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Chapter 4

Azrial was gut wrenched. He had lost too many people in such a short amount of time and he felt as though he was failing as a leader once more. He didn’t want to think about the fact that he had failed his pack and yet it seemed as though he was the one that was inevitably leading all of them to their deaths.

He had been completely clueless on how to deal with what had happened and yet it seemed as though everyone around him was getting sick except for him. He was frustrated and he wanted a way out of it but he wasn’t sure how. Though that was impossible.

He slowly sat up in his bed once more this time feeling his body lacking the slither of hole that it usually carried. He sighed before he slowly began making his way outside his tent. The place that had once been filled with cheers and laughter was now empty.

He let out a sigh from his lips as he started up the fire. He made his way over towards the maester’s hut once more and he almost laughed at the sight of the fact that the place had been turned into more of a village than a hut.

He made his way inside and he was immediately met with the thick smell of death. There were many who were coughing around him and they all had similar symptoms but he tried not to allow himself to be fazed by the sight before him.

He turned towards the maester’s tent and he cleared his throat to grab his attention as he pulled him away from the sight of the little girl who he was attending to.

She was frail and her bones appeared to be skinny. When Jan turned towards Azrial his eyes widened as he lowered his head slowly. “Alpha, how may I help you today?” He said in a low tone.

“Can I speak to you outside?” He said and he didn’t wait for him to say anything in response as he turned himself around and began to leave the room. Jan sighed before following behind him, when they made their way outside Azrial returned towards him worriedly as he said, “How many have we lost now?” He asked and he watched as he looked at him gravely.

“We have lost almost seventy; children mostly. It seems that the adults take longer before they are affected by it and I don’t know what the reason for that is.” He said and Azrial furrowed his eyebrows as he couldn’t help but wonder why that was. “Do you have any idea? Why haven’t you fallen sick? Why haven’t I fallen sick either?” He asked him in confusion.

Jan let out a sigh as he said to him, “I have a theory but I highly doubt that you will like it.” He said and Azrial straightened up at his words before he said to him, “well get on with it.” He then watched as Jan let out a sigh from his lips before saying to him, “well you know that neither one of us are from this pack. I come from the pack of the Black stone.” He spoke and Azrial didn’t understand what he meant.

“You aren’t fully from this pack either, this is your mother’s pack. Your father is from the silver wolves.” He said and Azrial felt as though he was finally connecting the dots. “So are you saying that the problem is from this pack?” He asked.

“It may not necessarily be. There is a chance that you may have developed some form of immunity. Every pack has one thing which they hold dear and they are known for. For this pack it is the river where we fish. For your father’s pack it is the scrolls of knowledge that they possess.” He spoke.

Azrial felt as though he was finally making sense of Jan. “So are you saying that I may find the answers that I am looking for within the scrolls?” He asked and Jan shook his head at him before saying, “no. What I am saying is that I believe that the scrolls might be our only hope to save the rest of the people.” He spoke with dread.

Azrial reluctantly decides to go to his father’s pack.it was something that he had been avoiding for a long time now and he had convinced himself that he wanted nothing to do with them.

The journey takes nearly three days in his wolf form and he is immediately stopped by a group of guards at the border. They sized him up as they demanded that he tell them why he had come. Just as Azrial is about to answer he hears a low growl and watches as a black wolf shifted into human form.

The man approached Azrial and Azrial notices something flash in the man’s eyes. “Alpha Azrial. What brings you here?” The man asked and Azrial was surprised that the man knew who he was.

“How do you know me?” Azrial asked. “We keep track of our pack even those that have been cast out. We have been watching you ever since you were a child and I must admit that what you have managed to accomplish as Alpha is quite impressive.” He spoke and this shocked Azrial as he didn’t think that they would even know about him.

“I am here to look through your scrolls. My people are sick and in desperate need of a cure. I was hoping that your scrolls would provide me with some of the information I need.” He spoke and he watched the man nod his head as he absorbed the information. “Well I am sorry about your people. My name is Raf the Beta. I will inform the Alpha of your arrival but I must warn you that he may not be pleased to see you.” He spoke and Azrial nodded his head at him in understanding.

He watched as his eyes glazed over for a moment before they cleared. “He has permitted you to look through the library. But you must be quick and you shouldn’t cause trouble. Now I will give you a tour of the grounds.” He spoke and Azrial watched as he turned around and headed towards the border.

Azrial followed behind him as they moved through the pack grounds and he noticed that it was much bigger than his pack. The people looked at him like a stranger and he was relieved when Raf finally stopped in front of a large tent. “Well here is the library. I will come back to escort you out later.” He spoke.

Azrial thanked him before making his way inside. There were several scrolls scattered around the room and he knew that he had a lot of work cut out for him. He was reading through the healing scrolls when he found something peculiar that caught his eye. It was at the very bottom of the crate and was covered in dust. As he began to read through it he was shocked by what he read.

It told the story of a mighty flower named Zan that had the ability to heal all ailments. It also warned that the flower could also be capable of great destruction and that no one had found it and survived. Azrial knew it was a great risk going in search of it but he knew that he had to try.

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