"Sora? The one who has...."

Beta Ren was unable to form any words.

"Yes the one who has lost his wolf"

"But how could he be so powerful without his wolf?"

"That's not his wolf"

"What do you mean Alpha?"

"Haven't you realized that he was using fire elements? Our power is related to ourselves. We can't control the elements in our surroundings, that's sorcery. He was using a witchcraft"

Beta Ren's eyes bulged even more after hearing this. 

"But Alpha Elves were the only ones who could control elements and they went extinct a long time ago then how did he acquire that ability?"

"That's what I am thinking about"

He then sighed and said,

"After losing his wolf, he was like a half-dead person. I left him alone where our old pack was located as I knew that he was going to die and for years we lived by this thought that he was dead. Everyone thought that he died somewhere in those woods but he is alive and powerful without his wolf. So all I can think is that he has been using sorcery for these years to live and gain power without his wolf. But one thing I can't understand is how is he doing it without Elves? Because as you've said the Elves have gone extinct and it is all because of the Witch who has used their blood for sorcery to gain their elemental powers and now he is doing the same sorcery"

"But how did he lost his wolf?"

"It's a long story and it happened when our parents were alive. At that time my father was the Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack and it was situated at the northernmost side near the Blue lake. Sora is two years older than me. I was 16 years old and he was 18 years old at that time when our pack captured an intruder who had crossed the boundary of our pack. It was a girl, a really beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes. My father locked the girl in the dungeon for investigation. It was Sora's duty to look after the captured people in the dungeon and he had the most interaction with the girl. After some time he started to develop feelings for her and for once in a while he told the father to release her saying that she is innocent and father always said to him that something is fishy about her that he can't pinpoint because our pack was the most powerful at that time and no one has the ability to cross our boundary unharmed. I and Sora were playing in the forest when we found her in the bushes injured and unconscious. You must be thinking that she was injured and we locked her in a dungeon but the thing was that we didn't know for how long she was in our territory without getting noticed. We just accidentally found her and we didn't know whether she was a foe or friend and when we asked her she only told us that she was being chased by the rogue wolves, all other things she don't know, not even her name. Sora thought that she was innocent but I couldn't say that, it might be a facade she was putting on. Sora's continuous pestering to our father let her free from the confinement and she started to live there like a normal resident of our pack. Everything was going so smoothly and my parents also started to believe that she was some innocent girl who was chased by the rogue wolf and she started to get involved in all of our activities, helping people in the pack, teaching and playing with children, everything about her was like a next-door girl, sweet, charming and lovely. Even I thought that she was innocent but then one day,"

He then took a long sigh and continued,

"One day I was on patrolling duty when I saw her getting out of the packhouse at midnight. It was really a dark night and one could barely see anything but due to werewolf vision, I could see her very clearly as I was going to ask her what she is doing here late at night when I suddenly thought that she was a normal human being but still she was crossing all the twigs and hurdles in the jungle very smoothly. Seeing all of this astonished me and I silently started to follow her. She was walking deeper into the jungle when she suddenly stopped in front of Giant Sequoia tree that was surrounded by thorny bushes, with a wave of her hand she pushed away those bushes, now the base of the tree was visible where there was a gaping hole, she went into the hole and then again with a wave covered the entrance with bushes. I slowly went towards that opening but there was some kind of force field around the tree that was preventing me from going further so I had no other choice but to wait outside. I climb the nearest tree where it was easy for me to hide and keep a close watch on the entrance. I waited the whole night but she didn't come out and when the time was nearing the dawn I started to doze off and then sleep completely took over me and when I woke up it was night again. I was so perplexed by the situation I was in and then I checked the time and it was close to midnight of the next day, that means I slept for a whole day and when I look towards that tree there was nothing there, no entrance, no bushes that were covering it just a plain old tree. It felt like all the things I saw in the previous night were a dream, like a mirage that has now vanished and for a moment I believed in it like some kind of a thought that was forced inside my head making me think that all of it was a dream but my intuition was telling me otherwise and then suddenly a sense of forboding overcome me, then and there I quickly changed into my wolf form and sprinted towards the packhouse, due to my speedster ability I was there within a few seconds and the scene in front of my eyes was something that is still etched in my soul"

Beta Ren who was silently listening to all of this took a glance towards his Alpha who was staring into a distance with a lost expression and redness in his eyes as in like his body was there but his soul was still experiencing that devastating situation.

"I can never... never forget how my whole pack was destroyed by that Witch"

Beta Ren had never seen this worn-out and vulnerable side of his Alpha, he then handed him a glass of water. He took a big gulp of water to calm his choking voice. 

"When I reached there I can only see fire and smoke and cries of my pack mates. I first ran towards my parents' house but no one was there. I thought that they must be in the packhouse and when I reached there it was all too late. I saw their bodies lying on the cold floor, my father was already dead and my mother was on the verge of dying with a silver dagger pierced into her heart and the same dagger was used to kill my father who had a gaping hole at the left side of his chest"

He then took out a dagger from his drawer, tightly gripped its hilt, he slightly ran a finger at the sharp blade.

"Alpha what are you doing? It's silver" Beta Ren said loudly and then grabbed the hand that was holding the hilt.

"I will dye this dagger with her blood the same way she did it to my parents"

The madness and rage that were whirling in his Alpha's eyes were scary. Beta Ren took the dagger from his hand and placed it back in a drawer. 

He placed his head at the backrest while looking towards the ceiling, he took a deep breath and said,

"My mother told me everything before her death, it was so difficult for her to talk with the dagger still pierced in her chest but she endured it and with shaky breaths, she told me everything in bits and pieces. That intruder girl was a Witch and she was the one who killed my parents and destroyed my whole pack. My mother told me that Sora went after that girl and I should go and take the pack members to the safest place. After burying my parents I gather all the members who survived and left that place. We then settled here and I established a new pack. After one month of settling everything, I went back to that place to investigate and look for Sora. I spent one week there in a jungle, during that time I dug around that old tree, and what I found there was extremely sickening. There was a large underground passage that was going towards the blue lake and its other opening was near the forest close to the blue lake and that passage was filled with so many corpses of Elves"

Beta Ren took a deep intake of breath. 

"All those corpses were ashen grey like the blood was sucked out of them."

Beta Ren knew that witchcraft to gain elemental powers involves using the blood of Elves but he didn't know that the outcome was this gruesome. 

"There were so many of them and the smell in that passage was so disgusting like a mix of rust and rotten flesh and it was difficult for me to breath in there for long. So the first thing I did was to close both passages by filling the entrance with rubble and placing a large boulder. After that, I started to look for Sora. When I found him he was sitting at the corner of one of the burned abandoned houses. He told me that he has killed the witch and thrown her corpse in a lake but during his fight with her she has used some kind of witchcraft that has killed his wolf. He was telling the truth about his wolf because I couldn't sense his wolf at that time. I told him to come back with me to our new pack but he rejected saying that he has few days to live and he wanted to spend the rest of his days there and die beside his parents. So I left him there as I couldn't leave my newly established pack unattended for many days"

He stood up and went towards a book rack where a framed picture was placed. Beta Ren has seen this picture of young Asahi with his parents beside him so many times. For how long he has been here that picture was always there on a book rack that gives someone an impression that the couple in a picture has only one child. Asahi took that picture out of the frame and unfold it from the middle and now there were two boys in the middle with their parents on both sides. The boy beside Asahi has a sunny appearance with a wide smile on his face. Beta Ren couldn't imagine that it was the same guy he saw yesterday in the forest. 

"Now I am unsure about the credibility of his words he told me at that time because from a few years ago I am witnessing the witchcraft activities, my first thought was that either there is a new warlock in the run or the previous Witch hasn't died yet. I never thought that Sora would be alive and doing the same things his parents' killer did. All of this became evident when he burned Tendo's house and killed his parents. He cannot do this on his own unless he had learned this from someone and who could teach him except that Witch which means he lied to me when he said that he has killed her. I was investigating it for quite some time but he never left his trace because he always uses his lackeys, never showing his face. Now he thinks that Tendo will become a major threat for him in the future because he is a Lycan and its inborn in them to remove evil from the world. That's why he is so bent on killing him that he has to show his face"

He was now staring nonstop at the picture, then he folded it again and placed it back in a frame. 

"Before he could do any harm to our children and our pack I want to remove this thorn from our lives for once and all"

"Alpha I still can't understand how he is doing all of this sorcery without elves as you know Elves has gone extinct a long time ago"

Beta Ren who has been listening to the whole story quietly finally presented his query that was itching his mind.

"That I'm not sure but my best guess is that they didn't go extinct but went into hiding because of the mass murder of so many Elves happening at that time and I think Sora has found where are they hiding"

"That's really bad then. He is killing many innocent people"

"Yes, he has succumbed to evilness. Before he creates more chaos in the world I need to kill him. I can't let someone to go look for him because I know how dangerous he is and I can't leave the pack when I know he is after Tendo"

"I can go Alpha"

"No, you can't. You are not his match. We will look into the matter thoroughly and will try to find the solution"

At this time someone lightly knocks on the door. 

 

Tendo closed his bag and stretched his muscles. 

"My muscles have become stiff after writing so much homework. Hyung let's go and play outside"

"Ok but we should inform Alpha before leaving", Haruto responded while closing his notebook. 

"Ok, you pack your bag. I am going upstairs to inform him"

As he was in the middle of climbing the stairs he heard Nivalis who was quiet the whole time he was doing his homework.

'Shh stop here'

"Why?"

'just do what I am saying'

Tendo rolled his eyes but still did what he was saying since after listening to what Haruto said he no longer want to fight his wolf. 

'Now what?

'Take off your slippers'

He took off his slippers. 

'Now lighten your breathing and slowly walk towards the study'

He did as Nivalis said and quietly walk towards the study. Due to his sharp hearing ability, he could hear everything clearly that Asahi and Beta Ren were talking.

"He told me that he has killed the witch..."

'Now you know who killed your parents. Don't you want revenge? Don't you want to kill that person?'

The voices of Asahi and Beta Ren, mixed with the background voice of his wolf and his mind showing a continuous movie of the past events, all the thoughts were jumbling inside his head. He sat lightly against the wall. His eyes were flickering turning from light blue to dark blue as his wolf was trying to take control. He clenched his fist tightly and said in his mind,

'Yes I wanna take revenge'

He then heard Nivalis

 'The best revenge is one that is perfectly planned and first we've to work hard and train well to become powerful. Now calm your emotions, they are pulling me out. Think about good memories'

He then tried really hard to control his emotions by thinking about all the pleasant memories.

After calming himself he then stood up and went towards the door. He stabilized his facial expression before knocking on the door as he didn't want Asahi and Beta Ren to know that he was eavesdropping. 

 

"Come in Tendo"

The door slightly opened and a small head peeked inside. 

"Ah Dad we've finished our homework and now we want to play outside", Tendo asked from the outside, dare not to enter into the room thinking that Asahi might still be angry with him. 

Asahi looked at Tendo with amusement and knew that his previous fit of anger has scared him a little. After losing his parents he has lost all the colors of his life and his only goal was to build a new powerful pack but all those colors were brought back into his life by this little soul. Now he has a family he wants to cherish and protect. 

"Come here"

Tendo entered the room reluctantly and then he saw Asahi was looking at his bare feet. 

"Oh that..." He then ran outside and came back after wearing his slippers and stand in front of Asahi with hands behind his back. 

Asahi went towards him and lightly patted his head,

"Ok go and play but return back before night falls and.."

He looked into Tendo's eyes and said sternly,

"Don't fight with your wolf"

"We won't. We won't. We are now friends"

"Really?", Asahi raised his eyebrow and asked with uncertainty. 

"Yes, really", he nodded his head vigorously and ran outside before giving him a sheepish grin.