The Gate of Shadows

Dazed, I wondered why Fenris stopped when I wanted more, unable to help my hips from bucking into him. However, before I could carry on, he clasped onto my hips, preventing me from moving; there, I saw his ears twitching to a stimulus.

An explosion from the plaza soon followed it, filling the surrounding air with screams.

“Shit,” he cursed, shifting his gaze towards me.

His eyes were wide open, biting onto his lips, alerting me he was wary of what was happening. Separating from me, he grabbed my hand, pulling me towards where the explosions happened. His warrior instincts flared, but he wasn’t about to leave me behind.

The moment we left the alley, yet another blast came from a bakery in front of us. Body parts dropped from the sky because of it. Fenris grabbed my waist, holding me tightly, scanning his surroundings for any clue as to what was happening.

People screamed in a panic as they ran away from the source, only to find yet another horror waiting for them as detonations kept occurring all over the place. Nowhere was safe from the looks of it.

Protectively, Fenris shifted for me to get on him, wasting little time; I got on his back. We quickly made our escape towards Cerberus. Swiftly, he ran through the town, avoiding every explosion before it occurred. They were of magical origin for him to know where they would go off.

Lycans could hear the magic cumulating right before the caster finished the spell. That was why Stella's coven made their base right outside of Silverant. It was also why she was so angry to have Lycans close to her when the ritualistic spell was about to be done.

It was just another reason they were the apex of races. The wolves were entirely immune to elemental magi, but for sacrificial magic like ours, they had to be careful with it. From the appearance of the explosion, elemental magic wasn’t the source.

They had green flames erupting from them, leaving little doubt about what originated them. Suddenly, Fenris stopped dead in his tracks when an explosion happened right before us, blocking our escape. All the eruptions around Silverant made it hard to tell where the caster was.

Suddenly, they overwhelmed Fenris's senses, preventing him from knowing which way to take, freezing him where he stood. It was distressing to see him confused about where to go to keep us both safe.

Lilith! Left! Shade yelled within me, alarmed by something headed towards us.

Even though I didn’t know what she saw, I cast a spell without hesitation, knowing she wouldn’t lead me astray. Luckily, I always carried flowers in a pouch for quick spells. However, blood was usually a more powerful sacrifice to use.

"Obice impenetrabilia." I muttered rapidly, creating a small barrier around us.

It stopped the incoming attack in its tracks; whether they were magical or physical, it didn’t matter. However, when my eyes focused on the source, my body ran cold, draining me of every ounce of courage.

I recognized something that the Lycans had destroyed thousands of years ago.

It can't be... How?

The only reason I linked it was because of a book I had to study when I was with the sisters. My grandmother’s grimoire depicted it, and she burned that book into my memory. I could recite the entire thing by memory, and that image was unmistakable to me.

Before I could say anything to Fenris, someone from the shadows laughed, catching his attention instead.

"A witch and a Lycan? What a comical betrayal." A man announced beyond the darkness.

With brief hesitation, Fenris went to launch where the man was, only to be stopped by Shade and me when I yanked on his fur as hard as I could. At the same time, she bit into one of his ears to catch his attention back to us.

He hadn’t seen the danger, but I wouldn’t take my chances.

Even if one of those scratches you, you’ll...

"You can't! We have to leave! Now!" I screamed.

My voice echoed through the street, and my heart raced, making everything appear slow. That was when a familiar sensation coursed through me. A throb pulsed through me, releasing a wave of energy that caused time and space to warp around us.

A blue vortex opened below us, leaving us little choice before it consumed us. In the blink of an eye, we were in complete free fall, traveling between realms. Unwittingly, I opened a gate, pulling us into the nether realm where light bent around us as we reached the end of the in-between.

A blinding blue light made us close our eyes before finding ourselves in an eerie world when we could finally see again. It tinted everything around us blue, almost like something put a filter around our eyes, blocking every other color.

Well, all but the black that the demons displayed. In front of us, they walked into their world, ignoring our very presence. It was almost as if they didn’t care we were there, peaceful while they interacted with each other.

Shade hadn’t changed forms either, remaining on Fenris's head, comfortably looking back at her homeworld. However, the wolf tensed up upon realizing what he was seeing. Defensively, he took a few steps back, only to fall into another warp that took us back to our world.

It took us away from the explosions and back to our room in the Cerberus building. Unable to comprehend what had happened, Fenris stood still while I jumped off him and sat on my bed. Clasping my hands together, I tried to calm myself.

What happened? No... What did I do?

Fear ruled my soul the moment I saw what was reflected by the barrier.

A knife radiating purple… It can't be! That plant is extinct! There's no way anyone... No... I think... that book mentioned someone... No, I don't want to feel anything!

Nothing magical was that radiant before unless the caster mixed it with wolfsbane. Yet that plant went extinct about the same time the first gate opened. The Lycans made sure they had burned it all down.

How?! Why does it fit the description in Stella's book?! I...

Glancing at my arm, I noticed my bracelet responsible for controlling my emotions wasn’t shining. Even though I was shaking, it was silent, alerting me the damn thing wasn’t blocking anything anymore.

Coming back to reality, Fenris shifted back into his humanoid form, running to me. Worriedly, he called me, but I couldn’t move my stare from the useless crystal. It wasn't long until I grabbed onto it, ripping it off my arm and throwing it towards the wall in front of us.

For how long hasn’t it worked? Years?

Worst yet, I didn’t know how to suppress this fear I had only felt once on that day fourteen years ago when the sisters said they wanted to harm Fenris.  My wolf hugged me even though he had no idea what was wrong with me. 

I screamed incoherently, tears running down my cheeks. The world could do whatever it wanted to me.

You can ravish, brutalize, and even scorn me. I don’t care! But don’t you dare hurt my light! I won’t allow it!

Lily… Shade whispered, pawing at my feet.

No one will receive my mercy if they harm my light. My beautiful light...

Fenris held me tightly throughout the night, hearing mayhem in the distance. However, he faithfully stayed by me as his duty dictated. Though that wasn’t the real reason, he remained.

I was inconsolable, even though I was in his arms. There was no way to tell what would happen if he left me. He whispered sweet things to me, holding me closer to his chest, allowing me to hear the beat of his heart, yet I couldn’t stop the feeling of dread that filled me.

If I ever were to lose Fenris, then this world would have no meaning. Eventually, I fell asleep in his embrace from all the crying. I didn’t even notice when Ben arrived to check on us while everyone else was scrambling to stop the chaos.

A darkness planted by Stella all those years ago arose within me. My obsession with the wolf that had brought me into the light slowly chipped at my sanity. I was on Fenris's lap when I woke up the next day. He stayed awake the entire night, looking after me with Ben.

His brother appeared to pace back and forth with Shade on his shoulder. He was one of her favorites among everyone she had ever interacted with. Fenris gently stroked my hair before stopping, noticing I was up.

I slowly got up from the bed, wiping my eyes of any trace of my slumber. Ben smiled when I glanced towards him when someone knocked at the door loudly. Standing up from beside me, Fenris went to answer the door.

“How are you, Lilith?” He asked, reaching to pet my head.

His younger brother hadn’t told him about what I did yesterday.

“I’m fine, a little rattled, is all,” I mumbled, feeling tiny at his touch.

Fenris opened the door to reveal a distressed Layla behind it. With a brief hesitation, she jumped into him, not realizing Ben and I were in the room. Her sudden launch made the startled wolf stumble onto his bed behind them.

"Fenris! I was so worried!" Layla burst, clinging to him.

However, his eyes twitched as he flashed his fangs at her, thanks to the tackle he received out of nowhere. After everything that happened in his mind, there was no space to deal with his fiancée.

"Get off—" he tried to speak, only to be interrupted by Layla's lips crashing onto him.

For a moment, he couldn’t comprehend what had happened, but the moment she licked his lips, he shoved her away. She fell right off the bed and onto the floor.

"Ouch! Why are you always so cold to me?! That’s no way to treat your future wife! I thought I would never see you again!" Layla whined, pouncing on the young silver wolf again.

She had no self-control for her fiancé, even if it bothered him.

"What the—" Fenris was about to curse at Layla, but Ben stepped in, noticing his mood before it got ugly.

"Oh, Layla! What a lovely coincidence." Ben tried to calm the situation down.

The moment the white wolf heard his voice, her cheeks went bright pink, giving Fenris a break to catch his grip. Usually, he could deflect her attempts to kiss him with a calm attitude, but what happened last night made him unable to deal with her.

It wasn’t the first time I had seen her do that too, but this time, I took particular solace in where his mouth was the previous day—a devilish thought from a tainted witch.