if recited in English. As was the case for every other elemental incantation. Thus, with great concentration, I called to mind the English wordings of the spell and instead uttered its Yönuh!ah translation in what I could guarantee was the worst pronunciation of the ancient language till date.

༄
Yah zah yah chuh!l.
Eleon zeetí th mch sítínuh! Th síhé, Zeah, ki!de wah!fiön fi uh!th...
༄

I wasn't sure if the accent marks on certain letters required a higher or lower inflection. Did I need to add the word 'desperately' right before 'seek' to communicate the seriousness of the situation? Moreover, peradventure it was needed, how did one say 'desperately' in Yönuh!ah? Lastly and most importantly, how in the world did the spell end?

It was no secret that the power academies instructing the art of enchantments were reserved solely for ortions and seers. The little I knew, or rather thought I knew, was garnered from the bragging of scholarly wolves who were ecstatic to show off the fancy sounding, complicated incantations they had learnt.

Now that I thought of it, I had never witnessed a successful summoning spell in action. It was more like a magic show that was so blatantly fake but had still managed to fool the likes of me who overlooked the fact that the summoned individual would always just pop up from behind a tree.

Performing the spell next to some kind of vegetation was always very essential to the whole sham and in this desperate situation-despite realising that I had been deceived all these years with frivolous chants-I toyed with the idea of maybe reciting the chant next to one. As they say, you just never know.

A roar of excruciating pain dragged my wandering mind back to the matter at hand as well as triggered a bodily response of hidrosis.

"Just how long will it take you to summon Zena and portal us back to your pack?" Aryn questioned, angrily, as he tried to restrain Yil whose gaunt, pale frame twisted and thrashed aggressively as one who was undergoing an exorcism.

The spectacular lustre in her emerald irises had vanished to be replaced by pitch darkness while on her face, she wore a sinister expression with drawn fangs.

"I clearly did state that I am no seer nor ortion, hence why I am waiting on your druid to be back with his copy of the book of elemental spells," I snapped, the pressure and assaults of emotion bouncing off me too much for me to endure. "However, in the meantime, I'm trying to recall what I've heard in the past seeing as it wouldn't be long till she turns completely insane,"

I tried walking towards Yil to absorb her distress onto myself and in so doing delay the turning process when she sighted my advancing form and lunged out of Aryns' faltering hold.

Rolling to the balls of her feet on the cold tiled floor, she placed her fore and middle fingers together and thrust me into the wall with a speedy motion of her combined fingers.

A rush of breathe parted my lips just as a gust of wind displaced the collection of furniture in the room. "You have to keep a hold on her hands at all times," I wheezed to Aryn who I perceived had been knocked backwards into the arched entrance door. The deafening crash of wood and glass was very telling of this observation.

Scrambling up to my feet, I sighted Yils' emaciated form stalking closer to me with a vicious snarl and an outstretched hand. Dull, lifeless eyes gazed back at me and contorting her hands in different angles she assumed control over the fluids in my body. With particular interest on my chest muscle tissues, she set off a series of rhythmic spasms occurring at a second interval from one another. The piercing contractions brought me to my knees and restricted the air flow into my system.

The range of elemental magic was quite vast with numerous variants branching out of the four primary bending forms of water, air, earth and fire.

Blood bending, a sub-skill born of water bending and banished for its brutality just happened to be the darkest.

"Princes-s, t-this isn't..." I barely made out my futile attempt to appeal to her non-existent conscience when the effects of the induced strangulation cut off my remaining words.

At this point, it could be concluded that her transformation was almost complete. She was so out of it.

Kaleidoscopic patterns coloured my vision as I clawed at my neck to free it of the invisible noose that was tightening by the second. My inside twisted up and a headache so agonising dulled my senses.

Suddenly, the spasms halted altogether and my airway cleared up, no longer restricted by her elemental hold on me. I fell to my side and noticed that Aryn had tackled Yil to the ground with a firm hold on both her hands.

It wouldn't be long till she overpowered him and set her sights on doing even worse than she had done to me, to him. Therefore, with great difficulty I tried to crawl over to where they lay, wrestling on the other side of the room.

Before, I could make it there Roy and Hunter barged into the room through the broken door frame.

"I've finally got the ancient elemental spell book..." Hunter announced, his overflowing coat flagging him on both sides. "...all you have to-

He attempted to continue speaking when Roy's abrupt exclamation of horror brought his attention to Yil who was fighting, malevolently, to escape Aryns' grip on her.

"A little help here would be much appreciated," Aryn groaned just as Roy ran to his side and helped to hold Yil down.

"Yils' turning process is almost complete," I debriefed Hunter who flipped through the olden paperback with feverent speed. "Now would be a good time to read out the spell," I urged, assuming control over the broken wood pieces of the arched door.

Welding their rough forms together with slight altercations to their combined design, I formed talon-like structures and clamped them down on Yils' wrist. The sharp edges dug past the encaustic tiles into the cement beneath to hold root. Now, three strong male wolves were holding her down and I could still feel my grip as well as Aryns' and Roys' wane away by the millisecond.

Hunters riffling assault on the crisp scritta papers of the grimoire halted as he finally assimilated the meaning of my uttered words.

"Read it out?" he sputtered, blinking repeatedly in shock. "I'm still in the process of learning and perfecting the rudiments of the ancient language and as such I know not how to pronounce these written words to save a life," he cried, flinching slightly when he caught the dirty looks Aryn, Roy and I directed his way.

"Okay, maybe that saying was highly inappropriate at this time," he backtracked, apologetically, as Roy murmured a coherent: "Ya think?"

"Regardless of that fact..." I dismissed, cutting off any additional retorts. "...you are still better than I'll ever be," I added with a grunt.

Simultaneously, Aryn growled out an order:

"Just read out the damn spell the way you know how!"

He was positioned behind Yil with his arms wrapped around her torso and despite the rabid froth that dripped from her fanged mouth onto his soiled robe and hands, he drew her closer to his bosom.

So close were they to each other that one would easily miss the tears that escaped his eyes to soak into the faux fur hood of her coat. Settling his head by the crook of her neck, he whispered into her twitching ears, words that I couldn't quite catch as Hunter heeded his order and began to read out the summoning spell.

༄
Hérí, Tírí, Fiö, Nyŕi
Eleon yah zeetí th mch sítínuh!...
[Air, water, fire, earth
All elements gather forth
Heed the call to summon...]
༄

Channelling a fraction of my strength to amass an energy orb while still keeping my elemental grip on Yil, I thought to just how devastating it was to witness ones loved one in such a feral, insane state and know that there was little to nothing you could do about it.

His level of pain at this moment was something I didn't even want to imagine.

Yils' growls of discomfort rose with each chant as did Aryns' beseeching whispers to her grow more desperate and strained.

"Please come back to me. Don't give in. You can do this. Please Yil, I can't lose you too,"

Clashing voices, differing in tone and volume, resonated throughout the once cozy minimalist designed room. Gone was its transcendent interior for now all that remained of the continuous pillage instigated by its unruly inhabitant included the thermal stress cracks on the windows that trapped the moonlight glint.

Not exempt from the effects of this aftermath were the torn lace drapes, fluttering wildly in the wind. As well as the picture frames that lay discarded and unhinged on the bedding which they had been hung atop of. The emotional tension in what had now become my worst nightmare soared higher which each passing moment till all went still and tranquil.

The distinct balsamic scent of patchouli, oud wood and damp moss was the first thing I sensed before I heard the unmistakable, controlled voice of Measer Fern emerging from the shadows beyond the arched doorway.

"I want you all to let go of her, slowly," he emphasised just as Aryn regarded the advancing silhouette with suspicion and tightened his hold on Yil who by now held an empty gaze fixated on nothing in particular.

"It's our Measer..." I explained in response to Aryns' distrusting stare just as Hunter cut in with an astonished: "What do you know despite that ghastly pronunciation, it worked?"

The feeling of hope lessened the burden on my heavy heart as it seemed that by some miracle Hunter had managed to summon Measer Fern. The feeling was short-lived, however, as the figure became even more visible under the illuminating light bulbs in the room.

".... well, he sounds like him," I hesitated, giving the edgy male before me a thorough once-over to detect any resembling features to the one he sounded so much like.

A tapered cut with an intricate zig-zag pattern by the fade line adorned his azure-coloured hair with his soulful brown orbs shinning, alertly, behind round rimmed glasses.

"Measer F-fern?" I stuttered, doubtfully as my eyes trailed down an exquisite admiral overcoat to chained leather pants, tucked into a pair of shiny combat boots. Ghoulish tattoos spilled out of the coats' gold rimmed cuffs onto veined hands which rested, relaxed, by his sides.

How did one go from a conservative druid to a pop punk sensation vampire king? I daresay he was sporting a lip piercing as well or were my eyes betraying me?

"At another time, I'll explain all about Liras' second phase of rebellion and how that has affected my masking choices thus far," he breezed, forming a rotary sphere of air energy within his palms.

As if in sync with his words, Queen Lira entered into the room looking like a gothic monarch dressed in a mesh-lace, harness bodysuit with a tulle skirt branching out the side seams of her tiny waist.

The shiny chains by her blood-red boots reflected off the broken pieces of the floor tiles below as she came to stand next to the pop-up balcony window.

"He is acting like as if this isn't the perfect disguise," she rolled her eyes and re-positioned her veiled, winged-shaped fascinator.

How had Hunter managed to summon not only Measer Fern but Queen Lira as well, I thought, giving him a sideways glance. Hunter looked just as confused as I was. If not more.

This bewilderment he reflected aptly in the gaping looks he alternated between the otherworldly individuals positioned at opposite sides of the room.

"Anyways, you'd all be wise to let go of her just as he has instructed. Starting with you," Queen Liras' glossy black lips expelled the honest advice to Aryn whose gaze was now assessing her ethereal features. "Her turning process is complete and that quiet façade she harbours is the calm before the storm," she motioned to Yil whose neck cranked, eerily towards the sound of her voice.

"What exactly is this turning process everyone speaks of and will she be alright?" Aryn snapped with a huff, no doubt frustrated with the fact that he wasn't getting clear answers to Yils' predicament.

"When she turns, she'll become insane and transform into a befitting personification of evil, a changeling if you will..." Measer Fern deadpanned with a brief pause to allow the severity of his words to sink in. Unsurprisingly, Aryns' eyes widened in understanding and horror at the fate that awaited his mate.

"...and her being alright rests in how quick you are in heeding my instructions and affording Lira and I the opportunity to redeem her," he added, before addressing me.

"Kiba, I want you to hold onto your control of the earthly talons that restrict her until the moment Aryn and everyone, excluding myself and Lira, are out of this room," Measer Fern commanded, not even bothering to ask how it is that Yil was turning, what activities had led to the current situation or why she was without her jewelled bracelet.

Considering that he and Queen Lira had just popped up from the shadows beyond the room and not within the room itself, one could conclude that in fact they hadn't been summoned. They had been existing in the outside world for quite sometime, speculating from their manner of dressing and the need to mask themselves. The question now remained of the reason behind such endeavours and how this tied in with them appearing here just at the right moment.

The whirling of the energy orb shook me from my musings and I noticed that it had morphed into a shape shifting wheel-like structure with a depression in the middle. At first, it assumed the form of a rosette before it transitioned into a turbine with fast moving motor blades.

"All her abilities will flow from her uncurbed as time goes," he continued, commanding the levitating structure to grow in width as Roy and Hunter backed out of the room with careful but hurried steps.

A modulated snarl had started to vibrate within Yils' chest and her fangs had begun to grow even longer as she watched Measer Fern closely.

"In order words..." he inhaled, looking at me. "...it will be extremely tasking on your power source and might permanently deplete it," he stressed.

Our eyes locked for that transient moment in a silent yet intrusive probe into the depths of my loyalty to ascertain my willingness to shoulder the responsibility, growling in wait before me.

Was I to stay true to a clan that had held me back from my mate? Or was I to stay true to the future Alpha of that same clan who despite being younger than I was had always being there for me?

A determined, unhesitant nod on my part was enough to answer the call to action as I evicted the most important question from within my mental abode into the raucous whirlpool before me.

Would I truly be okay with sacrificing my powers and essence for her well-being?

Repositioning myself into a more upright position and refortifying my elemental hold on Yil, I heard Aryn's statement.

"I can't say I completely trust both of you..." he looked to Queen Lira and Measer Fern. "...however, I know that Kiba would never bring harm to her. I trust him in that respect, " he said in explanation for his compliance as he let go of Yils' torso, gently, and rose from behind her.

At the moment that he was walking away Yil called out to him: "Aryn, please don't leave with them. They'll hurt me," she pleaded, softly, with dark eyes that shone with innocence and rosebud lips that quivered with childlike fear.

Aryn turned around, his heart strings pulled by the changeling who had now emulated the mannerisms of the one it had possessed. Even I was fooled by its sympathetic plea as my hold on it loosened unconsciously.

"Don't listen to her. She's certainly not the Yil you know," Measer Fern warned Aryn, inching closer to Yil and snapping me back to reality.

"Just leave or she'll try to manipulate you further," Lira chimed in, reaching into her lace garter.

Aryn looked thorn between giving into Yils' demands or trusting the words of Measer Fern and Queen Lira. Not breaking eye contact with the she-wolf whose silver tresses now held shimmering glints of emerald, azure, scarlet and aqua, he whispered:

"I want the real Yil. The one I care for dearly and I know she's still in there somewhere,"

He backed away from her but not before she growled and lunged for him. Only restricted, halfway towards him, by the talons which held her in place.

"Traitor! She never even loved you!" she snarled, claws poised for attack and spittle dripping to the encaustic tiles. Her hair bled a vengeful scarlet tint which flowed down from the roots of her scalp to the tips of her flowing locks.

The elemental synergies within me ebbed away as I felt the sinister energy emitted from her feed off mine. Grunting, I maintained my control on her, however, with an ominous gaze directed so speedily towards me, one could have sworn it never happened in the first place. She drew the last of my elemental gift to combust and burn through the wooden talons that restricted her.

At that point in time, Queen Lira swung a series of enchanted throw knives from her lace garter at Yils' coat. Thus, pinning her to the wall as she shouted out a hurried order.

"Make a run for it now!"

I dragged my weakened frame towards the door as Aryn made his exit. My body felt light, my muscles ached, my head felt like it would explode any moment from now. Nonetheless, most saddening was the continuous hollowing buzz, echoing throughout the entirety of my chest.

My gift was gone. Forever.

The last step out of the hellish doom behind me, cemented my freedom from its chokehold. As well as, reawakened my senses to a much harsher, bleaker reality. The gloomy hallway before me was so symbolic of this realisation and I began to question my so-called freedom.

I crumbled to the soft rug and dared to look back at what I had left behind. The levitating rotary mechanism had matured now and assumed a stable form. It stood, whirling, before a pinned up Yil who growled and wailed painfully as wisps of synthetic energy poured out from her and towards the orb before her.

Without warning a block of granite shut the sight from my eyes and enclosed me within the thickening darkness. This time, I gave into a howling wail of my own and mourned the painful loss of a part of me.

My gift was gone. Forever.

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