ALPHA GREY (Re-written)

Chapter 30

"You don't drown by falling into the water, you drown by staying there."

I am trapped in my own mind, subjected to confronting all my deepest fears – alone, cold and terrified. I could feel it all, yet sight I am denied. My resistance to the unbearably excruciating pain is proving futile, though the fight within me remains. I can either confront my demons or let them consume me.

Drowning under the weight of despair, pushing with my arms and legs, I find no leverage. For all I know I am dragging myself further down. I thrash in an invisible prison, the pounding in my head the only sound I can grasp as every cell in my body screams for oxygen, my body fighting for every last bit of air.

Cold water begins to fill my lungs, a surge of pain ricocheting off my ribs and around my torso. I struggle to keep my head above the water filled grave that awaits my demise. The more I struggle, the more disorientated I get. Finally, I let go, giving into the darkness as I begin to fall into death's open arms. But death would be a mercy, for once again the grim reaper's bending sickle fails to tame my soul. Instead, I am displaced to a place that seems so familiar yet foreign. There, I focus all my energy on the source of all my turmoil, the only person who can free me from this hell.

"Father." I whisper under the cloud of darkness.

"Ophelia. I knew you'd find your way back to me." A tall dark figure emerges from the shadows, walking right towards me.

"Ophelia?" I look around, wondering who it was the figure was talking to.

"Oh, my poor child. You know not your own name. There's much you don't know. So much." The figure was indeed the man I'd wished for many moons, hadn't birthed me.

"Tell me then. Who am I? What am I really?" I need to know the truth. I couldn't carry on clueless and tortured by the unknown.

"You, Ophelia Astrid Laveau, are decedent from some of the most powerful witches to have walked the earth. Our ancestors have roamed these lands for centuries, having settled here after being plucked from their native soil by their would-be masters seeking to enslave them. They were then a small population of people of colour who lived freely among the enslaved, the gens de couleur libres.

Weakness has never been your destiny. You are of royal blood, half-witch half-creature, the dawn of unimaginable power. I know you can feel it taking form inside you, I've felt it since the day you projected me into the empty. The power you wield is unparalleled. You have nothing to fear, I will guide you to your throne where you will rule over your kind, witch and werewolf alike."

"I do not wish to rule. I want no part of that." And that was truth. I wished for no part of this. I just wanted to be normal, free from the burdens of ancient mystic secrets.

"Do not be so naïve child. This is your destiny. You cannot escape it, just as you cannot run from it."

"Why are you so invested in seeing me ascend to your abstract throne, is it because you care for me or is it that you are power hungry?" I question, sceptical of his true motives.

"Power hungry?" He chuckles, the sound almost maniacal. "I am not without power. I, as your Father, seek to guide you on the path you are destined to walk, not for personal gain but out of duty as the one who brought you into this world."

I wondered as he spoke, if they'd know all along what I would become. "Did you know?"

"Did I know what?"

"That I would turn into this...this monster." I had no clue what I was, what I was capable of.

"You are no monster. You are an unseen marvel that will usher in change in the supernatural and mundane world alike. See, your mother, though orphaned at a tender age and turned lone-wolf as circumstance, was born a royal to one of the most powerful packs among her kind. I, first of my generation, descendent from royal Malachi blood birthed you knowing fully what power you will wield. Never would I have imagined that you would survive the merge. Colluding amongst different supernatural species has always been frowned upon, even considered abominable for it poses great danger to the natural order. Where many failed, we succeeded and you my darling child were born to this world."