The Alpha’s Goddess

Chapter 4:Warrior Princess

“is the child ready?” the sacerdos asks and the mother nods. This was the final assembly of the Aetheria, the child looks up to her mother and says “I am scared” tears well up in both their eyes her mother responds “it has to be done child”. The child is then brought before the Sacredos who is standing in the middle of the congregation “child, you understand how important this sacrifice is?” the sacredos asks and the child nods “And you know the role you must play?” once again the girl nods. The girl is given a rock that has a rune carved on it then the sacredos yells “let us pledge by blood and by the moon” the entire assembly take out crystal daggers and scream after the sacredos “By blood and by the moon”. They all cut themselves and energy begins to flow out of them into a crib” the mother takes one last look at her daughter “when the time comes, you know what to do” she says then she cuts herself too.

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Present Day

“Okay you’re making a big fuss over nothing” Alyssa says as I frantically try to put my hair in a bun in a way that covers the scar “you started it” I say “I fuss over everything cuz” Alyssa responds. Although she’s not a student, Alyssa knows almost every corner of the academy because she has been coming here with her father ever since she was a little girl. We get to the training grounds and it’s being utilised by the third year cadets in the middle of the group there are two girls sparring. “Can we go now? This is boring” I say to Alyssa. Unfortunately I say it loud enough for a few people to hear and that happens to include the Commandant (cursed werewolf hearing). Everyone freezes as the Commandant walks up to me “boring?” he asks when he is finally in front of me, I can’t even bring myself to utter one word. I am staring at him blankly, unsure of what to do; I look at Alyssa who looks up like she is just noticing the sky for the first time then the commandant says “Don’t look at her, she can’t help you” then he calls out to one of the Cadets “Gerald, hand over a staff to the young lady here” my eyes are fixed on the commandant so I don’t even notice the person who gives me the staff. Once the staff is in my hand however, the commandant gestures to me to move to the middle of the field and calls out for a girl named Samantha to step forward. Samantha steps forward with a smug look on her face then the commandant says “well go on and show us what an interesting fight would look like, and Samantha go easy on her will you?” Samantha smiles then responds “I will try my best sir” but it doesn’t sound genuine at all.

“Sweetie now is your time to back down” Samantha says in the most condescending tone I ever heard, we begin to circle each other and then she strikes at me catching me a little off guard and that makes me lose my footing, she takes that as an opportunity to launch out an assault on me. Samantha repeatedly attacks me and keeps me on defence. The aim is clearly to intimidate me and force me into yielding. As she continues to rain attacks on me I begin to notice a pattern to her movements and I find that I can predict every move she is going to make but I need a distraction so I open up and let her hit me. She hits me smack on the head and gets a little carried away by that. Then I move in a speed that’s surprising even to me and hit her back in the head and her knees. She buckles to the ground and tries to trip me with her staff but I see that coming and do a backflip avoiding the attack. Everyone around us including the commandant looks surprised and in my head I am very surprised too at how fast I was able to do that. Samantha recovers and charges towards me, I also run towards her, in a flash I disarm and flip her; she lands on her back to the ground and gasps as pain envelopes her. I stand over her, point my staff at her neck; this is the part where she says the words “I yield” but before she can say anything, I feel pain shoot up from my right arm and spread throughout my body. I gasp as the pain makes my entire body go numb then everything goes black.

I open my eyes and they are immediately assaulted by a bright white light then I hear someone say “praise Gaia, she’s awake” it’s Alyssa’s voice and I can hear the relief in it. My eyes begin to adjust and I find myself in a bed in what appears to be an infirmary, I try to get up and I wince as I feel a little pain throbbing in my head and in my arm. Noah walks up to me to help me sit up and beside him is a guy who looks familiar. “What happened?” I ask and Noah shrugs indicating that he has no idea; I can see Anthony and Greg talking to a nurse. I keep staring at the guy standing beside Noah, finally they both notice and Noah introduces us “sis, this is Gerald, and Gerald this my little sister Celeste” Noah says putting extra emphasis on the “little”. Then I remember, Gerald is the Cadet who gave me the staff. I didn’t even so much as glance at him when we were on the field but now that I see him, he is beautiful. He is slightly taller than Noah so I am guessing he is about six feet two inches tall, he is dark skinned with beautiful hazel eyes so he must be from the Eumon pack; the ones affiliated with the Yoruba Obas and Kingmakers in Africa. I don’t really know much about them but I’ve heard stories of how gorgeous the women are and seeing Gerald, I can only imagine how divine an Eumon woman would look. I stretch out my hand to shake Gerald’s, he takes my hand in his, looking me straight in the eye and before I can get a word out he says “nice to meet you warrior princess”.

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in the cottage Shaia is shaken out of her meditation as the rock in front of her vibrates and glows. She smiles and is filled with relief as she traces the scar of a crescent moon on her right thumb

The Alpha’s Goddess

Chapter 3:The Academy

Niovi and Athanasios turn around as Aithan and his son Elias step into their private courtroom. With them is Laos; he is Gamma to Athanasios and Christos, the Beta to Aithan. “Thank you for coming” Athanasios says to Aithan and they embrace, “Calix has grown and he was able to create the dagger” Athanasios says “we need to perform the ceremony now” he continues. “It would be an honour to pledge my life to you my friend” Aithan says and gets on his knees along with his son Elias. Niovi signals to Laos and he presents a box, Niovi takes out a bracelet and a necklace of selenite from the box along with a vial of blood. She nods to Aithan and he speaks the oath swearing his bloodline to be the guardians of the princess then he cuts his hand and so does his son. Their blood is put on both the bracelet and the necklace and Niovi pours the blood from the vial over the necklace and the bracelet. The crystals glow and the blood disappears.

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Present Day

As we drive away from home and make our way to the academy, Greg and Noah continue a conversation that seems to have begun before I joined them. They mention that we will be meeting up with our oldest brother who is with our Uncle; The current Alpha of the Pack (yes my father’s older brother is the current alpha while my mother’s family is the Gamma line. So yeah we are pretty Important). This is how rankings in every pack works;

The Alpha: king of the pack, his word in his pack is final.

The Beta: the second in command to the Alpha; if for any reason the Alpha is unavailable, the mantle of leadership falls on the him.

The Gamma: third in leadership and commander of the pack warriors; think of him as a commander in chief of the armed forces.

Pack Warriors: elite werewolf soldiers; they have gone the most grueling werewolf training.

Omegas: basically foot soldiers.

I find myself fiddling with the bracelet on my right arm; it is a pale blue selenite crystal made into a band and that was the only other thing wrapped into the blanket with me the day I was found. My mom gave it back to me when I was seven years old and this may sound weird but it seems to be growing as I am growing; I’ve worn it everyday since it was given to me and it has never been too big or too tight, it has always fit. “hey Ursi” I hear Greg say, he is using his nickname for me (it means little bear), “You lived with us long enough so believe me, the fight is in your blood” he continues “yeah you’re going to be amazing” Noah adds. I smile at both of them and we arrive at the academy.

The Academy is more like a military base than a school (yeah the name can be misleading), the Heraeus pack has produced the best warriors of all the seven packs so all the alphas, betas and gammas of every pack Including the Lycius pack which happens to be the biggest of all seven packs come here to train and today I begin my training as a pack warrior in the most prestigious werewolf academy in the world. Usually wolves wait until after their full moon ceremony before making the decision to train as a pack warrior, In fact the academy normally would not even consider admitting a werewolf unless they had gone through the ceremony. However, given how important my family is and how exceptional all three of my brothers were in their sets and as pack warriors, My Uncle pulled some strings and got me a “conditional admission”. In my pack, I am already known as the excellent over achieving last child of Leah and Malcoy Eques so it wasn’t difficult for the Academy board to be convinced. My true motivation for wanting to join up the academy so early however, is my fear of how my full moon ceremony would turn out, my plan is a simple one; If it turns out I am not pure blooded enough I would already be such an excellent student that the academy board would overlook that issue and have me join up with the army ranks of the Sedes lycaonis. We get out of the car and I follow Greg and Noah, we get into an office and Noah says “look, we brought you a surprise”.

Anthony turns around and I run into his arms, he lifts me up and I find myself giggling then he wraps me in a bear hug. When he releases me he asks “ I was gone for just one year, what have they been feeding you?” I laugh again. Just then Alyssa, our cousin, the Alpha’s daughter and only child walks in and says “looks like someone’s favourite brother is back” Noah scoffs and asks “what are you talking about? I am her favourite”, “ you wish” Anthony retorts then Greg butts in “boys we all know who Celeste’s fav is” gesturing to himself, everyone in the room looks at me and thankfully my Uncle walks into the room at that moment (what a life saver). It’s been a year since I have seen uncle Harold too, he and Anthony embarked on the retreat (a special bonding exercise that Alphas share with their sons to prepare them to take on the role of Alpha) after he chose Anthony as his heir because he has no sons and Alyssa has no interest in being a part of the Sedes Lycaonis (although, even if she was interested I doubt the current council would make it easy for her). After greeting me, Harold turns to Alyssa and asks her to give me a tour of the facility because he has something to discuss with the boys.

Alyssa walks up to me, loops her arm in mine and leads me out of the room. she is talking excitedly about the orientation exercise when she notices my new scar “what is that?” she asks, I explain my little sleepwalking mishap which occurred in the morning to her and she has a puzzled look on her face then she says “it looks like you’ve had it for months now, how did it heal that fast?”.

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“Sire the Luna is missing” Laos says relaying the report of the pack warriors to Athanasios, Laos continues “If Calix has her you have to break the theca now” . Breaking the theca could mean putting both her and the child in danger and Athanasios can not bring himself to do it. “If I do it she dies Laos” he says “If you don’t, we all die, the princess is lost and all this was for nothing” Laos responds and hands over the box to Athanasios who sighs and then they both make their way to the temple. Athanasios walks to the centre of the temple and recites the Incantantio as instructed by the priestess and Niovi, then he opens the box, takes out the orb and breaks it. A bright light fills the room and as it dies down Athanasios said “I will find you”.

The Alpha’s Goddess

Chapter 2: Prophecy

I find myself in front of a door that has one of the ancient runes of the moon goddess carved on it. I don’t know what this rune means; I never know what they mean but as usual I am drawn to this door. My curiosity is driving me insane so I push the door open and I land inside a garden. It is dying, the oak tree in the middle of the garden barely has any life, all the grass is brown and the pond is dried up.

This is usually the time she shows up; the guide, that’s what I call her. “One imbued with all of the moon’s might, the last seed of Aetherius” that’s her voice but I don’t see her but it’s the same thing she says every time. “One imbued with all of the moon’s might, heal the garden last seed of Aetherius” she says again and this time I see her, she looks like she could be my age but I know it’s still the same guide. She beckons me to move towards the tree, I take a deep breath and walk towards it, as I get closer I see that the rune on the door is carved on the tree too, so I place my hand on the rune and I immediately feel something warm flowing out of me into the tree. My entire body is live it feels like electricity is coursing through my veins, then I called out to it “Prodire!”. Light envelopes my body and goes into the tree and everything comes to life, flowers begin to bloom, the grasses are becoming green and the pond becomes a spring. I take my hand off the tree and the light swims around me for a while and slowly fades away settling inside the soil of the garden.

*********

I gasp and open my eyes. It is dark and I can see the sky, I can also smell grass and wet soil. My eyes begin to adjust and then realisation hits; I am in the backyard. I dust off my pyjamas and make my way back into the house. I am careful not to make any more noise, I don’t want my Parents running out of their room claws out. I also want to avoid the worrying look in their eyes when they realise that it has happened again. The dreams and sleepwalking started when I turned Seven; I still remember the first time I woke up and found myself standing in the driveway, how my parents had rushed out ready to rip apart the person that dared to step into their home and they saw me instead. As my eighteenth birthday draws closer however, the dreams are becoming a lot more frequent and so is the sleepwalking. I guess it is a normal symptom for most wolves, I just wish it wasn’t such an inconvenience. I make my way back into my room as noiselessly as I can manage. I get in and check the time and it is 06:00, there’s no way that I could go back to sleep now so I roll out my yoga mat and decide to stretch. It’s six months away from my full moon ceremony and I begin my training at the academy today and luckily I am getting an early warm up. After a while I hear footsteps heading towards the living room and then into the kitchen then I head into the bathroom to take a shower.

In truth, you have probably met a werewolf at least once in your life, maybe not a pureblood but a descendant nonetheless. That friend of yours that has Impeccable hearing or a shockingly strong sense of smell, that neighbour that seems to effortlessly communicate with any canine they meet, or that person at the gym who casually bench presses 355 kg, Yeah that didn’t seem a little suspicious to you? And let me guess, they probably told you it was a gift or it was practice or it was genetics… Well, the people who said “gift” and “genetics” weren’t lying.

I make my way down stairs and my mother gives me a knowing look as I sit at the dining table. My dad walks over to me and hands me a plate of his “world famous” banana pancakes, leans over and kisses my forehead before asking me if I am alright. I nod in response to him and as I am about to take a bite out of my delicious looking breakfast my mother says “Sweetheart we heard you this morning”. I sigh and look up at her “it was the same dream and that weird woman keeps showing up” I say. My parents exchange concerned looks and my dad proceeds to sit beside me. He holds my hand “you know, if you’re not feeling up to it, you don’t have to start training” he says. I shake my head “you have nothing to prove Celeste ” he continues, “you can at least wait until after the ceremony” my mum chimes in. I stop eating and lean my head on my dad’s shoulder exhaling, there’s a little pause then I ask “will you still love me if I don’t change? If I can’t change?”, My dad hugs me and my mum who is sitting across the table from me stretches out her hand beckoning me to put mine in hers, when I do she looks me in my eye and responds “you are my child, I have loved you since the day I set eyes on you and I will love you regardless. Pure blood or not ” then my dad says “pack warrior or not too” I smile and my dad kisses my forehead once more. Then we hear a car pull into the driveway and I immediately know it’s my second oldest brother Gregory. My Dad looks at me again and repeats that I really don’t have to go for the training if I don’t want to and I assure him that I am fine and I want to. I get up and open the door for Greg and as soon as he sees me, He looks slightly puzzled and then asks “what’s on your head?” I am surprised at the question and then I turn to look at the mirror that’s by the coat rack right next to the door and I see it. It’s a scar around the edges of my hair on my right temple and it has the shape of a crescent moon.

The Alpha’s Goddess

Werewolf 101

This is the part where I tell you to forget everything you know about werewolves or Lycans (as some prefer to call us) because most everything you know is inaccurate. So I will give you a brief history lesson.

Lycans were created a long time ago by Zeus (yeah that guy). Lycaon and his seven sons; Aegaeon, Charisius, Eumon, Heraeus, Lycius, Nyctimus and Peraethus and their families were cursed because Lycaon in a bid to prove his undying devotion to Zeus killed a human and served him up on a platter for the thunder god. Zeus did not approve and so he punished this devoted servant of His. However Selene the moon goddess took pity on the family (mostly out of spite for Zeus in my own opinion) and made it so the curse only took effect under the moon.

Soon Lycaon and his sons realized that their curse could be utilized in different ways. They had all the heightened abilities of a wolf but the reasoning of a man. And so the “Sedes lycaonis” was established the werewolf council had seven seats to represent the families and all the severe matters were handled by this council. These were the most powerful wolves and they had the ability to fully shift anytime as long as they were under the moon.

As time went on and the packs spread into the world, The “curse” began to water down and most lycans now can’t even shift. Only the enhanced human abilities remained; Inhuman strength and speed, heightened senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, Impeccable night vision and excruciating long existence. We are not Immortals, we just live for a very long time.

At this time there is no true werewolf anymore (well, that I know of). The packs of Lycius and Nyctimus only mated with each other so as to keep their bloodline pure. It is said that Nyctimus had a child with Selene (the goddess) and Female descendants of that line known as the “aetherius” were marked with the shape of a crescent moon on their body and possessed the ability to increase the power of a pack or their mate tenfold. Naturally, they were hunted into extinction. About 500 years ago packs began to follow the pattern of the Lycius and Nyctimus packs and that brought about the “Pure Bloods”. These Pure Bloods have the ability to shift only during the full Moon.

My family happens to fall under that category, pure bloods of the Heraeus pack. My parents and my three older brothers have all shifted at their coming of age full moon. I on the other hand haven’t shifted yet and as my 18th birthday approaches along with my full moon ceremony, I am filled with dread. I really shouldn’t be bothered because my family is Pure blooded but therein lies the problem. You see, I am adopted.