EP 1 CHAPTER 4

EMBERLIN WOLFSONG

I just remain in my position, glancing at all of them, not knowing what to say. I am not the one who knows how to talk back when being tormented or laughed at. All I just know deep down within me is that today is going to be the last and final day something like this is ever going to happen. 

"Don't you have something to say?" Sage, their leader, steps forward and stands about a foot away from me, looking at me menacingly with her face and an inch away from mine. I can feel her warm, nasty breath against my face, making me tremble as usual, but I am not going to make it invisible to her. 

I bite my lip and place my hand against her chest in an attempt to push her away but she holds my wrist and pulls me along lifting her knee in a way that makes it come in contact with my stomach, and I see stars around my head. 

Oh my goodness, I suddenly become weak and fall back against the ground, clutching my belly and groaning in pain. Damn. I feel the urge to vomit. 

"Hey, what the hell is going on here?" I hear the voice of my usual savior and then struggle to fight the tears about to power out of my eyes. "Get away from here. Why can't you guys just, for once, give up on all these and be normal people, even if it is just once?" I hear his voice and then struggle to fight the tears about to spill out of my eyes. 

Within a moment, we are both alone, and then he assists me to stand up. "Hey, baby," he says, and I force myself to look up at him. "It's going to be over soon, okay?" He says, and then extends his hand to my belly. He then shut his eyes, and within a brief moment, the pain I was feeling all over my body was gone. 

I smile at him, and then wrap my arms around him, unable to hold the tears any much longer. "It's going to be over soon, baby. I promise you, okay?" He says, and I nod my head uncontrollably. "It is going to be over. Just don't worry. I'm not going to think about it too much. By the time the solstice arrives, your inner core will be activated, and those bullies won't even stand a chance against you anymore longer, okay?" He says calmly, and I nod my head in my position, smiling at him. He chuckles and rubs my hair. "Don't worry, it's just only a matter of moment..." He is unable to complete his sentence when the bell rings aloud suddenly, and then the principal's voice can be heard by the school speaker around the school. 

"Hello students, good morning, and welcome to the day of the solstice, the day when those at their prime age will manifest their inner core and show and prove to us that they are true inhabitants of DARKHAVEN. But I must announce that there has also been a slight change in plans. Our weather forecasts have observed that due to some irregular structure and imbalance in the Earth's crust, the solstice has been moved earlier, and will no longer hold by noon today. It is going to happen in a few moments from now. So every student should buckle up their shoes and head to the arena immediately with maximum urgency. No one should be left behind in the school building, and anyone caught will be punished according to the rules. Thank you."

Immediately, after that is said, I find myself gazing at the school speaker with wide eyes. 

"It is now?" I say softly, then I turn my focus to look at Alex. 

He smiles and chuckles. "Yes, dear, it is happening now." He says with a smile and holds either side of my cheek. "And it is going to be over soon. If it will be of any help to you, I can assist you and guide you so that no one will be able to distract you while you try to focus." He says, and I nod my head briskly, smiling uncontrollably at him with so much affection for how gentle and kind he is being to me. 

"I hope this goes well," I say, and he chuckles softly. 

"Don't worry, dear. It will. Just don't think too much about it." He says with a smile as he begins to lead me towards the arena with his arms around my waist.

"So long, loser. We are going to see how you're going to perform today," Sage says softly as she passes by with her gang, and they laugh out uncontrollably, walking past us. 

"Do not think too much about it. Focus on me, and focus on what you need to do," Alex says as he continues to lead me. 

Within a few moments, we are already standing in the arena, all of us who are already in the Ascension age, which is the age of 16, standing in our various assigned positions with a lot of spaces in between us as we prepare ourselves and wait for the moment when the moon is going to take over the sun and blacken out the entire DARKHAVEN. 

I am standing in my position with my fingers laced together and a lot of nervousness rocking my senses. "This is going to be the hardest day of my life. I need to do this," I think to myself as I look around me and observe the terrifying threatening faces of Sage and her gang. They are all looking at me with so much hatred and anger, and the look on their face is telling me that once the ascension is over, they are going to come for me first to make my life a living hell.

 I definitely cannot let that happen, not this time, no, not this time. I think to myself as I shut my eyes and then look around the thick darkness within me, trying to focus and locate my core, but all I can see is darkness and nothing but a void of emptiness. 

"What is going on? Why can't I find it?" I think to myself as I clench my eyelids together and try to focus more with my fist clenched together.

It is then that we all hear the loud sound of a trembling thunder, and I snap my eyes open. Everyone looks at the sky to observe the thick black cloud obstructing the sun and filling up the air, turning the day into a night.

 "Oh crap, it is just like Principal Vespera said. The solstice happened earlier than it should have. Why is it different from every other? What exactly is going on? Why did things have to go the other way when it was my turn?" I had thought that the time from now till noon would have been enough for me to prepare, but this is just so urgent, and I didn't expect it to be this way. I have to focus with maximum speed and attention. Nothing has to distract me. The full moon soon arrives once the entire sky has been blackened, and that is when the transformation is supposed to occur. I am not supposed to be focusing on anything else.

I immediately shut my eyes and clenched my fists together. "Now is it time for you to show up, god dammit? Where are you, my inner wolf?" I question myself as I shut my eyes tight with so much force till I feel my muscles aching, but all I can see is a void of emptiness. 

"What is going on? Why can't I find my core? Why can't I fucking find it? What is going on? How am I supposed to pull it out when I can't even see it? Why is it hidden from my sight?" My goodness, I am seeing nothing. I find myself stress-finding and searching endlessly within me to look at the bright white orb I am supposed to find and pull out of myself, but I can see nothing except a thick darkness, absolutely nothing else. 

"Oh crap, I can't be doomed. Something has to work here."

It is then that I begin to hear the cracking of bones and growling sounds. I snap my eyes open to look at everyone else around me, gradually and slowly transforming into their wolves. Some lycans. And other vampires. 

 "Oh shit, oh no, this can't be happening." I shut my eyes once again and struggle within myself, focusing on the thick darkness. "Why am I not seeing anything? This is not a helping issue. It is not helping issues that I can't even see what I'm supposed to bring out."

 I open my eyes again and look at all of them; they have already ascended and are already walking around in their beast forms, growling and howling and screeching into the thick darkness. 

I am doomed. I shut my eyes again and clenched my fists with every power within me. I can feel my veins about to explode, but I am not even seeing shit. 

"What is going on?" I feel slight tears dripping from my eyes. "This cannot be possible. My father is so going to be disappointed in me." I imagine his face in my head as he glares at me. 

"What are you waiting for, Emberlyn? Why isn't your wolf out?" He says, and then my heartbeat begins to pound uncontrollably in my chest. 

"Oh no, is this what I am going to be? What I saw in my dream is it true? Am I a failure? Is this what I was destined to become alone?" Am I the pitiful peasant that everyone has already tagged me to be? 

I slowly open my eyes, already dripping with tears, as I behold a very ginormous large brown-haired wolf stomping towards me with his menacing glittering gold eyes. I gulp down hard and then begin to step backward. 

My instinct has already told me that this is Sage. Oh crap, she doesn't waste time. Before long, a few other wolves also surround me, and with time, I am surrounded by seven dangerous-looking, frightening wolves, snarling at me in their positions, ready to pounce on me at any moment. 

"Fuck, I guess this is it. The moment of my judgment has arrived."