Challenges In Anuzyn

4) A Shifter's Past

Arel POV

Life really had a way of messing people. I guess watching both my parents being brutally murdered was not enough misfortune for me.

Our entire pack was in a bind because of everything that happened. Turf wars were breaking out all over Xiza.

Ever since we lost our royal family, the continent has been slowly falling apart. The shifters that were once united under the crown all started hating each other.

From the lion shifters to the wolf shifters, from the deer shifters to the eagle shifters. Chaos was all over.

If only our king had not been killed...

No one knows what happened. The royal family was found dead with no living heir. After that, war was raging all over.

My parents, who were the alpha and luna, both died in an attack from the lion shifters. I watched as their bodies were paraded for all to see.

I felt my chest tighten, and my breathing slowed. I heard someone telling me to run, so I did. I let my wolf take over, and I ran till I physically couldn't.

All the pain washed over me, and I lay on the ground and cried. I had nothing left. My home was destroyed, my parents killed, and my pack was taken over.

I planned to lay there until nature took its course. There was no reason for me to be alive.

' "Arel! Wake up! I have your favourite cookies." Mom said as she shook me awake.

"Go away... did you say cookies." I sat up and looked at her.

"If you want some, go wash your hands and come quickly before Ari finishes them." She smiled beautifully while pulling my blanket off.

My mother, the Luna of our pack, and my favourite person. I kissed her cheek and rushed to the bathroom.

I went to the dining room and found my sister and father munching away. I ran to join them.

"There's my boy. Come before the cookies end." He picked me up and sat me on his lap.

Suddenly, alarms rang all around. My father put me down and went to find the issue. Mother and Ari went with him, leaving me alone.'

Little did I know that was the last time I would ever see them alive.

I should have stopped them. I should have gone with them. I should have tried. The worst part was that I never got to say goodbye.

I got up and kept walking, but my paw got caught in something. I looked back and saw a trap wrapped tightly around my leg. I tried freeing myself, but nothing worked. The trap was suppressing my magic, making me unable to change into human form.

The hunters came and locked me in a cage soon after. I accepted my fate and was ready for what would happen next.

One night, when the hunters were asleep, a bandit attacked, killing everyone around. I closed my eyes, awaiting my doom, but instead, my cage was opened.

Why couldn't the bandit just take me, too? I wasn't that important or even hard to kill.

Days went by till time stopped mattering. I could no longer differentiate real life from my dreams. One day, I'd wake up, and my parents were still alive. Other days, I was back home.

The trap was still on my leg, restricting my human form. Most shifters were two separate beings sharing a body. For me, my wolf and I were one being.

I didn't hear his voice in my head or feel him like other shifters because it was just me. My parents found it odd but never looked into it.