Spectral Claws: Ancient Recurring

They desecrated the beautiful land of creatures. Those ancestors were uniquely shaped with deceiving looks and passionate senses that defy the names of all false gods and demons. These truest forms of nature and love embodied into an admirable yet luscious species with the grand sanity of one’s self-made mind. They had held secrets, brimming with knowledge in the edge of their heads and the answer to everything at the nib of their tongues. The breathtaking design wasn’t just limited to their looks but the ocean that surrounded their place with the purest water; the glistening garden, the peaceful tombs brought to life through the hands of the land creepers and gentle-plants. We were a part of them, though beauty was at heart, a price we paid to protect our roots were taking away our beauty and drinking the serum of the Wolvedrek trees. It transforms and gives us the ability to become dark beasts at the time of our choice. Beasts that have protected the entire land of Gendelin and its people since the dawn of the tree. We have hunted down demons and creatures of the night, supernatural entities and at last the Dracula and his army. The leader of our land, Cavian Decker who is part tiger part man, king of Gendelin, and the most earnest gentleman of us all; had ordered us all to at last take down the entire village of Dracula and its creatures. This turned a point in our life that we never had seen coming. Jen Hascrensai, A noblewoman came forth to tell the King only the bravest would do, “My lord, our kingdom is finally protected for no other creatures exist anymore, we can all live in peace…so why now do we have to seek revenge and kill innocent people who haven’t ever troubled us.” The king was almost drunk and his looks seem faded compared to the day of the war. Almost like he had seen his enemy rise once again. We watched the scene standing still, as the king walked to the young woman slowly with his dripping wine glass, “Get up, love. You do not need to bow to someone whose orders you won’t obey.” He struck his glass down harshly next to her and his face was filled with wrath, “Bring me the ashes of his village, and then I will see if I keep you in this kingdom or not..” Jen’s face had a worn-off look, she was the guardian of the king and his son’s too but she was treated this way. Cavian never treated us this way until the next day after the battle. It was all suspicious of his violent emotions bursting out of control and his intentions. We were scared, we knew this couldn’t have been him…unless something happened. “We will take care of this, my lord. We will desecrate…t-their land.” The king looked at me as I let out those words, stuttering and in doubt but he oversaw that and slowly nodded his head. He didn’t pick up his noble lady and just walked back to his castle, just like that. We could see from the side he was in a rage but we couldn’t decipher him. Desex Bakitre, the man at arms and my close friend went to her quickly after Cavian left and picked her up, “Hey, are you alright.” She held his hand and softly looked at him, worryingly nodded, and pushed him slowly away. Desex’s face was down, worried too like all of us. “We..ahem” She couldn’t get herself straight being the strongest one of us in all battles but we were worse and frightened, “We will go to the land of the enemy and we will burn their homes, we will let the children go but everyone else…must die.” She strolled with Desex forward after she looked at me, almost personally trying to tell me something. She kept herself back by moving forward and we never knew the most peaceful would do such an act. We never knew this day would come… and it was never going to go as planned. “Desex, the people of that village are supposed to celebrate this day as their freedom and also, their gods and temples are the last ones they have. Today they all bring them out. If we burn their villages we must send these children along with their treasure to elsewhere.” I was speaking through the amount of sorrow I could hide and I had to seek pardoning for my sins already for I saw the people being massacred in my head and I couldn’t see a world or time where it can’t be possible. Jen and I had a connection, she felt all my thoughts through the look in my eyes, I softly stared back into hers reassuring my words with my eyes and she smiled. Desex came forward and talked to me, “We cannot go against the king…you know where that would bring us…” Jen glared at Desex and commanded, “No, be quiet, we do obey the King and to whomever, that throne belongs to. Our number one rule would still be no kids…and no destruction of history.” I smiled at both of them but it didn't last long as I was brought back to the present of killing our enemies’ people. We marched forward away from the kingdom. I look back at it as I was reaching the forest almost in tears for knowing what the people of this place will be called afterward. There are 7 of us recruited from the secret village of the wolveians, the place of the Wolvedrek trees. We share blood with the people of Gendelin, the same species yet our blood has been transformed a lot. Our descendants might go on to be much different than the way we are right now. This is the price we paid for them, and another we are about to pay. We move to the high hills of the forest where the castle of the Blood-teeth is visible from above. We set camp there and each one of us took the Wolveian serum from the Wolvedrek tree that we already had extracted before. We each drink it and pat our backs, assuring the drink went through. “Good job my friends, Now just in a moment's time we will…” Something bothered her suddenly, Desex was concerned and so was I. She sighed and gulped. She went aside turning back at us and saying, “We will all take a break…I need to plan this a little more.” She left us for a while only right before she gave me that look again, our eyes met like they did 4 battles before when Desex and her weren’t married and not together. That brought me greater concern. “Desex, you should go look after her.” He looked at me with a soft smile, “She seems to want a friend now brother, you should take the stand. Please tell later what she said.” I nod as I assured him I shall return and walk towards the tree. I see the beautiful young friend bowing down and praying, she softly looked back knowing I was here, and rushed to me. We hugged like good friends and I pat her head against my shoulder.“Is…Desex here?” The question she asked to put me out of my posture as her soul resembled more of what she used to be, “What do you mean, noblewoman.” She held my hand, right then and there I knew, an old hidden, abandoned spark had to come to light once again for her but I held them far deep back, telling her to calm down as again our eyes met. “Jen, please look. I understand how dif–” I was struck by her move as she fell on me and I held her close before she fell. The thrust let her take advantage of my hands getting lose and touching her fingers. She intertwined her fingers into my hand very well as they danced against each other. Her eyes were very close before I knew it. A sweet honey-like taste emerged out of nowhere as I slowly felt her kiss fall upon me. She didn’t let go and held me tight, bringing back all old memories, spark and passion into that one kiss that kept lasting long. Unfortunately, my instincts and vigor were let down after all the energy was gone down by the fear that was left in me. She was rekindling back all our past life and all the emotions I hid. I felt numbness in the inner skin of my mouth and I softly let her down… We both gasped and knew we felt the true essence of Gendelin brimming inside of us. For once in many years I had felt my true self. Our hands were still not let go. She stood upright as the warrioress I knew back during the days of love.“ Wolvefem, you weren’t supposed to” Her finger was on my lip as she shook her face. , “Desex…never made me feel this way…Faudian. I did this for our king and to what end.” I could feel her softness inside all that fearsome bravery, the one she only ever let me feel, “Now, Cavian wants us to kill innocent people, I want you to come with me. I want us to go away and never return. I pledge my life no more to such a king. Please, Faudian we need to go.” She held my face close as she kept coming closer to remake our kiss. I softly held her back, disapproving of this but all in sorrow. “I love you… it's true. I can’t betray my friend or the land of–” She went back and her softness went away. She was screeching in rage violently, “The land did nothing to us. We were called savages.” She howled as her figure almost turned to that of a wolf. I went near her lightening my voice, “I understand my warrioress but we need to do this one last job for him. He’s the reason we are alive. He’s the reason we were brought up without any fault…one last job and we call it a night.” She leaned towards the touch of my hand. She kept hers on mine strongly and commanded, “We run after this last fight. Now, come…I do have a plan.” We two kissed each other’s cheek and went beside the giant tree. Desex and the other wolveians were already gone somewhere in the forest. Jen was on her knees as she used her vision to look far away at the distance of the castle and had told me to do the same at that distance, “Look, there is the watchtower from the village main town hall, and to the right is the room of the princess. Their leaders wouldn’t be here right now, once we take down the village guards and get to that side. That's when you warn the people to let their children go…then we burn their village to the ground. She sighed after she said that, laid her head against my shoulder, “We run…after that and we are not looking back” I nodded, holding back my smile still feeling regret for my closest friend, Desex. Or…there was something deeper in the gut that felt wrong…something worse would have happened. My wolf sense made my nostril tweak as I smelt out worldly blood deep within a forest. I then knew something horrible was about to happen. “Jen!!” I pushed Jen away as an arrow struck past us almost hitting us both. We looked deep within the forest with our senses of eyesight and smelling the presence of an unwanted visitor. “Oh no…they are here. How?..” I was very dumbfounded. Jen quickly pushed me away from the arrows and we rushed towards the growl in the woods. It wasn’t one of us, but something darker. Arrows were constantly being shot at us. Jen deflected them perfectly and jumped onto trees. I used my speed to travel through the woods as fast as I can. We had lost the out worldly people and got to the place where we heard a growl. “Fau-Faudian, this is Desex’s blood.” I stared at her frightened to the core. The village was suddenly on fire as something blasted from the skies and desecrated them. The Bloodteeth were almost extinct and Wolveian blood was all over the forest, “Jen, we must go now.” We both ran as fast as we can following the smell of our team. Suddenly something jerked out of nowhere and stab me near the chest. I scratched the out worldly creature and tore its back, letting it fall on the floor. “A human…how did it get here…” That was not the voice of any wolf…but the voice we never wanted to hear in decades. “Count…you are supposed to be imprisoned away in your own castle.” Dracula was back and yet he looked the same, “You monster, what have you done.” I glared at him, raising my voice with absolute rage, and almost had taken a bite of his head in my wolf form. “You petty werewolves won’t ever understand to never cross my family. Did I make this mess? It was you, mademoiselle, and your pretty lover’s friends.” I growled as I talked, “What are you talking about? ” Dracula roared and showed me the blood of Havier Terragon, the best wolf of us and favorite to the King. At a distance he was there, standing amidst the burning village…with Desex and a few others. The blood of the innocent people in their hands… “Wolveian…brothers.” I was dumbfounded and betrayed, by my own people. I was in tears and Jen…Jen’s heart was almost destroyed. I couldn’t take what she felt as I could already feel everything she did. But then something distracted me. An odor that I was very familiar with. It came from Count Dracula’s hand. The Dracula had blood of a king, and that king was none other than…Cavian. “You imbecile, you devil. How could you?!” I roared as did she, and we strike the Count with all might after he growled the loudest echoing throughout the forest and also simultaneously came back at us. “You took everything away from me, you pet wolves!” We both struck all of us with great power and it sent us in both directions to the edge of the forest. At the same time, the forest was getting desecrated with blasts from the heavens. Woods falling over as we witnessed it almost being unconscious. I coughed as I held her hand and she got up strongly, growling louder trying to reach to the Count who had already left. I held her back tightly, crying loud and explaining to her, “We can’t go there, love. It is over…It is all gone. We must leave…” She cried and fell onto my shoulders hearing my stumbling voice. As the forest and village were falling apart, I held her up and carried her from there. We witnessed the blood of innocent people and the ancient statues being destroyed in our eyes and we could do nothing. We had gone to the edge of our village…the horror that was cast upon our eyes was almost too daunting. The land of thousand divine objects. The place of peace…it had the people of it murdered and bathed in their own blood. My hope was lost and Jen growled loudly, “NOOOOOO!” I held my tears back causing my throat to soak in the sorrow of my failure. Far away from us, a wolf hidden beneath the trees had awakened and come to the hopeless souls we carried. It gave us one great artifact that could prove our existence and keep the magic of true nature and Geledin alive. The two Ancient Claws were given to us. We wore them and swore to protect this hoping there would be Geledin and Wolveian survivors. We will find them and put an end to this war. Humans will take over until then, until…we awaken. We were on the run after that for years and decades. We hid well, helped in wars that served many human lands good life and health. We helped the humans who were once making us go extinct. We learned their ways and lived amongst them and became perfect in their ways. We knew that these people were also kind and had also been divided into many mindsets, like those that help and those that betray. The ancient claws were deeply hidden far away from us somewhere on Earth. A few friends from this land had helped us, hide it but neither I nor Jen knew, where it was. It was given to trustworthy companions that live their life by the sea in a machine called a ship under a flag. They hid them well and away from our site. We did this as we knew any supernatural would have traced back to us if it was near A Wolveian like Jen and me for we had to start a family in the city that thrives and lives well. We did, and we lived very grandly in the lands of humans, aiding and helping them and hiding our wolf nature. The serum from the trees was still with us though we hadn’t used them, It was kept safely in the family. We will be ready if the supernatural was ever to come back with its darkness…and if Count had risen yet again. We will be ready. That artifact and this description of my very secret past lie in your hands now, my son. You are the one to find and bring peace and to ever keep the supernatural away from beings above lands. Humans are also a part of us. Be with them and save them and protect these intelligent and growing species from Dracula’s hold and save them from the true darkness. Faudian Jr., You will be a wolveian when the time comes right, till then the serum will be in the safe. It is your promise to me. Yours lovingly, Dad, Faudian Gollontres.