SilverBlood: Fated to Four Alphas

CHAPTER 001 ARIEL: I was surrounded by fire. Not the one with cracking flames, but with blood-red light. Dark crimson shadows bled through crevices between the towering trees, painting the entire trunk and every leaf it bore the color of death itself. I gasped, struggling to breath but to no avail. The atmosphere was empty. It was as if there was no air. And there wasn’t. I choked, my hands reaching for my throats as I tried to force air to rush in but found I couldn’t move a muscle. Even my bare feet remained rooted to the dirt as if the forest itself had claimed me. . Above, the moon was full and… wrong! It was not the pale silver as it normally was, but dark crimson, dripping across the sky like an open wound. Suddenly, the world spun and it was like gravity displaced. The ground heaved and I was yanked forward into an open clearing. I wasn't alone. Standing around me were dozens—no, thousands—of wolves of different fur coats, their snarls vibrating through the forest clearing like a funeral dirge. But they weren’t attacking, nor were they hunting me. They paid me no heed. Instead, they were… suffering. Pain tore through me as theirs bled into my own. One by one, each wolf lifted their muzzle to the moon. A chorus of howls split through the space. It was filled with so much anguish and sorrow. Suddenly, I felt a wave of intense heat and my head directed to the full moon. It pulsed, sending a violent flare of red rays downward like a whip. It struck every wolf as their howls got louder in agony. Their bodies writhed, fur burning, bones cracking. I opened my mouth, but no sound came. In seconds, I was surrounded only by dust. I staggered but was stopped from a fall by my frozen feet. My head spurned from the flare as if it were burning inside me. My knees buckled and I fell, my bare palm pressing into the forest dirt, but the ground throbbed with the same heat from the flare, searing my flesh. Then… silence. Every wolf has gone. Only dust remained. All but one. Far at the edge of a cliff by the seaside, a magnificent wolf with fur shimmering like moonlight even beneath the crimson haze stood confidently, its silver orbs for eyes locked onto mine. They gleamed with an intelligence a wolf should never have. It stepped forward. Instinctively, I tried to take a step back, and finally, my legs responded to a direct brain impulse. Able to move now, I did the only logical thing I could think of. I turned and ran for my life. I didn’t dare stop even when the branches tore at my arms and my brown hair whipped my eyes, blocking my vision. But I still heard thundering paws gradually closing behind me. The silver wolf was faster. It lunged. *** I jolted upright in bed, screaming. The scream died in my throat when I noticed I was back in my bedroom. I struggled to breathe, infusing as much air into my lungs as possible. My entire body was drenched in sweat, yet I shivered, clutching my thin blanket tighter against my chest. Just a dream. 'Only another nightmare,' I told myself, trying to ward away the image of the silver wolf and those wolves that turned to ashes. “You’re safe, Ariel. It’s only a nightmare.” I whispered. But my voice shook. This has occurred more often than normal. “ARIEL!” The shrill voice of my aunt cut through the air like a whip. “Wake up, you damn lazy girl. Don’t you dare make me come into that room!” I turned to the alarm clock on my bedstand. 7:00 a.m. Holy Molly, I was damn late for school. I threw the blanket off me, standing up quickly, or maybe too quickly as I stumbled over, almost losing my balance. When I came to, I suddenly felt something was wrong. My palm stung. I froze, staring at it. The skin was raw and scarred, as if the nightmare had followed me into reality. ‘What was happening? It was only getting much worse.” “ARIEL!” “Ugh, this evil witch should let me breathe.” I groaned, Rushing through a quick shower. I grabbed the first pair of jeans my hands reached, tugged on an old faded sweater, and laced my sneakers with fumbled fingers after of course, I disinfected my wound. By the time I made it to the kitchen, Aunt Sheila's sharp eyes were waiting for me, pinning me like a bug under glass. “Do you see the time?” She snapped, arms crossed over her large chest. “Were you planning on sleeping for eternity, you stupid girl? Your chores aren’t even done, the dishes are still in the sink, and you think you can just waltz out of this house?” “I—I-I overslept—” “Don’t even dare with your stupid excuses.” She cut me off with a raised finger. If only I could break it. “I swear, if it weren’t for child protective services breathing down my neck, you wouldn’t set one foot in that school.” Her lip curled, venom dripping from every word. “You’re just like your mother—weak, useless, and abandoning her family for a man. See where it led her to. Hell, you wouldn’t even be living under this roof if it were up to me and not that damned government.” The words hit me harder than a slap and were more painful than a knife to the heart. My heart clenched at the mention of my mother, a shadow I could never escape. Orphaned at only two, I was raised by my mother’s sister, a woman who never let me forget I was unwanted. “It’s not like I like going to that stupid school,” I retorted lowly, the words slipping out before I could stop them. “What did you just say?” Aunt Sheila barked, stepping closer, her huge body blocking the doorway to my escape. I didn’t dare wait for the fight. I yanked my backpack over my shoulder and bolted towards her. She tried to catch me, but I easily maneuvered, bolting for the now free door, her curses chasing me down the driveway. At the driveway, my cousin Stephanie was already lounging in the backseat of her father’s car like she owned the place. Which, technically, she does. She turned when she noticed me, her lips curling into a smug little smirk. I rolled my eyes and looked away, refusing to give her the satisfaction. I secured my old bag tighter around my shoulder and started walking. The morning air clung to my skin—heavy, damp, with a bit of cold—but it’s still better than being stuck with those people in that house. This was my routine. Walking to school. Walking back. Always and forever on my own. The streets of Eastwood were already waking, alive with noise as shopkeepers dragged their shutters, buses impatiently honked, and students chatted as they moved in packs to the bus. A bus fee Aunt Sheila would never pay for me. I kept my head down and slipped through the crowd until the iron gates of Ravenwood High came into view. A glance at the clock above the entrance made my stomach drop. I rushed through the narrow empty hallway, and the moment I slipped through the classroom door, all eyes turned to me. “You’re late again, Miss Rivers.” The math teacher's cold voice was cold. He didn’t turn my way or even pause writing on the board. He just spoke loud enough for the whole class to hear. Heat burned my cheeks as a few students snickered. I didn't reply because what was I to say? That I walked hundreds of kilometres just to get here? Everyone would look down on me more than they already did. “I’m sorry, sir.” “Sorry for yourself. Go take your seat and stop disturbing my class.” I rushed toward my seat in the back, wishing I could dissolve into smoke. “She’s such a loser. Look at her face. Dork.” “Check out that sweater. Straight from the dumpster.” I stayed silent, even as their whispers prickled at the back of my neck. My sails dug into the skin of my scarred palm, but its pain was nothing compared to their harsh words. I bit my bottom lip hard as I stared at my notebook, trying to block out their mockery, but a voice I knew all too well cut through the mockery and laughter. “I don’t know how we are even related. But you guys should leave her be. My dear cousin is just being generous, wearing cheap and old charity clothes so no one else has to.” My head snapped up. Of course. Her. Stephanie Storm. My amazing cousin, my daily tormentor, and the princess of Ravenwood High. She blinked innocently at me, her chair just two seats beside mine. “Honestly, Ariel,” Stephanie said, her voice sickly sweet and loud enough for the whole class to hear. She whipped her glossy hair dramatically. “You should thank me. If it weren’t for me telling Mom to let you leave the house, you’d be scrubbing toilets.” The whole class burst into laughter “Quiet!” The maths teacher bellowed, glaring over his glasses. “Today, we focus on world problems leading to simultaneous equations—“ I blanked out, staring absentmindedly at his moving lips. I tapped my pen rhythmically against the desk, staring at the clock, willing it to move faster. But it didn’t. The second hand hung in place. My brows furrowed as I noticed the sudden silence around me. The irritating scratching of markers to board, the shuffling of papers, the annoying ticking of the clock on the wall—all froze in perfect suffocating silence like the world itself had paused. I looked up, taking a quick glance and to my shock, everyone was frozen. Unmoving. “What in the strange heavens is going on?” My voice cracked, my heart hammering. And that’s when I saw it. A faint glow seared through the fabric of my sleeve. My trembling fingers tugged it up. . A mark. A double circle etched into the skin of my wrist, glowing with an otherworldly silver light. It hummed lightly. “Holy fudge on demon’s wings…” I whispered in shock, staring at it. That’s when the sound of the door creaking open made my widened eyes glance towards it.