➳ Pernwél
I’ve never been so lost in my life.
Everything around me was different, I didn’t know where I was.
The only thing I wanted right now is to be back in my bed and wish that this morning never happened.
*Flashback.
An ear-piercing sound forced me to open my eyes.
I was in my room.
I saw smoke coming beneath the crack of the door and alarm bells went off in my mind. We were under attack.
I jumped up in a defensive stance and used my years of combat training to look around and assess the situation. I needed to move fast, take the provision bag prepared for these things and get to the main house with the rest of the village.
When we went into war-mode the procedure was to gather everyone under the same roof of the fortified quarters where our King and Queen resided.
The fire started lapping at the wood of my treehouse and the smoke is getting thicker. Ignition arrows. Damn.
I strapped my combat belt around my waist and pulled my emergency bag around my shoulder. I walked up to the window in the back and shot a cable arrow with my bow to the tree behind.
I lived on the border of our village so the attack had just begun and I heard the first horns going off in the distance. Time to move.
In one swift move I tied the leather strap around the cable and descended at a vertiginous speed cruising through the air. I landed with a thud on the foliage of the forest with my boots and looked around for our other warriors.
I saw Emaer in the distance and he made the signal to keep moving. I ran and took my bow out with an arrow ready to shoot if necessary.
We had been trained for this since we were little so this is nothing new to us. Our species moved as one with nature and we were very good at hiding ourselves between the trees in the forest. This made us very fast and not easy to catch.
As I listened to the sounds and gazed around I saw that my tree was one of the first to be hit. That gave us enough time to move to the main house and prepare for battle. More warriors gathered around us in the forest, moving all in the same direction.
To protect and serve our King and Queen.
We got to the biggest tree in the forest and our people were entering through the big wooden gates to safety. The warriors with bow and arrows took the high terraces as instructed and the sword fighters stayed at ground level.
I went inside with the rest to join the personal guard. I was one of the best warriors, being proficient with bow and arrow, sword and fighting. Normally I should live closer to the King and Queen’s quarters but as many didn’t accept that a young woman held such a high position near the court I kept to myself, hence why I lived on the border on my own.
I passed the groups of people gathering resources and bringing children to the chambers in the deepest parts of the big tree, to the safest rooms. Making my way through to the King and Queen’s chambers I was greeted with a nod from the other guards.
We took our places and the second horn blared, letting us know that the gates were closed and everybody was inside.
The battle began and chaos unleashed.
The sounds of whistling arrows piercing the air and swords slashing engulfed us, followed by screams and warcries.
The third horn blared, indicating that they got into the premises. I got nervous, we weren’t anticipating that they would outnumber us so quickly. We had some extremely good warriors and training. This was all going too fast.
I had to make fast decisions, calculating I had a few minutes left until they came into our sight. The guards next to me were shuffling on their feet, noticing the same thing I was. We were not getting out of here alive.
I pulled the side door open and walked into the royal chamber.
“What is happening Pernwél?” The King asked me as soon as I slipped into the room.
“It doesn’t look good, my Lord.” I stated.
He simply nodded and looked to his wife, the Queen.
She moved to the adjacent room where her potions and magic books resided. The Queen was the only one with the power of druidic magic. It wasn’t to be used lightly, everything came at a price and when she used it for emergencies it drained her.
We heard the guards battling just outside the doors indicating there was almost no time left.
“We must make haste, my Lord.” I said to the King while moving closer to where the Queen was to protect her. I saw her pouring bottles of liquid and putting herbs into the cauldron on the table.
The doors were slashed down with axes. I saw the King stepping forward with his sword, but no use, they were too many and a spear was shoved into his chest.
I took a protective stance with my sword in front of the Queen as they barreled inside. I fought them with all my might. I was trained to protect and serve them, I already lost the King and I was trying to save the Queen or die trying. The cauldron was pushed off the table amidst the battle and the liquid spilled around me, pooling at my feet.
A bright light blinded me and an explosion followed.
Everything around me faded in the brightness and I felt a strange tugging sensation like being pulled by my navel. I was still holding my sword with my two hands and waving it around trying to hit the enemy, but there was nothing around me.
Suddenly I feel myself falling and thudded on the hard ground on my bottom. The brightness dissipated and I tried to look around me as my vision cleared.
*
I was no longer in the royal chambers.
I fell through a portal.
Where the hell was I?
I tried to take in my surroundings. I was in a forest, but I didn’t recognise it as my own. The trees were different and the wind rushed at another beat through the leaves.
Then it dawned to me.
Agmysther was no more.
➳Pernwél Pushing back the tears that tried to break free from my eyes, I got myself up from the ground and looked at the provisions that I had with me. Counting my weapons I had my sword, bow, two normal and one ignition arrow. In my belt were some knives and a dagger. I pulled my hood over my head and pointy ears to cover myself. The fabric was mossy green so I could hide better in the woods. My long silver hair would reflect the sunlight and I would be easier to spot. I was in unknown land and I had no idea what or whom lived here. Spotting some trees and rocks together I moved behind them to protect myself as I did some inventory on the rest of my belongings. In my bag I had water, some crackers and dried fruit. Typical warrior package for scouting. More daggers, two of which I put between the straps of my boots, handy for throwing. An extra hood and some warmer clothes in case the weather chan
🐾Alpha Jake My Beta Darren brought in a strange girl earlier. He claims that he found her in the woods on the daily patrol of our borders. Our pack is well hidden deep in the mountains so I don’t have a clue how she got here. We keep to ourselves because we train our warriors thouroughly and we don’t want anyone from the outside snooping around or finding out about our patrol schedule and training. There were a lot of neighboring packs that wanted to know more about Grey Moon, we had some of the best werewolf warriors in existence and we were self-sufficient and wealthy. We had alliances with other packs and we worked together in times of need or war but, being a big pack like ours leads to creating enemies based on border lines and jealousies, also resulting from time to time in a rogue attack. He said she was by herself and it didn’t look like she was planning anything against us. She was start
➳Pernwél The leader, Alpha Jake, had come to interrogate me. I get it. I’m on his land and he has to make sure I’m not a threat to his people. I’ve been a warrior my whole life knowing what to do in every situation because I was instructed to do so. This was a different situation. I’m alone, exhausted and definitely not in my village anymore. Even if I tried to make my escape I would be caught in a matter of minutes. I needn’t fight nor run at this point, so I answered his questions the best that I could and hoped that I would be spared. From his explanation of my whereabouts I found myself in a different world entirely. I never heard of shifters, less about werewolves. I saw before that it entailed to transform from wolf into man and vice versa. Just like normal wolves travel and hunt in packs, these people, werewolves, lived together in this little town. They call themselves the Grey Moo
🐾Alpha Jake After I left Pernwél in the kitchen with Myriam and Anna, I retreated into my study. I had to think over a lot of things. Wolves mate for life, and there is only one person in the whole of existence chosen for you by the Moon Goddess, or so it says in our folklore and legends. Sometimes it happens that one of them dies before meeting each other after turning of age, and in these cases, it could happen that you would find a second chance mate. It is very rare, but I’ve seen it once before. If you are a werewolf you can find your mate after your eighteenth birthday. The bond can be triggered by smell, touch, or like I just witnessed in the basement, by looking into your mate’s eyes. After looking into those beautiful green eyes I felt my wolf growl to life, expecting us to claim her right on the spot, but I had to approach this differently than a normal mate bond between two werewolves.
➳Pernwél Sunrays slightly dance around my fur, caressing it with its warmth. It softly plays with the colors of the leaves falling from the trees, welcoming autumn. Before my eyes, guided by the wind that streams through them, a dance of light and color takes place. A breathtaking view, to partake in the beauty of nature. The rustling of the falling leaves onto the mossy ground, littering a carpet made of the reddish and maroon tones of the withering of the summer season. Admiring the sounds of the forest with my enhanced hearing and being able to smell the earthy tones of the trees with hints of herbs and a few flowers that still bloomed, I revel in the connection my paws make onto the surface as I slowly pace through it, taking everything in. I don’t remember this particular forest, it’s not the one I’m used to running in. I sniffed around following the scent of wa
➳Pernwél Alpha Jake looked at me and pointed to the outlines of the field that were marked with a white line. “They are putting up the obstacle course,” he said faintly, almost whispering. “First we run a lap or two to warm up.” I was looking at all the werewolves working in perfect sync, but when they saw their leader, they bowed their head to the side slightly, revealing their necks while uttering “Good morning, Alpha.” in unison. “Good morning Grey Moon pack.” He bellowed, so everyone on the field would hear him. It was a powerful voice and he radiated that aura again. I presumed it was what made him the leader. “Pack, this is Pernwél.” He said gesturing to me. “She will join us today.” They looked at me with questions burning in their eyes, but they didn’t ask anything. I don’t think they were used to strangers walking in on their training sessions, but they didn’t dare question their
🐾Alpha Jake Like every morning, except on weekends, we had pack training. Every adult wolf came to the training fields at the crack of dawn to run across an obstacle course that changed patterns every day and spar. The werewolves of my pack were very well trained and pushed harder in every way to become stronger, doing justice to being one of the best packs to ever exist. I took pride in the resilience of my people. They knew that belonging to this pack also meant having to protect the elders, children and non-warriors amongst them and fight for it very often. That entailed also the importance of training and they took it very seriously. The obstacle course built stamina and speed, keeping them focused and giving options to analyze, strategize and provide a new challenge every day. It kept them on their toes anticipating every possible outcome. I was surprised this morning that Pernwél wa
➳ Pernwél What’s wrong with me? I never used to falter and I could stay stoic and in charge of my emotions. Like it should pertain to a warrior like me. This has all been so strange. It’s like something is messing with my hormones. Maybe these strange shifters are getting to me. Sighing, I closed the door behind me as I got to my room in the packhouse. No, I said to myself, that’s not it. I’ve been on a rollercoaster of sorts the last two days, the notion that my village is gone hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’ve been too busy adapting myself to this new Realm. I jumped at the opportunity to train because it’s where I am most in my element, I’m used to it. The physical exercise was so