Lucera's POV
Beta Senera and I walked side by side as we left the Great Hall.
"I am sorry you must bear all this," she said quietly.
"It is no one's fault," I replied, bitterness clinging to every word. "Not yours. Not theirs."
I paused. "And I am sorry I shut you out after my son's birth. I was not ready to hear of prophecy… or of losing him."
Senera inclined her head. "I understand, Lucera. The responsibility of the throne is too much to bear and now your son"
We had not gone far when the night shattered.
An explosion tore through the heart of the city, the ground trembling beneath our paws. Dust and smoke billowed into the sky and when it settled, they stood revealed.
Humans wearing long cloaks hiding in the shadow emerged
Witches, was the first word that came to my mind. This was too soon.
Dragons circling above them.
"Your Majesty hide with the prince!" Senera cried.
Before I could answer, she charged towards the humans on cloak.
The battle erupted in an instant. The words of Chief Gavial repeating in my mind, "the alliance between the witches and dragons still stand"
I stood frozen as my realm descended into chaos. Werewolves warriors surged forward, warriors colliding with fireless dragons, the curse robbed them of their flame, they fought with only their claws and strength only.
Explosives rained from the cloaked invaders, tearing through our ranks.
I saw Varah leap—massive, merciless tearing a dragon from the air and ripping it apart. Then he turned upon the humans, crushing one beneath his jaws, severing another's head with brutal precision.
Their leader, untouched by blood, watched the tide turn. He raised his hand.
The invaders withdrew at his command.
Before vanishing, he shouted into the smoke:
"We will return. The prince belongs to us."
Varah reached us in moments, his fur soaked in blood. He spoke but the words barely reached me.
My son was barely a week old.
And already the world had come for him.
Without a word, I turned back toward the hall. Varah and Senera followed.
The Great Hall was packed with chiefs, warriors, elders. Urgency weighed thick in the air.
"If I may speak, my queen," Sage Gracee said.
"Speak," I answered.
"The prince must leave the realm tonight," she said. "The attacks will not stop. Dragons and witches stand allied. He cannot survive another strike."
I set my son down at last, my jaw aching from holding him so long.
"This is the hardest choice you will ever make," Gavial said softly. "But it must be made before his face becomes known and people know what he looks like, I will wear him a necklace to masked his scent."
"I am coming with you," Varah said, already certain of my thoughts.
I looked at my son. His eyes were open watching.
I will leave tonight, I declared, with one hundred royal warriors. Chief Ravi. And my mate.
Chief Gavial and Beta Senera will command the realm in our absence.
My voice hardened.
No soul beyond this hall is to know where the prince is hidden until he comes of age. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, Queen Lucera," they answered as one.
Before dawn, we departed.
We ran for two weeks without pause, stopping only to eat and rest, pushing beyond the borders of the supernatural realm.
Navigating our way to the human realm.
When we arrived, the human lands. Memories flooded my mind.
I remembered this place bodies in the streets, blood on the soil. Innocents slain by the greed of creatures like us. It was here the curse had fallen.
I remembered vividly how the goddesses rose the veil to separate the human realm from the supernatural realm, sealing us away forever. Never to set foot in this realm again.
Yet when we crossed the border nothing stopped us.
No barrier.
No resistance.
The villagers panicked and all stopped what they were doing except one man. He stood still, watching us as if he had been waiting, like he knew who we were.
Varah and I approached him alone.
When we reached him, I placed my son gently at his feet. Varah and I licked him again and again, committing his scent to memory.
His eyes met mine.
At that moment, I knew, he knew us.
I looked at him for a while then I told him his name, remember who you are and return home when you first get your wolf.
You are ; Aurelion Vaelroa Whitefang, heir to the white wolf throne, child of prophecy, saviour of the three realms.
I know he heard me, I could see it in his eyes.
The man knelt and lifted him carefully.
"We will care for him," the human said calmly. "Until you return."
"My name is John Alaric," he added. "Until we meet again."
I howled.
The sound tore from my chest, raw and unrestrained. Varah joined me. Then our warriors lifted their voices, the cry echoing through the hills.
When the howls faded, we turned.
We did not look back.
And thus, beneath a foreign sky, the savior of three realms was hidden
not from fate,
but within it.