The air around the forest was eerie, but eight-year-old Lyra was too excited to notice the danger lurking ahead.
"Stop pouting, Alina... Aren't you excited?" Lyra asked, glancing back at her younger sister, who was trotting behind her, struggling to keep up with her pace.
"This is the first time we would ever be able to walk around freely without the guards. Let's enjoy the moment." Lyra added with a huge grin.
Alina shrugged with a doubtful look.
"Right, but won't father be worried? You know he doesn't like..." Alina was going to remind her sister how their protective Alpha of a father wouldn't ever let them out of his sight or their personal guard's but was cut short.
"Hey, look at that wild flower! Remember we have only seen it in our history book?" Lyra pointed out, excitedly, at the left direction where the wild flower stood elegantly, commanding attention.
Every bit of reluctance that Alina was feeling, flew out of her soul as she sighted the wild flower and she ran towards it in glee.
"The book said they were no longer in existence! How unique is this flower?" Alina muttered as she began to caress the flower as though it was a doll.
"You see why it's important to be curious about one's surroundings?" Lyra asked rhetorically, putting out her hands dramatically.
From behind the two girls, something mysterious was unfolding but they were completely oblivious.
An eye appeared on a lone flower and was fixated on the girls, watching them carefully.
"Oh my moon! Lyra!" Alina called out as she looked up and saw more of the wild flowers besides the river up ahead of them.
"Let's go pluck some. I want to show the pack members." Lyra said and the girls ran excitedly towards the river.
"Hisssss!" The lone flower with an eye let out a long hiss from the stem and that seemed to shake the ground, all the way from its place to where the girls were busy playing.
As the ground trembled underneath the girls' feet, they lost their balance...
"Alina..." Lyra yelled in panic as she saw that her sister was falling. She leapt in an attempt to save her but it was futile.
They both fell into the river and it was as though the river had been waiting for that moment. It accepted them with open arms like a blanket enveloping a newborn baby.
"Alina!" Lyra tried to call out for her sister but couldn't find her voice. Her eyes were wide open as she struggled to stop the water from flowing into her body from every opening in her body-- mouth, nose and ear.
Then all of a sudden, Lyra could feel and move her feet and hands. Blood that had stopped flowing through them earlier had resumed its work.
From the texture of what her feet had touched, she knew she was no longer in the water.
"Where am I?" She wondered but couldn't dwell longer on that. She needed to ensure her sister was alright.
"Alina!" She shouted, her eyes flew open.
Her panic turned into confusion as she realized she was on her bed, in her room. And from the reflection in the room, it was dusk.
Bed?
"Have I been dreaming?" Lyra wondered aloud. Though confused, a surge of relief hit her.
"If I have been dreaming then, Alina is safe and should be in her room as well..." She was saying but a disturbing noise from outside caught her attention.
Se jumped down from her high bed, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Who is wailing? Did something happen?" As thought propelled by an invisible force, she found herself out of her room, walking towards the wailing sound.
She walked through the big living room which was always bustling with activities, with the Alpha's servants working around and all, but was now coldly empty.
"Something is wrong..." Lyra swallowed hard and hastily walked out of the Alpha's manor.
The sight sprawled before her just outside the manor had her feet rooted to the ground.
Her eyes darted around curiously and fearfully.
Almost all the pack members were there. Some were seated on the bare ground, wailing, while some were standing and hanging their heads lowly.
"How did it happen?" Lyra heard a pack member ask another in almost a whisper.
"I heard it was her sister that took her to the forbidden forest." That was the hushed response from the other person.
"Poor Alina!" The first person exclaimed and Lyra's heart skipped a beat at the mention of that name.
"And the sister returned alone. Isn't that strange?" The second person added.
"Hush, she's here." Another pack member said, pointing at her
Lyra's mouth fell open slightly and her hands trembled by her sides, as she tried to connect the dots.
"No, that earlier was a dream! Right? No, it has to be a dream! Nothing happened to Alina..." She kept whispering as she stayed rooted to the ground.
"She is in her room sleeping..." She thought to herself and was about to run back inside the manor, to confirm that Alina was actually safe.
However, she hadn't been able to move an inch before she saw her father walk through the gathered crowd with a lifeless Alina in his hands.
The ever gallant Alpha of the Bloodhowl Pack didn't appear like himself at that moment.
His eyes were blood red, signifying that his wolf was at forefront. His shoulders were sagged and his head was hung lowly.
"Alina..." Lyra could only mumble and a stray tear fell from her left eye.
It seemed Lyra's father caught her voice because as soon as the word escaped Lyra's mouth, he looked at her direction and held her eyes for a solid minute.
"Father, I..." Lyra tried to talk but her tears began falling relentlessly.
Still maintaining eye contact with Lyra, Alpha Blackmoor carefully dropped Alina's body to the ground and approached Lyra where the latter was standing motionlessly.
His jaw and fists were clenched and his eyes were shooting daggers at Lyra.
The first words that came out of his mouth were like a physical blow to Lyra's heart.
"Why was she the one to die and not you?"