PROLOGUE
❧ W O L V E S & W A R R I O R S ❧
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"Exchanging only our separate fates that were meant to lead to one another."
- Baby Don't Cry, EXO
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P R O L O G U E
5 Years Ago
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"It was a dark and stormy night."
The car crunched over gravel as we drove, darkness beginning to settle in as the sun disappeared behind the icy peaks of the mountains. The weather was cool, the wind blowing gently from the window as my parents laughed softly from the driver's seat. "Are you reading him another story? You're spoiling him!" My mother teased, turning over to ruffle my brother's hair as my father glanced at us from the mirror and smiled. "Noona doesn't even read properly," My little brother, Sol, complained as he tried to grab the novel away from me. "She's always playing around - that's not what it says! Read it again!" I laughed and tickled him as he made an attempt to snatch at the book, knowing that I couldn't trick him. He knew all the words by heart, and even though he was only four, he'd always been extremely intelligent and held an insatiable love for reading. There was no way he would settle down unless I told his favorite story.
"Okay, okay. Once upon a time..." I feigned reading again, snorting in laughter when I saw the stricken expression on his face.
"NOONA!"
I chuckled and thumbed the pages, before my voice rang out among the silence in the car, and began the story.
"There once was a beautiful princess, and her name was Rhea. The daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the gods of the sky and the earth, she fell in love with Mars, the Roman god of war. They were happy together, and spent many days ruling over their kingdom."
"Rhea must have been a beauty," Sol said, his eyes glimmering in the faint moonlight. I rolled my eyes at how entranced he was by the story already. "Yeah, just about almost as beautiful as me," I said, as he let out a snort.
"Noona, it doesn't really take much," he retorted sarcastically, as I glared at him and pretended to close the book.
"And so this Princess Rhea, who was obviously not as beautiful as me, lived harmoniously with her entire family in the palace. However, things didn't stay peaceful for long, because there were many people plotting to destroy their family. Upset with how long Uranus and Gaia had ruled over the country, as well as jealous of their prosperity, this caused conflict amongst the kingdom between them and the other gods. At this time, Rhea had two beautiful children - twin boys - who had become the talk of the village. Prophets as well as fortune-tellers all bragged about the wonder of these two children, and how they were both going to grow up into magnificent rulers who were intelligent, handsome, talented - and loved by their people."
"But the people hated the children, right?" Sol asked, interrupting the story, even though he knew what was going to happen next.
"They despised them. The gods grew envious and spiteful of the family because of their great fortune - especially as their own children had often suffered tragic fates, but Rhea and Mars' twins were destined for prosperity in their futures. Because of this, they caused the villagers in the city to resent them, making Rhea become devastated and scared by the revenge the gods were seeking upon her. Because she wished to protect her boys, she was determined to save them from the gods' rage, even if that meant abandoning them by the side of a river. Eventually, a female wolf came upon the two boys and took care of them, raising them herself. Her own cubs had died during childbirth, and so despite the fact that they were human and she was a wolf, she came to love them as her own children, naming them Romulus and Remus. Hoping that they would grow up to support one another, she nutured, taught, and helped them to live as both human and wolf."
"The mother wolf died, didn't she?" Sol asked, listening intently as the story began to progress.
"Yes, she did. And when that happened, the two boys were spotted by a farmer, who took them into his care. However, they were bored by the country life, and they wanted to become powerful. Ambitiously, they decided to build their own city, and it began to grow in popularity as people flocked there to create settlements and start their own families. It was peaceful, until the inhabitants grew to a point where they decided they needed a ruler."
"But there could only be one ruler," Sol whispered.
"That's right. There could only be one ruler, and Romulus and Remus could not decide between who would become the king of the country. They both had the desire to rule, because they had built the city, and wished to hold power over their own kingdom, just like their parents. Because of this, they started to become angry with one another and distrustful, sending spies to watch the other brother, stealing possessions from each other, and spreading lies against each other. The brothers, who were once extremely close and had grown up as a pack, had now become enemies, desperate to hold the rights to rule over their kingdom. One day, as they confronted one another about who should rule, Romulus picked up a rock and stoned Remus, killing him. Because of this, Romulus became new ruler of the city."
"Wasn't he ever angry at himself that he had killed his brother?" Sol asked.
"Perhaps. In the end, Romulus got what he thought he wanted the most - the position of ruler over his city. However, along the way, he lost the thing that was the most important to him - his brother. How could anyone live like that?" I said, closing the book and placing it beside me, as Sol rubbed his sleepy eyes.
"I would never betray you like that, noona," My brother said, as his shoulder fell on to his car seat. "Never."
"I know, baby. I know," I said, grabbing my jacket and placing it on his shoulders. As he snuggled into the warmth of the clothes, I looked out at the window and smiled when I saw that my parents were holding hands. It was peaceful and quiet, and despite the darkness outside, I felt immensely safe and loved. I was so blessed to have such a great family, as well as many friends and people that loved me. And it was moments like these, where we were all sitting in the car, happily content with one another that I felt a surge of pride and happiness because of my family.
"We're almost at home, honey. Would you mind closing the window at the back?" My mom suddenly asked.
I nodded, turning around so I could push the flat pane of glass back into place. My hand touching the cool surface, I was about to lock it, when I saw a streak of brown and heard a small growl from behind the car. Peering out the window, I gasped as I saw a massive wolf, larger than humanly possible, stare at me with its haunting amber eyes.
"M-m-mom?" I asked, turning around to tap her shoulder. "Mom, there's something - "
"Hmm?" She asked, glancing at the back. There was nothing, and the road was completely deserted. The spotlights were on, casting a haunting, yellow glow across the pavement, but there was nothing else that was sharing the lane with us. Confused, I gripped on to my mother's arm tightly, wondering if I had suddenly gone insane. Blinking my eyes quickly, I swore that over by the trees at the side of the road, there was a -
BANG!
I suddenly heard screaming and didn't know if it came from my own mouth or my parents. A giant, ferocious monster leapt on to the car, his teeth gnashing, eyes glaring with hatred at us. Its paws raked the dashboard of the window as it created jagged slashes into the metal exterior, its roar resonating from within the vehicle. I grabbed on to Sol, gripping him tightly as he began to cry, and my father immediately veered off the road, unable to see because of the beast that was trying to attack us. All of a sudden, the car overturned, falling down a steep embankment and into a deserted shoreline, sliding deep into the dirt as the animal above thrashed and howled as it followed. I heard more crashing as I felt the weight of the wolf pummeling at us, the only thing protecting us being the metal door of the vehicle, which was beginning to crunch under the mass of the beast.
"HELP US! PLEASE, HELP US!" I cried, sobbing as I saw lacerations on my father's head and blood on the front of the car.
Why was everything so red?
Clutching Sol in my arms, I closed my eyes tightly as the world suddenly began to grow quiet. Despite the chaos that had occurred earlier, it was suddenly silent, as if something was waiting behind the shadows of the night. Holding my brother tighter, I let out another scream as I heard another deafening bang. My eyes flew wide open, and I saw another wolf, this one black as darkness itself, slamming into the brown one. They wrestled on the ground furiously, the black wolf snapping in rage as the brown one attacked on par to his opponent. Snapping at one another, I could tell that the black one was more powerful, and that he was trying to stop the brown one from coming closer to the car. Always blocking us with his massive body, the black wolf let out a growl of rage as it faced the brown one.
And then, I saw the brown wolf suddenly smirk.
Another wolf, this one a tawny colour, bounded across the clearing and targeted the black one. Thrown off in surprise, the black wolf immediately flung him off, but it was too late - he had lost his footing, and the larger brown animal had pounced on him from behind. I could see the massive jaws of the brown wolf suddenly clamp over the black one's neck, biting into it roughly as the black one let out a howl of pain.
"No - No - Stop - No -"
I was incoherent, mumbling random words as I saw the brown one now overpower the black one, shredding his claws across its fur - there was more blood, more noises, until I heard the sounds of sirens nearing the scene. The brown wolf's ears caught the noise, and he motioned for the smaller tawny wolf to head back into the forest. Glaring at me with his luminous eyes, his white teeth curling into a cruel smile, he grabbed the motionless black wolf by the scruff of its neck and flung it into the ocean, the dead body sinking into the water quickly, destroying all evidence of what had occurred. Running back into the forest, he let out a sharp roar before hiding into the dense vegetation, the color of his fur immediately blending into the environment.
There was silence for a moment as I tried in vain to look for the black wolf.
It - it died - trying to save me?
It was then that I saw a shadow come near me with warm, brown eyes. It was another wolf, but his face was kinder, and for some reason I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. Slowly losing consciousness, I said something, a couple words I felt it wanted to know -
And the last thing I heard was a heartbreaking, mournful howl of grief from that figure before I out into the darkness,
Losing my ability to speak.
Kris dashed through the forest, his paws catching on a thicket of briers, the thorns embedding themselves even in his thick pelt. His heart was racing, and he could feel his legs aching from the strain of the sprinting, but he didn't care. Nearly crashing into the thick trunk of an oak tree, he dashed to the left, furious at himself for being unable to make it on time and help his pack member. He could already feel the rampage between the two beasts from miles away due to his heightened senses while he was in wolf form, and his paws began to clench as he forced himself to run faster. Although he knew that their leader had an advantage in terms of strength, he also knew that Chanyeol was especially vicious in battle - and he was more than capable of playing dirty.
He couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't let that happen.
Suho. Suho. SUHO!
Wishing that he could hear him, Kris bounded across the forest faster, heading to the cliff on top of the embankment. Even though he could see easily through the darkness, he felt anxiety course through his veins when he couldn't detect the presence of any wolf.
Where had they gone? They were just there a second ago, I could -
The sirens that were beginning to head towards the area made his head pound, their frequency increasing as they neared the accident site. Shaking his head and willing himself to calm down, he suddenly noticed a car that had been overturned. It was obvious a struggle had occurred - he could see the paw marks and tracks surrounding the vehicle, and dust had flown everyone in order to obscure the sight of the battle. A girl was clutching a little boy in her arms, and they were huddled in the backseat, their intense fear radiating off like thunderous waves towards Kris. Running towards them, Kris slowly nudged the door open, and saw that the parents in the front of the seat had their eyes closed. Placing his muzzle near their faces, he felt a deep sorrow in his chest when he couldn't pick up a heartbeat from them.
Staring at the two children in the car, Kris felt relieved to know that they were alive. He could sense a heartbeat from them, and despite their shock, Kris knew that they would make it out of the devastation they'd been through. His eyes widened, though, when the girl's eyes met his own. He was about to run away, afraid to scare her again, when she weakly spoke a few words to him.
"t-t-the - the - black one - he "
Suho?
She out before she was able to say any more, but then he felt another body collapse next to him, and turned backwards to face D.O. The younger boy had sweat plastering his bangs to his face, and his eyes were red, his complexion paler than the full moon that hung softly in the sky.Having transitioned from his wolf form back into a human, D.O looked as if he were on the verge of tears. Breathless and shaky, he almost collapsed before Kris caught him. "Hyung - " he said, his voice fragmented into broken pieces, as if he wasn't capable of speech anymore. Kris could feel adrenaline rumble through his veins as he sensed what the younger member was about to say - D.O held the power of Earth. He was able to sense things on the planet that they couldn't -
Things such as life and death.
"Hyung - I -"
"I-I can't feel Suho's presence anymore," D.O said, as Kris closed his eyes.
Letting out a wailing howl of pain, Kris knew. Their leader wasn't immortal. He wasn't as strong as they thought he was.
He was now dead.
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