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The first thing I noticed was the pain.

A throbbing sensation was ruthlessly in my skull. It robbed me of my ability to speak, let alone breathe in the taint scent of oxygen. Its grip on me was firm, its pressure unyielding, and its taste on my tongue foul, empty and dull. I found myself splayed out here, crushed by the weight of a thousand acient rocks and forced into submission. Fortunately, for my sake, Lunar spared me from almost instant death.

I was pretty thankful for that.

Still, as I writhed and groaned, trying desperately to move through it all, I knew most of my body alone was compromised. I was injured at most, weakened by fear and by all means buried beneath a pile of death while chaos ensured outside.

And for a pretty princess living beside a human alpha as mighty as my father, that alone is a terrible fate to bear.

Lukewarm blood began dribbling down my face from an undiscovered gash line, blinding my left eye in a river of dark red. It was nauseating to smell, feel and taste, but there wasn't much I could do about it now.

More terrible things were found as I examined myself. Those smooth and soft bends of my furry neck were found crooked and bent by force. The surfaces of my king but short neck had been scathed away. And from below, a wave of fire pounded down upon my left shoulder blade - proof of a bone out of place.

A tingle of fear suddenly coursed up my spine, shrouding all my pains in a sea of concern. Its sizzle made me gaps coming to a dark realization of what had yet to arrive. All that I could accept was that something terrible had happened. Something tried to kill me.

A werebear.

☾

That werebear was still out there for whatever reason seems unknown. The most obvious is an attack on my family.

If that was the actual case, then time was running out.

Stand up, Shadowfire... I growled to myself, blinking back into reality. Your family... need you...

I gathered my footing dragging my blunt but still sharp claws to the front of my chest, and shoved my hind legs back. My back was the only form of support for the rubble above.

Now I wish I had wings like those dragons. Steady. You can do this...

I took a heavy breath, swallowed up my fears, and pushed.

Instant anguish skyrocketed from my left shoulder, forcing a frantic whimper from my trembling maw. But before I could react, sole stones loosened and slammed me back into the crimson earth.

The ground withered beneath me as I lay there, settling from it all.

And everything returned to its rightful beginning.

A pained growl seeps from my throat, a mere action to hold back the need to weep. As bad as I wished to beg for help, I knew this was challenging to manage independently. I couldn't dare fall this easily to cowards. That thought alone made me retch with rage.

I refused to show mine weakens to a pile of rocks!

Lunar... I whispered shakily, resetting my paws for a second round. Please guide me... do not let nature become the bearer of my downfall...

Snarling through my fangs, I arched my back and rammed into the ceiling again. The same excruciating fire lanced my arm, sending me on a roller coaster of emotion. Crying out to the stars, I pushed harder, feeling my bones creak and groan from within, and tasted the bad blood leaning down my inky fur.

Don't stop! I screamed into my head. D-Don't... ahh!

My body quivered in helplessness as I fought the will to quit. So already got as I begging to cease. Every muscle clenched, every wound spasmed and split opened, and my poor vision dimmed. The ground shook as boulders and stones rolled off my fur, their hollow thuds alerting me of my slow progress.

Just... a little b-bit more.

It wasn't until the last rock that my body exploded from the rubble, rearing me onto my hind legs. Then, groaning, I stepped froth into the emptiness before surrendering to gravity.

And slumped to the ground.

☾

Castillo, one of the many guards of Shaw'Con, and my freind was battling the werebears from the ground alongside a couple of others and an elder. In just a few minutes, all four of them were slammed by the group of werebears slashed on their sides and slammed by their weights into the nearby walls. The Elder was quick to take damage, crashing into the group groaning in pain. The others were swooned away by the bears, their molded cries painful and horrendous as they were moved out to be dealt with.

Castillo fell last, crushed by the clamping of their jaws on his throat while a lone claw ripped his underbelly fur away from the bone. The wolf slumped into his injury before he as let go dropping to the ground with a heavy and heart-wrenching thud.

Other guards were lying on the ground motionless. Several laid out against the floor, their tails twisted over their bodies, still breathing and ravaged by scars. Others were limping, too broken down, and too tired to make a final stand.

And in the center of it all was another male wolf. A handsome young creature, armored and strong yet glimmering like a star that fell from the heavens. And it laid there silently.

Gray... oh no...

I limped forward more, slamming my dislocated arm into the ground and twisted hard. A hallow crack sounded as the bone re-entered my socket again, and a final shockwave of anguish rippled through my fur. Then, wincing softly, I waved my tail wide to subside the pain and continued to pace toward the downed guard.

The male wolf was unconscious. His right leg appeared broken by a fall from the stone, which I could not witness. His jaws were partly open, and his silver helmet was dented inward, perhaps from the sent blow that sent him to the ground. Removing the fractured armor from his head, I nuzzled my best freind roughly, trying to stir him.

"Gray? Gray, please wake up!"

"..."

"Gray?!"

"Your freind won't awaken in due time, wolf."

A dark masculine voice snarled deep into my mind sending hard shivers down my crooked spine. "At least that was the intention..."

I raised my eyes from Gray, glaring through the emptied carven of Shaw'Con undergrowth and toward the source of this awful sound. I was nothing short of surprised. As promised, the same devilish werebear who downed me earlier sat proudly on the abrupt end of the rock face, his beady yellow eyes glistening with promise and pride-a smile and as drawn upon his jaws curling straight across his face awaiting my arrival. The smell of his oily fur reeked with wolf blood, that of those guards who were good in his path, and he wore them all like trophies.

But as I approached, I discovered something far worse than the carnage aorund the room. Two of the werebears held down two captives, a male and female of my species and ones I knew well. The female wasn't armored, but a gash above her brow had injured the poor she-wolf of Shaw'Con. As for the other still awake, his sapphire eyes met my own, and pure fear shot through both of our cores.

Father!

I whirled to the werebear, already preparing to jump. But, instead, my chest and the lines upon my throat that ran to my brow glowed with orange power, and my jaws widened to deliver the strike. But only a single whip of a paw made me cringe; one deadly claw pointed directly to my mother's heart.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the male hissed, narrowing his eyes at me. Deep down, my mind begged me to let go to see my fire rocket into the air and reduce the creatures to ashes and embers. Still, my parents' safety was my most significant concern. And going out of my way to solve a problem without a single plan or thought would jeopardize everything.

I couldn't risk that.

Not for them and especially not for me.

☾

Returning my sights to the bear near st to my mother, I took a step forward and snarled, "you dare enter my home and hurt my friends and -!"

"Your home?" They werebear suddenly growled, his jaws twitching as he stood up. "Hmph. That is what your fellow wolves said before we shredded their sides. Weird how you believe I'm defending something that isn't even yours to have... it sickens me."

"Pardon me?"

"Poor lonesome little wolf," he pitched his voice to taunt me, "have you no sense of your history? No place is home for your kin or any creature that thrives here."

"You lie through your teeth," I angrily spat back "this fortress belongs to us! To Lunar!"

"This fortress belongs to nobody."

"You are a fool for thinking that"

"And you are naïve for believing it," he raised, beginning to step away from the rock face and stride toward me, "such denial too... over your little sins simply because you're a wolf of Asmara. You are not alphas or heroes... you only prey on the weak to bury your stupid little burdens. Nothing short of murders with paws and power to nature. Even worse, you worship one."

My stomach withered from his accusations as if straining not to consider his words meaningful; eying my father still pinned on the forums by a bear, I flared my nostrils in annoyance and hissed at the male beast.

"Save your breath. Your words will not save you from the madness you have caused here."

"I know," he put, "still, I don't fear your kin or your fight. It's child's play, if I might say. But it is fun to fight a wolf. We haven't had that chance in such time-"

"Why have you come to Shaw'Con?!" I snapped my heart, writhing about in outrage. But in a strange twist of ways, the beast said not bunt. Only a breath of hate left his mighty jaws.

"Do you seek our throne?" I snarled onward, starting to pace forward "our treasures of gold? Our precious youth, our royalty?"

They were bear snorted, hopping down from his ledge and landed in front of his four snarling allies. Nothing was said through all this time, but his fangs glistened in the moonlight as if trying to safer me further, and without an answer to take, fear began to crawl over me slowly.

"Speak!" I roared louder, pounding my paw into the ground. "I demand an ANSWER DEVIL!"

The bear unsheathed his claws, making a metallic ringing noise in the room. A part of me cringed; perhaps it was my heart, and a wave of doubt began to settle upon my shoulders. Truth to be told, no other wolf managed to awaken or stand beside me. With time waning slowly and my parents in danger, I was the last hope of Shaw'Con, if there was still any left. Just the thought of that horrified me.

"Sister..." the brother suddenly whispered, looking behind his huge furry back, "before this... wolf... loses her control would you like to do the honors?"

"It would be my pleasure..."

The female bear growled gleefully, eying me for a second, then stepped away to another bear. Her four legs padded across the floor to the side of her ally, where a series of whispers began bounding between them. The sister reached toward the belt; the bear had dragged out a strange circular rock glistening as if made out of pure gold and polished by the finest wax. As the bear wandered forward, a sudden gasp came from my father's maw, alerting the other bears with interest.

"You recognize this object, don't you, your highness?"

"Lunato.." my father widened his eyes, watching the talisman get placed into the male bear's claws, "the last gift of lunar, the goddess of the moon. Formed from her remains from a time before time itself... how did you-"

"I'll skate you the exasperating details of our little trek and simply say I found it."

"Lunato?" I blinked, turning to the frightened alpha in shock. "You mean-"

"Something you shall never wield if what it tells is true."

The male turned and stepped toward my father, who instantly began to panic. My stomach lurched as the two bears slammed him into the ground under his will, ensuring his squirming wouldn't allow any escape, and shoved the rune near the dragon. I watched, confused and worried, awaiting something I couldn't predict.

But nothing happened. No light. No magic. Not even a voice if that is what was to happen.

And that baffled the male.

☾

"Whatever you seek, you will not find it here," I snarled, watching him move in a circle "by Lunar's sake, let my father and mother go now!"

"We're not here for your worthless parents, wolf. As far as we can tell, they are not even part of the lineage."

Lineage?

I parted my snout, narrowing my eyes at the brown beast ahead of me.

"Then why are you here?"

A dark foam gathered at his maw, and his two eyes narrowed at the device. His two paws focused Lunato aorund the room from my parent's side to the injured guards and any other hidden wolves covering the region. But as soon as its aim met the fur of my own body, the surface of the yellow rune flashed bright with pure light.

Descendant...

I took an uneasy step backward, noticing a dark, vengeful look creeping over every single werebear in that room. Even their yellow soulless eyes locked onto me. Then, finally, the lead male's eyes flashed, and he whispered... just to me.

"We're here... for you."

In one single second, panic took over. They no longer hungered my parents or the guards that put up a fight - - they longed for me and me alone. I took another fearful step back, flinching once I bumped into Gray's sleeping form. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what was happening. The lead bear having found his target looked to his sisters and brothers with a sinister smile of pride as if gifted a present.

He looked back at me and growled out two heart-stopping words.

"Kill her"

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