The White Snake and the Scarred Delta

Garridan

___________

The Blood Moon was upon us, and so was the Sivvuk (Gray Wolf) Pack of Serbia. The moon’s red glow in the sky reflected an ominous fate that awaited us all tonight.

Ultima Danijel finally attacked us in our own territory, in Lipova, Romania. He had been eyeing to defeat my ultima for several years now. He wanted not only the Central Europe as his empire but also the Southeastern, given that Serbia was supposedly part of the latter. Our territory included Northwestern and Southern Europe. If he could make my ultima kneel, or worse than that, then all of Europe would become his.

I could see Ultima Danijel’s fierce gray wolf form face Ultima Vasile, who was in his gigantic rust-colored form. My king’s black paws threatened the werewolf king of Central Europe; however, it was for naught. Ultima Danijel was younger and more agile. He quickly circled Ultima Vasile, and attacked him from behind, biting his right hind leg and dragging him fast. It caused Ultima Vasile to growl and retaliate, biting back the opposing king in the ear. Nonetheless, I could not just watch Ultima Danijel kill our morale⸺if he would become successful in doing so.

I cursed in my head. This was not good at all.

As my fellow pack members risked their lives to fight our enemies, I was going to do my duty as the pack’s fourth in command. I rushed towards the two ferocious ultimas. I could feel the cool autumn air bump against my white fur. Whimpers and yaps could be heard everywhere. Everyone could already smell the iron-filled air, as blood tainted the leafy mat of the forest ground. Gone was the clean and fresh mountain air. Instead, the atmosphere was now polluted by both our enemies’ and our pack members’ blood.

Some of the huge pine trees and other conifer plants were already down on the ground, broken into pieces. It was as though a savage storm had beaten our land.

The fierce battle continued. In the corner of my wolfy black eyes, I saw our pack doctor, David, in his human form, attend to one of our pack members. If I was not mistaken, Beta Stelian was injured in the neck. I hoped he was salvageable. Otherwise, I would automatically replace his position, as the strongest of the pack’s deltas.

I focused on assisting Ultima Vasile, while giving orders to some nearby warriors below my rank. I could not just let our ultima be defeated by our enemy.

I was getting close to him, but a couple of gray wolves barred my path. Their big muzzles were wide open, showing off sharp and large teeth. Drool dripped from their muzzles as they growled at me.

“Hang on, Ultima Vasile!”I mindlinked him.

The two gray wolves with dark gray eyes both pounced in my direction. I lowered my head and front body, leaping to the right to dodge them. They both dove to the empty ground, and they turned their heads to glare at me, snarling in anger.

I had no time to face them. I must get to our wolf king before it is too late.

“Delta Garro, your three o’clock!”Alpha Kronid, our second in command, warned me.

My head snapped in the said direction. I saw a large gray wolf spring into the air. With my momentum, it was too late to dodge him completely. What I did instead was forcing my body to move sideward to the left. He got me in the right side with his left paw. He attempted to get a piece of my neck, but I beat him to it. I could taste his flesh and blood in my mouth, as I tore it out of him. His whimper filled my ears, drowning the other skirmish sounds around us. In the corner of my eye, I had noticed my family members were already injured. My heart pumped with anxiety.

A bright light suddenly appeared just ahead of me, and my eyes widened as I stepped on my already dying enemy. Two humongous creatures, one black and one white, appeared from nowhere. They were tangled with each other, and it seemed they were also fighting, judging by their loud hisses and perilous mouths widely opened. Everything that was touched by their bodies were destroyed. Some wolves were unfortunately pressed against them and were blown into smithereens.

Now what in the Moon Goddess’ name were these creatures? I had never seen such massive ones like these. Their diameter must be about three feet. It was impossible!

Before I could process anything else, I saw my injured family vanish like embers of ashes when the bright light touched their wounded bodies. It was like my heart stopped beating at that very moment, and my mind screamed.

No!

Tezy

________

My almost two-hundred-feet-long body was curled on top of a gigantic altar in the deep forest, east of Hebbiza. It was my territory called Benzai. The altar was made of lustrous thick glass, at least fifteen meters or so, high up the ground. In the four corners of the huge oval altar were blue-colored torches with red-orange fire that were never extinguished, since time immemorial. These were a symbol of my being a deity, as well as my immortality.

Ordinary snake shifters of the Shirouhebbi(White Snake) Tribe had worshipped me as their goddess, who always protected and granted them their wishes. Every first night of the week, they would all gather in Benzai, either to give their offerings, thank me for their answered prayers, if not ask me what their heart’s desire, or merely praise me for my benevolence.

I could not remember exactly when I started to become their goddess. Maybe it was when I started to