I stared at the dusty table, then at Ray. "I'm in no mood for your pranks this morning," I said. Knowing Ray, he always loved picking up trouble, and now wasn't the time or place. So I continued scouring through the scrolls against my brother's better judgment.
Crash! Ray banged his fist on the table, my scroll rolling down the floor. I looked at him, "Well, well, you want a good beating? It's been long." I raised up my shirt, eager to give him a good beating or two. When he flashed his phone right at me, I stopped. "It's Father's messages, check your phone if you think I'm lying."
I brought down my shirt. "I swear to the moon goddess, Ray, if you are lying..." I reached for my phone inside my shorts. I saw Dad's calls and three messages with the word "urgent" sprawled on it. I quickly opened the messages as it read, "Derek, you need to go to these three villages now!" I could sense the urgency in the message.
I grabbed the scroll from the floor, putting it in my pocket as I turned to meet Ray's frightened eyes. "We need to leave now." "Glad you asked," he replied, as we raced from the library to get the cars. Ray took the car keys. "I am driving," he said, leaving me no chance to argue. "Let's just go," I hopped in as he drove the car, hitting the gate fortress.
"Guards, open the door!" I yelled. They rushed outside, opening the gate as we drove towards the three villages. Sometimes I wondered why Dad didn't like to keep his people tucked in nice and safe in his fortress. The birds chirping alongside the trees beside the main roads weren't heard. I knew through my gut that something had already happened.
"Ray, stop the car," I asked. "Why, brother? Don't you see we have important things to do?" He glanced at me. "There's something different about this forest. Can't you hear?" I pressed my ears towards the half-open car window. "Yes, but we have villages to rescue. What if the dark creatures have invaded them? What will we tell Father?" He halted the car.
I got out, looking at the trees. The leaves were looking brown and crusty, and this wasn't dry season yet. The barks of the tree had a different color of spotted black spiraled all over it. I had seen that marking before; someone was draining the trees of magic.
"You were right, Derek," Ray stood close to me, staring at the trees too. "You need to go, Ray. I will be back soon," I replied, sprinting into the forest.
I sprinted through the forest with my werewolf speed. As I reached deeper into the bushes, I could clearly feel the dark energy coming out in waves. I stopped at a large clearing. The same drawing of an ancient clock was on the ground. One of them was there too, in the middle of the circle.
"Who are you?" I asked, taking one step at a time towards the circle. I wanted to know who my enemies were before I attacked. "Oh, we have met before, haven't we, Prince Derek? A werewolf without control over his form."
The figure stared at me. The figure wore a black cloak, and his face was hidden beneath his cloth. "Show yourself if you are not a coward?" I bunched my fist, ready to strike. "Oh, you know who I am. I have come to tell you that your time is up. I don't need you to bring me Ariel again!"
The figure stared at me. "Brother, what is happening here?" Ray came forward. I looked at him, surprised. How did he find me so quickly? "Ray, I thought I told you to go!" "Glad you joined the party, Ray," the figure mocked.
"Now, back to what I was saying. I have made a proposal for the both of you." The figure stretched out his hands, revealing a tiny scroll. "What is that? We can't even see it," Ray queried the figure.
"Brother, it's not safe here. You need to go," I tried pushing him away. "No, I won't allow you to have all the fun of killing this thing," he pointed at the creature.
"Very well, then. These are my terms," the figure hushed our voices. He flicked his hands, burning the scroll. "A long time ago, your Alpha king stole something precious from us - our queen. And it wasn't just it; he took away with it our nature."
"Get on with it," Ray yelled at the creature, clearly irritated and angry. "Come on, now." We don't want to be...in a rush until the grand finale," the creature responded.
"If your parents told you anything about us, you would know that we were never like this. It's gnaw figures," pointing at its cloak. "We were good people until your father collaborated with other packs to steal our queen for power. Many of us died in that fight, and many of us swore vengeance."
"We are now after your mother's heart. Your father keeps it under lock and key within the packhouse," the creature continued.
"Why would I be foolish enough to give you our mother's heart?" I scoffed at the creature.
"You don't get it, do you? If I don't get that heart by the stroke of midnight, say goodbye to those three villages and your brother too," the figure smiled wildly.
"You are bluffing!" I replied.
"Am I?" The figure looked at Ray. "Ray, tell your brother what you are feeling right now."
Ray jerked out blood from his nose and mouth. "Don't do what it says...he held his chest, slumping to the forest floor.
"You see, if we can't have what we want, then we will make do with your brother's heart," the creature said.
"Stop! Let him go! He has nothing to do with this. Take me instead," I pleaded.
"So valiant and noble. You will make a good king," the creature said. "This pain your brother is feeling is only temporary." The creature flicked its hands. The bleeding stopped, and Ray was breathing well once more.
"If you don't get me that heart, I will take your brother's by midnight. The time starts now," the creature said.
Suddenly, a gush of wind blew through the forest as I tried to cover my eyes. After the strange wind had gone, I opened my eyes to see that the creature had vanished, but it had left a gift - a beating heart.