[Two and a half years ago: Keldorin's Invasion]
"What! It's already dawn? But I just closed my eyes for a second," I replied to my mum, who called out for me from the kitchen.
I wondered why Sundays always seemed to have the shortest nights and the best moments of sleep.
"Come out now! We will have to leave for mass soon!" Lorreta, my lovely mother, called out again.
I used my pillow to cover my ears, but my mum wouldn't stop yelling until I abandoned my bed and appeared in the sitting room. Her plan always worked, though.
Soon, I arrived at the sitting room and greeted her in the kitchen. There was one more person who needed to be called out from bed, but that was my job every morning. Of course, it was Lily.
I was only two years older than Lily, but she acted like she was a nine-year-old baby. Despite that, she still looked beautiful and attractive. Of course she will, who's sister is she after all? Lily and I had one thing in common, and that was staying up late without any reason. Silly us.
I expected to scream at the top of my lungs to wake Lily up since neither of us had slept until the early hours of dawn. That's why I said, "I just closed my eyes for a second."
Upon reaching Lily's room, she was nowhere to be found. I guessed she didn't sleep at all, and had probably sneaked out to meet her boyfriend at their hideout in the woods.
As I shook my head to walk out of the room, the little window in the room cracked open, and Lily poked her head out.
"Hi, sis! I hope I'm not getting into trouble now, am I?" Lily asked playfully, trying to get away with her adorable smirky smile.
While we were inside Lily's room, we started hearing screams from outside. It seemed like the Sigma werewolves were attacking the village. Only a Sigma wolf invasion could cause such random screams in a village like Keldorin. Keldorin had only one pack protecting it from the Sigma werewolves.
The Sigma werewolves, not belonging to any pack, did whatever they liked as they bullied humans and other weak werewolves they crossed paths with. Recently, the Sagma werewolves had been threatening Keldorin's safety, so Lily and I thought maybe it was them again.
However, upon reaching the sitting room, a group of men burst into our apartment and forcibly dragged my mother, Lily, and me out of the house. Resisting their commands only left with bruises on most parts of our bodies. In front of us, our house was immediately lit in flames.
At first, we couldn't understand what was happening, but as we looked around, it appeared that our house was the last one to be targeted by these cruel men. Everything happened so fast, and I couldn't help but wonder where the members of the "Moonlit Pack" were.
The Moonlit Pack was a unique pack consisting of both humans and werewolves. This was due to the fact that the number of werewolves in Keldorin was not sufficient to form a traditional pack. Normally, a werewolf pack requires more than fifty members, but the Moonlit Pack had only twenty-five werewolves and one Alpha.
Aiden, despite being a werewolf was still the Omega in the pack, his spirit wolf wasn't still communicating with him, which means that he haven't become a werewolf completely. Although he accessed few of his werewolf human-form abilities, like hearing whispers and eyeing in the dark.
In the midst of this chaotic situation, Lily, who always acted like a child, continued to do so. She ran out from my mother's embrace and bit one of the men that was standing close to us.
The man barely felt the pain, I could tell from his reaction during the bite. However, his heartlessness knew no bounds. He relentlessly grabbed my little sister and tossed her into our burning apartment. It was a despicable and cruel act that kept the entire village mumbling in fear and despair.
"No...!" I screamed with all my might, unable to control my anguish over Lily's fate.
Unable to bear the sight of her daughter in such danger, my mother didn't hesitate for a moment. She rushed into the fire to save Lily.
My mother managed to rescue Lily, but the man refused to let them escape from the burning building. Of course you know who the man is already, who else than...?
[Leave a comment on who he is]
In the chaos, the last glimpse I caught of my mother and Lily was them running back into the flaming building, coughing and struggling. At that moment, I feared the worst, believing they had perished in the fire, joining my late father who had passed away just a few months ago.
[Presently... To be continued though]
The revelation of my mother and Lily's survival felt like a twist of Fate. For so long, I believed they had perished in that tragic fire. Aiden's words about their survival seemed almost unbelievable, but until I laid my eyes on Lily standing right in front of me.
As soon as Lily saw me, she froze in disbelief. No wait, that's something I should be doing, because I was the one who saw her inside the fire that day. But then it came to my mind that she probably have heard about the slaves that were slaughtered by the Deanites. Of course she thought I was among them.
We both stood there, momentarily lost in our thoughts, unable to move an inch.
Aiden noticed the somber atmosphere and tapped me gently, signaling that I take a step forward to embrace my long-lost sister.
With baby steps, I limped towards Lily. As I approached her, she took the same number of steps backwards. I could tell she still couldn't believe that I was alive and standing before her.
Though it seemed like I would never reach her with how Lily kept stepping back, suddenly, as if pushed by some unseen force, my pace quickened, and I practically got to her.
Huh? Did I just unlocked the werewolf swiftness?
However, in that moment, I didn't focus on my newfound abilities. All that mattered was embracing Lily in a warm hug. The world around us faded as tears streamed down my cheeks, even though my eyes were tightly closed.
Lily was still stunned, her gaze relied on Aiden for an explanation for what was going on.
The sister she knew was dead and was clearly not a werewolf after seeing how fast I approached her. This continued for another ten minutes before the dust settled down.
"So, you're Emily? Or, you're just her look-alike?" Lily inquired. Only If I was still a human, she would have recognized me at once.
I expected Aiden to answer Lily's question, but it seemed he had already done his part by informing her that I was her long-lost sister, presumed dead years ago.
"Yes, I'm Emily," I replied.
"I believe you," Lily responded.
Well, that was surprisingly easy. The Lily I know would've bombarded me with silly questions to confirm if I was truly her sister.
"But, that's only true if you can tell me what we last spoke about years ago?"
And there she is with the silly question. After all the years we spent together, that's the question she chooses to test our bond?
"We were talking about not telling Mum that you didn't spend the night in your room. Does that ring a bell?" I replied, displaying the exact adorable smirky smile she gave me that morning.
"No, it didn't ring a bell..." Lily responded with a mischievous grin.
Now, that's the sister I know. We have a code system for lying, which means we're actually telling the truth.
After Lily confirmed my identity, it was now her turn to cry on my shoulders. Why didn't she cry when I was crying? I asked myself. Silly me.
Moments later, I remembered that Ethan and Laura were still held hostage inside the basement.
"My friends! What about them?" I asked Aiden, but he resumed his solemn expression again.
"What friends is she talking about?" Lily inquired.
Aiden responded to Lily in a foreign language, one I've never heard before. I was away for just two and a half years, and they've already picked up a new language?
After Aiden explained the situation to Lily, her expression immediately changed. At least she didn't look angry, unlike Aiden's reaction whenever he hears Ethan's name.
"Ethan has treated me well, Aiden." I interjected.
"Well? I wouldn't think so. I don't know if you recall, but he was part of the Keldorin invasion." Aiden retorted.
I pressured Aiden again about their release, but this time I seemed to have overstepped. He didn't want to upset me or make me feel bad, so he was as diplomatic as he could be, while using stern words to drop his message.
"It's either them or us, Emily. The Grendorians are outside waiting, you must renounce those blood-sucking Midgards now," Aiden warned.
"Or else what!" I retorted defiantly.
Lily held my hand and replied, "You will be beheaded alongside those people you call your friends. If the Grendorians find out that you're with them, they will definitely execute you as well. Remember, mother will be surprised and happy to see you. Don't let us lose you when we just got you back."
Soon, the Grendorians entered the basement and emerged with Ethan and Laura. I couldn't even call out their names as they were dragged past me like animals in chains.
Ethan's gaze was fixed on me, but I couldn't even meet his eyes. Am I now the 'Peter' who denied his master in this story?
Tears glittered in my eyes as I couldn't bring myself to identify Ethan and Laura. It wasn't because I feared for my life, but I had just found out about my family and first love being alive. How could I throw all that away?
Would I be able to make the right decision? Would Ethan and Laura come out of this alive?
To be continued...