Chapter two

Chapter Two.

THIRD PERSON POV.

Werewolf Realm (The Nightshade Clan) April 16 2025. (Present Date)

Alpha Bane was leaning back in his leather chair, nursing a headache that felt like a rhythmic sledgehammer against his skull, when his office door didn't just open- it practically exploded off its hinges.

"Your brother has gone mad, Bane!" His mother shrieked, storming inside.

Bane let out a long, low groan, spinning his chair slowly to face her. The woman was a piece of work. Usually, she was the picture of royal elegance- perfectly tailored silk, hair that didn't dare defy gravity and a face so frozen by poise it looked marble. But right now? She looked like she'd spent an hour in a wind tunnel. Her royal facade was in tatters, replaced by the wide eyed look of a woman who was one minor inconvenience away from a killing spree.

"Mother, it's far too early for this," Bane muttered. "What could Zephyr possibly have done now? Did he burn down another orphanage? Or did he finally try to marry a goat?"

She didn't laugh. Instead, she slammed a newspaper onto his mahogany desk. "Read This!"

Bane's eyes tracked down to the grainy black and white print. His heart did a slow, heavy thud. It wasn't one of their new papers. It was from the human realm. The headline screamed in bold jagged letters: SIX FOUND DEAD IN WOODS- POLICE FEAR APEX PREDATOR ON THE LOOSE.

Bane's anger flared instantly, a hot prickly heat crawling up his neck. "You could be wrong. Zephyr is a prick, but he wouldn't dare cross into the human world. He knows the treaty. Exposing our identity is a death sentence. Ever since humans were created our creatures from different realms were banished and given their own, it's been that way for hundreds of years, even wolves who dared to go against the creator faced great pain."

"Bane, don't talk to me like a child!" The Queen snapped, her voice cracking. "Ever since you banished him to the borderlands, these reports have been circulating! It has to be him. Who else has that specific brand of sadistic flair? Look at the humans! Those are werewolves marks!

Bane sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You do realize that to gain access to the human realm, you need all three keys. I have one hidden safe in my vault and the others are guarded among other creatures across the realms, there's no way Zephyr would be able to-" He stopped mid sentence then frowned. "Unless that sneaky little bastard found a way in."

He stood up, crossing the room to a hidden panel in the wall. He punched a code, the heavy steel door swinging open to reveal.... nothing. Minus a plastic yellow rubber duck with a 'fuck you' up sign, the yellow duck sat where the ancient obsidian key should have been.

"He switched it with a fake," Bane whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of fury and genuine impressed annoyance. "I'm dealing with a wife who hasn't spoken in five days and now a brother who's playing 'hide the key' with inter dimensional portals. Fantastic."

"You need to find him!" His mother hissed, clutching her fists so hard that the knuckles cracked. "Find him and kill him before the humans realize their wild animals have bank accounts and last names!"

"That means going to the human realm," Bane reminded her, his face grim. "And we can't. He has the key and apparently all keys. I knew other realms weren't reliable enough."

"Exactly!"

"Mother, look at me. If Zephyr has the keys, we are stuck here. We are locked out of the human realm until he decides to come back and kill us all," Bane said as he paced around the room, then suddenly stopped. "Unless....."

His mother's eyes widened. "No. Absolutely not."

"It's the only way," Bane said, his voice hardening. "We'd have to go to the abyss. We need Him. We need Harrow. Only he has the blood link strong enough to manipulate the realms without a key."

"Your father banished him for a reason! He's locked in a forbidden cell with no exit! Do you have any idea what kind of prehistoric evil you'd unleash by releasing Harrow?"

"Should I let the human race end instead and have the creator punish us for it?" Bane challenged, his jaw clenched. "Because Zephyr isn't just killing for fun or to feed. He's building a brand. Soon, human-wolf hybrids will exist again, causing another war of 100 years."

"I couldn't care less about the humans or the punishment! I'd rather see them wiped out than see Harrow breath fresh air!"

Bane slammed his hands on the desk, leaning in close, his wolf now threatening to overtake control to maintain his dominance. "Mother," he stated in a deep tone. "If you wait behind, we are done for. Zephyr will finish his little hunting trip, enslave whatever is left of the humans, breed a fresh army of hybrids, and come back here to put my head on a spike. I'm just a puppet king, Mother. I don't have the power to stop him, only Harrow does."

The Queen's knuckles were white as snow as she clenched her fists, taking deep breaths. The silence in the room was suffocating until she finally exhaled a jagged breath. "Free him, then. But be warned, Bane. Harrow is much more greater evil than Zephyr when he's not contained. He was a good man that ran mad and drunk with power, if he discovers that his throne he lost hundreds of years ago is now yours, no telling what he may do."

"I'd like to see him for the first time." Bane said, but as soon as the realization hit him, a cold shiver overtook him.

He was going to release Harrow. Which meant he was walking straight into the lion's den.

*

The Abyss was exactly what the name promised: a hole in a world where light went to die.

In a cell at the very bottom, Harrow was suspended in mid air. He wasn't just caged, he was pinned. Five silver spears pierced through his limbs and chest, anchoring him to the stone walls. His hair was a matted mess of black, and his skin was pale as a shroud.

"Harrow," Bane said, standing outside the bars. "Can you hear me, or did the silver finally turn your brain to mush?"

Harrow lifted his head with agonizing slowness. His neck cracked- a sound like breaking dry branches. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes dark and empty. "A visitor...it's been over two centuries...or three. I lost count after the third decade of internal bleeding."

"Yeah, well time flies when you're a threat to the throne," Bane said, clapping his hands together nervously. "Look, I need a favor. My little brother is going through a bit of a homicidal manic phase in the human world, you remember Zephyr right? He's now chaotic and we are locked out. I need you to go down to the human realm, track him, and end him. It's embarrassing really, a prince acting like a common stray."

Harrow stared blankly. He didn't blink. He didn't move.

"If you do it," Bane continued, licking his dry lips. "I'll let you stay out. I'll even give you a nice apartment. No spears. I can't imagine the back pain."

Still nothing from Harrow, only stares.

"Oh, come on!" Bane snapped in frustration. "I spent almost nine days navigating the bureaucracy of this hellhole just to get down here, and this is the gratitude I get?"

"You know what I want," Harrow rasped.

"She's dead, Harrow. It's been nearly 200 years. The witch is gone."

"She's alive," Harrow countered, his voice dropping an octave, vibrating the very floor. "I can feel her heartbeat. I've been feeling it for some time. It's been calling to me through the stone, she's alive."

Bane sighed, rubbing his temples. "Fine. If you're so sure she's out there, find her. But you have a job to do first."

"How many wolves are in that realm?" Harrow asked, his muscles bunching beneath the silver points.

"My scouts say about a hundred. Shouldn't be anything for you as you have wiped out thousands."

Harrow's lips pulled back into a terrifying blood stained grin. "If I kill your brother and find her. I'm coming back to kill you, Bane. And take back my kingdom."

Bane smirked, though his heart was hammering. Harrow knew the truth and it scared Bane to death. "I'd like to see you try. Afterall, she was my half sister too. Bring her back from the dead, and maybe I'll actually let you take my head....and my throne."