Chapter-29 Click...Click...Death Walks

Deep within a shadowed emerald forest just outside Cherry City, there was a cave hidden beneath a the ivy and mist air. Inside, the air was thick… drenched in the scent of moss, wet stone… and blood.

The stench drifted all the way to the outskirts of the city. It bothered the residents, even knowing why, they just couldn't do anything about it.

Inside, the chamber walls glowed faintly from a few torches wedged into jagged stone, casting long, eerie shadows across the uneven cave.

One such shadow belonged to a towering, muscular werewolf. Their fur was grey with streaks of black, their presence like a storm barely held at bay. They stood near a crude stone throne, their voice booming with rage.

"You let them slaughter our people and walk away with everything? Supplies, weapons, skystones… everything!"

At the mouth of the cave, several werewolves stood watching, their eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

Kneeling before the throne was a younger werewolf, trembling. His arm was still wrapped in a bloodstained bandage, his head bowed low in shame... He said nothing.

It was the only wolf, in Zion family yard that he saw run away… His name is Kevi , and he once idolized Dren.

"What could've possibly gone so wrong?" the leader growled. "Because I've heard two versions… one where you got your ass kicked and ran away, and another where you were overrun by thirty guards."

"We…"

"Be quiet!"

The pack leader snarled and stepped down from his throne, looming over the kneeling youth.

"You know what those skystones meant. They weren't just power… they were the key to our evolution! We were supposed to rise from the caves and reclaim the cities. I bled for that dream! And you…" Dren's voice broke, just slightly. "You ran."

His lips curled back, exposing his long fangs. "The only reason I haven't torn your throat out is because you're my sister's pup."

"She died protecting this pack. And you've shamed her name."

He slashed the air with a clawed hand. Two guards stepped forward, grabbed the younger wolf roughly, and began dragging him toward one of the side tunnels.

The others silently looked on.

Suddenly, from deeper within the cavern… a voice echoed. It was calm, cold and more commanding.

"Take it easy on the boy, Dren. This loss means little in the grand scheme."

The pack leader, Dren, turned toward the voice.

A tall figure emerged from the shadows at the far end of the cave… a robed man with hollow eyes and pale, shimmering skin that caught the torchlight like fog on bone. Not a werewolf, not human… something in between.

"Whoever it may be skilled," the voice continued, smooth as silk. "He cannot stop what's coming. The Sky Eclipse nears. The gate will open. And your wolves will run freely."

Dren growled low… steadying his rapid breath. "You better be right, Priest. If he finds the Nest…"

"He won't," the priest interrupted, his eyes glinting. "He walks into shadows far deeper than he knows."

As his words echoed, a sudden, roar erupted from the tunnel, throughout the cave.

"ROOOOAR!"

Another, then screams… claws scraping against stone, bones breaking.

Dren's head snapped toward the sound, from the entrance."What the hell…?!"

The priest gaze narrowed, toward the tunnel as the chaos sound got closer. Paws pounded. Bodies collapsed…

At that moment, a figure stumbled into the chamber. One of the guards, deep claw marks shredded his chest.

"H-he's here… the attacker! He found…!"

Before the words could finish, the guard's body dropped to the ground, lifeless.

The torches flared, everyone shadows dancing madly across the stone.

"Click… Click…"

Dren heart raced, he was about rush forward. However, he heard slow footsteps approaching.

Followed by a voice.

"I believe you dropped something."

Dren's eyes followed the sound… then froze… Something rolled across the stone floor and bumped against his foot… He looked down.

His nephew's lifeless wide eyes, head stared back at him.

Everthing, went silent in the chamber. Time seemed tp stand still.

Only sound, was Lucian stepped into the light, black coat trailing behind him, boots tapping against blood-slick stone, his black coin rolled between his fingers. His silver eyes locked onto Dren.

Upon seeing him dead. Dren didn't speak… He hadn't meant to kill his nephew… he was blood, the last of it. But now he was dead. And still… Dren didn't rage, despite werewolves know to anger easily. Not yet. Despite his brutality, he mourns his sister privately every lunar cycle. He really cared for his nephew.

Behind him, the Priest stood still, his expression unreadable. The remaining werewolves lined the walls, tense, growling softly… but none dared attack.

Dren stepped forward, his voice rumbled like thunder.

"You dare walk into my den and strike down my kin?" he snarled. "You don't know what you've interrupted… vampire. You were never part of this war. You were never meant to be."

Lucian stopped just a few feet away, he tilted his head.

"You speak as if your plans are sacred," he said coldly. "As if the lives you take are justified by whispers in the dark."

"Especially, people who did something different in the city beside killing… Just because your a wolf, doesn't mean your kind could do like usual and conquer certain place like these."

Dren bared his fangs. "I've left your kind alone. Never hunted you. And still, you come here… You've crossed a line."

"You're not worth hunting, Dren. But now you've volunteered."

Lucian's eyes had fire behind them, voice dropping to a whisper sharp enough to cut steel. "I don't care about your rules. Or your reasons. You dragged people into this who only wanted peace. That girl… her family…"

He raised a dagger… silver and glinting under torchlight.

"There will be no mercy… in the name of peace."

Without another word. In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

Dren roared, his claws slicing through the air… but Lucian had already reappeared behind him, dagger flashing, his dagger met fur, then flesh… sparks flying from claw to blade.

Dren countered with brute force, every swing a hammer meant to kill. Lucian danced… cutting tendons, slicing muscle but Dren wasn't just brute strength. He was seasoned, swift. And when he landed a backhand, Lucian was hurled across the cavern, crashing into a stone pillar.

"You will regret coming here demon. I have traveled this whole continent, killed alot more demons, built my pack not for you come stop my plans and destroy me."

Known as The Fang of the North.

Dren led three successful raids on human towns before establishing the cave-Nest… He secretly feared Lucian's kind and had nightmares of red-eyed shadows in his youth.

Lucian groaned, blood running from his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"Really. That good because… You hit harder than the others," he muttered with a half-smile. "But not hard enough."

He surged forward again… faster this time, even deadlier.

His dagger slashed across Dren's side… then his throat, then his gut. Dren roared and grabbed him, slamming him into the ground, claws poised to rip out his throat.

"SHHK!"

A gasp, as the blade driven up clean through Dren's chest. He didn't anticipated, Lucian's fighting capability.

Dren froze, blood poured down his ribs like a river, he looked down, eyes widened as he staggered back.

"You…" he rasped, voice shaking.

Lucian leaned close, whispering in his ear as he twisted the blade.

"Mercy was spent."

Dren collapsed to his knees… then to the ground. The cave went silent, all around the chamber, wolves flinched in shared pain. Their connection to Dren told them… he was gone.

Despite his cruelty, he was still their leader. His death left a hollow echo.

Lucian stood motionless… The remaining wolves shrank back, afraid and uncertain.

His voice a low growl, not to mock… but to confess. "You think I'm judging you from some high place? No… I know what you did. Because I did worse."

His grip on the dagger trembled slightly. "I walked the same path. Used humans like tools. Told myself it was for the greater good."

He stepped back as Dren's body slumped. "But the difference is… I stopped. You didn't. You made it a legacy."

From the shadows, the Priest watched with unsettling calm.

"…Interesting," he murmured.

Lucian's gaze snapped to him, their eyes locking.

"Seems…" he coldly, "I'm not done."