Chapter 1 : Powerful Magic

Ferrah

My heart was pounding in my chest as I ran and I couldn’t catch my breath. The exertion of running wasn’t the reason that I was struggling, I was in a panic. I had to find my family.

I stopped running so suddenly that I nearly overbalanced and fell over. I looked down at the ground as a sob lodged in my throat.

At my feet were two mounds of dirt. There were no signs of violence in the area and no signs or markers to tell me what these mounds were, but it didn’t matter. I knew that they concealed the bodies of my parents. Even though there was no grave for him, I knew that my brother was gone too. The entire coven was gone. They were wiped out in an instant and without warning. I never even got to say goodbye.

I was too late.

I felt like my knees were going to buckle, but before I could surrender to the grief that was welling up within me, a sound behind me froze me in place.

There was no sign that anyone was there. I could normally sense the energy of a person when they were near me, but there was no energy coming from whatever this was. There was only a soft, muffled noise.

It sounded like something or someone was standing directly behind me and shifting their weight slightly. I was afraid to look, even though I didn’t feel like I was in danger. The fact that someone had managed to sneak up behind me was enough to send a cold chill through me.

I had the sense that nothing good would come from looking, but I wanted to know what made that soft sound.

Before I could make up my mind about what to do, a soft, genderless voice started whispering into my ear.

“The one with the magic to save their heart,” it said gently. “Will end the war at the start.”

Guilt and despair warred within me at the words of the old prophecy. I blinked away tears and shook my head slowly. The war between the wolves and witches would never end, not now. The one who was meant to fulfill the prophecy was gone. He–

I lifted my head suddenly as the feeling of being watched struck me. A rageful energy filled the air so quickly that I staggered backwards, instinctively wanting to escape it. I had never felt anything like it. I looked for the source of the feeling, and saw a man. He was tall and broad shouldered. He was too far away for me to tell exactly how tall he was, but I felt like he was looming over me.

I must have gasped, because he snapped his head towards me and our eyes met.

I knew in an instant that he was the one responsible for the destruction of everything I had known and loved. He had taken everything from me.

There he was, watching me with a twisted grin on his face and hatred burning in his golden eyes; the Alpha King.

The fear and despair roiling within me was joined by a blaze of anger unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The strength of the emotions was too much for me to take. I felt it blaze in my chest and through my magic. It was so powerful that I couldn’t think. I was afraid that I was going to lose control of myself.

Reality began to ripple around the edges. Everything went dark.

***

I sat up in a rush and slapped my hand over my mouth before a scream could escape me.

I was disoriented and ready to attack if anything near me moved or made a sound, but everything was still and silent. I was alone.

It took far too long for me to realize that I was safe.

“It was only a dream. It was a dream, Farrah. Get a hold of yourself,” I whispered. I kept telling myself over and over that it wasn’t real, but my heart was still pounding wildly. The memories were all too real, and I couldn’t calm down.

These nightmares had haunted me ever since my coven was wiped out by the bastard Alpha King. That was ten years ago, but my pain hadn’t faded. The anger that I felt that day had remained with me and the only way to rid myself of it was to get revenge for my family.

It was a fool’s errand, and I knew it. It was all I had though. Even if I wanted to let go of revenge and move on with my life, I couldn’t. The wolves were too much of a risk. There was no coven I could join that would be safe from them and there was no city or village I could settle into that would be beyond their reach.

There was nothing left for me but my pursuit of the Alpha King.

The war between the witches and wolves had been raging for decades, and countless lives had been lost on both sides. No one had ever been able to explain to me why this war had ever started, at least not in any way that I felt made sense. There was so much destruction, and for what? What had been gained?

I would never understand it.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to focus on my breathing. I don’t know how much time passed before my heart rate started to steady and I was able to breathe normally.

I took in my surroundings and realized that it was already daybreak. I didn’t feel rested at all, but at least it wasn’t the middle of the night. I couldn’t continue my travels at night, so I would have been stuck lying awake and staring at the stars. There was no going back to sleep after a nightmare like that.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I needed to keep moving. I stood slowly and shook the remnants of the dream from my mind.

I removed the sand from my jacket and straightened my clothes.

I had to keep moving. The wolves were picking off witches at an alarming rate and since I was traveling alone, I was especially vulnerable. I had to stay vigilant.

I have been on my own for a long time now. I’ve had to learn a lot of skills to keep me safe, and it had been a long time since anyone had gotten the jump on me, but staying in one place for too long was still too dangerous.

I picked up my bag, shoved my sleeping gear into it, and slung it securely over my back. I tightened the tie in my hair and rolled my shoulders. I wanted to put some distance between myself and this campsite before I took the time to eat.

I did my best to cover my scent, but there was still a chance that some wolf could sense me nearby and get curious. It was best not to risk it.

I stepped forward and, with a wave of my hand, I dispelled the glamor that had concealed my sleeping space. The air around me rippled with energy as the barrier vanished. The moment that it dissipated, there was a sharp, strong pull at my magic.

I gasped at the odd sensation. I have never felt anything like it before.

There was usually a resonance in my magic when another witch or wizard was nearby, and for a moment, I was excited by the thought that another powerful witch could be near.

The thought passed quickly, though. Something about this sensation was different. It wasn’t the hum of nearby magic, it was a pull. It felt like something was summoning me. It was undeniable and I found myself turning toward the feeling and stepping forward without thinking.

It frightened me that I was so quick to allow this sensation to control me, but the pull grew stronger with each step that I took and there was simply no way that I could resist it. I didn’t want to resist it. This wasn’t the feeling of a powerful magic user, but there was no denying that it was powerful all the same.

I stepped carefully, making sure that nothing snapped or crunched beneath my feet. I had long ago learned to move silently through the underbrush. I didn’t know what I was approaching or what else might be in this forest. I was still aware enough to take precautions.

I masked my magical aura so that I wouldn’t be detected as I steadily followed the strange feeling in my chest. I had to know what was making me feel this way. There was a good chance that whatever was causing this feeling was dangerous. I knew that I should turn away and continue on my journey, but I didn’t.

Even if I had been able to fight this sensation, my curiosity would have made it too difficult to walk away. It wasn’t inherently bad to be curious, but it could lead me to making reckless choices. A wise wizard once told me that my curiosity was my greatest strength and weakness. I had to admit that he was right. My curiosity got me into trouble at times, and all I could do was hope that this wasn’t one of those times.

It was early, and the sound of birds was starting to fill the forest. It helped to alleviate the eerie feeling that a silent forest usually had. The sun was streaming through the trees and casting long shadows across the dewy ground that made it easier to navigate around the thick brush in this part of the forest.

I wasn’t following a path, I never did. It was too risky to follow a well trodden path, you never knew who you might run into. I doubted that anyone else would be this deep into the woods, and I was starting to think that this feeling wasn’t coming from anyone. Maybe there was some abandoned relic out here? It wouldn’t be that unheard of.

Magical items had a way of turning up when they were needed. This felt like something powerful and I was excited by the idea of finding a strong weapon that would aid me in my quest for revenge.

The feeling was getting stronger and I knew that I was close to whatever was causing it.

I stepped around a large, slanting tree and a figure came into view. I stopped in my tracks and stared.

It was a tall, broad shouldered man with pale hair and a strong jaw. He looked young, but I was never good at judging age based on appearance.

I stared at him mutely, unsure of what to do.

It was him.

He was the man that I had spent so many years of my life hating. I had traveled far and wide and trained with the wisest and most powerful witches alive in order to become strong enough to kill this man, no. Not a man, a wolf. A monster. The monster that had taken my parents and brother from me.

This was the man I have been hunting. The pulling sensation in my chest had brought me directly to him.

The Alpha King.