Chapter 22

Aphronia slowly regained consciousness and felt agony in every muscle and fiber of her body. The bastard had spent who knows how long torturing her. Not for information or her acquiescence, but for the simple and perverse joy it brought him. He had been cutting her skin, with slow and precise slices. Generating the most pain for the least amount of damage. Her abilities helped her heal quickly, but the psychological impact was hard on her.

She still had not eaten, and her hunger, coupled with the pain being inflicted on her, was making her delirious. She could barely lift her head but could smell the delicious fragrance of a stew nearby. She felt her stomach groan and felt her mouth attempt to salivate. Since she had drunk only minute amounts of water and she was feeling the effects of dehydration. She opened her eyes and looked on a rich, meaty stew sitting on a table near where she was secured.

“Ahh, so the bitch has decided to wake up,” the cloaked man said. “I was starting to wonder if you would, then I had the idea to try this stew. Lo and behold, the bitch wakes up and looks on it like it is the last meal she will ever eat.”

His last words pulled her mind from the muddled and disoriented state it had been in, into a much sharper focus.

“Ahh, there is the defiant bitch. I had thought I had broken you, but I am happy to see I have not done so, yet. Yes, this is to be your last meal. Our master has so decreed it and I am only happy to oblige. After tonight, I will no longer be needed to hide our master’s identity and, since I am no longer Voguel, I expect him to do one of two things. Ironically enough, he has to do but one act to get either result.

“I expect him to bite me and see if I can indeed be changed again. Then, I either turn on the next blood moon, or he will kill me. I know I should be upset at my possible death, but I have lived so long I am honestly tired. I have seen this province grow and change, been part of some of the first raids and watched their fear evolve into resistance. I have watched us fail, time and time again and with each failure an Old One dies. There are not many of us left and now that I am human, there is only the master.”

“What are you talking about?” Aphronia asked, her dry throat causing her voice to crack. “I am an Old One as well, if you have not forgotten!”

He laughed, “You are still young compared to us, girl. We are of the original pack, and he is one of the first three.”

Her eyes widened in shock and she could not believe what she was hearing. The three were a legend, one that she assumed was myth. She tried desperately to recall the story that she had heard so long ago.

They were three cousins who were out hunting one day, thousands of years ago. Their small village was low on food and the more experienced hunters were off on a hunt near the southern stretch. They were not sure what they were going to find, but they hoped it would be enough to get the village by until the hunting party returned.

They made their way north, deep into the vast wood. They moved as slowly and quietly as they could, but their clumsy movements scared off most prey. They were about to give up all hope when they happened onto a large dire wolf. It was feasting on the remains of a deer that had passed through moments before. Even with their clumsy movements, the wolf did not pay them any mind. It was too concerned with its meal and did not consider them a threat.

That was until one of them jammed his makeshift spear into the animal’s side. The hunter missed the heart and the beast whipped around to bite at him. The youngster jumped away and just missed getting his arm bitten off. They nervously stepped away as the wolf tried to tear the spear from its side. The other two were unsure if they wanted to approach it again and instead, kept their distance. When the wolf started to move towards the unarmed hunter, one of the others threw his spear, striking it right in the side of its thigh. The one who threw ducked into some bushes, leaving the last cousin standing with a spear still in his hand.

The wolf locked his sight on him and started charging. The man ran off, using the environment and strikes of his spear to keep the animal at bay. The man was having trouble maintaining the distance between them and the wolf was able to cut his leg with a graze of teeth. The deflected bite broke his spear in half. The man fell to the ground and the wolf jumped to finish its attack but could not move out of the way of the spear half the hunter thrust up towards the animal. The wolf cried in pain as the spear pierced its heart and it landed just past the man. The wolf tumbled a bit before crashing to the ground. The man watched the life drain from the wolf and as it closed its eyes.

An unearthly scream filled the air and reverberated off the trees. All three of the men felt their blood run cold and fear filled every fiber of their bodies. The two uninjured raced to where they had seen their cousin run and as they reached him, they came to a stop. They saw a tall, thin woman standing over the body of the wolf. Her face was filled with pain and despair as she looked upon the dead creature. She was garbed in a simple cloth dress, a crown of flowers in her hair. In a flash, her eyes moved towards the group and they began to feel a terrible pressure surround them.

“YOU!!” She screamed, causing the trees around them to shake from the force of her voice. “You little worms attacked my child! He did not do anything to you! He was dining on his kill and had ignored you. But, instead of moving on, you decided to hunt him, instead. He was my only child and you took him from me!”

The three cousins apologized profusely, hoping to alleviate her anger and hope to appease her. Instead it only angered her further. She cast out with her hand and gripped each of them with an unseen magic and lifting them up into the air.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she said, “You three will pay for this, for the rest of your miserable lives.”

The woman closed her eyes and began chanting in an unknown language. Moments later, her outstretched hand began to glow and the pressure around them increased. The glow brightened and soon an aura of the same colored light surrounded them. As soon as it started, the chanting stopped. She then opened her eyes, pointed her hand to the sky and said “Fortegio”.

The light shot from her hand like an arrow and the three watched it race up into the sky until it was out of sight. A few seconds later the sky burst full of the same color as her hand had been and they watched in horrified fascination as the full moon overhead began to change color. The moon went from its silvery white to a deep crimson.

“When the moon runs red with the blood of my child, you will change from human into something wild. On all fours with fur and teeth, you will hunt your foolish kind for meat. Until you die, the curse will spread and only end when all the cursed are dead.”

The three cried out in pain as they began to change under the red light of the moon. Their bodies writhing and warping as their human bodies slowly began to change. Their cries of pain soon became howls, as the three men finished changing into three wolves.

“This will be a painful reminder of what you have done to my child. You will learn soon enough the pain you inflicted on him, when your people do the same to you.”

She leaned down to pick up the dead wolf and in an instant, she was gone. The wolves were frightened and unsure what to do, or if they would be like this forever. Soon they felt the urge, one that would grow over time, demanding them to kill and feed on raw meat.

It was from that day forward that the three were cursed. They stuck to animals for the most part and were glad when the moon finally set, and they had changed back. They could not explain their lack of clothing and the villagers saw the change in the moon as a bad omen. When the next full moon came, they were anticipating another blood moon but were shocked that it was a normal one. It took two more months before it turned red again, and this time they were in the village when it happened.

By the time the sun had risen, one of the three was dead and a third of the village either dead or injured. The remaining two were cast out and shunned by those who had survived. They took what little they had and went north, hoping to find shelter. They came upon a cave and decided to use that as their home. They did what they could to survive and when the next red moon came, they stayed in the woods. However, something unexpected happened as two other wolves appeared and hunted with them.

When dawn came, they were shocked to find the two were villagers that they had attacked. They had somehow survived and could now change. Nearly thirty had been bitten but they had caught a fever and no medicine could stop it. When they survived, they were considered miracles, until they changed at the red moon and were drawn to the two cousins. Thus began the Voguel and their numbers grew and fell in that first century. It was during that time the two realized they were no longer aging and feeling stronger when they were wolves.