(Some Years Ago)
A sudden hot air swept the woods and the sky lit up. Kreed looked up from what he was doing and saw that the source of light was a wide fire coming from the direction of their clan settlement. He immediately dropped the wooden weapons he was holding and picked up his shiny steel dagger and began running to the direction of his home.
He was worried. He couldn't tell what was happening but he knew that wasn't a fire anyone should take lightly. It definitely will damage a lot of things. With how dark it has become, he realized he had stayed out late, more late than the promise he gave to his mother. To him, training was everything and it was what he never skipped a day from doing.
His mother had advised him a lot of times about taking it easy, that he was just twelve years old, still years away from getting his wolf and having his first shift but Kreed payed no attention to her words. He wanted to be the strongest from his clan when he finally gets his wolf so he can protect his mother and baby sister.
Seeing how everyone in their clan complain from time to time about how they're being treated by other packs of wolves, motivated him to train harder. Though he was still too young to understand what was going on fully, but all he knew was that he wanted to protect his family and clan and help so that they wouldn't have a reason to complain anymore and will be treated right.
Kreed ran through the woods as fast as his legs could take him. With his favorite dagger in his hand, he was continuously cutting the rogue branches and thorns on his way, to avoid running into them. The ones he couldn't cut because of how thick or strong they are, he'll dodge swiftly.
The closer he got to their settlement, he began hearing cries and screams. His heartbeat increased and his fear doubled. He didn't understand what was going on, what was causing the cries and screams. The most important thing to him at that moment was getting back home and seeing that his mom and sister were both safe.
Soon he got to their settlement, running out of the woods and into the open space and his eyes couldn't believe what was going on in front of him. He quickly realized the fire was man made and the screams and cries were as a result of his people being slaughtered and tortured.
He gripped his dagger tightly with anger and then swiftly ran to a safe spot to hide to avoid being seen. He watched from where he was as their enemies laughed, dragged out the women, kids and old men of his clan and were making a mockery of them. Killing the children without second thoughts, running their filthy hands all over the bodies of the women, groping them and putting them against each other to see who had the best body.
They forced the old ones to their knees, humiliating them, making them bow their heads while they placed their boots on their head. As they did these things, they laughed, ignoring the cries and pleading of the women. The sight of this angered Kreed so much that he thought about storming out and gutting them. But he knew he was no match for them, he would just be throwing his life away.
Seeing all these happen, he was eager to return to his home and check on his family. What they were doing was the last thing he wanted his mother to go through. With that, he started for his home, dodging and hiding in the shadows to avoid being caught by them. He held his dagger in a combat way just in case he ran into an enemy he couldn't hide or escape from.
The dagger was one of his most priced possession. The only thing he had left of his father. His father had handed it to him before he died and since then he had taken care of it, protected it and learnt to use it. It was always with him wherever he went to. His mom understood what it meant to him so she didn't bother telling him to part with it or keep it at home most times.
From where he hid across from his house, he could see some men inside his house, walking around, destroying things and setting things on fire. His eyes grew bigger with fear and his heart began skipping beats. He held his chest, trying to calm himself down as it felt his chest was tightening.
He was about to come out of hiding and run into the house when he heard loud laughters coming from the barn next to his house. He heard a loud screaming follow immediately after their mocking laughs. The voice sounded so familiar and he decided to go to the barn instead. He sneakingly made his way there and found a spot he could hide and spy into the barn from.
The men there should be nothing less than seven and they stood, forming a circle. He looked at what they surrounded and he immediately froze in shock when he saw his mother and baby sister on their knees, crying and pleading. His dagger immediately fell from his hand and his body began to tremble, his lips shaking. "Mom" He muttered under his breath.
He watched as one the men approached her with an abnormally large injection in hand. Without warning he grabbed his mother and stab the needle into her neck, pumping her with the content of the injection. "Let's see just how much liquid wolfsbane you can handle" The man shouted and began laughing and the others joined in.
His mother immediately fell to her side, jerking on the floor with her veins popping out. The man took another injection and this time, he approached his sister. He ignored her weak cry and pleading. He stabbed into her chest with the injection and pumped her full of the wolfsbane too and then dropped her when she started jerking and vomiting blood.
Frozen on where he was standing, Kreed watched his mother and ten years old sister being tortured. That was one of the most brutal torture for wolves. His sister, Tiana who hasn't gotten her wolf yet reacted differently because it was straight poison to her.
A second man stepped forward with a cup in hand. He grabbed Tiana by her hair and forced her up. "No, p...pl...ease...not....her" His mother, stuttered, begging with a broken voice. She was in so much pain but it was less pain than her daughter. Without minding her, the man forced Tiana's mouth open and poured the content of the cup into her mouth and started forcing her to swallow. It was a white powder substance. Kreed knew not what it was but if he had to guess, it would be another form of poison.
As soon as Tiana was forced to swallow it, her eyes instantly became red. She began screaming so loud and painfully whilst grabbing her hair and pulling it violently. You could tell she was in pain too great for her to handle.
"Shut your mouth!" The man barked at her and slapped her so hard she fell and hit her head on the floor. He grabbed her leg and threw her to the entrance of the barn. Then they all neglected her and focused on his mother.
The one who had injected her, grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. "What do you say boys? Wanna see what's special about the Direwolves women?" He gave an evil smirk and they all chanted "Yes" egging him on.
He grabbed the neck of her top and ripped the clothe off her body, exposing her bra. The men hailed and whistled at the sight of her body. The man pushed her to another who immediately began groping her. Kreed's mother immediately wrapped her arms around her bra, covering herself as best as she could but the men were not having it. The one groping her, angered by her action, forced her hands off, grabbed all the fingers of her right hand and twisted them, breaking them simultaneously. She screamed out in pain. He took her left hand and repeated it and then pushed her to another man.
"Nice body" He laughed, spanking her ass hard. He gripped the straps of her bra and yanked it off her body. Kreed immediately looked away, tears streaming down his face. He heard them cheering and heard his mom crying loudly. He didn't want to stare at his mom's nakedness so he couldn't bring himself back to look but from the intensity of her cries and their cheers, he could tell they were intensifying the torture.
He heard her voice become muffled and the men began chanting "Drink! Drink! Drink!" Laughing hard too. Soon he heard her coughed heavily and began throwing up. He heard a thud and the barn became silent. "I guess she couldn't handle just a cup of liquid mountain ash" One of them spoke up.
"Shame. Alright boys, set this place ablaze and let's move on" Another instructed.
As soon as the place went up in flames, Kreed then shifted his gaze back to the barn. He couldn't see his mom clearly but he could see her silhouette in the middle of the flames. The men were gone. He swiftly ran out of hiding and toward the barn. He got to the entrance and saw Tiana laying there by the floor, breathing weakly.
"Tiana!" He called and quickly dragged her out of the barn before the flames got to where they were. Her eyes were closed, her body burning so hot but trembling at the same time and her face was pale. He picked her up and backed her, carrying her out of there and into hiding in the woods. He glanced back at his mother once more before the flame engulfed her. He couldn't hold his tears back, he sniffled and started on his way.
***
The sun was up already. He couldn't sleep all through the night for two reasons. One, he needed to keep watch on his little sister and secondly, he couldn't have any sleep after witnessing the trauma that happened last night. He was still crying, tears still flowing.
"K...Kreed?" He heard Tiana's weak voice.
He swiftly stood up from where he was sitting against a tree and ran to her. "Tiana! You're awake" He called with relief, a smile planted on his face.
"Ki....kill me"
His smile immediately faded and turned into shock and confusion when he heard those words. "What? What are you saying?" He questioned
"I can't take it any...more...I'm dying b....but I'm suffering. The pain is too much. Ple...please, kill....kill me and make it stop" She pleaded, her blood red eyes producing tears but it wasn't the usual tears, it was blood. She was crying blood.
Kreed fell back on his ass, his eyes visible with fear and his heart shattering into a thousand pieces. That was the fastest time for a hope to be shattered. Hearing his name, he had hope she was going to live and he wasn't going to lose her but that shattered immediately he heard the next sentence from her mouth.
With her crying blood, her face becoming paler, her health was rapidly deteriorating. That's when he knew she was right, she wasn't going to make it. But that didn't mean he could do what she was pleading for. A fresh batch of tears began pouring out from his eyes, crying silently.
She continued pleading, begging desperately for him to take her life and put her out of her misery but he kept on arguing against it. He was just twelve years old and that was the situation he was forced into along with his ten years old baby sister. After minutes of going back and forth he finally agreed when he began to see with his eyes the pain she was in.
He grabbed his dagger from the floor and moved closer to her. He lifted her off the floor from her waist up. He then sat next to her and placed her head gently on his thigh. She reached out with her trembling hand and took his free hand in hers. She looked up at him and forced a smile as best as she could. "Thank you big brother. I love you" She whispered to him and that caused him to break down more in tears.
He hugged her tightly, crying with her. He then positioned the dagger at her back, where her heart was. He held back for what felt like eternity. "I love you too" He whispered to her and then drove the dagger into her through her back. He heard her gasp and began coughing as blood gathered in her mouth. He kept her in his embrace and didn't let her go. He felt her beating heart slow down till it fully stopped and still yet he didn't break the hug, he held her tighter and broke down in tears more.
***
He threw the last sand on the grave he had managed to dig for her with a manageable shovel he found. Satisfied with how he had buried her, he stood in front of her grave and began staring at his dagger in his hand. It still had her blood on it. He stared at it for a while before bending down. He dug a small hole on her grave and placed the dagger in it and then covered it.
Though it was his favourite dagger, the only gift from his father but now it felt like a curse. A reminder of what he did. He couldn't go about, carrying the dagger that ended his sister's life with him. He decided that will be the last time he would ever touch that dagger as it was a painful reminder of his trauma and a curse also.
Wiping the tears off his face, he picked a handful of dirt from her grave, stood up and stretched out his hand that held the dirt toward her grave. "I vow to take all of their lives too. Their brothers, sisters and children's lives too. I vow to pay them back with the pain they caused you, caused us" He vowed to her and then dropped the dirt back on her grave. "Goodbye. I promise I will see you soon after I carry out my promise" He promised and then walked away, heading to wherever his legs would take him to.