Forbidden Destiny

Chapter 1: The Shattered Moon

This technopolis had silver and transparent towers that went up to the sky, causing the golden rays of the moon light to descend upon the haunted bizarre-an old industrial zone situated just within the city of New Terra. The surroundings came alive with electro-mechanical sounds bouncing off the city steel framework with the harmonious beeps of a digitalized environment.

With iron and ancient machines scattered through the hallway, Amara Blake ran so fast, like it was a matter of life and death. She had never belonged in this post-apocalyptic world—the reject in the world whose preference had gone to perfection and machinery instead of emotions. Amara was brut—the only human not to have enhancements.

The night was very still and mid-winter; she was clad in a thin jacket, and through to her bones, she felt the cold, but as yet, she had no time to nurse the chill. She was already on the run, and there were certain forces after her. The events of the past several days were slowly sinking into her consciousness; every image more terrible.

It had started with a text in her old, bulky, almost retro handset that was rapidly becoming a relic in a world that had advanced to the level where thoughts were transmitted through implants. The message had been from her father, whom she thought had been dead from the time when she was ten years old. His words were rather cryptic and told her things that had never even crossed her mind before.

"Amara, get out of the city. They're going to come for you. Nobody is to be trusted. You have to find the Alpha."

The word "alpha" had been a mystery inside a mystery. Her father had mentioned the Alpha, yet the way he described it, she had felt a chill run down her spine. Who or what was the Alpha remained a mystery, a million-dollar question she had never got an answer to. Now, since this was a matter of life and death, Amara did not have any other option but to look for this entity.

In that desolate warehouse district, all she could hear were the sounds of her own feet reminding her of one thing; she was alone, no one to help. The one that she would have truly confided in was dead and gone, falling into the same fate as some 'darkness' that was now trying to get a hold of her.

As she rounded the corner, she came face to face with a figure that was curled with its back against a pile of scrap iron. Gleaming its eyes in the shade, the thing looked wild—something gave her goose-pimples—and suddenly she decided to change her mind, stepping back in fear.

"Help. . .”, it leaned forward to say in a tone that was surprisingly gravelly and slurring. "Help me."

Amara was always careful of the threats that bided their time on every nook and cranny of this city and hence had felt the need to be careful with strangers. But there was something in the vacuity of this pair of eyes that called out to her, something that urged her to want to lend a helping hand. She got close to him once more and squatted beside him, her hand shaking as she laid it on his shoulder.

"What happened to you?" she asked in a choked voice, full of emotions.

He coughed with a sound of pain. "They took everything," he said thickly with emotion. "They experimented on me and turned me into something else."

This was pity but at the same time horror that Amara felt. She had read numerous articles referring to a covert operation by the government; persons going missing and being experimented on. Little did she know that one day she would face one.

"Who did this to you?" she softly asked.

The eyes of the figure, marvellously aged, turned black and malevolent. "Lycan Corporation, people who want to build their ideal super soldier, a man-animal hybrid. They failed, and now they pursue to destroy all their experiments”.

Amara's blood ran cold. Lycan Corporation was one of the largest and most important companies in New Terra that worked with genetics and cybernetic implants. The fact that they were involved only meant her situation was even worse than she had imagined.

It was only then, under that very damning information, that she found her voice. "What do they want from me?"

When he didn't say a thing, she shifted her eyes to his, where she saw their glitter soften; even something like compassion in them. "They crave for you, Amara. You are the last pure blood human. They need you to complete their trials to raise a new breed of super soldiers. And that is not all; you are linked to the Alpha, the only one who can stand against them."

Amara was shocked. The revelation seemed to have momentarily immobilized her. She had never been chosen for anything significant all her life; the thought that she, of all people, had the potential to make a change in the world had never ever crossed her mind.

"Where is the Alpha?" she asked, desperate. The man bent over to cough one more time as if he didn't have the energy. "The mountains,” he murmured. "Go north along the path of the old railroad tracks; that's where the Alpha's pack is hiding, waiting to strike."

Amara just nodded, deciding to stay alive. She had to find the truth, and the Lycan Corporation had to be stopped, but first, she had to find the Alpha.

"Thank you," she mumbled as she softly took the man's frail hand. "I definitely will not forget this."

The man let out a low growl and exhaled before he drifted off. Amara just stood, despair and outrage weighing down on her heart. She, after all, had a purpose to live for, something bigger and more significant to her.

Walking through the neon-lit city at night, making it look like a future movie set, Amara had the feeling that she was being followed. The shadows were alive and whispered into her ears all kinds of incoherent information.

On reaching the old train tracks that remained as proof of the inventions of the older generation, she started moving in the northern direction. The journey was tiresome from New Terra to the mountainous area covered in rocks and various types of nature. She always travelled by night when her senses were heightened mainly by fear of attack and always rested during the afternoon, under the brambles. The ordeal of the journey was so heavy on her, both in her muscles and in her psyche, that days seemed to stretch on for weeks, and she felt that her journey would never end. But Amara did not stop her quest—she wanted to bring down the Lycan Corporation, and only she could do it.

One night, when she had gotten close to the mountain range, a howl filled the night: a lonely song that made her tremble. She sprang up and looked around, and a cold shudder ran down her spine as she looked up at the ridge and saw a figure standing in the moonlight.

His figure was quite large; one could even feel that he was authoritative, strong, and full of terrific force. A complete glare came out of his eyes. Amara did not doubt that she was standing face to face with the Alpha.

" I… I am A-ma-ra… Blake." She said, her voice oddly toneless; "I came to find the Alpha.”

He partly closed his eyes, glared fiercely, dangerously, and his chest made a low growling sound. "You human, what have you come to do here?" he asked her impolitely, in a way that not only scared, but at the same time made her more resolute.

"Because I need your help," Amara repeated as she gazed into his eyes, and she could feel the lump growing in her throat. "The Lycan Corporation wants to use me in an experiment, developing a new batch of hybrid soldiers. I need your help to stop this."

The Alpha watched her in silence for a moment before he pushed his hood back and met her eyes, sending her heart pounding. "Alright," he said, "I'm going to help you. But be this known to you, Amara Blake, that in becoming one of us, you abide by our laws by our destiny; you can not escape. If you do so, we will find you and kill you. The first value of the pack is loyalty.

Amara felt her heart leap into her throat and nodded her head in agreement, uncertain of what lay ahead. The only thing she knew for sure was that she would finally uncover the truth, destroy Lycan Corporation, and find her place in this advanced society. 

She began her journey into the unknown, watched by all the hidden creatures from the sky in this fateful passage, with her life being enlightened forever.