AUTHOR'S POV
Sweat soak through Scott's shirt as his pulse throb so hard blurring his vision. He loosened a few buttons sitting upright. He clearly remembers he laid on the floor after a sickening space travel. Wincing, he looked at himself on the couch. He glanced at where he collapsed, then back to where he sits. Connecting the dots to remember things clearly. Giving up, he sighed leaning back.
"So? what did she do to you?", Ofir places the glass of water on the table.
"She made me see things".
"That is what you get for provoking a Nagual! We shouldn't have let that vampire go. What did you see?", Ofir stood aside, amusement flickering in the corners of his mouth.
Scott snatched the glass and drank greedily. The cold water splashed the sense out of him, as he pour half of it over his head. "Ho-how did I get here?".
The lythari elf tilted its head. "You walked here before you... drifted. Feeling better?".
"I could still taste lythari glitter, and nagual shit in my mouth", Scott chuckled softly before laying back.
"So, when do we start looking for Luna?", Ofir asked, eagerly.
"Hey... ho-how long was I out?", Scott ignored the question, wiping his sweat mixed with water from his face. He looked around again. And everything seemed... normal. His growing plants. The picture frames. Same scent of wolf. Yet, something felt different. Creeping over his shoulders telling him something's wrong in this state of perfection.
"The night have already ate the light away".
"That long?!", Scott's eyes widened, springing up from his seat, rushing to the window. Swiping the window blinds covering the view, he hissed at how fast time flew.
"Scott, the Luna?", Ofir pressed again, hopping on the couch leaning forward expectantly.
"Hmm?", Scott froze slightly at the name Ofir called him. He never called him that. Always lycan king. "What did you say?", he slowly turned to the elf who's looking at him with those dull dark eyes.
A strange unease crawled up Scott's spine as the elf lean casually on the arm rest. "I asked where do we find the Luna?", Ofir scoffed with a chuckle. "Are you still sleeping?".
Ofir have always cared for Diana ever since the two have crossed paths. It was a special bond Scott do not understand. However, the lythari elf's persistence today scraped against his nerves. "Remind me, why are you so attached to her?".
"I'm just worried", the answer came too quickly.
His lips twitched. Scott realized he have not waken up yet. He leaned against the window, igniting his Alpha senses that failed to work. "Let me say it again... Why are you attached to her, nagual?", his voice deeper, ending with a smirk... as if someone got caught playing bad games.
Ofir stared at him, and then he flashed a smile. Taunting, without an inch of the usual lythari elf's obedient and grounded side. "Did you like the movie? The front row seat to a family tragedy". His voice no longer his own.
The room darkened at the edges. Lights flickered before dimming a little. The walls pulsed faintly as if it were alive. Scott seemed unfazed, crossing his arms. "Fuck your nonsense. Do you think I'd believe your shit?", not giving the Nagual any satisfaction.
The nagual laughed through the lythari elf's lips. "That doubt. I can smell it from here.", she whispered. "You know, Diana will die if she stays with you.", she continued. "Just like your mother", Ofir's voiced sounded softer, velvet smooth coming from a woman.
Scott's jaw tightened. "No.", he refuted.
The elf smiled widely, showing a set of sharp teeth between those thin lips. "If only Karin chose me, none of it all would have happened...", the nagual choked, realizing what she had revealed. It was a small choke. A stumble of the rhythm slipping through her mouth that what she showed Scott reminded her of her pain too.
"My mother what?", Scott straightened up, eyes narrowing at the nagual. He immediately catch on that simple thought that cleared through the haze of how it all began. "I get it now. Heh", his eyes lit up, half smile. A vengeance that was born from a twisted love and rejection, causing chaos as soon as an opportunity knocked. It was an idea that almost made him laugh out loud, and at the same time, vomit in his mouth. "A nagual in love with a wolf", Scott muttered. "That's pathetic."
"We loved each other", the nagual answered, mouth twitching. Hearing it was reopening old wounds, and rubbing salt in it.
Scott took a step forward, eyes on the elf who's gnashing its teeth biting hostility. "She can never love you.", grinned, now that he has seen through the Nagual.
"Shut up", the elf snarled, its expression warping. Tightening every muscle there is. Tiny hands clenched, it stood keeping its disdainful smug not wanting to show what Scott just triggered.
… and yet, the walls cracked.
Scott knew he sparked a clash that he never knew would begin with the name of his mother. "She won't. Ever. A fated wolf only chooses their mate.", Scott fan the flames as he spit fire at the Nagual. He continued, thinking his cutthroat mockery would fit the keyhole to break free from the Nagual's games.
There, the ground shook..
"You were never there", the Nagual's eyes blazed, darting towards Scott as if a hole would bore on his face. The dreamscape's temperature started to heat up, walls trembling with cracks getting bigger, breaking apart.
"You took advantage of my father. You made sure he'd find you, so you can mess him up", despite the danger, Scott pushed her buttons, taking one step closer the Nagual who's losing her control.
It was all fun when the room started to grumble, shifting along with the flashes of dark lights. The pale skin on the elf split apart in long black streaks, one at a time. Eyes changing colors from black to bronze with tinges of golden yellow. And the body of the lythari elf growing in size. "Shut. Your. Trap!", her true form slowly emerged. Longer limbs. Toned bigger body. And hair covering its skin.
It didn't stopped Scott.
"You cursed him out of your own delusions. My mother, no matter what universe, will never choose a Nagual over her mate. Over her family", Scott said, voice sharpening like blade.The windows violently shattered in million pieces. Every piece hanging on the wall plummeted down in sharp rhythm. In all of their confrontations and heated exchanges, this is the first time Scott have seen the creature get rattled. Stiffened on the couch like a rock that has never learned to move. "She never loved you."
Then everything stopped, as if Scott was clearly heard.
Those final words hurt like daggers piercing through the Nagual's skin, straight to something vulnerable under her chest. As expected, She snapped. The lights darkened. When it returned, the Nagual's natural form arises with golden eyes burning with wounded madness. "Here we go", Scott anticipated. The Nagual bellowed, calling arm-like shadows wrapping around Scott's neck, wrists, and ankles. While Scott try to fight it, the shadows slammed him against the wall hard enough to splinter it. "You think you can win against me here? This is my world now", she snarled, voice shaking the dream itself.
Pain exploded through Scott's body. His shoulder snapped backward. Ribs cracked. Unseen claws carved into his skin slowly, deliberately, as though the dream itself enjoyed hearing bones break. Scott grunted through clenched teeth, taking in the screams in his throat. Despite the torture, that smug on his face remained. It was small, and defiant... enraging the Nagual more than resistance ever could. "This is for freeing my original vampire!", the Nagual hissed. She let the shadows crush Scott against the furniture, the walls and the hearth. "This is for taking Diana from me", she hissed unleashing her lunacy.
Sliding against the bottom landing of the stairs, Scott laughed weakly after coughing blood. "Diana will never choose.. you over me".
The Nagual grabbed Scott's jaw forcibly. "Diana is mine. She knows her way to me even with her eyes closed. Now, I'll show you something you're dying to know", the Nagual circled its finger on Scott's forehead as his eyes roll back, taking him to another dream within a dream.
Scott's world darkened around him with only the blood moon casting light above. He recognized it instantly. It was the night of the moonbath. He saw himself, burning under the moonshine. Screaming in silence, drowning in the pain wrecking his body. The transformation completed but no trace of the Alpha wolf that he was appeared. Instead, a rabid lycan towered in the dark, eyes glowing in yellow, sniffing the air before letting out an earsplitting howl. Then it started hunting. Following a scent as if it already knew where it is. The lycan tore through the trees, killing everyone on its way. Not too long, it met his pack, along with Diana. The lycan grew more vicious. Hungry for the woman it had locked its eyes into. Scott tried to look away as his friends and family bleed trying to stop the lycan. Sebastian nearly died, the others struggled to fight more. Even with wolfsbane, the lycan kept coming for Diana.
Relentless.
Starving.
Diana stumbled into Roman's arms, clinging desperately as the the beast in Scott's body tore through the forest after her. Her eyes fearful eyes. The wounds she got. And her blood that were breadcrumbs to the cliffside. She stood cornered against the edge of the world, with the silver dagger he gave her in her trembling hands. Terrified, yet facing him. While something inside Scott cave inward, the lycan advanced. Diana's hands shook badly she could barely hold the blade, but still, she raised anyway.
Against him.
Against the creature he became.
Then his vision vanished. Scott hit the stair hard as the Nagual release him. He stayed there, breathing unevenly. The Nagual circled him slowly. Calmer, crueler. "You see that? Now you know why she left you. This nagual, whom you think doesn't deserve Diana, have given her life from the beginning. Something more than you could no longer give to her.", she crouched before him. He stared at her, laid perfectly unmoved not because of the pain of every broken bone in his body. For the first time, he felt defeated. "You are simply her death", every word landed carefully.
A strong burst of wind swirled in the dark home. The Nagual furrowed its forehead at the invading power that doesn't belong to her. It smelled of cedar to her, but freedom for Scott. Scott gave a half smile as he feel a force pulling him inward. As he does, the Nagual shrieked as if it was in pain. Patches of plaques appeared on its skin, crawling around its body along with the burning sensation that runs with it. Its eyes bawled out, claws curled. Tearing its own fur out of the magic that kicks her out of the realm she made. She gave one last look at Scott, who have started to vanish into thick wisps. "Damn you all!".