Chapter 2

[ 2 weeks in the past ]

FIRST DAWN

There was a time when the universe was still young, the stars raced across the night sky, skirting across the sun's width and then zooming out to expunge their energy in their fiery downward tumble to Earth. The Earth, the new born races called it Mother Earth because of her caring and uncaring tendencies towards them juxtaposed side by side in the form of heavy home destroying rainfalls and fertile soil, angry storms that hurtled down the mountains to wipe out months worth of plantations and freshly grown trees which the Earth's inhabitants used in making homes and at some point, fortifications.

Three major races inhabited this rugged firma terra. There was the race of Humans who lived, loved and prospered, hurdled and safe behind their high stone walls in the Kingdom Of Greelania ruled by King Stefan to the West. The second race was that of the Vampires, in local human tongue they called them "The pale skins" for it was considered a bad omen to say the word "vampire" when one was in the company of others. The Vampires who were ruled by The Blood-Father Kolden were the most prideful, arrogant and most cunning of all the races lived high up in the North in Vamparia, the land of vampires, nestled loathingly behind the dreaded forest known as Widows Woods. To the East, there resided the Werewolves led by the recently ascended Alpha Wolf Lucian , the descendants of Lycan the Fanged who was said to be cursed by the Elder gods to bear the physique of a wolf in human form. The Werewolves inhabited the kingdom of Werekult, the land in which bones of Invaders and straying travellers still hung from broken ships at the edge of the Valed River which separated much of Werekult from the rest of the world.

Just beyond the Valed River, the Gorgon Mountains sat prominent for all to gaze upon and tremble in it's shadow. Rising impossibly sky high, local Werewolves bonfire folktales spoke of when the Elder gods battled it out with Lycan the Fanged, one of the Elder Gods in a fit of rage tried to bash Lycan's head in from behind with a boulder but Lycan was agile enough to shift out of the reach of the God's arm, this Elder God then missed his step and the boulder tumbled down to Earth and became the Gorgon Mountains. To the South laid the charming but mysterious woods known as Burnt Side Forest to the natives because of how brown the barks of the trees facing outward of the forest were. Home to numerous creatures from silver haired banshees to club wielding trolls, from kind-hearted sorcerers to amateur bandits, Burnt Side offered natural sanctuary to all that entered during the day but it offered no such help during the night as angry trolls staggered by, swinging and smashing trees all about while under the influence of Fungus Beer, and bandits clashed nightly over who would have control over the choicest areas of the forest with bodies strewn all about by morning, testament to a few "negotiations" gone wrong during the twilight hours.

This was Earth as the various races came to know it, home to all and partial to none. A little war and strife here and there but each race knew their place in the natural order of things .

WEREKULT, THE ROYAL PALACE.

Lucian The Bold, leader of the Wolves paced about his palace murmuring and flexing his fingers as he awaited word from the scouts he had sent towards Burnt Side Forest for reconnaissance just before the break of dawn. "Hail Lord Lucian, Scion of Lycan, how fare thee upon this hour" was the heavy voice of Damon, Lucian's Second-In-Command as he walked into the palace. Lucian turned his head upon hearing Damon's voice and began to walk towards his throne. "Damon, do tell me, why are you not out trying to rendezvous with the scouts or have you suddenly grown pig headed and complacent," Lucian with a deep growl then sat on his throne and set his eyes firmly on Damon while uttering a single word, "Speak."

Damon who had at this point of being mentally bludgeoned by the Alpha Wolf then spoke up. "My Lord Lucian, as you are well aware; our borders with the Vampires to the High North are much more closer than our borders with the Humans. This is why I have been focusing more on our Northern borders in order to strengthen it against any possible attack. Our border with the Humans, if I may speak freely my Lord, is considered impenetrable by me so our scouts should be having a field day there and are probably on their way back from morning patrols."

With this statement, Damon made a slight bow to the Alpha Wolf while smirking slightly but unnoticeable. Lucian the Bold who had all this time been paying attention to Damon speaking while his fingers were crossed in front of him then rose from his throne and began to walk to a nearby table.

"Damon, do you know how a kingdom falls to enemies?" To this question Damon replied yes with a semi confused face.

"Yes my Lord, a kingdom falls when there are no sufficient military forces to combat the attacking forces". With a slight laugh, Lucian reached for an oaken table set to a spot in the palace and reached for an item covered in thick cloth.

"No Damon, you got it wrong in a way, a kingdom falls when those in authority feel too confident of their capabilities that they fail to carry out proper evaluations of their position from time to time thereby leaving a gap or as the sea farers would put it "a chink" in their armor, giving leeway for the enemy to sneakily destroy them."

Lucian while picking up the covered object from the oaken table turned and walked slowly to Damon whose eyes were flitting from Lucian's face to the item in his hand which he began to unwrap.

"Damon, when next you choose to be complacent about your duties, I want you to remember one thing"..... With an inhuman speed, Lucian dropped the cloth and grabbed Damon's neck with the claws of his transformed left hand and raised the object which turned out to be a dagger soaked in wolfsbane to his neck, so close that when Damon tries to swallow spit, the blade cut into a small part of his neck and caused that little part of his neck skin to peel off while he bled a little. Lucian while looking into Damon's pleading eyes then said to him

"Remember that I'm Lucian the Bold, Alpha Wolf of Werekult, Scion of Lycan the Fanged and Terror Of The Valed River. You'll do as I command and when I command it or else this will be the last time I'll be this civil with you, now get your furry hide out of my palace."

While Lucian released Damon from his grip, he turned back in the direction of the oaken table and threw the dagger towards the table and without looking back said to Damon.

"The scent of your fear disgusts me". Damon with his head held low, turned towards the palace door and began walking out while reaching for his already healing injury with an angry look upon his face.

The Wolf scouts while out scouting the edges of Burnt Side forest came across a few human travellers straying too close to their brothers and immediately attacked them with claws and chains. The scouts killed some of the travellers who had initially resisted and put the rest in chains to be dragged back to Werekult for interrogation as to what they were doing this far in the woods and straying into werewolf territory.