2 A CHILD IN PROPHECY

"It has been nearly seventeen years since that war, has that child still not been found?" An old man with white hair and beard asked while sipping a cup of coffee. He was sitting on the veranda of a simple wooden house, his eyes staring at the majestic deep blue ocean in front of him.

The glowing medallion in the sky, the palpitating pulse of the sea, and the cool air moving and teasing gently. All combined to create wonderful serendipity.

A physically younger-looking man, who was also sitting in a chair right next to him, answered, "One of my subordinates reported that there is a clue from Serein City, but to make sure, I'm going to the city myself tomorrow morning."

The old man sighed and looked far ahead. "We have to find that child for the future of our clan. Even though our bodies have developed rapidly and are much stronger now, we still have to find the child according to the prophecy," said the old man.

The young man next to him nodded understandingly. The prophecy, of course, he knew about the prophecy.

"You remember when I told our people for the first time about the prophecy? That was right after the war ended seventeen years ago," The old man continued again. "I had a bizarre dream when the war had just started. In that dream, I met a young girl with bright blue eyes. At first, I felt alert since her eye color was completely different from the eye color of our people which was red as blood, but then the girl magically transformed into a big wolf with white fur and blue eyes. Her fur was pure white just like the snow, unlike our clan that was only filled with black and brown-haired werewolves."

The old man still remembered his conversation with the mysterious girl in his dream.

["Who are you?" The man, who was now also transformed into the form of a wolf with black fur and red eyes, asked the wolf with white fur and blue eyes in front of him.

"I am your savior," the white wolf replied in her soft voice. "You will age and die, humans will defeat you using their advanced weapons. But, I will not age and die, nor will be defeated by advanced human weapons. I'm your true leader in the future, I will give you eternal power, and I will help you conquer the world. I will be born from the womb of one of the werewolves in the future, and I will give you power so that you will become immortal. All you have to do is find me and take care of me until I turn seventeen. That's when I will be able to share my power with you through sacred rituals."]

That was his dream seventeen years ago, a dream that had been a guide for him for so many years.

"I didn't usually believe in dreams, but that dream felt so different for me. I strangely believed in that dream right away. My belief was not wrong because a few months later, a female werewolf gave birth to a baby girl with blue eyes. That baby was the baby version of the girl in my dream. I could recognize her right away. At that time, I believed that my dream was no ordinary dream, it was a prophecy."

The young man just listened earnestly without intending to interrupt. He knew the story was not over yet.

"But unfortunately, the blue-eyed baby disappeared after the war was over. The chaos during the war caught us off guard and lost our future leader. Life or death, no one knows the fate of the baby. That's why you have to find the girl and bring her back to us if she's still alive."

That was the story that had been circulating among werewolves since seventeen years ago. It was like a fairytale or a bedtime story that passed from ear to ear.

The white-bearded old man was the leader of the werewolf clan who had survived the war seventeen years ago. His name was Mike Allaband. He didn't know precisely how old he was, but if age could be determined by appearance, his age was probably around 70, more or less.

He belonged to the first generation of werewolves. He went through a lot of hardships. At first, he couldn't control his body at all and had no mind. He also had no memories of the past and only had memories since he and his clan started gaining consciousness and self-control 38 years ago.

The young man next to him was his only son who was born 27 years ago. As time goes by, werewolves had begun to live like humans. They did various activities like humans. They even fell in love, then got married, and lived a family life like normal humans. That was how Mike lived. He got married 28 years ago and had a son the year after. Unfortunately, his wife was no longer on his side because the woman he loved died in the war seventeen years ago, leaving him only with his son in the world.

His son, Kris Allaband, spent less time with him on the deserted island and preferred to disguise himself as a human and lived in a coastal village across the island. Since seventeen years ago, Kris had preferred to mingle with humans and pretended to be a human.

Kris was indeed easy to mingle with humans, maybe his super handsome face that made the humans around him tricked into wanting to be friends with him.

Yes, Kris was super handsome. He got a pair of hooded eyes that looked sharp, he got the rare Greek nose, and also got a pair of thin lips. He was tall and muscular, he had ear-length caramel hair, and his skin had been darkened by the sun near the coast.

His voice was deep and husky, probably sexy enough to make many women willing to pay just to hear his voice. His appearance was like a high-class model. His character was also friendly and amiable, making him easy to get along with the humans out there.

"If you want to go to the city, then you have to be careful. People in cities are smarter and more sophisticated, don't let them know your true identity," the father advised his only son after finishing his story.

"You don't have to worry, Dad," the son chimed in. "It's been seventeen years I mingled with humans, and no one suspects me. I'm not like you who spent seventeen years in this place and didn't go anywhere."

What Kris said was not untrue. His father had lived on the island since their escape seventeen years. Not many people cared about the island because there were many mystical rumors about it. The rumors discouraged humans from approaching, making the island the safest place to hide.

The remaining 50 werewolves used to hide on the island together, but now they had left to mingle with humans. The werewolves' bodies continued to develop, and they were very difficult to be distinguished from ordinary humans.

After seventeen years, their breed was able to reproduce until now there were 68 werewolves. But, of course, that number was not comparable to the number of humans who were at 9 billion. Like it or not, they had to be extra careful if they wanted to survive.

"The child's age is not yet 17 years old, maybe less than 6 months before turning 17 years old. She must also not know anything. You have to be patient and careful to bring her back to us. You only have less than half a year for that. Are you sure you can do it?" The father asked after a few minutes the father and son pair fell into silence.

"To be honest, I don't have any plans regarding that kid yet," Kris answered his father's question, causing his father to look at him in skepticism. "But, don't worry, Dad. The plan will come by itself when I get to the city," he added.

The old man shook his head tiredly. "You've been playing too much these seventeen years, Son. You still want revenge for your mother's death, don't you? You better stop playing around," he said.

Now, it was Kris's turn to look forward. His eyes silently recorded the dramatic panorama in front of him. Shimmering sunlight making the golden sands sparkle like a thousand tiny jewels. Waves giggling and chasing each other in the blue ocean before finally breaking alternately on the shoreline.

Talking about his mother's death was like opening his old scars. He certainly still remembered when one bullet after another rained down on his mother's body during the war seventeen years ago.

At that time, he was still so young and could only hide in the distance, but his small eyes did not escape the stifling sight. He remembered how his mother's body collapsed on the cold ground, and her teary eyes turned to gaze at him, beckoning him to run away from the place and save himself. He had no other choice but to comply with the last wish of the woman who had given birth to him.

"I'm not playing around, and I will make humans pay for everything," he said while clenching his right fist angrily.