THE REVEALING

Trying to pack whatever they could so that they could move away quickly as they used to, the mob caught up with them before they could make a run for it, they raging and aggrieved crowd came upon them, blocking them off. 

             

The leaders of the various packs, the progenitor of the early settlers, the leaders of the founding families, the original pure bloods, came to the forefront where the angry and raging mob were, standing in between them and their packs.

                 

The leader of the mob, Festus Claudius came forward and said, "Behold, the devil walks among us! But we are here to send him and his cohorts back to hell. You have robbed us of our loved ones, rampaged our cattles. But finally, your day of recompense is upon you beasts." 

                

The original pure bloods tried to reason with them, but the mob was out for blood, hence, they didn't concede to reason. Tensions rose, the anger many flared, and then, a human attacked one of the pure bloods, by name Jasper Vander. 

              

He was struck him with a club but it had no serious effect on him. He held his anger in, trying his best to curtail any further escalation. But he still got struck by the same human. And this time the human dared him saying, "Are you scared to fight back? I dare you to attack back." 

              

"What can you do?" he said. "They say you're the spawn of the devil himself. Show me what you truly are," he added. These which he spoke were words put in his mouth, and his actions sponsored by Festus Claudius. 

              

Contrary to the expectation of the raging human crowd, the pure blood held his peace, as against his violent nature, because of the vicious beast within him. 

               

A cold silence swept accross the atmosphere when the pure blood was challenged head on by the pawn of Festus Claudius. 

               

The humans were curious to see their suspicions proven either wrong or right, but of truth, they were hoping for the latter, because they needed someone to blame and the aggrieved families needed closure. 

               

But what they would see, would leave them the same again. The human still pushed further, raving and insulting them, trying to stare his anger, and everyone on both sides were ready for any outcome as a non verbal tension built, but the humans were no match for what would unfold. 

             

Then, a werewolf began welling up with fury, and was at the brink of a full transformation. Festus had cleverly arranged with another fanatic of his, unknown to the first one he had put up to stare the leader of the pack to anger, just in case he shows restraint. 

              

Festus had reasoned that the younger ones of the pack may be easier to push to respond violently, thereby revealing what they've been hiding from humanity over the years.

                   

A growl was heard from the right hand side of the pack s they stood facing the human crowd. With that sound, he knew all hell was about break loose, but he still tried to calm the situation down, ordering the young wolf the second son of one of the pure bloods to get a hold of himself.

                   

But then he looked up and noticed that there was a full moon that night, and he likelihood of blood not being shed that night very slim. Fanatics of Festus began pushing forward to attack the pack, for they had not transformed yet. 

                

When a human raised his club that had spikes at the other end and tried hitting another member of the pack, he grabbed the club, looking straight into the eyes of the aggressor, his eyes changed, reflecting light back as that of a wolf, and he began transforming right in front of them all. 

              

The aggressor fell backwards in shock, seeing the most horrific thing he had ever seen in his entire life. They could hear his bones breaking as they twisted, and sounds of agony as he changed. 

            

His teeth grew longer into fangs in his mouth, his nails extended as razor sharp claws, hairs grew around him, and by the time his transformation was complete, it was an eight foot beast that stood before their very eyes. 

            

Seeing this, Festus cried out, "They are real! They are real! I told you the devil walks amongst us, and you never believed me. Now you see!" In shock and utter terror many some took to their heels, and a brave few stood their ground, ready for a fight with a creature that was but a legend to them before that moment. 

              

As the humans charged to attack, the pure bloods, the five leaders of the werewolves stood in front as a line of defense, and Jasper Vander said, "We mean you no harm please, put down your weapons and we'll be on our way." But his pleas fell on deaf ears.

               

They witnessed in terror the reality of the mythological beast of the night transform before their very eyes.

              

A brave but foolish man with a pitch fork ran forward trying to attack Jasper. But he grabbed the pitch fork by one of the hooks, and said, no harm will come on my family, not on my watch. And with one swoop, he grabbed him by the neck and flung him 10 feet backwards.

               

Then, the pure bloods looked at each other, and that look non verbally communicated that this meant war, and they'd do anything to protect their own.

               

Then, they took off their thick coats made of animal fur, and transformed into even more fierce looking and huger werewolves. From that moment on, the battle line was drawn between humans and werewolves.

               

A great slaughter followed, with the humans suffering most casualties. The whole pack transformed in defense of themselves, but they went the extra, wreaking havoc in the whole town. 

              

Humans were torn apart, the city was set ablaze because of the rampage as men fled for their lives and their fire torches falling on stable hay burning down the wooden houses.

               

The werewolves dispersed them into the dark of the night. And with minimal visibility, they were easy prey for the werewolves who thrived mostly at night and were adapted to rule the night. 

              

Festus Claudius made away with a handful of his zealots, but some fought bravely but died doing so. 

               

Hundreds were laid waste that night and from a distance the screams of terror could be heard, and the fumes of the blazing city could be seen rising in the air. 

              

By the early hours of the day, the city that was once home to just over a few thousands, was nothing but a waste land, ravaged by the carnage of the nomadic werewolves. 

               

Dead bodies torn apart littered the once lively and bustling streets. Dead silence consumed the atmosphere, for indeed, the city was dead from that day forward.

               

The few who barely escaped, looked back from a great distance, knowing that they had lost their home, the city they had been born into, grew up in and made a life for themselves.

                 

Tears filled their eyes, as they mourned their loss. A whole day passed and non of the survivors uttered a word. They ran frantically, every little sound startled them. The paranoia of the terror still haunted them though they were far from harms way.

              

The depth of trauma they experienced that night would make them embark on a journey that for generations, many more lives would be lost. 

                  

Back at the now deserted city, the werewolves now back in their human form, saw the depth of destruction they had brought upon the city and it's inhabitants, and they regretted every single bit of what had befallen the city and it's people.

                  

The pure bloods summoned everyone to take stock of who was still alive, and found that only 3 of their own was killed. And Jasper Vander with his thundering voice shouted to the hearing of everyone, "Who is the reason for what we were pushed to do? Who is it?" A cold silence swept across them.

                   

He further enquired, "Who's responsible for the death of that family, which led to our discovery? Who?" Then he walked one after the other asking. Dread filled the heart of all who were there, except the original pure bloods. 

                

Coming before one of them, he stopped and asked just as he previously asked the others, and he replied, "It wasn't me."

                

He stepped back and said chuckling, "I believe you, I believe you all", walking away from them. Then stopping sluggishly, having taken just a few steps away from them, lifting up his index finger, he said, "Except that, I don't believe you," turning and pointing at a particular wolf. 

"Your heart beats faster than everyone else I asked, and when I went to the house where the attack happened that exposed us, and you wreaked with the same smell of that family. So, tell me if am wrong," he said, with a deep terrifying voice. 

"Did you do it," with a thundering voice once again, but this time it was directed at one person. 

                  

He fell back in fear saying, "Yes," with a stuttering voice. Jasper Vander sighed a sigh of relief, trying to pose a smile, but it was all too fake. Then he asked him to stand up and come to him. His legs quivered as he moved slowly towards Jasper. 

                 

Jasper was the most terrifying and most feared of all the original pure bloods. So it was natural for one to be gripped with such depth of fear when approaching him, especially if you were guilty. 

                

He came over to Jasper, and the crossed his left hand over his shoulders and walked a little further away from where he stood up from. 

                

Then Jasper said, "If you had came clean, we wouldn't have been in this situation. Infact, what were you thinking?" With one clean sweep, he had the werewolf's head cut off, by a clean sweep from his sword, forged by an Arabian, during one of their journey's in the early days of their nomadic movements.

                  

Everyone gasped in shock, as they bore witness to such brutal judgement. It had never happened before, this was the first of it's kind.

                

Shouting out, he said, "Our lives are never going to be the same, from today henceforth. And we can no longer live as we used to. Word must have gone out, and we'll be hunted."

                

"So, we'll need to move to a land where we're unknown, a build afresh. We can't keep running. We need a place, our home, our city. But we are not weak. We are strong. We'll thrive as we've always have", he added

               

Then he shouted, "What are we?" They responded, "we are werewolves!" He shouted again, "what are we?" They responded, "We are warriors!"  He  shouted finally, "What are we"? They responded as loud as they could, "we are werewolves!" And they gave a great shout.

               

Then he ordered some to bury the werewolf he beheaded, as the rest got their things ready for the journey, that would lead them to Iceland, where they would settle and sojourn there as their home, eventually calling it Fairway.