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CHAPTER 1 The Blue Star Reappears

Tabitha

Beginning of the 21st Century

I sat at my watchtower waiting for the moon to rise highest in the clear black sky. Once the moon reaches its highest point, I will start my search for answers everyone seeks.

I took my hair brush which lay beside me on my dresser and began to comb through my long brown wavy hair. I actually didn't have to, but it gave me something to do when I was bored. At first glance, I looked quite young and could pass as a young lady or a blossoming young woman, ready to wed and perhaps bear kids. However, once I spoke, my seniority was evident to all. I was not a blossoming young lady, instead I was an old and exhausted woman who yearned for eternal rest every night.

Immortality is a curse. For over a hundred years, I have watched the heavens looking for signs, symbols, discrepancies or variations, anything that could mean something. I wanted to stop, to run away and be done of this wretched, mundane life, but I made a promise to a dying friend and that promise I shall keep.

I remember that moment like it was yesterday. We were ambushed, surrounded and outnumbered, by an unknown enemy.  Before I was captured, I held her in my arms, gazing down at her beautiful hazel eyes.

"T-they w-won't kill you, T-tabitha. Y-you are n-not wolf," she struggled to speak, quivering from her injury. A long silver dagger had pierced her side.

"Ssshhhhh, Leonora, I'll take the dagger out for you and stitch you up," I told her. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the dagger to help free her of her pain.

"N-no, Tabitha. The M-moon G-goddess has spoken. It is my t-time," she whispered. I began to sob. She was my most dearest friend. "D-do not c-cry, my friend. All is n-not lost. The Enchantress, she will be born again. M-y p-progeny lives to make her a reality. P-promise me, w-when that time c-comes, y-you will b-be there t-to h-help her," she said while a tear trickled down the corner of her eye. Her? But her child was a son. I shrugged her mistake away, believing she was delirious.

"I promise, Leonora. I promise you, I will do anything for him," I tearfully promised.

"Her, Ta-tabitha. I c-can see you in her f-future." Her eyes were slightly closed and she was staring out into space. "I love-..." She didn't finish what she wanted to say. Her arm fell to her side and her head went limp on my lap.

"I love you, too, Leonora...you will always be my bestfriend." I cradled her head in my arms and kissed her forehead goodbye. That was the last I saw of her, lifeless on the snow.

I was pulled away from her body by the enemy. I kicked and screamed, trying to free myself from my captor, however they had plans for me.

"She is the one they say who can read the stars," my captor said. He buried his nose in my hair. "Surprisingly, Sire, she is human." I strained to lift my head to take a look at the one he was speaking to. He was a tall man, in regal clothing, fit for nobility.

"Lock her in my tower, unspoilt. Have the handmaidens scrub her down until she is immaculate," the man in the regal attire ordered his men as he placed his hand on my chin and lifted my face for a better look. "She is beautiful. I will make her my wife."

I tried to free myself so I could go and find Leonora's offspring, yet the gods and goddesses had other plans.

I was locked up in a tower with only a small window to look out into the heavens. On my first night, the moon shined so brightly without a cloud in sight. As I waited for the man whose words brought me to my prison, I fell asleep, and when I woke, he was in my room, his crimson red eyes glaring at me through the shadows of my room.

"Where is the Turner boy, human?" He asked, his voice echoing in my prison.

"I do not know," I answered indignantly. He smiled wickedly at me.

"There is no place on earth where he can hide, human." He shrugged his shoulders. "I am not the type who kills innocence, yet, I'm afraid my King has no qualms. I do as he says. But in this case, since my King is not the one doing the killing, he will have to wait." He approached me, carefully avoiding the sunlight. "There is a way to make your memories mine, but I feel I should wait until you become of age, my sweet."

I was turned when I reached my eighteenth birthday, a wedding gift from my cold, ruthless husband. It made me shun my birthday for years to come and any other celebration for that matter. My kind didn't deserve happiness, however as much as I wanted everyone to feel as empty as I was, I kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to catch the ire of my kind. I couldn't die just yet.

Contrary to popular belief, my kind have been roaming the earth since the time when the great gods and goddesses still walked freely among us. It all started with one man falling in love with the wrong woman. The god, whose maiden the man had fallen in love with, cursed him to never feel the warmth of the sun on his skin lest he die. One goddess, after proving his loyalty to her, blessed him with all the skills of a great hunter. Another god took his soul giving him immortality. After all the man had been through, he and the love of his life, as much as they tried, could never be together. In his loneliness, he decided to create many like himself, cursed to roam the earth as a living corpse for all eternity, all in the name of companionship.

I stood and looked through the huge windows to check the position of the moon. I glanced at the clock for the time and wrote it in my journal.

"Well, let's have a look shall we," I said to myself while I adjusted my telescope. I know the constellations never change positions, but the relations of their brightest stars as well as the other brightest objects in the sky always have a connection. Just like as a couple in a relationship draw strength from one another, the same holds true with stars. This creates an energy which flows among all in the universe and it is from this energy where I make my predictions.

However, there are only three stars I search for every night and from the three, one in particular...the Blue Star of Aldura. Hundreds of years have passed, yet the Blue Star of Aludra has not shown itself. According to Leonora's mate, Alpha Henley Turner, the blue star was once seen when the Enchantress roamed the earth, however the blue star disappeared when the Enchantress fell out of favor with the Moon Goddess. The Enchantress was believed to have been cursed by the Moon Goddess which only a daughter can break.

I had thought the story was just a fairy tale, a  bedtime story Leonora repeated to her son. But then again, Leonora was a wolf, and her and I, we were bestfriends. Me a human and she a wolf...a very unlikely pair.

I was surprised when my husband had asked me to keep an eye out for the Blue Star of Aludra. I kept a straight face and hid my astonishment.

"Why that particular star, husband?" I asked, curiously. What did he know about the Blue Star of Aludra?

"That star, if it reappears, wife, is an indication the Enchantress has been born again," my husband explained. "She almost destroyed our kind hundreds of years ago when that star shone brightly in the sky. However, she underestimated the King which led to her downfall. I fear, if the Enchantress is reborn, she will not make the same mistakes and we, wife, will become extinct. So, do as you are told and report immediately to me if you ever see the star in the sky. I'm afraid it is a possibility the Enchantress will be reborn for we could not find the heir of Henley Turner."

"What do you mean it is a possibility? What does Alpha Henley Turner's son have anything to do with this?" I needed more information.

"The Enchantress was believed to be cursed. She bore no daughter, only a son, from an Alpha Benedict Turner. Your Alpha Henley is a descendant from a long line of sons. The King believes the Enchantress' fate will soon change." I nodded my head, finally undertsanding why Alpha Henley always repeated the story. He was a descendant of the Enchantress.

Since then, I kept a close watch of the heavens, hoping one day, the Blue Star of Aludra would reappear, so I could fulfill my promise to Leonora.

Each day for a hundred years, I would search. Each day for a hundred years, I would pray, hope and wish. Each day for a hundred years, I would be dismayed when I saw nothing.

Until now.

I raised my eyes from the eyepiece of my telescope, blinked, bent down and peered again to confirm. Indeed, the Blue Star of Aludra has once again reappeared in the night sky above, though quite faint. Near it was a red star and a white star; the red star was spoken in a prophecy of an unexpected hero while the white star symbolized the golden-eyed wolf who is destined to unite all wolves.

The three stars were aligned however not merged. All three specific wolves were now alive in this lifetime, but have not encountered each other yet. I wanted to scream my happiness. I had to tell my husband so he would find her for me. Only when I have found her can I fulfill the promise I had made long ago to a dying friend.

I stood and fixed my dress. I always had to look prim and proper when I spoke to my husband. Then I took the piece of paper I had written on earlier and drew the three stars which had appeared beside the constellation Lupus. I knew my husband would hunt them down, however, he would not expect me to help the wolves.

I exited the watchtower and headed to my husband's office. I knocked gently and opened the door. He looked up from the papers on his desk. His face didn't hide his surprise as I entered his office.

"My wife, the seer, is here to see me. What a wonderful surprise! Tell me you have seen something of importance," he said. I nodded my head and placed the sheet of paper I had scribbled on in front of him.

"The Blue Star of Aldura has appeared, husband. So has the red star foretelling the destiny of the one chosen to be the Red Dragon." He picked up the paper in shock. For several minutes, he studied what I had drawn then raised his eyes to stare into mine.

"Wife, I need to talk to the Eldest."

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