Chapter 6- Present Day

Fire Kingdom, The Realm of Red.

Present day.

The full moon shimmered lustrously above Almera. A wonderful moonlight twinkled against the polished surface of the three objects in the old alchemist's palms. Colorful blue, red and purple fires all through her veins as she dropped them into the ground, pushing at the dust until it makes a nice pile over the three items. She patted the earth sweetly once more before turning away, her long gown skimming against the dirt as she returned to the dark cabin. Her white long silver hair sways against her back as she leaves, never once looking out at the road where Pearl stood from the distant. Lurking in the night.

Pearl was a wanderer. In a way, she had been a wanderer her entire life. In the last two years, she has taken the job pretty seriously though. This small, quiet village within the eastern part of the Kingdom was nice, unnoticeable, and easy for someone who wanted to disappear to do just that. It had been two years since the incident in the pub, yet Pearl was still in this realm.

Unlucky? Maybe she was. She doesn't have all the necessary elements of magic to open a portal to the mortal realm yet. Two years and still had nothing. All she had was the memory of the lycan and the mind-shattering sex they had and maybe it was a bit of sheer luck that she met him yesterday at the pub, he even saved her from the goons. But how she managed to escape from Ethan's hands yesterday was a mystery.

She sighed, looking at the cabin. This woman, a blind and powerful alchemist named Almera, may be old and dusty as this village itself, but she was Pearl's only friend. She came to check on her. She paid her visits every few days and gossiped about who the bachelor alphas or Fae warriors were sleeping with now and why it wasn't her wasting the beautiful curves of her youth, as she liked to tell her. Pearl didn't have the heart to tell the blind woman that those pathetic, gigantic warriors weren't nearly as attractive as she thought they were.

Pearl might be a little bit of a bitch sometimes, but she was not about to crush an old woman's fantasies. That was just cruel.

That's what she came here for mindless chatter. Until Almera started ominously burying something in her front yard. People only bury things for two reasons: to remember what they once had or to hide what they once had.

The thin material of Pearl's dress brushed lightly against her thighs as she quietly made her way up the dirt path. A few overgrown bushes line the front yard, concealing one window and skimming against the glass of the other. Not that Almera could see her even if she looked out.

But she was an alchemist. A powerful alchemist. Much stronger than herself.

If the old woman wanted to know what waited outside her little home, she would.

Hesitantly, Pearl lingered near the dirt that was piled over the objects Almera had buried. Her gaze shifted to the arched front door. She came here for a visit with a friend.

She didn't have many friends. Okay, she didn't have any aside from Almera if she was being honest. But fuck, Almera buried something under the light of the full moon. She all but did a ritual out here with a sacrificial goat. She could have disposed of them in a clandestine place, but she didn't. Pearl couldn't just ignore that.

Pearl lowered herself, falling onto her hands and knees, and began clawing at the dry dirt. It was a rapid and almost manic drive to find out what lay here. Her conscience was quickly pushed aside as the dirt sank into her nails with each handful of earth she ripped away. The clinking sound of her fire bracelets, a golden royal snake-like bracelet, made her nerves skitter with every sound they made. A smooth curve beneath rocky particles of dirt gilded her fingertips. Her palm swept over the hard surface once more, pushing aside the grit to see the three objects underneath.

It was a golden box, with an intricate design of a lycan paw in the opening that appeared to be shimmering with green magical lights.

It was an enormous box.

What could this be? Could this be something worth the trust of her friend? But her curiosity got the better of Pearl. The box seemed to be calling for her. She could almost feel the pull. The familiar bond was odd in many ways.

The alchemist adventurer in her was already mentally calculating what a beast this size could be worth. Imagine what three of them would be valued at.

With both hands, she tried to steal away the top one, her arms aching as she realized the monstrous box was just as heavy as it looked. Her gaze flickered back to the golden glow of Almera's front window. She could come back for the other two, but it was a mile-long walk. Would she come back out tonight?

Pearl pulled at the end of her long dark coat and quickly tried to pile the three boxes into the thin material. A ripping sound ripped through the silence, but as she stood, they held in place against her body, straining against the cloth but not falling to the ground.

She felt like an asshole. Who stole from a blind woman?  Who does that? Not to mention, Almera was her friend.

She does.

Why would Almera bury them? She wasn't as familiar with magical golden boxes as she was. Perhaps she thought they were useless? She was blind, so perhaps she didn't realize they were boxes at all. A magical box?

But she was also an alchemist. So it was even more likely she knew what these things were and wanted to rid herself of them as quickly as possible.

Pearl, on the other hand, was not about to throw away magical boxes, it was power, wealth, or whatever... Not that she needed wealth or even the magic of whatever these boxes might reveal. But who knows? Maybe this was what she needed?

Their magic will be worth living for. She wanted to make a profit, of course, but honestly, she just couldn't stand the thought of not opening them and unearthing their magic within. What if it was magic she needed to open a portal? However, she didn't show it, but her little, slightly selfish heart loved these types of mysterious things.

Looking for magical things was just a business for her. After all, she had a mission and it involved a portal to the mortal realm, but she needed more magic to open one.

Pearl carried the boxes home on awkward steps and with aching arms. The dark forest surrounds her, shutting out the majority of the moonlight and making her stumble more than once before her small cabin comes into view. Glowing embers of ruby eyes greet her as she gets closer. The sweet little hellhound rubbed his warm temple against her thigh as she passed, but she didn't have a free arm to return the affection to her pet.

The dark-brown and fuming hellhound, Gelly, might just be the love of her life. She admitted that it was a pathetic love life she led. It had been two years since she left the palace, and since then she had become a wanderer, roaming the eastern region looking for more magic to aid her on her mission.

With the force of her hip, Pearl bumped open the door. A creaking cry came from the hinges, and she didn't bother closing it behind her as she settled in near the dwindling embers of the fire. The one-room home was tiny, with a cot on the far left side of the room and a worn and rickety kitchen table on the other side. The small fire easily warmed the abandoned old cabin where she made her home.

The smooth curve of one of the boxes filled her hands. Pearl's reflection peered at her on the iron-like surface. The two others glistened near the fire. In the light, she could really make out their details. One was a pure pearl white color. It shimmered like fresh snow, while the one nestled next to it was as dark as the night. The third one, the one that she held in her hands, was a consuming deep grey tone.

They were shining and beautiful.

"But what are they?" She whispered to herself. "Should I open it, little pet?"

The hellhound just sighed and wagged his tail.

She has a thing for magical boxes, the dangerous and the unique, and she had never seen a box this large and beautiful. It was even more powerful than her mother's jewelry box. Its structure seems thicker as well. She held it close to her chest, and her eyes fell closed as a deep breath filled her lungs.

Her magic was quiet within her. The fire magic she took from the lycan two years ago was silent. Not warming her enough. Her ice was chilling nonetheless. She had hidden it away and tried to save it up for when she knew she would really need it in the future.

It was there, though. A numb sort of tingling feeling of power struggled through her body. She already had the ice, fire, earth, and air elements of magic, yet she couldn't still open a portal. She knew something was missing. But what?

A blur of a thousand magic powers flickered through her mind. She sifted through them all until one faded magic appeared in front of her.

Pearl's vision showed her three colossal werewolves, a lycan. A beast. Their gigantic, fur-covered bodies were the size of horses. Thick fur covered their bodies like proud armor. Large paws and sharp teeth lash down, preparing to scoop up their next prey.

"Lycans." Her eyes opened once more. The depths of her baby blue irises were inky in the reflection of the box's glossy shell. This was the soul of three powerful lycan warriors. It was trapped in the box.

A strong and quick beat begins to take over her heart.

They were rare, cursed, and wanted. Lethal. Powerful.

She had never seen a lycan soul before. The most she had ever gotten for magical things was a necklace from her mother. Her ice elemental magic. A lycan soul trapped in the magical box could pay for a new life, though. A real life in the mortal realm where her father, the king, couldn't reach her.