CHPT 273: The Scorn of Remus.

"I guess you don't know much. You have been getting your arse kicked for most of the time you've spent here..." Aline said carelessly while she used her magic to let the waters carry her around in practiced circles.

Samuel snarled angrily as his metaphorical hackles raised to points.

"The Scorn of Remus??...The most powerful Royal Family of the Lupines currently?? Housing the most PureBlood Lupines in existence??" She spouted off as if the facts would jog his memory.

"Even I know these things..." Bengal muttered.

"Yea, sorry I've been busy fighting to survive, you assholes..." Samuel snapped.

Aline ran a hand through her wet hair with a sigh as the light of the moon shone on her radiant smooth skin, "Our Alpha is the son of the Scorn Royal Bloodline. Dolion Scorn one of the four Pureblooded Lupines."

Samuel froze for a moment. He had just gotten answers to some of his deepest set questions. He wondered how close Dolion was to true power. And he'd gotten his answer. The strongest of Lupine power seemed to course through the his veins....literally.

He needed more information. But he didn't want to look thirsty for the knowledge held within Aline, so he went another route. "Hm. So he's royalty in the truest sense..."

Aline and Bengal nodded.

"The Scorn of Remus.....I understand it's the family name. But they had to do something to get that title, right?"

Aline nodded again, "Dolion's parents. Alastor and Reyla Scorn. Their union was the end of Romulus. I still remember it, they came out of nowhere. Reyla with Alastor in tow. They didn't leave a trace of the previous strongest pack, they even killed off any close associates in hiding. And then, as soon as they had the resources and manpower, they got to work. It was like the scorn Remus himself held for the Lupines of Romulus was channeled through them, the way they cleaned the earth of the stragglers was incredible. They even destroyed the WereWolf packs and Vampire Covens that associated with them. After that, there was no place left for them but the top. Then, they had their bloodline blessed by a Hexblade and gave birth to two Pureblood/Magically Gifted babies...twins. The first ever. Dolion and his sister, Agria."

Bengal nodded, confirming her perfect recollection of events.

Samuel's mouth felt like it lacked any source of liquids. What was once a plan to overcome his hill of adversity and rise through the ranks had changed drastically in a matter of seconds. That hill of difficulty he faced, it was no longer a hill. Now with the curtains of ignorance pulled free from his vision, the hill had transformed into a mountain...stacked on top of a canyon.

Dolion who was once someone he wanted to surpass now seemed incapable of being passed by anything. He hadn't even seen a single percentage of the Lupines power. He was a mess...a jumbled mess of raw power. Pureblood Lupine....Royalty....Wizard??? And Alpha. That's how he was able to bring Jack, Aiko and Dier under his wing.

He felt about as overwhelmed as a fly would at the bottom of an ocean.

"The Scorn of Remus have been on a constant upward ascent since then...up until a certain newly changed had a run in with the last Lupine of Romulus. If the others find out, the Scorn families entire claim to fame will be questioned. That's what's interesting about you to me, Samuel. You're tied to Dolion being able to prove himself to dear old mama...but also destined to disturb his family in a way a dozen wars couldn't...."

"Heavy shit..." Bengal muttered, shocking their shared cone of silence.

"Indeed. It. Is. So that makes me wonder, what makes you so special?" Aline asked again.

Samuel was ready to answer. But he honestly didn't know anymore. He didn't know anything. Until a question fizzled into his mind, feeling more important than any of his previous thoughts. "Why would someone like Doli--"

"Shhhh.." Aline quieted him with a finger to her lips while looking from him to the Alpha in the distance.

Samuel cleared his throat, "Why would Dolion need to prove himself to anyone? He sounds about as proven as it gets."

Aline shrugged, "Reyla is a cold woman. I'd never want to be raised by her. That very thing that allowed her to rip through hundreds of Shape-Shifters and enslave just as many explains why she probably isn't the best mother-- same goes for Alastor...but he's kind of a meathead. She only trained Dolion to lead, but she threw him out to face the world and change his followers a bit early. We still don't understand the Pureblood Lupine aging process. I think he's still a child in some aspects...he wants his mothers approval and he wants to prove that he's not just a boy who was handed a pack to lead with his closest confidants."

Samuel shook his head, "What the fuck is happening!?" He was on the verge of a mental breakdown at this point.

"What?" Aline asked in her english accent as if they weren't just discussing world-shattering topics.

Bengal looked like he needed a bag of popcorn while he leaned against the rivers edge and let the water run across his snow-white skin.

"You speak as if he's young....like very young." Samuel said.

Aline looked over him and Bengal, "Pureblood Lupines mature at a different speed than humans. How old are you both?"

"Seventeen...." Bengal replied.

"Fifteen." Samuel spat.

Aline nodded and began looking as if she was calculating, "Well. I'd say Dolion's around your ages...maybe younger. It feels like his fourteenth celebratory combat trial was only yesterday..."

The sounds of the outside world faded to nothing. The water was so cold it stung his goose-bump riddled flesh. His head felt as light as a feather before the weight of the world felt like it crashed straight into him in a flash. "No....No.....He is not that young. She can't remember things correctly. He's got to be at least thirty. He can't be fourteen....hell he can't even be nineteen! What the hell is this, there can't be people like him. My f-- Ronin is supposed to be the strongest....what is happening!?"

He was so still even Bengal looked worried as he rose to his full height and approached him. Samuel could see his lips moving, but no words fell on his ears.

When his hearing finally returned, he didn't hear Bengal or Aline anymore. Instead, he was watching their backs as Dolion spoke.

He thought he was hallucinating, the words were too fitting to their previous conversation. But, in truth, he knew what he was facing was reality. Every unfathomable and violent aspect was his reality. And Dolion's words promised to solidify that fact in the future.

"After the newly changed get a firm grasp on the Shifter's Dance and our history as a race, we will be returning home. You have a weeks time or you will be consumed by the strong."

It seemed that Samuel would meet true Lupine Royalty sooner than he thought. The question was if he'd even survive in their presence. Reyla and Alistor sounded like gods.....Shape-Shifter gods of death and destruction.

And in a weeks time. He'd enter their home, where The Scorn of Remus ruled over them all, if they found out he let Claude live, he'd be dead by nightfall....