Of Glory and Of Doom

ONE - In the beginning

In the beginning, the werewolf kingdom lived in partial peace andi partial pain. The kingdom was at its finest and no other kingdom in the supernatural realm dared to against them. It was magical, the unity between them and lastly how they seemed to rule over everything else, it won’t be long before they take over the supernatural realm at this point. Every other supernatural had this notion too, except the Kayaans.

However, there is a teeny tiny problem, the werewolf king had no child, no one to carry his legacies, and no one to help him feel the void in his heart. It was that bad because slowly, the king lost himself to the depression of watching other people have their children and love them. He wanted one too and his wife was saddened by it too. She wanted a child to pamper and take care of, when she got married to the wolf king, she felt on top of the world as if her joy were coming in triple folds. As a young wolf, every one of the lady’s dreams was to be the queen and hers did come true when she fell in love with him. He reciprocated the feelings and it was something she found hard to believe in the first year of their marriage.

King Francis grabbed her hands gently pulling her out of her reverie and she smiled at him, she was so lucky to have had him. Many would have tossed out their woman the moment they felt like she was the problem not them. Francis was different from all of them and the more she was married to him, the more she enjoyed their marriage. He would bring her the freshest flowers he made sure to pluck for her during his early morning run. It started when he was trying to impress her as a young crown prince and she had no idea who he was. Commoners rarely saw the face of the crown prince until he had come of age and was strong enough to rule his people. He was a rebel and he would sneak out of the palace and come around the village to play with them. His parents would think he was taking kingship lessons from the ladies in the court.

Everyone loved him but they had no idea who his parents were or where he came from every day. Nobody tried to follow him since he was a good boy and everyone would give him gifts during harvests because of how helpful he had been all season; it came as a shock to them one morning when the king’s entourage came to pick him up. That was when they found out that he was a crown prince and he had made sure to hide it successfully. This made the people love him more because his reign would surely be peaceful due to his humbleness. Even after his father banned him from coming to play in the village, he still found a way to get flowers across to her, it was like their secret message. She had the whole village’s attention on her and it didn’t come as a shock when the royal family proposed marriage to her family. She was expecting it.

Unlike other werewolf folktales she had read that the moon goddess paired the wolves with whomever she finds fit for the person, they get to choose their life partner. Cecil felt it was better than being mated to random people and being forced to fall in love with them, while other girls of her age found it romantic, Cecil thinks it is absurd. She would rather get to know the person gently and fall in love with them at her own pace, just like king Francis had made her do. He warmed his way to her heart and continued despite knowing she had already fallen in love with him. This was her definition of true love and she was glad that she was experiencing it for herself. It was that beautiful.

“Did you hear what he said?” King Francis asked and Cecil nodded even though she had zoned off again and she had no idea of what he was saying, she was busy reminiscing the past while the seer sat down on the floor in the throne trying to consult the moon goddess. King Francis had made it a point of his duty to consult the goddess every week in case she had answers to their childlessness. Nobody knew where the problem was coming from so they just stuck to being hopeful that one day she would grant them a child of theirs.

‘The goddess will grant you two daughters this year and they would both be alike. However, there’s a prophecy looming over them. History is about to repeat itself because one of your daughters would bring the downfall and the other would bring it back to its glory.’ The seer repeated for Cecil and she took her time to take it in. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her and she would have to deal with it. She would finally have a child of her own, not just one but two. One would be a blessing to her race and one would bring down her race. This was so u fair to her and Francis considering how long they have waited to finally have a child of their own. The moon goddess was being unfair. She stood up with shaky legs and she made her way out of the hall. She wasn’t going to break down here and let everyone watch her cry for her ill fate. King Francis watched his wife make her way to her chambers and he sighed, fate was being cruel to them unnecessarily.

_______

“Are you sure this is the twin of doom?” King Francis asked unsurely and the seer nodded, they had worked hard to find the necessary spells and they had to invoke three witches to help them find the twin that would bring them bad luck. He had lost Cecil during labor and he would be damned if he let his blood bring down the kingdom his father had worked hard to build. It took them almost a thousand years to get the werewolf kingdom here and make other supernatural clans respect them.

“To the goddess who has blessed us with this curse, we would return her to you. For we no longer want to be tested by the goddess more than we have been tested these past days. We would kill her and let her flow through the river to wherever the flow leads her to. On this full moon oh goddess, we ask that you help us protect our twin of glory and help us make the right decision tonight. Before the goddess and everyone present here. We hereby return the gift of the moon to the moon” The old seer announced with his voice cracking at the end. King Francis watched him do whatever he wanted; it was hard saying goodbye to his child but he had seen the height of his pain when he held Cecil pass away without having to see the face of the magic she created. They had both anticipated this day so much and it was sad when they found out the prophecy. They had promised to find a solution together but she wasn’t even here to help him make the right decision.

He would have hated himself more if he didn’t stay back to help her massage her feet that morning when she called, he had no idea that she was dying and she was saying goodbye to him. He had washed her feet and rubbed them with scented oils before proceeding to her hair too. They had both joked about her being pregnant and not crippled. No one could blame him because it was something he had been expecting since and she kind of brought him good luck, they cracked a few jokes before he went for an important meeting and it was during the meeting that a servant brought news that she was dying and he could hardly believe it himself. Yet he rushed down to see her and he went straight to the labor room after he found out she was taken away to a standard labor room. He watched all the best midwives that the kingdom ever produced stand with him to ensure his children were born with great care and nothing went wrong. No matter what he did, he couldn’t save his wife, and even with the presence of all the best midwives, they still couldn’t save her. He had been there when life slipped out of her eyes slowly and he watched her hands turn cold as they dropped on their own accord lifelessly. He watched the love of his life take her last breath with a soft smile on her face and the smile was directed at him.

“Wait” He called out before he stepped closer and made a big mark across the face of the twin of doom, and rather than scream. She went rigid. He had his answers right in front and he watched the blood gush out from the mark he had made. He made the mark so she wouldn’t come back to torment him again or be born anywhere in the werewolf kingdom. They watched the flow of the river take her away as he watched the other twin in his hand. A perfect replica of his Cecil. Kissed her forehead and he made a silent vow to himself to never let her suffer anymore.