Eclipsed by Fate

CHAPTER 4

Selene ran through the cave and her feet hit the cold, rough ground of the cave hard, her breaths came out in short pants. The walls began to shut in on her and the temperature dropped as she descended further into the blackness. Behind her, the noises of fighting lessened, but the pain of not taking Marcus and Ronan with her never left her side.

“Keep going!” Lyra pleaded, her words shaking from terror. The last thing that was said was, “We have to get to the other side.”

Selene’s thoughts spun like a tornado, Marcus, struggling through enforcers; Ronan, bloody, but driven; and the energy she had unleashed, which still coursed through her, a live wire that threatened to fry her from the inside out.

“Lyra,” Selene cried out as they continued running, “what is this power?” You should have told me earlier, why didn’t you do that?

Lyra slowed down a little, she was panting but her big eyes held regret. This is the first time I realized that I didn’t fully understand it. The visions—they were partial, they only gave visions, but they never told the whole story. I believe that the council had more information than I have ever had. In other instances, they have been following you for many years, just waiting for the right time.”

Selene felt a constriction in her chest as they went deeper into the unknown. She had always understood that the council was after her for more than the fact that she was the daughter of a duke. But this? A hidden power? All her life she had been escaping from the past and she found that the past had caught up with her more fiercely than she could have thought possible.

“What are they after?” Selene asked, still attempting to connect the dots.

Lyra bit her lip. “It’s old, something that is associated with the original werewolf breeds. I don’t know all the details but you are the key Selene. They think that with your blood and your lineage – and whatever position you have – there is something that can be opened. Something dangerous.”

Selene’s heart raced even more. “Dangerous how?”

Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know exactly. But I do know that it’s something far worse than just becoming the Alpha Queen. The prophecy, the council, it has all been a lie to hide it.”

These words of Lyra were like a punch in the stomach. The prophecy that had been chasing her, the prophecy that said she was to become the Alpha Queen, was fake. But to what end?

The tunnel started to expand and soon the ceiling could barely be seen as the cave opened up to the cool night air. Selene slowed down, she felt she could barely breathe as she looked around her. The inside of the cave was covered with paintings of wolves and some unusual symbols. And it seemed to him that they had got into something much more ancient than both of them.

Lyra looked up and saw that her pale eyes were now staring at the walls. “This is it,” she whispered, sounding amazed. “This is what the council has been looking for.”

Selene moved closer to the carvings touching the surface with her fingers. “What is this place?”

“I guess it is a burial ground,” Lyra replied, she was quaking. “For the first werewolves. It means the ones who started our race or our kind of people.

Selene’s pulse quickened. She had listened to tales of the old wolves, the leaders of the otherworld before the council was set up. But those stories had always appeared to be legends, which were far from reality and impossible to achieve.

“This I don’t understand,” Selene said with a scowl on her face. “What could the council need from here?”

Lyra had no time to reply, for just then there was a tremendous growl and the cave shook violently where the children stood. Lyra felt the ground move and Selene immediately reached out and took her by the arm.

“What the hell?” Selene breathed.

A narrow passage was revealed by a c***k in the stone wall from the distant side of the cavern. A chilling breeze blew past, bringing along the faint smell of rot.

Lyra was filled with horror as her eyes opened wide. “It’s beginning.”

“What is beginning?” Selene inquired, her voice filled with a sense of immediacy.

Lyra whispered that the power is waking up. We have activated something. We must depart before it fully appears.

Before Selene could reply, a threatening growl reverberated from the corridor. She felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. Something was stirring in this location that had been dormant, and it was displeased.

The growling Increased in volume and was soon accompanied by heavy, purposeful footsteps that were getting closer.

“Let’s go,” Selene urged, as she took Lyra’s hand and led her to the other side of the cavern.

As they ran towards a different small tunnel, a massive figure emerged from the darkness of the passage they had just left. Selene hardly had the courage to glance back, yet the cold sensation down her back informed her that they were no longer the only ones in the cave.

A huge wolf, bigger than any Selene had witnessed before, loomed at the entrance of the tunnel, its fur as dark as the night and its eyes shining a sickly green. The creature snarled, revealing its sharp and elongated teeth. It wasn’t simply a wolf, but rather a creature of old, a primal entity echoing the horrors of their past.

Lyra took a sharp breath, stepping back in terror. “That’s… that’s one of them,” she stuttered. “One of the wolves from ancient times.”

Selene felt her heart beating quickly. The council wasn’t just after power – they were attempting to awaken the ancient wolves, beings who had been imprisoned to stop their destructive power from causing chaos.

“We have to leave this place!” Selene yelled, urging Lyra to move ahead.

While running, the cavern trembled once more, with the ground breaking apart under their feet. As the ancient wolf roared, rocks started dropping from the ceiling, creating a deafening noise in the cave.

Selene surged ahead, her thoughts racing with the imminent horror of the situation. The council was prepared to release a power so lethal that it had the potential to annihilate everything. And at this moment, she found herself right in the middle of it.