Golden Destiny

Chapter 10. - Revelations

We were sitting in the living room, all of us. Me, my mom, Harper, and my four brothers. Jameson had just handed us cups of hot cocoa as Jarick gave mom what looked like a leather-bound book.

Mom put her hands on it reverently, and fixed her gaze on me.

"To explain what just happened, we have to start at the very beginning," she said, and took a deep breath.

"As you all know, there are seven royal families in our world. From the most ancient lineages, it is said that the Moon Goddess had blessed these seven families and put upon them the burden of overseeing the werewolf world. When our world was still young, these wolves from the royal lines shifted as you just did, Mia, by ascending to light and reforming either as skin or as fur. This was to delineate them from other wolves, and for other wolves to know the power these wolves held because they were chosen by the Moon Goddess herself. And they were chosen, not to rule, but to protect and defend our world."

She took a sip of her cocoa.

"As time went on, our world changed and the problem of greed arose. These royal families wanted to garner even more power, much more than what was granted to them. So they committed atrocious acts against other wolves. They would seek to expand their kingdoms so they took land, properties, and even slaves for their own by eradicating settled packs. They began ruling with iron fists and eliminated any threat to their reign. This led to great upheaval and some wolves became tired of their kings and queens caring nothing for them. These wolves became the first rogues. They're very different from what rogues are now. These old rogues are what you would call freedom fighters, only seeking to restore the balance that once existed between the royal families and those that they rule. Unfortunately, the seven Crowns waged an all-out war on the rogues and branded them traitors of their kind. From then on, everyone treated rogues as if they were less than dirt. Over time, this became a self-fulfilling prophecy and rogues became what they are now: merciless beings seeking to overrun us and overturn the reigning families at all costs. However, and this is very important, Mia, most of these rogues still hold on to the ideals of their forbears. They still believe that they are doing these things to restore the balance. That is, for the royal families not to rule them as kings and queens, but to serve as their ultimate defenders and protectors, not only for them, but for all beasts on this earth. Wolves were never meant to be ruled, Mia. This is what most rogues continue to fight for."

She then opened the book.

"Didn't the Moon Goddess do anything?" I asked.

"She has, Mia. She took the power to ascend from the royal families, giving them the same vulnerability as other wolves. They now have to go through the pain of shifting, to remind them that with the gifts given to them, sacrifices have to be made. Unfortunately, this has not done anything to stop them from continuing to lord over their citizens."

She turned to a page and showed it to me. It had an illustration of a white wolf and a black wolf from above, curled toward each other into what looked like a yin-yang symbol.

"Several hundred years ago, one of the sons of the seven royals fell in love with the daughter of a rogue general. They were able to carry on for a time, until they were found out, and the daughter was captured by one of the royal families. She was imprisoned for months, tortured and refused food and water. They wanted to use her to bring the rogues to their knees. The other six families, on seeing what was being done to the girl, especially the family of the male wolf, appealed to her captors to let her go. But the family who had her, was the greediest of the seven. They didn't really want to end the rebellion, they wanted to take for their own, the vast properties and lands that the rogues had amassed. At this point, a lot of wolves had turned rogue after being beaten, hunted, and killed by the royal families, so in terms of riches and sheer numbers, the rogue army was pretty formidable."