Chapter Six: Parting The Veil

Fen sighed, closing his eyes in the sunlit meadow that was his and Dylin's. He *knew* that he had promised to avoid the Veil, at least until after the wedding, but with the blight of the corn stalks, he had to know the cause.

He could feel the imbalanced shifting of nature around him, the malevolent presence disrupting the vegetable patch, and causing malignant black tumors on the first harvest of Autumn. It was not unlike the effects of the poison of Providence, and the effects on the human's crops. The very idea of the disease spreading this far from the Capitol gave the blue eyed Omega a grim foreboding.

So, he sat cross legged in the peaceful meadow, with his Anchor, Dylin, by his side. As a Celestial, Fen was able to easily slip across the border of the living world and the grey pathways of the Veil, the spirit world. He could simply meditate, and be instantly on the spectral plane, though not without risks.

Even for a Celestial, the grey woods held untold danger.

The only reassurance Fen needed, was the weight of Dylin's hand firmly upon his shoulder, ready to call him home at a second's notice. It was the unbreakable bond the two Wolves had, that Fen could find him even if he walked the ghostly paths.

Without the grounding force of his mate, Fen's attempts at traversing the Veil led to his mind trapped in the dim light of death, and his body slowly growing colder, as his spirit wandered farther away. Dylan had been his saviour in that moment, his presence felt even in his narrowing window to return. If he had waited even a few minutes more, he would have taken his last breath.

The pale Omega took a prepatory breath, looking into the green eyes of his mate, and nodded, as Dylin settled himself comfortably on the grass. "Wish me luck, my Alpha." He slowly closed his eyes, reclining in the grass, as he slipped past the border between the worlds. He heard Dylin's voice echo through the planes, but he was unable to understand the words.

When Fen opened his Wolf's eyes in the Veil, he saw the source of the corruption. The normally grim woods now spoke volumes of untold horrors, held from the mortal world by no more than a trail of glowing paw prints, their spectral blue light holding the nightmare realm in place.

Even with the barrier, the thick, pulsating tendrils of darkness crept ever nearer to the land of the living, radiating a sickness that lived in the minds of men, an evil heard of only in the darkest tales, the counterpoint to the light. The screams of damned would echoed in Tens ears as he stood on the protected side of the plane, his hackles raised as growls slipped from between his bared teeth.

His every instinct told him to flee, as an alien presence made itself known. It was a sick, mangled conscience, that reeked of mold and dark things lurking in forgotten darkness. Of rot and decay, and the inexorable march of death.

Just as Fen felt his feet carry him forward, tempted into the strange familiarity of the echoing mind, he heard Dylin's voice calling him home.

With a soft gasp, he opened his eyes to the bright daylight, feeling the sun warm his trembling limbs. He leaned into the arms around him, drawing strength from his mate, his reason to never succumb to that ancient evil.

"There was a creature there. It... It seemed like the essence of disease itself, turned into a weapon." Fen curled his fingers into Dylin's shirt, his voice shaking as he tried to convey his experience. "It's our quest, love. This... Creature, that is what we need to overcome."

"How?"

"I think it's time I opened that book."

Fen had been consciously avoiding the leather bound tome ever since he had been given it, its power causing his innate abilities to overwhelm him. He'd hidden the manuscript, but when his guard was down, as he slept, it called to him, like a familiar strain of music, heard in a dream.

Now, as his mat waited just beyond the cabin, Fen reached out to open the powerful artifact. His hand blurred between his forms as he pushed past the invisible resistance surrounding the book, leaving his hand fitted and clawed as the cover was lifted.

Instantly, a presence made itself known, as a wave of power leapt from the book. Fen felt his magic pulled from his body, tested in unknown ways as he was caught in its grip. He struggled in vain against the force, as the book tested his body, and deemed him worthy.

The interference stopped as quickly as it started, leaving the Omega with nothing more than a faint humming in his ears.

As he brushed his fingers over the pages, ink bloomed under his skin, revealing ancient prophecies, some not yet come to pass, and rituals to be performed under a blood moon. The secrets of Celestial lay between the thick tooled leather cover, written on the pages in a dark navy ink.

As he turned the last page, the humming in his ears grew to deafening heights, and a single sentence was all he saw before he collapsed.

*Follow the footsteps of Kaní, my son. Do not stray from your path.*

He saw two wolves, onyx and gold, racing toward a creature of pulsing darkness. Lighting arched along their path, following like they were its master. A voice spoke in the tones of falling leaves, and the whispers of wings...

*Beware....*

A man stood on a field of crimson, black liquid pouring from his eyes as the crows circled for their feast....

* All is not what it seems, my son...*

A white raven held clutched in its beak a stone of forged thunder...

*When the sun shines at midnight, the wolf of many worlds will see the path...*

A navy rose dangled from limp fingers. Its petals wept blood.

*The Shadow is coming for the Children of Gaia. Find the Thunderstone.

*Death draws near....*