The Inauguration
Chapter 41

She woke up from her sleep in a cold room, she could only see the dark but the more she looked around, the more her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She could smell the disinfectant, the smell of chemicals wafted her senses and she felt an ache in her body. How it travelled from her body to her toes. She could feel the dryness of her face and she knew it was from all the crying.

She was lying on a hospital bed, she was the only one in the room and she couldn’t hear anything around her apart from the constant drumming of her heart. She looked to the door and saw the light under it and wanted to be out there in the light.

She rose from the bed and groaned in agony but she pushed it away, the urge of wanting to be in the light calling to her and she desperately clung to the feeling.

Her feet hit the cold floor and she shuddered. She found balance on her legs, her body seeming somewhat heavy to move. She took a step, and then another and soon enough she was moving towards the door with much ease. She opened the door and the light blinded her for a second but it soon dimme down.

The door that she held was gone and when she turned back, the room she once laid in was gone. She was in a light abyss with no way out.

Thunderstruck somewhere in that abyss, and soon enough dark clouds coloured the sky. She started walking around mindlessly, with no idea where she was going, the more she walked, the darker the clouds got and the louder the thunder was. The sound shook her body as if she was in the middle of the thunderstorm itself but what she didn’t realise is that she actually was.

Soon enough it began pouring and the heavy rain made it difficult to move. She was cold, and her shivering body, her shattering teeth and pale look would tell you that if she didn’t find warmth soon, she would drop dead.

She continued walking and she was close to giving up and dropping on her knees until she saw a figure sitting on what seemed like a bench.

She looked around but all she could see was rain and darkness.

She approached the figure, at first, it was like the figure didn’t even notice she was there. The figure had an umbrella and a small blanket around their shoulder. She sat down on the bench next to the figure.

“Hello”, Solani whispered to the figure, not properly seeing the person’s face, “Hi, I’m a bit lost, where are we?’ she asked but she received no answer.

Solani didn’t know what to do and she sat there, rain still pouring down her and she couldn’t understand what was going on. She looked under the umbrella, she looked at the woman’s face. Her skin was soft and pale as far as she could tell. Her eyes were a dark brown and her hair pure black. Solani couldn’t understand why she felt like she had seen this woman before, she knew this woman but from where she couldn’t quite put a finger on.

The woman’s eyes turned to meet Solani’s and Solani was shocked. She stood from the bench and took a step away from the feeling, realisation finally dawned upon her. The woman stood from the bench and took a step towards her, she smiled at Solani. Solani could tell the smile was genuine.

“Honey, you’re freezing”, the woman said, taking Solani’s hand in hers, the colour of their skins contradicting each other.

The woman pulled Solani back to the bench and she sat her down. She pulled the umbrella over them both and she draped the blanket over Solani’s shoulders.

“that’s much better,” the woman said, smiling at her. All Solani could do was stare at her, tears brimming at the base of her eyes, “if only we had hot cocoa, this would be so much better”.

“Remember how much you loved hot cocoa, couldn’t have enough of it, even when you were older and leading your father’s troops,” the woman said laughing, “right until you…,” the woman’s words faded and she sighed looking out into the dark abyss.

“Right until I killed you,” Solani finished her sentence for her, the tears finally falling.

Her mother rolled her eyes and gave her a small smile, “oh hush”,

“that’s all in the past now deary. I certainly don’t care, why would I care about matters that occurred when I was alive, I’m dead what can I do about it?”, she shrugged.

Although she knew her mother was trying to make her feel better, Solani’s guilt couldn’t help but grow at her sentence, it was true she was dead and Solani was the reason for that.

“Anyway, I have to go, your father wants my famous pork chops for dinner, so I have to start cooking”, with that said her mother disappeared and she sat there looking at where her mother was.

The rain stopped and the darkness lifted but the dark clouds still decorated the skies. The ground shook and trees started sprouting around her. She was in a forest now, thunder still rang above and she was suddenly filled with this immense sense of fear and she stood from the bench, which disappeared she stood. She dropped the umbrella and the blanket. Dread filled every fibre of her bones and something in her told her to run, there was something lurking in the trees watching her and she needed to get away before it was too late.

Thunder struck, then lighting, it hit one of the trees close to her and she took off in any direction. She was running, from something, from what she didn’t know. She just knew that she had to run, she had to get up and run. So she ran.

She could hear the sound of something running after her, she turned to her right and there she saw a figure running beside her, that figure struck a certain fear in her that instantly made her halt in her tracks.

Her heart was beating fast, she looked all around her, looking for it but it seemed to have vanished.

She was suddenly hit with immense pain and she screamed clutching her side. She looked down, to see her hands coloured in her blood. Her right abdomen was clawed and it stung. She cried again in pain, tears falling down her face. She held onto her left abdomen in pain. She looked around her, trying to find the figure once again. She was looking around fast, left, right, right, left. She almost missed it but she caught it moving between the trees. It stood only meters away from watching her.

It had a figure of a male, its eyes narrowed at her and it vanished from her eyes. Her breath hitched at how fast it moved. She looked around again but was hit with a force from the right with so much power that she went flying, her body hitting a tree with a thud.

She fell to the ground with a thud and she couldn’t help the cough that rang through her body. The cough was rough, she covered her mouth and coughed hard. She looked at her and noticed the blood that came out of her.

She heard the crunching of leaves, and her eyes looked up to see the male standing before her. Looking down at her.

She knew those eyes, she knew that white hair.

Raedwulf.

“Oh dear sister, I’m quite offended”, he said with a smile, a mocking smile, ” you don’t look happy to see me. I mean you were happy to see mum and I thought you would be excited to see me too”, he told.

He crouched to her level, he reached out to touch her cheek but she flinched and he grinned,

“But then again, mother was always kind, even to her enemies,” he stood up and gave her space, “let me guess, she said that she didn’t care…that woman is an angel I tell you, well I don’t need to tell you, you already know,” he smiled at her and Solani couldn’t help but shudder at the smile.

“Anyway, how are you Lani?“, he asked, his voice filled with concern, “I hope those scratches I gave you don’t hurt too bad, I mean what’s that compared to your head being cut off from your body”, he laughed before sighing.

“How’s the Lugar family?” He asked her, “I heard the old geezer kicked the can, you must have shed some tears, didn’t you?“, he stopped pacing, looking into her eyes deadly.

“I reckon you cries lasted days, am I wrong dear sister?” He asked again.

“Solani are you retarded, can't you fuckin answer questions when asked!?“, he growled at her.

Silence passed between them and all Solani could do was stare at the ground in front of her, her throat blocked with this horrible pain, every single word he spoke just kept ringing in her head. She had cried for days for William, but she didn’t shed a tear for her family, for her mother.

“Oh Lani you don’t look so good,” he laughed, ” but we'll make things better”.

Solani watched as her brother took something out of his pocket, he looked at the object in her hand and looked up at her. In a flash, he was crouched before her, her heart skipped a beat and she pressed herself against the tree, “remember this”, in his hand was the small dagger Genhi had given her.

“Genhji loves these things, I’ve always wondered why,” his eyes were filled with wonder that it shook Solani, “let’s find out shall we”, and once again with a flash, he was standing a few meters from her.

“I mean Genhji has a right to be angry at you, you do know that right? I mean yes what we’re about to do was horrible and I saw the wrong in it but did I have to die? Did I have to die, bitch?", he snarled and threw the blade, it missed her and hit the tree trunk behind her.

“Dammit I missed, well try, try again they say,” he laughed pulling the blade out of the trunk, “right? That’s what you teach the little Lugar boy, that if you fail, you try again. Who knew the cold bastard Solani had a heart, especially after killing all the innocent children in her own pack, the same children she used to play with and read to. The same children she gave the same advice to, what a hypocrite”, he sighed shaking her head, “some people in this world really don't deserve to live and yet she lives as if she the fuckin messiah,"

"Remember father told us about him, about how the humans worshipped him. Do you worship him, do you worship the goddess?

“Do you think you’ll see the goddess Solani? Do you think you’ll get to cross the gates and be with mother?,” he chuckles, “here’s a funny fact Solani, the same man you claimed to be horrible, the same man who I called father is right beside mother, right with the goddess. So tell me Solani who is the real monster?”

“Father was going to attack and destroy an entire species Raed”

“Just the fuck up, you have no right to say my name. And he isn’t your father, you lost that right the minute you started conniving with that Lugar,” he snarled at her, “and besides the humans are pathetic creatures, they kill everything in their sight because of fuckin fear, they hunt us down for sport, they think their superior and here you are acting as their spokesperson, you disgust me Solani. Either way, if you ever even bothered to come to the meetings you would have known father wasn’t going to destroy them all, he was going to kill his partner and kill the greedy bastards that hunt our kind.

“Mother had managed to talk to him, managed to show him that what we were about to do would cause a war that we would inevitably lose but noooo... you wanted to play hero, well congratulations Solani, you won”, he ignored her sobs and stood there for some time twirling the knife in his hands.

“Now don’t you move little sister, I don’t want to miss again,” Solani didn’t have the time to process what he meant when a sudden rush of pain filled her. She turned to her right shoulder and noticed the small dagger in it. Her brother was by her side again, he pulled the dagger out of her shoulder, “let’s try again”.

He stood meters away and she tried to get away but it was like there was a force holding her to where she sat. She screamed as the dagger pierced her other shoulder, “damn it I keep missing”.

In frustration, he plunged the dagger into her leg and she screamed, “but I do get why Genhji loves these things so much, they’re so much fun to play with”.

He went back and stood there for a few minutes, “now don’t you dare move, I’m sure I’ll get it this time”.

It seemed like time slowed and she watched as her brother threw the dagger with so much force, she watched as it flew from his fingers and threw the hair, she watched it and she knew he had been amazing at her head the entire time.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she couldn’t help the sobs that shook her body.

She waited for the pain but it never came. The dagger stopped right at her skin. Her brother was gone and she heard the crunching of leaves approaching her.

A hand took the dagger and she could feel liquid flow down her nose, she knew it was blood.

The hand was in her face as if to help her stand. She looked up but the light blinded her. She took the hand and the light around them dimmed, and she saw the person who helped her.

Standing with his green eyes staring into her eyes, was her father.

“I don’t understand why he likes playing games with his foes, it’s such a tedious thing,” he said to her, shoving the dagger into his pocket.

“I don’t much to say but this, leave your sister. Don’t apologize, she has already forgiven you but she won’t ever forget the pain you put her through. She will leave you with your mate but don’t expect anything more from her. But if you still wish to be part of her life, just watch her from afar. Ask your mate to take you to us, he’ll know where Genhji buried us. Don’t bother apologizing to your brother when you get there, he’s as stubborn as your sister. Your mother likes tulips and you can get me anything.”

Solani heard the commotion and she turned to see her old pack members before her, they were standing on the training grounds. Some were sparring whilst others trained with weapons. It was like a normal day in her father’s pack.

“Solani, your sister is right. I forgave you the minute I found out you were meeting up with William,” Her eyes grew wide shocked, that he knew before the attack, ” What you thought I don’t know my own children? I am sorry for the beatings Solani.”

Her father started walking towards the trainees, “Live Solani, your past doesn’t define your future child. You did what you did. People will have their opinions but they don’t matter. You lost your family that day but you gained another, they still love you and they need you”.

The dark clouds that once clouded the skies had disappeared and there was a clear sky.

“Let me leave you, your mother made pork chops for dinner and if I don’t get to the house now, your brother will finish them all,” he smiled at her and in her entire life, that was the first time her father ever smiled at her.

He started walking away from her and every time he passed pack members, they would disappear and she could feel herself floating. Soon enough it was just her and her father left in the clearing, he turned back to her and shouted, “Remember to be loyal Solani, loyalty is also love, sometimes it's even better”.

With that, he disappeared and soon enough she was floating round in the white abyss again.

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