00: Prologue

00: PROLOGUE

As the full moon rose towards the center of the black-veiled horizon, her eyes took shape at last. They were once an emerald green, but now they are a glowing ruby red. The look on her face wasn’t anything feral at all; it was more of a painting of tentative distress.

Ferociously growling right in front of her was the Lycan prince, who’s now gone full rogue; his eyes became tattooed with total blackness. In them, you can’t even see the reflection of the bright moonlight. The young she wolf locked her gaze straight into the Lycan prince’s feral eyes, highly hoping that she’d find something behind them that would alter the course of this unfavorable ordeal. But all she found was nothing but an empty void of blackness, with certainly no trace of his soul left.

“Please, Conall! This isn’t you.” The she wolf begged, but the young Lycan prince was long gone, fully clad in total darkness. Under the powerful influence of the full moon above the night sky, he could possibly have recognized the beautiful voice of someone he used to trust, and yet the spell he was under was even more potent.

The Lycan prince began to lunge towards the she wolf, who managed to dodge him with such elegance the first time. She was momentarily surprised at how she managed to dodge the quick attack.

“Conall! It’s me, April! Please, come back with us now.” The she wolf screamed once again.

He ignored her once again. If it was the first time that he’d ignored her, it would’ve been fine for her. However, this wasn’t like when he first shrugged her presence off of his shoulder. This was after all of the mirthful laughter they shared together. This was after all the giddy sensation of a kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering on the pits of her stomach. This was even after the kiss. This was after everything.

The Lycan prince quickly turned back around and began lunging back towards her, only to be disrupted by a quick shadowy figure tackling him with such a powerful force, successfully knocking him down onto the ground.

“Are you okay, April?" said the figure who just knocked the prince out.

“Marceline? What are you doing out here?” April inquired, thinking this battle should just be between her and the rogue Lycan prince.

“I came here to help you. You can’t fight this thing alone,” replied the wounded Marceline.

“B-but you’re bleeding. You’re hurt; you need to get out of here!” said the she wolf, and just quickly after that, the Lycan prince rose from the ground and rapidly got behind the unsuspecting Marceline. “Marceline, watch out!” screamed the she wolf, but it was already too late for everything. Conall had already snapped her neck off in a quick second.

In a snap, another soul has been taken by the rogue claws of the Lycan prince. Watching her best friend fall lifeless onto the ground, the she wolf shrieked at the top of her lungs. It was initially a cry of sorrow, then it became a full outcry of outrage. She set her focus towards the beast that she had been trying to rescue.

“Well, that was disappointingly easy.” The Lycan prince muttered as if taking someone’s life was just like taking a walk in the park. “Now, it’s your turn, my sweet innocent lowly she wolf.”

The initial concern wrapping around the she wolf’s heart was now replaced with a frightening anger. “You are going to pay for this!” letting her sharp claws out, the she wolf howled into the moonlight.

She began to lunge towards the rogue Lycan prince, only for him to dodge her quite easily this time around. She was graceful and agile, but Conall seemed to have regained a different kind of strength right after taking another soul. After a while of dodging her attacks, the Lycan prince managed to catch the she wolf by her arm, eventually swinging her into the air and finally kicking her through the stomach. The poor she wolf didn’t have much time to budge as she hit the nearest wall, almost breaking it. As the moon continued to glow in the sky, the chances of her following her best friend’s fate were pretty high. No one could stop the absolute menace that was Conall under the powerful influence of the night.

The she wolf lay motionless on the ground; her eyes were shut. It seemed that she had passed out after being swung around and kicked with such powerful force, but right then, she was taking a quick trip to memory lane. It hasn’t been that long since she met the Lycan prince, but she couldn’t even deny the fact that he had taken her heart.

When she opened her eyes, the Lycan prince was already on top of her, ready to sink his sharp fangs into her flesh. Right then, she became riddled with agony, knowing that the guy ready to take her life was the same guy who made her dream come true. He was the one who helped her tame the monster living inside of her. He was the one who made her feel seen when the world seemed to have deemed her as no one. He was the one who made her feel like the universe had plans even for a forgotten person like her.

She couldn’t help herself but shed some tears. It wasn’t because she had already accepted her losing fate; it was because she was about to unleash the monster inside of her. She could feel it starting to take over. Her heartbeat was rising. Her skull was throbbing.

The she wolf had no other choice but to take this fight all the way down to the ground if it meant saving the entire Sun & Moon academy. She’s not going to succumb to death without taking the Lycan prince with her. It’s going to hurt so bad, but she has to kill the one she loves.