Wolf In My Window

In the faraway and magical land of the werewolves, was The Onyx pack: the royal pack and ruler of the werewolf kingdom. Alpha Balinx, leader of the pack, was the king of the werewolf kingdom. Alpha Balinx or King Balinx was a valiant and diplomatic ruler, the kingdom flourished under his reign, the economy was stable and there was peace.

Now, these achievements were enough to make the king happy but he wasn't happy and this was because he had no children, no heir to the throne, and no one to continue his lineage. This made the king scathing as he felt his reign and dynasty would one day come to an end. He pondered on this plight, taking mistress after mistress but all to no avail as none of them bore him children. Then there was the frail Lunar Queen whose health deteriorated as she pondered upon her barrenness but then her prayers got answered and she bet pregnant and delivered male twins.

The King was overjoyed by this and he threw a large ball to celebrate the christening of his twins. People from all over the kingdom congratulated him and brought him gifts, but was that end of the king's sorrows?

Two days after the ceremony, the king stood in front of the window of his throne room, gazing at the kingdom, wondering how it would feel when his sons finally started governing it when he suddenly felt another presence in the room

"Congratulations my liege," a voice said from behind

The King turned around instantly to behold Dahlia. The priestess of the moon goddess, She prophesied a lot of things but not the birth of the twins claiming the moon goddess didn't reveal anything about them.

The king's heart became filled with fear as he saw her, he didn't like the eerie aura around the powerful priestess and the way it made him feel. He wondered what she wanted to tell him, swallowed hard, and walked past her slowly to sit on the throne.

"Welcome Dahlia," he said "and thank you, what does the moon goddess have for me today, what has she sent you to deliver to me, is it good news or bad news"

The Moon priestess took a deep breath, then cast a spell that suddenly made the courtroom dark. She threw her staff into the air, the staff magically began to float and with it, she conjured an apparition of the infant twins. The King jolted at this sight, nearly falling from the throne, Dahlia chuckled at the expression on his face

"What does the moon goddess want with my children"

"Nothing very much" she answered, and in a trance-like-mode she began, "the moon goddess has worried me to tell you that evil lurks around these children of yours, a big threat to the kingdom"

"What evil?" The King asked as he felt his heart shattering into bits, "tell me moon priestess" he cried falling flat from the throne "tell me what the evil is"

"One of these twins is cursed and destined to bring bad luck and wreak havoc and cause destruction. He will bring pain and sorrow to everyone around him, and as he grows older, the evil in him would grow as well, darkening his heart, corrupting his innocence" she paused for some seconds

"He will take delight in mayhem and strife, he will thirst for power as his veins are filled with desperation, he will bring war on the kingdom. His wolf is a reincarnation of the ancestors of evil and so this child will always be directed to do evil as he grows older this evil will become stronger and on the night of the pure moon, he will transform into a beast and invoke the demons of all dead evil wolfs and together they will ruin the kingdom, he has to be destroyed on this same night before the pure moon comes out and shines on him"

The news shattered The King so much that his heart broke into pieces and he let out a loud cry of agony. He had had to wait so long to have children and now this was fate, had he better not have them at all?

He was shattered inside and he became filled with abject sorrow. Tears rolled down his eyes as a tingling pain settled in his heart. He took a deep breath and looked at the moon priestess, Her always impassive face bore a sadness, she was sad as well, anyone would be. He mustered courage and hoisted himself to his feet, he dragged his legs to the throne and sank into it, he began to pant slowly

"Tell me, moon priestess," he said after catching his breath "which one of the children the curse is upon"

The old woman smirked and then chuckled at the question, she snapped her fingers, and the illusion she'd created of the twins vanished with her staff floating back into her hands. She turned to the distraught king and heaved a deep sigh

"My liege", she said "I shall not tell you which one of the twins is accursed lest you love one and hate the other for it is not his fault to be born with such a fate. They are your children, your seed you have to love and care for them"

"But Dahlia..."

"No my liege" she cut in, raising her staff for "I'd be doing a bigger damage"

"There should at least be a solution Dahlia, please I beg of you"

The old sorceress breathed after she snapped out of the thoughts she was lost in "it's in the heart of the accursed if he learns to find good" and with that, she vanished into thin air

And so, the king's joy turned into sorrow, and he began pondering on the life he had led, was the curse a punishment for his evil deeds, if it were, but did he deserve that much?

One day, the sun would set on his reign and the kingdom he'd worked hard to sustain would be destroyed by his seed, what a calamity!

He kept the prophecy a secret from The Queen as she would be broken and if the whole kingdom found out, it would cause a huge uproar and his enemies might even use it as an opportunity to stage a coup and overthrow him.

He would hide it in the abyss of dark secrets.

★★★

The twins grew up to be strong, handsome, and healthy. The first of the twins, Jacian was a peaceful person; he loved knowledge, nature, reading, writing, researching, and doing experiments. While Lydan, the other was the exact opposite; he was a skillful warrior, a good horseman, and a true diplomat, possessing the qualities of a leader but Lydan was hot-tempered, getting angry at even the slightest of things. He picked fights with soldiers and common wolves every time. He was also pompous and enjoyed being praised and complimented. Soon, he became infamous and disliked by the people of the kingdom.

The King worried about Lydan's behavior, concluded that he was the accursed one, and started showering his love and affection on Jacian. He didn't make an effort to hide from the world that he preferred Jacian to Lydan. He relieved him of his duties as prince and made Jacian a member of his council.

Lydan and Jacian didn't get along well, they were always quarreling, Lydan defeating Jacian every time. This fact annoyed the King the more and his aversion towards Lydan increased. Lydan felt like he was unneeded and he disliked Jacian for being the popular one.

"Don't you think it's time you revealed the good one Dahlia?" the King asked the moon priestess on the eve of the twin's twentieth birthday.

"You speak more like a king than a father your highness. The accursed is your seed as well or isn't he"

The king didn't respond and so the moon priestess settled in one of the seats in the council room, it was a cold night with a starless sky, she pondered on how to frame the news

"We have to find a solution," she said after thinking for a while "revealing the identity of the bad one is not a big deal, there's more to just knowing"

"He has to be destroyed doesn't he?" the king said impatiently "he will have to be destroyed indeed" the crone answered "his powers are too great to be taken with levity, I just feel a little pity for him, fate isn't always our choice you see"

"Just tell do what I asked you to" the king snapped

Dahlia took a deep breath and looked away "the accursed is Lydian"

A look of happiness and relief flashed across the king's face instantly He knew he must be the one and was glad that he was. Jacian was the type of leader the kingdom needed, Lydan was already as good as dead

"How do we get rid of him," he asked curtly "can you cast a death spell on him"

"Don't you think we should take this slow, he could be able to control himself for all we know"

"But it's impossible" The King cut in "he's caused so much rift in the kingdom already, no one likes him and he keeps causing trouble"

"Maybe the curse has begun to take effect," Dahlia said "he'll be twenty years tomorrow won't he"

"He will and so he has to be gotten rid of"

Just then there was a crash sound and the faint sound of swift retreating footsteps. The look on the king's face became replaced with that of abject horror; someone had heard them, and the secret he'd been longing to keep had been exposed. He rose to his feet, grabbed his sword, and headed for the door but Dahlia grabbed his arm

"It's the accursed," she said vaguely, "he's learned of his fate"

The king's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, what if Lydan decided to take revenge, what if he escaped from the palace and teamed up with his enemies

"He cannot be allowed to escape" he shrieked

"And he won't escape my Lord"

And at that moment Dahlia entranced the two soldiers at the entrance Lydan was going to escape through and they seized him. Overpowering him, they began dragging him back to the council room, where Dahlia and the king were

"No, don't do this to me" Lydan cried, struggling to wriggle out of the soldiers' grip but his efforts were futile "I'll gladly live the rest of my life in isolation, but don't destroy me please, I beg of you" but the soldiers only kicked the door open and pushed him inside the council room

The king breathed a sigh of relief as Lydan fell on his knees before him, he had never loved him. At a point in time, he believed he wasn't his child, concluding that the queen had had extramarital affairs and that he was the product of the affair, he hated that his blood ran in his veins

Dahlia retained the soldiers' entranced state so they wouldn't hear any of what was being discussed.

"I am still your son," Lydan said through tears "don't take this decision"

"You are not my son," the king said coldly "you're a monster, a threat to my kingdom and a demonic being sent from the pits of darkness to make my life miserable. But I won't let this happen, I learned about the prophecy when you were infants but I gave you the chance to grow older, to confirm the prophecy not that it was false but just take a look at yourself. You don't deserve to live"

He turned to the soldiers, "take him to the deep dungeon and chain him. Until I give orders no one must be allowed to see him, the dungeon must remain locked"

Lydan let out a deep cry of pain but the king wouldn't even look at him, he cast a glance at Dahlia and he felt hatred coarse through his veins for her but this feeling only ignited guilt in his heart, was he that evil, should he be scared of himself?