Chapter III — Elara
1325 Words
Night fell far too quickly.
The sky still held a pale trace of light when the first sound echoed beyond the village. It wasn’t a full howl — it was lower, restrained, like a warning that didn’t need repeating. The bonfires were extinguished one by one, not by neglect, but by silent order.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I was awake.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Sitting near the wall, arms wrapped around my body, counting the beats of my own heart. Since dusk, that sensation hadn’t left me — the weight in the air, the unsettling certainty that something was moving beyond what we could see.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
“Don’t go near the door,” my mother whispered.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I nodded, even without meaning to.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Then I heard it.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Footsteps.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Not human.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
They didn’t snap branches or drag leaves. They were firm, precise, as if the forest itself parted to let them pass. The silence around us became absolute, heavy enough to hurt my ears.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
My sister raised a hand to her mouth.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
The first impact came without warning.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
The door was ripped from its frame with enough force to shatter the wood, throwing it into the cabin. Cold air flooded the space, bringing with it a scent I had never known before — iron, earth, something wild.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Shadows filled the entrance.
Tall. Imposing. Wrong.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
There were no screams. No struggle.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Someone grabbed my arm before I could react. The grip wasn’t cruel, but it was final. I tried to break free, breath failing, my whole body trembling.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
“No,” I managed to say, my voice too weak to be a command.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
They didn’t answer.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
My mother tried to approach, but she was stopped with a simple gesture. One of the invaders tilted his head slightly toward her — not as an apology, but as a warning.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I was dragged outside.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
The village had been taken.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Wolves in human form — at least that was how the legends described them — but nothing had prepared me for the reality. They moved like predators even standing upright, their eyes reflecting the faint light, alert to everything.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
There was no chaos. No haste.
It was… organized.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
My heart pounded so hard I could barely hear my own thoughts.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
“Let me go!” I shouted, more out of desperation than hope.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
The man holding me tightened his grip slightly.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
“Silence,” he said, his voice deep, weighted with something ancient. “We don’t want to hurt her.”
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Hurt her.
As if that were something they could avoid.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I was led beyond the village boundaries, into the forest I had always been told to fear. The ground beneath my feet changed, the trees closed in around us, and the world I knew vanished behind me without ceremony.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I cried. I begged. I fought until my strength was gone.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
None of it altered their steps.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
At no point did I see the one who seemed to command everything. Still, I felt — with terrifying clarity — that every movement, every decision, came from a single will.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
And that will… knew exactly where I was.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
After a time I couldn’t measure, the forest opened.
A stone structure rose among the trees, ancient and solid, as if it had always belonged there. I was taken inside, the corridors lit by torches fixed to the walls.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
The air was different. Warmer. Heavier.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
They stopped in front of a door.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
“Here,” one of them said.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
I was gently pushed inside before I could react. The door closed behind me with a dry, final sound. I heard metal locking from the outside.
ㅤㅤ
I was alone.
ㅤㅤ
The room was simple, but not a cell. There was a bed, a small table, clean water. No windows. No exits.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Slowly, my legs gave out.
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I slid to the floor, my entire body trembling, trying to understand what had happened. The stories I heard as a child spoke of mindless monsters, of blood and meaningless destruction.
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This… was different. Worse, perhaps.
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Because there was intention.
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I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling that strange heat return, more intense than ever. It wasn’t pain. It wasn’t pure fear. It was something pulling me out of myself, as if I were bound to something invisible.
ㅤㅤ
“This isn’t real…” I murmured, my voice breaking.
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On the other side of the door, footsteps faded away.
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And somewhere within that living fortress, I knew — without knowing how — that someone had found me.
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Not because he had been searching for me.
But because something between us had answered first.
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And while I remained there, locked away, without understanding why, the most dangerous secret of that world had just been born:
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a human had been chosen.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
And no one intended to tell her.
Yet.
- Writer
