ARCĀNUM (DISCONTINUED)

CHAPTER ONE : MIDNIGHT "Travel to Yorkshire! Only three tickets and costs for about 15 pounds!" A guy yelled, holding out the tickets to show proof -- though mostly he was known for stealing them from different stalls, and somehow managed to get away from it each and everyday. Athena Hale looked around with her mother right infront of her, halting when she finds herself stopped by some old guy holding bouquets of flowers. "Flowers little lady? a rose fits perfectly with your beautiful cloak." he gave a tight-lipped smile, her view blocked and her mother was disappeared to the crowd. The Hale daughter is a naturally beautiful person that some has envied. With her dark long brown hair, and pale skin as soft and smooth as snow. She always gets rosy cheeks, and it always reddens whenever she's embarrassed, and whenever it's cold. She's as tall as 5'6, her frame slim, and tall; technically perfect. Her eyes are stormy grey, and she has long eyelashes. The 18 year old girl shook her head and declined nicely with a small smile, "No thank you, those are wonderful though!" He nodded and walked away, trying to get the attention of other people as she looked around to find her mother from the crowd. "Mother?" She called out, frowning when there wasn't a single response. Walking forward to try and track down the lady, she found herself going deeper to the dark side of the village stalls, people drinking and smoking in the narrow hallways. She had no clue how did she end up in such a state, her hands laid inside her cloak's pockets as she tried finding a way out of the place. Turning around to the left, she finds herself in a situation where four drunk men surrounded her and blocked her path. "Huh. How does a gorgeous lady like you makes their way to a place like this?" a guy holding some glass drink slurred, striding his way closer to her. "Must be my lucky day." Her eyes widened, panicking inside as she saw them getting closer to her. She was getting cornered by four men. "I would love to get to know you even more. . . What do you say, my place?" Another guy touched her shoulder, puffing his smoke as she closed her eyes and prayed silently this would end to the further note of them walking away instead. "No." She firmly answered. "What?" The man said in disbelief. "I said. No." She said louder, clenching her fists as anger bubbled inside her. Athena was barely having the confidence inside her than outside, hoping they'll just buy whatever she speaks of and hope they run away to the depths of the earth probably -- somewhere far away from her. Though to her dismay, a guy touched her waist and pulled her over to him, the scent of alcohol seeping in her as she scrunched her nose in disgust. The guy scowled, raising his hand to hit her. "You bitc --" before he could do anything, a guy suddenly appeared to the situation and pushed him away, the old drunkard hitting the ground harshly. The mysterious guy then went to the other one behind Athena and kicked him with his knee, the man hitting the brick wall away from the alleyway they are at. The sacks that was held by the unstable wooden planks began falling down on him from the harsh hit. The raven-haired guy glared at the two men as they scurried away from them, leaving the girl with him. Athena raised her brows, having this look of bewilderment etched on her features. "Thank you for helping me." But to her dismally he walked past her as if she was never even there to begin with, turning to the path where she once walked to making her furrow her brows in confusion. She followed by and did the same, seeing him with his hands on his dark coat's pockets, looking down to the ground. "Hey! Wait up! Excuse me!" She hollered, catching up to his pace and reaching over to grab his upper arm. They halted, the guy turning to face her direction. She then got to observe atleast a bit of him; he had ebony hair, dark as the night. He was wearing a dark blue scarf wrapped around his neck, lifting up to the lower part of his face to only show his beautiful ocean blue eyes boring through her soul. "What?" his voice was muffled by the fabric, she was somewhat surprised to hear him actually speaking back to her. His tone was gruff and annoyed, yanking his arm away from her as she averted her gaze to the broken painting that was messed up with the dirt, mud, and some stains of drinks from some of those people. "What's your name?" she asked softly, his eyes narrowing and jaw clenching. "You don't need to know." He answered and walked away, quickening up the pace as she did the exact same, her hands gripping on her cloak to lift it up so it won't even get that as much dirtied up by the small puddles on the ground. Sounds of splashing was heard by the two of them, and both caused by them as the guy turned to the left immediately. Once she did the same, she saw him running to the sea of people. Her eyes roamed around to try and find him as the people moved but he completely disappeared. She didn't notice her mother walking towards her with a concerned look on her face, until she held onto her shoulders to grab her attention. "Athena! Where were you?! I told you to never get left behind!" Mentioned girl looked down in shame, her head still spiraling all about the mysterious guy. "I'm sorry -- You know I don't want to lose you, not like your own father. Not again." Lorraine Hale cutted her daughter's words and letted go of her shoulders. Athena was told that her father has died because of a mountain lion just like her own grandfather. She thought of it as some sort of curse given to them for some reason. But she had no idea why, it was just. . . unknown. "Your in about 10 minutes late from the usual timing." Lorraine said, handing her the basket full of cakes and muffins to please the 18 year old's grandmother. They began walking, the elder holding onto her wrist lightly but enough to know she was entirely here, though the girl barely listened to her babbling because of thinking about the mysterious guy that saved her from a bunch of thugs. She realized she has thought too long when they reached the house near the market but enough to have a peaceful living near the forest areas. The cottage was similar to her own grandmother's, from the carving to the pathway of pebbles that gives a homely atmosphere surrounding it. "Wait here." Her mother spoke, heading her way to the door of the abode to get the piece of parchment she always has given to the girl to give to her grandmother with the basket of goods; it's always been like that. But she always told her to never even take a little peek on the paper, she wasn't allowed to. So Athena being herself, she obeyed and took her time to control herself from temptation to take that little peak from it. Coming back to the outdoors, the lady folds the paper neatly and pushes it inside the woven basket with a gleaming smile. "Don't -- take a look. I know, I know mother." Athena rolled her eyes and sighed quietly, looking at the blue sky. "Okay. Well, since your somewhat late. Come back before midnight." Lorraine reminded and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, watching her daughter smile and give a nod, slowly walking away with the woven basket. The girl had some sort of bad feeling from this, glancing at the forest she was about to envelope and disappear to with her stomach churning and eyebrows furrowing in hope this'll end better than what her gut feeling is trying to point out. Her figure has vanished to the darkness, her mother hoping she'll come home safely. Athena letted out a sigh and looked at the surroundings; the squirrels walking around, TE birds chirping happily and flying to the sky. . . Though it seemed calmed and peaceful, she can't help but have a undeniable feeling that she was being watched. Her spine shivered by the thought, goosebumps on her as she walked a little bit faster because of that. What if she was right? What if she's next to the curse? What if a mountain lion was aught to get her, right here, and right now? maybe that's the bad feeling she was getting to. She took big steps, until she reached the small creek with big rocks that she would skip upon until now. Athena gave out a persistent look and hopped on it slowly and surely, enough to stay safe and not fall down to the water and mess things up like when she was little. Her eyes traveled left and right, until it landed to some bed of flowers, a grin curving up her lips as she ran her way to them and get the hues that her grandmother favoured upon. "These are beautiful!" She chuckled and looked back at the front, praying that she is getting closer. "And most importantly, free." Athena added with a soft giggle, but it faded away when she saw something peculiar on the bark of the tree nearby. Pacing over, she finds herself walking over to it and stopping infront of it to see large scratch marks. She had gotten paler than her usual fair colour. "Mountain lion?" she whispered to herself, her slender fingers reaching upwards to try and check upon it. Athena knew nothing about animals that as much as others do, but she knew far too well a creature like a mountain lion would never have larger and sharper claws that imprinted and cutted the surface of a tree deep. A rustle on the bush made her snap back to reality, clutching onto the basket tightly into a death grip. She then saw a rabbit hopping away from it with it's bunnies, a sigh of relief escaping her rosy lips. "Wait. I'm getting too distracted. . . I should head over to the cottage now." She quickened the pace, rushing her steps and tripping from the branches here and there but somehow she still balances herself from falling down to the ground. She made it to her destination, strolling over to the cottage of her grandmother with her smile widening. Going inside with her spare key, her eyes went like saucers and her lips parted in shock, seeing the chaotic mess that was inside the house she went in to; pots and food were on the floor with the books of the bookshelf that was laid on the ground. The table was broken in half, plates smashed and cracked. Everything inside was broken, from the picture frames that holds each memory to the curtains ripped and scratched. Athena swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly headed up the stairs with this sick feeling returning. Once she stood on the floorboards, her heart dropped and cracked go billions of pieces, eyes widening even more in horror; there laid her grandmother with a wooden plank sheathed on her stomach, her eyes open yet body lifeless. Her basket fell down with her flowers, the food stored inside scattered in the dirty floor with some dried drops of red. "No. . ." She mumbled, running towards her whilst repeating the word. Kneeling down she held onto her cold hand, her scent was reeked of death and it was rotting inside. Athena hoped this was just a nightmare that she needed to just wake up on, but to her own dismally, it wasn't. It was reality. Her own grandmother dead. And she was the first to see it. Her heart dropped; not only is her mother a widow, she has no mother, or even a father. She herself lost so many things, and she doesn't even know if it will ever even stop. "Why. . . Why is this happening to me?! Why is my life like this?!" She screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks as it fell down to her grandmother's porcelain -- pale skin, reaching the floor. "Who would do such a thing?! " she added in a loud and strong voice, sobbing uncontrollably. She wanted to know why, why is life so unfair. Why someone innocent and frail as her grandmother was willing to get an ending of murder, and most importantly, now. "It should've been me!" She cried. Athena stayed for minutes in her position, until she finally looked around and saw a small handmade book clutched around her grandmother's other hand, her eyebrows pushed together in curiosity. "What the. . ." She took it and flipped it open, roaming around the pages that seemed to go through her deceased father's own writings, her grandmother's to her own mother's. Lycanthropy. Mates. Wolfsbane. Silverbullet. "Loup-Garou" she whispered, her finger touching against the word she just said aloud and then glanced at her grandmother. Her hand made it's way to her eyes, and she closed it slowly with her lips quivering. Looking down at the last page that was printed, it was abnormally unfinished. In a werewolf, it would lift from the silver and travel through the bloodstream of the animal, blocking off blood vessels and poisoning cells. And it is this that -- The parchment was faintly familiar. . . "Wait a second. . ." She stood up and took the book with her, striding her way towards the piece of folded paper on the floorboards near a muffin. She then placed it right next to each other and letted out a gasp. -- kills the werewolf. So clearly, a werewolf is stuffed with sulfur. This can provide other clues to spotting werewolves. It's as if there was ringing in her ear, as she connected the dots. She saw her grandfather and her father once in the funeral, they didn't show that much but the last thing that was planted in her mind until now was the scratch marks that was close to the one she saw in the tree. She turned to her grandmother and turned to the other side to see a huge scratch mark around her neck. Athena winced and looked away catching a glimpse of the window to see the sky have hues of pink, purple, orange, red and yellow painted in there as if it were a perfect canvas. It was almost night. She took some flowers, and made her grandmother hold them. "I'll try and get help. Tell my mother about this. Report it. . . To anyone. I'm gonna have revenge." Athena's eyes darkened to a soulless dark grey, her fists clenching onto the book and paper. The girl went down the stairs, wiping her tears as she outed the door to the once second home she visited many times to. Athena sighed shaking and walked over to the forest in a slow pace, not wanting to leave the place already. Going inside the forest, she already felt the breeze rushing through her, her hood falling down to her shoulders and her dark brown hair flowing against the wind. It was insecuring and definitely frightening already, in complete honesty. It felt like the feeling of somebody watching her was coming back at her again, except for just one, it felt like even more. She fastened her pace, running swiftly as she heard twigs breaking and growls erupting somebody's chest. Tears brimmed in her eyes, thinking it might be her own end of the story, but she knew her grandmother would want her to atleast try and fight back. She ran to the left instead, breaking the path and feeling them chase after her. "f**k. f**k. Fuck." She cursed repeatedly shaking her head as she jumped over the old thick log and continued her run, hoping there would be someone maybe out there willing to help her from this deathly chase of cat and mouse. She just hoped maybe somebody will save her from everything. Going to the right, she passed some unfamiliar flowers, not the ones she has seen from the past time. Glowing red eyes was gleaming from afar and infront of her -- the place barely looked familiar. It made her breath heavily and stop going that direction, moving backwards. Another growl was heard behind her, and the darkness can only take out another glow, except it were golden. They were surrounding her, two more by her sides in the left and right, her breath hitched as she remembered the alleyway that afternoon, inhaling as tears brimmed in her eyes. "Just kill me. . . it's useless." She admitted in a low mutter, shutting her eyes with her hands hugging the book even tighter. Her cloak was already stuck in some roots, and the other in thorns from a flower behind her. Athena then heard roars and screams from her surroundings, and it made her get even more terrified, crouching down to protect herself. Minutes of hearing slashes of claws, choking, and thumps on the ground or at the tree around her made her affeared and horrified from what was happening, hoping nothing will happen to her next. "What have I gotten into?" she whispered, weeping to herself. She remembered seeing something in the book about werewolves, about the glowing eyes and the claws, the fangs and the things they do. "Those were werewolves. . ." She said quietly. Another piercing manly scream was heard, her eyes widening as her lips quivered, staying in a thin line. Was she next? Suddenly, sounds of crickets were heard by her ears, the eerie silence was making her even more scared than before. She peeked in the side of her eyes to see some human feet walking over to her, the sound of heavy breathing and dried leaves crunching in the ground made her hopeful it was somebody that was willing to save her. "Please don't kill me. God, nevermind about what I just said before, Don't kill me. . ." She pleaded, shaking her head violently with her hood going back to cover her dark brown hair. A chuckle escaped to a guy's lips, the man figure standing infront of her but wincing from something behind her. "Why would I kill you?" he asked in a teasing tone, tilting his head in confusion. She didn't dare look at him, she was too tired to. Too scared. Her head was getting dizzy from the train of thoughts messing in her mind, and from everything that happened to her in just a day. "I -- I, uh. . ." before she got to say anything, she passed out from exhaustion, the guy rolling his eyes and huffing to himself. "Humans." he picked her up bridal style and exhaled, looking at the torn apart dead bodies left and right, giving a side smirk.