SECRETS OF THE FOREST

She morphed and ran, gripping the map they had been given tightly in her hand. Vesper was in front of her, also running. Many of the other competitors were scattered across the woods, going in different directions.

Suddenly, Vesper halted. Elysia stopped too, by reflex. Vesper turned to Elysia.

“We need to split up now. We can’t go together. We would slow each other down, and it would be a disadvantage to us both,” she said.

“Hmm… okay,” Elysia replied slowly, nodding her head, uncertainty written all over her face.

“Don’t worry. You’d be fine. Just make sure to stay focused and don’t be distracted,” Vesper advised.

“Okay,” Elysia answered.

With that, Vesper patted her shoulders and sprinted away into the woods.

Elysia was alone in the middle of the dense woods. She couldn’t find any wolf in sight. She glanced at the map, but she couldn’t decipher anything from it. Deciding to follow her intuition, she walked straight, deeper into the woods.

She turned left as she walked on. Suddenly, she hit her leg against a heavy stone, tripping and falling on her face. The map in her hands fell from her and rolled on the floor towards a cliff.

She morphed back into her human form.

“Uh…” she groaned in pain and managed to get back on her feet.

“Seek me, Vaelmor.”

“I am right here, Vaelmor.”

“Vaelmor.”

She heard different voices echoing in the forest. Her legs shook, and fear gripped her.

“Rrrr!” She heard a roaring sound come from behind her. She turned. It was a beastly-looking wolf. Her eyes widened in terror. A primal instinct screamed at her to run.

She fled, but the creature chased her. The leaves in the forest brushed against her as she paved her way to escape. She fell again, this time injuring her leg, but she didn’t stop.

“Rrrr!” The creature was still chasing her. She could hear its uneven breathing, and her heart slammed against her chest like a caged bird.

She was heading towards the cliff. Her apprehension grew, and the creature was very close to her already.

She halted, right at the edge of the cliff. The creature was drawing nearer. She looked beneath the cliff, then back at the creature. Her eyes searched desperately for a way out.

“Rrrr!” She heard the creature again. It was already right in front of her. It jumped right onto her. She fell to her knees, her eyes tightly shut. She froze, expecting death.

She felt a pair of lips land on her right cheek.

“Huh…” she mumbled, shocked.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, one at a time.

There was no creature in sight. Instead, standing before her was a breathtaking lady, dressed in white. Her smile was alluring, and her white dress made her seem like an angel. Elysia stood up. She was so confused, wondering what was happening.

“You look so beautiful, Vaelmor,” the lady said. Her voice had a captivating melody.

Elysia was stunned, unable to even comprehend what was going on. She just stared at the lady.

“I am sorry if I scared you,” she said again.

Elysia blinked.

“Don’t be scared. I do not intend to harm you. I am your friend,” she assured her.

“W… w… h… a… t?” Elysia asked, stuttering.

“Yes, Vaelmor. I am your friend. I am Nymera.” She stretched her hands for a handshake. Elysia reluctantly took it.

“Hello, Nymera,” she greeted ambivalently.

“Awwn, you’re so sweet, Vaelmor,” Nymera cooed, pulling her into a hug and startling Elysia.

“Who is Vaelmor?” Elysia asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“You are,” Nymera answered.

“No, I am not. My name is Elysia,” she corrected.

“Oh… you are so naive, aren’t you?” Nymera shook her head.

“What do you mean?” Elysia was puzzled.

“You are more than you think,” Nymera spoke, her eyes enigmatic.

Elysia stared blankly at her inscrutable face.

“I still do not understand.”

“You will, Vaelmor. You will.”

“But—”

“That is not the point now. You need to focus on entering Lycoria,” Nymera cut her short, her face turning serious.

“I don’t know if I can,” Elysia sighed.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t even qualify to get in there. I do not have money for the tuition, and I can’t even possibly get a silver crystal, let alone a gold crystal. I am just—”

“Shhh.” Nymera placed her index finger on Elysia’s lips.

“You will get in.”

“But how?”

Nymera smirked. She snapped her finger and wobbled it in circles. A form of light beamed divergently in her hands, then something appeared. Elysia’s eyes bulged in shock. It was a gold crystal.

“What?”

“Take it,” she said, pointing the crystal towards her.

Elysia took it. Her fingers trembled.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I am Nymera, and I am just a messenger.”

“But—”

“You need to leave now, Vaelmor. Night is nigh,” Nymera said.

Reluctantly, Elysia began walking away. Nymera just watched her as she left.

“The map, I—” she turned back.

“Just follow the footsteps. You would not get lost. You will also retrieve it on your way back.”

“Thank you, Nymera,” Elysia expressed her gratitude, her lips set in a thin line.

Nymera nodded slowly, closing her eyes.

Elysia turned back, gripping the crystal tightly in her hands.

“And, Vaelmor…” Nymera called, making Elysia turn again. “Trust wisely.”

“What do you…?”

Nymera disappeared.

THE ROYAL PALACE

THE BETA’S OFFICE

Cassian sat behind his desk in the office, going through administrative files.

“There is an uneven distribution of resources in the northern region of Tripa Pack,” he muttered, raising his brows.

He had requested for all the packs to present their resource allocation files. He was still looking into them when a knock came on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Theron, Your Highness.”

“Come in.”

“Your Highness, some soldiers sent to Tripa this morning have returned.”

“Great, bring them in,” Cassian ordered.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Theron left. He came back a couple of minutes later with three soldiers.

“Greetings, Your Highness,” they bowed.

“Greetings,” Cassian replied.

“We are the returning soldiers from Tripa Pack,” they said, bowing.

“Go on,” Cassian said.

“We went through different parts of the pack, Your Highness. Some of our men are still searching Tripa,” one of them spoke.

“We went through the southern and northern regions of the pack. Some of us are still investigating the west and the east,” another added.

“I see.”

“Yes, Your Highness. The southern part of the pack, where the Royal Palace of the pack is, seemed normal. There seemed to be famine, but the people in its environs were being fed, and food was well distributed.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Maybe Alpha Tripa was right, then. What about the North?” Cassian asked, and the soldiers glanced at each other.

“What is it?” Cassian queried.

“The northern part of the pack is in abysmal condition, Your Highness.”

“What?” Cassian exclaimed.

“That’s right, Your Highness. The famine seemed a bit intense, but there is very little food in the region. There are records of a lot of wolves dying.”

Cassian exhaled.

“That is not all, Your Highness,” they said.

“What else?”

“We found a hut in the woods there.”

“And?”

“There were four dead wolves there.”

“Did they die of starvation?” Cassian asked.

“We weren’t so sure because we found food behind the hut so we concluded it couldn’t be because of the famine, so we brought them to the palace, Your Highness.”

“Food? That means they didn’t starve.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Did you check if they were attacked or something?”

“There wasn’t a trace of such, Your Highness.”

“Okay. You may leave,” Cassian ordered.

The three wolves bowed and left the office.

“Theron… get the dead wolves to the infirmary and call on Evander to examine them.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Theron bowed.

“And also, tell Evander to provide food and medicine for the soldiers. They must be exhausted from superspeeding all the way to Tripa Pack and back,” Cassian instructed.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Theron bowed and exited.

Cassian sat back on his chair, ruminating upon the information he had just been given.

LYCORIA ACADEMY

The royal family were still seated in front of the academy gates. Lanterns were used to light up the area as the sun had retired for the day.

Many of the candidates had returned, and the ones who were able to get their silver crystals had registered their names as incoming students into Lycoria. Vesper could be seen beaming with excitement as her name was being written. She had returned with a silver crystal. She was the 39th person to return with it. Her excitement was obvious.

Evren walked to the Alpha King where he was sited with the rest of the family.

“Your Majesty, 39 silver crystals have been recovered by the candidates, and 190 candidates have returned from the woods,” he informed them.

“Meaning only three are left. I guess Darian should prepare to go and retrieve it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Evren bowed.

“Darian,” Aurelian called.

“Yes, Father,” Darian answered from where he was sitting behind, between Kael and Lyssandra. They were behind Seraphina and Aurelian, who were sitting in front of them beside each other.

“Prepare to retrieve the gold crystal. Only three candidates are left in the woods,” Aurelian said.

“Okay, Father,” Darian replied.

“But what if one of the three candidates gets it?” Kael wondered.

“Then I won’t have to go, but I doubt the possibility of that,” Darian said calmly and shrugged.

“Pssst, I doubt it completely. Darian has been retrieving it for years,” Lyssandra scoffed, rolling her eyes at Kael.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Kael glared.

“I know, but guess what? I don’t care.”

“So rude,” Kael shot back.

“So what? I can say what I want,” Lyssandra replied, eyeing him.

“Oh, please, spare me,” Darian groaned and stood up.

Leaving them to continue their bantering, he stood a little in front of Evren, who was going through the documentation of the new students with the registrar.

A few minutes later, two of the candidates came in, with no crystal in hand.

“One more left,” Evren announced.

Darian prepared himself.

Just then, Elysia appeared, panting profusely, holding the gold crystal in her hand. She walked towards Evren.

“I got it… I got the gold crystal,” she said, raising her hand up.

Her legs betrayed her, and her eyelids felt like a magnet was pulling them shut. She fainted and fell right to the floor. Her head dropped directly onto Darian’s legs.