I was wet with my own tears and the dew from the forest leaves by the time we broke out to the clearing before the gigantic waterfall.
Blades of grass were stuck to my legs and dress, and my burned feet were filled with blisters.
Sharp pieces of wood stung my palms with how tightly I was holding a jagged piece of stick.
It was laughable to think such a crude object could defend me from bloodthirsty werewolves, but it was better than walking around absolutely defenseless.
Mother and I had been silent all through the hours it took for us to maneuver the thick woods, except for her soft cries over Cyan.
A red hot sensation burned my eyes, but I had already run out of tears.
He had sacrificed himself so we could escape. He was too young, my brave little brother, he was too young…
A choked sound escaped me, and I paused, letting the wood clatter to the moist ground.
At that moment, a couple of footsteps hurried towards us, and I looked up again, going tense but relaxed when I saw it was just some other villagers.
"Hurry, this way. We can't stay out in the open!" A middle-aged woman whispered, motioning to us to walk faster.
A younger woman hurried over to me, guiding me forward.
It was only when we had passed through the waterfall, and we were thoroughly drenched with water, that I realized that the person holding me all along was Jasmine, a girl around my age that I recognized from the village.
We never really spoke much, but everyone knew everything about her since it was rumored that she was trying to sleep her way out of our village and get into high ranks with the werewolves.
Last I heard, she had attended a blood moon event, and ended up having sex with a couple of lowlife soldiers instead of a high ranking werewolf like she wanted.
Not that I really cared about such gossip, anyway, but now my mind was about to shut down from the trauma of tonight, so it was grasping at any type of distraction now that we were finally safe.
Her bright blue eyes widened at the sight of my feet, and she frowned,
"We need to wrap your feet up before you get an infection."
I blinked.
"Be gentle with her, Jasmine." Another girl said softly. "She just lost her brother."
Jasmine sighed,
"I'm sorry. We all lost people too. Most of our men and boys are gone. I wasn't even home when the madness started, so I don't know where the hell my father and brothers are. I hope they got killed."
There was so much hate twisting her otherwise soft features, that I forgot my own pain for a second.
What could they have done to her to make her wish for their death?
She guided me deeper into the cave, where a couple of women and children were huddled around a pathetic-looking fire.
There were a few men too, some wounded, some silently grieving. There was a heavy pallor of terror hanging on everyone's shoulders.
As I sat down on the cold floor and let Jasmine press some herbs against my blisters, I let the wave of pain take over, and the tears poured out, fresh and hot.
I cried for hours, and must have passed out, because when I opened my eyes again, my feet were wrapped in strips of cloth, and they hurt so much.
Wincing, I shifted my stiff neck sideways, to see Mother nursing Lilac, a forlorn look in her eyes. Her shoulders were sloped, the dejection of a mother who had just lost her son.
Someone had added more wood to the fire, and now they were passing some wild fruit around. The woman beside me gave me a fruit, which I collected, only to pass it on to my mother.
"No, Scarlett. You need to eat something." She sounded tired.
"You need it more than I do." I motioned at my baby sister and thrust it on her lap.
"How long are we going to stay here for? It doesn't feel very safe here." Someone randomly asked.
"It's already bright outside. We still can't go back to the village until we are sure that those monsters are gone." An elderly woman said sternly. "We are lucky to even be alive, so we will stay here for as long as it's necessary."
"I agree." I muttered hoarsely. "My mother, my baby sister and I would be dead if not for—"
I couldn't bring myself to complete my words.
Opening my hand, I stared at the bloodied necklace on my fingers.
I felt so guilty and heartbroken that my brother had to do what he did for us.
"Someone saved us." Mom said instead. "He was not human. But he was different from any werewolf I have ever come across. He told us to come here."
"Did he have a black hood on?" A man asked from the other corner of the cave.
"Y-yes." I answered.
"You must be talking about the Shadow." An old woman said with a small smile. "Ah, yes. He directed us here as well. It's a miracle he was even in a lowly village like ours. His kind are always in the capitals. They are in a different league."
"His kind?" Someone asked.
"The Shadows." The woman answered, voice dropping to a whisper. "An ancient lineage linked back thousands of years to the time where the power of the moon goddess and Nyx, the goddess of darkness still washed over the earth in abundance. Now, the powers of the moon goddess only manifest in some chosen werewolves, or in special occasions… but the powers of Nyx were passed into a specific breed of warriors.
"They hone the power of the night in their veins. Powerful, living, breathing weapons and agents of darkness. Their tattoos tell the tale of their dangerous heritage, and I saw that the person who saved us all… had those tattoos."
I could barely breathe.
I had learned about werewolves like that, but I had thought they were extremely rare.
"Yes, they are rare." The old woman seemed to read my thoughts. "This is because a lot of them either take their own lives, or choose not to reproduce. With all the power they yield, they are considered too dangerous to have any real alliance to any pack. So they just become weapons and assassins to do the bidding of whatever pack they chose to work with. Not even the people they work with trust them, so they are cursed with loneliness. Again, it was a blessing to have one of them save our insignificant lives."
"If there was a Shadow in our village during an attack, does this mean something even worse?" Someone asked shakily.
The silence following that question was broken when someone burst into the cave.
We all jolted up, expecting the worst, but it was an injured man, and a little girl covered with soot and mud.
"This is the end!" The man exclaimed, blood dripping down his arm. "The Supreme Capital has fallen and the Alpha King has been captured! The packs are all under that monster's command now. We are all doomed!!"