There were eight children to the royal family of Dimona: Andrew, Andrea, Alex, Alana, Adel, Adam, Ahmeem, Akita. It was the responsibility of the royal family to send a warrior or warriors up the mountain to apologize to the witch for the misdeeds of the kingdom around five thousand years ago.
Dimona being the elf country that it was focused on technology and alchemy with very little spell casting between. Their children went to the finest schools in their land and never desired to interact with any other unless they were elves from neighboring lands such as The Valley of Trey.
The witch had came from the land of Canas, a land with a high population of humans, witches/wizards, wolves, and vampires with very little of anything else. So when this witch stepped upon their shores, she questioned and asked to state her business. She had claimed she was being hunted, prosecuted by a human province for being a witch.
Since she was a witch and not an elf, the royal family ordered for her to be sent back. She pleaded and begged them to not do so that she would be burned at the stake. But the elves had laughed at her, stating that if she were a witch then surely she could get rid of the humans herself.
The elves mocked her, stated she must not have been very powerful. That she was weak, even weaker than humans. They told her to wait within the prisons that she would be safe from the meek humans there. But in truth, they had planned to put her on a ship back to Canas.
The next morning, the witch had escaped and made her way to the highest peak. She wouldn't allow them to mock her so she took her wand and opened a portal, knowing the demons on the other side would attempt to come through.
She challenged all the elves of the land. If they could reach her at the top of the mountain by defeating the demons by sun up and then apologize, she would undo the portal. If the elves failed to kill all the demons released on the mountain by sun up then the demons would come down, and kill whatever they got their hands on. And this event would take place every decade starting at dawn.
The royal family of Dimona attempted to reach out to other lands but no one wanted to interfere. They refused to send help, refused to send any magae. So the elves of Dimona suffered. Their population began to declined with the people readying themselves to overthrow their monarch. To keep their standing, the royal family offered to send their children. They could afford to educate their children in magic by paying for teachers from other lands. Every decade was a failure though.
It was Andrew that went first up the mountain at the age of 46. He died at the sixth level being beheaded by the scythe. Second was Andrea who was 35 at the time, she died at the third level, bleeding out by having her arms ripped from her body. Third would be Alex who died at 34 at the first level for accidently falling on his sword, stabbing himself in eye through the brain and then there was Alana who lived.
Alana awoke to find her arm had regenerated. Prior to going up the mountain, she had drunk a potion that allowed rengeration, an ability the elves of Dimona specialized in, an ability they sold to other species like werewolves.
She looked at Sous who was still...sleeping? Alana touched Sous' leg.
"AAHAAAHHHHAAAAHHH!"
Yep, her leg was still broken. Sous waved her arms around as she screamed out in pain. Little baby basilisk crawled around her body. Alana picked the baby snake up and rubbed her nose against its nose. It flicked its tongue, licking Alana.
"I didn't know they could change things into stone until they were much older."
Sous allowed the snake to wrap around her neck once more. "Yeah, thats what the book said that I read. Maybe it was just a glitch."
Alana stood up walking to the throne where the dust remained of the witch. She looked at Sous with a perplexed expression. "Animals don't glitch."
"Let me see, let me see, I wanna see!" Sous held out her arms and flashed her hands like a baby wanting to get picked up.
Alana walked over to Sous and placed Sous' arm around her neck, steadying her. They hobbled to the throne chair, taking a look at the last remnants of the witch. Sous knelt down and blew at the dust. She looked at Alana and smiled then noticed the arm was back.
"Is that your arm?"
"I took a potion before I left out to regenerate."
Sous' held her facial expression. "What...what do you mean?" She instantly thought back to the fight she had with Doureena and how she was able to regenerate, the wolf back in Clarence' village was able to do the same.
Alana didn't know what Sous was getting at so she continued to talk. "Its a potion we made using the blood of goblins. Goblins are able to regenerate. Come on...let's get out of here."
Sous decided to not ask anymore questions.
"Oh wait," Alana said. "Let me heal you." She sat Sous back down and took her hands to hover them over Sous' broken leg. "Aqua senere." She did the same thing to Sous' nose, allowing her to breathe better.
People down in the royal city were stunned and shocked to see the two girls coming down the mountain, traveling along the main road to the palace. Word spread fast and soon, a parade was being had with news and press to greet them by the time they got to the palace.
While Alana hugged her siblings and parents, Sous spoke to the newsreporter.
"So what happened when you went up the mountain?" Asked the journalist with a microphone to Sous' mouth.
"I got my ass kicked!"
The journalist turned back to the camera crew with the microphone pointed at herself. "Well, there you have it, Phil, she got her ass kicked."
It was twilight in Red Woods as the children were in their rooms doing homework while Doureena and Monica spent time with one another in their jacuzzi bath tub. Monica fell back into her Alpha's arms as her Alpha took the wash cloth and slowly ran it over her body. They held onto each other with the Alpha planting soft kisses down Monica's neck. They held onto one another, soaking into each other like their lives were timeless, like there were no conflicts but just the two of them.
It was Doureena who spoke first, softly. "Do you trust me, Omega?"
"Yes," Omega responded to her Alpha.
"Then why do I feel you slipping?"
Monica looked up at her Alpha. "You're not being truthful to me, Alpha." Doureena gulped. "Who are these betrayers? What are they really?"
Doureena smiled. "They're betrayers. They betrayed the pack, telling our secrets..."
"Mating with non wolves." It was a comment, a fact Monica said.
"Where are you getting at, Omega?"
Monica turned around to face Doureena in the bath tub. "You insult your Omega."
"Never." Alpha stated with a frantic in her voice. For an Alpha to insult their Omega for an Omega to do the same to an Alpha could split a pack apart. "Never." She repeated.
"Alpha..." Monica said with anxiety to her tone. "An eleven year old fought you and she had you in the first half. Why does she want to kill you? What did you do to her?" All Monica wanted was to truth from Doureena. She just wanted her Alpha to admit that she ordered Sous' father to die. That she ordered many parents who were in interspecie relationships to die. That they wanted their offspring to die. It was something Apex did for centuries. That's what she wanted.
Doureena stood up in the bath, looking down on her wife, her Omega, her mate. "I just want to protect the pack like the Alphas before me."
"So you kill those who leave the pack when they mate with a non wolf?"
"If you leave the pack, you betray the pack." Doureena said. There was a tone in her voice that implied that was the final say. What she said was what was repeated to her by her parents, and their parents before them, and so on.
"Then let them stay in the pack with their mates. Who cares if they're vampires or an elf or witch-"
"NO!"
Monica sat back in the tub looking up at Doureena.
"We are a pack of wolves. Maybe a human here or there, but-we are a pack of wolves."
Monica had a feeling the conversation was over before Doureena stepped out of the tub. She didn't watch her even as she wrapped a towel around herself. Monica kept her eyes low to give her Alpha privacy. That was the most truth she would get from her Alpha: they were a pack of wolves, nothing more.