บท 45: Chapter Forty Five
"That statement alone sounds like a storm of disaster," the king said, earning chuckles from the rest present. Tom and Marie took turns narrating the story of events that had occurred to the best of their knowledge on the situation as it stood, throwing the Royals back to the events that occurred on the day that followed Cole's arrival. The commotion that had occurred in the school was reported while it happened. The principal had watched everything happen and left it all to Katie who handled it marvellously, but what worried everyone was the behaviour of the hunter that was causing the commotion.
Katie did not know it as it stood, but the Hunter's Agency had carried out an investigation of its own on the matter. Due to the interest of the Royals in Katie, the issue was sidelined and they continued to tell them what happened with the seven werewolves they confronted during the fight there. It was confirmed that this was a set-up and that the junior hunter had been used by the werewolves to get that many civilians in that one place for a massacre.
It didn't make sense why the Rogues would do that unless they really didn't know the true strength of Katie 'Chase' hinting that this was only a name she was using for the depth of the story. Katie, with the help of the other werewolves and the junior hunters, were able to protect everyone and dispose of five of the werewolves. One of the wolves surrendered to go through a Prometheus evaluation and the other was captured alive for interrogation purposes in case the other did not make it through the Prometheus evaluation.
The story of Ash Myster was an interesting one that was summarized in bullet points so as not to take up too much time. Nonetheless, the Royals showed interest in getting to know his story as well and asked to be indulged. It came as no surprise to them that Ash was a woman as rogues treated females in a manner that left nothing to be desired. As a result, female runaway rogues usually passed the Prometheus test. It was rare, however, for female runaways to turn up.
They then got to the point where Ash Myster was gruesomely murdered in a classroom while she was trying to go about her new life. There was the probability that she was even bound to reveal the truth about her gender not long after she was killed. This incident made the Royals angry even though they concealed their anger with the hope of getting this story finished. After narrating the events of that, they then told them of Katie's current location which was the interrogation room as per their assumptions.
After a moment of silence, the King got up and walked about the living room towards the balcony curtains drawing them to let the light in. "That's quite a story… I don't blame you for keeping it from us while we were tired yesterday."
"I'm glad you see it that way…" Tom spoke up.
"She's been through quite the ordeal…" Drake said, placing his nearly-full bowl of popcorns on the table. He'd lost his appetite when he was halfway through the story.
"Yes, she has… But now, we are here…" the king spoke, his voice shaky with rage. He opened the balcony doors to let in some wind. The wind calmed him while it blew in with a chilling rush.
"Father, do you think he's near," Drake asked.
"He's probably near, but if that's not the case, then it's one of his generals. For this much rogue action to be taking place here. It appears he stationed rogues in places that were far from our scope as well," the king spoke. It was obvious who they spoke of, for this was the one enemy that both the Royals and the hunters shared in common… the Rogue King.
"When can we meet Katie?" Martha asked.
"Katie's birthday is tomorrow. We plan to tell Cole Lycaon of her identity tomorrow so that he will be ready to help her shift back when the moon comes out tomorrow," Marie said.
"So that is why you cancelled your initial plans of taking her to him…" Martha said in realization.
"Yes, it was utterly convenient for him to show up when he did. After she has gone through her first shift, you can then all meet her and we can introduce her to what was set into motion eighteen years ago," Tom said.
"Yeah, we can finally bring the end of this war into view. This can all come to an end. It feels like a dream," Martha said, leaning back into the chair with a smile on her face.
"Don't get too comfortable yet… a storm is coming and we must be ready for it," the king spoke.
"Yes, Davin… I know that," Martha confirmed.
"How does Katie do it?" Lina asked, "Could she be as powerful as a Royal… No, that doesn't sound normal. She's not even eighteen yet. What will happen to her when her wolf is unleashed? What kind of creature will that be? Will she even have wolfsbane as her weakness?"
"Wolfsbane will still be a weakness. I heard that one of the base components of the drug that she takes is wolfsbane. So I wouldn't doubt that she will have weaknesses to it. However, she didn't need her weapons to dispose of rogues. I don't think she will miss them all that much," Tom said.
"I'll have to see her for myself to determine if she's really that powerful," Drake spoke up, "Some of what I'm hearing doesn't sound normal at all."
"Even as I narrate it myself, I have trouble believing what I say. It's not something that words can convey in a meaningful way. You'll definitely have to see her on your own," he said.
"My love, the forest doesn't look right," the King said, taking a step outside to take a closer look.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Martha asked, getting up from her seat to go check out what the king was seeing. The others followed suit, the balcony allowing a clear view of the forest before them. Something wasn't right, as he had supposedly meant for the trees all swayed in unison, looking oddly uniform while they did. "What in the… something feels… right… Hey, Marie, do you see that?" the Queen froze when she on seeing the two hunters.
"Mum, they just froze up," Lina said, from her seat, "What's going on?"
"I think I know…" the King spoke, "whispers of this sort of thing aren't unheard of among the Royals that have experienced it. It happens rarely… and every time that it does, only Royals remain with the ability to move because we are directly related to the being that causes it.
"What is it that you are talking about?" Martha asked him.
"I'm talking about the descent of the moon goddess," he said. As if on cue, darkness covered the entire sky like someone had snuffed the sun out. The full moon shone with a flash of intense brilliance. The family watched as a single being clothed completely in light descended from the same position of the moon in the sky.
"Is that…" the king cut his wife off.
"Yes, that is the moon goddess. She very rarely does this… almost once in every century and she only did it when in crisis to aid the Royals that nearly messed up astronomically in our quest to bring about peace. Something has either happened to Cole or Katie to call on her attention," he explained as they watched the comet-like being crush into the forest bathing the trees in the moonlight. The part of the forest that she had landed glowed with a pulsing presence of power that was irresistible to the werewolves. They couldn't look away from the place even if they wanted to.
"Should we go check out what it is that is happening?" Drake asked his father.
"No, we will honour the will of the Chase hunters and wait until Katie has gone through the shift," the king said with a hint of finality.
"So this is what it means to be in the presence of the moon goddess. I can tell from this distance that the intensity is overwhelming if she were right in front of her. Her power is overwhelming and intimidating," Lina said.
"Yes, it is. That we can agree on, little sister," Drake spoke up, keeping his eyes on the glow that covered the forest in a neat circle.
"Rumour has it that she can't be located in that glow and that it actually represent how far her consciousness spreads," Queen Martha said.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That she can appear anywhere that the moonlight is… It doesn't matter how many people are in it. She controls what happens there and can appear to more than one person individually and attend to all of them without any problem," the king said.
"You think Katie is in there," Lina asked.
"There is not a doubt in my mind…"
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