Blakehurst is a small town, with a lot of trees and rivers. Our jobs are mainly farming and mining, we grow into the work as children. In a town where werewolves and human coexist peacefully without hatred and conflict, we became a family. A werewolf can marry a human and give birth to half werewolf half human. Our neighboring towns such as Thinkdall and Octobius always thought our culture was insane and had sought ways to destroy us so many times. But, because they could not find a traitor among us, they had always failed. My father, Deriut, the head of the clan Jaguars was a werewolf. He was one of the powerful werewolves in the history of our town. He was tall, probably 6'8, had grey hair and green eyes. As a young man, he and his best friend, Trius fought battles and they conquered in all. My grandfather, at that time was the head of the clan but he lost his legs in a battle with the Dares. This happened when my Father was seventeen so he had to take care of Blakehurst on behalf of his father. Although most elders didn't like him, they were happy when he won battles against our adversaries. When his Father died, they decided to consult Quis, the spirit moon to choose the next leader of the clan. According to what I was told, Quis didn't give them a direct answer but said the man willing to sacrifice himself for human as well as werewolves will be the leader.
"How are we going to know that?" said one of the elders. He was short, and kind of plump. He wore our Asuaka short and was bare chested.
"There will be a sign, an event will happen and when you hear it, you will know." Grius, the guardian of the moon spirit said. He was in his mid-sixties, with grey and moist hair. He had been the guardian since he was fifteen because his father, Grius the third, died early of an unknown disease. Grius was a werewolf, and he was valiant since a young age. He and my grandfather, when he was the leader of our clan, fought in battles together and always won. The elders went back to their houses and waited patiently for the sign. At that time; my Father, Deriut was in the woods, for a walk and to have some time of reflection. Lost in thoughts, he was jeered back to reality by the screams he heard from a distance. He walked silently and carefully, then hid behind a tree while he gazed through the branches. He saw two women and two children kneeling down in a circle surrounded by huge men who were shouting at them. He could sense that these men were strange and powerful. One of the captured women, stood up and confronted one of the men (she looked young, with blonde hair). A man shoved her back and she landed hard on the floor. When he saw this, he counted the men and noticed they were five. "I have to do something fast, really fast!" he thought to himself. He offered a silent prayer to Quis and looked back at the scene. And at this time, the men had turned into wolves. "I knew it, these men must be from Faurus clan in Thinkdall" he whispered. He planned to cause distraction as a human before turning into a beast.
The victims screamed harder as the men changed into werewolves, and continued circling them. There was a crack in the woods, and three of the men turned and walked towards the direction. Deriut came out, raised his hands for a while and started running. As he ran, he slowly changed into his beast form. It had brown fur with ash spots and green eyes. He disappeared as the other wolves were wondering where the human went. After creating distraction, he jumped, this time as a human holding a huge tree with pointed head(stem). He aimed at the neck of a white wolf and crushed its neck. The other two turned back and ran towards him. Deriut removed the tree from the neck of the dead wolf, split it into two and ran towards them. He hit the black wolf with the split tree. Then, the other- a black wolf with white fur launched at him. He wrestled with the other one as he turned to a beast, the white wolf gaining balance from the bang, saw him transform and ran back to tell others about the werewolf on their tail. Deriut killed the one he was with and aimed for the black one, sending its head to the other two guarding the victims. The people screamed as they saw the head on the ground.
"I won't hurt you if you release these people. I have just killed three of your men" Deriut said from the woods.
"Reveal yourself first, coward" said one of the men who was now human. Deriut attacked him and strangled him on the spot. In response, one of the rest men held the lady who confronted them earlier as others tried to pull her back.
"She will die if you come close" he said panting heavily as he held her in a position where she was facing Deriut. He observed her features well. She looked like a teenager, she had brown eyes, a nose that fitted perfectly to her face, her lips were thin and wide. "She is so beautiful" Deriut thought to himself.
"Talk asshole." The man who held her said, as he dug his long nails into her flesh, she whimpered as she bled. "Don't hurt her please", the other lady pleaded. Tears rolled down from their eyes, as she closed her eyes in dread, Deriut turned back to human and held his hands up "we can discuss this" he said.
"There is nothing to discuss, you just killed my brothers. When I'm done with her, I'm going to kill you all." He said as he tightened his grip on her neck.
"Hey, lady look at me. Don't cry. I'm going to save you but you have to transform into your beast for me to do that" Deriut lied.
"What are you talking about? Are you saying she is a beast?"
"He doesn't know. Why did you hide your true identity, love?"
"Love? Beast? What's going on here?". In confusion, he loosened his grip. The lady was able to release herself as Deriut went for him and bit him on the neck, her people screamed as she ran towards them. They hugged her and checked for injuries, and also thanked my Father for rescuing them. The young lady was my mother, Astrius. She is one of the most beautiful women in our town and they fell in love from that period.
"We are from Hoge, we are the only ones who survived its destruction. My name is Astrius, this is my friend Lara" she said pointing to the other lady. "This is my brother, Selous and Lara's brother, Engle. We are ready to do anything but please, do not send us back." She continued.
Hoge was a small neighboring town that always asked for help, shelter and food from other towns. Majority of its population are human and a few are werewolves. The werewolves took advantage of the humans by oppressing, terrorizing and stealing food from them. Few weeks ago, news came that Hoge had been destroyed by Thinkdall, a powerful and violent, neighboring town. Their power is gained by exploiting small towns.
"oh, you survived. I thought everyone died" Deriut said.
"I and my best friend together with our brothers hid in the town for days without food and water after the attack"
"How were you able to survive the attack?" asked Deriut.
"We stayed in the water with a boat over our heads so we could breathe" said Astrius
"Is there anything we need to know about any of you?" He asked as he looked into their eyes.
"I'm half human half werewolf, my lord" Lara said.
The elders exclaimed and murmured.
"Why couldn't you save your friends from trouble then?" asked one of the elders.
"I'm in my year of transformation, I will be 18 in the next three weeks"
"I see, you are allowed to stay on one condition. You would have to swear an oath of trust by Quis- our moon spirit."
"We will."
"By the way, why were you attacked and by who?" another elder inquired.
"We met them as security men at Thinkdall border. They questioned us and we told them we were headed to Blakehurst. They allowed us to pass but after taking a few steps, almost at your border, they told us to stop. So, we ran" Lara narrated.
"Who are they?"
"They are the Faurus, I knew this when I was fighting them. They had a tattoo at the nape" Deriut said.
The elders murmured and left.
When they were settled, the elders went back to Grius for answers but Gruis said nothing. The elders knew the sign from Quis had been delivered, so they made my Father the head of his clan and he married Astrius. He made his best friend, who got married to Lara, the second-in-command.
Their union birthed I and my siblings. My first brother, Oben was a replica of father except for his eyes. He had brown eyes and he was not as tall as father. He was ten when I was given birth to. My second brother, Polus was born two years after Oben. He was a human just like Mother, he had blonde hair and Father's eyes and I, Helin was half human half werewolf. I was so like my mom in beauty, hair, eyes and character. I have always wished to be absolutely human. Growing up with my brothers was both fun and hell, they always wanted to prove that being a human is better than being a werewolf, and vice-versa. My father loved the arguments but my mom would always chastise them. Polus and Oben usually competed in the Jaguars contest, a yearly tournament for teenagers, at Blakehurst fairy ground since they were thirteen and had always won but it wasn't fulfilling for Polus, although they had the same training. One year, when I was seven, a rumor circulated that Oben had been helping Polus to win all these years and my father had always favored him because he was human. My brother Polus came home that day angry and fuming, "I don't want Oben in the competition this year, Father. I want to do this all by myself" he demanded.
"There is no way I will let you do that; do you know how vulnerable you are without Oben in that tournament?" enquired mother.
"I'm sick of that statement, mother. Being human does not make me vulnerable at all. But being able to admit that I have been favored by father and helped by my brother is weak"
As a child, I did not understand my brother's feelings. So, I sat quietly on my mother's lap, resting on her chest and sucking my fingers. I looked at my father's blank face as we all awaited his decision. He stood up, paced for some minutes and then looked at my mother's face for a moment.
"Son, I understand your plight. Oben will not help you this time, you will do this on your own to prove to everyone you are not weak as they think." He looked at Oben and said, "teach him everything he needs to know and make us proud as a family". He left as Polus came to kneel beside mother "I will be fine, mother. I promise" he said as he touched my cheeks
"Take care of your brother Oben"
"I will, mother" said Oben.
On the day of the contest, we dressed in our yearly ceremonial outfit, Asuaka – tiger made clothes. It was made from tiger skin and we had a local seamstress who was in charge of the making. It was always worn by everyone-- both human and werewolves. As family of the head of the clan, we had a special seat together with his best friend Trius. His wife and daughter, Adonis, came to greet my father as soon as we sat down. After a while, he came out to the podium and greeted everyone participating in the tournament. I saw my brother from where I sat and my heart skipped. Then I looked at Oben, he sensed my feeling and came to kiss my forehead.
"Go, give it to him as a good luck wish" he said as he handed me tiger whiskers. In my tribe, we believed when someone kills a tiger, the person receives its blessing if the tiger's whiskers fall easily without force. It had always been like that for Oben and many people think he is chosen. Giving whiskers to someone also brings luck and good fortune, so I left my seat and walked to my brother. His eyes lit with excitement when he saw me and he carried me to kiss my cheeks, I giggled and he put me down.
"Little princess, what do you have for me?"
"I want to wish you good luck on today's tournament big brother" I brought out the whiskers from my pocket. He knelt down while I spread some over his head and gave him the rest. I hugged him as I started crying.
"Sssh, I will be fine okay? Don't worry." I nodded as he wiped my tears. I forced a smile and he stood up to see our parents and Oben, they gave him their blessings too.
We went back to our seats as the tournament began. The first stage is called vivus, here, the competitors run past the time. A time is set on Jaguars mighty clock, to close the gate into the main competition, at this stage, werewolves change into their form in order to run faster than humans, I saw my brother run as fast as he could and he made it to the gate successfully. The gate closed when time lapsed. After this stage, we would no longer see them until the last stage. The second stage is swimming in the black River, in this stage everyone has to be in human form and swim as quietly as possible so as not to awake Octridus, the vicious crabs. They are poisonous and they attack in packs, their poison affects the brain and limbs which often causes paralysis. If it bites a werewolf, the effects were mild compared to when a human is bitten. There is an antidote if a human is bitten; only my father and few elders know about it. "Mother, what is the cure for Octridus poison?" I asked on an evening when we were cooking.
"you are so inquisitive, my girl. Well, children are not meant to know" Mother had told me. So, the final stage is in the Tiger's Forest, in this stage the number of tigers killed by each participant will determine the winner. The winner is expected to bring the heads of the tigers he had killed while entering the Great gate.
When it was time, a horn indicated the end of the tournament. We all stood up as the Great gate opened slowly, my heart raced so fast and I didn't know what to expect. I offered a silent prayer to the gods of our land as I saw my brother emerge from the gate, he was breathing heavily and there was blood all over him, he raised up his sword and six tiger heads. Apparently, he was the winner. The runner up had four heads. We all shouted in joy, I ran to him shouting "Polus, Polus" he grabbed me and said, "princess we did it". Father came and hugged him tightly, "you did it my boy". Polus nodded as he went to Oben "you are the best brother in the world, thank you for everything" he said as they hugged each other "well done brother, you have made us proud" said Oben.
He ran towards Mother, hugged her tightly and said, "I did it mother! I made the family proud "
"Well done my son" Mother said.
That year, my brother was more loved and respected by both young and old. But as we were approaching the end of the year, I noticed my brother was feeling unfulfilled like he always did. He did not compete in the tournament, in the following year and the year after. Oben tried to persuade him but he kept to himself. On my tenth birthday, I was playing outside with my friends when I sighted Polus from afar, smiling and running home. As he approached me, I was wondering what made him so happy.
"Happy birthday princess, I got something for you. I'll show you inside." I was very excited. So, I left my friends and followed him inside. Father was discussing government with Oben as usual, and Mother was in the kitchen. "I think this is the perfect time to share my good news, Mother can you join us please?"
"I'm coming" mother said, from the kitchen. She came out almost immediately and sat beside Father.
"Well, I have gotten a job in the city, and I would love to go" Polus said.
"In Cidarus? That is several miles away from here, Polus. Are you sure you want this? nobody must find out you are from a werewolf family in that place."
"I know about everything there and I have vowed to keep our secret"
"You can't be serious; you won't go anywhere and that is final" said Oben.
"You can't decide that Oben, let Father talk."
Polus sighed as he looked at Father, there was a long silence before he stood up.
"I have been watching you for three years now, after you won the tournament. You always looked lost and very downcast that I feared you might leave home, one day, and not come back. But I'm glad you informed me of this decision. You are free to go wherever you want to but don't ever forget your family" he patted him on the back and went back to his seat.
"Father, I can't believe you are saying this, but your judgement is ultimate." Oben said.
"Thank you, father, I will never forget."
"when are you leaving?" Mother asked.
"Tomorrow"
"No way, you are not leaving me" I cried.
"No princess, I will come home often, okay?"
"No, it is not okay. I don't want you to leave"
"Princess…" I didn't wait to hear what he had to say, I stormed inside my room and that was the last time I saw him.