Monsters Beyond the Gate

Epilogue

Above the clouds, above what seemed to be the world itself, on top of a tall fierce looking mountains three priestesses sat around a round table, staring intently at a vision that appeared on top of it, like a picture breathed to life by a kiss of magic.

Eldina, the eldest and wisest of them parsed her lips as she watched the image of young Adeline making her way towards them through one of the most dangerous parts of the forest. Her flowing sun-kissed blonde hair brushed the brim of the image, distorting it ever so slightly as she leaned forward for a closer look at the girl. Her vision had become a tad blurry over the last two hundred years.

"She finally approaches, sister," one of the priestess, Ciere of the South, said to Eldina. Isolde of the West looked nervous.

"What are we to do, Eldina?" Isolde asked. She was the youngest and had always been a bit more timid than the rest. Her wide violet eyes surveyed the scene with caution.

Eldina sighed heavily and looked to the fourth and empty seat that sat facing the north. Their sister, Seva, had been absent from them for quite some time. This troubled Eldina, she had once relied so heavily on Seva's council.

"We wait," Eldina finally said.

"But the girl, she knows very little...she doesn't even know of her father's...unique...roll in all of this. What are we to tell her when she arrives?" Ciere asked, her voice was a bit sharp.

Eldina thought for a moment, before speaking, when she finally did it was in a most grim voice. "We will tell her the truth. I believe it is time that she learns her destiny in all of this. Her birth right to unite the four packs."

Isolde inhaled sharply, "But Eldina, there are consequences to her not figuring these things out herself-"

Eldina held up a hand to silence her sisters. "Enough. Leave me be."

Both of the priestesses fell silent and rose to their feet to leave, bowing before they did so. Eldina continued to watch the enchanted table without a sound. The image upon it shifted from Adeline to a vision of the new wolf, Kirk, bidding Lyria farewell and heading into the woods, and then shifted again to Adeline's father's face, creased with worry, and again to a little boy sitting alone in a dark room, tears filled his sad gray eyes. The image shifted once more to a scene that made Eldina's stomach turn. The young Alpha to be held the body of the stark white, lifeless Tessa. They laid on the forest floor and he wept over her. A trace of crimson blood seeped from her mouth.

Things had not gone as planned.

To be continued...