1001 Sins | ✔

the wolf in the woods

Nobody ever ventures into the woods after dark, I know that, everyone in the citadel knows that, well, everyone except for the newer recruits. They sit around the fire outside, uncaring that the night is cold and harsh and in hushed tones, they plot mischief.

The story of the wolf in the woods has been told to us as bed time stories in our childhood, I can retell every line in that tale, so much that it is more familiar than my mother's loving smile. Many believe it a rumour, but people like us, people in the citadel should know more than that.

I am all for breaking the rules, and it has earned me the nickname; Drake — but not tonight, not when I have heard the howl of the wolf myself, not when I barely made it out in one piece.

Tonight, if I listen hard enough, past the loud belch of the fed dragons around us and the excited chatter of new Gemini, I can hear the still forest and every malevolent creature that moves within it. Like the story, the still forest has always been around, as old as Khoqidor country itself.

The forest is known for keeping in the most dangerous creatures, the things that destroyed almost everything of Khoqidor and caused the great extinction of the dragons — except for a few, almost two hundred years ago, we barely won the fight against those creatures and it had taken the first Gemini mages to seal them all shut into the forest, the creatures inside is why the forest is not like any regular woods.

The Citadel of Khoqidor exists to keep the balance, occasionally, something gets too strong and breaks out, it becomes up to us to seal it shut. Sometimes we win, other times we are not so lucky and lose one of our one.

The Citadel lost almost fifteen Gemini last month, thanks to a messy fight against a herd of Stygian hounds. I almost lost my Gemini and the thought still makes my palms go clammy.

Everyone knows that once you've lost your Gemini then you've lost half of your soul, you cease to be useful to the Citadel — after all, twins are rare blessings from the sky god, and once a twin is found in Khoqidor, they are sent to the citadel to train for the never ending battle.

Everyone comes into the Citadel knowing they aren't going to grow old, get married and all that nonsense, as children, we went into the Citadel knowing we were like criminals on the death row.

I snap out of my thoughts when I notice from the doorway that the newer Geminis are beginning to rise.

"Hey," I rush out, the first lie I can think of spilling from my mouth. "Why go into the still forest to hunt a wolf when there is a ghost roaming your hallways, yet to be found?"

They pause and gape at me, partly surprised I am talking to them. The senior Geminis have made it an unspoken rule to sneer down at the newbies and here I am, one of the most gifted mages, talking to them like they are friends.

"Ghost?" One of them splutters, a tall girl who seems to be their leader. She flushes when I smirk in her direction. If Ronnie were standing besides me, she'd smack my head and warn me about flirting with the juniors.

"Yes, ghost, you know — spirit thingy that floats around, knocking on doors at night and stealing your underwear." I say, mostly sarcastic and shake my head when they blanch.

My plan to convince them to go ghost hunting in the hallway only seems to have frightened them, so much that they'd rather go wolf hunting.

"I knew someone had been in my room last night to steal my pink underwear," A lanky boy with red hair quips, and one of his mates is quick to shut him up with a slap to the back of his head.

"Shut up, Logan," they chorus in irritation.

I shake my head again, this time in amusement and tuck my cold hands into the pockets of my jeans.