His  boots were pounding successively on the ceramic flooring.Rushing past the tall chrysoprase casted pillars and heading towards the main meeting room of the palace .He was hyperventilating. His medium frame yet well built chest was rising and falling frantically obviously hinting that he had been running just heretofore.The veins on his  hands extruded from his skin as he clung tightly on to his saber .Traces of cold sweats on his temple were impossible to miss. His medium length ombre hair strands that had the appreance of an after perm, were dressed in moisture and some follicles had stuck to the back of his neck and some on his forehead. His long eyelashes were saturated in perspiration.

Dressing in imperial guard clothes just highlighted his gorgeous conformation. These garments are composed with a top similar to a banbi but completely sleeves. The material is pure black with a dark brown hue having the edges stitched with pitch black leather strands. Beneath the leather  banbi was a linon black banbi and it was tied to his forearms with a bright red silk riboon..His pants were just a simple black. This outfit gave him the appearance of a junior wuxian cultivator. The lacquer talisman attached to his waist kept making a clicking sound as it collided with his sword. His movements were extremely expeditious.

As he ran , his perfectly shaped  thin brows were arched up and dressed him in the expression of surreal dread. Navigating through the turns of this majestic palace is not child's play but due to his habitual visits to this palace,he managed to negotiate the curves with minimal effort. The dancing flames from the wall built -in torches followed him as he raced past them. Finally he reached the corridor to the meeting room. The torches on the sides lit up the space and revealed the magnificent architectural motif of the palace. The two guards by the entry way were dressed in similar attire as Reed but their clothes made them apear as if they are of a lowered rank .. When he reached the corridor , he didn't waste any more by scouting the environment and he just rushed past the two guards who were by the pillars. His speed was incredibly great such that one of the guards almost didn't recognize Reed if not for the saber and talisman. The guards bowed their heads as Reed zoomed past them. The meeting room is not at all concealed due to the absence of walls.. It is just made of large porcelain pillars ,some are finished with chrysoprase while others are of pure jade .The entriqutte contour patterns on the pillars were simply mystical creatures crafted using gold and silver alloys.

As for the point where the head of the pillars met the caisson ceilings, the juncture was made of strong word that made a bamboo pattern. Some of the pillars had white decorative silk that was embedded with fine stictch work. The different potted plants from the philodendron to the Magnolia and the peonies gave the room a relaxing and refreshing sensation. Each of the furniture in this space was tremendously exquisite.. The Suzhou camphor wood chairs sometimes were lined so that they are facing towards the center of the room. This divided the space into two sections. On each side the chairs were equally and greatly spaced. Previously the Suzhou chairs were replaced by a mat and a slightly inclined medium sized mahogany table. This arrangement was used for celebrations and acknowledgment meetings only as it was a very formal yet relaxing setup.Then with time the Guangzhou chairs where introduced then finally the Suzhou chairs. The unique design of the chairs which was clearly custom made highlighted that who ever where to sit on them where of a higher rank. The dragon throne was used by the leader of the place. This masterpiece was made with a divine blend of experience and excellent craftsmenship. The complex yet beautiful patterns of the wood and metal were phenomenal. On each of sides of the throne were other Suzhou chairs but these ones where made of oak instead. On special occasions depending on the theme, this space would be filled with praiseworthy furniture and the land's most elite officials.

However on days like today the only furniture to find where two mats and the tables. It shows that two high official had just been here. The leader was still on his throne reading through some paper work. The leader is an old man. His face had been favoured by the hands of time. The flesh of his eyes has caused his naturally occurring double eyelid to sag just a bit and appear that he has a droppy eyes.The precisely straight strands of hair from his head were a shade darker than pure white but too distinct to be classified as dirty white. His eyebrows are more on the bushy and clumped side.Sperks of monochromacy in his brows are too palpable.His lip shape is cupid and looks quite  like he seldom engages in a conversation. Peachy or to pale pink would be the right colour to allocate to the oigment of his lips.In addition ,his nose contour is abnormally straight as if he had just had a rhinoplasty from a reputed practitioner. The wrinkles on his white and patched face were quite defined. He did keep a beard,but one too many times ,one can't help but think that the leader must be quite picturesque without it or maybe just maybe looks even younger.The mystrery will forever linger on.However.. in spite of his old apprearance and stature, his hands were more beautiful than those of maidens of the entire palace.The even distribution of flesh added to the fact that the porcelain skin looks as if it belongs to a princess, the display was quite alluring to anyone. The short cut nails were trully sightful. As he wrote and paged through, one couldn't help but glare at these fine hands as they would be entrapped in their beauty. They do appear to be quite soft. If they were covered in drapery, one would be justified to think they belong to a young slim female. As the leader wrote he did manage to keep stealing glances of the twitch of a vein in his hand. Just then he felt a swooshing wind .

The meeting room is an open space almost like it's a balcony only that it's on the first floor. The sudden gush of wind was anything but auspicious. He felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise and that caused him to place his brush down. The papyrus paper he was writing on suddenly started to flicker with the wind. His hazel mixed with brown eyes gleamed as the flame of the candle his table started to misbehave. He looked outside and saw the white full moon that was gradually emerging through the clouds. The moon light gradually made its way inside and started to illuminate the inanimate objects in the space creating long casted shadows. He stared at the moon until he heard a thud on the wooden flooring.. Reed collapsed to the floor as he bowed ceremoniously. He prostrated then raised his upper body. As he rose he found the king already lowering his gaze from looking at Reed.

"Your highness we have found bodies in the eastern border of farming grounds", Reed muttered clearly trying to catch his breath

The leader does not speak too much but his voice is really something. There are days when it's high pitched, others when it is low and raspy. The pattern of the tone  of his voice is as unpredictable as the waves of the  raging sea. When he heard Reed s statement , he blinked twice almost in repressed disbelief.

"how many".. that's all he had said.Thats all it took to summon chaos into Reed. An avalanche of emotions flooded into Reed. His wrecked heart started pulsating vehemently as if it was also listening. He could almost hear  his own heartbeat in his throat. The air is his lungs suddenly went dry which was uncomfortable considering that he is already trying to catch his breath from running. He wanted to desperately look inside the leader s eyes but the leader had his head bowed the entire time. Reed lowered his gaze to the ground and fought back the tears by blinking them back . His hands were already ice cold because of how his heart was beating and made it difficult to keep holding onto the sword.This is the first thing he has said to Reed in a week. This is the first time they have ever been alone in a week and this is all he is going to say.They are so close but the distance between them is greater than the vast sea and it seems that they keep sailing away from each other.How bad he wished he could make the leader listen to his heart,how much he yearned to pour out his feelings to him but where would he start and what would he say. He opened his dried- up lips and tried to talk but all he did was make a soft whisper.

"three.." the lump in his throat was not budging and that was obvious.Reed closed his eyes shut but  his efforts were failing him. Just as he was about to ask the leader to look at him, the leader said with his head bowed,

"three people killed in one night" .. he exclamed .His soft voice was not doing justice to Reed's emotions.Why can't he atleast act vile and hostile towards Reed because anger and hatred are emotions Reed can understand.He could at least pretend to hate him because maybe then the fire burning Inside Reed might be tamed.

"..the dead bodies we found are alpha WOLVES"..he said softly

" what"..with that sharp word the leader raised his head to look at him and found Reed kneeling staring at the floor. Reed got startled and unconsciously looked at the leader and in that instant ,they locked eyes and leader stared directly into Reed's caramel orbs.The moment of silence befell these two.Within this moment of vulnerability, Reed's heart was going rampant in his chest because of staring into those hazel marbles.

"two of the bodies were in mid transformation and the other was a complete wolf. only alphas have the ability to change between human forms and animal forms.. "

The leader broke the gaze and looked away.His eyes searched vigorously with no objective whatsoever.

Reed looked at him and sighed deeply..His emotions were stabilizing which is good but for how long..

The leader stood up from his throne and Reed followed in sync still holding onto his sword. The leader steeped down the stairs from his throne and zoomed past Reed. He headed for the entry way. Reed turned around slowly and watched as his silk cloak hang in the air as he moved. His heart skipped a beat as the aroma of the leader s rose water scent which lingered in the air now rushed into Reed. He placed his hand over his heart and slowly staggered backwards. Moving his legs was tremendously difficult as he walked towards the exist. The blowing wind made his talisman click  onto the handle of his sword. He stopped moving then looked downwards and saw the beautiful ornament and he dropped his hand from his chest towards the tailsman. He held the talisman and looked at the moon outside.

The side of lips curled upwards and a tear trickled down his face. Feeling the warm of the tear stream made more tears to attempt escaping his eyes and he raised his head to the sky then licked his lips in attempt to stop the tears from falling. One question always burned Reed.. is he the only one who feels this way.. Better yet how does he stop himself from his selfish yearning.. He quickly lowered his face down and walked towards the exit. After he had left the meeting room corridor, Adrian navigated his way to an unlit pillar and clatched at his clothes. He left the pressure on his lungs like they were collapsing. He gasped for air and the tears fell from his eyes successively. he placed his mouth on the joint between his forearm and upper arm. The tears came rushing down and he couldn't help them. Why should he be in pain now..he felt his limbs going sore ,the blood boiled inside his abdomen and he fought to stop himself from throwing up the blood..Gosh how bad he wished to rip out that forsaken talisman...Reed hangs onto that talisman like a trophy not realizing that it makes Adrian s organs shrivel. His eyes got drenched in tears as he was cursing Reed and they even reddened. He was in so much pain and it was suddenly worsening just then he heard footsteps  .. he panicked and decided to hide in the shadow of that pillar.

Reed left the corridor still walking slowly. One of the guard looked at him and quickly lowered his gaze. They couldn't comprehend what happened. What emotionally charged conversation happened between the king and Reed?  Reed felt the judgement from these guards and made his way towards the direction of the rose water scent. He turned around the corner and he spotted the tail of Adrian s cloak on the floor. He purposefully walked in that direction but instead of stopping by the cloak he continued in a straight line. While hiding in the shadow, Adrian who was begging Reed to move away faster ,spotted Reed walking away clearly carrying the pain in his footsteps. He stopped abruptly as he felt Adrian s gaze on him but he never looked back but instead continued walking. What's the point of trying to have a conversation with Adrian, it's only going to hurt him more.. The blood rushed to Adrian s mouth and he blocked his mouth with his hand so that he doesn't throw up the blood but he never broke looking at Reed ,who had his back to him..A wolf s howl broke the emotional silence and both of them looked in the direction of the howl .

Reed speed rushed out of the scene and headed towards the outside of the palace. Adrian swallowed the blood ,stood up and went to his room. As he passed through the corridors each of the guards bowed their heads,he tried so hard that they don't see his gaunty face. He entered his room and automatically headed for wardrobe. He opened a small chest and talk out a small pill and he quickly swallowed.Despite his condition, he wanted to change into proper attire and follow Reed. The maid knocked on his door and he immediately dismissed her. He took off all his tops  and he went towards his folding curtain and just then.. His mouth dropped to the ground.. Those perfect marble orbs protruded from their sockets.. He took steps back and immediately fell on the furniture.

The two guards by the door heard the collision and prompted whether Adrian was fine . The lack of response made them to enter the room. They found Adrian backed against the table staring at the folding curtain. One guard looked but ... he saw nothing , not a spec of dust out of place.. Why was Adrian so scared.. The guard moved behind the curtain but everything was fine. he inspected the large bed but still everything seemed in order. The guard stood behind the curtain and just turned to face the king and his guard.. Adrian and the other guard opened their mouths in succession as they observed a large wolf shadow cast behind the guard by the bed ..

"Your highness, there is not...", before he could finish that sentence , the guard behind the screen let out a wail of pain . Shadows of plumes of smoke exhuded from his body into the wolf s wide mouth  . Just as the other guard moved closer to the screen, blood splattered onto the screen bringing the other guard to an abrupt stop.. Adrian moved from his position and headed for his sword.. The other guard was trembling in fear.. .

The guard could not understand what was going on.He was paralysed by fear. His feet were cold and seemed heavy. it was like he was hypnotized.Even if he wanted to move he could not. He stared at the screen and wanted to scream but no sound came out. As Adrian was reaching for the sword next to the wardrobe, he turned around quickly to see the young guard crying while staring at the screen. Adrian double took on the sword and raced towards the young guard, just as Adrian was reaching to pull his hand , Adrian was pulled from behind by some strange force and pinned on the wall..

His body made a huge thud onto the wall and Adrian murmured inaudibly clearly feeling some parts of his internal integrity fail.He struggled to move.Adrian tried to wail for other guards who surprisingly have not come to the due to the earlier guard s cry , but he couldn't open his mouth.. the suction power that was pinning  Adrian to the wall was keeping his mouth shut.

The power then started to crush Adrian and as this happened Adrian could only murmur the pain. Tears started to form in his beautiful eyes and the orbits changed colour to blood red. Adrian looked to the sky as he listened to the bones of his body crack.. Why is that boy just standing there.. That mystery was soon solved when, the boy turned around to face him and his whole orbs were black.The veins on his face protruded from the surface and  showed a black liquid flowing in them. The flow of the liquid continued to the neck while the rest was concelead by the emperial clothes he was wearing. On his hands, the same thing could be said, his skin was pale as white silk and the black liquid could clearly be seen, despite that the only source of light were a few candles.

The boy took steps towards Adrain and he was scared smitten. Adrian started scrapping the wall in an attempt to escape the horror coming. The young guard was making staggering motions towards Adrain. Adrain s chest started to raise uncontrollably. The tears that had formed from his bones crushing had started to fall down his face. Adrain backed up against the wall and turned his face to look sideways. He closed his eyes firmly. A sharp pointy cool object touched the side of his jaw and pulled on Adrian.  Adrian obediently followed.He opened his eyes and they landed on a pair of blood red orbs.

The snake-like pupils pulsated to the rhythm of the breathing of the creature.Adrian arched his eyebrows and his mouth fell agape.His neck tensed making his whole tremble.He felt ice cold spikes of dread chill the length of his spine. The creature let out a petrifying chuckle that didn't do justice to ease how frightened Adrian was. Adrian tried to shake lose from the pull that had him pinned to the wall,but the more he tried,the grip got even  stronger and at this point the composure of his skeleton was being minimized.

"Don't fight it,it only gets tight",adviced an angular voice to the side of the snake eyed creature. The voice sounded like a less masculine form of a extremely horrifying form but nothing close to human or anything that Adrian had ever heard before. The voice was propagated from the adjacent corner of the room, right next to the bed.Adrain stood still because he was still horrified. .The snake eyed creature changed shape from being a shadow on the wall to a full complete human.The whole transformation took place behind the screen.The shadow of this creature had been casted all the way from behind the curtain to the  wall Adrian was pinned.

Adrian had his eyes fixated on this whole scene which was unbelievable to him and somehow felt like a facade orchastreyed by a complete maniac.The creature that was now human, emerged from behind the screen.Adrain gawked fully at this shenenegance . .At first glance ,the male human looked quite ordinary.He was wearing a black long sleeveless coat. The overcoat was made of a burnt sienna coloured leather .His vest underneath was pure black and the forearms were tired with a corresponding black thin fabric.. His boots seemed to be custom made as the material appeared of high quality.The male s hair was surprisingly gorgeous.

Light from the candle on the table bounced on the locs and his made the male look like he was wearing a marvellous crown the size of a necklace. His skin seemed usually pale almost like he was cold.His hair fell over his temple and concealed a sizeable potion of his eyes .The male turned his face from the wall and faced directly at Adrian.In spite of the immesurable pain that Adrian was in he managed to take a full inventory of the male.The male somehow seemed like he would be beautiful if he wasn't incredibly horrifying.His whole stature was similar to a fine hunter,like he spent most of his time training his muscle.He was well built and that showed from his clothes but his triceps were not so bulky that they would tear through the clothes..

He asked over to the table and pulled a chair to sit down.As soon as his body touched the chair,he placed his forearms on the table and entertwined his long slim fingers on the table.The candle illuminated his face quite mesmerizingly.He looked quite like a feather.His gorgeous face  was scary but because of the way in which it's like he can suck your soul,one can't refrain himself from enjoying this glamorous display of godlike beauty.He smirked revealing a hint.of snow white dentures.As the corner of his lip raised,one can't help but wish this man would remain in the exact position he is.Not even one thousand years of meditation or ten thousand taels of silver can compensate for how alluring this man is. Adrian stared dead cold at the man but he couldn't say a word because of some wizardry placed on him..

"Do you want to scream!!"

The man asked Adrian but its obviously knew the answer.His rich voice was like dark chocolate. A divine combination of syllables and tune..As every word fell on the ears of the listener it was like being whisked away by the melody of a harp played by an agile musician.Why would such a picture perfect entity like himself be corrupted and head on a path of evil

"He is not carrying it", replied the thin voice from earlier.As the voice said this, Adrian s eyes shifted unconsciously towards the source of the sound. A young female stepped into the light and preceded to stand in front of the wall where she was in full view.She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest.Like seriously are all scary people this beautiful.

Her petit features were incredible.she was the human form of a pure white lotus in a lake, illuminated by the delicate caress of moonlight. Her hair was dressed in a variety of exotic ornaments.The auburn mane ran all the way to her waist and was plaited to form one braid.lose hair that managed to escape the braid laid on the side of her face, slightly encircling it, giving her a pearl shaped contour.As for her confirmation,it was quite small but that doesn't mean she is a candidate for being underestimated.She was wearing the same boots as the man and they seemed to be dressed in similar uniform.She turned her head to look at the man on the chair and said softly yet still chilling.

"We should leave", the woman clearly bored by her discovery or maybe due to her rather not being in the presence of Adrian.

"Why should we?the fun is just beginning",as he said that he took out a small darkened oblong object.He held the item between two of his slim fingers.He flicked the object and it fell on the floor.

"Oops",said the man without a doubt had purposefully wanted the thing to fall . With that sentence ,a cloud of smoke started to engulf the intergral of the floor.As this happened , Adrian tried to remove his feet but his efforts were meaningless.As the smoke dressed the entire floor and then the man slided the chair backwards to stand up. He went towards Adrian. the man raised his hand and his slim porcelain hand changed shape into a dark foamy feature. He positioned his hand -like  claw and more dark smoke encompassed the talon. The man passed by the guard who stood still the full-length of this episode. The man walked over to Adrian ,his steps were steady but seemed as if they were unreasonably huge. Before long the man was standing atleast half a meter from Adrian.

He lifted the monstrous hand to his own face ,peered at it before moving it towards Adrian.The second the hand stood near Adrian s face, he felt an overwhelming surge of heat to his face .He tried to scream but his mouth was still sealed.The heat was so much that he felt as if his blood was boiling.As this was happening, sweat and tears were being mixed up but that was an understatement to how much pain he was in.He was so focused in the fire burning on his face that he didn't notice the smoke that had covered him all the way to his neck.All the man did was move his hand near Adrian and the smoke flowed into Adrian s flesh.However the case the dark smoke felt like piping hot lava and all of Adrian s face was on fire.The man moved his hand in a clockwise manner so that the plumes entered Adrian s face directly from the front. If Adrian was not silenced,he would have blew the roof off with his wails of pain.Avalanches of tears ran from his eyes. He was being burnt alive!!As the tears left his face, the man was breaming with satisfaction.Was he crazy ?how can he set someone on fire and have the audacity to smile.This is too gruesome of an approach.The pain continued to flow and Adrian 's eyes started to roll upwards but the burning didn't stop.

"Valian!!Are you crazy.Stop it",barked the female by the wall when she noticed Adrian s eye roll..She tried to move over to stop Valian but she couldn't move her feet.Valian had trapped her too in the smoke.. How could something as light as smoke be so strong.She struggled her body to get out of the smoke but she fought it the smoke ascended her entire body.

"Don't be stupid, besides I only want to see", responded Valian still flaming Adrian and having no intent to stop.

"Valian!! Valian!! Stop it .Syin told us.."

"Aghh..Syin this ,Syin that!!Will you just shut up and watch!!", replied Valian easily exasperated by hearing Syin s name

.He is the one who sent them here after all to take Reed s talisman.Valian purposefully delayed the time so that Reed would tend to Syin s howl.. the wolf howl from later was Syin calling for Reed's attention, who probably thinks that Reed doesn't have the talisman but Reed still has it ,and Syin has the whole pack assembled to fight with Reed because the word on the street is that Reed's men killed teenage Alpha wolves.Syin wants to know why . That's not the truth but what wolf would believe that as Reed is one of the infinite number of the nightwalker archenemies.Also the woman doesn't know that the delay they had encountered was all Valian s doing

Valian continued to fry Adrian and at this point Adrian s head was slightly hanging to the side.He was breathing slowly like he had been running for a long time.

"Valian!!!Valian!!!You are going to kill him",yelled the female who was covered in smoke up to her last rib

Valian completely ignored her..He stopped cooking Adrian s face .As he ceased, he moved his hand from Adrian s face,who apparently had stopped trying to fight the pain.He was paralysed by the pain. Valian retracted his hand but still kept it midair.The hand changed back to human. immediately Valian 's hands reached for Adrian s hairline.Adrain s hair was drenched in perspiration but his face was currently bone dry. Valian placed his thumbs and his fingers in Adrian s skull and made small motions before he gripped onto something.He slowly pulled on that thing and a sheet of what looks like skin emerged from Adrian s face.The woman stared in disgust and wrinkled her eyebrows.This expression was quickly followed by her mouth hanging just a little bit agape.Valian pulled off a sheet of skin and underneath seemed as if there was another layer of skin. he tossed the peeled off skin on the floor and he placed his hand to the side of Adrian s face, straightening it.He scoffed the minute his eyes fell on Adrian s face.His smile grew from ear to ear..

He always guessed that something was offish about the king of the guardians.He always suspected that Adrian could be concealing something but he never imagined it would ever be something like this.The woman who had been yelling at Valian like a useless dog had been shocked to see that underneath this mask was a very young and inhumanly handsome face.

She had arched her eyebrows in extreme surprise..What other secrets are these people hiding..

"Do you know what this means?",asked Valian.He didn't wait for an answer and continued in obviously sarcastic sulk,"There is nothing this coucon won't do to keep his secret hidden

The woman realized what he meant by that but kept quiet.She couldn't wrap her head around what was happened.valian looked at Adrian and was taken aback by how incredibly handsome this face was.He looked almost like the woman in the room but even better.All the features of an old man faded in a moment.Valian thought he would maybe find a wolf under the mask not a human. Valian was satisfied with himself. He then placed the back of his hand on Adrian s temple and wiped away the perspiration .Suddenly Valian s smile melted into confusion.He looked into Adrian s tired and worn- out eyes. Valian 's head out of the blue felt constricted. He suddenly became serious . Adrian dropped a tear and when Valian saw this ,he let go Adrian like a hot potato . He took a step back and stared at the body on the wall. He looked somewhat scared.This is the first time the woman had seen Valian with this expression.

"Valian, what's wrong",she inquired but before she could get her  answer, Valian run out of the room and jumped through the window.As soon as this happened, the smoke jail freed the three characters in the room...She instinctively tried to run after Valian but then she stopped. She has to clean up Valian s mess!!.She produced a whip like thing from her hand and slashed the floor.this caused the smoke to clear up. The zombie guard went over to the skin on the floor and picked it up. He moved his hand over the underside of the mask in circular motion .Black plumes of smoke exhumed from his hand to the mask. He moved it towards his face and darkened tentacles grew from the mask .The tentacles attached the mask to his face like a magnet. He looked exactly like the old king of the keepers. The woman waved her hand and Adrian fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.He collapsed to the floor and was kneeling on his fours.The woman walked over to him. She wanted to touch his face and make him look at her.She reached downwards but retracted her hand and instead just spoke

"I don't know who you are and I don't know if you are not afraid to die, what I know is that the same won't be said for your ... Yevana..Don't be stupid or I will slice her throat and send her piece by piece. Keep quiet and don't be a hero",she said all this and jumped out the window.

The zombie guard was getting dressed in the king a clothes while Adrian was still on his fours.Adrian lost his strength and just fell to the floor,tears didn't cease to stop.

He laid there with his head rested on his arm and one more tear fell from the corner.

"It's you", Adrian murmured this before he fell unconscious..