Who and why?

He laughed.

Despite the fact that he very well knew the consequences, he laughed.

"What's next?" A man asked behind him and the laughter abruptly stopped. The boy turned to stare at the King, his Nik'sati moving at a rapid speed before slowly down, moving in reverse and then moving slowly until it stopped.

The King felt threatened by this scene as the boy had done nothing but stare while this had happened.

"What's next?" The boy asked, tilting his head to the side. "She'll kill the man and visit his house but not after collecting your information from him first. Then, she'll come here with someone you know and someone very close to you. Then she'll kill almost everyone you love. Including you."

The King seemed horrified with what he had heard. But he had a doubt. "What about you? Do you get to live?"

The boy smiled.

"Oh King Brown." The boy said, as if in pity. "I cannot die. If I die here, then I go back. You on the other hand, will die if you do not follow my instructions." The smile dropped from his face and morphed into a death stare. "You have no choice."

King Brown gulped, staring into the boy's eyes which held the promise of his demise.

***

Pax stumbled through the forest, drawing nearer to the veil.

She hid behind a tree and held her breath as she folded her skirt in between her legs so it was not seen by the creature chasing her.

She has tried to pick some fruits in the trees, climbing the branches when she found fruit stored inside the tree. She knew she was not to touch those but before she could even climb back down, the creature who had kept the fruits had sighted her and began to chase her.

It hissed in anger at the thought of Pax considering taking from its storage of fruits.

The creature had a head that seemed to have shruken down as its head was two sizes smaller then its body.

It had paws on the upper parts of its body and talons on the lower part. It resembled a bad mix between a flying beast and a prowling beast. A repulsive look but completely devastating attack prowess.

The creature had no eyes and nose but it had really sensitive ears and a large mouth that could swallow half of Pax in one large chomp.

Pax tried to control her heartbeat and held her breath as she shivered, waiting for the creature that was searching for her to leave.

Suddenly, it became quiet and Pax shivered some more. Sudden silence always spelled doom. Remembering that the creature could climb, she looked up to find the creature quickly but silently making his way down the tree, its mouth wide open as it was ready to chomp on Pax without her noticing.

Pax closed her eyes, expecting the worst when out of nowhere, a large wolf barreled into the creature and tired it apart.

It turned, growling and then suddenly stopped after seeing Pax. It sat on its heels and whined, its tail swishing in the air before it let out another low whine.

The wolf crouched and what looked like bones breaking and crawling under its skin appeared, filling the air with the disturbing sounds of bones breaking.

Pax stared in bewilderment as the wolf disturbingly morphed back into a young girl who looked bloody. Half of the blood seemed to be hers.

Pax stared for a while, wondering what a shifter was doing in this side of the veil when she knew this was not their natural habitat.

"Hey!" The shifter called out weakly as she stood, her wounds slowly but surely closing up. "Are you Raye Pax?"

Pax stilled, a chill running over her entire body before quickly snapping out of it and running to catch the girl who swayed.

"Yes I am. How do you...?" She asked, trailing as she watched the girl who seemed to be in a daze.

"The lady in cloak." The girl slumped after that Pax's heart jumped in her chest until she saw the chest of the girl rise and fall. She was only sleeping.

She stared at the naked girl with worry and then, grabbing her bag which had a few clothes that were tight fitted, she dressed the girl in them.

She noticed something odd, the shifter's sounds were closing slowly. Shifters were fast healers yet this one healed slowly.

She wondered why another random person and who this "lady in the cloak" was for her to tell two people her name and send them to her.

She realised she would have to wait until the girl awoke before having the answers to her questions.

She could wait but still, she was very hungry.

***

The girl shivered and woke up, the sky was dark and the moon was covered by the clouds. She could barely see at all despite her good eyesight.

"You are awake." A calm voice said beside her and she turned to try and find the person. She sniffed the air, hoping to catch the scent but there was nothing. As if no one was there.

She did not speak, wondering if it was perhaps her imagination until the voice spoke again. "Who did you save?"

At first, she wondered if it was the girl she had saved earlier but she knew by the scent that the girl was asleep. The one speaking to her sounded far older and more like a phantom.

Recieving no response, the voice asked again. "What is your name?"

"Elia." Came the soft voice of the girl. She did not want to give out her name but somehow she knew the voice would not leave her until she answered.

"That is not your name, Cloelia." The girl took in a sharp breath. And answered again. "My name is Cloelia Lupu."

The voice did not say anything after a while and Elia thought it had gone until it spoke again.

"Get your friend to come with you. Travel towards the song and you will find what she is looking for."

Before Elia could say anything else, she felt a whoosh and something crawl over her skin. When she woke up the next day, there was something drawn on her skin. "το σημάδι του λύκου" she whispered, staring at it in awe.[1] It was the drawing of a wolf's head on her left arm, deeply imprinted in black ink. It looked like the head had been torn off its body and trails of smoke fell out of the head.

[The mark of the wolf]

She had heard countless meaningless prophecies about the mark and knew that she had to follow the voice that had given her the mark.

When Pax awoke with a gasp, and letting out another on seeing the mark, she related all that had happened.

What she did not expect was for Pax to sigh and pick up her bag without being convinced to follow.

When she asked what was on her mind, Pax replied.

"If that mark appeared on your arm, and this early? I have no choice but to follow you."

It was completely out of the ordinary for Elia but she did not question it.

There was just one problem.

What was the song?

***

The witch doctor croaked, his eyes widened as he stared into Wara's eyes that blazed with fury.

"I-" he opened his mouth to speak but Wara squeezed his neck even tighter. "Think before you lie to me."

Wara had lost all sense of reasoning. The only thing on her mind was fury and the surprisingly strong urge to rip the man to shreds.

"Dakota." The man squeaked and Wara's hand loosened. The witch doctor gasped for air and spoke more clearly. "The witch with the dark hair."

Wara frowned, wondering why the man assumed she knew a witch.

"Describe this witch."

Yhra's eyes has widened in realisation as if already knowing who it was but Wara had not noticed this because she had her back to her.

"Tall. High cheekbones, a bent nose, reddish brown skin tone and coarse, dark hair. Almond-shaped, heavy eyes. Also, she seemed to really hate you." The man rubbed his throat as Wara had let go with a flinch.

She remembered Dakota. After all, she was the one who had tried to kill Zola the previous night and now, she had Zola.

"She left a message for you too." Wara's head snapped back up to stare at the man who now stood on his feet.

"She said that she would not kill him as he has much more worth alive than dead to her and also, his life garuantees that of her own child. All you need to do is present yourself to the Faery King and you will get him back."

Before Wara could say anything else, the man disappeared.

"The Faery King?" Wara whispered in bewilderment.

By now, Sica and Nak had appeared in the tent again. "The Faery King is someone far far away from here." Sica said, staring at the confused Wara.

"If he is far away. What does he want with me?" She asked. "And why would he take my son?"

She seemed lost, and confused.

"I can help with that." A voice spoke. An unfamiliar one to the women but by the way the men stilled, an expression of terror and relief crawling on to settle on their faces, they knew whom the voice belonged to.

"I know what the Faery King wants."