(Some Years Ago)
Snapping the neck of the Beta he was holding, Kreed tossed the body on top the other dead Betas that was piled up. He looked over at Damien to see him clawing aggressively at the Beta he was fighting. He had a speed Kreed had never seen. The Beta he was fighting seemed to be frozen still. He watched on until Damien punched into the Beta's chest, ripping out his heart. He looked over at Kreed with a smirk on his face as he dropped the heart on the lifeless body.
"The moon is shining brightly tonight, isn't it?" Damien asked, staring up at the half moon with an excited smile on his lips as though he didn't just brutally murder someone.
In that moment, Kreed could see the similarity between them. He had darkness inside of him. The only difference between them was Damien was always smiling, hiding his darkness and masking his pain. He wanted to know how to do that too and Damien seemed to be the right one to teach him.
Kreed looked up at the moon, stared at it for a while and then sighed, getting overcome by his lack of interest in anything. He was only interested in one thing and one thing only and that was avenging his clan and family. "You should learn to smile once in a while" Damien's voice broke through his thought.
"Why? So I can hide my hate and anger?"
"No..." He replied, walking toward him. He got to where Kreed was standing and placed his hand on his shoulder, smiling. "Because that's the only way we can stay sane. With the path we have been forced to and what we were forced to endure, if we don't find happiness in the little things or try to smile as much as we can, we will be overcome by our hate. Sometimes Broken people smile the most" He explained calmly.
"Isn't it better to focus on our hate instead? Finding strength in it to be able to achieve our goal?" Kreed questioned
"As much as it fuels our desire to carry on our path without giving up, it is better to control it. It becomes a better weapon when we can control it" Damien stated
"Even if that's the case, I don't think I can control mine"
"You can....you just have to start with a smile. Channel your hate, only when you encounter your enemies like these poor souls over here"
Kreed bobbed his head, wondering if all what he was saying was true. As much as he would like to put on such facade, he thought that would be him deceiving himself. He found strength in his hate and the only reason he always smiled was taken away from him cruelly. Now he thought there was no way he would smile like everything was okay when it clearly wasn't.
"Why did you decide the join the Black Lotus? What's your goal?" Damien inquired with a curios look.
"Because it provides me with the opportunity for me to carry out my revenge on all those who tortured and slaughtered our clan, kids and our parents" Kreed said with an angered expression and hateful tone.
"Hmmm" He scoffed lightly
"What? Aren't you here for same reason? To avenge your family and our clan?" Kreed inquired with a puzzled look on seeing his reaction. It seemed as though he thought his reason was childish.
"I grew up an orphan, never knowing my parents. I grew up in the pack house, surviving on my own. So no, I have no family to avenge..."
"But your pack and our clan"
"It seems honourable that you want to do that for your family and our almost extinct clan. But I am in this, fighting and following Bayron's orders so I can achieve peace. What I want us to achieve is true peace"
"Surely you don't believe that is possible. Our clan got slaughtered without our enemies regarding the peace treaties. There is no way they would want to live with us peacefully, they already made that clear" Kreed clarified
"We will never know until we try" He shrugged
"The only way we could achieve true peace is with violence"
"What do you think is going to happen when you kill their Alphas and leaders? They will retaliate. It's going to become an endless cycle. And we Direwolf clan, we don't know how many of us survived and are out there, we are only certain of just us three right now. At the end of the day we can't possibly use violence to end it and think there will be peace, they will continue to seek vengeance too" Damien made it clear to him
"Not if we kill them all. Then there will be no one left to retaliate"
"True, but that would be the beginning of the end for us werewolves" He pointed out before wrapping his arm around Kreed's neck. "Let's go. Our work here is done. This would serve as a perfect message to them. And I hope you get my message too. Live while you can"
***
(One Year Later)
Dashing through the woods under the full moon. Kreed and Damien were in their wolf forms after shifting. They kept speeding through the woods, navigating their way through and dodging every obstacle on their way. Kreed's sable colour fur was shining from the reflection of the moon. His paws barely touched the floor with how fast he was running, trying to catch up with Damien who was ahead of him. He was baffled yet again at the speed Damien had. It didn't matter to him that they just sparred and trained, he was still very much active.
He was sure that Damien was the strongest he had ever come known or come across that was stronger than him. His wolf seemed naturally gifted with more speed, strength and stamina more than others. Unlike his, Damien's fur was purely black with no hint of any other colour. While he was busy thinking about how surprisingly fast Damien was, he didn't realize Damien had run out of his sight.
He looked around the woods whose only source of light was the full moon but couldn't see him anymore. He sniffed out his scent and increased his speed as best as his could. Few seconds later he arrived and stopped at where Damien was standing by the edge of a cliff. He had shifted back to his form and was standing by the edge fully naked. He looked down at Kreed, with urging eyes.
Kreed was reluctant at first but then gave in, shifting back to his human form. He stood beside Damien and looked down the cliff to the deep river below it. "There's no way you're thinking of doing that" Kreed said with a quizzical look, shifting his eyes to Damien. He had that smile on his face. Over the time they had spent together, Kreed had come to know that particular smile he does whenever he was about to do something crazy or dangerous.
"Live while you can, remember?" He smiled before jumping down the almost 30ft high cliff. Kreed couldn't believe he was about to do that. One year ago he would have not even been there with Damien in the first place unless it involved a mission. The time he had spent with him had changed him. He had influenced him so much that now he smiles a lot and sometimes even unconsciously.
He was now much invested in Damien's goal also, trying to create peace. Even though he was still trying to achieve his goal, he wasn't consumed with hate as he was before joining the Black Lotus. And for the first time since the attack on their clan, he truly believed there was a chance to create peace and it was thanks to Damien who had helped him to see beyond that hate of his.
He gave a sigh of relief, smiled before jumping down the cliff into the water, joining Damien who had been waiting for him.
***
Panting heavily as they both lay on their backs on the floor in the slightly bright room; they kept trying to catch their breaths. Kreed began laughing amidst heavy breaths. "I almost had you this time" He stated, feeling proud of himself.
"Yeah, you're improving. Now I think you're strong enough to take on my shaking grandma" Damien teased
"Shut up....and you don't even have a grandma" He quipped
"Ouch, I'm hurt" Damien held his chest mockingly and they fell into laughter just before the door creaked open with Bayron walking in. "Here comes daddy" He teased.
"I can hear you" Bayron called, walking toward them. They both struggled with keeping their laughter in. "I have a mission for you both. This is a very important one" He said to them.
They both stood up their feet simultaneously with a now serious expression. "What is it about?" Damien inquired.
"It's a rescue mission. You're going to rescue one of us, a girl who was taken from our clan forcefully" Bayron explained
"Where are they keeping her? And what's her name? Kreed questioned.
"She's at Greenvale town, Blueblood pack, the biggest pack being led by Alpha Darius. She seems to be bearing the name Tessa"
"Hmmm" Damien bobbed his head. "When do we leave?"
"Right now. Be careful, this isn't like any other missions you've done before. Rescue her and bring her home" He concluded and they both nodded with understanding.