CHAPTER FOUR: THE SHADOW WRAITH

“Can you feel that?” Elle asked Durian with fear-filled eyes.

He let out a devious smirk in response “Little human! Are you scared?”

“This isn’t funny. If all of this is some type of prank, you need to stop it now!” her voice trembled out of the existing fear in her mind. However, she wasn’t willing to give in to his shenanigans.

He let out a mocking scoff “It’s just the barrier. Someone is trying to break it through. I’ll go check it out.”

Elle’s breath became short as her stomach twisted. She could not believe everything that had been happening over the past few hours. It felt like her usual nightmares that she needed to wake up from for the sake of her sanity.

She shook her head in disbelief “What barrier?” She asked. “I didn’t see any type of barrier on my way here.”

Durian watched her with an unreadable expression as he consumed her scent to his satisfaction “It’s a spiritual barrier that humans can’t see. And you, this little human happened to pass it. That, my dear, is an absolute mystery to me as well.”

“What the hell is going on and how do I get out of here?” She said as she trembled in renewed fear such that the environment started to feel cold instead of the initial warmth in the air.

Durian walked up to her and with each step he took towards her, she took her step away from him. He enjoyed the fear in her eyes because they excited him.

“You want to leave so soon? Is anything the matter?” He asked her in an attempt to mock her, when he knew deep down his much she wanted to get out of the woods.

“Don’t you dare come any closer!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she put her hands forward in an attempt to stop Durian. “What is this place? ” She inquired further.

“I told you, it is my territory” Durian responded as he stopped in his tracks such that he was now only a meter away from Elle. He could not help but pity how dense humans could be. He had told her earlier that it was his territory that they were on, what else did she want to know? He knew for sure that he was not going to reveal his identity as the Lycan King Durian to her.

Although the Hathaway Mansion where Durian lived all this while had been amongst the human community to avoid the rogues from causing harm to humans, he could barely hide his dislike for humans. He found them to be naive, greedy and insatiable.

While he lived in town as one of his duties as the Lycan King, the majority of other wolves lived in-between the woods in an attempt to protect themselves from greedy humans and possibly other creatures that might threaten their existence. The territory in which the wolves lived was what he called his territory.

He heaved a sigh of frustration knowing fully well that it was of no use explaining the situation to Elle, she just wouldn’t get it. His right ear went up on its own in the direction of where the unknown person had been trying to break through the barrier.

“Little human, wait right here! Do not even think of moving an inch” He said pointing at Elle.

“Are you leaving me here? How do I get out of this place?” She said. However, before she could complete her questions, he had already left.

“You’re such a jerk, you know!” She screamed in frustration till her voice hitched. She didn’t like him. It felt like he was taking her as an insignificant camper who got lost when her mental health was at stake.

Even though it seemed like he was at a distance that which he could still hear Elle, he pretended not to hear her. The joy from her fears gave him a tingling sensation. A sensation that he had never felt before this day.

After he left, Elle was left with Nyx, who hadn’t left Durian’s side since she came.

“Nice to meet you, Elle. I’m Nyx” Nyx said, in an attempt to be friends with her.

In response, Elle let out a pathetic sigh “I’m guessing you’re going to just do something weird too. It is not nice meeting you...Nyx!”

“Oh! You have an attitude, I see. You’ll get along well with my King. If you’d excuse me, I have important matters to attend to.” And with that, she disappeared, leaving Elle in another perpetual state of shock.

Taking advantage of his absence, she decided to push her luck by attempting to escape the dreadful place she was stuck in, one more time. Unfortunately for her, the deeper she went into the forest, the more lost she became.

Regardless of her helpless situation, she sprinted into the trees as fast as her legs could carry her. The forest blurred as she passed by various trees, her legs hurt but she couldn’t stop running — until she tripped over and fell on a large block of concrete. As she stood back up to gather momentum, she realised that she was standing above a huge black symbol, with a golden lining, carved into the ground.

Once again, her heart raced at the realisation that the symbol was the same as the creepy one in her dream. “I remember seeing this in my nightmares. How has it come here?” She mumbled to herself.

Suddenly, the air turned ice-cold as she sensed a dark figure pass by her. She turned to its direction, only to be met with a pair of fierce green eyes charging towards her.

She let out a shriek and tried to run away from it but the shadow was fast, too fast that it appeared before her. It was a monstrous figure.

What she assumed to be the slithering voice of the figure, found its way into her mind. It whispered to her “You humans never know your place. I will possess your soul and destroy your body by being in control of it.”

The voice continued “You’re no ordinary being. This makes it even better!”

Elle could not bring herself to speak. It was as if she was stuck in a trans and unable to control the happenings around her. Slowly, she started to feel suffocated. She was getting strangled by this strange shadow. Each breath she tried to catch became a shallow gasp of desperation. She held on to her neck in an attempt to struggle.

“This is the end all of you curious humans deserve! You insignificant, lost beings don’t deserve to exist” the voice continued to echo in her head.

The monstrous figure was no longer in her sight, it had occupied her mind and body. The suffocation pressed in, triggering her claustrophobia. Her already poor vision, blurred at the edges and the once colourful trees became grey as they twisted into grotesque shapes.

“Is...is this r... the end of...for me?” She managed to let out. Slowly, unconsciousness pressed in with a freakish sense of emptiness.

She felt herself slipping into the abyss of the creature’s control. At that moment, she realised how much she wanted to hang onto her dear life. She never hated herself enough to die.

A voice from behind her roared in domination “How dare you this measly shadow try to consume my person?” It was Durian. A wave of relief flushed over Elle as she was immediately released from the creature’s grasp. Immediately, he lunged forward and closed the distance between him and her. As he approached her, she noticed the familiar amber fire laced in his eyes.

He didn’t need to do anything before the shadow left there his appearance alone seemed enough to put the creature at bay.

“What was that? And why did it come after me?” Elle asked him with her lips still shuddering from fear. He paid little to no attention to her question as he carefully examined the bruise left on her neck by the incident. For some reason, he was angered that she was in pain and felt a sudden urge to keep protecting her.

He tilted his head to the side out of an unhealthy type of curiosity “Tell me, what exactly are you, Elle? Your life might be in danger”

Elle was already hanging on her last thread of consciousness, the aftermath of the attack. With heavy breaths, she responded to him “I don’t have the mental capacity to go through any of this freaky shit again. So, please just let me out of your so-called territory”

Consumed by impatience, he grabbed her by her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. She jolted in shock and stammered “Wh-what is the matter? A-am I tra-trapped h-here forever?”

“That was a shadow wraith that attacked you. You managed to conjure it. You’re not a human being. Also, you managed to go through my barrier, no one has ever done that before.” He paused a bit to catch his breath. “Even more annoying is the fact that you smell like a wolf and I am intoxicated by your scent. What are you even.....”

His voice gradually faded away from Elle’s ears and, as if losing all of her stamina, she went unconscious and crashed into his arms.