THE ALPHA’S REGRET; Reborn to Rise

I once heard heaven was a day behind Earth. So when my alarm rang singing the special song I chose for the 5th of may, I thought I was rewarded with heaven for my unfair death. I let myself drift off again, until I woke up to an intense burning sensation on my leg. Sunlight slipped through the curtains in thin lines and landed on my blanket. The same blanket I’d had since I was ten. My blue blanket that was frayed at the corner where I used to pick at it during nightmares. This was not heaven, I was back at home. Before I could process the thought, I heard my name,“Elera?”The door opened.My mother walked in with a dress draped over her arms. White silk. The corset laced tight. The one I wore to the selection party. She smiled like nothing was wrong. Like my world hadn’t ended 12 hours ago.“Morning, sleepyhead. You missed breakfast. The seamstress finished the hem last night. Try it on before we do your hair?”Her scream from last night replayed in my head, and I covered my ears.“

I see the moon, and the moon sees me.It is a song we sang at school all the time. And tonight I was overly aware of the moon. There was the strange feeling that it could see me too. The air was quiet as I walked along the lonely path. I had the foreboding feeling that I was forgetting something but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure it out.As I walked into the compound, I saw my both parent standing on the courtyard.“Where is Arden?” My mother immediately asked when she saw me“Arden,” I said louder. “He was behind us. Wasn’t he?”My parents exchanged looks.“We left you both at the hall”“The hall?”Darius’s words replayed in my head.Please let me punish the traitor as I see fit.I took to my heels, running towards the castle with no second thought. The one person who knew me too well is Darius, and he knows best what could be punishment for me.“Elara, get back here!”My mother screamed behind me but I was already running. I figured it out too late. I might have saved

ELARA’S POVDust hung in the air, I stood still, frozen. I stood still, my breath catching as I stared at the wall of rubble and stone, where a doorway should be. My heartbeat wasn’t stable anymore, the beat was four times as usual, the smell of dusty air hit the back of my throat, dry, I pushed my saliva into my throat, trying to wet it. The thoughts of being stuck here got me widening my eyes, my mouth parted as disbelief of being stuck here flickered my mind, my shoulder felt heavy, like someone carrying an invisible stone, i clenched my jaws, my neck was in deep pain, there was always light at the end of this tunnel, how come it’s dark, all my hope was thrown into the darkness. This tunnel is our only escape route. Back when it wasn’t blocked by stones and dust, it was just a narrow gap behind Theron’s chamber, big enough to contain three kids at the same time. Darius and I would always run through here every day, playing games, most times he’d take my snacks while running thro

ELARA’S POVSeeing Arden jump and scream in amusement, I felt settled. I had always craved the sight of him jumping at the awakening of my power, and right now, I felt accomplished. While watching him scream at the top of his voice, I felt a flash in my eyes, more like a vision but it was fast. Something bad was about to happen, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I tried calling on my wolf, but for some reason, it was silent. I kept trying, but there was no response from it. The vision flashed again, it was clearer than the first one, all I saw was Arden running from something, while trying to see what he was running from, one of the maidens screamed, jolting me out of the little trance. “Help..help.” She screamed as she came towards us. She was being chased by a mountain shadowcat, a beast that was twice a giant with white-gray fur, it comes out during winter. She tripped and fell, as the beast was about to kill her I yelled, it’s focus drifted to me. It ran towards me at full sp

SELENA’S POVThe fire I set up died to the wind minutes after the maidens slept off. One by one the flames curled inward, then went black, now there is only I, darkness, and sounds of trees blowing cold wind. I sat up with my back against the long tree, my breath came out in the wind, then disappeared, I was thinking of how everything is going back at home. By now the news that I escaped the palace with Arden and some maidens must have reached out to my mother. She would be worried sick like she always have since I was four when I wandered into the east wing on a snowy day, got lost for some hours and came back with burrs in my hair, she would be standing at the window checking if I had returned, every step she hears she’d run outside to check if I have retuned with Arden and possibly the maidens I escaped with. It’s been two days since I left her and my dad to rescue Arden, I wonder if she is eating well or if she is starving. The thought of her skipping meals made air cut from m