Secret Scars

Secret Scars Nav Bar Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four

STORY BY SUNNY.

CLICK HERE FOR CHARACTERS.

Prologue
''Many centuries ago, The world was very different. Our Earth itself was very changed. Creatures were abundant all over the world. Living in small groups called Nations within their own species, following the way of the Angel, the guardian of Good and Bad. Light and Darkness. Keeper of peace. The creatures lived secretly and distant from humans. Peace was mostly kept amongst them, though conflict was not impossible.''

''The Mystic Government were responsible for keeping a balance between light and darkness. They made the decisions and had power over all Nations. Their High Council was made up of almost every creature and their rules were strict but reasonable. Many envied their power, but couldn't take them over. ''

''But that didn't stop them. Some even started gathering up groups of creatures and species to revolutionize. Their armies became very powerful and spread around like a dark mist, covering all the lands and invisibly taking over people's lives.''

''Humans became aware of the existing mythical creatures. And their awareness alone was enough to break the balance that everyone, especially the Mystic Government, longed to keep. Humans acted without thinking and an immediate battle took place. Everything was bad. Many died and those who didn't, suffered.''

''A new Era started. The Era of Revolution. All over the world, violence had replaced peace. A group of freedom fighters, The Hunters, searching for peace and fighting for what they thought was right, started defending the nations and those small numbers that were still following light's path.''

''Finally, things were beginning to take balance. Everything was going well and improving at a fast rate, when the Mystic Government was destroyed and every hope along with it disappeared. Creatures lost faith in their Angel and were left with only three choices; fight until they died, run away and live invisibly, or join and live among humans...just waiting for a chance to relieve their hope and long lost Kingdom.''

''Centuries passed and history was lost. Those few that survived, lived in secrecy and tried to blend in, avoiding their true identity and hiding in the shadows. The lost stories of the Era of Revolution were turned into books, fairy tales, movies, myths...''

''Everything was thought to be false. Lies.''

Everything seemed to be lost, but a new generation will be born from the ashes and begin a new Era.

The Era of Hope.

Chapter 1
Dylan

"Dylan, are you ready?" A woman's voice echoed through the small house. She was quickly packing some canned foods and a few fruits on a red bag lying on the kitchen counter. Her quick and swift movements showed she was in a big hurry. She finally grabbed two water bottles, and putting on her jacket grabbed the red bag. "Dylan!" she called again facing the small hall to where a tall teenager appeared.

He was wearing a black leather jacket with a dark green T-shirt under it and some ripped jeans. "I was just getting ready..." he complained while she handed him the red bag.

"Well, the full moon doesn't wait, does it?" she looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Then I shouldn't either. I've told you a million times how dangerous it is if we don't arrive at Ian's on time. We could risk exposing ourselves and our identity," she sighed. Dylan knew exactly what she meant. She had been saying this his whole life and yet he felt like he disappointed her each time they packed to go to their friend's cottage for the full moon.

The full moon...It was like an enemy. Somebody who just wanted to show the world who they truly were and not let them completely disappear into the human world. He didn't quite want to be a human, a werewolf was what made him different, but he didn't know anything about it. How to control it, nothing. He wasn't even sure if he wanted it or not.

He followed his mother out the house, this time without saying a word. She was the kind of person that worried a lot about everything and always saw what was the worst that could happen. Jumping at every sound of danger. Not a very likeable characteristic which didn't render her very popular amongst thd townspeople, but it did prove to be a very important asset in keeping their secret. His duty was to act as much as he could like a normal human. Nobody knew if the humans with knowledge about their presence existed and therefore it was dangerous to even be a little clumsy about it. Never underestimate danger, his mother would say.

Even as hard as he tried to fit in, he couldn't. The only way he thought he could was to reveal himself to one of his closest friends, but that would be betraying his mother. He had promised, no, he had sworn, her that he would never reveal his identity to any human unless it was a life or death situation. At least, living in this small town with few people helped to get along with others.

As quick as Dylan got into the small van, his mother started driving. It was already six something and the winter sky was getting darker. Not many clouds could be seen, and that was bad news. Now, nothing would stop or at least delay the moon. As he looked out the window, the houses were getting bigger and older with more space in between them. Trees were getting thicker and bigger and on the horizon, snow covered mountains could be seen.

A small cabin was now visible through the darkness. The van slowly pulled on the small stone-made parking beside it, almost sliding on the invisible ice. As soon as the motor was turned off, a man with a visible thick black jacket appeared on the cottage's door and rushed to Pheobe.

"You guys are late. The moon ain't waiting for ya so better hurry!" Ian said, apparently in a bad mood. His pale blond hair could be seen spiking out from his hat and his pale brown eyes showed anger but still worry about them. Ian had always been there for them as long as Dylan could remember. Not only him being a half-human half-werewolf allowed him to understand them, but also made him eligible to take care of them during the full moon since he couldn't turn. He only had a few werewolf characteristics being muscular, tall and had pale eyes. The full moon affected him too. He became stronger and you could say a little wild, but didn't turn. "C'mon boy. Not time to waste!"

Dylan quickly followed them as they entered the thick forest. After years of coming here, it felt right. It felt safe and at home, especially during the full moon. A place where they could just be themselves and not worry about what anybody else thinks. Just let their nature take them. After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived to a thick and dark part of the forest. The trees were huge and didn't let much of the sky to be seen with it's leaves and thick branches.

"Alright. You know the drill. Now stand straight and face me." Ian said, now taking a large old fashioned hunting gun and pointing it at them. "Now relax and don't fight it." He now turned the gun to Dylan's mother. She looked at him calmly and Dylan looked at her with admiration. She had learned to control herself better. Even as a werewolf she wasn't as violent and wild. He needed to learn that too. Then, Ian shot her. But it wasn't to kill her. The bullet contained a liquid. A liquid to calm down a werewolf so the impact of the full moon won't make them as violent. It hurts at the beginning but you feel relaxed after that.

The bad thing of being an immature werewolf like Dylan, you can't remember almost anything when you turn back into your human form. It stank. Not being able to remember what you did or what happened to you. Dylan looked at Ian nervously. It wasn't that he was scared, but he didn't like being shot at. Even if it was for his own good. He wanted to have control by himself and not by a little liquid that calmed him down.

Dylan took a deep breath. Ian shot the bullet. Everything became a blur.

"Kid, you okay?" Dylan opened his eyes slowly, feeling a bit dizzy and tired. A huge weight suddenly was upon him coming with a huge headache. He instinctively put his hand on his head, trying t sooth the pain. "That bad, huh?" Dylan looked at Ian again, this time confused trying to sit up from the small bed he was lying on.

"What...What are you talking about?" he said, baking away and carefully leaning on the wall to relax and try focusing on Ian's next words instead of his headache. Instead of answering, Ian just put some wet cloth on his forehead and gave him a glass of some orange liquid. Must be orange juice! Dylan thought quickly. But after one small sip, he almost felt like spitting it out. "God! What is this?"

"Some pain killer. Just drink it kid. Can't cause more harm, can't it?" He said, in his usual answering-questions-with-questions face.

"What happened? Never had a headache before."

"Rough night. Don't really know. But I sure can tell ya that the howls were pretty loud. Pheobe says you were kinda wilder than usual. Can't picture it. You being more wild? I've seen you turn once, never seen anything wilder. Anything on your head? You emotions before you turn can affect ya later." Dylan thought about last time. He had been stressed. Not that it was unusual, but more than he was on every full moon.

"Oh." Ian just nodded and stepped out of the room. Dylan looked around, thinking again at what had been going around his head last night. He got out of the bed and stood up grabbing a few clothes to change from the dirty clothes he had on yesterday before heading down the stairs into the dining room. The room was pretty small, but had just enough space for the round table and three chairs. Sitting down, were Pheobe and Ian. Both of them intensely talking. Not even close to arguing, more like a normal talk with a twist of flirting.

Dylan waited a few seconds, standing on the stairs until walking in, where both of them looked up at him. "Hey sweetie. Feeling better?" his mother put her hand on his shoulder as he sat down.

"Good, I guess. The headache has surprisingly stopped." he said looking at Ian, who smiled nodding. "But I'm starving!" he said with a louder voice and began eating. "This is really good Ian. What you do to it. Taste different." he said in between bites.

"Chef Firewin has his secrets."

"Should make a restaurant, called umm....Firewin foods for Lykos."

"Than it wouldn't really be a restaurant if it was only for us." Pheobe said standing up and picking up her plate. "Don't eat too much or you'll get a stomachache and this time Ian won't be able to heal it. You got school tomorrow, don't you forget that. I don't want any excuses for not going."

"Sure thing mom."

When he finished his plate he handed it over to Ian, who was washing the dishes and lied down on the living room couch, listening to his ipod from the red bag. He crossed his feet and closed his eyes, just letting the loud music relax him. The minutes wen by fast. With his music, Dylan could lose track of time and didn't even care about it. It was his pass time.

Suddenly, his mother nudged him and signaled him to take the earphones off. As soon as he did, she began talking. "We'll be going soon. Get your things on the bag and put it on. I'll go get Ian." as soon as she finished the last words, she went upstairs calling Ian's name.

"Urgh!" Dylan packed the few things that were left, but kept his earphones hanging on his shirt.

"Damon! Are you ready?" his mother's voice, now all bossy came from the entry of the living room while lifting her eyebrow.

"Yeah..?"

"Really? Then I suppose you're leaving all your clothes from yesterday hanging on the bed until next moth? I thought I told you to keep organized of your things." Yeah. He had to forget something! As hard as he tried no to, to please his neat and everything-needs-to-be-organized mother, he couldn't. He started going upstairs when the door rang.

"Wonder who it is. Usually nobody comes here, for all I know." Pheobe half murmured to herself as she went to get the door. Dylan just stood on the staircase, sharing his mother's wonder and eavesdropping. "Hello. Can I help you with something?" his mother's voice spoke first.

"Greetings ma'am. We were informed that Mr.Ian Firewin lived here. Is he here?" a male's voice spoke. Ian immediately walked to the door and stepped in front of Pheobe, now facing the man, Dylan guessed. Pheobe stepped back, now making Dylan see her.

"I'm Mr.Firewin. Can I help you?"

"Yes. We'd like you to come with us please. We don't mean any harm. Just you and the lady please come with us." another man's voice was heard.

"What-? I'm sorry but I cannot go with you until you tell me who you are." Ian demanded, this time his voice sounding mad. Dylan suddenly saw his mother slowly backing away. When she was out of the doorway's sight she ran up to him.

"Dylan! C'mon! Follow me fast! Don't make any noise!" She quickly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him all the way downstairs. When they got there, she walked over by a corner and folded the small carpet so an opening on the floor was now visible. Dylan stared at her as she opened the entry. "Listen to me Dylan. Listen carefully." she looked at his in the eyes, putting her two hands tightly on each of his arms. Dylan looked at her, now hearing some thumping and fighting sounds from upstairs. "These are bad men. They must have somehow heard the howls last night. They were carrying some guns with them." she quickly explained, almost out of breath. "There are some humans out there, Dylan. They know about us. About all the creatures and are trying to get us extinct. Don't trust any human. None! Go to the Mystic House. Over the mountain. You'll soon understand everything. Just don't try anything other than to get there. Promise me that whatever you hear right now, you won't get out until everyone is out of the house and then go to the Mystic House."

"But mom-" he started.

"No buts! Just promise me! Promise me Dylan!"

"I promise..." A shot was heard upstairs and almost everything went silent. "Ian..."

"Check the basement!" a man's voice spoke.

"I love you Dylan!" she now hugged him tightly, kissing him on the head. "Now go!"

Dylan dropped his bag down the small room and climbed down a wooden ladder stuck to the wall. His mother smiled at him and as soon as he was fully inside, she closed the small door and darkness filled the room. He blindly opened the bag and searched it for his flashlight. Everything in the bag was a mess. The food cans and containers were on top, blocking everything else on the bottom. When he finally reached it, he took it out and turned it on. The room was very small. About the size of a regular sized bathroom - without a shower. The wall were wooden and there were a few empty dusty shelves. It looked like nobody had been here for a long time.

Suddenly, Pheobe's loud scream snapped Dylan back to reality. The supposed fight that was going on upstairs. Loud steps and jumps were heard, and Dylan knew they were right on top of him. Suddenly, he heard a gunshot again and everything fell quiet. No! Dylan fought himself to not open up the entry and try to beat those men up - even if it seemed impossible he wanted to try. He heard the men's whispers and their fading steps going to the first floor.

A few minuted passed and Dylan was sure that the men had gone. His fear was increasing, but he tried keeping calm. He organized the bag more, and quietly opened the entry, feeling the weight of the carpet on top of it. He looked around the floor. There were some things broken on the floor and the wall had been hit with something. Dylan got out and ran upstairs.

The cottage was as quiet as ever. Not even one sound. He opened the door, feeling the cold winter breeze for the first time that day and stepped outside, pulling the bag on his back. There were a few prints on the snow. It showed that there had been a car parked on front and that the men had taken - dragged - his mother an Ian. Everything was wrong. Dylan couldn't imagine what had just happened. It had happened so fast. One minute he was annoyed by his mother's neatness and the next, Ian and her were fighting with some strange men.

What was it his mother had said? Go to the Mystic House.

Mystic House.

Chapter 2
Dylan

Dylan hurried outside the cottage. The faint footsteps and wheel marks coudl be seen over the thick snow. Dylan had to get out of here He needed to find out what his mother had meant by Mystic House. He knew it was an ancient school for the creatures to learn more about themselves and others. But his mother had said it had been closed long ago. ''Why had his mother said to him to go there? ''He was desperate. He didn't know what to do and his worry for his mother was blockign all thoughts from his mind.

He walked around in the snow for a few minutes. He stopped as he suddenly tripped on a snow hidden tree root. "Whoa!" This time his mind cleared up and he finally started thinking about what was happening right now. He had to calm down and go to the mountains, where his mother had told him he would find a Mystic House. He looked up to his side, searching for the mountain that he always saw since a little kid. It was very far and right at this moment full of snow. It was going to be hard.

Dylan stood up, grabbing his bag again and heading the way his mother's car had come. He had to go all the way back to the road, where if he was lucky enough, he would find someone that would be able to give him a ride.

"Thanks! I'll take it form here." Dylan said to the woman that had kindly enough given him a drive back into town. Apparantly, the news of some wild and very dangerous wolves had gotten all over town and there were already some hunters and police checking the area.

This had gone too far. Those men that had come to the cottage had known what we were. They had been ready with guns. A part of him wanted so badly to just try to track them down and find them, but the other part knew he had to do as his mother had instructed.

He tried no focusing on how tired he was and started walking through the small houses. It wasn't very far until he reached his house, but it would still take at least ten minutes to get to and his feet were already hurting. Everything was wrong, but I had to try to look for more information about the Academy at home. Maybe mom had kept some of it hidden.

It was weird entering the house. Him, all alone without her. The house seemed dead somehow. Lifeless. Empty. Suddenly all those normal teenager needs seemed so pointless. He didn't even know how he could have been so careless and not realize how much his mother, his only parent, meant to him. Funny isn't it? That the things that are suppose to really matter to you, you only take them for granted and don't appreaciate them or realize how much they mean to you until they're gone.

He dropped the bag on the floor, looking around the small and dark house for a second, just standing there and remembering all those great, fun and sometimes disapointing memories. Sometimes, when children are young, they do bad things and their parents ground them and they woudl get all angry, thinking they are right. But when you start remembering what really happened, you realize your parents were only doing what was best for you and you think ''Oh man! How wrong I was back then.''

Dylan then looked over to a picture that stood on a small table in the living room. It was his mother, his father and him as a little baby. His father...His mother had told him that he had been a great werewolf, fighting for good.

Dylan came back to reality as a car's light passing by flashed as a reflection on the picture frame. He hurried over to the small office that Pheobe used to work and he used for some homework. He says some because he didn't always finish it. Once in a while only...

A he stepped in, the book shelf was to my right, standing rigth beside the wall. A big number of books lay there, most of them - the unused ones - full of dust. Reminds him of those old libaries in movies. He read the titles of the books, cleaning the dust of some of them with his jacket sleve. None of the books sounded like something that would contain anything about a Mystic Academy. Urgh!! he hated looking through books. Boring! But he had to try for Pheobe.

He turned around, searching hopelesly with his eye through the room. There were only two desks, a few pictures on the walls, two lamps and an old chest that mom had. A chest? He remebered it. She had never let him look in it, but he sometimes caught her putting some files and papers or pictures in it. ''That's it! ''Maybe she had something in there.

He walked towards it, feeling all excited. Luckily the chest didn't need a key to be opened. As soon as he opened it, papers almost came out. The chest was full!! He took some of the papers out, looking at them. Many of them were letters and a few old newspaper articles. He read the front of the envelop and saw one thing: From: Cameron Lykos. Dad. Dylan looked over the other letters and the name was the same. Where had he been that he had written and sended so many letters to mom?

He quickly grabbed one of the top ones and opened it, sitting on the floor. The letters were a little dusty, they must be around 15 years old! He thought.

Dear Pheobe,

''I'm sorry I can't be home yet and I terribly miss you and the boys back home. Lots of Chasers are causing more trouble than we thought. They know abotu us, they've always know but somehow have found a way to keep it hidden and prevent us from being aware that they were still exposing a threat.''

''I don't think I'll be able to come home soon. Everyone here needs each others and I can't let them down. We've lost a few companions - don't worry, I'm fine - but we weren't the only ones with loses.''

''The Revels still haven't made an appearance and I'm afraid that they're plotting somethign bad. Really bad. Almost everyone thinks they're gone and done with causing trouble so their guards are down. Some celebrating and blind to what's really happening. It's taugh out here, but I know that we're fighting for something true and I have to keep going even as much as I want to be home with you.''

Hope to see you soon,

Love you forever, 

Cameron

Dylan folded the letter and put it back in the evelop. This must have been when I was only a baby, he thought. His mom had said that his dad had died when he was about to turn two years old. He didn't want to read any more of the letters. They were private and had really meant a lot to her. He could see that a few tear drops had stained the old paper. It was the only way for them to communicate at that time when it was hard to make a phone call and not be tracked down.

He took out all the pile of letters from the top and suddenly came upon some hard books. Oh! It took him his strentgh to get them out. They were extremely heavy and full of dust. When they were finaly out and lying on the ground, he could see how thick they were. They were those old fashioned brown books who's borders were all ripped and had those cream thick pages, like those you dropped on coffe or tea to make them old fashioned, with the cursive writting. Seemed like those strange movies but only real.

He opened the closer book from his reach and looked through the pages. The book had no title, but the pages did. There must be something about Mystic Academy here, he thought. The pages were so full of writting that it almost got him dizzy. And they say school is hard!! This had ten times more writting that school textbooks. He never thought he'd say this, but this book made homework look like a piece of pie!

"Eras...Birth...Angels...Culture...Beliefs...Nations...Agreement...Territories..." He repeated the subtitles as he read them, desperately searching for either the words 'Mystic' or 'Academy'. "Revels...Revolution...Dissapearance...Myteries...Mythical...Humans...Awareness..." He hit the floor hard, now getting stressed. This wasn't going well. If it wasn't in the subtitles he'd have to read everything to find what his mother had meant.

"Argh!" He finished scanning the book's subtitles and had found nothing. Aboslutely nothing. Anger was building up on him. Suddenly, some papers came out of it and he quickly stood up noticing that neither the paper colour or it's writting matched the book's. This was his mother's writting!

He grabbed the sheet and scanned my his through them. The first page had his answer. "Mystic Academy" he read it outloud, trying to learn as much as he could and get the words to sink in. It took him a few minutes to read the first two pages that included the main information. The Mystic Academy, or the Academies, were schools for all creatures around the world. They were scattered in every country where creatures would get human education as well as learn what they truly were in the mystical world.

It was also for those abandoned or lost children and teens in need of support and guidance. It helped any creature or as they called them, Nations, being able to control their ability and use it for good and become stronger.

That was it! But how in the world was he suppose to find one? They were scattered around countries. Great!! Maybe now he should search all of Canada for a mystical school that might not even exist anymore!!

He tried remembering what she had told me that day. Over the something...She had said to go over the...the...''Mountain!! That's it!! ''This town was on the base of a small mountain. Well, then that was settled. He had to go over or around the mountain...Yeah. He stood up and walked out of the small office and made my way to the kitchen.

Dylan knew there were no roads that took anyone directly to the other side. It would go all around the oposite way into the city, where buses and roads headed to the other side of the mountain. This was going to be hard. And that wasn't even counting how long it would take. Looking for something that nobody knew about and that he didn't even know for sure where it is! He wanted to just lie down with a bag of chips on the couch and watch T.V or play some hockey with his friends.

But then, his good conscience was still here telling him that he had to do this for his mom. She had gone through so much already.

He grabbed the red bag he had left on the entry of the house and emptied it on the kitchen counter. There were only a few things in it. Some dirty clothes, one can of tuna and a bottle of water. Alright. He opened the fridge and grabbed two bottles of cold water. First, I'll go buy some sandwiches, he thought. I had to. Damon wasn't very good in the kitchen and all his sandwiches always ended up to be something completely horrible. He grabbed the bag with a stronger grip and ran upstairs to his room.

As soon as he reached it he felt a huge temptation to just throw the bag onto the floor and get his stuff but he knew he had to be more careful and placed it on his bed. He opened the closet door and got a few light clothes. He got a ir of old ripped jeans and two old shirts that he mostly used when playing basketball. He folded them and placed them on a plastic bag so they wouldn't get wet with the cold water and then put the plastic bag in the red bag.

"Alright." He said and grabbed my can on the top shelf of my room. He quickly opened it and took out his wallet from my pants' pocket. He opened the wallet and put all of the money from the can to his wallet. My savings. He thought. It was quite a bunch. It was around 70 dollar plus all the cash he previously had in his wallet. He put the wallet back in his back pocket and put on the red bag. He ran downstairs as quick as he could and grabbed his keys as he got out the front door.

Dylan suddenly calmed down, remembering that anyone who saw him like this would surely think something was wrong. He locked the door and slid the key in his pocket. He looked around and started making his way to the nearest bus stop. He quickly payed the bus driver as soon as he opened the doors and sat down to start thinking of his plan to reach the closest place around the Mystic House. ''Ok. So if I stay on this bus until the terminal, I'll have a chance to take the bus that took me to the city. There, I would have to take the Go and try to make my way to the other side.'' He sighed. He never took buses, let alone the Go.

He'll just have to use what he dreaded the most. A map. Dylan hated maps. Not even as a little kid. They just confused him and make him think he's a tourist when he used them which was embarrasing. All the lines and names nad places all over that huge paper got me confused. He never erally bothered paying attention to them other than in geography class. He was lucky to pass that class. His mother had said that he was lucky he wasn't getting grounded for such a low mark, but he knew a 'B-' was the best he could do with a map.

He saw cars pass him as he finally reached the bus stop and leaned on a house's fence. He suddenly felt a vivration on his pocket and took out his phone that he had forgotten to shut off. He pressed a button so the screen would lighten up and saw he had gotten a new text message from a friend.

''Dude, you back yet? we suppose 2 get goin 2 play hockey''

He read the message and was about to put his phone back in my pocket but decided to text a quick reply on how he would be staying way longer at his friend's house. He had to say something to keep them from asking too many questions and if somebody asked where he was, they would simply tell them he was at friend's cottage with his mom.

"Going to a special occasion mister?" the bus driver asks making him give a slight jump and for a second doubt if he's talking to him. "You're quite going the distance without much packing. Headed for the city?"

Dylan looked up to the driver, a little confused that he was talking to him but still answered. "Uh, just visiting grand-parents for a birthday." He told him and looked back to staring out the window. The driver took this as a sing and nodded quickly focusing back on driving.

Dylan wondered what he was going to do once he got to the town on the other side. He wasn't sure how the town looked like or how big it was. He wasn't even sure how long it would take him to get there. Once this bug got to the city, he would take another bus thet would take him to the town. He imagined it would be just like taking this bus. But instead it would be going from the city to the town.

Would this Mystic House be far out into the woods? If so, it would be too cold for him to get to. The snow was not very deep now, but it was snowing very hard and the wind was pretty strong. The naked branches were being blown from one side to the other and there were no animals anywhere around the plains that the bus was passing through.

Dylan leaned his forhead on the window and wondered if his father ever had to go out into the cold woods looking for something. If he was ever in these situations or if this is what he did. Did he fight to try to stop things from happening like what had happened to Pheobe and Ian? Dylan understood how important it had been for his father to figth for good, btu sometimes even that wasn't enough to stop him from feeling a bit abandoned and mad at him for not being home and just getting himself killed.

He knew it wasn't fair, but he couldn't help feeling the way he was.

Chapter 3
Dylan

He looked around and felt like a helpless lost little kid. The forest was so big and deep and the sun hadn't reached the sky yet. The forest was still dark and the snow had only gotten deeper over night. At least it stopped snowing, Dylan thought. The tree were mostly tall and everywhere he looked, looked the same.

He kept walking, looked down at his boots sinking on the snow as he took steps forward. The forets seemed to be getting more and more deserted as he went deeper. Animals were bairly heard from where he was and the forest seemed to be lifeless. It wasn't the typical forest you saw when you went camping. It was bigger and the trees were much closer together, their roots over one another.

Suddenly a quiet flat of wings broke off the silence. The noise grew louder and more wings flatting appeared. Dylan looked up, startled at the sudden noise and saw huge birds. He could tell they had different colour of feathers from their longs wings, but they were too high up to see much detail. The only reason Dylan though that they were big was because of their size in the hights they were at.

They were flying in strange circle patterns. All of the strange birds somehow coordinating who went where so they all covered one area. Their shapes as they got closer looked weird. He had never seen anything like it. They had unusual long bodies but longer wings. Maybe birds of prey? Dylan wondered but he wasn't convinced. But after all, he didn't know much about birds...or any other type of animal.

The birds kept getting closer and Dylan was trying as hard as he could to see more of their features. His werewolf sight was much better than a normal human's but it still was very difficult. Suddenly, the groupd came to a halt and started to dissapear the same way they had mysteriously come from. This time, the birds just followed a lines pattern, one after the other. The weird thing was that they didn't make any bird sound. The only noticable noise were their wings.

Dylan stood there starring where they had dissapeared for what seemed a long time before making his mind up to follow them. He didn't exactly know what was making him follow them, it was more like an instinc. And since this was the only thing that was telling him where to go right now, he followed it.

The number of noises Dylan could hear kept increasing. from the same direction the weird birds had dissapeared to. But not normal animal sounds. More like a town. Cars. People talking. Houses. Hope was starting to fill inside Dylan. Maybe this town was one step closer to getting to Mystic House. Dylan walked a little bit faster, almost liek a slow jog. His feet were already hurting from the long walk and it was already the afternoon.

After so many hours had passed after Dylan had seen those birds and hadn't found them, he had almost lost all hope. He had found nothing and the forest looked still the same as it had a few hours ago. But he knew exactly he could as much as he tried to.

The trees started to gte small and thinner. The space between them was increasing and the roots' size was getting smaller. More sunlight was getting through the thin tree branches and the sun's heat was starting to take effect on Dylan's thick snowboarding jacket. He felt everything getting warmer and the wind has stopped for now, not letitng the cool breeze cool his face.

Dylan quickly stopped walking as some whispers took over the noises. These voices were much, much closer than what Dylan had expected. For soem reason instead of just continuing walking, he slid behind a tree and tried to keep as much quiet as he could to try to overhear the voices. But at the same times as Dylan hid, the whispered stopped and someone was getting closer.

Dylan heard a clapping on wings and the a strange man stood beside him. The man was probably in his mid forty's and he stood there staring at Dylan with an expressioness face. He was wearing a extremely thick jacket over him that took a very weird shape around him. His eyes were very pale and his sleek short black hair was covered in a few snow flakes. The man's expression suddenly changed and his words surprised Dylan.

"What are you?" Dylan looked at the man's face for some sign of a joke. He couldn't possibly mean what kind of creature he was. ''Could he? ''Dylan wondered. But the man's expression didn't change and someone else's voice came from behind.

"Have we come upon a problem Clay?" the man that had just appeared asked, this time putting his hand inside his long thick coat as if to bring a weapon out.

"That depends." the man named Clay answered, not taking his sight off me and thsi time spoke to me. "Will you asnwer that question kid? Or do will you be a problem? What is it that you want in Elavé?"

"Uh, Elavé?" Dylan asked, confused on what they were saying. "Is this the name of this place?"

"You got to be kidding me. What are you doing here? And yes, Elavé is what this town is called. Are you human raised?" the other man asked.

"I was just looking for more creatues. My mother got taken away and I...I didn't know where to go." Dylan answered, not wanting to give anything about his search for the Mystic House. Maybe not many people knew about it and he didn't want to draw more attention than he already had.

"Ok, lets start this over. What's your name and what are you?" Clay asked, this time looking a little bored.

"My name is Dyland and what do you mean what am I? What are you?"

"We don't have time to play games. You tell us what you are and we'll let you go in. Part of our security is to know who we are allowing to enter." after a moment of silence the other man finished. "We are Valkyries." Valkyries?

"Werewolf." Dylan finally answered, hoping that he wouldn't regret saying it later on.

Boht man nodded and signaled him to follow them. They led him to a a large wooden gate that was sourounded by a long and apparantly thick fence. The unamed man knocked at teh door and stood there until a small opening, smaller than a normal window, carved in the wooden door opened and a man's face appeared on the other side. "Who goes there?" he asked in a tough thick voice.

"It's Oilver. Clay found a visitor." the unamed man, now called Oilver answered and the man on the other side shut the small opening and the wooden fence slowly started to open. The door kept opening until it gave passage big enough for two people to go in. Clay looked at Dylan and nodded for him to go in. Dylan hesitated for a few seconds, not sure if he should go in right away or wait for Oliver, but then made up his mind to just go.

Clay quickly walked to Dylan's side, guiding him and a little bit behind him with Oliver soon following them inside. There were a few other man standing rigth behind the fence, just looking at the three of them pass inside with expresionless faces. On the inside it looked almost the same as the outside had. There was plenty of snow on the ground and there were those same leaf-less trees.

But behind those few trees was what was different. A few walls were visible behind them. Houses. Dylan quickly thought. Clay signaled him to follow and started walking through the small area of trees into houses area. The houses had a maximum of two floors each with very large roofs and most of them had balconies.

That's when Dylan saw them. All of them. The weird large birds he had seen earlier that day. With those long wings. Strangely coordianting where to fly and which direction to go to. They were right in front of him and he could bairly beleive his eyes. He blinked a few times before latting the picture sink into his mind.

He looked around, now perfectly seeing all of this town's inhabitants. They looked just like normal poeple. Walking around, playing sports or playing in the snow, except they had a very distinc feature that nobody could ever miss. Right on their backs a pair of feathered wings lay clamly. What are they?

He stood there on the sidewalk. Staring at every single of these bird-like creatures as they passed him by, barely noticing him. "Kid. If you just came to stay standing like that staring then you better leave."Oliver told him, snapping Dylan back to reality. He started walking again, this time not so sure where to go since Clay had stopped leading the way. The town looked just like any regular one and just like everytime Dylan went to a new town, now he felt lost.

"Need to get somewhere in special?" Oilver asked form behind him.

"I'm not sure." Dylan turned around, "What are they?" he cautiously asked, not wanting for some reason for the others to hear him.

"We are valkyries." Oliver said sighing.

Clay looked at him and raised his eyebrow. "He's human raised." he explained and Oliver nodded, understanding why Dylan had no knowledge.

"Valkyries as in half-bird half-human. Human with wings. We're one of the eightteen mythical nations, which are the name for all the types of creatures like werewolf. You are part of the werewolf nation." Oliver explained, feeling a bit annoyed.

"Oh" Dylan said. He had to find someplace that said everything about thiese creatures or nations and hopefully about the Mystic House. "Is...Is there a library?"

Clay looked at him as if shocked he would be asking for a library but just nodded. "You turn to the right and keep going straight. You'll see the library as soon as you turn." he said, poiting at the right turn.

"Okay, thanks!" Dylan said and started to make his way through the sidewalk to the right turn. The village was somehow old fashioned. It had those old street lights and the streets had a small piece of grass -now snow- and a few skinny trees between the cars going to one side with the cars going to the other.

The stores were very tiny and looked just like houses except for the large glass windows and large poster with the store's name on it above the doors. The creatures, or as named Valkyries were just normally walking around as if not even being aware of Dylan's presence. They acted as if their wings were just another normal part of their bodies.

Out of nothing a black crow flew rigth to Dylan's head, hitting him with its legs as it passed above him. "What the hell?" he looked over to where the crow had gone, which turned out to be an alley with barely any ligth because it had a ceiling from the two stores around it. The crow appeared again and thsi time didn't even notice Dylan and flew back into the main street.

"Hey you!" a voice called and Dylan turned around to see the source. A girl was leaning against the store's wall.

She was about Dylan's hight and approximately his age. She was wearing tight beige skinny jeans with tall brown boots. She had a small black leather jacket with a simple navy shirt under it. Her long dark brown hair rested in a braid along her shoulder with short side bangs covering small parts of her eyes. They were dark gray eyes and were staring rigth at Dylan.

"Who are you?" he asked, feeling a little attracted to her as any teenager boy would.

"The question isn't who I am, it's who you are. Obiosuly not a Valkyrie, but something else." she said, her words quick. Daylan wondered how she knew but felt stupid the minute he realized he didn't have those big noticable wings.

She paused for a moment, moving her head to one side and continued. "Oh, so you're a dog, nice! What are you doing here?"

"How did you know that?" he asked.

She smiled. "Oh, I just know. Now, answer my question, what are you doing here? It's not common for a pup to be wandering in Elavé. You're probably the first one to have set foot, or paw in your occasion, here in many years." she said, this time fully standing up from the wall and crossing her arms.

Dylan looked behind her, checking if she had any wings. "I'm not a bird." she said as if reading his mind. "Ay dios mio." she said in a different language. "You are human raised right?"

"What is that even suppose to mean? Everyone's saying that!"

"Well, you seem to have no knowledge of the nations or anything else. If you were nation raised, you would recognize some of the most recognizable creatures, which you clearly can't." she said in an annoying tone and started laughing.

As soon as Dylan didn't say anything she spinned around. "See? No wings." she pointed at her back.

This was bothering Dylan. She's acting all know it all. He had to take a chance in that. "You think you know it all don't you? Then tell me about the Mystic Houses."

"Mystic House? Sure. Really big castles used as secret school for all nations and then during the war, they all got blown up. Bye bye Mystic Houses." she simply said.

"Wait, they can't be gone. They must still be some. There has to be one around here!"

"Nope. Sorry, like I said. They're gone. Nobody in the present time knows where they used to be located to at least see their ruins. Why do you care so much?"

"Doesn't matter." Dylan immediately said and he started backing away, knowing that this conversation was going nowhere and that it would only bring down his hopes of finding the Mystic House. He stopped as he reached the end of the alley and turned around to glance one more look at the girl.

The alley was now dark and empy!

Dylan quickly spinned around to make sure that his eyes weren't playing games but it was true. The girl who had been standing there a few seconds ago was now gone. He looked around one ast time and then turned around, finally reaching the corner where he had to turn.

Clay had been right. Right where Dylan was standing he could see the big castle-like library. Just like the whole town, it looked old fahioned.

"Hello dear. My name is Mrs. Byerly. May I help you with anything?" Dylan turned and nodded a greeting to the old librarian lady. She was wearing brown dress pants with a light aquamarine sweater. Her glasses lay a little bit above her nose and she was carrying a few magazines. Then on her back, lay two perfectly still silver feathers that matched her curly gray hair.

"Umm...No thank you." he said first, trying to sound as well manered as he could but quickly changed his mind. "No. Wait. Do you have anything about the ancient history? I mean like stuff about the old Mystic Houses?"

"But of course dear." she said laughing and waved her hand so he would follow her. Dylan nodded and noticed the library looked even bigger from the inside.

It had long thick shelves full of big, small, new and old books. Then as he followed her, he saw in the center of the library a lower floor designed in a circle with computers all around it and large tables in the centre. Then on the right side of the library was the very distinctful children's section with bright coloured small tables, chairs and toys.

"This way." Mrs. Byerly said as she led Dylan to the back of the library where some stairs were located. She started making her way up and he quickly followed, surprised there was another floor.

This floor though, only ran along the walls of the library, letting the middle part of the first floor see the ceiling. "Here it is. This whole floor is all about our, meaning every nation's, history and past." she said, lifting her arms to show Dylan the whole floor.

"Thanks." Mrs. Byerly smiled and headed back downstairs.

Dylan now looked around the shelves. Every single one of them was in alphabetical order so he hurried to the letter M. Mostly each letter had about three shelves each, completely filled with books and at then end of each row, may a very tall desk full of newspapers and magazines.

"This is more than enough Christian Hawkins! This horrible attitude of yours has to change imediately!" Dylan heard a mad voice coming from behind the Q shelves. He quietly started to make his way closer, making sure he looked like he was searching for a book and not eavesdropping. "You mother and I are way in over our heads and you simply don't seem to care or listen."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" the boy sitting on a chair argued but his father continued.

"Sure. By skipping school and doing whatever else you and your delinquent friends do is an embarassement to our family. Haven't I told you enough times about what our role is? I am the mayor of this town and you as my family must be a model teenager!" the man continued.

"Listen Christian, if you're not going to do what is right the easy way, then your father and I have no other solution than to ground you." now a woman's voice spoke.

"Mom that's not fair! It's not like-" Christian started but got interrupted.

"Jocelyn, let me do the speaking." the man spoke and turned again to his son. "You will remain in this library doing all your missed class work and assignments until they are done and caugth up with. You will neither go to school or see your friends until they are done! You are to stay in the library every day until you finished your assigned work for the day. You can even stay here at nigth if you dont finish!"

"Dad!" he yelled as if to try to say something but his mother's shake of her wrist stopped him.

"Delilah here," the father pointed his hand to the other woman behind him, "will act as your tutor and Tyson from downstairs will make sure you stay here until your daily work is done. Your punishment starts today."

Chapter 4
Dylan

Dylan looked through the shelves as both adults started to head down the stairs leaving the teen, Christian Dylan though, alone with Delilah. She had very short red hair that didn't even reach her shoulder and a pair of brown wings. She was wearing the kind of suit that would people wore at meetings.

"Well, here are your things for today." she said, dropping a package with a few books on the desk infront of him. "I will be downstairs in the cafeteria, so if you need help just tell me." she said and quickly left.

"Won't need any cause I aint doing it!" he said after her loud enough so she could hear him. Delilah kept going, clearly ignoring him. They boy pushes the package back and just leaned on his chair, doing nothing. "You gonna stay there the whole time?" he said surprising Dylan.

Dylan now yerked up his head through the shelf of books to make sure the boy was talking to him and walked around it to join him. "Sorry."

"Whatever. It's not like it's uncommon for people to see him ground me. He tries to find a place where no-one can hear, but it don't work." he said and then looked up at Dylan. "I'm Chris." he said with a weak smile.

"I'm Dylan."

"And you're not a Valkyrie. I dont think I've ever seen you here, not that going to the library is something I usually do. I hate it..." he explained. "What are you?"

"Werewolf and yeah, just got here. I never go on libraries either. Juts tring to look for something." for some reason he didn't doubt telling him the truth.

"You came all the way into this town for a book?" he laughed. "What's it for?"