Were-Ticked 03 Chapter 3

TMH

It was their culture.

It's what they've always known. What they were taught. All the present generations were ever exposed to.

Together, it formed the prettiest mode of living, a beautiful painting complementary of each other forming the bigger picture.

This picture was filled with life, laughter from multiple buildings, beings walking in and out of them, bubbling with excitement. It was quite contrasting to the lone Wocade.

These buildings were the Lunar Academies, the training school for every soon-to-be moon goddess. These soon-to-be moon goddesses were commonly known as Grahana.

The origin of this names emerging from the ancient times, used to describe an Eclipse.

By naming soon-to-be goddesses this way, it is hoped that they would humble in knowing nothing as they are guided further into the light and knowledge.

With at least 3 academies on each street, there are more than 200 Lunar Academies with at least 100 being notable for bringing out the best in a moon goddess.

Quite unlike the Wocade where werewolves could start at any age from 12 and above, the Lunar Academy starts training at ages 3 to 5 depending on their constitution, becoming Moon Goddesses after graduation, and earning the title MG in their names.

While Moon Goddesses are the one active in plain sight, males who graduate work out of sight, hidden and operating in secret at the Tower. They are outwardly classified as moon gods among students at Lunar Academies.

While graduated werewolves are graded in ranks, moon goddesses see themselves as sisters. Hence their ranks grouped with regards to the time they graduated.

The joy of being a Grahana at the Lunar Academy.

The joy of training alongside other Grahana, with promises for the future.

This great scene was quite broken…

"A minor issue" the senior goddesses would say

"All in good time" they would repeat

"An act of ignorance" they would proclaim

Anna wasn't having any of that though. She wasn't ignorant, the foreboding feeling of empty promises never left and was very sure it wasn't a minor issue.

All she acknowledged was her brother had changed right after the graduation and she did not like it one bit.

Like many other Grahanas, Anna had no clue on who her parents might be. All she had was her brother and she wasn't going to suddenly lose him.

Anna stormed out of the school head office making no means to hide her displeasure.

She had been dismissed by the senior moon goddesses saying that she would meet with her brother again once she graduates and that nothing was wrong with her brother.

Ignoring the cheerful waves and calls of other Grahana, she walked out of the Academy.

This was notably one of the differences from the Wocade, everyone was friends at the Lunar Academy, whether they want it or not.

Looking up, the first thing anyone would see other than the sky was the tallest building also known as the tower.

It was the headquarters of the TMH Culture. Where every operation and decisions are made, as well as the residence of the Moon Goddess Overseer.

Made of glass, the tower reflected rays of light, its stacked hexagon structure piled on top of each other, its size slowly diminishing as it reaches the top to form an open roof.

Surrounding the tower were six moon shaped building, aesthetically arranged to surround the tower, three quarter the height of the tower... The roof of the moon-shaped building, all tilted at an angle. These were the houses of important moon goddesses.

Anna moved her sights from the tower and strolled to the bike racks.

Anna wasn't one to sit and wait. She was going to find out what in tmh happened to her brother.

Retrieving her bicycle, she cycled to every Grahanas dreaded place. The Wocade.

It was forbidden to go to the Wocade as Grahana. It was also feared and looked down upon.

Anna didn't want to care about the consequences now though.

Her brother was at stake, her whole meaning of family might just be gone if she loses him.

Although Grahanas are ignorant of what happens during the graduation test, everyone understood a bit about the process.

The Grahanas are recommended and registered by the moon goddess teachers.

Registered Grahanas would have a grace period of two days to study and enjoy their last days as a Grahana before taking a test in an isolated room.

A second test is scheduled at the Wocade, its obvious purpose being to test their behaviours around werewolves. Anna believed there could be more to it than just that.

Afterwards, they are granted a meeting with the Moon Goddess Overseer. Once they pass, they are then proclaimed Moon Goddess with the honour of having a last name.

As to what happens if they fail the test, Anna subconsciously denied such thoughts, like every other Grahana would.

Going to the Wocade, albeit stealthily, was her only and last chance to understanding what was wrong with her brother and at least trying to get him back to his senses.

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With the trees serving as a camouflage, Anna took a deep breath as she viewed in awe of the Wocade building.

It was contrasting to the everyday sightings she chances upon.

Its broken gates, one of which had fallen to the ground serving as an additional support to the growing plants near it. Beyond that was the Wocade building, its structure built with bricks layers upon layers. What should have been a dull grey brick now coated with moss, plants, and deep scratches from unknown origins.

Just before the entrance of the Wocade were multiple tables and chairs placed in a disorganised manner with leftover food and random books on some.

The entrance was tightly shut but Anna could still here noises from the werewolves in the building.

It wasn't inevitable to say she was scared. The noises evidently from werewolves in the building, the building itself and all she had been taught did not help relieve her fear.

Anna whispered "I can do this"

Braving herself, she took a last look at her bicycle disregarding the pressure to run back to the Academy, she manoeuvred her way to the trees as she moved to what she considered the back of the Wocade stopping considerably at a spot where she would see her brother once he exits.

Rustle...

In her wait, Anna was scared once she heard the rustling of the trees, directly using a spell she learnt from the academy to hide her presence.

Deciding to probe further, she moved towards the source of the sound.

Unexpectedly, she sighted upon what she knew as the 'forming of a werewolf pack'. It was a group of five werewolves standing in a circle with another werewolf, with notable gold rimmed glasses, standing outside the circle they formed.

Looking at the sky, she noted that the sun setting.

Not wanting to be found or intrude, she excused herself back to her original spot.

While she was relieved of not being caught, Anna found her mind wandering to the knowledge she knowledge she knew of packs.

Knowing a pack would unavoidably be broken and deserted eventually, once they become masters to the werewolves, they had always been taught that the Moon Goddess Overseer was benevolent to the werewolves, allowing their foolish act of forming a pack.

Anna personally found no problems with werewolves moving or forming a pack. She viewed it as Grahanas having a family or the ancient humans forming friends.

She found it very similar to the ancient humans as taught in History. On how they work in teams, always having each other back.

Quite unlike the friend groups she knew where friendship was mainly an obligatory factor.

Thinking back to the werewolves, Anna understood that they were being secretive about it.

Inadvertently turning her head, she gasped catching sight of a lone black cloaked figure waiting by the broken gates, near the trees.

Grahanas who are in the process of graduation are always cloaked in black.

Anna undoubtedly knew it was her brother. Despite the cloak, she could recognise his figure and familiar aura anytime.

With glee, she ran towards him. The spell she earlier did now dwindling as her focus was lost.

She envisioned a scene of him apologising for his harsh words and for not recognising her.

Of him hugging her as he spun her around like he always did.

Of him, mocking how boring Moon Goddesses as the norms between themselves

Of him fulfilling his promise of giving her an idea of what the tests were like.

What she did not envision was her brother scowling at her.

Or her brother flinging her to the tree. She clearly felt her back ache at that.

Or her brother looking down on her with obvious contempt as he uttered "Trash"

Her face spelt bewilderment.

In her disbelief, she did not notice the little steps her brother took in shock and his eyes widening for a second's fraction.

What she did notice was his condescending act and disdainful look as he took a handkerchief from his cloak, slowly wiping his fingers and then proceeding to throw the handkerchief at her.

With that, she watched her brother walk back, moving towards two moon goddesses as soon as he spotted them.

She didn't think of the fact that he might have told the moon goddess of the scene and that she might be called to the school head office again.

Looking down at the handkerchief that fell to the ground and slowly picking it up, she recognised it as the one they embroidered together in their younger days.

'Her brother clearly didn't know her'

'Her brother didn't know her'

'Her...brother...didn't know her'

Her mind repeated like a broken record.

It was unknown when it started or how long it started but Anna bawled her eyes out uncaring if she attracted attention.

To her luck, she was not with the premises of the Wocade, she was just out of sight and mind.

Fainting, Anna did not expect to wake up only to face two werewolves who were obviously twins and the predicament of skipping the Academy for two days.

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Tri was glad to have finally be in a pack, albeit it being a secret. While he might have been more excited than Tan, he did not fail to involve his twin in his musing and giddiness.

It had always been a dream of theirs, the twins. A splendid dream, mission, and vision of every werewolf toddler before they faced reality. It was an innate voice calling out to them at their simple ages only to be trampled upon by the cruel reality of TMH.

Tri had never lost hope to this natural imagery, the same couldn't be said for Tan though.

While the new pack hangout was rather scary, not that the twins would tell, it felt great to have their hope rekindled and dreams fulfilled.

This was one of the reason Tri was happy, since he had always felt responsible as the older twin to let Tan regain hope.

The sad bit was having to act normal and not draw attention on entering the Wocade lest they fall for problematic situations.

While it is true that the Moon Goddess Overseer proclaims to be kind and benevolent on letting them form packs, it was also true that she made no move to stop other moon goddesses from torturing and humiliating them.

With this going on as far as they could remember and as long as the stories tell, the thrill of forming packs had long been extinguished publicly among werewolves, becoming a stain to anyone werewolf expressing their desire to it.

It is also for this reason that the twins were not well received among their fellow werewolves and were glad to make friends.

Of course, this was due to Tri announcing his wish without care on their first day. A day they dreaded.

In his good mood, Tri clearly did not expect to stumble and fall.

Looking at the object to his falling, he was even more shocked and dumbfounded noticing the three circular rings on the forehead of the person. It was a Grahana.

"T-Tan" Stammering out his brother's name, who was working to lift him up, he pointed to the body on the ground.

"Get up. We'll wake the person up after."

Clearly Tan had not noticed the identity of the person on the ground, automatically thinking it was a random werewolf.

He couldn't be blamed for this as there was little to no difference in the structure of werewolves and Grahans ignoring the three circular rings marks on their forehead.

"It's a Grahana Tan. A Grahana!"

"I fell on a Grahana."

"If it is found out, it can be traced back to me. And they'll call me a–and – "

Tan held his twin shoulders adding force as he made Tri face him.

"Calm down. Freaking out won't help. Besides you only fell on her. It's not like you touched her leaving a mark."

"Yeah. You're right"

To prevent werewolves having interactions with Grahanas, the Moon Goddess Overseer is tasked with ensuring all Grahanas are coated with a long-term protective spell. The spell is triggered once contact between the two being is made leaving a small back fingerprint on the skin of the Grahana. This fingerprint can then be traced back to the werewolf in order to execute punishment.

With Tri now calm, the twins turned to examine the Grahana on the ground only for both to start panicking on noting the forming black fingerprint on her arm.

"It's there Tan! What do I do? I just formed a pack and now I'm going to die."

"...Hide her."

Tan himself was barely calm.

Making their decision to hide her at their pack hangout, the duo lock the doors and windows to ensure the Grahana won't escape.

Heading back to the Wocade, the twins were out of it, with Tri constantly fidgeting and Tan occasionally shaking his head.

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"Is it me or is there something wrong with the twins?"

Ruby had a straw in her mouth, the other end of the straw seeming to be inside the vessel she carried at her back.

Gesturing her head to the twins, she moved to drag Ephraim towards them.

"They are probably just tired. Do we have to go?"

Ephraim asked as he let himself get dragged from the lunch line.

The cafeteria wasn't filled with werewolves as each werewolf had their preferences to where they eat.

Ruby and Ephraim for example preferred staying at the labs or the tables outside.

"Hey Tri and Tan"

Ephraim brows rose in reaction to the jerking movement from the twins, more so from Tri.

"I don't know you guys much but I'm guessing you are in trouble."

Ephraim didn't expect to hit the nail right on as he moved back from the twin's pitiful gaze.

He didn't mind seeing that from Tri, but it was quite weird to see Tan in the same predicament.

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"So, you're saying you found her– "

"Fell on her" Tan corrected.

"–and somehow left a trace of it. This definitely spells doom. What an odd way to pick death"

Tri wailed at Ephraim's words.

"Well, we clearly can't leave you guys to solve it yourself."

The four were at the hangout with Ephraim settled in a sofa, Ruby observing the Grahana, Tri wailing next to Ephraim and Tan pacing around.

"We could kill her"

At Ruby's words, the others turn to look at her.

"Then again that could also be traced back to us."

"Bury her alive..."

"No... that's not so far from killing her."

"Paint her skin permanently black?"

At this, Ruby looks at the others. Clearly, she did not take her other random musings to heart.

"That's possible. She shouldn't notice the mark then."

Ephraim adds.

The duo looks at the twins as it was up to them.

"That works I guess." Tan was unsure of his statement.

"Or we can just wait for her to wake up, persuade her not to tell and make her use one of their spells to remove the mark."

"What if she doesn't know the spell? Or she doesn't want to help us?" Tan pessimistically adds in response to Ruby's idea.

"…back to painting her black and dropping her where you guys found her?"

The three boys nod at Ruby's words.

"Okay we have a plan. Now stop wailing and cheer up. This is literally your only chance to paint a soon-to-be moon goddess."

At her words, Ephraim and Tan chuckles as Tri's mood had a quick change.

"I'll call Rali over to help. Bet she won't want to miss this chance."

Tan said "Don't"

He moved to stop Ruby from leaving the house earning a look of confusion from the others.

"Why not Tan? It'll be faster with her – "

"Haven't you noticed? Rali obviously wants a pack for something. She definitely won't want to participate in a situation like this that could jeopardize whatever she has in store."

Tan directly stopped any further thing Tri might have wanted to add.

He had mentioned it to Tri before. Rali wanted to form a pack with Ruby and Ephraim and was stubborn about it. They might not have even been a part of the pack if Ruby hadn't called them out.

Ruby frowns at his words.

"It's just what I think." Brushing off possible continuation of the topic, Tan moves to the door.

"We need to get the supplies, right?"

Tri say as they decide to close the subject.

Ephraim exchanged a look with Ruby.

"I've got paint at my place. Ruby and I will get it."

"Great. Tan and I will look for brushes then."

Walking towards the exit, the door swings open startling the four of them as well as Rali who enters.

Rali had not expected to see them here considering the shocked look on her face.

Before Rali could ask, she notices the body on one of the couches and moves to get a clearer view.

"What in tmh is going on?" Rali asked in anger once she sighted the Grahana.

It was shocking that the Grahana had not woken up with the frequency of noise in the house.

Rali turns to Tri who stammered to explain.

Rali stops Tri from continuing, her hands gesturing him to stop. She wasn't willing to hear his excuses.

"I don't care. Deal with your mess and don't involve others."

Ephraim and Ruby looked at her in shock. While Rali acts cold sometimes, she was very helpful and friendly to people she knew.

"We are a pack. You can't just not care" Ruby exclaims

"They are going to implicate us. Why would I help knowing that?"

Ruby clenches her fist, her voice going down a notch as she solemnly asks Rali

"Is this what you meant when you made us seal the pact to forming the pack? To just not care or help. What is it all for then? Is that what you mean as a pack? If that's it, then sorry to say but you're nothing but an ingrate at this rate."

Enraged by Ruby, Rali points at the twins, her tone not faltering.

"They clearly made a mess. It could lead to us to death. They are nothing but trouble!"

Ephraim shows no clear sign of emotions. He glances at the twins.

Tan had his head down and Tri was crying uttering sorry as he kept bowing.

"We are out."

"You can't quit Ephraim. Face it, we made a pact. Besides Kief always told us to watch out for ourselves."

"He also said to be kind to fellow werewolves. What more members of our pack"

Ephraim counters.

He makes a move to hold Tri, half dragging him out of the house. Tan and Ruby following behind them, moving the unconscious Grahana with them.

Rali shouts after them "Are you guys seeking death?!"

She growls getting angrier. She said, "Damn it!"

In their moment, they did not notice the globe at the top of the house spinning continuously.

Walking back into the house, the wood creaking along with her angry footsteps, she moves to a particular room. The only content in it being a picture on the wall.

Rali looks at the picture before punching the wall in anger and left.

What should have been a dent due to Rali's supernatural strength, slowly reformed back to its previous form.

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The walk was quiet with Tri and Tan walking behind.

Tan speaks up

"We won't involve you. Don't worry."

His voice was clearly choked but they seemed to tacitly not mention it.

Ruby and Ephraim stopped walking.

"You know...I was never keen on forming a pack and although it hasn't been long since I was somehow dragged into one, I won't back out. Not when we are in it together"

Ruby smiles at them. Tri and Tan were clearly shocked at her words.

Tri looked to Ephraim. His expression somewhat eager.

Ephraim felt a Deja vu looking at Tri.

"What's the big deal in having instant death or going to the abandoning or what not? It just might be fun."

Ruby laughs at his choice of words.

A smile cracked on Tan's face.

He was glad they didn't abandon them. What he did not realize was his nervousness and expectations he had.

Tri moves to clear his face from tears.

"I'm sorry. If I knew – "

"You wouldn't have been cheerful in the morning?"

"Wouldn't have passed the woods?"

Both Ruby and Ephraim complete teasingly.

They said, "Don't apologise."

Tan, supporting the Grahana on his back to the ground, looks at his brother. He says "Twins for life. A minor issue like this won't stop me from staying with you. Despite how annoying you might be"

Tri whines complaining he ruined the mood.

"Think of it as bad luck...like the time you fell through the manhole"

Tri groaned at Tan's words as they all laugh.

"Yeah...what's the big deal?" Ruby mutters, a smile on her face.

"Say...about that revenge before we die…"

At Ephraim's words, they all turn to look at the unsuspecting Grahana on the ground.

The duo laughs as the twins move towards their target smiling evilly.

Unexpectedly, Anna opens her eyes at this moment.