That afternoon, the air around the forest was eerie, but eight-year-old Freya was too excited to notice the danger lurking ahead. She just kept walking forward with an eagerness that couldn't be suppressed.
"Stop sulking, Soraya... Aren't you excited?" Freya asked, glancing back at her twin sister, who was trotting behind her, struggling to keep up with her pace.
Soraya shook her head in disagreement but kept walking nevertheless.
"This is the first time we would ever be able to walk around freely without the guards. Let's enjoy the moment." Freya added with a huge grin.
Her twin sister shrugged with a doubtful look.
"Right, but won't father be worried? You know he doesn't like..." Soraya 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?" Freya pointed out, excitedly, at the left direction where the wild flower stood elegantly, commanding attention.
Every bit of reluctance that Soraya 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?" Soraya muttered as she began to caress the flower as if it was a doll.
"You see why it's important to be curious about one's surroundings?" Freya 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! Freya!" Soraya 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." Freya 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...
"Soraya..." Freya 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 if the river had been waiting for that moment. It accepted them with open arms like a blanket enveloping a newborn baby.
"Soraya!" Freya 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, Freya 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.
"Soraya!" She shouted and her eyes peeled 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?" Freya wondered aloud. Though confused, a surge of relief hit her.
"If I have been dreaming then, Soraya is safe and should be in her room as well..." She was saying but a disturbing noise from outside caught her attention.
She jumped down from her high bed, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Who is wailing? Did something happen?" As she wondered, she found herself walking out of the room.
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..." Freya 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?" Freya had 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 Soraya!" The first person exclaimed and Freya's heart skipped a beat at the mention of that name.
"And the sister returned alone. Isn't that strange?" The second person added.
Soraya'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 Soraya..."
"She is in her room sleeping..." She thought to herself and was about to run back inside the manor, to confirm that her twin sister 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 Soraya 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.
"Soraya..." Freya could only mumble and a stray tear fell from her left eye.
It seemed the twins' father caught her voice because as soon as the word escaped Freya's mouth, he looked at her direction and held her eyes for a solid minute.
"Father, I..." She tried to talk but her tears began falling relentlessly.
Still maintaining eye contact with the little girl, Alpha Nightshade carefully dropped the dead body to the ground and approached Freya where the latter was standing motionlessly.
His jaw and fists were clenched and his eyes were shooting daggers at Freya.
The first words that came out of his mouth were like a physical blow to Freya's heart.
"Why was she the one to die and not you?"