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1 day later...

Everything around Myorakk was silent. He had been in that cramped cell for what he thought was a little over a day. The only life that he could detect were the bats that decided to make this cave their new home. All the others of his kind had left this place in a hurry and seemed to have forgot about him completely.

Judging by their actions, something drastic must have happened. Most likely, that meant that the wolfen were successful and Erebos was now dead. However, if that was all that happened, then they shouldn't have left the safety of the cave. He wasn't an expert on how they thought, but from what he did know, they should have done the complete opposite. Whatever it was, it was big. And Myorakk was scared of what it might be.

He grabbed one of the bars and shook it back and forth. It was pretty loose, but it was still a ways from coming free. With one of his claws, he resumed what he had been working on; slowly scratching away the stone that the bars had been inserted into. It was very slow work, but he only needed to get two or three of the bars free before he could squeeze himself through and escape. At the pace he was going, he should be out of here in about two days. He just hoped that his claws wouldn't become too dull before he was done.

/. /. /.

All around the clearing in the forest, all of the wolfen sat in silence. The grief from Nari's unexpected death was still fresh. It is not very often that they lose a member to something than age-induced illnesses. To lose someone so young hit them all hard.

As was their tradition to pay respects to the ones they lose, they dedicated the previous day to her life. Everyone shared many stories and memories of her. It was difficult for everyone to do this. There wasn't a single one of them that could contain the tears from flowing. Today, everyone remained in silence, barely speaking a word unless necessary. Nobody felt like being the one to break the silence, so they just sat by themselves with their thoughts.

Verik, sitting down on the ground against a tree, looked up into the night sky. He could still see the vague outline of the rift that opened. By yesterday evening, the steady flow of demons ceased. He hated to think about what happened to the area around where they landed. If there were any human cities or wolfen packs, then they would all have been slaughtered.

There was nothing that any of them could do about it except sit here and wait until tomorrow when they would meet with the king of the human city and actually make some progress...hopefully. He had faith that he would make the right decision and make peace between them, but Jack warned him that he can be quite stubborn and cowardly at times. Most likely, they have already seen this rift appear and the army poor out of it. Denying allies after seeing the great threat appear would be downright brainless.

Verik chuckled humorlessly. Normally, the idea of peace between the two species would have all of them excited and celebrating. However, with everything seeming so dark and grim, it was hard to lift their spirits. They knew that there would probably be much death in the near future.

Emmaline, who had been spending a little time with everyone and providing some much needed comfort, walked over to Verik. She sat down next to him and looked him in the eyes. "You doing okay?" She asked with genuine concern.

He just shrugged. "I didn't know her very well, but we had some kind of connection. I can't explain it, but the first time I met her, I knew we would become good friends. Maybe even something more, and she felt the same way. She was special...she shouldn't have died..." Tears started to build up, threatening to spill out. Trying to hold them back, he growled and got to his feet.

Emmaline got up with him and hugged him tightly. "You blame yourself for her death. It wasn't your fault."

"The demon was trying to kill me. I should have been the one to die, not her!" He clinched his fists as anger towards himself rushed through him. "I killed Erebos completely by myself. I had the power to save her, but I couldn't..."

"The only way you could have saved her was if you knew the attack was coming, but you had no way of knowing. No one did."

Verik sighed and started walking off into the forest. "I need a change of scenery. This place is ruining my mood. Feel free to join me if you want." He didn't say it, but he wanted her company more than anything at that moment.

Emmaline apparently caught a glimpse of his feelings because she caught up with him and walked side by side with him, leaning her head on his shoulder. They walked together in silence until they reached the end of the forest.

He sat down in the grass and looked over the many hills. The moon was very bright, illuminating the whole area in its beautiful white light. The peaceful scene gave him a little reprieve from his aching sadness. "It's so beautiful..." Verik said quietly. "If I didn't know any better, it would almost seem as if everything is perfect."

"Take it all in while you can." Emmaline said. "In not too long, most of the ground will be destroyed by fire or stained with the blood of fallen fighters."

Verik lifted an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you supposed to be the optimistic one?"

She shrugged and sat down next to him. "I'm just saying what I see. Also, I know you. Being optimistic when there is no basis for it may give comfort to most of our pack, but not you. You'd rather hear things as they are. You get deal with things by preparing for the worst. Am I correct?"

Verik grinned and nodded. "You know me well. I assume you got that information straight from my head."

"I can't control what my mind picks up. Sometimes it's a blessing, but other times it seems more like a curse. Knowing how someone really feels or what they are thinking can give me information that I would rather not know."

"That's probably true," Verik responded, "but for the time ahead, it might be very beneficial to be able to understand everyone deeper." He waited for a few seconds before asking her, "Have you ever tried to use your abilities to its full potential?"

Emmaline looked a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"Watch me." Verik said and then closed his eyes. Pushing all other thoughts from his head, he focused on a single task. Once his mind was sufficiently cleared, he released the energy stored inside of him. Warmth covered his skin and he saw a bright light through his closed eyes, and he knew that it worked.

He opened his eyes and saw that all over his fur, a bright orange flame covered it, yet did not burn him. Airulla jumped back a few feet and had a concerned look on her face. "Don't worry." Verik told her calmly. "I'm in control. The trick is to clear your mind of all unnecessary thoughts so you can focus everything at the desired task. It takes a lot of work, but once you have achieved this, that is when you will be the strongest." He let the flames disappear and then waved his hand at her. "You try it."

Emmaline imitated his position and closed her eyes. She sat still for several seconds before scrunching her brows in concentration. He was about to tell her to take her time and relax, but she did that on her own. She let out a deep breath leaned her head back.

While she was sitting there with her eyes closed, Verik stared at her. Her bright gold fur shimmered brilliantly in the moonlight. Even the black scaled part of her legs and her arbitrarily menacing snake-like tail made her even more beautiful in his eyes.

His thoughts were interrupted by a slight dizziness and then a different feeling. There was another presence in his mind, a similar feeling to when he was wearing that enchanted circlet. The look on Emmaline's face was completely peaceful, as if nothing had happened in the past few days. Verik was amazed! Was she able to clear her mind so easily?

Verik was impressed, but suddenly, there was a sharp pain in his head and his vision blurred. He fell to his side and writhed around on the floor for a few seconds. He tried to call out Emmaline to stop whatever it was that she was doing, but he seemed unable to control himself.

Through his pain, several images flashed in his mind. Mostly of Verik, Emmaline, and his sister, Syla with several other wolfen that he didn't recognize, but there were no scale-covered deformities on either of them. Then he saw Erebos and surrounded by the same wolfen, lying on the ground dead. The last image he saw was a black wolfen with red eyes running toward him.

The pain vanished and Emmaline jumped back into reality. She looked at him with a nervous expression. "What just happened?" Verik asked, rubbing his head.

"I did what you told me to do." She replied. "I cleared my mind and was able to look into your mind very clearly."

"Several images surfaced in my mind when you did that. I think they were memories. Did you see them too?"

She shook her head. "I didn't see images. I relived some of your past life."

Verik raised his brows, excited that he might actually know something of his past finally. "Tell me what you saw!"

"I only got scattered memories, most of them being random segments of your life, but I gathered that we used to be in the same pack together. I used to be an outsider before your leader took me in. You also had a brother. Your pack was travelling when Erebos attacked our pack and slaughtered everyone."

Verik's tail dropped in disappointment. He already suspected much of that. "Was that everything?"

Emmaline hesitated, and he knew that there was something. "There was something else." The look on her face told Verik that what she saw wasn't very pleasant. "You..." she started and then cleared her throat. "You were the one that summoned Erebos to this world."

To Be Continued...