chapter 2

Taking a life with a clear conscience was once considered the most heinous act one could commit, whether in the eyes of the all-seeing law or the innate moral compass that humans possessed.

Nowadays, death was easy; murder—child's play. Those at the top of the food chain consumed those below. The powerful built their fever dreams on the caskets of the poor and powerless, while justice stayed put in unending slumber. The so-called moral compass had been replaced by all-consuming greed.

Moros knew this well; he grew up in it, survived in it.

His younger, naive, and righteous self had been adamant about finding at least a semblance of justice, of kindness among the monsters who called themselves human. But that strength soon shattered, taking his last bit of kindnese with it

Moros started to see clearly and vividly—the world waited for none. It took and took. So, you must take as well. You must fight. You must kill.

Yet sometimes, Moros felt remorse for the shell he shed, for the soul he sold. He mourned the boy who hated blood , and even mourned the man he had become.

Moros sat in front of his family, their eyes fixated on him. His mother and aunts looked tired. Meghna and Mara looked tired. And then there was Katana—his young,rebellious sister Katana—who looked at him in absolute confusion. She sat between her mother and cousin, appearing lost . She was not supposed to attend the meeting; her initiation was not untill next year. Perhaps, aunt Afeem could not bear to leave her unprotected. Not today.

Before Moros could do something about katana, Meghna spoke up.

"Yapum Liberation Front has been gaining momentum in all southeastern countries. At this rate, the entire continent of Astromir will lean towards their ideologies!" Meghna said, sounding as pissed as she looked. Her eyes glowed, the fireplace making them look even more dazzling.

Moros sighed. Meghna's frustration mirrored his own. The Yapum Front was aggressively using all their strength and assets to turn their political party into a global institution. Their policies clearly reflected their sole goal—world domination. And to his utter horror, their skilled actions were slowly but surely succeeding.

"May, aunty, will you guys tell me what's going on? Why are we gathered here like some cult? Why won't any of you look me in the eye? Why are we even discussing politics?" Katana's voice startled them all. The young teen was as fierce as her mother.

"Kat, keep your voice down and behave. All will be explained in due time," Aunt Afeem said, looking at Moros with apologetic eyes. "Sorry, Moros, bringing her here without the initiation was unwise. I—I just couldn't leave her without any of us to guard. Not today. "

Moros looked at the helpless woman that was his aunt. No mother deserved to live in the fear of loosing her child.

Today, katana sat between her loved ones; those who looked after her. But if Moros was to go ahead with intended actions, Katana would have to be prepared. If she faced the enemy in future, she should at least recognize them as such.

"No, aunty, she is right. She needs to hear it. She needs to learn it. The initiation should be commenced today. Waiting for a good day never ends well," Moros said. He knew it was impulsive, but Katana was growing up. Fate didn't wait for coming-of-age, neither did death. Moros would have her devastated than dead.

" Moros, child, she is thirteen. Let's just take a step ba—" his mother tried.

" And our enemies will wait? " Moros cut her off.

Moros wanted to be a good brother for her. He desperately wanted to give her a good life, one where she would grow up without the poison that threatened to consume him, but fate was impartial to all. So, she needed to know what she was made of, why she breathed, why she must be strong.

Aunt Afeem wanted to protest, out of the last bit of maternal love she could muster. Moros knew—he understood. But perhaps she, too, knew what tender emotions might cost. She held her voice.

"One more minute of you guys acting like this, and I swear I'm gonna scream," Katana got up from her seat and yelled. Her impatience was well within her rights. Moros knew the situation she was about to be put in was beyond cruel for a thirteen-year-old.

The teen's eyes glowed as her anger shot up. Her vivid eyes looked at her family, awaiting an explanation.

Moros's mother looked at him with helpless eyes. Moros wanted to comfort her, to tell her lies that it was okay, it was alright.

"Today is the day your father died," Aunt Afeem gritted out. "Today is the day your uncle, Moros's father, and the people who cared for you died. Today is the day half of your clan died—the clan that was your family, your blood. Today is the day women of our household were widowed and left to rot. Today is the day of the damnation of our family, your family."

It was inhuman. Inhuman.

His family thought the same; he could feel it. Meghna and Mara looked at Katana with pity and sorrow. Pity for the sister they, too, would not be able to protect. Sorrow for the same history they shared.

Aunt Alana was a strong woman. But even the strongest of stones crumbled under the weight of mountains. Perhaps, watching her niece tremble at the revelation of their tragedy was the mountain she dreaded.

The room felt small. The air felt suffocating.

"Wh—what? What are you saying... You... You said it was an accident... You said... Our clan... You—" The rest of Katana's sentence was buried by the heart-wrenching sound of her sobs. Tears started falling relentlessly from her bloodshot eyes. Her whole body trembled like a lone leaf on a stormy night.

And Moros, he was helpless. Just like he was eleven years ago. If anyone wanted to console her, they didn't step up. Katana needed to cry.

Inhuman—Moros was inhuman.

Katana's sobs continued. She mourned. The lycan counterpart of her soul recognized the loss of her clan that her human part couldn't. It mourned that its clan was taken away, not lost.

Her human part could only feel grief for people she knew and understood were important. But her lycan counterpart went beyond familial bonds.

The little girl was undoubtedly struggling with the emotions she felt right now.

None of them dared to look her in the eye.

After what felt like an eon, katana finally stopped. Her black orbs stared helplessly at her family.

" I... my lycan part is... Trying to claw out... I don't know what's happening, " Katana whimpered. She tried to walk towards the fire place, but her legs gave out , and she dropped to the floor. In a panicked frenzy, aunt Afeem strode towards her and embraced her tightly. But katana continued to whimper out pained noises.

The air filled with calming pheromones from aunt Afeem. However, It only seemed to agitate katana's lycan more. Her fangs came out, and her eyes glowed like a forest fire.

" Enough! "

For a minute, Moros could not recognize his own voice. His body felt foreign and familiar simultaneously. His heart beat fastened as he felt his body heating up.only when his eyes landed on his mother did he come back to his senses. His mother was kneeling in front of him and so was his family. Their heads hung low, and their pheromones smelled of submission.

Then it dawned to Moros— he had used the alpha command.

Controll, as intoxicating the concept was to the world, did not come effortlessly to Moros, since most of his life he had struggled with the lack of it. So when his inevitable biology demaned the control and power, it usually came like shock-waves, like outburts of all consuming madness. And the madness reflected—reflected through cowering heads of his famliy that trembled with fear instead of respect for his alpha command; even his own mother.

"Rise, " Moros said. He didn't revoke the alpha command from his voice.

His family rose to their feet, along with katana. Meghna held katana to steady her posture. The kid had just experienced her first alpha command.

Moros felt horrible.

Meghna looked at Moros with understanding. She always had knows Moros's ups and down, even when he, himself, wasn't aware.

" katana, I wish the circumstances had been different, and I could teach you things as a brother, as family, " Moros spoke as his cousin looked at him teary eyes, " but Sometimes god needs us to be strong. So today, as your clan leader, I will initiate you as an official member and a contributing wolf who will share the honor of our clan. And I will share the history of your family that you deserve. "

katana looked at him with, her face a mixture of hurt, confusion, and foreign determination. He had expected more defiance and protests; his cousin was not one to accept orders or betrayals or deceit. But katana bowed her head ever so slightly and murmured:" yes, Alpha. "

______________________________________

"Ivan Salvia Carter, your uncle and my father, was the man one could only dream to be. He, along with his brothers, started the student revolution union against the dictatorial government of Astromir, the country of our true roots ," Moros narrated. Katana held her mother's hand like a lifeline as their families sat around the fire. Meghna and Mara hugged aunt Alana , and his mother, his mother looked at him like a spirit who had lived thousands of years. Katana was experiencing her initiation, but for others ,it was a tale they lived.

"the student revolution union soon shaped into a political institution of resistance against the monarchal government; and thus, yapum Liberation front was born. The YLF brought a wave of democracy among the common folks; It gave birth to thousand of protests, democratic news papers, writers, and many more which fuelled a reelection. The government used all their resources, man power to stop it. Atrocities of all kinds were inflicted on those who shared the ideologies of YLF. But the carter clan stood like walls of rock. Many wolves lost their lives in protests. My father and uncles even had to go to jail. It had become an international affair— Three brother, all in their early twenties, carried out a revolution, a force to change the people, the wave, the era. The elections declared the results. YPL had the mojority of eighty six percent of seats in Parliament. Democracy had won. "

Moros stopped for a minute. His voice stuck by the nostalgia, the reminiscence. He grew with these stories; he is made of these stories. He is made of the history that was his father. He grew up studying his father.

" Our family was the body to the soul that was the People of Astromir, " Mara spokeup. His family smiled. A rare thing.

" the next twenty fours years Astromir basked in the glory of well constructed governance and flourished in the economic growth. Our family, initially ground worker, had only taken authority roles after five years of YPL winning. My dad had been elected as the president and uncle Maris and Anthony had been vice president and cabinet supreme. The country, despite elections in every five years, kept

Re-electing them."

Moros looked at katana. The story was not hers, he knew that. The girl didn't know these people,never met her father or uncles. Yet her eyes glowed with pride. Katan was Moros's shadow. It was indeed the truth.

" If they ruled for twenty four years. What happened after that? Di— did the assassination take place after that? " katana asked with fear in her eyes. She might have not mourned for the father she never saw. But she did mourn the absence of the idea— religiously. One is not immune to the vulnerability the absence brings.

"No, the first chapter of the assasinaton had been writing itself since the tenth year of YPL government ," Mara said.

His entire family knew the bloody history that was carved onto their backs, but Mara had learned that history by heart. She sew together each cloth of their past and made a canvas out of it. She knew each stone of the road that lead to their tragedy. It was both an obsessions and a coping mechanism for her.

Katana turned towards her sister, and Mara stood up from her seat and held her hand. She looked katana in the eye, with flaming eyes.

" The dogs begin to conspire treason before the lion even sits the throne, " Mara said to katana. Her voice held the fire they all shared.

Moros's wolf howled in rage. And Armand's words came to his mind: " We all know how we were created, but its of utmost importance that we keep reminding ourselves of it. ""

" When the revolution led by YLF had started to gain weight, the powerbearers of previous government used their resources on gathering old allies. They trained small groups of rebels to meticulously attack the revolutionaries. But the majority of military had already resigned and whatever had remained could not gain momentum against masses of the students. Once the YLF government formed, the previous government retreated to neighbouring nations for safety—but their resistance remained. They kept organizing small attacks over the years, but it did no damage," Mara took a breath,"That was until... " Mara stopped.

A growl left aunt Alana's lips, her body going rigid. His mother held her, knowing it would not help.

Moros's eyes found Mara's Her lycan reached out to him through their bond, asking for help.

His heart dropped.

" Until what , atte? " Katana asked, her seeking eyes fixated on Mara.

" Until they managed their first strike on the Carter family. Until they managed to attack my unarmed husband, on a peace tour. Until they left his paralyzed body on display at the house of parliament. That was perhaps the moment when devil had risen."

Aunt Alana's voice lacked the strength the woman innately possessed. She looked a broken being. She was a broken being.

Katana was no longer standing; she had dropped on her knees again.

" Did we fight? Did we fight when they came to kill. To put the final nail on the coffin. Did we fight when they killed my dad, your dad?"

Moros just heard screams at katana's question.

Terrifying screams.