※ Chapter 14 ※

Yifan's POV »☆●

"How's she now?" Sulli asks as soon as I step inside her quarter on the temple. Our new temple in Mingluan is built by her followers as a tribute to their new Daoshi. While it's certainly not as huge as the one back in Wuluan, it's twice as comfortable. All our homes here are self-built, and surrounding the temple.

I step inside without asking, "Better but not well."

How can she be well? What I've seen happening to mom is more terrifying than fucking nightmares. Everytime I close my eyes it replays in my brain and it's driving me fucking insane. My mom is the most precious thing in my damn life. She's the reason I've survived this far in this fucking world. And I failed to protect her. I fucking failed.

"Sulli, I've a question. You might be the only one who can answer," I look at her directly. I need to know what that fucking beast was. I'm not scared. I probably should be but I'm not. The only feeling that I'm feeling is hatred, anger, blood boiling anger.

"I know what you're gonna ask," Sulli stands up and walks towards me, "There's something wrong in this realm, Antares. I can sense it."

I raise an eyebrow, "You can sense what?"

Her eyes fill with terror as she looks longingly at the distance, "There are unnatural beings surrounding us. Even right now as we're talking, I can sense the presence of something inhuman around us and..." she suddenly freezes and her eyes widen.

I step closer, frowning, "And?"

She gulps as her throat dries, "And it's getting closer!"

Before I can process her words, we hear a terrifyingly loud scream outside the temple. We both rush towards the balcony overlooking a large window, more voices add into the scream creating a horrifying cry of help.

She gasps, "We're attacked!"

Mom!

She's alone at home. I've to go to her.

Without wasting another second, I run towards my house.

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Sehun's POV »☆●

I jolt awake sitting straight up, my eyes immediately scanning around, searching for the angel who saved me. But I'm clueless because my surroundings are nothing like I've last seen.

I whip my head to look around. It's my room. I don't know how long I've been senseless but seemingly it was long enough to bring me back home.

"He woke up!" mom runs towards my bed and leans closer inspecting me carefully. Her eyes are swollen as if she's been crying for hours.

I look away from her and glance down at my body. There are no bruises or pain. I twist, turn and stretch to see if I feel any pain of broken bones but I feel nothing. If I come to think of it, I feel an extra strength in my body like some kind of power surging in my veins.

"You scared us! Are you okay?" mom wraps her arm around me.

"Yeah," I mumble. I'm confused. How long I've been out? Yes, we heal quicker than humans but it should take at least two days to heal an injury like that. It felt like I was dying.

"What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Dad's voice bloom as he stands next to mom.

"I didn't know a vampire was waiting for me," I shrug.

"What!" he roars loudly. His scream making Luhan and Linyi come running inside, along with Beta and other warriors.

I look at them then back to Dad, "The vampire who attacked me and the girl who killed him?"

Mom and Dad look at each other then look back at me, like I've lost my mind. I fill them in about what happened.

"You're saying you didn't kill him?" Luhan frowns. I shake my head. I'm alive because of that angel.

"But there was no third smell," Linyi says. I jog my memory back to remember if I sensed her before I saw her. No, I didn't neither did the vampire when she lunged at him. How's this possible?

Was she hiding her smell? But how?

Different species have different scents. While we can only recognize the individual scent of a few people, we can still identify what species they are and how many they are. It's impossible that I wouldn't know a human was present there.

"You were missing for an alarmingly long time so we searched for you. We found you unconscious in the middle of the woods, all alone," Luhan frowns, "There wasn't any sign of attack in your body and his body was on your feet. We figured you killed him and fell asleep."

It's not weird for me to fall asleep at random places. But what's weird is I'm pretty sure I had several broken bones in my body.

"How long have I been unconscious?" I look questioningly at Linyi.

He looks up, thinking, "Like..an hour?"

I jump out of bed, "Don't lie. I had several broken bones. I can't heal this quickly."

"Show me what happened," Dad implores.

I nod. Werewolves have the ability to see each other's memory. Although, we can control what portion we wanna show. I show dad from when I started running and how I encountered a vampire, everything till I fell unconscious.

Then I saw her, a beautiful girl just like an angel. She was elegant, breathtaking even. Her black hair flowed behind her, framing her olive skin. Dark eyes pierced directly to my soul, but the rest of the face behind a veil. Even in a veil, she appeared like a dream. I've seen many girls but ain't no one carried half the magic that her eyes carried. Before I can process the situation, darkness welcomed me.

"Now you believe me the girl was there and she killed him?" I grit out. Dad and mom exchange a glance.

"What?" I look between them.

"I think you should get some rest, we'll talk later," Mom runs her hand on my hair gently.

I shake my head and turn to Dad, "You saw her, didn't you?"

"There was no girl, it was only you," he grimaces. I growl in frustration and run my hand through my hair.

How's this possible when I saw her with my own eyes?

"Dad, believe me, I saw a girl before I went unconscious. She was fighting like she had done this many times before. She killed him without even flinching! She had skates in her hand. She knows how and where to attack," I plead him to believe.

He nods considering, "In the woods?" I nod and give him the exact location where I saw her.

"We'll search for her," he assures.

"I'll go search for her?" I ask. He shakes his head with a clenched expression, denying. I'm pretty stubborn and not always the perfect obedient son. But being Alpha, he has some power over us. We can't disobey him or his order.

Dad turns to Beta, "How a vampire crossed the border without being noticed?"

He bows his head in submission, "We don't know alpha, we increased patrols on the border but-"

"Then how's he inside our territory?" he roars, "Search every inch of the forest for any sign of vampires and a girl."

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Yifan's POV »☆●

Crescent moon in the sky, down on earth is a rustic house with multiple exposed beams, the air hanging between the two is stale and heavy...

Sprawled in the middle of the floor is me. I jolt awake, gasping for air. I sit bolt upright, eyes darting wildly around the room, breath coming in uneven pants.

Why do I feel so fucking strange?

A figure emerges from the shadows and reaches out, placing a hand on my shoulder. I squint, trying to focus on the face in hope of recognizing. But I'm positive as fuck I've never seen this face before.

He grins knowingly, like he knows what I'm thinking. "I assume you have questions."

I wince and jerk away, rubbing at my temples with a frown.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to startle you," he smiles politely.

My head is still terribly paining. The world around me fucking spins. Everything is new, unknown, mysterious..

"W-What's the matter..with me?" I mumble, my words getting mixed up.

"What do you mean?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Everything is..l feel different. Like I'm seeing the world for the first time," I wince as I struggle to speak.

"In a way, my brave warrior, you are," he smirks, "You've gone through a transformation. It left you rather incapacitated so I took it upon myself to bring you back here."

I frown, annoyed but curious, "Transformation? What do you m-"

"I know, I know," he interrupts, "I'm the kindest, you're welcome."

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" I growl, losing my temper for a second. The headache is getting worse and his fucking bullshit ain't helping any better.

With a sly grin, the man takes a step back. He waves his hand in front of himself and gives a showy bow.

"They call me God. But I'm also known as Gaius. I answer to both," he smiles. The politeness in his smile is unfitting with his words.

I shake my head and do the same showy bow, "Uh, I'm-"

He raises a hand to stop me, "I know who you are, the bravest warrior in Five Kingdoms, the Adryan Antares."

I wanted to ask him how he knows me. But with everything happening right now, that seems like the least of the problems. I tear my gaze from whoever this fucking Gaius is, to look around the room. My brows furrow in confusion.

As I calm down a bit, I sit up straight and swallow. I lick my lips and look across the room. A low growl forming in the back of my throat.

I'm so fucking thirsty. My throat never felt so rough and dry before. It's physically aching.

"I..need something to drink," I whisper.

Gaius smirks, "More than you know."

What's that supposed to mean? I don't fucking know but I need to get up to find water or something to drink.

To my own surprise, I cross the room extremely fast. In the blink of an eye I was in the other side. It's almost as if I floated towards the table. I stumble straight into the kitchen table, which screeches against the wooden floor. I snatch the pitcher and a cup from the center of the table, and pour myself a glass of water.

"I suspect that much water will not suffice," he grins.

I wanna punch that grin outta his fucking face but right now, I'm overwhelmed by the need to drink something. I can't care about anything else. Ignoring him, I drink down the entire cup of water. It turns out that he was right, it doesn't fucking suffice. At all. I scowl and pour myself another.

"Told you," he laughs wickedly.

I clench my hand around the cup, and it shatters into pieces in my grip, water and glass cascading to the ground. What the fuck? I was holding quite gently.

"Careful now, my warrior. You wouldn't wanna destroy any more valuables with that newfound strength of yours," he laughs.

I whirl at Gaius, my eyes blaze with fury, "YOU FUCKING MONSTER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?"

He shrugs with a smile, "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Something's fucking wrong with me and you seem to know all about it," I hiss, "Don't fucking mess with me. I'm the wrong person to mess with. I don't fucking care who you are or how powerful you are, I'm not fucking afraid of you!"

I shove him in the chest, but he merely chuckles, shaking his head, "So we're to resort to violence? I know you're a warrior but still, bad idea."

"Tell me what have you done to me," I take a swing, but his hand files up and catches my fist.

His smile fades, "What I've done is save your life. I'd advise you be grateful."

He shoves me back and gestures at the torn fabric of my tunic, which shows a shallow cut across my chest. I got hurt from the attack outside.

The skin slowly knits itself back together, until no sign of the injury remains, not even a scar.

How the fuck is this possible?!

"Not only did I save your life, but I gave you immeasurable power," he takes a steps closer to me, "Power enough to live forever. Power enough to rule this world. And power enough to get revenge on those who have wronged you, who have taken what you love."

I cradle my head in my hands, "What are you talking about?"

Wait, where's..mom?

I break off, eyes going wide as the scenario before my eyes strikes me. I collapse. My body shaking. I recall what the memory before I fainted.

I rushed towards home for mom as fast as I could. But it was still too late. By the time I got here, I saw mom unconscious on the floor. Before I could reach her, someone striked me hard from the back and I lost conscious too.

I glance up at Gaius. His expression is unreadable. He merely tilts his head slightly to the side. The scenery before me is too much for me.

"Do you know what I'm talking about now? Don't you want to get revenge on who did this to your mother? Tell me, DON'T YOU?" he growls.

My heart sinks like I'm dying. Ignoring him, I reach towards her, "Mom?" I look up at him, "Why's she not speaking? I-I just want her to be fine."

He smiles, "Oh, don't you worry. I can make your mom come back to life."

Come back to life?

Does that mean she..

Gaius reaches out, patting my shoulder, "I know this is a lot for you to take in. But I'm here to offer you the best gift anyone has ever offered you. Your mom's recovery, and strength to kill all the werewolves that'll ever exist!"

"Werewolves?" I frown.

He nods, "Werewolves killed, er..hurt your mother. They're too many and too powerful. We need to put an end to them."

I raise an eyebrow, "And what are you, a demon?"

He laughs, taking a step closer even as he shrinks back, "My dear warrior, I'm no demon. I'm something far greater, far more remarkable."

I back away, when suddenly, there's a loud rustling coming from the woods outside, followed by the shouts of a young man.

That must be a soldier, injured in the attack. I rush out the door to help him, while Gaius follows slowly behind, a bemused smirk visible on his face. I step out onto the porch, scanning the fog for the man.

"Please help me!" he cries, grabbing my attention. I start to rush over but abruptly stop, my whole body tensing.

Gaius steps up behind me, "What's wrong? I thought you were gonna help him?"

The red of his uniform barely disguises the blood seeping out, darkening the fabric. I swallow.

I smell blood. I need blood. I try to control every urge I have of ripping his head from his body and see him die in the most painful way possible.

Gaius leans in close, one hand on my shoulder, breath ghosting over my neck, "Don't hesitate or restrain yourself. You need blood to sate the hunger inside you. Kill him!"

No fucking ways, I can't do that. I shouldn't.

But it'd be so easy. He has yet to even see me. It'd all be over in a second. I can't go on anymore. One murder won't make me a monster..

NO.

I can't hurt a defenseless man. It goes against all my morals.

But he's already injured. He won't survive a wound so fucking grievous. If anything, I'd be sparing him an agonizing death. A mercy, honestly.

What the fuck am I thinking? There's no way I can do it no matter how animalistic I've became.

The cracking of branches draws my attention back to the soldier who moves closer. I take a deep breath and nearly double over, my entire body trembling.

Gaius runs a hand on my back, "You know you wanna do it. Why you resist?"

"Because I can't live like this.. as some kind of abomination!" I hiss.

"Suit yourself," he smiles, "You're incapacitated. You're gonna die if you don't get blood right now. Go ahead, die as an abomination. I won't stand in your way."

Gaius takes a step back, giving me space. I stare at him.

"Or?" I ask hesitantly.

"Or you can embrace this gift, live as a God," he offers.

The soldier stumbles into the clearing, now clearly spotting both of us.

What'd he do if the roles were reversed? I think he would've fucking killed me without a second thought. Why should I be a saint? When have anyone and anything done any good to me that I should?

My mom didn't deserve this. If I've to suffer, if I've to witness this fucking life, none should be in peace. I suddenly wanna destroy everything, I suddenly wanna snatch away happiness from everyone the way it was taken from me all my life. I've served many people in the sense of right and wrong. Now the only thing that seems right to me is satisfying my needs, chasing whatever the fuck I want regardless of its effect on others. I've had enough. It's my time fucking time now.

"Please sirs, I need-" his eyes flit between me and Gaius as we stand still unmoving on the porch. His eyes fill with terror, like he realized I'm a threat. He lets go of his wound, hands coming away, sticky with blood, to grip his musket.

I watch him, stare deep in his soul. He raises his weapon..

Before he can fire, I tackle him to the ground, musket clattering to the ground. I easily overpower him, enjoying how he struggles beneath me.

"Leave me!" he pleads.

I lean and dig my fangs into his skin, opening his wound further, blood gushes out. I latch onto him, drinking eagerly. Blood leaks out from between my lips. The soldier strikes me repeatedly, but the blows glance off. His hits gradually grow weaker, until his arms fall to his side, his breath coming in shallow pants. As I continue, the soldier stops pleading, and eventually falls still.

I pull away from his body, mouth stained with blood. I stand up and look around the clearing, doing a full rotation.

I can see everything in such sharp details. The bark on the trees, every blade of grass.. I can hear the beating of a bird's heart, the rustling of the worm's underfoot.

Finally my eyes land on Gaius, who smiles welcomingly, "How do you feel?"

I look down at my blood stained hands, flexing my fingers, "Stronger. Stronger than I've ever felt. I feel like a fucking God."

He walks over to me, nodding, "Congratulations my dearest Adryan Antares, you've been reborn."

To Be Continued »☆●