Filed to story: Wolf Crying Mate of the Alpha by Jazz Ford
‘How can you save her? Please tell me,’ I beg her. They share a quick, knowing glance before looking back at me.
‘We have enough power to save only her.’ Lou explains.
Accepting Lou’s offer means I will never see Maia again after this, but if it saves her life and allows her a chance to live, then I have no other choice. I kiss her forehead and tell her how much I love her before handing her to Lou.
‘Okay, if it saves her life, we must do it,’ I sob.
Lou and Prunella kneel in front of a big, beautiful oak tree and place Maia in her swaddle, inside an opening in the tree’s hollow trunk. They hold each other’s bejewelled hands and chant:
Goddess of the moon,
Place this sweet child to sleep and make the year’s leap.
When the moon shines bright, in her time to retake and find her love, open her eyes and allow her to wake.
The tree’s bark begins to move as it swirls magically around Princess Maia in kaleidoscopic strands, encasing her inside it. When it’s finished homing her, the tree trunk sutures over, forming a knot in itself, sealing my daughter inside.
‘What will happen to her?’ I ask, mesmerised by what I have just witnessed.
‘She will grow very slowly inside the tree, and when the time comes, long after we have gone, the Moon Goddess will know when it’s time for the forest to release her. The forest will raise her, and it will be her home. The animals will befriend her, and she will awake with a good grasp of our language and basic life skills. She will know her name. She will have the chance to have a fulfilling life when all of this is but a fairytale. We have placed many species of babies in the trees over the last few days in hopes that they may one day live free of war and in harmony.’ Lou explains.
Nodding, I smile at the thought that my daughter and many other innocent children have the chance to have a happy life filled with harmony, peace and acceptance.
‘I see them! Over there!’ A human shouts. We soon realise we are surrounded. Being pyrokinetic, I can create and manipulate fire. My gifts are a blessing, they’ve never let me down before, and they certainly won’t desert me now. A man is about to hurl his axe in my direction, but I’m quick to use my powers, and I cast a flame beam and hurl it at him, engulfing him in flames. He screams and writhes around on the ground in pain, burning.
Two sword-wielding men run toward me from my left. I jump into the air just in time, as the one who crouches down, steels himself, to swing his sword at me.
His counterpart swings his sword toward my neck, which I narrowly miss too, as I lean backward and quickly raise my leg to kick him firmly in the chest. Balls of flames materialise in the palms of my hands, and I throw them at both men, successfully hitting one and missing the other.
I’m suddenly gasping for breath as an iron chain whips itself around my throat, choking me. Struggling to stand, I resort to kneeling and fight the man behind me.
The man who evaded my flame ball stomps toward me and yanks my head up by my hair.
I feel the deep sting of a sharp knife impaling my heart and the warmth of my blood trickling from my chest and down the fabric of my dress. I collapse to the ground, knowing I’m dying. I lay there, unable to move, becoming progressively weaker.
Lou and Prunella, who have been caught and tied to stakes, await their impending deaths as one of the men approaches them with a torch and sets them ablaze. I cannot look, so I cover my ears and shut my eyes to muffle their screams. The men smile as they walk away from the burning corpses of Lou and Prunella.
Loud growls pierce the quiet night air when hefty silhouettes bolt toward the men and quickly devour them, ripping their heads off. The wolves shift into human form and run toward me.
‘We’re too late,’ one of the men says.
I use what strength I have left to gaze at the tree my precious baby sleeps in.
‘Live well, my child.’ I whisper before the darkness consumes me.
Mysteria, the magical world of supernatural’s, a realm with the tallest mountains, luscious forests, and precipitous waterfalls. From werewolves and witches to orcs, this enchanted land is the birthplace of imagination. The mystical beings were all made by many different Deities, including those of Selene, Cerridwen, Ogrun, and Valkrim. They fashioned new life forms in their own image to coexist in the realm of Mysteria.
After many years of peaceful coexistence, the witches accidentally opened a portal to another world inhabited by many animals and people called humans. Although they resembled each other, humans lacked magical or shapeshifting abilities.
Over time, the witches travelled in secret between realms, but some never returned to Mysteria. Witches had been caught casting spells. Out of fear of becoming cursed, the humans bound and burnt them at the stake.
The vampires, werewolves, fae and mages were amongst those who eventually discovered the witches opening the portal. Intrigued and curious many entered the human world to live, where they began new packs, covens and nests for their kind. They knew they could not show their abilities to the humans as they did not want the same fate as the witches. The world was vast, giving them plenty of land and places to reside away from humans.
When travelling to human villages, they did not shift or use magic and found that they got along well with humans. Some became the best of friends and shared each other’s secrets, including the portal to Mysteria. The humans begged to be taken there, and the witches and werewolves agreed.
The humans fell instantly in love with the land of Mysteria and chose to stay there.
Orcs were one of the few species who refused to enter the human world, warning other species that allowing humans into Mysteria might prove to be a detrimental mistake.
More humans and supernatural beings began to inhabit each other’s worlds. Mysteria was a peaceful world until half a century passed, and it descended into war. Humans desired more territory and a king and queen of their own.
The supernaturals desired no more deaths in Mysteria, so they granted the humans additional land and chose a married couple, Asher and Merith, as King and Queen.
Even though their requests were granted, they were fearful that the other rulers would turn against them, and so, after meticulous planning, a second war erupted. Humans hunted and slaughtered the elemental sprites, leaving their corpses on orc territory and blamed the orcs for the deaths.
After this m******e, King Pyrus and Queen Lydia, the rulers of the sprite kingdom, consulted the leaders of all realms for help. It was agreed that all realms would protect any remaining sprites from the orcs.
King Asher agreed to help protect the sprites and convinced the alpha king, the leaders of the other realms, and King Pyrus and Queen Lydia that the orcs needed to be eliminated before the orcs killed them all.
The strongest of all species, the orcs managed to wipe out half of the realms throughout the war before being obliterated in reprisal for being accused of a crime they did not commit.
The Midnight coven of witches believed the Orcs were innocent, but the realms would not listen to them. The Orcs entrusted the coven of witches with the safety of their young, hiding them in their Covenstead to save the species.
In the aftermath of the war, every species was at its most vulnerable since every realm had suffered significant losses and many injuries needed time to heal. The humans took advantage of the opportune timing, knowing realms were ebbing at their lowest and attacked the realms.
Humans gathered witches in droves before burning them alive on stakes. They captured werewolves and locked them up with heavy chains of silver before torturing them to death.
The werewolf realms realised too late that it was the humans, and not the orcs, who killed the sprites. With the orcs’ assumed extinct and with a population much larger in number than the others, werewolves were the next strongest species.
The witches of the midnight coven, humans and werewolves were the last to remain in Mysteria. After the Midnight Coven used spells to hide as many children from different species as possible, a few managed to escape through the portal and lived out their days on earth, while the other two witches, Lou and Prunella, remained in Mysteria in hopes of finding more children to save before their demise at the hands of humans.
Werewolf King, Alpha Dominic, and King Asher agreed to an indefinite truce. The humans knew the werewolves were much stronger in strength and number. They agreed to keep to themselves and avoid each other’s territory. The land was surveyed and reallotted to both parties, precisely and identically halved. A large forest between the two halves became a no-man’s-land that neither party could lay claim to.
King Asher ruled West Wallow, and Alpha Dominic ruled Moon Crest Valley.
A thousand years later, knowledge of this great war and the existence of other supernatural creatures dissolved into fairy tales for children.
Then, one night the Moon Goddess Selene decided changes were afoot, and in time, the true meaning of fairytale would be uncovered.
The moon shone brighter than ever before, illuminating a tree in the forest. The tree shook, and its trunk opened, revealing a beautiful little elemental sprite inside, who crawled out, yawning from a lengthy slumber. Her existence went unknown for the next twelve years, and she lived in the forest happily until she was eighteen.
Maia: 6 years old
I wake up and yawn, stretching my arms high above my head. I’m sitting in a large hollow tree trunk. I have no idea why I’m here or how I got here. I feel soft moss under my feet and crawl out from the tree. Animals and critters in the forest gather around and approach me. They gently nuzzle their noses against my legs, and when I sit down on the grass, they curl up on my lap. There are rabbits, foxes, squirrels, deer, elk, birds, and mice. They follow me around and do not leave my side. I feel safe and loved in this forest, and I want to live here forever. The forest is my home, my safe place, my everything.
I play a game of hide and seek with my new friend, a fox I name Ember. I introduce myself to him. ‘I’m Maia,’ I tell him. Ember nudges my head playfully with his and then runs in circles. He leaps at me and falls on my chest, and as we both roll backwards, we notice the entrance to a cave hidden by a curtain of vines.
In awe at its magnificence and beauty, thousands of glow worms illuminate the cave. It’s mesmerising and magical to view. The cave’s walls are overgrown with green vines and purple flowers. The cave is filled with a sweet floral scent.
Ember and I follow the trail of glow worms through the cave until we can go no further and must turn right, where the cave ends. Sunlight shines through a rectangle-shaped hole in the wall. It is a perfect window that lights up this part of the cave.
I approach the hole to look at the water flowing over it outside. It’s like a waterfall. I let the water fill my cupped hands and drink it. It’s cold, delicious and refreshing.
‘Ember, I think this cave will be our new home,’ I say, smiling, and look down at Ember, who rubs his head against my leg, agreeing.
Collecting moss, bark, and leaves, I make a soft bed from the materials. Next, I roll three tree stumps into the cave and make a table with the large stump and two stools to sit on with the two smaller stumps. ‘This will do just fine,’ I say, proud of myself.