Mathias (#1 The Chronicles of the Demon Wolf)

The emergency siren blares across the territory, urging everyone to evacuate to the bunker. The Enforcers run out of the pack mansion under the command of their Alpha, setting perimeter and defenses across the territory to buy some time for the others to evacuate. Thousands of ravens fly above the territory, circling as if they are waiting for the right time to strike. The clouds turn dark. Thunders echoes. Lightning strikes.

“May the Goddess help us,” The Alpha says in helpless before looking to his young children.

His mate nods to him and gathers their children before bringing them to the bunker underneath the pack mansion with everyone else. A moment like this is what the Alpha and his pack are always afraid of. The safety of their families are threatened and he knows all his Enforcers are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their families. He goes to the bunker to do a final check on the women, children and the elders. They are gathered in the bunker with fear. A war is about to break loose on their doorstep. The bunker already has enough supplies for them to last for months.

“You have to come back to us,” his mate says to him softly.

Her eyes are glistering in tears. He nods but deep inside, only the Goddess knows what he’s truly feeling. He touches his mate’s bulging belly. She’s twenty-five weeks pregnant of their third child. Their pack is small. He only has about a hundred Enforcers and he knows it wouldn’t be enough to repel their enemy away. The only thing he could hope is a reinforcement from the nearby packs.

“We’ve sent the messengers out,” His beta tells him.

The Alpha nods. “Do not open the bunker unless you certain it is us outside,” he instructs a group of five best Enforcers who would be stationed inside the bunker.

Taking a last look at his family and everyone else, the Alpha leaves with his Beta to join with the main assault team. He already set several plans to protect the pack mansion at all cost. If everything else goes south, the pack mansion is their last stand. Whatever happens, the enemy must not make to the pack mansion.

“Shift!” he shouts.

All his Enforcers including himself shift and get ready to defend their first perimeter. The ravens keep on circling above them. The Alpha keeps his focus ahead of him. Their enemy is about to make their appearances.

Arthur walks leisurely into the woods, smiling as he knows the werewolves are waiting for him. He takes a deep breath, looking at the sky. They won’t stand a chance against his army of Death Mages. These are all sort of magic practitioners who practices dark witchcraft.

He glances over his right shoulder. “Send them home.”

His army cheers in happiness before hell breaks loose. They run forward. Thunders explode even more. The lightning strikes the ground. The ravens dive down, exploding as they come to contact. The first blood is spilled when a young Enforcer failed to evade the exploding raven. All sorts of demonic noises could be heard from the distance. Gargoyles emerge from the Earth, assisting their masters. The ground splits, roots protruding—heading to the dead bodies and engulf them. The Alpha looks to his right side. His dead comrades are covered by evil roots. The roots then targeted his alive comrades. One of his Enforcers is strangled by the roots. Running towards the Enforcer, he slashes his claws to cut the roots. The more he slashes, the stronger the roots become. Then, all he hears is the painful gasps from the Enforcer as the roots break his bones one by one—giving him a painful and slow death. Enraged by that, the Alpha shifts his attention to the silver-haired man not far from the battlefield.

From what he sees, that man is the leader of these Death Mages. The Alpha makes his run towards the man—ready to end his life right then and there. Just before he could get wind of the man, an enormous hand stops his right claws. Slowly looking next to him, a large Lycan blocks his attempt. He could tell by the grip of the Lycan around his wrist, this is no ordinary Lycan. The Lycan looks as demonic as those Death Mages.

The Lycan breaks his wrist before hurling him to a tree. The Alpha growls at the pain around his wrist. It’s going to take a few minutes for his wrist to heal up but he has no minutes to spare. His first perimeter defense is falling down.

“Retreat to the second perimeter!” he yells in his mind link.

“We can’t leave you alone to fight these people,” his Beta protests.

“Patrick, go. Protect the bunker at all cost.”

“Damn it, Alpha!”

“Go!”

Reluctantly, the remaining first-team retreats, leaving their Alpha behind to fight against this beast alone. At least, he could keep this one busy. Forcing to standing on all four while his left wrist is still healing, he faces the beast once again.

“I love you and our kids, Gen.” That is his last words before he shuts all his mind links.

Mathias closes his eyes briefly before reopening them—hoping it is just all a dream.

A bad dream.

But, it’s not.

Dozens of bodies are lying on the ground. The smell of blood is stenching the air around them. Houses are on fires. The pack mansion burnt to the ground. They are too late.

Too late to save these people.

Arthur has made his first move when he decided to attack this pack. The Council’s Enforcers are making their perimeter to make sure the danger is long gone. The chest of those dead bodies is wide open. Their hearts are missing. From that, Mathias knows this is a doing of dark witchcraft.

“We’ve found the Alpha’s body by the mansion,” one of the Enforcers informs him.

Mathias nods and follows the Enforcer to the pack mansion. He runs his hand across his face when he sees the condition of the Alpha’s body. His chest is ribbon and the heart is missing just like his Enforcers. The deep wound on his neck is telling Mathias this is no work of an ordinary foe.

Only one creature could cause such a wound.

“We’ve checked the bunker. Everyone in there was trapped and suffocated due to the lack of oxygen,” Another Enforcer informs him.

“The fire must have destroyed the air circulation system that supplied the oxygen into the bunker,” Tanto says.

Mathias crouches down next to the dead Alpha. He looks around. Another body is lying next to the Alpha but still intact. It’s the body of a dark magician.

“Mathias, what the hell are you doing?” Ryker asks his older brother who cuts open the dark magician’s chest.

Mathias keeps his mouth shut and opens the chest wide. He detached the dead heart from the body and put it into the Alpha’s body.

“Mathias!” Ryker pushes him away. “Dark magic is forbidden!”

“Arielle, help me,” Mathias whispers.

Suddenly, everyone else is sent yards away before a diamond dome protects Mathias with the Alpha’s body. Arielle materialized next to him and she looks at Ryker and Tanto an apologetic way. Mathias attached the veins to the dead heart before slashing his hand and wrapped it around the heart. Spending years training with Arthur and watching his wicked tricks, Mathias learned a thing or two. He might not be as strong as Arthur when it comes to using magic but Mathias is at the end of the road now.

Mathias chants the dark magic. Once again, the thunder and lightning strike the sky. The wind becomes stronger but there is nothing they could do about it. Mathias is performing a forbidden spell. The penalty for that crime is death.

The dead Alpha gasps and comes to life but Mathias knows it won’t long. The Alpha makes a series of painful noises as if he knows he’s about to fade forever.

“Tell me where they went,” Mathias questions him, without wasting any time.

“Tell me…is my mate alive? My kids?” The Alpha asks him. “Please, I need to know.”

“I’m sorry, Alpha.”

The Alpha cries, ignoring the fact he shows his true feelings. An Alpha shouldn’t show any sign of weakness but everyone knows an Alpha’s weakness is their family. He holds onto Mathias’ arms, pulling him closer.

“He’s…coming…” his voice stutters, slowly fading. “…for…it …”

“For what?”

“The first Moon Goddess’ children…” The Alpha’s life fades slowly. “Protect the Heart…”

Mathias gets up and walks away. “Break the dome.”

Arielle breaks the dome with a snap from her fingers. Mathias runs as fast as he could to the rendezvous point where a group of witches is waiting for them. Ryker stops him before he could go any further.

“They would kill you if you go that way,” the second brother warns him. “They know you did the forbidden spell.”

“Kill me once this is over,” Mathias growls.

“Mathias, damn it. Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because Arthur is about to make another attack.”

“What? Where? Who?” Tanto bombards.

“The first Moon Goddess’ children.”

“The Daemons,” Ryker answers.

Tanto disagrees. “That’s nonsense. The Daemons are way too powerful for Arthur and his army to attack. Uncle Stefano has a large army.”

Then, Ryker understands the hidden meaning of Mathias’ words earlier. “No, the attack would be just a distraction…”

A series of screams come from the rendezvous point making all of them running to that direction. As they arrive at the encampment where the witches were supposed to wait for them, there is no one there. The encampment is destroyed and overcrowded by horrifying-looking large trees.

A few seconds later, the place becomes gloomy. The sky is raining blue orbs at the size of a pea and there are thousands—maybe millions of them. Once it reaches the ground, the blue orb turns into ash.

From the ash, something comes out of it. Something alive. A living tree that could walk. With the amount of the blue orbs turned to ash on the ground, thousands—probably millions of the creatures emerge from it. They gather together—creating enormous trees—the same looking trees that took over the encampment. Its roots go deeper into the ground, sending quakes as it does so.

“They would just need to strike the Heart.” Ryker finishes his sentence.

“Or corrupts it,” Tanto mutters as he stares at one of the corrupted trees.

One of the witches is inside the trunk of the tree.

All of those witches are in the trees.