The Alpha's Blind Fate
Chapter 98: Afternoon Lunar Eclipse

Chapter 98: Afternoon Lunar Eclipse

ZINA

The time of reckoning truly was there.

As Zina listened to the chatter of all, she noticed one thing... that while the Alphas and Betas of the five high ranked packs didn’t obviously share the same sentiment as she did, the common people on the other hand dared to show their treachery.

The seed Zina had sowed at night had finally taken root. Whether it be the tales of the tales man, or the posters depicting the treacherous paintings she had spread, the people had been listening. And now, they audaciously voiced the name of the forbidden one.

Could it be the Banished Prince?

The great beast that will sweep through the five regions?

Surely, is he not the prophesied DireWolf?

Not just the DireWolf, he is the Beast Wolf of all!

Zina allowed the growing gossip and animosity to stew. That was until strong objections reached her ears.

"Theta Zina!" The Theta of the Howling Pack screamed in a shaky voice that grabbed the attention of all in the square. The square was created in such a manner that words from the pavilion easily echoed throughout the place, so one could say it was a natural voice amplifying arena.

Zina tilted her head to the side of the old woman, enjoying the chaos about her way too much.

"You’re committing blasphemy and treachery! The Alpha King still lives so how dare you proclaim another!"

There was yet again a stunned silence before the crowd broke into a mirage of whispered dissenting opinions.

"Still lives?" Zina repeated, acting confused as yet again, the blanket of silence descended on the square. She chuckled darkly like she had just heard the most ridiculous thing. "Even if he still lives, do you suggest that we should ridicule the reincarnation of the Great Beast Wolf just for him?"

"You...you...!" The old Theta spluttered in outrage. "You were the same one who declared him the true Alpha King! How dare...."

"Have you not heard....!" Zina interrupted the woman, billowing in a voice loud enough that it restored silence in the square yet again. "...that it is the goddess who raises a man and pulls him down."

She could see even though she could not see. How the old Theta’s face must have turned purple from anger and how she struggled with her words.

"Do you purport to parade yourself now as the reincarnation of the moon goddess." The voice of the Alpha of the Howling pack spoke instead of his Theta.

Zina simply turned to the crowd just as the clock struck twelve thirty, eager to put it all to an end.

"Very soon," she spoke in a dreary voice that sounded like she was ushering doom itself. "You will see the proof that the moon goddess used in the days of the past to show her most faithful servant."

Now she has run mad.

Will there be an end to this?!

What proof now?

The Alphas and Betas grumbled, although many of them, save the Howling Pack, were wise enough to not attract attention. It was like a dangerous betting game where the stakes were unsure as a stack of cards with a faulty foundation.

With an undecided winner, neither of them was eager to acquire the ire of Eldric if he was to survive this ordeal. Nor the ire of Daemon if he were to win.

"In the tales told to us of the moon goddess," Audrey spoke up in a voice that dripped of intellect, "it is said that whenever the goddess wanted to show where her most faithful servant is at, she made the moon appear in the stead of the sun. Theta Zina, you wear the blood moon today. Do you mean to tell us that there will be an afternoon lunar eclipse today?"

If it were possible, the crowd became even rowdier to the point Zina wasn’t sure anyone was hearing above the other. Outrage painted the atmosphere as many all but alleged that even if Zina had foretold the great famine, foretelling something that had never happened in centuries was most unusual.

Truth be told, Zina herself was not confident in that vision. It was one thing to say that a solar or lunar eclipse would happen. But it was a totally different thing to say that the moon would take the place of the sun in the afternoon. And a lunar eclipse would occur on top of that!

Truly, Zina was having self doubts. But she had to steadily remind herself that she was no ordinary person. No, she was Zina. The woman who foretold the deformed pregnancy of Luna Savage, the woman who saw Daemon even before she actually met him, the woman who saw the great famine...she had to have more confidence in herself.

In the same manner she did the same day she condemned Daemon, Zina raised her staff and pointed it to the crowd. "I tell you now, all of Vraga...." She began, and even though the crowd before her now were reluctant and disbelieving of her, they still listened because they could not help themselves.

In the face of the silence that was daring her to continue on her dark path, Zina continued. "I, the moon goddess, will send you the moon instead when the sun hangs in the sky to pave the way for my servant. And when you see that sign, the man that will stand before you shall be Greatness himself, and his wolf will rescue you when the time of carnage runs through your world painting it red."

Zina was breathing a little hard when she was done with the short speech. Whenever she delivered words like that, sometimes it felt like she was burrowing deep into her brain, reaching out to a place where she allowed an otherworldly being to speak instead of herself.

Before the crowd or Zina for that matter could recover from the silence of foreboding that had gripped the square, Zina heard a growl that certainly didn’t sound like any ordinary shifter.

The growl was extraordinarily powerful, punching her in the guts as she felt her wolf stretch itself in submission, and generally knocking her breath away. She felt the crowd shift uncomfortably, and she could feel many cower before who it was.

But most importantly, the mark on her neck tingled and she knew who it was without a doubt. She could imagine him, swaggering towards her with no care while he captured the heart and soul of everyone that looked at him... that is if they could manage to look up in the first place.

He always had that thing about him. That thing that said I can rule the world if I choose to, and yet I don’t for the simple fact that it is boring.

That thing that said, I could rest for an eternity and not be perturbed by mere mortals like yourselves, but I choose not to for the simple fact that I might find lazing about to be extremely boring.

Click.

Clack.

He was climbing the pavilion, and Zina truly wished that she didn’t have her blindfold on.

The silence was swallowing her whole, and she wondered what it was that everyone saw that rendered them captive and rooted in place. Each, afraid to breathe too loud for fear that it would disrupt the spectacle before them.

Click.

Clack.

The footsteps stopped in front of her. Zina still had her staff stretched out, pointing to the crowd for she didn’t know what to do with her hands anymore.

Just his mere presence, and her body was on fire like she was in a blazing furnace with no means to escape the tongue licking flame.

Just mere proximity to him, and Zina wanted to lean into his all, and give up her mind and soul to him.

Once again, she asked herself; was it a fool’s sojourn to believe that she could resist such a man?

But then, his sinister whisper carried on to her.

"Telling a false vision once again, are we?"