TO THE BEGINNING OF THE NIGHTS!

Life was never easy. It was a huge platter of disproportionate amounts of pain and happiness.

When he was just a baby, he did not remember much of his childhood. But he did have a memory where they used to be happy and living alongside the rest of the people.

Ruqui still could recall the time when his mother and father were by his side like any other parent would.

They lived in the woods, a few miles away from the town. He remembered him and his father riding to the town's weekly market and would return back to a home of freshly cooked meals by his mother.

Back in the town, his father was respected, not only by the people of his clan but also by the humans and vampires.

Everything was so simple and lively. His day would begin by being woken by his mother's warm embrace, followed by playing with the children of his age in the woods because his parents did not want him to go anywhere else, outside of their sight.

Later by noon, his father would call out to him and they would together go for fishing or hunting based on their need.

To this day, he could still picturise

the conversation between his father and him.

And by dusk, after his mother had put him to bed, singing one of those lullabies and stories of the 'Great Begining', of how the three beings on earth with intelligence came to realize that killing each other, holding animosity was going to ruin them all.

Since then the vampires, humans, and werewolves had learned to live together and survive in the same place.

The evergreen land of Saunders became the classic beginning of this era. That was why the land was known to the entire populace of the world.

Ruqui would hear the growls at midnight, breaking his sleep. He would look outside the small window on his bedside.

The full moon in the dark sky was the only lighting and the growls would intensify as the moon moved across the sky.

Turning around, he would find his parent's bed empty. Thinking that they would be back soon, he would go back to sleep, looking forward to the next morning.

But it did not happen one day. He was woken by the rustling noises in the background. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, listening to his parents arguing.

"What did you do? What did you do?

Had you lost your mind when you did it, Jamal? Did you even think about our son???

How this would forever change his life?"

His mother sounded angry, in pain, confusion. He saw his father standing by the door. The darkness concealed his reflection.

"I did, Beta...I did. Do you think I do not care about our son? It is all for him...peace is fading...you, I, and everyone else can feel it..."

His father started and his mother furiously shook her head. She was shaking. What had his father done? He could only wonder.

"We will all die...we will all..."

"Don't you say that..."

Jamal came forward to hold his wife as she fell down on the ground, shaking her head. She had a soft heart and that was why he had fallen in love with her...she was different.

Her softness should never be mistaken to be weak and devoid of strength. But it was her softness that could melt the boldness in anyone...the same way he had fallen for her.

Sometimes it irked him that their son became more like his mother than him. Ruqui would grow up to be the spitting image of his mother and he had complaints but then it was considered unsuitable to rule.

"Worst we will become outcasts...our family will have to..."

"Our family will be respected..."

He cut his wife short. He had seen the future through the witch of the full moon but nobody would believe him.

"When it will be day, they will come for us...they will banish us from the lands..."

Beta was nowhere in her state of mind to be listening to her husband. For her, he had gone crazy, lost his mind, and became blind to the sight of power.

"There will be no day no more...you will see...."

Jamal cupped her face in between his hands, trying to make her understand that.

Ruqui frowned at his father's words. What did he mean by that there will be no day?

They were both unaware that their son was awake and listening to them bickering over.

The few hours of to and fro altercations continued and Ruqui had no idea when he had fallen asleep again back on the bed.

He felt his body being lifted up, carried away. On slightly opening his eyes, he saw his mother. She was carrying him.

"Mumma?"

He rubbed his eyes together. With his partial eyesight, he saw them moving out of their house.

"Go back to sleep, Ruqui, we are traveling to a new place."

That was all that his mother had told him as they moved out of their house and towards the town.

In his mother's arms, he saw how the people of the town had come out. It was still dark but the gathering had been like one as if it was already daytime.

His father walked before them. Each wearing their cloak, hiding their faces. The crowd was looking up at the sky, the murmuring noise, talking to each other.

It was that day, after which the sunlight ceased to return. The night sky had become the reality of their lives.

Away from the woods, leaving their home behind, they took shelter at the other end of the land, the border that pointed towards the Mountains of Souls.

Ruqui did not like the new arrangement. Living in the camp, he longed to go back to their home in the woods, and revisit the town and its crowded market.

"I told you, didn't I? There will be no day anymore.

It is our time now...time for the werewolves to rise!"

His father said. Beside was his mother. They were looking outside, standing at the entrance.

And true to his father's words, it had been three days since that day, they left their home and he had not seen the sunlight ever again.

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