Chapter 1: The First Step

Never imagine a happy beginning or end. These things are not real; if they are, you must have a silver platter in your hand. But this is not about happiness, now is it?... No, not really.

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"With a strand of this and a strand of that, must let it grow. Then add something new and let it bloom." ~Mēkā

Men.

Hired men.

Hardworking, inventive men.

Strange men.

Yes. Strange men.

These strange men, not just any type of men but gnomes, were hired to create rare species, and creatures, under the order of the elfin prince himself. They were searching for a medical cure for his mother's illness. The elfin prince ended up going too far with this experimental job; it was to the point that the gnomes had ended up making a profit off of these rare and soon-to-be beautiful creations. They were selling off every other dozen projects to warlords, wizards/mages, elves, wolves, and several other races. These creations were now test subjects and imprisoned by slave traders. Making these newborn creatures suffer a path that is unbearable to imagine.

Years had gone by now, and the Prince's mother had been cured. Her illness had vanished along with her pain, but worry crept in about her son's experiments. After hearing and seeing her concerns, he shuts down the projects, making a mess between the gnomes and the elfin kingdom. The struggle between the two became noticeable and caused a ripple effect on the two lands. Making trade becomes difficult for many trade makers. Many had left to find a better lifestyle for their growing families. But it would never be the same, unlike it used to be.

After 13 years of experimenting, the knights went to the lab to dispose of it. With the Prince leading the troops to destruction, they were, for some reason, too late. Seeing almost everything trashed and tarnished as if someone or something was looking for information within this room. The knights try to uncover the unknown truth to it all by investigating the lab. Seeing test subjects and gnomes wounded, injured, and dead they collected the bodies. Laying the decaying bodies side by side, the men split into small groups.

In the corner of the lab, there was movement and noise, making everyone stop what they were doing and face the source of the sound. For the first response to it, no one moves. The Prince takes the first step, the first cautious steps toward the sound in the corner of the room. There in the corner; was a cabin door ripped off its hinges, broken in threes, messily fallen on top of a cage. Surrounding the cage were some broken beakers and vials that once held chemicals in them.

A knight stops his highness and says he will check it out for his highness. With that being said, this made the Prince nod in slight defeat with a quiet sigh and let his knight continue what he had started. The knight cautiously lifts one of the broken pieces of wood off the cage. Getting closer to the cage, they saw that there had been some damage done to it. As if something was trying to get to the thing that's inside. He drops the wood to the side and does the same to the other pieces. The Prince and knights saw something they thought was impossible, rare, and nearly extinct: a hybrid.

Shaking in the cage that someone would use for animals, the small hybrid tries to hide in the very visible cage. The knight bends down with a gentle presence and searches the cage for the opening. With no success, he stands up and talks to the other knights.

"It looks like a madman came in here." A knight shared.

"Did you see that creature?" another had asked.

"Yeah. I couldn't tell if there was or not, but I thought I saw three tails?" the first knight had questioned, trying to recall what he saw.

"Did you see if there was a door to remove it from?" a fourth knight had asked while taking a few steps toward the cage.

"Your highness? What would you like us to do with the bodies?" a knight coming inside had asked with another coming in with him, taking a few steps into the lab room.

"Burn or bury. But either way, we have to get rid of this lab so no one else can take this knowledge." The Prince let out a sigh of frustration while looking around the room for more clues. Then leaves the two men and heads over to another small huddle of men.

"What do you mean tubes? There's nothing on it." A knight claims

"Yeah, if anything, it would be chained." one of the other knights called out.

"There's noth-" one starts to say but gets cut off by his highness.

"You three. Take the cage out of here and put it in the carriage. Is that clear?" The prince orders.

"Yes, sir," the men say in unison.

"Cover it once it's in the carriage," he calls out as he turns around to pick up files and goes through them.

The men head off and do what they were told to by the Prince. The three of them lift the cage and carry it out. In the process of this movement, the loud noises end up startling and scaring it. The hybrid starts growling and hissing, making its panic frame puff out and look intimidating. It was pushing itself into the corner of the cage more, trying to seem bigger in the cage. Despite this reaction, one of the three men snickers and then pretends to be scared of the young creature.

After the laughs and chuckles, the men place the cage in the back of the carriage. One takes their cape, throws it over the cage, and then leaves, returning inside. With them escaping the slightly cold air, no one is outside. The cape didn't do much because the cold air still nipped at the hybrid's nose. It whined and shivered to find some type of warmth that was nonexistent. Its cries became louder, but then there was silence in the air.

The elfin knights and Prince stopped investigating, then the spell casting. Realizing the loud cries were gone, the once chanting men turned into gasps once outside. The scene before them made them angry, their carriage was damaged, and the bodies of the gnomes had been moved. The knight that left his cape was ripped apart and slithering across the lightly covered white ground, making him snap his head towards the carriage. He runs to it, then slides to a stop seeing something in the shadows.

A growling noise comes from behind the carriage, and a slightly taller figure appears from the shadows. One step towards the men, making the guard closer to the carriage step back. The creature steps again, then a few more steps until he is out from the shadows. The once standing so close knight is now in a fighting stance guarding the Prince. The creature stood taller than the knights by an inch. The knights stood close to 6'0-6'5, and the creature stood at 6'6. They saw the 6'6 man come out of the shadows, wearing torn shorts and a cloak over his shoulders. The men saw the beast, with his moonlight black fur that covered most of his body. His mouth is the same as a wolf's, legs the same as an animal's, and arms that reach down just touching his knees. His body was big enough to strike down at least three men in one blow with his nails, which were sharp as knives.

"What do you want, you unwelcomed beast!?" The knight in a fighting stance calls out. He removes his sword from its holder, then lifts his sword higher. The so-called beast growls and then looks down at his arm, holding the now unconscious hybrid.

With a rough voice, he asks. "Why should I have a reason when you have a lab full of experiments? And to top it off, ill creatures who have no chance to see tomorrow." He stops briefly while gently rubbing the small hybrid's cheek to feel if it's still living. "Why would you do this if you were going to sell them off or kill them?" He growls the last few words and steps forward.

"Stay back, you foul beast!" The knight yelled, making the others ready their swords and arrows. A few hold their hands out, ready to cast a spell, as his highness stands tall ready to speak.

"Beast?" With a small half-hearted laugh, he looks up from the child, tilting his head to the side and staring at the knights. "I'm a wolf, elfin, and barbarian. I am not a beast. If anything, you fools are."

Within a flash, he was in front of the Prince; in the process of getting to the Prince, he took out a few of his knights. Then with his free hand, he grabbed the Prince by the neck, lifting him. With the struggle of his highness, he tried to look the wolf man in the eyes with his dark blue eyes. The wolf-man growls one last time before throwing his highness away toward his knights, that were standing ready to attack. Then just like that, he was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving the unconscious men in the cold.

A couple of hours later, the knights and the Prince finally came and quickly got up. Once up, they hastily check their surroundings and then remember what had happened before they blacked out. In anger, his highness finally realized what had happened to this lab. He storms into the lab with a lantern they came with; he looks down at his hand and then across the room, staring at the lab that had been ripped apart by the beast. He throws the lantern at the wall with a loud, angry scream. The knights flinch and step back from the door. His highness steps out from the lab as smoke follows him. The knights look up and then bow their heads. One knight speaks up as he takes a step toward his highness.

"My Prince, please rest assured, we will put a bounty on his head and hunt him down for you. Just say when and it will happen." The knight said with reason as the others raised their heads to the Prince.

"We go now. I want that creature back." The Prince angrily seethes as he storms off towards one of the horses and gets on. "And I want the bastard's head on my wall" he turns the horse to face his men. "Leave everything else. We'll have someone else take care of it! Now get on a horse. We leave now! Understood?" With that, the men had responded with a quick "yes, sir." With that, they followed his highness, getting on their horses and returning to the castle. He orders his knights to gather more horses and men for their awaited journey, off hunting the beast and collecting the child.