Chapter 22: Deeper than the Dagger

“It is not possible, you’re”

“Dead?” Gerald says and moves closer to me but stops a few inches from the crystals, he crouches and looks me in the eye. I start sobbing as my brain begins to replay everything that happened between us up till the moment I was made to believe that he died. “You made Hunter lie to me that you were dead and it was easy to claim your body wasn’t found cos it was rogues” he nods affirming what I just said 

“why Gerald? Why would you do that? Why would you do any of this?” I ask

“Oh honey I needed you to blossom and you were taking a little too long” he responds then gets on his feet. 

“You know you weren’t the only one sent into the future, Calix had a younger brother, well half brother but I completely adored him. After he had been sabotaged by Niovi and Athanasios, he had to find a way to protect his legacy so he used the same magic that sent you into the future to send me right behind you”. At this point Gerald takes off his shirt to reveal a scar on his chest “he stole a piece of the theca and with Niovi’s blood, since she was the one who cast the spell he used it to send me to find you. But I arrived too early. I couldn’t locate you and I couldn’t find the one that was to be your guide; Shaia. When I eventually found her, there was a force that made it impossible to reach her cottage. It broke after you left though but she no longer had any magic, tragic” he is circling me now “so I started creating wolves, when the time was right I planted myself and Hunter in Peraethus and then Violet came along and I planted her in Lycius. See I had no idea how to find you but I knew the Lycius pack would know something or at least have a book about it. Violet was clever enough to get that idiot Alpha to fall in love with her and that’s how we found out about the bracelet and the necklace” all the while that he is talking I still can not bring myself to make any sound.

“I didn’t mean to find you the way that I did, I had come to the Heraeus pack as a way to meet with Violet and find out whatever information she had about the missing princess. Then you showed up and just fell into my lap”, He is behind me now but I do not turn to look at him “Violet confirmed the bracelet but I needed to be sure”

“So you stayed around, deceived me and made me fall in love with you” I finally say 

“Celeste”

“it was all a game to you” 

“Celeste, I really do love you, I fell in love with you too”

I let out a laugh then I turn to face him “you lied, broke my heart, broke me, put my family in danger, now you’re threatening their lives once again and you have the gall to say you love me?”

“But I do, I spent everyday for the past three years only dreaming of the moment we would be reunited again, but you went and fell in love with someone else” Gerald yells

“Are you insane?” I scream back at him and lightning strikes inside the cave. Hunter and the three rogues back away in fear “I died that day! And I almost killed everyone in the palace because I couldn’t control my emotions, for three years I thought you were dead” I add

“Your powers were awakened I did that for you, for us”

“For us?”

“Yes! We are going to be so powerful together and nothing and no one would be able to touch us”

After he says this, I just sit back down on the ground unable to believe any of my senses then Gerald kneels in front of me and says “all you have to do is tell me how to perfect the wolves” I shake my head and Gerald looks frustrated now “Listen Princess, if you don’t tell me what I need to know, In a couple of minutes everyone you know and love will be ripped to shreds”. The coldness in his voice is alarming. I look away from him and look at the crystals instead; the things making it impossible for me to help my family. Out of the blue I remember Shaia’s teaching about the crystals and then I sit in the lotus pose, close my eyes and concentrate on Alyssa “what are you doing?” I hear Gerald ask but I drown him out. The crystals are not a restraint, they are regulators so in the right conditions they can be used to amplify an aetherius powers, that’s how Shaia was able to keep Gerald out and that’s how I am going to save my family.

************

In Nereus’ study the family is deliberating how to break the rogue news to the rest of the party when Alyssa suddenly drops her glass. Her skin and eyes are glowing, she looks at Nereus “shut the doors and take me to the roof” her voice sounds distorted and everyone immediately knows that it isn’t Alyssa speaking. 

“Celeste?” Nereus says and Alyssa nods “we don’t have time, the roof now” Nereus opens the door and leads Alyssa to the roof while Lare makes sure that all the gates are sealed and guarded. 

When Alyssa gets to the roof, she starts a chant and waves of energy spread from her throughout the entire mansion and its surrounding.

Soon every single rogue surrounding the mansion starts howling and convulsing, they all drop to the ground, a dark liquid substance escapes their noses and they all turn back human. As soon as all the rogues are cured Alyssa stops glowing and collapses to the ground.

Day is breaking and at the instruction of Nereus the pack warriors are now helping all the humans outside of the mansion. They all seem to have no recollection of their lives for the past couple months for some, its a year. Alyssa finally wakes up and the first thing she says is  “I know where she is” Nereus, Lare and the Eques brothers along with seven other pack warriors get into cars with Alyssa “let’s go get my woman” Nereus says.

************ 

I return to my body back in the cave and I see Hunter and the three other rogues are unconscious and the rogues are human now and I smile. There is panic and anger all over Gerald’s face “what did you do?” he screams at me “what have you done?” 

“I healed everyone” I say “the crystals are not power dampers Gerald, they are sort of regulators” I add and I laugh this time, I still can’t believe that it worked that I was able to channel myself into Alyssa. It was such a wild shot but it worked, though I will have to apologise to her for invading her body that way.

“We could have had everything” Gerald screams snapping me out of my thoughts “we could have been great together and everyone would have bowed to us” he adds this time he scatters the crystals and comes to stand in front of me 

“We would have had everything Gerald” I say to him when he is standing in front of him, I reach out my hands to touch his face and he closes his eyes  “I loved you and if that was enough for you we really would have had everything. You didn’t do any of this for me or for us you did it for yourself” I take my hands away from his face. He is about to say something when I hear Nereus and Greg scream “Celeste”, I smile “they found me” I say. Then I see Nereus and Greg, soon after Lare, Noah and Anthony show up and all of them have the same stunned look on their faces when they see Gerald.

In a flash, Gerald grabs my arm and screams “no I will get what is mine, what I am owed” and with that he stabs me in the chest with the crystal dagger.

Chapter 21: Unpleasant Surprise 

Nereus is making his way back to the others, Lare has gathered the Eques and Alpha Zander back to his private study, he is in the corridor leading to the study when he hears a voice in his head “Nereus, rogues, house is in danger, rogues”. Either he is inebriated or that was Celeste, he runs to the study and instructs Lare to ready the pack warriors while he goes to announce that everyone else stays inside. “This feels like deja vu” Noah says

************

I gasp and fall to the ground, I am overwhelmed with terror at the thought of every single member of my family being torn apart by rogues. “And you are not there to save them with an earthquake this time” Hunter taunts “that’s really quite unfortunate” he adds

“Greg is your friend, my entire family loves you” I see a flash of humanity across his face but it disappears “call them back Hunter!”  I start screaming at the top of my lungs, yelling at Hunter to call the rogues back then he screams back at me “even if I wanted to I can’t”

“What the teaspoon is that supposed to mean?!” I grab my hair and I find myself saying “Nereus, rogues, Nereus rogues, the house is in danger, there’s rogues” and I am just repeating those words desperately like I am hoping he would hear me. 

“Call them back Hunter

They are your failures

You did this!

How could you-” I stop and I don’t finish my sentence, I get up and look Hunter in the eyes “tell these abominations to back up” I say pointing to the three rogues that turned out to be a failed intimidation attempt at me. Hunter looks uneasy and shakes his head, the rogues remain there snarling and growling, “even if you wanted you couldn’t” I mutter Hunter is shifting side to side on his feet now “you can’t control them, you can’t call them back” I say “History lesson about fifty years ago the Peraethus pack was attacked by rogues, there were survivors but the alpha and his family were killed. That messed up their hierarchy but in the midst of all that chaos it would have been so easy to plant a rogue in the pack” Hunter looked disturbed now “a young boy a rogue who gave himself willingly to be turned; you are just another puppet, but you’re the best one yet and that’s why you can’t call them back, you are not the one in control”

There is shock evident in Hunter’s eyes, I remember hearing that story from my dad. He was telling it to Anthony the day uncle Harold came to tell my parents he was planning to choose Anthony as his heir. “The spell was unstable” Hunter starts saying “many times I couldn’t control myself and almost went rogue. Then we met you, and without even knowing you stabilised the spell, and that’s how we knew you were the one to help perfect it. But we had to be sure so I was made to watch you until after your moon ceremony” I am so angry now that tears are streaming down my face “you were in the cave that day” I say and Hunter nods. Hunter gasps and falls on his knees to the ground then I hear a slow clap coming from the left side of the cave but it is really dark and I can’t see who it is, “I knew you were intelligent but you have outdone yourself princess” the voice I hear makes my knees buckle to the ground too and I am unable to move.

He steps out from the shadows and looks me in the eye and I feel myself die inside. I am unable to speak the shock and pain I feel is inexplicable, when I finally able to open my mouth the only word that comes out is 

“No

It can’t be…..

Chapter 20: Abducted 

Nereus is with Lare, they are both discussing with the Alphas of Nyctimus and Eumon by the bar when he sees her walking up to him; Violet. “Ca fait longtemps ma cher” she says to him “may I have a word?” She adds, Nereus takes her hand and moves away from the others “what are you doing here?” he says she doesn’t respond, she just gives him a sly grin. “I hear you found a replacement for me? Where is she? I would love to meet her”  Nereus smiles and shakes his head “I don’t have time for this” then he walks away.

When he gets back to the bar, Lare is now with Alyssa and they are flirting with each other “where is Celeste?” he asks, Alyssa has a puzzled expression now “I thought she was with you” she responds. “Why would you-”, “one of the maids came to her room a couple minutes ago and said you wanted to see her by the pool”. Nereus is surprised “I did not send for her to meet me by the pool” he says 

“ err maybe it was your dad?” Alyssa says, both Nereus and Lare shake their heads as a statement that Alpha Zander definitely did not send for Celeste.

“Well it’s not like she’s in danger or else your neck thingy would be glowing” Alyssa whispers but Nereus isn’t wearing the necklace at the moment. The three of them are now worried, Alyssa leaves to check Celeste’s room and Nereus and Lare go to check the pool side. They get to the pool and there is no sign of Celeste, they are about to leave when Lare spots something shiny on the ground, it’s a silver earring he picks it up and heads back into the house with Nereus. They run into Alyssa who is coming back downstairs “oh you found her?” she asks when she spots Lare holding the earring, two of them look at her confused “that’s the earring she had on” she adds. Anthony and Mirena walk in at that moment Alyssa asks them if they have seen Celeste and as soon as they say “No” Nereus makes his way to his room to grab his necklace. He gets into his room and takes out the black wooden he uses to house the necklace and when he opens the box the necklace is glowing

************

The smell of moss is everywhere and I can also hear water. I open my eyes and I am inside a cave and I am surrounded by selenite crystals. My hands and feet are bound by a double braid nylon rope, my head still hurts a little and my bracelet is gone. I sit up and I hear a voice say “sorry, your head might still hurt a bit and also I had to get rid of the bracelet, I didn’t want to alarm your alpha boyfriend”. I chill runs down my spine as I recognise the voice, a hooded figure presents itself in front of me and then he takes off his hood; Hunter.

“We hope to take you somewhere a lot more befitting of your status when you finally give us what we need” he says. I am too stunned to speak, I am just sitting on the ground completely shocked, Hunter? By “we”, I assume he is talking about his accomplice Violet; what is going on? My entire family trusts this guy, Gerald trusted him, he is the one with the dagger? He is the danger lurking that we were all warned about? “What is this?” I finally manage to say. Hunter smiles “Let me tell you a story, Celeste” he says “A long time ago there was a visionary named Calix, he tried to create a new world and a new order of wolves, not of the already existing seven bloodlines but you already knew this part” he winks at me. “Well these new wolves had to be perfect so he chose human children who showed promise and took them” I gasp, Hunter ignores me and continues his story. “Then he solicited the help of a few aetheria but they were blind, they lacked vision so they all turned him down, now an aetherius has to surrender her powers willingly but Calix being the genius found a way around it and helped relieve many aetheria of their powers. They weren’t utilising it properly anyway so he did them a favour, so with his blood and the powers gotten through the dagger he created new wolves. Then he was sabotaged by the overly righteous Athanasios”

“The wolves he created were malformed, barely human and barely wolves, they went mad and killed everything in their path, that is not success Hunter” I say 

“ah yes but all of them answered to him” Hunter responds. I am dumbfounded by what he just said, I let out a dry laugh “so your idea or perfect is basically utter rubbish that follows you about, not surprising at all” Hunter growls at me “I would watch your tone girl, you are the one at my mercy. See you maybe a powerful aetherius but I hear you face certain limitations” he makes a gesture towards the crystals “and now this isn’t just a bracelet, you are surrounded by crystals, do they look familiar?” I take a proper look and realise that all the crystals have runes carved on them; they were gotten from the cottage.

The horror on my face is evident “so I beg you to watch your tone” Hunter says in a condescending tone. I glare at him “Calix was sabotaged okay, Niovi didn’t tell him everything he needed to know and that was why the humans ended up that way”. I scoff “a young girl didn’t tell a full grown man that he wasn’t supposed to kill, kidnap and maim people, Hunter are you being daft on purpose?” he gnarls and lunges at me but almost like he is being controlled, he stops himself and backs away from me. 

“Well you obviously haven’t figured out what he did wrong, you’re still creating rogues so that means you’re still doing something wrong too” I say and Hunter smiles, it is the most haunting thing I have ever seen “yes princess that’s where you come in” three rogues step in from behind him, the look in their eyes is ravenous and they are all staring at me “you are going to tell me all I need to do to create a perfect wolf, separate from the seven bloodlines”. I start laughing so hard and Hunter has a look on his face that reads “what is so funny?”. 

“You are mad

You have absolutely lost your mind

Help you? Help you?

You have been abducting innocent people 

You killed Shaia

You masqueraded yourself to be friend to me and my family and you killed Gerald

And now you’re parading with three wolves that can’t even touch me”

A small blast of energy escapes from me in my anger but it barely touches Hunter who has a wicked grin plastered on his face now. The crystals have drastically reduced the strength of that ability, I am disheartened by this but I continue

“I am never going to help you” I say and break the ropes binding me, I throw it and smack Hunter in the face then he starts laughing hysterically. 

Not the reaction I was expecting and yet again like he is being controlled he stops laughing. “Oh but you are going to help me” Hunter says “because you see right now as we speak, the Lycian mansion is being surrounded by rogues and I can’t control them so unless you tell me how to make them work, you should start preparing for a lot of funerals”.

Chapter 19: Remembrance

The figure watches the girl get out of the water and put on her robe, when she is dressed the girl stares at the pool. The figure knows he should grab her but it doesn’t make any move, it just stands there staring at her, mesmerized. Suddenly she looks up and looks in its direction, the figure is stunned; there is no way she can see it, right? Then she shakes her head and makes her way out of the cave. The figure does not follow her, it just watches as she leaves.

************

A week Ago

My parents, Alpha Zander, Nereus, Lare and I are in Nereus’ private study. I have the room cloaked so no one outside the room can hear our conversation. It’s been two days since my ceremony, there hasn’t been any sign of danger so I have decided to have a mini burial ceremony for Shaia and I also convinced Nereus that we should host the games this year. “It’s not really going to be the full deal” I am explaining to everyone in the room “it is more like a remembrance and a way for us to revive the games again. We would only invite a select few from each pack and we would perform a ceremony to celebrate everyone who participated in the last games and everyone who died. There will be a ball and that would be it” I finish. Since the incident three years ago; the games haven’t been repeated, my parents are however still very much against the idea of it being hosted in the Lycius pack because we still don’t understand Selene’s admonition and Nereus also told them that I had felt as though someone else was in the cave with me.

“This is my land, my territory so I know how to efficiently protect it, also Celeste has a better handle on her powers so we would detect anything the moment it came into our borders” I nod. Then alpha Zander speaks “if someone is indeed trying to get to Celeste it would be a perfect opportunity to catch them”

“I don’t agree with using my child as bait” my mother responds 

“It’s not that she’s bait, she is literally the price so if someone is after her it doesn’t matter if we host the games or not they will come for her” Lare says to my mother

“Err she is here” I say because everyone seems to have forgotten that I am inside the room

“Listen, Lare is right and I want to do this. Plus I am going to protected not just by the Lycius pack but the best warriors from Heraeus also and lets not forget I can still explode things”

“If I didn’t know any better I would swear that was your favorite ability” Nereus says and we all laugh. The meeting ends, I uncloak the room and everyone leaves except me and Nereus.

“Can I ask you something?” I say to him and he nods “that year there were rumors that you intended to pick a mate from the pageant” Nereus smiles “Ah, yes”. 

“Wait it was true?”

“Yes; Violet, she was training to be a doctor. She joked about entering the pageant and somehow it got out that I was picking a mate.” 

“Her name sounds familiar, why didn’t you go ahead with it?” I ask “oh she never showed up to the games and after everything that happened it was radio silence with her” Nereus responds “I tried to find her but, after a while it became pretty obvious she didn’t want me to so I left it alone”. I nod “now I know why you were such an oven when we first met” Nereus looks at me “an Oven?” “yeah” I respond and we both start laughing.

Nereus is leaning on the table in the study and I am standing in front of him and my hand is on his cheek “You know, after Gerald died, I thought I would die alone. My mother told me that I would fall in love again and everything I was feeling would pass, but in that moment it was difficult to believe her” Nereus has a smirk on his face “what?” I ask 

“Well goddess, I believe you just admitted you’re in love with me” he says

“When did I say that?” I retort, “just now” he replies 

“I did not say I am in love with you Nereus” now he has a very wide grin, he hugs me “you just did” he says “that doesn’t-” I am cut short by Nereus planting a kiss on my neck “I love you too” he says.

Today

There is no body for us to bury, so Shaia’s burial is very unconventional. My mother and Greg accompany me to Shaia’s cottage, I had read in my grandmother’s book how to perform a funeral rite for an aetherius and “send her soul back to the goddess” so I am going to perform that and then we’ll be heading back to the Lycian mansion for a mini party. A few representatives from the other six packs are arriving today to go over the details of the games so Nereus and Lare and sorting out arrangements but there was no way Nereus was just going to let me leave with just my mum and brother so we have nine armed pack warriors with us.

According to the instruction given by my grandmother in the book Shaia gave me I have to perform this ritual alone as having a non-aetheria in the room would be inappropriate. So my mother and Gregory stay back and the warriors situate themselves around the cottage. I get into the cottage, I take in a deep breath and look around as I push the tears that threaten to fall back. I move to the corner where Shaia used to meditate and I see the remains of the black rune rock, draw a small circle around it then I take out the mini scroll in my pocket and read out the words in the old tongue bidding Shaia’s soul farewell and sending her off to rest finally. When I am done I exit the cottage, my mother gives me a hug then we all make our way back to the cars and drive back home.

When we arrive back home it’s getting dark, most of the guests have already arrived so my mother and I say goodbye to Greg and we head to my room to get ready for the mini party that’s going to happen once the pack leaders have come to an agreement on the progression of events for the games. They all think it’s Nereus’ idea of course and for my protection that belief will remain. When I get into my room Alyssa is already there and she is dressed “say Celeste do you have any gift that can have you made up in one second?” she asks as soon as my mum and I enter the room. My mother immediately warns her to quiet down because someone could hear her, Alyssa apologizes and we all proceed to get ready. A few minutes later, there is a knock on my door, Alyssa goes to get it “Alpha asked that Miss Celeste meet him by the pool in ten minutes” I hear one of the maids say. Alyssa nods and shuts the door “that’s weird” I say “why would he ask to meet by the pool?” I add “probably to see you before you have to mingle with everyone inside” my mother says. I finish getting ready then I leave my mother and Alyssa and head to the pool.

I get to the pool and Nereus isn’t there yet but another woman comes in, she’s dressed in a lovely lilac dress and she looks very familiar. “Hey” she says “do you remember me?” she asks, I shake my head. She moves closer to me “I am doctor Violet, we met at the Heraeus academy” she says, I remember her now but I also begin to feel uncomfortable so I smile at her “oh nice to meet you” I say then she opens her arms to give me a hug, I decide to indulge her so I can get back inside quickly. As soon as I hug her I feel a sting in my neck, I back away from her immediately and see the syringe in her hand. “What did you-” I can’t complete my question as the world starts to get blurry and I feel myself falling to the ground, I feel hands catch me then everything goes black.

Chapter 18: Moon Ceremony

in a cave the hooded figure is talking to its master “It’s almost time, as soon as her ceremony is over take her”. The figure nods and exits the cave

************

Four Months Ago

“Is it possible that someone still has the creation dagger?” I ask Nereus and his father. They both look very deep in thought. I have just explained to them what I found out from the book. There is a long  pause then Alpha Zander asked “what else do we know?” Both he and Nereus look at me as I explain how it was grandmother not my mother who created the bracelet and the necklace and also Shaia’s rune rock. According to the book my grandmother made the preparations beforehand because she knew that after she performed the ritual she would be powerless to send me forward in time. So she created an Orb “The theca” and when my father broke it, it activated the time spell that sent me into the future.

“But someone must have tampered with the spell” I say

“Why do you think that?” Nereus asks

“Because I got sent a lot farther into the future than my grandmother intended” I respond.

Zander lets out a sigh and there is another long silence.“We have to get Shaia” I say, breaking the silence “she could be in danger. If someone is out there with the dagger it’s not safe for her to be alone” Zander and Nereus exchange a look “what? what is it?”  I ask, Nereus walks up to me and holds my hand “something happened I didn’t want to tell you because you were already dealing with so much but Celeste, Shaia is dead” I gasp.

“When?”

“How?” 

“When did this happen?” I ask, unable to contain my shock and sadness. “We don’t know for sure, a few weeks after Lare and I got you from the cottage we sent word to your family. Your mum and Anthony went there to see her and they found ash and the whole place had been ransacked” Nereus explains “that long?” I scream “Lare figured it wasn’t the best time to you” he adds “I got over my emotional block” Nereus rubs my shoulders and planted a kiss on my forehead “and I didn’t want you to suffer another one again” he says, I am feeling a little overwhelmed by this information so I just lean my head on Nereus’ chest. “A-hem” Alpha Zander clears his throat mostly to remind us that he is still here, “we need to find out as much as we can about this dagger and with your ceremony mere months away we really need to up security” Zander says both I and Nereus nod agreeing with him “if someone is really trying to finish what Calix started, then they need you” Nereus adds “and if everything in that book is true, and someone got their hands on you after the ceremony, they would be unstoppable”

Today

“Ouch! That hurts” I say to my mum who is putting my hair in a bun “and that is unnecessary” I say to Alyssa who is trying to put makeup on me. I brush her hand away “just because you have to sleep in a moon cave overnight doesn’t mean you can’t look pretty” Alyssa says to me “again, I am not sleeping inside the moon cave, I am supposed to wait there until the goddess visits me” I tell her. “Yeah but that could take the whole night right?” she responds “trying to keep me away long enough from Nereus?” I tease her “oh no cousin, I have my eyes on his beta, he is single right?” the three of us burst into laughter.

My long awaited moon ceremony is here, the entire process basically involves me being prayed over by a sacredos and then I enter into a moon cave and wait till Selene (the moon goddess) speaks to me. Seeing as I am the very last aetherius and not a lot of people know about my existence (for good reason) my family will be playing the important roles for tonight. They arrived at the Lycian Mansion three months ago and I was so grateful to see them again after about three years. Anthony and Mirena are married now, Noah is officially a pack warrior and Greg and Hunter have something going on in the academy that they are being super secretive about. Everyone has had ample time to prepare for today and I believe having my family here is the reason why I don’t feel at all frightened. Just as my mother is done with my hair, there is a knock on the door and Nereus walks in “hey! bad Luck to see her before” Alyssa starts saying “we’re not getting married” I cut her short, Nereus gives me a look and says “yet” Alyssa looks at the both of us with a coy smile “but the rule still applies, no?” Alyssa asks “No” my mother, Nereus and I respond. “I was hoping I could speak to you for a moment” Nereus says to me, my mother and Alyssa excuse us.

“How are you feeling? Nervous? Weird tingle down your spine? Nereus asks and I giggle “I am fine I promise” I tell him. He smiles then he stretches out his hand to me, I take it and he wraps me in a hug “I know your grandmother had no intention of sending you so far into the future, but I am very grateful to whomever or whatever botched the spell. I am glad you landed in my century” he whispers in my ears “you and I both” is my response. “And to think when first I arrived, I wanted to explode your head. you should really listen to me more”  I say 

“You can’t order me around I am older than you” he responds

“I was literally born like five centuries ago” 

“Yeah then you were sent here as a baby, when you arrived I was already ten years old”

“Wow if you want to shout about how ancient you are go ahead”

“Ancient? You were born like five hundred years ago”

“Nereus are you older or not, I’m going to need you to pick a struggle my darling”

“Why you little-”

He is cut short by Alyssa coming into the room “it’s time she says”. I hook my arm to Nereus’ arm and we make our way downstairs where everyone else is ready and waiting for us.

We make our way to the cave, since we have no sacredos and Shaia is dead, my mother makes the prayer. Anthony and Mirena put the white robe on me and then I make my way into the cave, alone. I walk until I get to a small pool inside the cave. The water is so clear and the rocks inside look like crystals. Above the pool is an opening and light from the moon is shining into the cave through it, I take off the robe, then my dress and I enter into the water. The coldness of the water shocks me at first, but as I continue it begins to feel comfortable and calming. I close my eyes and immerse myself in the water, when I open my eyes I am no longer inside the water or the cave, I am in a garden and my guide is there; Selene.

************

she turns to me and she smiles, she looks like she could be my age “this is a sort of astral realm, isn’t it?” I ask and she nods in response. “Your body is still in the cave, in the water, but you; your very essence is here with me” she says, her voice is the most soothing thing I have ever heard. She walks past a tree and now she looks older, like a mother “Celeste there is danger lurking” she says “okay, great or small and how do I stop it?” She laughs. It’s a beautiful thing to hear “every thing you need to defeat it, you already have, I will not interfere. I just warn that it is a lot closer than you believe it to be” that’s not very helpful but I am not about to say that to the moon goddess. “Before I leave I wish to ask one thing” I say “you want to know how you ended up a lot farther in the future than Kairos had intended” she responds, I am a little shocked but I nod. “Your mother, couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from you, so she tried to tamper with Kairos’s magic using her’s” my brain puts the remaining pieces together. My mother wasn’t aware that she had no powers and she was merely channelling my grandmother’s energy so when she tampered it did not have the desired effect. “One more thing child” Selene says looking old now “you need the dagger to fear it will only bring death”

************

I open my eyes and I am back in the water, I swim to the surface and take in air, and calm myself. Once my breathing returns to normal only one sound escapes my mouth.

Huh? 

Chapter 17: Shaia’s Book

I am seated in the middle of a circle surrounded by nine plain white balls, I take a deep breath and say “attollo”  and the balls begin to rise. I smile, feeling proud of myself then I focus my energy on my body and I begin to rise too “Okay now you’re just showing off” I hear Nereus say. I look at him and giggle then one of the balls explodes. That makes me lose my focus a bit and I drop to the ground, however, I catch myself a few inches from the floor and stand. Nereus gives me a look “okay that one wasn’t on me, I just balanced nine balls in the air plus myself, you distracted me” I say and he chuckles “I was going to say you did good” he responds, I roll up my mat then he and I make our way back home.

We have gotten a lot closer ever since we stopped trying to kill each other and he has lessened the amount of time I spent in physical combat training, between that and Lare acting as my therapist, I have actually been able to deal with most of my emotional and mental blockage so it would appear Shaia was right, I am gonna give that woman a hug when I see her. “Did you see where the scar appeared this time?” I ask Nereus, we have a working theory that the placement of my  crescent moon scar is based on what ability I am using. Any time I explode something the scar is on my left temple around my hairline, when I healed Nereus the scar appeared on the back of my left hand. “Close to your collarbone” Nereus says and I nod making a mental note to write that down when I get back in. “Shaia gave me a book” I tell Nereus when we are almost at the entrance of the house, he has an unreadable expression on his face then he asks “what did it say?” “I don’t know, I haven’t read it yet” I respond. He immediately stops and looks at me like a third eye just appeared on my forehead, I subconciously touch my forehead to be sure I haven’t sprouted an extra eye “the only person in the world that has a better understanding of this entire situation gave you a book and you haven’t read it yet?” he says, “I was in training” my voice is really low when I respond. He wraps me in a hug and whispers my ears “that’s a terrible excuse” he says “and everything else planned for you today is cancelled you are staying in the library until you are done with that book” he adds, I put my hand to my head like a soldier and respond “Sir yes sir” then I plant a kiss on his cheek. I go to my room, take a shower, pick up the book and head into the library.

The page I open, isn’t written by Shaia, In fact I think the entire book isn’t written by Shaia, it is signed by someone named “Kairos”

************

To My Grandchild, the Vessel:

My great-grandmother performed an experiment with twenty one of her peers; under the full moon, they transferred their powers to her and made a werewolf human. She was chosen because at the time she was the purest aetherius with both parents descended from the original aetherius bloodline. After that ceremony my great-grandmother was unable to transfer the powers back and all her peers who had performed the ceremony with her became powerless and human. Generations passed and no one remembered that story again except the aetheria of course, it was a warning to us never to attempt such a thing anymore but Niovi told the story to a friend that she trusted; Calix. 

At first Calix took no care for the story but when his friend Athanasios was made Alpha, Calix began to think he was called to a more glorious purpose than to be a beta. Instead of being a trusted right hand to his Alpha, Calix at every turn tried to undermine Athanasios’ authority. Athanasios came to a breaking point and demoted Calix, furious Calix vowed that he would create his own pack and it would be the strongest in the world. Of course he was laughed at, there was no way for him to achieve such a feat. 

Niovi was young and she thought Calix loved her so when he asked that she allow him into my grimoire she did. That was how Calix found out that in the right circumstance when the moon is at its peak an aetherius can channel the goddess’s power to strengthen a wolf so a half-blood would become like a pure blood and a pure blood would be even stronger. He reasoned that since a ceremony was performed to make a wolf human, surely one could be done to turn a human into a wolf. However not all aetherius can perform the ritual, most times it takes the combined effort of three and one of them has to act as the channelling vessel and they all have to be of age having had their moon ceremony, but Calix did not know this. So he manipulated Niovi to perform the ceremony to increase his power. Niovi was only sixteen, she tried but seeing as they did not do it the right way Niovi was struck and Calix ran away leaving her to die.

Niovi survived, I made sure of that; she healed and so did her broken heart. She went on to train as a warrior and excelled at it, however, after the failed moon ritual she stopped showing any of her aetherius abilities but I believed that would change after her moon ceremony. Her moon ceremony came and the worst thing happened, Niovi showed no signs of aetherius power, whatever Calix had made her do had doomed her and made her powerless. She didn’t seem to care, but I did so when the time was right I infused her with a bit of my powers and told everyone she was a time aetherius and lied to her also. My power made it possible for Niovi to predict every move an opponent was going to make on the battlefield and that’s what made her such a powerful warrior. She met Athanasios, they fell in love and were mated. 

Years later I began to hear news that a few aetheria had gone missing but I didn’t treat it as urgently as I should have because Niovi had just told me she and Athanasios were expecting a child. In that regard, I failed my duty as a sacredos. A young child named Shaia  had a vision about Niovi’s child and her mother Irene had sent word that they would be coming to see me. They arrived sooner than I had expected them; they had to flee from their home because Calix had attacked it with a band of malformed wolves and it was then I found out Calix had developed a weapon called the creation dagger. It had the ability to draw power out of an aetherius and he intended to use that to create his army of superior wolves. Calix was capturing helpless humans that were not in any way related or descended from the original seven bloodlines and trying to make them into new wolves. That required an enormous amount of power, It required the forbidden ritual to happen again a pure blood aetherius with both parents descended from the bloodline of the original aetherius; Niovi’s Child.

Unfortunately Calix has become too powerful and the only way to stop him is to perform the ceremony ourselves, but you my child would be too young. So I have devised a plan to send you to a place with a guide that would tell you what to do when the time is right. The last of us thirty aetherius left would imbue you with our powers and I would send you to a time when you can grow peacefully without Calix. When you come of age, you will have the power to save all the unfortunate humans tortured and turned by Calix.

************

I pause and close the book. My grandmother wrote this, she just wanted to send me a few years into the future  when Calix would have died but somehow overshot that goal. Her sole reason for sending me forward was to help reverse the rogue curse without Calix’s interference. But it’s five hundred years after and rogues still exist so that means….

Chapter 16: Truce

Nereus and his beta duck when they see the mirrors and all the glass in the training hall are broken and flying about, they are bracing for impact then Nereus realizes that nothing has hit him yet. Both he and Lare look up and see that they are inside a sort of bubble protecting them from the glass. The glass stops flying around; it is still in the air but it isn’t moving, then it starts flying towards Celeste and Nereus and Lare look at each other in horror as they realize what she is trying to do. Lare tries to leave the force field but he can’t and they are running out of time

************

I am fully aware at this moment that I am in control of everything happening, Nereus and Lare are being protected by a force field that neither of them can escape from and I am about to be run through by an insane amount of glass. Aetherius or not, I don’t think I am going to survive it and I don’t believe I want to. The glass has almost reached me now, I close my eyes waiting for impact then someone jumps in front of me and pushes me away.the glass drops to the floor and when I open my eyes Nereus is on top of me, he used his body as a shield for me; it would appear someone finally read the “how to be a guardian 101” handbook. “Are you okay?” He asks, I am still confused but I nod he rolls off me, the force field around Lare disappears and he runs towards the both of us asking if we are okay, we both nod in response to him. Still dazed, I look at Nereus wondering how he was able to escape my protection spell, I sit up and he gets on his knees in front of me. “Celeste” He starts but he doesn’t say anything else, His breathing is laboured and he falls to the ground. Lare rushes to him and turns him over “he’s hurt, I think few of the shattered glass got into his body”

 I put my hand over my mouth, this is all my fault. Nereus might be a pure-blood but the glass in his body will make it harder and take a longer time to heal. Lare tells me to watch him while he goes to fetch help. “Nereus I am so sorry” I say unable to control my tears any longer “You were right, I am so childish and immature and look what I done” I am still crying when I feel his hand touch my cheek “hey, hey listen to me” He says “I was wrong and I misjudged you, you have been carrying a lot and you have been doing it on your own for so long. I have been a terrible guardian to you Celeste” he adds “the worst” I say and we both chuckle. He grunts because laughing is very painful for him at the moment “how about we start all over again?” he says and I nod “hi, I am Nereus your guardian, pardon my dishevelled appearance my lady” I let out another sad laugh and I respond “hey, I’m Celeste nice to meet you sir”. Nereus puts his hand on mine and a feeling of relief washes over me as we have now come to a truce. The calming sensation I feel in my chest spreads to my arms and when it reaches my palm it looks like light coming out of me and going into Nereus’ body, shards of glass fly out of his body and his wounds close up and heal. The both of us gasp

“Did you just?”

“Did I just?”

“I think you just”

“Oh my goddess I think I did too”

I just unlocked my healing gift. Nereus and I hug each other and as we do the entire room is repaired, all the broken glass is restored and it’s almost as if the last one hour never occurred. “Good to see we are no longer exploding things” Nereus says when the training hall is finally restored, we are on our feet now and I playfully punch his shoulder. At That moment Lare comes rushing in with three other wolves and the shock on his face is hilarious, Nereus and I start laughing so hard. “How long was I gone for” Lare asks “long enough” Nereus responds holding my hand.

************

inside a cave the hooded figure is speaking to a rogue wolf that appears to be convulsing “sit” it instructs the rogue but like a stubborn dog the rogue doesn’t listen. Then the rogue charges towards the figure and it gets stabbed in the chest, the rogue falls to the ground and as it dies it turns into a human woman. “Another failure” a voice in the dark says “she was a human master, I suggest we use a wolf next time” the figure responds “No!” the voice responds. “We will make new wolves” the voice continues “The aetherius will come of age soon and when she does she will be ours. You know what to do with that” the voice adds and the figure nods then it takes the body and throws it to rogues in a cage and they immediately pounce and devour the body

Chapter 14: Guardian

“I am not letting you do this for me” Niovi says, struggling a little to get out of her chair as she is heavily pregnant, her mother; Kairos helps her up. They are in Niovi’s room and Kairos leads her to the bed. “We are not doing it for you, it has to be done” Kairos says “do you not understand the gravity of this situation?”  she continues “you are about to birth the most powerful aetherius to ever live, and Calix will stop at nothing till he gets her”. Niovi lays in bed and turns away from her mother, Kairos sighs and sits on the bed “the more of us he claims, the more powerful he gets. when the time comes I will send her away and hide her” Kairos gets up and heads towards the door “Where?” Niovi asks as soon as Kairos reaches the door. Kairos doesn’t answer she just looks at her daughter and then she leaves”

************

Five minutes fly by with my gaze darting between Shaia, Alpha Nereus and the man I am assuming is his beta because they appear to be around the same age. “Hello” Nereus finally says putting an end to the awkward silence “Shaia” I say while keeping my eyes on the Alpha and his beta “what’s going on?” I ask then Nereus and his beta get up. Nereus really is easy on the eyes, he doesn’t look like a spectacular Greek god with incredibly chiselled facial structures but he does look like he knows the way to a gym and visits it often. He is lean, about six feet three inches tall with hazel eyes and wavy hair. His beta is taller I’m guessing  six feet five inches with short brown hair and he is really good looking, he also has glasses on but they have no lenses. “Hello Celeste” the beta says “I am Lare Beta of the Lycius pack” confirming that I was right “we are here to take you” he adds. “Take what?” is my response.

This time Alpha Nereus speaks “you will be returning with us to the Lycius pack and that is where you will be residing from now till your moon ceremony so we can take care of you” I look at Shaia and she’s is just sitting down and enjoying her tea, after all her “the less people know about you the better” warnings how is she onboard with this? “First of all” I begin “I explode things without even thinking about it”, “I am aware” Nereus says looking somewhat amused “good so you know I have no need of protection” I add, “that is untrue” Shaia says before I can even continue “show her” she’s clearly giving the instruction to Nereus who reaches into his shirt and takes out a necklace that has a crystal pendant which looks a lot like my bracelet. As soon as he shows it to me both the pendant and my bracelet begin to glow and so does Shaia’s rock, the black one with the rune carving. “Well that settles it then” Shaia says “would you prefer to wait till morning?” she adds “no we leave tonight” Nereus says, I am just standing there shocked at how eager Shaia is to get rid of me. “Shaia if this is about all the crystals I exploded, I am really sorry” I say to her, then she gets up and holds my hands in hers “domine mi” she starts “I have showed you all I know, I believe being with your guardian will help the blockage in your heart”, “you could be wrong” I respond to her “that is true, but I know that your way path forward doesn’t lie here”. 

I get my things together, Lare collects my bag then Shaia asks that we have some privacy. Nereus goes to wait outside the door then I yell “I know you can still hear us, go wait it the car” he grunts then he leaves. Shaia gives me a book and says the words “by blood and by the moon” then she kisses my forehead and bids me farewell. I leave the cottage and make my way to the car, hugging the book to my chest.

“What kind of guardian are you anyway?” I say cheekily as I step into the car “you didn’t even open the door for me” I add “I am not your bodyguard, child” Nereus responds, I roll my eyes I knew he was only playing nice in front of Shaia. “My uncle is Alpha Eques and soon enough he-” Nereus cuts me off “If you want to go around and announce to the whole world what you are, be my guest. Put yourself and your family in danger” I am shocked, this person is supposed to be my guardian? I knew leaving Shaia was a bad idea “okay you know what? Please take me back I-” I  gasp and I am unable to complete my sentence, I feel a surge like electricity within my body, as though a volcano is erupting in my brain. The world starts to go dark and the last thing I see is a crescent moon scar on my right thumb.

************

a hooded figure makes its way into the cottage, Shaia has her blindfold on and she smiles. “Give me what I have come for” the figure says “I can not give what has already been given” Shaia responds. The figure moves in swift motion and stabs Shaia in the heart in a crystal dagger. Shaia falls to the ground and the figure sees there is a cut on her right palm and her crescent moon scar is gone. The black rock crumbles to dust and the figure lets out a frustrated shriek