ANAYA ROSE MOURNSTRIDE
"Through the orb, you'll find love,
Through the orb, you'll break;
Through the orb, time will be tough,
Through the orb, you're gonna die or rise."
I can feel the orb glowing, glowing like the sun so brightly, but can't seem to reach it. It calls my name as if it was mocking me, "Anaya, find me… I'll give you a chance to live, you don't want to die now, do you?" The person laughs in my face mockingly and I scream.
I wake up with a jerk, feeling like someone poured a bucket of ice water over my head. After I calm myself, I sit on my bed with hands in my hair. This pounding headache, aagh. It has been the same ever since I've turned 21, not a single good night's sleep.
The same dream all over again, the same prophecy about the orb, the same headaches.
I've always wanted to forget that I was a witch and live my life as a human. Oh, I was doing it perfectly fine till I turned 21, but that day everything changed.
It was like I was living someone else's life, dreaming about someone else's memories. I didn't know where to go, whom to ask, what to make out of these dreams, memories. The only witches I knew were my mom and dad, who are now… now dead. And I was certain that I was living on borrowed time. My death was near too.
My dad, Alan Mournstride was the last Mournstride wizard to roam over the earth as far as I know, and from what I know about his death, it was due to the Oracle Breakdown. "Oracle Breakdown, I've never seen anything so consuming and vile, it starts with a great gift a person could ever have, that is, to see into the future, and then as a price to pay for this gift, it took the lives of millions of witches and wizards all over the world,' my mother used to say. Even the strongest of the witches and wizards were not able to avoid death.
It all started when the cruel werewolf king Lucius Deveraux stole the magical orb from us, the witches. The Magical Orb was the core of our power and the evil king has stolen it, no one knows why; no one knows where it is now. It is rumored to be in the packhouse of Thorn Den pack but we don't know anymore. Since the time the orb has been stolen, thousands of witches and wizards above the age of 21, started to die every year.
My mom was half-human, so after my dad died when I was 2 years old, me and mom returned to the human state of North Carolina and started to live a normal human life. But that didn't go according to our plan and my mom succumbed to the Oracle Breakdown when I was 13. And now it was on the way to make me its prey and my only possible solution is to find the Magical Orb, the core of my power.
Coming out from the haze of the witch talk, I look at the clock in my room, "Shit! It's already 8 am and I have a class at 9. I should probably hurry up, Ruby should be back here anytime now," Ruby, she's my ride or die all along. We met at a foster home when I was 15 and have been inseparable ever since and she's currently out jogging, after which we go to university together.
"Anaya, I'm back. Are you ready? I want to use the bathroom." she shouts, entering the hall we share and sees me with my towels going into the bathroom.
"Hell no! Why aren't you even ready yet? We are gonna be late again Anaya and that bastard is gonna give me some bullshit," she says referring to our professor who always seemed to have his claws out for Ruby.
"Relax ruby, we all know he loves you like his own child," I mock her and laugh.
"I hate you so much, Anaya. Just hurry the fuck up already" she says going further into my kitchen.
"I love you too, Ruby. Make me some breakfast, will you?" I shout closing the bathroom door, which makes Ruby release a string of curse words.
I turn the shower on and smile to myself. This… this looks so perfect, I want to live this life. I don't want to lose Ruby, not now, not ever and for that, I have to at least try to find this orb. I close my eyes letting the water wash away the dirt from my body, as well as my thoughts.
*****************************************************
CASSIAN LUCIUS DEVERAUX
"Through the orb, you'll find love,
Through the orb, you'll break;
Through the orb, time will be tough,
Through the orb, you're gonna die or rise."
"You can't ascend the throne without a mate."
"Why is the orb not helping this poor boy?"
"Is this the world's way of telling that Cassian is not meant to rule over us?"
"I feel sorry for him."
"You're unworthy, you don't deserve a mate."
"Haha, such a fool. Who would even love you?"
It feels like I'm running in a maze, I don't know where the exit is. I hear screams, people mocking at me, telling me I'm good for nothing. It felt like the words were hitting me from all sides but I didn't know whose words they were. The pain was too much to bear, much more than the physical pain, and then… I wake up.
I wake up with a jerk, my body drenched in sweat from head to toe. This wasn't new to me. It's just how my life was from the very beginning. From the night I lost my mother when I was15, these nightmares are the only ones staying with me. That day, not only did I lose my mother but also my father. He turned my life into a living nightmare and for that, we both paid the price.
### The sentences in between ~ are communicated through the mind link. ###
~"Alpha? Are you awake?"~ my mind link opens to my beta Hayden.
~"Yes, what's the matter? Is everything alright?"~ This pack, the Thorn Den pack, was always my priority, they were like my family. And my beta mind linking me at 4 am in the morning had me worried.
~"Yeah, everything is alright. But… Rhys is back and he has some news."~ I could hear a pinch of excitement in Hayden's voice and hoped it really was some good news.
~"Go to my office. I'll meet you guys there in 5."~
~"Yes, Alpha."~ I feel the mind link cut. I rush into my closet and put on the first shirt I find and head towards my office.
"It was high time I received good news."
I reach my office and find Hayden smiling ear to ear. Rhys looked exhausted but was content with the information he found. Rhys was our pack's best spy, hell I could even say that he's the best spy in the whole damn world and I was so ready to find out what information he had for me.
"So Rhys, what information did you dig up?" I see his eyes light up, listening to how eager I was.
"What boss? No 'how have been Rhys' and no 'I have missed you so much, Rhys'? Someone's too eager" he says and glances up to Hayden.
To be honest, I was eager. I was eager to meet my mate and claim the throne. I should've already found my mate when I was 18 and claimed the throne by 21, but the night of my 18th birthday changed everything and I don't know if it was for the worst or best.
"Have you found anything about the whereabouts of the matchmaking orb?"
The Matchmaking Orb, it was the only way for me to find my mate. Normal werewolves know about their mates by smell and touch. I've also been told that, when you look into their eyes for the first time, you'd be looking so deep into their soul, and that's how the mate bond is formed.
But my case is a totally different one, as the only heir to the werewolf throne, I need the matchmaking orb to find my mate. It is said that this was a curse from the elder wizards so that, we would never reject our real mates in the illusion of power and lust.
And I don't understand, who in their right minds would reject their mate.
"Not about the matchmaking orb. But I found out where the last Mournstride wizard is residing. You know that the orb is powered by their magic, right?"
The Mournstride wizards, these wizards were the most powerful beings to ever walk on earth, and I assume those were the one's who locked us with the curse.
"Mournstride wizard? I thought they were extinct. How come you found out about this one?"
According to the legends, the whole wizard race was nearing extinction because of an unknown delirium causing disease, which made them have visions of the future and then cause death within a few days. So, I was naturally curious about how this wizard was still alive.
"I have my ways, boss. You want the location or not?" Rhys says smirking at me. Even though he didn't say how, I was proud of him for clawing out this critical information.
"So you have the name?" I ask him. He nods his head and drops a note onto my table.
I eagerly pick it up,
Anay Mournstride,
1229 Stratford Court,
Durham, North Carolina.
After the wait of 8 fucking long years, it's finally time to go get this orb back.
"Hayden, you're coming with me and tell Alex to look after the pack while we are out, and Rhys, you've done a good job. Go rest up."
"Yes, Alpha," they both say and head back to their rooms.
"North Carolina, here we come."