Moonflame

Prologue "Fortress in the Woods"

Hati woke up to screaming. The piercing sound of pain, agony, and, below it all, magical energy strikes. The sound persisted for 2 minutes and Hati wondered how his brother had the lung capacity to keep yelling, when it stopped and all Hati could hear was the growls of the other werewolf prisoners and the stomp of boots on the cobblestone floor, coming from the source of the screaming, slowly getting closer.

Hati looked around the cell. He saw the dark stone brick walls, the roughly cut floor with a pile of hay and branches off in a corner, and the silver barred gate preventing him from leaving. No hiding places. Please don't hit me with the shadows again... Hati pleaded to whatever gods existed and protected unlucky werewolves like him. He looked at his right arm to see that the shadowy marks had receded. Thank Sélune for my regeneration, even if it takes time.

The footsteps got louder as three of the Silver Blade's mages came down the hallway. One seemed a few years younger than Hati, maybe only 9, but the way he walked showed how important he thought he was. The other two were older, one female and wearing black robes and staff to match her hair and the other with silver robes that contrasted with his blonde hair. The woman had one hand on the boy, obviously her child and the other on an intricately carved staff. The man was holding 2 silver syringes each with blood covering them, one of them half filled with liquid silver.

They stopped in front of Hati, but they turned to the prisoner across from him. He was a young man maybe 5 years older than Hati who's clothes were covered in blood, but he had no injuries on him, only a few large scars. His legs were sealed into the ground, his body chained against the wall. He looked up at them as they entered his cell from behind his long shaggy brown hair, his yellow eyes shining in anger. The young boy raised his right hand and watched it ignite in silver flames illuminating the entire cell and hall. He pointed his hand at the werewolf and a ray of silver flames blasted toward him. As it came closer, the wolf raised a hand and absorbed all the magic into his palm, even after he felt the immobilization spell kick in. The boy kept hammering him down as the man stabbed a syringe into the werewolf's arm, taking a blood sample.

"AAARRRGH!" The werewolf screamed as he pulled his hand back. The magic stopped and the man pulled the syringe out. The wound steamed and began closing up. "Why do you need my blood?"

"You have a unique ability to absorb magic. We want that," stated the man before hitting the werewolf with lightning, sending him flying into the wall. The three Werewolf Hunters came towards Hati, his eyes lighting up in fear, his hand heating up against the floor.

"Can I attack this one too father?" The boy asked, but they shook their heads. "Just one blast? Please?" The parents looked at each other and relented. The boy raised his hand and made a silver fireball and threw it at Hati. The werewolf raised his hand and a small fire blast hit the boy right after his own spell was cast. Searing heat hit both of the boys, but one felt significantly worse. The burn, which would have been lessened by Hati's regeneration was more painful due to the silver in the fire which also killed his ability to regenerate. It burned a large portion of his hip then his hands once he tried to put the flames out. The boy was flabbergasted. "You, you attacked me!"

"Son, calm down. Grace, would you please?" The man said while holding the syringe with silver in it out to the woman. She raised her staff, tapping it to the syringe while shadows flew into the syringe concentrating into a pure darkness filling the syringe. Once it was full he turned to Hati and gave the syringe to the boy. "I was gonna stab your arm, but now you need to feel more pain." The man raised his hand and bolts of blue lightning blasted out of it, electrifing Hati, causing his muscles to seize, giving him ample time to let his son stab Hati in the left eye as the parents went back down the hall.

A scream of primal rage filled the hall as Hati attempted to turn werewolf to regenerate from the stab, but all it did was make the syringe slash his eye, but the silver-shadow mix still got in him, getting into his electrified nerves and spreading everywhere, into his brain, his limbs, his heart, everything was affected. His wolf form went from being matted blonde to pure black with a silver left eye and a scar going down it. The boy took the syringe out and watched as Hati convulsed on the ground, as his body absorbed and reacted to the shadow magic. His body started turning into shadows when silver flames blasted him in the back, making Hati take control of his new powers. Hati melted his shadow through the bars, making him appear on the outside of his cell. His wolf claws grabbed the boy's neck.

Further under ground a blonde haired werewolf was strapped into a chair covered in small silver spikes and needles, a syringe full of liquid silver poking into the back of his neck, almost piercing through the skin. A circle of 7 mages surrounded him, waiting for when he woke up and tried to transform, just to blast him with all their magic and stab him with silver needles. The experiment had been going on for a week, but now it was at it's breaking point. The Silver Blades were giving up on figuring out a way to prevent werewolves from transforming, so they decided that the next cycle, they would use the liquid silver. The werewolf started thrashing against his bonds and beginning to transform. Magical attacks from 7 different sources bombarded the young wolf until a searing heat surrounded him and he blasted around the entire facility.

The blast stopped Hati from killing the boy and knocked both out. Hati woke up outside, in freezing cold weather with burn marks, black hair, and a massive headache.