Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
Ryan entered the room where he always stayed when he was staying at his cousin Maxwell's house. He had even decorated the room himself, since he was constantly on the lookout for Camille, the woman who was shared by the Lensmen.
He sat on the sofa, pensive. He often didn't understand his behavior and Anna's presence in the house left him very confused. Of course, she was always there. She was Maxwell's wife, but she always avoided crossing his path.
Tayme turned fifteen that day and he knew that she would become the perfect woman for him. Pure, beautiful, sincere, noble and passionate. So why did his heart and mind insist on platonic feelings for Anna?
He heard a noise in his room and was alert, but not startled. He was the strongest and most powerful werewolf, after the Alpha, and there was nothing he feared. He stared intently at the shadows of the curtain. He didn't move a muscle, but he knew he wasn't alone. But he was annoyed that he hadn't realized it as soon as he entered the room.
Ryan stood up slowly and approached the window as if he was just going to close it. When he looked through the curtain, he saw two pink, sparkling eyes emerge from the shadows. It became clear when he stepped out from behind the curtains and Ryan realized that it was a man as tall as he was, and with even lighter hair. He smiled, letting a row of white, pointed teeth show, as Ryan studied him calmly.
“Hello, Ryan.”
“Who are you?”
“We'll become friends first, Ryan, before you understand who I am.”
“Or I could kill you now, and never think about your strange existence again.”
“But would you kill me? I claim that the day you kill me, you'll lose your strength, werewolf.”
“What do you want here?” Ryan asked, curious as to how he felt about the man in front of him.
“I've come to make a deal with you.”
“Why would I make a deal with a creature that came out of the shadows?”
“Because the world is going to end through our hands and it's imminent.”
Ryan smiled arrogantly.
“And who says I care about the world?”
“Oh, Ryan. Don't try to lie to me. I'm the only one who knows all your secret feelings and thoughts. I don't judge you. But once you've been touched by the phoenix... I'll be so much more than just... You.”
“What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, frowning.
“I'm not going to reveal that to you now, Ryan. In the future, in a few years, you'll remember our meeting today, and you'll understand why. I need you to prepare for that day. I need you to marry Tayme and keep her... pure, until I take possession of her body. Tayme belongs to me! You know what she took from me!”
“The children...” Ryan said, a little scared now.
“Exactly.” The creature began to walk around the room. Its footsteps were so soft that even Ryan couldn't hear them. “Byorn will come after you. Because of the Bruma. Don't reject him. It's important that he believes you're his ally, produce the young Bruma who is eagerly awaited, but most importantly... Don't hide anything from the Alphas. Maxwell also needs to know about your decisions. They just don't need to know about me.”
Ryan watched the creature walk around the room until it stopped in front of him, staring at him as if waiting for an answer.
“I'm not going to marry Tayme. Marriage between werewolves is an indissoluble bond.”
“It doesn't matter what you think you want now. If you marry Tayme and follow all my guidelines, you'll have much more than you ever wanted, and Anna is included in that list.”
“Even if I were to accept being considered a slacker by all werewolves, marrying a woman and not consummating our marriage, I want feelings and no one can influence true and permanent feelings in someone else's heart. I don't just want Anna. I could take her by force. No! I want her to come to me, I want her to crawl at my feet and beg for my affection. I want her to love me.”
“I can't guarantee that all these things will happen, although I know they will. And they will begin the day you are touched by the Phoenix.”
“Why? What will happen on that day?”
“After you save Ian's life? Her favorite son? She'll go into hospital and at that moment, still asleep, Anna will dream of you and discover the hidden feelings she's been hiding from everyone. Feelings related to you.”
“Anna's only feeling for me is contempt.”
“She loves you. And if you let me run things, she'll reveal her feelings to everyone.”
“When?”
“You only realize when something is really good when you're mired in the bad stuff.”
“So it'll be on the worst day?”
The creature came even closer and stared at his eyes very closely.
“Worst day for who?” it asked.
Ryan sighed.
“You're here today because something is going to happen that you need to make sure goes according to your plans, right?”
The creature moved away and sat down where he had been sitting.
“Yes, Ryan. In a few hours, it's going to be Tayme's fifteenth birthday party. Show your interest and dance with her. I need you to do it. Tayme doesn't know yet that she can't run away from her destiny, but after you dance with her at her fifteenth birthday party, she'll think about you more regularly and won't realize that I'll be the one asking her to dance at her eighteenth birthday party, which will be the day I'll eternalize her love for you.”
“Why do you want her to love me? Doesn't that get in the way of your plans?”
“You know the answer to that question, Ryan.”
“How am I going to produce a Bruma, and leave her pure at the same time?”
The creature smiled and pointed to the armchair in front of the sofa.
“Let's get down to business.”
Ryan knew he shouldn't want to know more than what had already been revealed to him, but he couldn't resist and, accepting the creature's invitation, sat down and listened for over five hours to what the creature had to say.
In the end, when the creature said goodbye and Ryan was really alone in his room, he felt dirty, as if he himself was the cause of all the evils that were predicted for the future. It was the end of humanity.