Destined Queen, Prophesied Warrior

Perspectives

Aurelia was made to relive this nightmare every time sleep would overtake her, but she always experienced it through her eyes when she was an innocent child. What is going on? She stared in awe as she looked upon her younger self while she slept.

Aurelia listened to the wind howling, gusts rushing so severe tree branches were thrashing recklessly, smacking and screeching as they banged against her window. The rain was pelting furiously, water attacking the roof, sending droplets through the cracks of the worn wood, dripping down onto a young Aurelia's sleeping face. She heard the perilous drumbeat of the rain pattering, mixed with the thunder as it rumbled in sync every time the lightning crackled in the night. Shrilling screams filled her ears as the lightning struck, illuminating the small room, sending vibrations which rocked the foundations and ultimately awoke little Aurelia from her slumber.

Aurelia watched as her younger self sprung up quickly from her bed. Her little body running to peer out the small opening of her window. Aurelia followed the tiny version of herself as she too glimpsed out the bedroom window to view the sickening scene below. She witnessed a vast army of relentless Rogues ambushing the Silver Moon Pack warriors. Rogues laughing as they sliced open the warriors' throats and watching them grasp at their necks, blood gurgling and pooling from their mouths. They were savoring the moments of her pack warriors' suffering before rushing through and attacking the village.

Aurelia noticed some of these particular Rogues were still in their human form. Were they even wolves?! Aurelia's adolescent self was sobbing and so she forced herself to look in the same direction. Their Alpha and Beta were trying to get women and children to safety, when a mix of shifted Rogues and human-formed Rogues flanked them. They were trapped! The unshifted Rogues thrashed silver whips, wrapping them around the children's necks and yanking them down, dragging them along the ground. The children were wailing as they kicked and flailed themselves, attempting to implant their tiny bodies into the damp earth. Their Alpha began to rush to rescue them when the shifted wolves attacked, pouncing on top of him until he was immersed in a bloody pile of bodies, his limp hand the only thing left visible of him.

His Beta roared and launched himself at the unshifted Rogues trying to free the children from their menacing grips, when he was taken down by a swarm of arrows. He dropped lifeless to the ground.

Why isn't he healing?! Are the broad-tips of the arrows silver and dipped in wolves bane?

Little Aurelia began to sob as the frightened women ran after their crying children, who were dragged by their necks, still held prisoner by silver whips and thrown carelessly into cages. SILVER CAGES! She heard the sounds of their flesh being singed, pressing tightly against the bars, arms outstretched, their hands trying desperately to reach their mothers.

The smell of burnt hair and copper stung Aurelia's nose. Little Aurelia was hiding, tucked tightly under her bed; splinters from the wood floor catching her nightdress as she tried to make herself invisible. The door to her room was suddenly kicked off it's hinges and it cracked against the wall, splitting in two. She watched her father barrel inside and call her name when tiny Aurelia rushed from underneath her hiding place. Her father swooped her into his protecting arms as he rushed them out of her room and down the hall to find his mate, her mother.

Aurelia sprinted after her father, her feet silently echoed in the hall as she followed them to her mother's side. Her father grabbed his Moon-Fated Mate by her wrist as he hurried them through the maze-like corridors and down into the dark stone halls of the basement, trying to get them to safety.

Aurelia saw them turn the corner and she knew what they were going to find. Over a dozen vicious Rogues came crashing into the other end of the ancient stone hallway and roared as they launched themselves towards her family. Her father bounded towards them in attack and effortlessly took out the first two Rogues who crossed his path. Her father ordered Aurelia's mother to get them both to safety. She watched her mother take her tiny hand and rush her to the entrance of the secret passage. The bookcase opened quietly scratching against the stone floor and in a flash, little Aurelia and her mother vanished from sight; the bookcase already hiding the entrance they fled through.

Aurelia forced herself to stay and watch the scene in front of her. Her father, Cassius, growled sending vibrations through the hallway. "YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HER! I WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN! OVER MY DEAD BODY!" he boomed.

The shifted Rogues pounced on her father and she watched as he transformed effortlessly into his wolf. He bared his large canines and tore out the throats of his attackers spraying their warm blood across the cement walls, where it pooled onto the hard stone floors of the basement.

Suddenly, silver whips cracked and she watched as they hit their targets in a swift and precise manner. They constricted around her father's neck, both of his front and rear paws, and he was pulled flat to his stomach onto the wet, basement floor. His flesh smoked as the silver from the whips burnt into his skin. Once her father was subdued, a shadowed figure moved forward through the halls, not caring of the blood it walked through to reach him. The wetness of it's footsteps made a sickening sloshing sound as it dragged death with each and every step it took towards her father.

"I will have her, Cassius. There will be nothing you can do to stop me." the shadow laughed sinisterly. "No matter how long it takes me to rebuild my ranks. Even if I have to plant undercover moles into every single pack from here to the States, I will uncover your precious daughter. I WILL FIND HER... eventually. She will be MINE and her gifts will BELONG TO ME!" The ominous shadow moved into view.

It was an evil, slender man with a lean, muscular build and dingy red hair, matted from blood. He had a large, menacing scar which stretched over his left eye and across the side of his forehead stopping below his left ear. His eyes were like tar, blacker than the shadows at night under the darkness of a new Moon. They glistened with rage as he smiled, baring sickening yellow teeth and ordered, "Kill him!"

"I SWEAR ON GAIA EARTH, AND THE MOON GODDESS SELENE, THAT YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR SINS! YOU WILL DIE BEFORE YOU POSSESS MY DAUGHTER! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, RASPUTIN FAHIM VADIK ANASTOS, SON OF THE ROGUE HADES AND THE DARK FAE QUEEN DAMARA!" her father bellowed before a sword pierced his chest, plunging through his heart.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Aurelia shouted!

Rasputin's eyes shifted in Aurelia's direction, suddenly aware of a presence in the room. He dashed towards her and as his long, sharp claws slashed across her dress, Aurelia awoke.

"Aurelia! Evie!" Adrian's concerned eyes scanning hers. "You're okay, you're here, you're with me. I've got y-" he stopped his sentence as he noticed the claw-like tears in Aurelia's sundress.

"I saw him!" Aurelia cried, "I saw him kill my father! He's after me. He knows I saw him. He's going to come for me Adrian!" Tears flowed rapidly streaking her face as they fell.

Adrian pulled his Moon-Fated to his side and embraced her as she wept. "Aurelia, I'll keep you safe. Our pack will keep you safe." he vowed as he tenderly rocked her in his arms. "Please, tell me what's going on! What were you shown in your dream?"

She swallowed, a tight lump still present in her throat. "I was able to watch myself experience the event as a young girl but I was also experiencing it myself - through my own eyes as a grown woman - witnessing everything third-hand! I was warned, Adrian. He's going to come for me." She pointed at her dress and said quietly, "Somehow he knew I was there!"

"Shhh, shhh," Adrian cooed trying to console his mate, "we'll talk over everything as soon as we get inside the safety of the Capital Palace and the security of our Royal Storm Riders Pack, okay, My Moon? I won't let anything happen to you!" he promised.

Aurelia nodded in understanding as she peered out the window. She watched the sunrise gleam, spanning the horizon, reflecting off of the shining, cold waters of Lake Superior, casting pink and orange hues over the beautiful forest behind her. It's light keeping the darkness and her nightmares at bay, for now...