He was moving towards me now, my own heckles lifting higher lips pulled back to expose the fangs that had taken so, so many over the years. The laws of Assassin remain even now, laws I have never forgotten. We rarely live beyond ten years of age, enemies amass quickly, our lives forever unpredictable and yet again and again I had cheated the odds. For an assassin to live this long is unheard of, it is the law of nature that in time someone younger, stronger, faster will bring our demise- each victory amassed to myself simply because for so very long I had been the strongest, the fastest, the smartest. I continued to live because my empire protected me, because I was seen a legend, perhaps a God as Solaris called it and even no others feared me. They feared my aged, blind and tired form because they remembered what I was. I lived in a shadow of….myself and such a thing brought both pride and….perhaps shame. There is no glory in reaching such an age where my eyes no longer see well, my ears are no longer as sharp and my body is tired, when I have lived to see so many I cared about die. I would rather have died before I was forced to….feel that. I would rather have died before I saw Moonglow and Alcide pass, before Jaidah died and Moth grew so tired. I lived in the days when Moladion was grand- far grander then it is now. In the days when true King’s existed and I had once stood beside the only other True King I have ever known as his ‘Scout’ surveyed the land and known that one day…it would be my own. I have seen war, Judila and Mirovis. I have seen the great lands of Boneclaw and Thunderbone. I saw Soldat rise and watched Lucian fall. I remember taking the Queen of Judila’s throat in my jaws and ripping it open until she bled to death at my paws and for a few hours at least I had ruled the river lands before passing Apollymi’s corpse to her successor as was out agreement. I was there the night Tobias was born, I alone took his throat in my jaws- his life spared only for my weakness for Aaliyah. I remember Amorak and Brooke and the day their daughter Malina became….my own. I remember Indus and Wild Justice, I remember Arsenic and Enigma, Peacekeeper the damn fool and Cobryn- perhaps the most useless creature to ever actually walk this earth though surely Lucian and Atrampo came close.

I remember Risk who followed Devil like a shadow, Illuminada who ran the night with myself, Eris whom I made my own long before the birth of Ava. Why these images flickered within my mind I cannot say- they always do when I think of what Moladion had once been, when others existed the likes of which would put to shame so many of those who called themselves rulers now. I remembered each and every pack member- all eighty plus of them. That’s right- I had that many wolves once, more and I remembered each face, along with each face I could not save when the sky fell and my own mate was taken from me along with our infant sons. I survived all this, I ruled through all this and Solaris dares to believe I did not deserve every victory I had.

“They followed me because I deserved to be followed and I refuse to apologise for that either. I was the greatest leader this land has ever seen because I did not lie. I did what needed to be done and damned the others, wolves followed me because I protected them in exchange for their service to my pack. If they call me God, Legend, Angel- then so be it, that is their choice and I used it to make myself what I needed to be. They gave me my power and I relished in it- is that what you wanted to hear? I craved that power and I still do, I adored it, abused it, used it- took whatever others would give me to advance the interests of myself and my family and so what? I admit it. Life is not fair, Solaris, life is cruel so I was cruel back- when I had to be. I was arrogant, I was egotistical, I was everything a leader shouldn’t be and yet I owned it all the same. Maybe I was not always kind, or loving or caring but nor is life? I spoke well and that was my power- I made wolves believe whatever I wanted to because it helped me- but it helped them in turn. Believe whatever you chose to believe, boy, but I did care for them- I would have died for them, any of them. You do not hate Angels- you hate what they represent. If you’re going to kill me at least do it for the right damn reason.”

His lunge was sudden and yet perhaps not unexpected, my form already braced, ready- each muscle held tense. Maybe I am old but I am hardly a fool. I have a lifetimes worth of experience and all he has is a single lunge? I expected better, Solaris. My form dropped into something very near akin to a bow, his teeth sailing over to snap at nothing but air as my own jaws lunged forward to seize his chest, teeth ripping into his flesh with all the force tired jaws could muster- rewarded with his cry of pain unexpected. In my younger years I would have lunged upward once more and taken his throat and yet my jaws already shook from the sheer effort of biting into a chest so muscled and thickened with fur. Solaris was so much younger, strong, faster and more agile and yet I was hardly going out without a fight. He pulled back, his flesh ripped from my jaws as my own form stumbled away. He was angry now- I think, his first real wound stinging and burning against his chest as the signs of true rage seemed to emerge within the child everyone thought so…innocent. He lunged forward again, charging now. So I did what he surely never expected…I charged right back at him- that last charge I knew I would ever have, forcing every muscle to answer my call just one last time, every limb and joint summoning that one last bit of power it had to give as we ran for each other. I launched my form in the same moment as his own, knowing well the outcome as we collided mid-air.

It was like being hit by a damn boulder, the air knocked entirely from my lungs as I was thrown backward and down and he came down atop me- that superior weight having a surprising edge and yet I never believed I would win such a charge- not even for a moment, my form left heaving and aching beneath him as his jaws lunged for my throat and instinct saw my handsome head swing away as hind legs lanced at his stomach and his teeth found their mark o the side of my neck. His jaws were…ridiculous huge, another thing to blame Devil for one day as fur and flesh were torn away and blood rushed to the surface. The pain was….blinding, a whine forced from my lips in sheer desperation as I managed to push myself from beneath him, attempting to twists away, to get onto my feet before his teeth sized my scruff and I was very near…hurled back to the ground, limbs buckling, unable to hold my form as my neck and scruff screamed in pain and blood streamed in rivers to stain my pelt. Would that stain come out? Maybe I laughed, I am not sure, the loss of blood was beginning to…haze my thoughts as I struggled again to pull myself to my feet- his voice finding my ears though it sounded distant.

Why do you continue to stand?! Please, just stay down, let me do as I must and your pain will end.

“Melius est habitare in pedibus, quam mori in genibus”
(It is better to live on your feet, then to die on your knees)

The words came almost unbidden, old words…words my Mother once told me as a child, my breath heaving now, limbs shaking, my whole form given to tremble with the effort of standing. I always was a stubborn creature. Zen would attest to that, as would Zev or Cat Eye or any of my children. I do not bow, not to anyone, not now and not ever.

“Will…..will you kill them all, Solaris? Your plan is….meaningless if you leave even…one Angel alive because they….will remember me…they will…..follow me even in death…..you only make me more a legend this night then….I ever….made myself.”

My eyes flickered, dark spots dancing within my vision as pain screamed and every limb protested my desire to stand, the violet of my gaze managing to find Eden now- the words spoken to Solaris, though my gaze remained on him….my son.

“Maybe, Solaris, you should…..start with Eden…if it is the Angels you….want to destroy. Start with him……..he has more of my blood then…even you. Eden- my son. My son born of….Ava….the son who….watched his father die and did nothing…to stop it.”

There was no hate in those words, maybe I was even mildly proud of his conviction in this. He had become Alpha, he had done as all my children were trained to do- rule and for that I could not begrudge him, eyes holding his own as the truth was finally spoken. If I had more words they did not come, a roar from Solaris echoing into the pouring rain now though I could not see from where he came, rain and darkness clouding my vision. I had nothing left, nothing left but to stand and wait for the teeth I knew would come because I could no longer dodge them- the impact sudden one more as this time- his teeth found their mark, piercing into my throat with a sharpness that saw my eyes widen momentarily….before every part of my body seemed to simply….let go. I think I fell to the grass though I never felt it, if I made any sound I never heard it. There was no pain, there was nothing as I struggled to breath only a few moments longer, clinging to life somehow….my soul refusing in those last moment to let go of Natu’s own. In those last moments I think….it was her whom allowed me that single minute longer of live, as if my soul sought one last embrace of her own and afforded a few more beats of my heart as my head fell softly to the grass and the world blurred to blackness.


h e y e l
The King