Daries sat in the middle of the town square gulping down water like a man in the desert. He had spent hours tracking a single zombie wolf and everyone was exhausted.
"Daries, we're going to have some food over at that inn. Do you want to join us?" Thomas asked.
"Yeah thanks man" Daries replied and got up. Thomas was merely a random pack member. Daries thought that no one would take kindly to a stranger, even if said stranger had enough charisma to make a mountain swoon, but the people here were weirdly accommodating. Maybe it was because he had their Alpha's stamp of approval.
Daries walked with Thomas but stopped once he heard, "Not so fast." It was Alpha Luca. "I'll be borrowing Daries for a while." He said with a smile. Daries had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
"Yes Alpha." Thomas acquiesced. "See you later dude." He waved at Daries.
Alpha Luca nodded towards the woods and Daries silently followed.
"I think there's still time to track it." Daries said. "The residuals and the scent may be faint but we can probably still find it."
"That's true." Alpha Luca replied, stroking his beard. "But a good number of us are tired. It's better for us to stop here and increase the number of us on patrol. Would you like to join us?"
"Do you actually trust me to protect your pack?" Daries asked in a sardonic tone.
"I trust you to protect where you live." Alpha Luca responded. "And where your lady lives, page."
"Fair point." Daries shrugged. "But I doubt you called me out here just to ask me to join the border patrol."
"You're right, I didn't." Alpha Luca admitted. "Who are you?"
"This again?" Daries rolled his eyes. "I said I'm her pag-"
"Okay let me rephrase the question." Alpha Luca cut in. "What are you?"
"What am I?" Daries frowned.
"What are you?" Alpha Luca repeated. "Or perhaps I should just show you. Come with me."
They walked deeper into the forest until they stopped at a tree. There was a white stone which looked like it was shoved into the trunk with a great amount of force.
Daries looked from the tree to the Alpha.
"What's this about?" Daries inquired.
"I want you to remove that stone from the tree." Alpha Luca said.
Daries cast a suspicious glance on the alpha but simply shrugged and reached out. Once his fingers touched the glowing rock, Daries felt a surge of electricity run from his fingers to his chest. He cursed and jumped back. It hurt, a lot. Daries felt unbalanced and he was pissed.
"I've touched the moonstone now, are you satisfied?" Daries glowered at the alpha while clutching his chest and pressing his right arm in-between his knees.
"That wasn't the moonstone." Alpha Luca replied.
"What?" Daries froze then tilted his head in confusion. "Then what the hell is that?"
Alpha Luca ignored his question and asked, "Can you use alchemy?"
This time Daries noticeably flinched and his eyes were as wide as saucers.
"I'll assume the answer is yes." Alpha Luca placed his hand on Daries' shoulder. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you. I just had to confirm something."
But that didn't stop Daries from worrying. He couldn't calm down for the entire day.
In the evening, there was a pack meeting.
Alpha Luca talked for a really long time. Something about zombie wolves being back, something about border patrols and staying alert. He mentioned the sole casualty and some people gasped.
Daries tried to look concerned too but his attention kept drifting away, to how the fire crackled, to what the Alpha spoke to him about, to whether anyone would notice if he slipped out early.
The words danger and unity floated passed him without landing. His eyes scanned the room, searching for Lira. He hadn't seen her all day and he was getting a little irritated. The members of the pack were shaken up although it was only one death.
They must have never seen even one zombie wolf for a long time.
The meeting wrapped up and Daries decided to get some sleep before the second shift. He was slowly trudging back to the inn when he caught a glimpse of auburn tresses in his peripheral vision.
He turned and he was right, it was Lira! She was going back into the forest, in the direction of the tree with the weird rock.
"Damn it Red." Daries groaned and hurried to her direction.
Lira was skulking stealthily towards where she thought the tree was. She cursed herself for not paying attention to the turns Arian took in the morning. But she soon discovered that it wasn't necessary.
She felt it, it was calling her although it was faint. She stopped moving to see if she could feel from where exactly the stone was tugging her from.
"What the hell are you doing, Red?"
"What the fuck?" Lira jumped and turned around. She was face to face with those icy eyes giving her a confused stare.
"Umm..where are you going?" Daries asked.
"I have to check something out." Lira replied, her chest heaving lightly.
"You have to check out how to die?" Daries asked with a raised brow.
"Funny." Lira deadpanned and turned to leave.
"Wait, hold on." Daries grabbed her arm. "Can't you check this thing out tomorrow?"
"No, I can't." Lira shook her head. "This is very important so please let me go."
"Is it that weird stone in the tree?" Daries asked, his hand still gripping her arm.
Lira's eyes widened for a moment then she asked, "How did you know?"
"The Alpha showed it to me." Daries revealed. "Look, it's not the moonstone."
"I know." Lira stated.
Now it was Daries' turn to look confused. "Then why are you going there tonight?"
Lira's face twisted into a grimace as she remembered the conversation she had with Arian after Luna Sophia left.
"You wouldn't get it, so why don't you-"
Lira froze mid sentence. So did Daries. She was interrupted by another bone-chilling scream coming from the town.