The quest of Alpha Airen

~The reality~

They boarded the flight and took their various seats. Lola let out a deep breath of ease as she took her seat. They were one step closer to gaining their safety. She turned and faced Airen, letting out a little smile.

“It's going to be a long flight”, Lola stated.

She still had the smile on her face but her countenance immediately changed when she saw Airen's facial assertions and, from the look of things, he wasn't relaxed as he kept on sighing and moving about his seat.

She looked around the plane and found a young boy almost the same age as her with an iPod. She stood up from her seat and walked over to the boy and smiled softly at him while she greeted him before going down on her knees to speak to him.

“Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, but can I ask you for a favor?”, she whispered.

“Yeah, go-ahead”, the boy replied.

“Could you please lend me your iPod? You see, I misplaced my phone and my brother's on our way to the airport, and my brother needs music to calm his nerves while flying. I'm willing to pay to rent it until we get to our destination”, Lola explained.

She had omitted the part where she was the one who threw away their phone. Well, not like anyone expected her to tell a total stranger the actual truth.

The boy looked at her for a while, pondering on whether he should lend it to her or not.

“Okay, but just until we arrive at our destination”, the boy said, and lent it to her.

Lola put her hand in her pocket and was about to take out some cash, but the boy stopped her and said it was okay, she didn't need to pay him, and that he was happy to help.

“Thank you so much”, Lola vocalized her appreciation and went back to her seat cheerfully.

“Do you still have your extra AirPods with you?”, Lola asked Airen as she took her seat.

“Why?”, Arien turned around and gave her a weird look.

“Here”, she handed him the iPod with a big smile on her face.

“Where did you get it from?”, Airen queried. He scanned through the plane to see if there was a gadget store he had not noticed.

“I borrowed it from someone. Don't worry, he has his phone with him”, Lola explained.

“Hmmm”, Airen sighed and took the iPod without saying thanks to his sister who had gone out of her way to make sure he was comfortable. He opened his bag and took out his spare airpod, connected it to the iPod, and leaned back in his seat.

He shut his eyes, allowing the music to put his mind at ease.

“Ungrateful brat”, Lola muttered before shutting her eyes too.

Airen opened his eyes after some minutes and focused his gaze on his sister as tears formed in his eyes.

He kept on wondering what it was she was hiding from him.

Who was after them? Who was their mother's killer, and what was their reason for killing her? Where was Matthew? Was he dead or alive? And why were they moving to another continent without even burying their mother?

He just couldn't understand nor wrap his head around all that was happening. How had everything changed in less than three hours? Tears trailed down his cheeks as he closed his eyes. He hadn't even had the time to mourn his mother, but here he was on a plane to another country on an entirely different continent.

Lola turned around and opened her eyes as she couldn't bring herself to sleep. She saw the tears rolling down on her brother's cheek and held on to his hands, she squeezed them gently without uttering a word. She knew he needed to grieve even if it was for some seconds, he needed to let out those tears.

“Lo”, Airen cried out softly.

“What are we going to do without mama in our lives? How are we going to cope without her? She was everything, how are we expected to do this?”, Airen continued crying.

Lola began rubbing his hands as she comforted him. She assured him that they were going to find a way as they would have their mother's soul guiding them.

Airen wiped off his tears and buried his head on Lola's shoulder. She kissed him on his head and continued to comfort him.

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The two heartbroken siblings were fast asleep and didn't realize they had landed until the young boy, Lola, asked to lend her his iPod woke them up, and informed them that they had arrived at Cologne, Bonn, Germany.

“Miss, Miss, Miss”, he tapped on Lola's shoulder.

“Huh?”, Lola yawned as she opened her eyes.

“We have landed”, he informed her.

“Oh, thank you”, she said as she spread her arms out.

“Airen, Ren, wake up. We've landed”, Lola woke him up.

She collected the iPod and gave it back to the owner, but he told her she could keep it and give it to him much later when she had gotten a new phone.

“How am I…”, the boy cut her off by handing her a piece of paper with his number written on it.

“You can reach me on this number”, he said and winked at her before he left them.

“Ewww, did he just wink at you?”, Airen commented. Lola shrugged her shoulders and chuckled.

“Let's get off this plane first, we still have a long way to go”, she picked up the only bag they had and waited for Airen to leave first before she followed behind.

“Wow, a lot has changed since we left”, Lola observed.

She opened her arms wide and closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as she received the fresh breeze with the rays from the sun dancing on her face.

“Lola, can we be on our way now?”, Airen was becoming impatient as he was in a rush to get the answers to the questions he had been asking. If Lola did not tell him what he needed to know, the man whose name was written on the piece of paper his mother gave him would tell him.

“Way to be a vibe killer”, Lola sneered at him before calling for a taxi.

They both entered the taxi and the driver asked for their destination. Lola asked Airen to hand him the piece of paper their mother had given to him. The driver took the paper from Airen, his countenance immediately changed as he read the address written on it.

“Are you certain this is the correct place?”, The driver asked to be sure that they knew where they were going. He knew the danger that lurked around that place, and it wasn't a place for humans.

“If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't have boarded your taxi in the first place”, Lola snapped. It was no coincidence that she had stopped his taxi. She knew who he was.

“What is he talking about? Is the place dangerous?”, Airen whispered into Lola's ear.

“Don't stress yourself, Ren. Mama wouldn't send us to a dangerous place”, she replied, assuring him that the place was safe.

They had been on the road for more than an hour when Arien started mumbling under his breath, wondering how long it was going to take them before they arrived. He was about to ask when the driver announced that they had arrived.

“Where? There's nothing but trees here, Lo”, Airen looked around to be certain his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. All he could see were gigantic trees with trunks as thick as whole houses and branches that were so high up, they could not even be reached with ladders within the thick forest. To top it all, a thick fog had settled off into the forest, giving it a very eerie vibe. It did not exactly scream welcome.

“He doesn't know?”, The driver asked, looking at Lola, but she ignored him, she paid for their fare, and they got out of the car.

“You both should be safe out there”, the driver said before driving off.

“Lo, you aren't saying anything. You know what? I'm not moving an inch until you start explaining what the hell is going on. You have been keeping me in the dark all this while, and I'm fed up with it”, Airen flared upon his sister and stood his ground even with all of her attempts to convince him to move.

“Airen, I promise to explain every single thing to you once we get to the pub where we are supposed to meet Gamma Ashley”, Lola swore, but Airen refused to take her words seriously nor trust them.

“Airen!!”, Lola bellowed out his name, which startled him and also frightened him.

“I will not have you disrespect me. Mama and Matthew gave up their lives for you, so do not waste their sacrifice. You had better start walking before the rogue wolves grace us with their presence, and trust me, you wouldn't want that to happen”, Lola declared.

“Wolves? What are you talking about? Wolves …”, the sound of a growl made him shut up.

“What is that sound?”, Airen asked. He began shivering, and took a step backward. He looked over his shoulders to see if he could see what was making that sound.

“Run, run!!!”, Lola screamed as she sprinted with all her strength.

Airen began to run in no direction until they arrived at a dead-end. Airen was going crazy. What kind of forest had dead ends?

“Lola, we've reached a dead-end”, Airen yelled out.

“There's a handle that is in the shape of an arrow, pull it down”, Lola instructed, and Airen did as he was told. He pulled it down, and the door immediately started rolling up.

“Go under!! Quickly!!”, Lola yelled out and Airen ran under it. Lola followed as well. She pulled the handle up and the door started shutting down while the growling became louder as the wolves were closing on them. Just as the doors were about to completely shut, a gray wolf bounded out and was about to fly into the door when the door caught its paws and finally shut off, leaving the siblings to finally exhale.

“s**t, Jesus fxcking Christ, what was that? Those are the biggest dogs I have ever seen”, Airen bent down as he caught his breath.

“Those weren't dog Airen, Those were werewolves that have gone rogue. We just escaped death”, Lola revealed.

“Do werewolves actually exist?”, Airen questioned, shocked.

“Yes, they do and you, my dear brother, come from a lineage of the greatest and strongest werewolves in all Europe”. Way to go, Lola, dropping a bombshell on your brother just like that without an explanation, Lola thought as she stared at her brother who was standing like a sculpture as he attempted to distill her statement.