"I'm so sorry," Agna whimpers without moving from the ground or looking directly at Kira.
Sarka just smiles satisfied.
"What do you think our parents are talking about?" Sarka questions while lying on the floor by the windows, taking the opportunity to have some sun.
"You know the same as always, things of the kingdom," Lev says while approaching her with his siblings.
Agna simply went with the other girls to play.
"Rumors are heard that vampires have begun to advance through Ukraine, in a campaign of conquest," says Aristide together with one of his brothers. A chocolate-colored puppy, named Adone.
"Again with that? They are an annoying plague," Adone muls between his teeth.
"There are always some rebels who can't stand being ruled by others," Sergei says sitting next to Kira. "We have good relations with other vampiric nations under our kingdoms, but they still maintain a certain sovereignty."
"Following our rules still," Tatiana continues.
"Actually, I think it's something else," Says Grigori, a young wolf with wine colored fur.
The others look at him waiting for him to continue.
"The climate has begun to change drastically, the winter will come earlier and colder. That's at least the rumor."
"We are in Russia, it is only natural that winter is ahead," Tatiana yawns, enjoying the warm autumn sun.
"Say it to those who come on vacation," Adone says, rolling his eyes.
"I think it will be enough for them just like that thing the adult drinks, what is it called again?" Kira asks by tilting her head sideways.
"Dad calls it drink from the gods, even though it tastes horrible." Sarka puts on a disgusted face.
"No, that's the liquid they drink in the glasses and it's red, like you Grigori, " says Garald.
"Hey, you are also red and I am not a strange liquid!" Grigori says indignant.
"Are you secretly drinkable, Grigori?" Kira makes a little fun of her friend.
Grigori shows his teeth, threatening although it is only playful.
"What other weird things do you know, Grigori? Apart from an earlier winter." Kira decided to continue, although she began to feel weird, the skin under her fur was itchy and burning at the same time.
"In St. Petersburg a rain of stars was seen in the middle of the day. Although I'm not sure. You shouldn't see stars at that time of the day," Sarka replies, noticing Kira's discomfort. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not sure, I feel weird and itches everything," Kira growls and scratches in frustration, the feeling of warmth begins to increase and her interior feels painful.
"Maybe you have fleas, Kira," mocks Lev.
Kira shows him her teeth, growling.
"The rain of shooting stars reminds me of that old story, the one Dad tells us sometimes." Kira begins to feel dizzy and sore. Her inner power is behaving strangely.
"That one about the wolf of Ragnarok, Fenrir right? What about that one? It's just an old man's tale," but he stopped his sentence when he saw his sister fall to the ground as a log.
Kira is barely aware of what is going on around her, whimpering from the pain she can feel the inner power pressing on each of her fibers, as if they want to claw their way out while her body could fall apart. She could hear the voices of her brothers calling her from far away.
The four princes moved restlessly trying to get her to respond without success. They could only think of one thing at once and shout it for the bond.
"DAD!"
Arseni listened to the report that Vladimir had brought him. Apparently in the Arctic Sea the amount of ice was increasing, according to the mermaids and newts of the Arctic. Usually they put light barriers in the bond, a way to give children privacy in their games.
Arseni felt an intense headache before the barrier fell, the scream of his children and Kira's pain sensation filled his mind. Look at his mate, who was pale like the others, before getting up suddenly and running to the next room through the trapdoor.
"What happened?" Arseni says, approaching Kira's body that was burning.
"She said that everything stung her and she felt strange," Tatiana replies nervously.
Sonia caresses Kira's head whispering reassuring words
"Breathe, Kira, concentrate. Remember what we told you, about your changing power."
"You can do it, little one, let it be released," Arseni speaks again, trying to encourage his daughter.
Kira, between pains and warmth, concentrates as best she can her internal energy towards the fibers of her whole body and her brain, where she would need it most. Slowly his paws turned to fingers and hands, gradually losing the fur around his body.
The process only lasted five minutes. Where before there was a wolf cub, there is now a pale girl with long white hair, lying unconscious.
Arseni peels off the cloak and covers Kira with it, holding her in his arms.
"Congratulations, Alpha!" says Bridgitte, a dark blonde woman, she is the gamma against part of Jayden, her husband. "The princess looks beautiful."
"Of course she's prettier as a lycan," says Jayden, a dark-haired American.
"Jayden!" exclaims his wife with laughter and scandalized.
"Don't worry, Brigitte, I know he's just kidding," smiles Sonia.
"Mom, what happened? Is Kira okay?" The puppies started talking all at once, triggering questions by which they could hardly understand each other.
"I think it will be better for us to leave the meeting for later. I think we owe the kids an explanation," smile Edmon.
"Good idea," Sonia says, as she writes on her cell phone to one of the maids, so they would prepare the room for Kira.
The group separated in the corridor, the castle being so large the inner and outer circle of the pack live there, but in designated areas according to their range. The rest lived throughout the city, which managed to maintain control over the other creatures that lived there.
"Mommy, what happened to Kira? " Sergei asked his mother again, as he walked alongside her.
"Do you remember I told you that werewolves are born human? That's because their wolf soul is not connected, as if to say a wolf trapped or asleep in the wrong body. Many millennia ago, when man did not have as much technology and his ambition was to live and conquer, but religion and the gods at that time were more respected; humans began to discover the magical gifts of nature, something that was not given to them at first, experimenting with it and playing with forbidden arts."
Sonia opened the room that the children shared. It is a large room with windows overlooking the garden, illuminating the five beds at floor level and winter decoration, using blues of different shades and whites. Arseni put his daughter on the bed that had her name engraved on the headboard and covered her with the blanket.
"Prohibited arts?" Lev questions.
"Dark magic, soul magic, light magic, transfiguration, among others. That magic is related to the gods, gifts given to the creatures descended from them. Men sought to obtain more strength, more power, using animals as a reference. The moon goddess created the lycan, a more powerful species to protect the creatures of the night and follow their teachings."
"Like others who sought the strength of other animals, they were punished for their ambition. They will be able to change shape but never completely, their soul and that of the wolf will never be one," says Arseni. "That's why Lycans and werewolves are different, they are born differently, but they have completely forgotten their origin."
"Kira managed to gain enough understanding of the power we were bestowed upon, at age six, internal power gains an impulse that needs to be directed in another way, so she was able to change." Sonia continues.
"Would she stay like this?" Sergei asks worriedly.
"Of course not, little one, she will return to her wolf form whenever she wants, but becoming human will need training and she start a more specific training." Arseni laughs when hearing the simultaneous whimpering of the four puppies. "Don't worry, you will go through the same process at some point, all lycan cubs do it."
The cubs breathed easier. Even though they would have to go through a painful process, Kira is their sister and friend, they don't want to leave alone.
"I have another question, sometimes you've told us about the wolf of Ragnarok, how does it come into this story?" Garald asks now.
"The old story of the end of the world," smiles Arseni, is one of the oldest legends of the Lycan and one of the ones he liked the most. "You will remember that in the world there are several religions, one of the oldest is the Nordic. We do also follow some of its teachings. An old legend tells that the moon goddess Dianica descended from the heavens to the earth to enjoy the northern lights. While admiring them from the coldest point on Earth, she was watched by a wandering walker, a god hidden among the mortals who expected nothing more than to enjoy a couple of jokes." He sits on the floor to be more comfortable. "His name was Loki, the god of deception and antics of the Nordic gods and one of the most misunderstood. Seeing her he was mesmerized by her aura and energy that she detaches from her appearance. He did everything in his power to get her attention, from jokes to small shows."
"But Dianica was not so easy," Sonia continued, "although if he made her laugh, the moon is not something that is easily reached. But the perseverance of months paid off, little by little, she heard his stories, whether they were invented or true, and he won her heart. Those nights were the bright and powerful ones for the children of the night, because Dianica and Loki's happiness was pure. For months the moon disappeared completely from the sky. People called it the dead night."
"Odin, god of the gods and adoptive father of Loki, was furious, and like most of the gods in Asgard, he wanted an explanation. Thor and Odin went down to the Midgard, where the two had met," Arseni explains. "It took them a long time to find Dianica in a cave, with a cub of a wolf newborn and still in childbirth. Odin was furious and he took her arm by force, leaving the cub to fall to the ground; but the puppy instead of squealing, jumped against Odin by nailing his fully developed teeth against the leg. He kept the gods long enough for Dianica to give birth to his other brothers: Hela and Jormundager." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Odin decided to condemn both of them for their disappearance, punishing Dianica by locking her in the night sky thanks to the sun god, unable to see her children. Loki, despite his protests, was left to take care of his children alone, while their mother could only go down during the eclipses."
"That's cruel," growls Tatiana
"But it is not over yet," Arseni continues, "things would get more difficult. Odin can see the future thanks to the gifts bestowed by the tree of nine realities, the Yggdrasil, and he knew perfectly well what the birth of those three meant. The end of the world or Ragnarok was approaching. He commanded Hela to control the world of the dead and Jormundager to the depths of the seas. But there was still a big problem, Dianica and Loki's firstborn, Fenrir. He had become too huge and uncontrollable for the gods, and he did not seem to stop growing, but their pride is pretty obvious. Creating a special rope and under deception they managed to catch him, but not without it costing the arm of one of the gods."
"It is said that when he is released, chaos and death will be near and bring Ragnarok closer," Sonia ended the story, smiling as the children began to yawn, at least this time they had heard it in full. "Come on, little ones, it's nap time."
The two parents lifted each one up, taking them to their rightful bed. Sonia took off their necklaces and put on plastic heads for each one, while Arseni closed the curtains. They turned off the lights and left the room.
Sergei is the first to get up, still sleepy, jumping into Kira's bed and making a ball next to her. Almost instantly, the girl put her hands around his neck and plunged her face into his fur.
Each of the siblings joined the same bed, surrounding their vulnerable sister.
~~0~~
As the night falls, Kira opens her eyes, still feeling sore and exhausted, but she was thirsty, she just had to get to the phone in the room. Carefully, she moved her brother from above, noticing then that her appearance was very different. She is a naked human now, after a few minutes she comes out of her stupor, walking crawling on the others reaching the edge of the bed.
"This will be a challenge," she muls between his teeth.
Slowly and with trembling legs she manages to stand on her feet, barely maintaining her balance, swinging from side to side.
"How do dad and mom make it look so easy?" She starts moving, leaning against the wall, making small steps and a little terrified of falling. "I'd rather walk four," letting out a little scream when he stumbled upon a toy and faced the floor. "Shit." Curses
She looked ahead, still had about a hundred steps or two hundred left if she kept falling.
"Maybe I can still be a wolf again," she closes his eyes, again seeking to concentrate her energy in the body.
She jumps off the ground turning into a wolf. She groaned in pain, even her body resents the transformation.
"Better," she joges a little toward the door.
She only had to activate the communicator together at the entrance, one of the maids would come no matter the time.
But she stopped, the strange air felt even hot, something not normal in the Russian autumn.
"Daddy?" She asks both through the bond and out loud, although it sounded more like a bark.
No response.
She pushes the door hatch out into the lightly lit hallway. No one is in sight.
"Well, look at what I have here."
A piercing and sharp voice entered a new bond in Kira's mind. She jumped and turned growling, but she stopped when saw the monstrous figure of a black wolf.