Chapter 4 World Eino

At night time, Luke ordered them to stop for the day. Seven tents were set up with an additional one for Valeria.

Left to him he'd rather she slept in the open cold but he didn't want her frail body to die from a cold before she served the purpose for which he had captured her. She was now drained both in divine powers and physically leading to her misleading fragile appearance.

Two werewolves would guard against any attempt to escape on her side. These two would swap with other werewolves after midnight.

After a dinner of meat roasted over fire, George and Aaman took guard. George was a huge and bulky man while Aaman was lean muscled and had a little softness to his features.

Not far from the two, Luke stood with another werewolf.

"Where is the elf?" He asked.

"She is in the carriage with our stock." Ceberus, a strict and sturdy man answered with his monotone voice and unreadable face.

"Send for the elf." Luke commanded, "And prepare the torture board."

Ceberus left to carry out the order he just received.

A small creature peeped through the open door of the carriage and climbed down from it like a child.

Facing Ceberus who had called for her, her form was really dwarfed in comparison. The elf, Dahlia, collected something from Ceberus and marched with her tiny legs towards Valeria's tent.

As she neared the two men guarding the tent, her steps slowed. She sent George a cute smile and blushed pink at his imposing figure.

The man seemed to not have noticed because he did not react at all. Dahlia tucked a strand of her wavy short hair behind her ear, slightly embarrassed as she breezed past him.

Valeria looked up from her sullen state of deep thinking to the strange child that was heading to her.

The little girl's paper white body contrasted with the green handmade gown and the darker green corset she had on. The disturbing strands of blond chin length curls were stuffed behind ears that were elongated at the top.

When the girl came closer, Valeria realized that the girl's face was young, yes, but it was older than that of a little child. She was a tiny lady.

Valeria's eyes, glossy from unshed tears, showed how stupefied she was. Peculiar things kept on coming her way today.

Valeria noticed the girls' slightly trembling hands that were carrying something.

Valeria had realized during her thinking time that quite a number of people that had met her today had appeared a bit scared of her. It could be because they all believed her to be some sort of witch.

With squinted eyes she observed the girl that was trying hard to control her breath. The girl stretched out her arms towards Valeria who was still in her cage.

Valeria leapt from her sitting position and grabbed the frightened girl's arms. The soft material that the girl had been offering Valeria reaches the ground soundlessly.

The girl's eyes widened and glistened with tears. She had not been expecting what happened.

Ceberus clearly told her that the witch could not harm her. "Her divine powers are almost exhausted," he had said. Now, how come the witch was looking at her with such scary eyes?

Valeria saw that impersonating what the girl feared and believed her to be was working. She put more pressure on the girl's wrist and made a shush sign with her other hand.

The elf nodded in terror and wondered why the guards hadn't activated their far hearing ability and running to her aid.

Valeria feared that the girl might pass out from fear and so she relaxed her grip so that the girl wasn't hurting.

"Where am I?" Valeria asked in what she believed to be a hushed threatening voice.

"World Eino." The girl answered immediately. She was too afraid of death to be wondering why an adult was asking that type of question.

Eino, what does this mean? Valeria had lost the ability to be more surprised. That was all she had been doing since she awoke -being surprised.

The elf's answer had rung a bell in Valeria's mind but she couldn't quite recall something.

"What is your name?" She asked more softly this time.

"I'm Dahlia." The elf's lips were trembling and her once rosy cheeks had long turned pale.

"Dahlia," Valeria's voice was almost pleading, "I need you to tell me, what is going on here?"

Dahlia was a bit shocked but still scared. The bad witch was behaving strangely and out of character.

"Uhm, the thing is," Cold sweat trickled down Dahlia's forehead, "Alpha Luke is taking you captive to seek for the cure to the curse."

"What?!" The jargon flew over Valeria's head.

Dahlia was too frightened to repeat herself and silently prayed that Valeria won't get mad at her blunt reply.

Valeria shook her head. She had no time for this. "Go steal the keys for me."

A tear really dropped from Dahlia's eye this time. "I'd sooner die than lay my hand on that."

The girl was shaking, "Please do understand. I am just an elf budded from a weak green Dahlia flower. Even if I summon my whole energy, I won't be able to hurt a finger of a Werewolf Clan's alpha. I would just be courting death and becoming a doomed traitor."

Valeria recalled it now. Eino, alpha, Werewolf Clan, elf, curse, Desert Clan, Princess Eleri Alphelion...

Those were some characters and places in the story she had been reading, "Voyage With The Weres."

How could it have taken her so long to realize?

She had become a character in a book!

Valeria was almost freaking out. She let go of Dahlia and replaced it with the rods to steady herself. She could feel a migraine kicking up the dust.

She held her head in place thinking as a tear cascaded down her face.

Valeria's gaze darkened. It had to be the work of the illusionary machine. Pandora forgot it on Valeria's nightstand.

Finally, Pandora had proven to Valeria what an invention genius she and Helix were. Unfortunately she took Valeria on a whole different dimension of the world to realize that.

Valeria didn't know if she should be feeling sad that she had underestimated and never really understood Pandora or if she should feel proud of her sister or more sad because she was a victim of such a dangerous invention.

"Voyage With The Weres" is a story about a witch which apparently has had her name and character now replaced by Valeria.

There existed the Werewolf Clan, Desert Clan, White Witch Clan, Monster Clan, Lost City Clan, Elf City Clan and Vampire Clan. The seven clans had lived in peace for as long as any creature could remember.

The Werewolf Clan had been the most powerful and most populated as they had a total of three packs: The Brotherhood Pack, Crimson Shadow Pack and the Night Howler's Pack whose alpha was Luke Alston.

That natural peace had reigned until one day, the elfs suddenly went berserk as though on some kind of drug and attacked the Brotherhood Pack which was closet to their clan.

The weak elfs surprisingly gained an upper hand in less than a day and attacked the Crimson Shadow Pack next.

When Luke was informed that his missing Luna was in Crimson Shadow Pack and in distress, he took some men with him and went to put an end to the madness the elfs were starting. The Dark Battle intensified as Luke severed and ripped off heads in search of his mate.

The storm had come and gone when he finally found her, lying in a pool of her own blood. Lyna's flesh had hung loosely from her body. She had obvious claw marks on her and her body had been roasted by a witch's sorcery.

Beside Lyna laid the roasted dead body of Islar, Crimson Shadow's alpha. He had been put under a spell that had made him attack Lyna. As the witch was not strong enough to face Luke's mate, she had borrowed a body.

At the end of the Dark Battle, all the elfs were dead and many werewolves had lost their lives, dead bodies littered everywhere.

It was at this point that Valeria, the shriveled and crazed witch had come closer with blood stained hands and the only existing alpha was cursed to from then on, witness the doom of his clan and disappeared.

When Luke returned, half his pack had already been devoured by the curse.

No one knew why Lyna had been at Crimson Shadow Pack. All people could firmly attest to was that the witch had appeared at the Dark Battle to cause disaster but after that battle, the whole witches in the White Witch Clan died without a cause.

Luke had regrouped with other werewolves that had lost their pack. He searched for the damned witch for four years and finally found her.

Valeria tried hard to recall the rest of the story but her mind remained blank as though a stronger force was shutting it away from her.