The ritual

Arina recited the entire story about the ritual to me as I patiently took every information in barely able to react, but she a little heartbroken as she said it,

"Our elders started a terrifying ritual when the villages came against each other, to prove who was the strongest.

"They asked Goddess Luna for her blessings on the families of the Alpha. There is a tree rooted inside Greenlands, the luminous tree of Luna's blessing, in the village on another side of the castle. Back then there were three villages on the right of the castle, they merged after reaching a peace treaty and combined as Greenlands.

"They avoided war from the very beginning, but when the ritual started even their elders followed up to reinforce their strengths. The elders from all over the kingdom prayed at the feet of Goddess Luna's tree.

"They asked the newborns with Alpha blood to be blessed with all their mother's strength and ability. For the pregnant wives of the Alpha to be blessed in such a way that their prowess combined with the fetus, all the mothers gladly gave up their life after giving birth to these extraordinary kids.

"Goddess Luna had heard the cruel prayer, the elders wanted nothing more. Alpha blood children, with double the abilities and no need for a partner or soulmate. The ritual still continues, and with every generation, the Alpha kids got stronger and wiser with abilities that are not just restricted to their six senses.

"Growing up, all these blessed Alpha blood fought on the frontline of the war. One mother could only birth one child, but the honour was to sacrifice for their village's added strength.

"Instead of waiting to encounter their soulmates, the elders forced the Alphas into an arranged marriage. They considered the kids as a boon, but this blessing challenged Goddess Luna's former blessing of soulmates.

"The ritual turned into a curse as the more arranged marriages occurred, the more the sense of soulmates diminished in Alpha wolves."

Arina paused to register my disturbed reaction, I gave her an empty smile and said, "It is a sad story, sacrificing our children's love just for the sake of power"

"Yaa," she replied "At the end of the day everyone wants to be acknowledged. But that is not where their greed stops, they then wished for their coming generation to be great as well. More powerful, more and just more than themselves, this leaves the children with no choices of their own."

I nodded with nothing else for me to say, my blood was Alpha as well and somewhere I felt glad that I would leave this kingdom in my political marriage. But the fact that other girls, Channing's wife and even Fang's wife will face it, made my heart ache.

We walked blankly for a few minutes when I remembered my very first question, "Arina but you said Warchild were special, is this ritual the reason why they are considered special?"

She shook her head, turning around her eyes made sure we were at a safe distance to be talking. "Selene, can I ask one thing from you?"

My eyebrows crinkled, "Sure"

Arina held me by my elbow and dragged me away from our path. Suzan shouted out from behind, "Where are you guys going?"

My head turned back not knowing what to respond, but Arina was quick with her reply, "I am taking Selene near the small waterfall, can you take care of the baggage for me?"

Suzan said okay with a thumbs up, Arina had smoothly got us out of there with burdening responsibilities onto Suzan. I knew if she simply had mentioned that we were headed towards the waterfall, Suzan would have jumped up to join us.

After a quiet walk, we reached a mini waterfall. It was as tiny as a basin but the beauty of nature still reflected the clear stream.

Both me and Arina checked whether we were being followed or was there anyone else near us. The coast was clear and Arina held my hand pleadingly, "Selene I wasn't supposed to reveal what I learnt there but the secrets can't really stay inside me anymore!"

My eyes went wide which was followed by a little chuckle, "Rest assure Arina I won't talk about this to anyone. The fact that this information is from the hidden archives makes it all the more confidential, I will protect it"

"Thank you", she finally let go of my hand and we took a seat on clean rock.

Arina did not spare a moment before continuing,

"Warchilds are in fact those special kids born of this ritual, all of them Alpha blooded with enhanced prowess. But that is not what makes them special!

"There were a total of five of them, one from each village of Adalolpha kingdom. Three of them from the Greenlands and one from Winterwells and one from Waterwoods."

I stopped her suddenly as a doubt with an obvious answer surfaced in my mind, "Wait a minute, so Channing and Fang from the left side of the castle?"

"Yes", Arina confirmed.

I nodded asking her to continue, Arina thought for a moment on where she had left off and then spoke,

"The king was scared of this surging power between the villages, so he decided to execute all the Alpha babies in an attempt to put an end to the war. But the elders refused this cruel verdict, they saw the power they built slipping out of their hands and replaced those five babies with commoners.

"It was funny how they were still trying to protect their stupid ritual at the cost of innocent lives. It was done a night before the execution day, one noble person procured the original five and took shelter behind Luna's tree for the next 3 years.

"Goddess Luna is a soul, if you ask something from her she gives with an open heart. The Nobel man raised these five babies and asked for nothing but protection of their hiding place from Goddess Luna.

"She granted it happily, which has now created a maze jungle filled with danger to reach the Tree of blessings.

"It is said these Alpha children grew up in the grace of Goddess Luna, being blessed every day of those three years. No one knows what happened, but the theories suggest all these children might have shared a special bond with her, Luna herself.

"They started showing something called blood noesis, it simply enhanced their existing abilities but to such an extent that they reached the peak of their special powers. No one knows what it is though since Greenland closed their gates for commoners after this, and the only Alpha we know is Channing and Fang"

Arina took a deep breath, she was talking nonstop and I was listening intently. I offered her some water from the stream and she smiled going ahead to quench her thirst.

There were a lot of my questions she had answered right now, and a lot of them that now raised. That meant Fang had some kind of Blood noesis, so did Channing. "Arina, does Channing have any blood ability?"

She came back wiping her face and clapped the back of her hand on her other palm, "Exactly, shouldn't he have one!?"

I nodded awkwardly as my question was reversed back on me, "Yaa, I mean that is my question. I don't know what are his abilities"

Arina sighed, folding her arms, "Channing doesn't have any Blood ability, but we believe he understands the language of our hearts. The very main source of blood itself."

My eyebrows raised, "So he can read emotions?" I had my doubts about it since the very first day and this kind of confirmed it.

"Yes, or at least that is what we think"

So it wasn't a confirmed word. How can the pack be unaware of their Alpha's ability? "Hasn't he ever revealed it to you all? As an Alpha, he should right"

Arina inhaled deep and nodded, pressing her lips against each other, "We know that Channing's abilities allow him to enhance his strength ten times in a fight, I guess he can enhance not just strength but also other aspects of his physical prowess."

"Ohh!" I exclaimed, it was a very strong ability. As an Alpha, he is already stronger than the omegas. But with this, he can get another level of power.

I wondered whether I had any soulmate out there, what would he be like? Would I be able to recognise when he comes by?

My phone rang disrupting the chain of thoughts. I saw the name Channing flashing on it. For a moment it felt like this was a sign, the answers to my previous questions.

A small smile spread across my lips to be immediately erased by reality. I can't think of such a thing, soulmates and love! I was not destined for that. There are duties for me to fulfil!

I picked up the call, "Hello Channing"

He sighed when I picked up the call, "I heard you were injured, are you fine now? Is it too serious?"

His words felt so nice to my ears, the kind of concern I always craved. But this is something he would have asked anyone from the pack if they were injured, "I am alright Channing"

Arina looked at me asking me to inquire about the case.

"Oh...A-Channing, how is the case going? Sorry, we couldn't attend", I asked as Arina had asked me.

He chuckled on the other side, "Don't bother your concerns on it, just some formalities. Now that you are alright I will head back to our lawyer"

I smiled and nodded, "Okay" A faint take care escaped my lips that only I was able to hear.

Keeping my phone back at its place I gestured to Arina and we both headed back to my house, with heavy hearts. Her heart was heavy from the cruel past, and mine with the weight of my present.