The Wolf's Shadow

Serena clung to the wall and gazed into the blackness where the stranger and Mira had disappeared. That his words rolled in her mind like smoke around thought. “I’m here to make sure the Onyx wolf bloodline does not die.

The air felt dense, suffocation dripping down as if the shadows had decided to embrace her. Her chest was heavy where his words had lain. What did he mean by that? The Onyx bloodline must continue? She was the last of the bloodline? There was more to it. Something more, sinister something darker.”

She gripped her weapon so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She felt like running after them and confronting him. But something held her back. The uncertainty, and the slow dawning realization that the thing she thought she understood — about herself and about the Onyx wolf — was just the tip of the iceberg.

The feel of Lucian’s hand on her shoulder pulled her back from her thoughts. She hadn’t even seen him get up. His hand was steady, firm, soothing, even, but his voice was tense with worry.

“Don’t listen to him,” he said to me, urgently, quietly. “He’s trying to control you.”

But Serena barely heard him. The stranger’s words were still ringing in her ears. “You are just what I need.”

“I think he’s right,” she said quietly, as though to herself. Her words came out of her mouth before she could stop them — a reality she hadn’t apparently accepted until that moment.

Lucian’s fingers brushed her shoulder. “No. You’re stronger than that. And you don’t have to play their game.”

“I don’t know anymore,” Serena said, her voice nearly a whisper. The conflict had gotten  into her to make her feel guilty, leaving her in incredible confusion and doubt. The power inside her — the Onyx wolf — was always something she’d tried to contain, an entity that made her unstoppable. But now … now it was like that chain that looped around her was tugging her in some way she couldn't escape 

“What if it’s not a game?” Serena’s voice was shaky. “But what if the bloodline isn’t just a curse? But what if I’m the key for something … greater? What if I’m meant to let it continue?”

Lucian regarded her, his brow furrowing. "You can’t be their pawn, Serena. That was precisely what they hoped for — to take advantage of you. The power you feel? It’s not your fate to be used for their ends.”

“Lucian’s right. The Onyx wolf is dangerous, but it ain’t your master, you could control it.” Elias who hadn't spoken since finally spoke.

Serena had turned toward Elias, looking at him. His eyes were unreadable and droopy, and his mouth hung slightly open, as though he were ready to speak but didn’t know how. Then came the words, slowly, a quiet trickle that-smote Serena like a heavy punch to the chest.

The energy inside her rippled in reaction to this, a thrumming she couldn’t ignore. It was like a Onyx wolf, that ran through her blood, waking up, pressing against her struggle. She always fought it, kept it under lock and key, but now it seemed that the power was resisting her.

“You can’t use me as a puppet,” she had said, shaking her head, though she hadn’t sounded convincing. She genuinely wanted to succumb to the wolf’s force. “But what if I’m supposed to be?”

“Enough!” Lucian’s voice broke through the fog in her brain. “We’re going to find out what the hell is going on and how to control it."

Elias replied, his expression turning somber. “But we can’t wait. We need to act now.  Isolde and Mira are already acting on their plan."  

The three of them fell into a tense silence as they turned and began to walk in the corridor once again. This time each step felt heavier, the weight of Serena's thought was pressing down on her mind but she didn't have much time to sort through them. Not when the enemies were still out there.

As Serena walked, her mind kept returning back to the stranger’s words. “I’m the one to make sure the Onyx wolf bloodline lives on.” What did he know that she didn’t know? Was the Ability of the Onyx wolf greater than she realized? And why had her mother not wanted to share it?

She looked over at Lucian, beside her, his brow wrinkled as if he had one of his own — a thought that all belonged to him — on his mind. And she wanted to ask him what did he know, what did he think the Onyx wolf was, really, but the words stuck to her mouth. The truth was that she didn’t even know who she could trust anymore, if anyone. Not when her own mother was showing her a way that terrified her.

Minutes later, they finally reached the library. When they arrived, the stone walls of the ancient building felt like they were closing in. The dank smell of old paper and dirt mixed in with the cool, damp, crisp air of the courtyard out of doors.

“I’ll dig through the records,” Lucian said, steel creeping into his tone, “See if there’s anyone on record about this Onyx wolf that can help us.”

“I’ll consult the mystical stones,” Elias said absently. He wasn’t even looking at Serena when he said this, but at the shelves, his eyes angled toward the shelves. Serena saw the tightness in his shoulders, the uncertainty in how the tips of his fingers moved across the spines of the books.

Serena nodded, but the sentiment felt hollow. She was supposed to help. You were meant to be the one who knew it all. But instead, lost, a marionette skewered on her own strings.

As Lucian and Elias began searching, Serena continued deeper into the library. The ink on some of the books were faded, and her fingertips scraped across the cracked pages of the ancient books. She opened to a page that had captivated her, and her heart raced as she read the first few aloud:

“The Onyxwolf, final of the primal beasts: the world’s equalizer. “Here is the blood that is both a blessing and a curse, for every kiss it gives will either redeem or curse all it touches.”

Serena froze, the breath catching in her throat. Her blood ran cold as she continued reading:

“The end of the bloodline will be at the crossroads. One path is redemption; the other path is ruin. Only the one who carries the gift of the Onyx wolf shall be the words of this choice. “Either they will rise a hero or fall a tyrant.”

The book felt heavy in her hands, the words blurring, while her mind was racing through. Each sentence almost whispered, calling her toward something she didn’t know if she was cut out for. She flipped a few pages and her hands shook with uncertainty.

The path forward was foggy and complicated. Every step she took seemed like it had the possibility of altering everything, tilting the balance in an questionable way. The Onyx wolf wasn’t only a source of power—it was a dam, containing something far larger, something dangerous. 

And Serena wasn’t sure she was ready.