Chapter 35

I look at my grandfather with a wide eye, “Did you really believe I would have come to you if I didn’t believe Silver could do what I said?”

Tribus opens his mouth but is cut off by my grandmother, “It’s not that he didn’t believe you believed it Ebony, but rather your grandfather had a hard time believing such a thing was even possible. You have to remember, your grandfather and I have both been around far longer than most civilizations have been.”

At that Richard’s and Jasmine’s eyes go wide as they look from my grandparents to me then back again as Celeste continues, “In all of our combined years nothing, and I mean nothing, has had a natural ability which even comes close to what this young cub is showing to have.”

She turns her gaze on to Silver and says in a soft almost cooing voice, “Isn’t that right little Silver? You can see the big bad demons for what they are can’t you?”

As her voice carries through the room Silver turns his gaze away from Tribus for the first time and looks at my grandmother. When his eyes meet hers they brighten up with a big smile as his ears perk forward. Letting out a giggle all the fear and worry he had been showing a moment earlier vanish as he starts reaching out from Celeste with small grasping paws while making little giggling barks.

Celeste leans forward in her seat and makes similar grasping motions towards Silver causing his giggle to grow louder, “You’re a smart little wolf aren’t you? Yes you are.”

Silver continues to squirm around in his fathers arms as Jasmine asks, “Uhm… Would you like to hold him ma’am?”

My grandmother looks up at Jasmine with a glow in her eyes, “Oh may I? It has been so long since I last held a little cub.” She glances over at me, “In fact you were that last Ebony.”

A snort comes from the armrest to my right where Chase had perched himself. Without looking I just jab my elbow back and hit him right below the ribs getting a satisfying ‘oomph’ from him. 

Richard gives his mate a sideways glance before he leans forward towards Celeste who is gently reaching out for Silver. As soon as my grandmother is within his reach Silver practically jumps into her arms and begins running his small paws over her smiling muzzle. As she holds him my grandmothers face lights up with the biggest smile I have seen on her in a long time. 

We all sit there for a moment watching the two play and make noises at each other before Tribus speaks up breaking the spell woven by the young cub, “I had forgotten just how pure and innocent the youngest of us could be.”

I turn my gaze on the old demon and see a wistful smile on his mouth that quickly vanishes before he turns back to Richard and Jasmine, “Treasure the time you have with your children. It will be over far to soon for your liking.”

Richards voice is laced with a faint growl as he asks, “What do you mean?”

Waving a hand in front of him Tribus answers, “Nothing bad is meant. Only that children have the unfortunate habit of growing up much to fast. One day your changing their diapers and the next they are leaving to have their own family.”

Richard visibly relaxes in his seat before Tribus continues, “But unfortunately I have to give you all information that will sour some of those good times you have coming.”

Everyone looks at him except for Celeste who is too absorbed in playing with Silver too notice. Using his right hand my grandfather traces three flaming runes in the air and a small tear forms before him. He reaches into the void and pulls out the small journal I had left in his care. 

As the small portal vanishes he holds up the book and looks around the room, “I take it everyone knows what this is?”

Richard and Jasmine shake their heads no as Chase says, “That’s the journal I found in our library written in demonic runes, Ebony said it had what he thought were prophecies in it.”

My grandfather nods slowly saying, “He was right. It does contain several passages that I believe are prophetic in nature. Some of which pertain to at least two people in this room, perhaps more.”

Chase clears his throat with a small cough before asking, “How much more have you been able to decipher?”

Richard turns to his alpha and asks in an accusatory voice, “You knew about this? That it could affect my son?”

Chase turns to him to retort but is cut off by Tirbus, “No he did not. All Chase knew was the book was written in demonic runes, which Ebony was able to only partially translate. Neither of them knew the true meaning of the writings until the book was brought to me.”

He locks his gaze fully with Richards before continuing, “You see many centuries ago I came into possession of two torn pages containing a passage in our demonic language that roughly translates into this:

‘The coming of a new demon lord to replace the old will set in motion the changing of times. The hybrid son of a hybrid will be the strongest ever, his rise will mark another’s fall. Ancient twins lost to history will reunite, restoring the balance long since lost. A child born of one, raised by a second, and taught by a third will see the truth in all things. When these things have all come to pass the world will be placed on the edge of a knife.’”

Silence stretches out in the room before my grandfather starts again, “There is a bit more to it of course, demonic doesn’t translate entirely, but that is the basic meaning. Those pages were the first two pages of the book that Ebony lent me when he last came before me.”

He holds up the journal, “This book here. As Ebony knows demonic runes can have a wide range of meanings and they change based on what the first part says. There was no way for Chase or Ebony to have known the true meaning to all of the words in this book before hand.”

The fire in Richards eyes dies down some as his anger fades. In a cold voice I lower my gaze and say for the room, “My mother was killed because of those words.”

I feel Richard and Jasmine both turn their gazes on me as she takes in a sharp breath. Chase grips my shoulder firmly but with care in his touch. Tribus nods slowly before saying, “Yes, she was taken from us far to soon because others believed the lines we had at the time referred to Ebony.”

Richard waves a paw in the air shaking his head, “Wait, what does this have to do with my son?”

He looks at me as I glance at him, “I’m sorry, but I just don’t get what the connection is.”

I open my mouth to speak at the same time Tribus does but we are both cut off by Jasmine, “Ebony is the hybrid son of a hybrid. Is he not?”

Tribus raises an eyebrow with a look of being impressed as he answers, “That he is.”

She continues by asking, “Then that would make him the new demon lord that will replace you right?”

My grandfather nods again but says nothing letting her continue, “So if he is the one to replace you his coming will set in motion some kind of change, and when his mother was killed they were really trying to get Ebony weren’t they?”

I nod, “Yes they were, though I only found that out myself recently.”

She glances at me before turning back to Tribus, “So does that mean Ebony will become the strongest demon ever?”

Tribus gives her a long thoughtful look before nodding once, “He has the potential yes, when he had his awakening, the night his mother was killed, he was able to defeat several much more powerful demons than anyone of his skills should have been able to.”

Jasmine pauses for a moment then looks at Silver who is still playing happily with Celeste, “So if Ebony is the coming demon lord, then Silver would be the one who sees the truth isn’t he.”

All gazes turn to look at the young cub who pauses his playing and turns to look at each of us in turn with confusion etched in his young face. When his eyes fall on me he giggles slightly and reaches up in the air in the general direction of where my horns would be in my demon form. After a moment he gives up and goes back to grabbing onto my grandmothers muzzle.

Tribus studies him for a long moment before saying, “I do believe so yes. Though I never thought the line would be so literal as to have him actually see the truth of objects and people.”

Chase shifts beside me before asking, “Ok lets say that Ebony and Silver are two of the ones mentioned in this prophecy thing, what about the ancient twins? And what was that bit about being born of one raised by another?”

My grandfather rubs his chin thoughtfully for a long moment before answering, “There are any number of ancient stories and tales about twins who were separated never to be reunited. Egyptian, Sumerian, Atlantian, Mesopotamia, Anasazi, the list goes on each of them had a wide variety of legends and tales that included twins. I would imagine any of them could, in theory, be the ones in the prophecy. Though it does say they were lost to history so any guess I could make would be no more than that. As for the other part…”

He glances from Silver to his parents before taking a deep breath, “If Silver is in fact the one, it could mean that the ones who raise him may not be his parents.”

Richard raises half out of his chair before Tribus holds up a hand, “That is no threat, simply a possible interpretation. It could also mean he will be raised by more than just you. I truly do not know. The only thing I could say for certain is that he will have an interesting life regardless of how things come to pass.”

Richard sinks back into his chair as he watches his son playing, “I would never allow my son to be raised by anyone not from this pack if Jasmine or I were unable to do so ourselves.”

Jasmine nods with a fierce determination only to be brought up short when Celeste speaks in a soft voice drawing all eyes to her, “Sometimes, my boy, what we desire and what fate has in store for us are vastly different things.”

She raises her eyes to look at me. A sad smile is spread over her lips as a small amount of tears fill her eyes, “You yourself, Ebony, were raised away from your family. None of us, least of all your mother and father, would have ever allowed that had we been given the chance.”

I lean back in my chair as my mind begins to flash through my life alone and on the run when Richard speaks up, “Yes but Ebony was an adult when he went on his own. That’s different.”

My head is shaking as the words fall out of my mouth, “No I wasn’t.”

Richard, Chase, and Jasmine all stare at me with different levels of confusion and worry while my grandparents simply have sorrow in their eyes. Jasmine is the first to ask in a soft voice, “What do you mean? I thought you were grown when… when you went on your own.”

I take a deep breath before answering, “Demons age much slower than other races. Even now I am barely seen as being an adult by many despite being several centuries old. When my mother was killed I had just turned fifty. By demon aging I really wasn’t much older, comparably that is, than Silver and Rick are now. Physically yes I was grown and to an extent mentally as well, but in comparison to mortals I was not much more than an infant. More so when you consider I had just gone through my awakening.”

In a hollow voice Tribus picks up where I stopped, “You have to remember, for us a decade is no different than a few days for you. I have seen entire civilizations rise and fall in my life time. When Ebony was driven away he was the first demon born in nearly six hundred years and the first in our family in over a thousand. His older brother being the last before him.”

My hackles rise as a low growl rumbles in my chest against my will as the air around me grows cold and darker as I feel my aura leak out, causing Tribus to wave a hand, “I didn’t mean to bring that up, my apologies Ebony.”

Forcing my anger back down the room returns to normal as Richard and Jasmine both look at me with concern and fear as Richard asks, “What was that?”

I feel Chase grip my shoulder as he speaks, “That was Ebony reminding his grandfather not to mention that person again. Am I right?”

Nodding I look down at my paws clenched tight into fists in my lap. As I force them open my grandmother speaks up, “Our family is a bit… troubled right now. You know that Ebony’s mother was killed because of the prophecy. What he likely hasn’t told you is that she was killed on his brothers orders, or rather because of his orders to have Ebony killed.”

Jasmine speaks with more than just a hint of accusation in her voice, “You left Ebony alone in the world knowing he was being hunted? Why didn’t you send anyone after him? Why didn’t you go yourself?”

Her words seem to pierce deep into Tribus who shows a moment of pain and regret on his face before he regains control, “Young lady, I command entire armies of demons should I choose to. Of course we sent searches out for him. But very few have ever returned alive and of those who did fewer still were able to make any kind of report on what they found. I sent who I thought was my most trusted relative on the task. It was only when I managed to find Ebony myself that we learned the entire tragedy was orchestrated by that very person. The betrayal of Agerex goes far deeper than you can imagine. Unfortunately I could not conduct the search directly because far more lives were dependent upon my staying in command of my realm to prevent invasion by other demons. Only recently have had the chance to conduct a more direct search myself and then it was through more remote methods. In fact this is the first time I have left my domain in nearly a millennium.”

Jasmine lowers her gaze down to Rick in her arms where he is dozing peacefully, “I just don’t think I could ever allow something to take a defenseless child from my care and not try to destroy the world to get them back.”

That causes a small chuckle lacking any humor to come from Tribus, Celeste, and myself all at once as my grandfather answers her, “Ebony was far from defenseless. After his awakening he had the power to slaughter dozens of demons in moments. No he was not defenseless but he was denied his proper family and nothing can replace that loss I fear.”

Richard and Jasmine look at me with a mix of horror and pity on their faces. Before I can say anything though a low whine comes from Celestes lap. I look over to see Silver looking at me concern wrinkling his small face. He stretches out his small arms towards me making a grabbing gesture with his paws. 

Acting on instinct I reach over towards the small cub who practically jumps into my arms before my grandmother can stop him. As I pull him close to me and lean back in my seat Silver wraps his tiny arms tight around my neck in a fierce hug. Caught off guard I freeze in place as a roiling mass of emotions play out inside of me.

All at once waves of anger, hatred, sorrow, loss, and grief explode within me gripping my heart tight and stealing my breath away. The sudden loss of control to emotions I thought long since buried causes my mind to real from the impact. 

Then, as quickly as they appeared, all the negative emotions are wiped away as though a warm wind was blowing around and through me. Gradually I feel another emotion, one full of warmth and light take their place and wrap my cold heart until it fills every part of me. I try and find the source of the new feeling only to realize it is coming from my godson. The small innocent cub wrapped around my neck is somehow driving away all of my pain with such a simple gesture and replacing them with something much much better.

A soft chuckle comes from near the fireplace calling my mind back to the room as I look over at Tribus, “Well it would seem that the young cub can see more than just a demons true form.”

Letting out a small huff as a smile forces its way onto my muzzle I give the boy a gentle hug back, “Perhaps he does at that.”

Shaking his head Tribus continues, “You have one very special child. I would imagine that if anyone else had asked my grandson what was going on in his head right now they would have at best been lied to, at worst had their heads bitten off, possibly even literally. But young Silver there seemed to know exactly what it was Ebony needed most at that moment.”

He locks his gaze with my good eye asking, “Didn’t he?”

Doing my best to fight back a tear I manage a silent nod as I keep holding Silver who still has a death grip of a hug on my neck. A small cough from Richard draws everyone’s attention back, “You said Ebony has a brother? Then doesn’t that mean there are others who could be the hybrid the book calls for?”

I let out a long defeated sigh, “I asked the same things already. There are other factors and passages in that book that make it clear it refers to me. That, and Agerex has been expelled from our family. He no longer has any claim on my grandfather’s position. That alone makes me the only second generation hybrid left in my grandfathers lineage.”

Silver lets go of my neck and starts messing with the bandage over my eye as Jasmine asks, “Is there anything we can do to avoid these prophecies or dangers they pose?”

Tribus weighs his words carefully for a long moment before saying, “It is possible to avoid such things yes, but it is usually extremely difficult and dangerous to do so. Even for ones such as myself it is generally a very bad idea to actively try and stop such things. Typically most people have no idea of the fate they are destined to have and that, ironically, gives them the most power to change it. The more people know about the possibilities of fate the less power you have to change it.”

Richard speaks up in a rough voice, “So you mean if we had never sought out the reason for Silver seeing what he does then the danger you say he faces would not have been there?”

This time Celeste shakes her head saying, “No my boy, the danger would have still been there. The simple existence of that book all but guaranteed the events mentioned within would come to pass and the more people who know what it contains the more certain it is to happen.”

I let out a small involuntary yelp as Silver plucks one of the whiskers from beside my nose. Letting out a small growl at the cub he just giggles and holds up the black whisker proudly. Grumbling I say, “Well who ever wrote that book sure has a opened a can of worms for all of us.”

Tribus nods, “That they have. Which brings to mind a question I have for your pack actually.”

Chase and Richard go stiff  in their seats as Chase replies, “And what question is that?”

Clearing his throat slightly my grandfather asks, “Do you know anything about the previous owner of this manor?”

I feel Chase relax slightly beside me, “No we don’t, I found this place years ago after having left my birth pack. There was a single human skeleton here but they had been dead for a very long time and the area around the house was overgrown. The closest village, nearly a days walk from here, had no idea it even existed.”

His face shows deep confusion as my grandfather starts pacing slightly in front of the fire. After a moment he turns back to Chase and asks, “And you have never noticed anything else odd about this place?”

He shakes his head side to side until a soft voice says, “Well there are the statues.”

We all turn to Jasmine who looks at Tribus, “There are a few small wolf statues around the house with gems for eyes. They were here when we arrived.”

I tilt my head to the side, “You mean like the one in the bathroom near my room?”

She nods, “Yes, there are a few of them scattered around the house. I have never really given them much thought before.”

My grandfather scratches his chin, “Interesting… That could do it… Especially with precious gems…”

His voice trails off into a long mumbling as he seems to be working something out. But when he doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere I ask, “What could do it?”

With a jerk upwards of his head my grandfathers focus returns to the room, “The power source of the barrier.”

My good eye goes a bit wider at his words as Chase asks in a confused tone, “What barrier?”