CHAPTER 3

They made smooth and steady progress till dusk, having covered much ground and being not far from exiting the rainforest. Sapphire didn't even get off her father's back to be able to go anywhere the rest of the journey. She was asked if she would like to, but she refused. She was slightly traumatized by that near death encounter, her first and most painful one. While her injuries already stopped bleeding, the pain was yet to give away.

While they were called Midnight wolves, it was largely due to the color of their fur, they still preferred to sleep through the night and move during the day. Sapphire was also still in her humanoid form, waiting for her injuries to heal. It also seemed that her clothes regenerated faster than her flesh. The holes in her clothes made by the piranhas were already healed completely. This was why she decided to remain in her humanoid form. This way, her injuries were not exposed to the dirt or anything which could worsen them further, or cause an infection. She has seen a wolf with an infected foot, and she remembers how horrifying it looked.

Both her parents were asleep, and she was feeling uneasy and scared from her traumatising experience, so she decided to walk nearby, not too far so to not get in any trouble again. Slowly getting up she tiptoed around her parents and made her way to the denser woods, hoping the nature will help her relax. After just a short walk, she was feeling much better Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a bright blue glow, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn towards the it, her eyes widening from shock.

"Wow..." She gasped as she made her way towards the glow.

The source of the glow was the flower called the 'Midnight Bloom'. Sapphire had only ever seen it once, when she was very little. It was a flower that only bloomed during the middle of the night. The moment it turned daytime the flower died and scattered seeds around that bloomed into new flowers after several weeks, after being carried to unthinkable distances by birds and squirrels. It was impossible to keep track of their location and so they were considered one of the rarest flowers ever, seeing one in bloom was considered the greatest honor in Midnight Wolves.

Afterall, the flower represented their species. All twelve-petaled flowers represented one of the major species in existence. Midnight Blooms possessed six bright blue petals above with six comparatively darker petals in the left gaps slightly below the others. Each petal was mainly a shade of blue with a vein of black color running down the center of the petals and branching out like a river through them. It was truly a beautiful flower, and Sapphire was in awe and almost forgot she needed to get back before anyone noticed and got worried.

She didn't know if it was the right thing, but she knew it was the only thing she could do right now. It wasn't possible for her to keep watching the bloom for too long right now, and who knew how long it would be before she sees another, if she even does. No one ever tried it since these were considered sacred amongst the Midnight Wolves, but Sapphire couldn't convince herself to leave the flower. She slowly and gently broke the stem of the flower and raised it to her eyes, its glow reflecting from her eyes. She gently tucked it into her inner coat pocket, right above her heart.

As she relaxed herself and prepared to return, something heavy struck her head and she almost blacked out instantly. Her entire vision was blurry and darkness clawed at the edges but she refused to pass out. Something was clamped around her neck as she fought to remain conscious, her body having fallen numb and lifeless right after the strike. She tried to howl or make any sound, but her body did not respond.

Her vision returned back to normal after a short while, but the pain in her head didn't subside. Still, she forced herself to open her mouth and howl at the top of her lungs, which was barely much sound at all. The moment she howled something struck her head again and she undoubtedly started bleeding. The blood flowing over from her forehead and in front of her eyes. Somehow, she still managed to stay conscious. It was hard for her to keep her eyes open with the wringing pain in her head but she tried her hardest.

Her attacker grabbed her by whatever was put around her neck and lifted her into the air. She was lifted just high enough so her feet dragged on the ground as her attackers walked ahead. As the wringing slowly subsided she realized that her attackers were actually talking amongst each other.

"Do you think this one will work?" The person carrying her asked.

"She might, if she doesn't we can just sell her for money." The other person, who was walking on the other side of the person carrying her answered.

"We really got ourselves a good one, our last one failed and only sold for twenty silver, this one would sell for thirty gold if not more."

"She can sell for thirty gold as intact good, but I think we can bargain it to twenty-five for damaged good."

"You handle that, I will handle her." The person carrying her said sinisterly.

"I am also here you know, don't have all the fun yourself."

"Yes, yes, I know."

Humans, Sapphire realized as she noticed the lower body of the two. What are they even talking about?

She could get glimpses of their leather armor from the corner of her eye. The person carrying her was a burly man with a comparatively thinner man walking beside him, though she couldn't see any big details on either.

"This is our path to becoming rich." The thinner man laughed poking his ally with his shoulder.

"Yes." The burly man boomed as he swung sapphire slightly.

"Be careful. This would be the most expensive Midnight Wolf ever sold. The current most expensive sold for only 3 gold."

"That is a big difference here." The burly gasped.

What do they mean by sell? What does sell even mean?

"Truly is." The thinner man chuckled lightly putting the back of his hand on Sapphire's face.

"It is tempting to not even wait to reach back." The burly man sighed after walking silently for a couple minutes.

"We need to get back without stopping. If those wolves catch us there will be nothing left of us to be buried." The thinner man informed with a shiver. "And be careful of her too, their bites are truly nasty, even in humanoid form they can easily bite through metal."

"That is worrying, not like she would be able to. The collar restricts her head movement and I am holding her by it too, so my hand is completely safe." The burly man chuckled.

A howl echoed behind far behind, causing both men to increase their pace. "Not too far now," the thinner man encouraged.

"Stupid animals, by the time they get here we will be long gone." The thinner man mocked as the two started to sprint.

It was only a few minutes later that they reached some ruins, which seemed to their destination. It was dark and Sapphire could barely see anything, the darkness being strange, as if it consumed any light that dared to enter the place. The moment the two stepped inside Sapphire's eyes widened as her ears and tail straightened in alarm. She could feel something, she didn't know what but she knew she did not like it, something more powerful than anything else she ever witnessed, and ever will.

The two walked through the ruins, allowing Sapphire to get a good view of them under the moonlight. The ruins consisted of a wide building and a tall tower, both connected together into one structure, very old from the looks of it. The walls were cracked and it looked as if the ruins will fall at the slightest touch, but there was a feeling telling her the ruins won't flinch even against the might of the greatest dragons.

The two entered the wide building, a massive chamber with many wooden seats arranged in neat rows in front of a platform, the tower's entrance right behind it. There was a podium on the platform, a seemingly new book placed on it, a page near the start flipped open as the two guys got close to the platform.

"That's new," the burly man pointed out.

"Which might just mean we hit the jackpot here." The thinner smiled at Sapphire, having caught her eyes open and looking.

He grabbed her by her hair and gestured the burly man to leave her. Dragging her up the platform he flung her near the center of it, right between the podium and tower's entrance. Sapphire breathed heavily as felt a heavy weight holding her in place, though there was nothing near her. The thinner man walked to the podium and was handed a candle by the burly man.

"Shadows of the world, answer my call and obey me." He announced in a loud voice as he put out the candle with his fingers.

At once the doors of the tower entrance were flung open, scaring the two men and horrifying Sapphire. She attempted to move but her body refused, still being held by some heavy weight. The two men slowly backed away as voices filled the chamber, seemingly echoing throughout and speaking some unknown language. Runes formed in the shadowy ground around Sapphire as she realised what this was.

A ritual? Sapphire gasped, no sound being made as she attempted to speak.

The light consuming shadow and the feeling of a stronger entity, both seemed to gather right beside Sapphire, taking the form of a girl. Her entire body was seemingly made from shadows, having no facial features or anything. It seemed as though she was wearing a dress, possessed long hair and a slender body. She sat down beside Sapphire, seemingly looking through her.

Sapphire's unease and fear grew, but her breathing slowed, her body relaxed and the weight seemed to remove itself. Sapphire closed her eyes for a moment, calming her mind before opening them again. As she opened she realised the girl was gone, having disappeared into thin air. It was much easier to see around the chamber now, the heavy weight on her chest having been completely removed and her body fully in her control.

"What happened?" The burly man questioned.

"I have no clue, but something did." The thinner man answered as the two stepped onto the platform.

The two looked around, glancing several times at Sapphire as they did. She did not understand what their goal was, or what they planned to do now, but she did not wish to wait and find out. She pushed herself as slowly as possible, making it seem like a near impossible task for her as she did. After she was sitting straight up, breathing heavily to deceive the two, she calmed her mind. At once she tried to run away, as fast as she could, but her hair was grabbed by a hand as she was pulled back, falling to the ground in pain from it.

"Don't try to run away, our work is not yet done," the thinner man smiled.

There was a howl, an earth shattering howl which silenced the entire area, causing the two men to fall to their knees before lying down on the ground, the thinner man having released Sapphire's hair as he fell. The look of horror was clear on their faces, as should have been. Glowing eyes closed in from the chamber's entrance, having no shred of mercy in them. Sapphire was dragged down the platform as many others jumped onto the platform, surrounding the two men before starting to rip them apart, slowly, making sure they survive for as long as possible through it.

She was dragged to the entrance, a snout nuzzling against her just as she left there. "I-I-" Sapphire stuttered as she searched for the right words to escape any scolding for again getting into trouble, but failed to find any and broke down crying.

"We don't blame you for what happened, those humans are to blame for this, there is no need to cry." Sapphire's father reassured. "Both of us woke up the second you went away and waited, but you didn't return for quite long so we came to look for you away. There was your blood there so I brought the pack too, knowing very well things didn't go well for you." Her father explained with a smirk.

"Huh?" Sapphire mumbled with a cursory glance over herself.

"What happened?" Her mother inquired.

"I can't transform back," Sapphire worded her problem. She closed her eyes and tried again before shaking her head, "It still doesn't work."

"What is that metal band on your neck?" Her father questioned.

"They put it on me." She informed glancing to where the humans were a few moments ago, but now only bloodstains remained, not even any bones.

"There was a similar one on Shadow's neck as well." Her father mumbled after taking a close look.

"Shadow?" Sapphire gasped with a horrified look.

"Regardless," her father said in a hurry, "sleep for now, I will be right back after giving some orders to the others. We will do something about this tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Sapphire sighed. Shadow? My friend? She thought over in her mind. Hesitantly she lied down beside her mother, not far from the ruins, barely easing her terror from what she saw. Sapphire rested her head on her mother as she slowly drifted to sleep, the pain being less than a few moments ago, but not subsiding completely either.