ZION’s GREAT DIRE
~6

They both had drunk a little too much that they ended up sleeping right there in the family room. Zion’s head was pounding from the massive hangover. The house was dark when Zion opened his eyes. As he got up from the sofa he noticed the house started to lighten up to a warm hue not yet revealing the sun’s sharp rays outside. Zion looked around and realized that the house must’ve been a magical house, similar to the Moons Mansion from his pack.

He went outside the back porch to be greeted by the faint chirping of colourful birds soaring high giving so much zeal and zest. The golden rays of sunshine give warmth from the cool morning air. Zion closes his eyes and deeply breathes in the fresh air. The wind rustled through the branches, soothing him. Signifying a new inning almost as if he belonged here. Opening his eyes he looked out to the stretched vast green land. Every colour appear brighter with a magical glow that promise to show him all the wonders of this land.

He had missed Azah, his mate, and was wondering where she was right now.

“Probably searching for me through the spirit world” he thought. “She would definitely enjoy watching the view out here.”

Without a second thought Zion decided to take off his clothes and shift. Zion was always busy as an Alpha and now that he’s away from all that he wanted to take the opportunity to have a run freely. With no distractions, no need to force everyone out from mindlink, and no Alpha duty. Nothing. He at first felt guilty over this, leaving everything behind him but Zeus took over control and told Zion to let everything go and run freely with no clouded thoughts overbearing this wonderful experience.

Although he has never been here before in some way he felt like he had. Remembering details and directions like he has gone through this land a thousands of times. He arrived in the area where the veil crossed over to the mainland. Just when he was about to enter in the veil he turned to his side and heard whispers of voices coming from the river. The watery grace of the river was magical.

“Aaron’s wolf Maxwell said we should be careful.”

“Yeah but why?”

“I wonder the same thing.”

The last time he was here the colour of the river changed from bloody red to gold then to its mirror clear. His curiosity got the better of him. His gaze now focuses on the swirling brook. The water is seeping and snaking smoothly passing. A subtle thrumming sound emanated from it, like the steady rumble of a drum roll. The river has been gold for quite some type now; it hasn't changed any other colour every since his focus was fixated on it.

Not understanding what compelled him to do it, he jumps in the water in his wolf form. Suddenly, when he touched the water underneath he shifted back to his human form. He did not struggle, his body did not fight for air instead he was able to breathe underwater with no issue at all.

Below the warm water the colour was different from the surface. He saw glowing colours, shining fluorescent in the starlight. A glowing figure approaches him and Zion notices how the figure's eyes glowed bright red that released a mist of overwhelming energy . The figure looked like him but this man's aura was completely different from his. He looked to have tribal markings upon his body that glowed midnight blue.

Zion hears a orotund voice, “You must lead or lose everything.”

Giving Zion no time to grasp what the man had just said he was swiftly sent to another dimension. The piercing sound of cries and howls was unbearable. His eyes widen with fear and urgency as he sees Azah fighting alongside the other Moons coven. Her eyes glowed in fiery, this was not her spirit that he’s used to seeing her form into but instead her witch form. She looks to have succeed in obtaining the power of a ‘Madam’. The power of the Moons. He has never seen his mate like this before.

The pure scent of his pack had been contaminated by the smell of death. Blood was everywhere, many dire wolves surrounding them.A thunderous rage roared, trembling the earth’s ground. Zion glanced at where it may have come from but before he could not identify the source before being pulled back into the waters.

This time he felt his lungs burn through him like sharp arrows. He quickly swam back up the surface and took a deep breath. A painful sensation emerged all over his body. It felt like sharp silver knives were carving his skin leaving permanent marks. Zion's breath came in short gasps. He looked all around his arms, shoulders, torso and down to his legs. The markings that were once on the man that he saw under water were now on him. Every second a new marking painfully appeared, it would glow red then seal its wound with a golden glow afterward. Leaving permanent markings all over his skin.

“What the fuck is this” Zion thought to himself as he observed the markings.

“I told you not to go near the waters.” Aaron said with disapproval. “You weren’t ready.”

Zion raised his voice “Ready?!”

Aaron pointed up, suggesting for Zion to also look up.

********

The sky blackens like a solar eclipse. The corona outlined the dark sphere. The moon swiftly covered the sun, the sky got darker and darker until it was almost pitch black. Everything felt like time had frozen, the whole Great Dire mainland pack members looked outside astounded and freight to the possible meaning of this. The last time The Great Dire pack had experienced this type of eclipse was when the hunting of the dires all around began. Many went outside the buildings and their houses to wait for the moon to slip away and the sun to shine back over them but nothing happened. Minutes passed, but the moon wasn't moving. The sky was still dark, and the temperature was dropping.

What could this all mean? The water that was once frozen began to unfreeze despite the drop in temperature. Fearing the unknown to all of this. The Alpha of the Great Dire was going to order the warriors to sound the alarm but before he could the moon began to slowly move but the sun did not come back to bathe them in it’s warm rays. Instead, for the first time since the hunt of direwolves, the turquoise moon was full.

“ This could only mean one thing” , the people of the Great Dire pack thought. The True Alpha of the direwolves has returned and he is living amongst them. With this knowledge the Dire’s Alpha barked his commands and set a team to search for him.

“Could Luns be back?”

“She was the first to have a vision about the war!”

“Maybe she is The True Alpha after all.”

“What about her mate? Maybe it’s him, maybe it’s non a dire who came to break this curse.”

“What will Alpha do?”

Many whispers and murmured assumptions of what the first full moon may have meant.

“But why now? After twenty five years of suffering! Most of us are almost dying with no heir to continue our bloodline.”

Some were angry at having to wait for such a length of time and others had a tint of hope for the new innings to come.

********

Just as the moon turns to a bright turquoise colour Zion’s markings begin to glow the same shade as the moon. Aaron deepens his frown eyebrows as he cautiously observes the markings glow.

Aaron threw Zion some clothes for him to wear when got out of the water naked.

“What does that mean?” Zion asked.

Aaron continued to look up to the bright turquoise full moon in awe. “The bodies of water and the full moon are the source of direwolves energy and power. Every since the hunt and the death of our mother there wasn’t any full moon and as you may have noticed the bodies of water in the mainland had frozen. The only reason why our water flows here is because somehow by the grace of the Moon of Goddess she blessed this river. This is the only river out of the entire Great Dire land that flows. My assumption is that she blessed us because we did not disobey the sacred matebond. Others assume it’s Luns spirit flowing within the waters. We will never know. Though we had this river for our source of power and energy it did not permit us to bathe nor drink from it.”

“What happens when you do?”

Aaron gives a stern face and his accent thickens as he says, “You die. The river drains you completely and only your human form body resurfaces. Taking the life of your wolf and without your wolf you die.”

Aaron turn his back on Zion and walks away.

Zion yells, “YOU DIDN'T TELL ME WHAT THIS MEANS?”

Aaron turns back around and momentarily gives Zion a scrutiny look. “It means your The True Alpha of the Great Dire.”

“You were not meant to go into the waters just yet. I didn’t think you were ready. But I guess the spirit of the divines and the great alpha lineage, underwater had a different outlook of you. If you weren't truly ready then you would have been thrown back out of the waters unharmed. Which would have proven my theory that you are still the True Alpha. But instead they deemed you as worthy and ready, giving you tribal markings from the great dires ancestry.”

Zion observed his marking once more. “Fuck!”

Aaron snorted, “You can’t run away from your destiny Zion. I’m sure they’ve shown you a visual of your consequences if done so.”

The vivid visual began to flood his mind, he curled his hands into a fist and clenched his jaws. “They will not attack my pack!”

Aaron’s voice vividly conveys his message as he speaks.

“We are cursed because of this. We do not listen. We fight and welcome death more than anything. At the end they will challenge you and you will be challenged beyond doubt.”

Zion’s eyes glow, shaking and clenching his jaw. “How dare they challenge their Alpha.”

Aaron forms a wicked smile, coming closer to Zion. “Show them then. They want to defeat the True Alpha and take back the control and power that was stolen from them. SHOW THEM why you are, our TRUE ALPHA.”