Reckoning The Past

There she stood, for the first time in fourteen long years, on the ground of her shattered dreams. The very earth where her parents had been mercilessly slain on a cold, winter night, along with the people she had once considered family.

Back then, she was just an eight-year-old, a frail and powerless child with no energy yet. All she could do was run and hide, watching in terror from a corner as the leaders of the territorial Four Lands destroyed everything she held dear, including her family and her home.

That night was etched in her memory, the horrifying screams of her people as they were slaughtered en masse. Their home consumed by flames, the ashes of their once glorious pack swirling in the air, as if dancing to the symphony of her people's sorrows. And, she couldn't forget the sight of Alpha Li's blade piercing her father's heart as he tried to protect his pack from the brutality of the Four Lands leaders.

Her father- Alpha Xinjiang used to be a peace-loving person, a great and kind-hearted leader to his people. He was fearless and strong, and yet he was filled with wisdom and love for his Pack.

And as for Xin Aera's mother, she was just the right mate for him. Her father often said the moon goddess had blessed him with the perfect Luna. She was everything and more; wise, compassionate, caring, and above all, love exemplified. She was both a wife and mate to Alpha Xinliang, a Luna and mother to the entire pack and together, they had been the best parents to her, her role models.

Xin Aera stared at the remains of what she used to call home. The pack had changed a great deal from what it used to be when her parents still ruled as Alpha and Luna.

They used to be one of the greatest among the thirty-three werewolf clans in all of the Fourlands. With a land mass of seventy acres and a total of five thousand Werewolves, they were the third most powerful pack in the regions of the Fourlands.

But, after the massacre, a total of three thousand had died from the event that night. One thousand had fled for their safety and their precious lives, leaving the pack with just a thousand Werewolves.

Amongst these one thousand that had remained, more than three hundred died a year ago, leaving the pack with less than seven hundred people. The death rate had been high in the pack, and that was one of the cases Xin Aera planned to look into now that she had returned.

Zhengzhou pushed the doors to what used to be the Inner Court open and rotten debris collapsed to the floor, raising dust. Xin Aera covered her nose with her sleeve.

"Not much has changed since the incident," Zhengzhou spoke. He was the only aid of Aera's father who had survived the massacre.

"No matter how much we try to gather and fix things, challenges just keep popping up, disrupting our plans." Zhengzhou sighed.

First, it was the eloping of the other werewolves, then the Werewolf disease outbreak. For some reason, these bad things just keep happening to their Pack alone.

After listening to Zhengzhou, Xin Aera could only straighten her shoulders. She had heard quite a lot about the Pack's sufferings while she was away, and although it broke her heart looking at their present day_ a huge contrast to what they used to be, she didn't cry, she couldn't. Many years of training and reflecting had made her resilient.

"Aren't those who brought this misfortune to our Pack still working hard to destroy us?" Xin Han Min said. He was the only blood relative Xin Aera had left, the only blood relative of hers who survived the massacre. He had traveled out of the pack that morning to one of the villages in the Fourlands to pick some herbs for his medicine and therefore wasn't around when the leaders of the Fourlands attacked.

Hearing his words, a frown etched across Xin Aera's previously calm features, and she said, "You don't have to worry anymore," her tone was calm and unaffected, as though instead of her own pains, she was discussing the weather, but she wasn't just trying to comfort them. Now that she had returned, things would go smoothly. They would start rebuilding their home to its former glory, and then the rest of the Pack members could return. That was a vow she had made to herself many years ago.

With conflicted eyes, Xin Aera stared at the debris of broken walls, the large building on the verge of collapsing. It once used to be a large hall that could contain over five thousand people. It used to be the Pack's training center in the days when her parents ruled as Alpha and Luna of their Pack.

She could remember those many years, whenever her father, the master of the Xin household brought her here to watch the werewolves train, she used to long for her eighteenth birthday when she would finally get to train with one of the greatest armies in the Four lands.

But…

Her dreams were short-sleeved before she could even turn eighteen and wolf out.

She dragged a deep breath into her lungs, snapping out of memory lane. She turned to Zhengzhou…

"Gather the pack members, we'd carry out the cleansing ritual at full moon tonight." There was going to be a full moon that night, and Xin Aera planned to perform the cleansing ritual she had recently perfected during her training on Moonlake Mountain. A ritual of rights that took her two years to learn. Normally, it took over ten years to master spells and attain the level of performing the cleansing ritual, but it only took her three years.

Zhengzhou nodded, bowed, and walked off, leaving Xin Aera and Xin Han Mei alone.

The night was dark, but the emerging moon gave a faint hue, slightly brightening the night. The atmosphere was calm, only slightly disturbed by the distant hoots of owls in the woods, reminding Xin Aera of a certain memory from her childhood, but she quickly pushed that memory away. It wasn't one she wished to reminisce on.

"I hear Iseul is the Alpha of Blood Hound Pack these days." Xin Aera said, her heart skipping a beat at the mention of that name.

A frown etched across her face.

"Yes," Xin Han Min nodded, "and he is quite strong, even stronger than the previous Alpha- his father was." He added.

Hearing this, Xin Aera sighed. She was calm, and her expression was peaceful.

"The pack has also grown tenfold in mass, number, and power than what you might probably recall it to be." Xin Han Mei continued, "We can't wage war against them in our current state, it's equivalent to going on a suicide mission. We'd have to restrategize."

Xin Aera nodded, her blazing hazel eyes gazing into the distance as she absorbed her Uncle's words. The news of Isheul's remarkable achievements in just five years as the Alpha of the BloodHound Pack wasn't a surprise to her. She had always believed that he would become an exceptional leader, having shown signs of greatness from an early age.

Moreover, his father had stayed alive to train him after killing hers.

A surge of rage coursed suddenly through Xin Aera's veins, and her slender porcelain fingers clenched tightly into fists, instantly turning red from the pressure. She was furious, but she took in a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves.

"I'll devise a better plan by morning. I swear on my deceased parents' graves, Bloodhound Pack will have a taste of my wrath. Just as they slaughtered my family, they too will taste their own medicine," she declared. Although her hazel eyes were calm, they were sharp and bloodshot.

That wasn't just a promise to him, but also a vow to herself. Now that she was back, she'd exact her revenge on each and everyone responsible for ruining her family.

She turned to her uncle and said... "Please, oversee the preparation for the cleansing ritual." She instructed Xin Han Mei. He was the only one she could entrust with such trivial matters.

Xin Han Mei acknowledged with a nod and walked away, leaving her alone to her thoughts.

Sad Music Starts In The Background

Xin Aera stared at the partly crumbled building before her, memories of her childhood rushed back into her mind. It was in this very room that her father had vowed to train her until she became the strongest warrior in all of the Fourlands.

Just ten more years, and she would have trained under his guidance, but that fateful night, he was taken from her.

Lost in their own thoughts, the wind stirred up the dust around them, sending earth's particles and sheets of paper into the air.

MYSTERIOUS TONE BEGINS IN THE BACKGROUND.

Turning to depart after dwelling on her shattered past for what seemed like an eternity, her eyes briefly fell to the ground, and a notice on a printed paper caught her attention.

"Maids Wanted At BloodHound Pack."

Seems even the gods were favoring her journey toward revenge.

At the front yard of the Pack, under the full moon, Aera was surrounded by the remnants of the Pack, she proceeded with the cleansing ritual. Holding out the book of spells, she intoned the incantations necessary for the ritual. After a few minutes, the sky began to turn red, the eerie transformation continued for a brief period before returning to its previous state. The ritual was complete.

"Tonight, we shall crown the new Alpha of our Pack!" Xin Han Mei declared. "Together, we will rebuild our pack and restore its former glory!" His words elicited enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. With a signal from him, the raucous cheers gradually subsided.

He approached Xin Aera, and she immediately went down on her knee, aware of the significance of the moment. He placed a hand on her head and pronounced her Alpha.