Prologue
Dear readers,
This chapter is especially for those who haven't read 'The Wolf Guardians' yet so that you get a brief idea of what happened before. You can skip it if you want! Also, check out Forbidden Soul. It's still FREE.
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Maybelle’s POV
Things changed drastically after my parents took over the werewolf world. They demolished the barriers among the four kingdoms and made a new world for us, just like a phoenix reborn from its ashes. The Werewolf Empire–our new land. The barrier among other magical creatures and werewolves was also getting thinner with each passing day. I could sense that. So many pure witches lived among us.
There were two different kinds of witches: Dark Witch and Pure Witch. Pure witches were the healers. They protected others and helped others with their everything. They were the purest creatures in this dimension. They were kind and powerful. On the other hand, the dark witches were the worst. They were unfaithful and vicious. They fed on other’s souls and created illusions to destroy harmony. Everyone knew what Dark witches did to us. They used to live in the souls of werewolves. We werewolves were blessed with healing abilities, and hence it was said that the soul of a royal werewolf could give a witch a thousand-year more to live. Once the werewolf world was separated from the others, dark witches became desperate as their primary food source was gone. They tried to destroy other clans. But then other magical folks took steps and cornered them. I heard from Zura how all the Pure Witches gathered to protest the dark witches, and they burnt down all the books on forbidden rituals and sealed a portion of their darkness. The dark witches fell apart gradually. They were powerless, and they had to hide themselves to survive. Zura always said that there were still some of them left, struggling for survival, trying to break the seal her ancestors made. And she wanted to protect that. We all wanted to protect it.
Witches did not have any specific lands. They were scattered in different lands and blended in well with humans. One could not distinguish a witch from a human unless one could see the aura. Very few werewolves could see other auras and unfortunately, I was not one of them.
I had seen nineteen summers. My brother Nicholas was two years younger than me. Still, he held more power than me. He was a true warrior that I could only dream of. I was useless in front of him. Everyone had great expectations of him, whereas I could hardly control my own wolf. My mother, the queen of our empire, always asked me to be patient.
“You will find out reasons when the time is right! Be patient, my little princess,” she always said.
But I did not know how long I had to keep patient! I was a mature werewolf. I was royalty. My father, the alpha king Edward Augustus Jackson, was the strongest werewolf known in our empire, and my mother, queen Rosella, was the purest and kindest among all. They both came from the four ancient royal bloodlines. At my age, they accomplished great things. And I was their firstborn. I was supposed to be stronger than others. But in reality, my wolf was the weakest among all. I could barely sense her. I could shift only once, on my fourteenth birthday. I did not heal like other werewolves. I could not sense as others could. I had not even found my mate yet! I had been to every noble gathering; I had travelled along with our lands, but I sensed nothing.
I always felt that something was restraining me. Something was chained around my wolf, creating a barrier between us.
“Maybelle! Maybelle!”, a voice brought me back to reality. I was sitting near a waterfall in the woods. This part of the forest was peaceful.
“Princess Maybelle! Are you there?”
And I saw her coming. It was Zura. She was almost around my age. Her red hair was tied into a bun, as usual. She was wearing a light blue skirt and a pale white blouse. A pure smile was lingering on her lips.
“I found it! I found it May!”, she said again in excitement.
I was unsure of what she was talking about. I gave her a confused look.
“I found my element! Its water, May.”, Zura said again.
Now I understood. Zura was a pure witch. But very few of them were blessed with elemental powers, that was the ability to control a natural element such as water, fire, earth, air. Though Zura was young, she had already learned a lot at such an early age. She went near the waterfall and came back with a little ball of water in her hand.
“See”, she said again. Her eyes were sparkling with joy.
Yes! She was so perfect in all the ways. She was strong and kind. She was from a very generous and strong pure witch bloodline. Only if I could have half of what she had!
“Sometimes I envy you, Zura. Your parents must be proud of you.”, I sighed.
She looked at me for a moment. Then she dragged me. She took me to the nearby village, and we finally stopped in front of a statue in the middle of the village. The proud face of my father was looking towards my innocent, gorgeous mother. I smiled unknowingly.
“Princess Maybelle, look at them. The alpha king Edward Augustus Jackson and Luna Rosella Augustus Jackson. The guardian of all werewolves. And you are their firstborn, Maybelle, you are their flesh and blood. And above all, you have been named after the first werewolf princess of the western werewolf empire. She was the bravest and kindest person from that bloodline, and everyone still remembers her even though thousands of years have passed.”, Zura paused for a moment.
“May! I can see you are meant for great things. You surely will have difficulties during your journey. You may get lost so many times, but you will always be the light for all the werewolves in our world. People will even remember you after thousands of years from now.”, Zura said with a smile.