Five

Alex pushed through his lethargy, and with each step he took to the room door, he kept on thinking if he’d been doing the right thing, heading out in the woods. It wasn’t because he was afraid of being ganged up and beaten by the other big bad wolves who envied the amount of power he had, on the contrary, he was only scared of dying, with his body left for the vultures to feed on. 

The thought was beyond horrifying, and Alex had to remind himself that he was powerful, an alpha male. Although he’d been born under the Solar tribe, who were written off as nothing more than slaves, Alexander knew his story was just beginning. Once, Alex tried the lock on the door, and he was a bit surprised when it didn’t budge, as if he had expected it to. Well, he was going to have to break the lock then. He stepped back a little, feeling starved off air, and slammed the door with his closed fist. The door gave way, nothing but a small mass of wood now that he looked at it. Why was he here? And who’d locked him up in the first place?

Alexander found out all the answers when he stepped through the front screen door. There on the wraparound porch was a small picnic basket, which contained some food, and a brown envelope underneath. Alex ate the food, devouring it like he hadn’t eaten in months, and as he stuffed his face full, he stared at the large expanse of trees, which disappeared into the far river. The place looked like a rat maze. But the icy wind shook the tree leaves, and peltered the low grass. It finally dawned on Alex that whoever had brought him here had meant for him to find something–something that was contained in the brown envelope. He wiped food crumbs from the corner of his mouth, and tore open the envelope. But, only a small note fell out. Don’t bother. You won’t find anything. Go home to your tribe. 

Go home to your tribe? Alex nearly laughed at that. Where was home when his memory disappeared after twenty four hours? Where was home when he could literally wake up one day, in the middle of nowhere? Where was home when he couldn’t even remember? Alex had come all the way to find out everything, and someone was telling him to go to his tribe? No, he wasn’t going to. And Alexander balled the note up in his fingers, and threw it away. 

Alex spread out the map he’d gotten from the cabin on the blanketed snow, and tried to make out where he was exactly. He was surrounded by more and more trees in the forest, and to his left was a big stream, with different sizes of rocks and stones, which kept the tide afloat. Circling his location on the map, Alex began tracing the path that led to, and away. As he traced, he kept circling, and soon the map was full of markings. Still, he couldn’t make out anything concrete. Alex decided to go for a quick swim to clear his head, and he played around in the water, thinking back to the time he’d been with his gun. When he’d gotten up from that bed, the gun wasn’t by his side, and Alex had tried not to freak out. 

Someone had taken it, and whoever the person was had to be the same person that was telling him not to bother, that he wouldn’t find anything. What was the need in continuing? But Alex really wanted to get rid of his forgetful memory. Was that too much to ask? Getting out of the cold stream, Alex was supposed to feel cold, but he didn’t because his werewolf abilities had warmed the water up some. He hurriedly wore his clothes, bumping the map in his coat pocket. And so, Alexander Firadus continued to sojourn in a land he knew not. 

Throughout the time he crossed through high mountains, and sloppy valleys, he survived on barely much food, apart from the few berries he plucked from trees, and water from clear streams. But, he needed answers, and to him, that was a small price he needed to pay. Weeks slowly rolled by, with Firadus having no idea of time, and he soon began to survive on the meat he could hustle from changing into his wolf at night. He was always on guard in case of attacks too. But there was this day, Firadus had let his guard down. And he awoke to two silver gray wolves, trying to rip his body apart. His senses went on instant alert, and he immediately changed to his wolf form, and hunkered down in front of them. 

The wolves charged at him with their angry teeth, and fierce green eyes. Alex Firadus tried to dodge their bites as best as he could, keeping one pissed woof at bay, while he dealt with the other. He had no idea where they were from, but he figured someone had sent them. Or news of his disappearance had reached their ears. Alex hadn’t told anyone he was going to travel, and worse still, for that lengthy period of time. If these wolves should kill him now, nobody would care. His people saw him as a slave, and maybe that was all he was ever going to be—a slave, who was both feared, and respected for the power he had. 

Alex pinned one wolf with his sharp claws, and threw the other wolf off his back. The wolf hit the sack, but was back again, scratching and scraping with his paws. Enraged, Alexander bit hard on the neck, and wounded, it cried out for his own tribe to hear. The other wolf lay in the pool of its own blood. Seeing that more wolves would be swarming the area any minute now, Alex decided to take off. It would be bad if they find out who he was. But, wherever he ran to, it was as if there was a wolf hiding in one dark corner, and waiting for when he was at his weakest—which was waking up the next day with no recollections of the past—this wasn’t about finding answers any longer. This was about survival. 

One day, sitting on boulders of rock, overlooking a large body of water, Alex thought about all the things he’d had to do to get to this point. The dangers he’s had to face. The constant fear, and terror of having his memory slip away. He couldn’t keep living like this. He couldn’t keep looking over his shoulders for any big bad, thinking ‘what was the next thing?’ He had to go home, to his tribe, to his homeland. He wasn’t done searching for answers, not by a long shot, but at least, it wouldn’t be like he was a fugitive. 

***

"Esther?" Alpha Killian fingers caressed the witch's pale skin, "Help me out, won't you?"

Esther was a tall slender woman with high cheekbones and a perfect side profile, her eyes were gray that if she stared at someone who didn't know her, they would think she was blind. But she wasn't. She could see through physical structures, the spiritual realm, the past, the future.

"I don't know, the future Is uncertain. I hate uncertainty so I don't want to help you."

Alpha Killian smiled and looked at her with a grin. "Come on, don't you trust me?"

"I only trust what I can see. I don't see how manipulating that boy can do you any good."

Alpha Killian placed a hand on the witch's shoulder and she looked over her shoulder, her gray eyes turning pitch white. 

Alpha Killian was surprised by this and he let out a scream and backed up against the wall.

Esther let out a chuckle and smirked at him, "What a scaredy-cat!" She laughed. "YOU CAN'T FACE ME YET, you want a killing machine." She grumbled under her breath before taking a step toward him and kicking him.

Alpha Killian let out a cry and looked at Esther who did not show any form of emotion.

"Well, I'm not going to turn him into a killing machine." He grumbled, "It's just.. He has powers unlike any I've ever seen. Even more than that of the gods, I presume."

"Don't cross the line, Alpha. The man you so desperately want to control won't precede the gods. As long as you pretend he doesn't exist. Manipulating a man who doesn't have memory is the same as bringing disaster upon yourself and your kinsmen.

"That's why I want you to give him a memory."

"What kind of memory?"

Alpha Killian smiled, "I heard your family betrayed you so you killed them all. In the history books, you're the worst type of creature. You're not fully a witch either. You defy spiritual laws and have both sides—"

"—Shut up," Esther interrupted and Alpha Killian smiled once he realized that he'd pushed her buttons, now she would have no choice but to do exactly what he wanted."

"Your vampirical traits are not dormant, Esther. No matter how much you conceal it, you can't hide under the guise of being a witch forever. In the history books, you're the most horrific vampire who has no emotions and killed her family.  Because of this, your people hate you for ruining the vampire's reputation so you did something to yourself and made yourself like this.. A vampire with witchy traits. However, if you give the boy the memory of your family betraying you and you massacring them.. He would be the most feared monster in the history of the supernatural."

Esther smirked, "I don't think you're doing this because you want to clean up my reputation."

"No," Alpha Killian replied straightforwardly. "I'm doing this because I want to be the most feared among the seven tribes. Then I'll lead all of them! With my very own personal killing machine." 

"You're silencing them," Esther stated the obvious. "Because you want to rule them."

"Do I?" He chuckled darkly.

"I'll do it." Esther said. 

However, it wasn't because Alpha Killian wanted her to.

"Then, I'll bring you to him."

***

Two bulky men walked into the room, pulling along with them an unconscious man. Esther who was sitting on a table, with a tea cup in hand glanced at the man who was dumped at the corner of the room.

She recognised him.

The special one whose name would be pronounced in history for decades to come.

She placed the tea cup on the table and stood on her feet. It was time to work.

She closed her eyes and created a barrier around the room. She used mind control to have him seated in a cross-legged position.

She also sat in front of him and placed both of their palms together.

It didn't take long for her to read his entire life story but she just couldn't seem to understand why he couldn't hold memories. His life was fairly decent compared to many she'd seen.

Maybe his soul couldn't comprehend body language cues. He was loved by many of the people who entered his lives but many of them didn't vocalize it. So he might have felt alone. 

It still wasn't enough reason for him to lose memory that easily.

She tried to dig into the reason, but she couldn't and that scared her. What was he?!

That didn't matter for now.

She'd struck a deal with Killian.

With that, she went to the darkest memories of hers.

Her family had sent her to go out with a family friend so that she could collect some incense to give her father to help him sleep well. She naively followed the man and she didn't suspect her family friend until they were in front of a cliff with nowhere to run.

"Just how stupid are you, to trust me this much?"

The man laughed evilly and revealed the hand he hid behind his back which contained a knife.

Younger Esther was in shock and didn't react on time so the sharp knife was thrust into her chest. She let out a gasp and the man laughed, showing his teeth.

This was the family friend she trusted the most and wouldn't suspect for anything in the world because.. She had a crush on him.

"Why?" She questioned, staring into his eyes that now changed from being gentle to being monstrous.

"You really think the people you call parents are your real family?!"

Her eyes widened and the man laughed at the surprised look on her face.

"They nurtured you this long, just to use your blood to pray for their family ancestors." 

With that, she was thrown out of the cliff.

The witch transferred the memories to him. But in his mind's eye, he would only see himself being hurt by the people he was close to in his tribe.

Then she guided an illusive feeling into his heart. Vengeance.

Alexander opened his eyes and this time they were pitch black.

Alpha Killian who had been watching behind the door smiled. Here was the chance he had been waiting for.