AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

30| JUST A MYTH, FOREVER A LEGEND

Reed was already entirely engrossed in every single word that left Billy's lips, hanging onto every single syllable. Callas wondered if these were the legends that Reed had remembered growing up with, if the stories were the same. She knew she was too young to remember anything about them, but it was still nice to finally experience something that meant so much to Reed with him. The fire, in the middle of the circle, crackled as the wooden logs burned underneath, the warmth of the flames travelled to Callas, which she was thankful for as the wind had been cold and unforgiving as it swept through the back of Jacobs house. She looked over to her left and smiled to herself as her eyes met with Embry. He sent her a wink before he turned his attention to Billy as well. The moon shone overhead, casting a soft glow around the circle. Billy cleared his throat and Callas looked over to him, catching her full attention.

     "The Quileutes have been a small tribe from the beginning," Billy started. "But we've always had magic in our blood."

     Everyone's attention was now glued to Billy. There was a commanding tone to his voice that sucked Callas in, her eyes were unable to move away from him. There was something about him that seemed different to Callas now, she hadn't noticed it before, but he held a strong authority and wisdom over the group that gathered around the fire. Reed had nodded his head along with a few others, including Sue and Old Quil. A chill ran down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck pricked up, something washed over her—she wasn't sure if it was pleasant, or if it had terrified her. It wasn't his words, but the meaning behind them that seemed to stick with her, striking her bones. Billy glanced over at them, there was something—a look—in his eye that caused her head to tilt.

     "We were great spirit warriors, shape-shifters, that transform into the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies. And protect our tribe."

     Images began to flash into her mind, pounding against her skull as they all emerged at the same time, fighting for her attention. It was overwhelming. But there was one that caught her eye. There were men, but she didn't recognise any of them. There was a hard look set across each of their faces, but she couldn't see what they were looking at. They were ordinary men that shook with anger and vengeance before wisps of white surrounded their bodies and rippled, causing them to lunge forward into a beast. Wolves, seemingly much larger than the average wolf, stood in their place with snarling and blood soaked teeth that snapped as their lips turned up. It was a large pack of them, they were almost as tall as she was when they were on all fours—she hated to think about what they would have looked like had they stood up on their hind legs. Their paws extended with sharp claws, coated in a dark layer of dry blood that soaked into the fur, matting it together in clumps. The low rumble that came before an eye piercing growl shook the earth.

     "One day, our warriors came across a creature."

     Callas stared at the fire, her mind wondering, sinking into her vivid imagination as Billy's words came to life. There was a clearing, tall thin trees were closely packed together around the large open space. Ice cold, crystal clear, water flowed just beyond a man, with hair down to his shoulders, he was wearing a red Spaniard uniform that looked mid-sixteenth century. His skin was pale—too pale to indicate that he was alive. His eyes were of an ochre red, that matched the blood that ran through her veins. Ones that she was all too familiar with seeing in her dreams and on the face of the Wight. From one area, two Quileute warriors, that looked human, emerged from the trees, horrified to find the red-eyed man bent over two lifeless tribe girls. His eyes were feral as his body turned to face them, tauntingly.

     "It looked like a man. But it was hard like stone. And cold as ice."

     The two warriors yelled out in anger before their bodies shook, the first one lunged forward and burst into the skin of a wolf just as it took off, heading straight towards the red-eyed man—who had no emotion or expression on his pale face, his head tilted down, ready for whatever was going to happen. It was like a shot of lightning struck her body, fear rushed over her as her mind forced her to watch, she wanted to scream out. The red-eyed man was able to wrap his arms tightly around the wolf, tightening his grip, strangling the wolf before a loud crack echoed through the clearing, the flowing water seemed to silence as the dead body of the wolf was thrown to the side, landing with a thud. The second wolf charged forward as the red-eyed man watched the body of the wolf drop, he was distracted long enough for the wolf to get its teeth around the neck of the red-eyed man, thrashing its head quickly as it managed to snap the red-eyed man's neck, ripping it from his body.