Hanging End

Prince Marc screamed, thrashing furiously because Sebastian did not give him the freedom he wanted. He continued to try to open one by one the iron bars in front of him even though he did not manage to break one of them, instead, three fingers of his left hand were broken because they never gave up creating their freedom instead of staying silent and surrendering.

"Stop hurting yourself, Your Highness," said the long shoulder-length black-haired man across the cell.

"Luis?" Prince Marc raised his gaze while adjusting his breath when he found another figure that he hoped would give him freedom. "Get me out of here, Luis. We must avenge the death of my parents, your King and Queen."

Luis exhaled his heavy breath, then took a few steps forward and was stay still to the front door of the cell before finally turning his head, looking softly at Prince Marc like a father was weighing some kind of good things to give to his beloved son.

"Your hand is hurt, Your Highness," he said softly, looking at the three fingers of Prince Marc's left hand drooping on the side of his two trembling fingers. "You must be treated until you recover if you want me to release you on the battlefield."

Prince Marc slowly got up and stood in line with his late father's right hand. "Call Genevive," he ordered. "She can cure me without taking long."

"Genevive is no longer with us, Your Highness. I'm sorry," Luis shook his head softly, then nodded as Prince Marc looked at him with a questioning look. "Genevive died in the war, along with King Cedric and Queen Ilaria."

"Genevive?" he asked doubtfully. "The Summoner?"

Luis nodded softly. It's hard to explain the news, but that's the way it is. Genevive Maven, the only summoner and healer that Xaera has is gone with the King and Queen.

"Yes. Genevive Maven, our summoner and healer was gone. She is gone, Your Highness."

Prince Marc's shoulders slumped slowly to hear that the summoner, his best friend, and the person close enough to Luis were gone along with his father and mother. He planned to greet the woman with a warm embrace as promised when she returned from the war if she managed to return home with the King and Queen alive.

Luis was stunned to feel prince Marc's grip on the collar of his clothes. He swallowed his saliva nervously when he felt that the Prince's anger was at its peak. Even his grayish-blue irises seemed to flash with outrage.

"Get me out of here right now, Luis!" cried Prince Marc with an emphasis on every word he said. "Who else is much more deserving of leading the war this time rather than me, Luis? Say it!"

"It's just you, Your Highness," Luis replied obediently. "You are the only crown prince that the Kingdom of Xaera has."

"Then get me out of here, Luis! Let me fight for the freedom of the people of Xaera! Let me avenge the death of my father and mother. Your King and Queen. The King and Queen of the Alras people."

Luis was daydreaming, reminded of the promises and vows he made with King Cedric before deciding to confine the prince in a dungeon, a place they used to punish the chaos-makers and abusers.

Luis and Sebastian were sworn in, if one of them freed the prince and their crown prince suffered the same defeat as the King, then, not only did the prince get the curse, they did too.

After weighing things up, Luis asked one of the guards to open Prince Marc's cell, as well as prepare the Prince's sword.

"Promise me not to lose even if the situation on Xaera's side is frantic, my nephew." Luis patted the Prince on the right shoulder after handing over a black-handled sword with gold-colored wolf head carvings on both sides.

Prince Marc nodded. "For the freedom of a life of all the people of Alras and the Kingdom of Xaera."

Together with Sebastian and Luis, Prince Marc heads to the battlefield. The barbarians almost reached the entrance of Freibruck City, it took a few blocks for them to arrive at the palace if the werewolf army of the Xaera Kingdom did not dispel the barbarians' attack. Although hundreds of werewolf troops belonging to the Kingdom of Xaera fell, some of them still stood soaring against the cruelty of the barbarians so as not to enter and control the city of Freibruck let alone enter the palace.

Prince Marc's sword was detached and thrown away from his resting place when fighting swords and fighting forces with the barbarians as well as the hunting army they brought. Thus, the Prince is forced to change his human body to the form of a dark gray-haired wolf.

Behind him, Luis and Sebastian were still busy subverting the attackers with swords.

Sebastian stuck his sword deeply into the enemy in front of him who almost pierced his blue eyes with the tip of a black blade. Taking the time to turn to the left side, confirming Luis' condition, he said, "may you get the curse if we all lose the war, Luis!"

Luis laughed at the joke. Shaking his head and jumping, Luis slashed the necks of two enemies at once who were about to throw their axes and boomerangs at him. "The curse I will bear with you, Sebastian! King Cedric's confidants are only the two of us. You and —"

Luis spontaneously knelt when he felt a sword sticking to the skin of his neck. Slowly he turned his head, trying to confirm Sebastian's situation which turned out to be unexpected. Sebastian's wolf head floated and fell directly in front of him.

As the sword attached to the skin of his neck slowly moved away, Luis slowly turned his head—sweeping his gaze around the battlefield. All the troops he brought along with Sebastian and Prince Marc fell, including Sebastian. Then, Luis turned around and found Prince Marc who had returned to his human body kneeling before the barbarians and hunters with their swords around the Prince's neck.

Thea flipped through a few pages of the line she last read with her forehead frowning. "Why does the story always end up here?" she muttered in annoyance.

For hours Thea forced herself to read a thick history book in the national library, hoping to get clearness about the legend of the curse from the prince; The Alpha who lost the war —entered into a painting. Instead of getting what she wants, Thea still gets what she gets in her life when she reads about or is told the story over and over again. A hanging end with a few blank pages afterward. It seems that there is no clear continuation, or it is purposely forgotten.

"Do I need to tell you the full story?" a voice echoed behind Thea's back.