The Third Moon

Ten years after Father's Day of Slumber

"Sir," a woman said to the one-armed man sitting at the edge of the pier that stood on a pier that stretched over an immensely bright, moonlit lake. She announced her presence before falling silent once again.

The man who seemed to be in his early middle ages, had on a black tank top and rugged blue jeans, and a brown coat that was hanging over the piers railing.

He stared up at the night sky, mesmerised by the two full moons, he seemed not to have noticed the presence of the woman yet, his gaze fixed upwards while his thoughts remained elsewhere.

A few beats passed, then the man finally turned his eyes towards the woman wearing a nurse's gown, a mask, and a head-wrap. Acknowledging her presence with a slight nod down.

"Your wife sir...her labour has intensified sir" the woman reported. "Perhaps you might want to be by her side sir."

The man's reddish hazel eyes met hers at this. Clenching his jaw slightly, while letting out a soft low grunt.

"Right sir, I shall return to inform you when your son has been born sir" the nurse continued in a softer voice. "My apologies for interrupting you sir."

He stared at her for a few more seconds, then he finally gave a short nod up, to which she proceeded to give a slight bow and hurried back up the pier.

His eyes shifted towards the hospital up the short hill in the distance from the lake. A slight frown now showing on his stern war-torn bronze face as his jaw tightened.

Tonight of all nights, huh? The man pondered as he let out a deep sigh.

He looked back up to the sky, at the two full moons. One moon shone a bright grayish-white hue while the other radiated a light yellowish tone.

Together they cast so much light in the night, that it seemed like it was still only dusk, but it was now well past eleven in the evening.

The man then drifted once more, lost in his thoughts. Being more perturbed by the night itself rather than being thrilled while at his wife's side as she brought his own baby boy into the world.

Not even the the birth of his first child being at hand, seemed to affect his current frame of mind.

"Hmm, perhaps the Shaman is mistaken about the night" the man thought out loud.

Much time passed, with him pondering by the lake. Inevitably, distant screams and howls of his from the hospital reached him, but didn't even phase him. Her voice echoed across the nighttime lake, whaling out to him first before escaping to the surrounding forest.

However, his chain of thoughts, which had him in a half-conscious state, was shortly broken soon after her screams began.

He was right after all, he thought to himself as he felt the sudden rush of his blood in his veins while he kept his gaze at the two full moons.

"WAR-CHIEF RAGNA!" a panicked man screamed as he sprinted down the hill towards him.

"Get Gerulf and Randall, tell them to wait by the rooms entrance," Ragna said firmly as he got up, still staring at the sky.

"Yes, war chief, right away sir!" the man said as he stopped and turned back up the hill.

"And Fridold", Ragna went on as he slide his right arm into his coat.

Fridold stopped as he was about to begin rushing back up the hill, "Yes war-chief?" he asked in a panic.

"Make it quick, alright" Ragna said while staring at the two moons.

"Affirmative sir" Fridold replied in a much calmer and lower voice.

As Ragna stared into the sky, he began hearing Fridold's low groans and grunts, followed by the sounds of clothes ripping apart, still more focused on the moons above.

The sound of an extremely low groan of relief, shortly followed by the very fast thuds of paws rushing further up the hill, finally broke Ragna's stare down with the moons. He turned his head to catch a glimpse of Fridold, who was now already nearing the top of the hill. Running at inhumane speeds through the moonlit night on all fours, covered in a coat of black fur.

Ragna then walked up the pier. He looked at his own hand, feeling his blood flow increasing steadily, pondering the inevitable future he was walking toward. As he approached the top of the hill, he turned his head up at the sky for one last glance, a faint star near the grayish moon seemed unusually bright tonight, barely noticeable amidst the overwhelming moonlight that was currently outshining the rest of the cosmos tonight.

The third moon had finally begun to reveal itself, its infernal red beginning to peak out from behind the yellowish moon, slowly lighting up the dusk-lit evening even brighter.

"Surely a night to remember" Ragna stated as he began to make his way to the hospital, a short distance from the downward slope that led to the lake.

Ragna turned his gaze towards the hospital, just in time to catch Fridold exiting it. "War-chief Ragna" he spoke loudly as he began to make his way from the hospital toward the little town behind it.

Ragna slightly nodded, and Fridold replied, "The alpha....the alpha is inside sir."

As he reached the front entrance, he stopped for a moment as he peered through the glass doors for a second, his face hardened with concern. "Right, Fridold, you will now get the town evacuated. Try not to cause a panic, and tell nobody of the chief's whereabouts" Ragna stated.

Fridold nodded as he quickly looked up at the sky and then ran off as fast as his two legs could carry him.

Ragna focused his eyes at the glass entrance of the hospital, and sure enough, there he was. The alpha of the southern pack. He was dressed in one of his favourite all white suit with red lining with engravings in a darker red shade. He was speaking to the nurse who had approached Ragna earlier that night by the lake.

With a heavy sigh, Ragna opened the hospital's front doors and walked in. He was immediately greeted by the chief's glance as he listened to the nurses report on the situation.

"- having said that my liege, I believe that an evacuation is necessary", the nurse stated.

"Perhaps you are right Isza, I will see it done," the chief affirmed as he nodded to one of four henchmen standing by the main entrance.

"No need to my chief Valko, I've already sent Fridold on his way to evacuate the city," Ragna explained.

"Good of you, Ragna," Valko said, his attention returning to Isza. Now then, you should probably go on ahead Isza."

Isza gave a deep bow to Valko, then hurried off into the passage way behind her.

Valko had now turned his full attention to him, Ragna noticed as he turned away from the nurse and was now having a bit of a stare-down with Valko.

"Your wife has some strong vocals she does, bloody screamer she is" Valko jokingly stated as he dawned a modest smile on his sharp jagged face.

"You're going to be a father in a short while my friend."

"Tonight of all nights though Valko, a son for the war-chief on the night of the full moons" Ragna replied as he began to run his hand through his curly hair.

"Now don't you start with that Ragna, things may get messy and I need you at your best right now" Valko stated as he put his hand on Ragna's shoulder, looking down at Ragna.

"Besides, regarding the circumstances, a life is still precious" Valko went on proudly.

Ragna gave yet another heavy sigh to his chiefs statement while his mind began to run away with him yet again.

Valko seemed to have noticed this and bent his knees a little to be leveled with Ragna before going on, "Ragna, I need you to focus."

Making intense eye contact with Valko's beaming golden eyes, made Ragna steer clear of his over thinking mindset and become more focused at the present matter at hand.

"Right sir" he replied.

Without another word, Ragna proceeded to make his way toward the hallway the nurse had gone through.

"Magus, Barun-"

"That won't be necessary chief, Randall and Gerulf are already waiting just outside the birthing room" Ragna interrupted.

"I'll leave the rest to you then my friend" Valko replied as he sat down in the waiting room while his personal guard remained standing.

"Yes sir" Ragna then proceeded down the hallway toward the elevator.

He then pressed the button for the thirty-sixth floor, and waited patiently as the elevator went up.

You did well Fridold, he thought to himself as he came to notice the silence in the entire hospital which was evacuated. Perhaps I'll add him to my guard, Randall is hitting his old age, he wondered on for a bit but stopped as he finally reached his destined floor.

"War-chief Ragna" an older, taller, frail man in his late sixties said as he bowed his head the moment the elevator opened.

"Randall" Ragna said, as he walked down the hallway toward the door with the only other person standing in the hallway, his wife's screams were much louder, at an ear-piercing level on this floor.

"What's the situation?" Ragna asked.

"Sir, I'm not one to sugar coat things, but I was hoping to greet you and our chief Valko walking out of that elevator"

Ragna looked at his henchman who he noticed right away, had a concerned look on his face.

"In all my years as war-chief, this is the first time I've seen my right hand man looking so nervous" Ragna said.

"And in all my years sir, this is the first time I do believe that we need some serious backup" Randall stated.

Ragna turned his gaze now at the only other person in the hallway, a younger man who looked to be in his late twenties, who was instead built like he spends his life in a gym, with scars riddled all over his arms and legs, who had only one eye.

"Not to worry old friend, we have Gerulf" he said as they reached his wifes birthing room.

"Won't be enou-" Randall stopped as they all noticed the sudden silence.

Ragna's wife had stopped screaming and an eerily heavy silence filled the evening. All three men now looking at each other for a few seconds. Then the sound of hurried steps coming from within the birthing room made them all stare at the door.

Isza flung the door open, her nurse gown covered in splashes of blood, a look of terror struck across her face.

"S-s-si-" she stuttered.

Ragna was already on his way into the room before she even began to stutter, Randall and Gerulf following closely behind as Isza broke down onto to her knees.

Quickly making their way through the blood riddled short passage toward the other door which was the birthing room, Ragna noticed that the tiny window of that door was also drenched in blood.

Please, Ragna thought to himself as he dreaded the worst.

Upon entering the room, Ragna and his henchmen all came to a halt as they now bore witness to a ghastly room, the entire room was almost completely splattered with blood.

The four other people standing in the room where engulfed with even more blood, all stood frozen, all were staring at the birthing bed, the constant flat-line tone of the Holter monitor being the only sound in the room.

"Edna....?" Ragna whispered as he took a step toward the birthing bed, where a woman laid, her stomach larger than an average pregnant lady, laying as still as a corpse.

Ragna stopped immediately as he noticed some movement from the stomach, as if something inside was still alive.

"War-chief.....remain alert, you summoned us here for a reason" Randall warned in a deeper voice.

Ragna turned to Randall, who was now a towering beast, standing on his hind legs, covered in fur that was graying with a white strand near his left ear and a relatively long tail.

Gaining his composure, he made eye contact with Gerulf, and gave him a slight nod, to which Gerulf transformed into a much muscular beast, covered in brown fur and plenty of battle scars, with almost no tail, his left eye focused on the womb of Edna.

Ragna turned his gaze once again toward his motionless wife "Sorry Edna" he whispered to himself.

Now casting aside his emotions, he made his way toward plugs and unplugged the Holter monitor to stop the flat-line beep which was getting to his rather sensitive ears.

"Out" Ragna stated as he glared at the four others in hospital outfits, who all quickly scurried out of the room, just as a sonorous growl came from Edna's womb.

"Ready men?" Ragna stated as he walked to the other side of the bed, now facing his henchmen.

"Alpha Valko would have made a difference sir" Randall said.

"Maybe his guard too."

Ragna ignored this, however, and looked at Gerulf, who gave a slight nod, letting him know that he was ready for what was to come.

"You worry too much old friend, you and Gerulf will be enough." Ragna assured.

"Besides...who sends an army to tame a newborn baby?" Ragna said as he removed his coat but stopped at the sound of skin slowly tearing open.

Ragna watched on as an arm covered in blood, larger than his own, slowly forced its way out of the womb, right through the stomach, reaching for the ceiling.

After a moment of pause, the arm began jolting around, reaching all around the air. Its fingers trying to grab something...anything.

After about ten seconds of aimless air grasping, the hand finally made contact with the bed railing, to which it paused for a second. Then, the hand seized the bed railing, and another deep growl was let out from the womb.

At this, Ragna quickly threw off his coat and began transforming into a one-armed beast covered in messy black fur, his reddish hazel eyes now beaming a deeper red than ever.

"Steady men", Ragna growled calmly.

Another arm quickly shot out and jolted straight for the bed railing.

"Hold..." Ragna stated.

There was a moment of silence-so silent that Ragna could hear all five heartbeats in the room. His gaze shifted to Edna's face for a second before glaring back at his son. Nothing dared to move.

Ragna held up his hand, signaling his men to hold and observe the situation.

Another low growl, and in an instant, the top body of a vast wolf-like beast shot out of the womb.

Its snout pointed at the ceiling, fur drenched in blood, and eyes wholly shut.

The beast remained frozen. Ragna surveyed his newborn son closely, his nose sniffing the air and ears moving around as if searching for any sound.

Ragna shifted his gaze to his henchmen, Gerulf fixated on the beast, and Randall now holding his tail in one arm. Seeing them ready to tackle the situation made Ragna prepare to give the order to subdue before the beast made any moves.

"Z-Zende..." Edna's whisper ran across the room.

Gerulf and Randall turned to look at Edna's face in shock, as she was barely alive. Ragna, however, had now lowered his arm, giving the order to subdue the beast. Unfortunately, his order fell on deaf ears.

At the sound of Edna's words, the beast had launched itself entirely out of the womb in a flash and was now perched up on the ceiling.

"PIN WITHOUT FAIL!" Ragna ordered.

The beast made a pounce toward Ragna, moving so fast that the blood covering its fur couldn't keep up, revealing the fur that was redder than the blood. Its eyes still shut, and the umbilical cord still connected to the woman that birthed it.

Ragna was, however, quicker and much more experienced. Just as the beast got into range mid-pounce, with one sweep, Ragna swiftly grabbed the beast by both its wrists with his one hand and shifted to the side while tripping the beast with his leg, causing it to land on its knees with its arms held above its head by Ragna.

"You're too many vampires short to be having a go at me boy" Ragna snarled as he watched the beast begin to snap its jaws in the direction of his face, ready to kill him.

Randall quickly hurled his tail at the beast, securing it around the neck, while Gerulf grabbed hold of the tail before the beast learned how to use it.

"And you were worried, Randall", Ragna chuckled.

"He may be the second crimson wolf to have ever been born..." Ragna went on, "But he still has a lo-"

Ragna stopped mid-sentence as he noticed that the beast had stopped struggling.

He came to realize that its eyes were now wide open, and its hellish red eyes were already seizing him up.

Gerulf and Randall both watched in silence as Ragna had a stare-down with his son, both henchmen now looking somewhat uncertain about the situation.

Ragna watched as the beast then turned its gaze at the tail leading up to Randall for a few seconds, then it looked at its own tail, where Gerulf was detaining it. After a short pause it turned its eyes toward the large window, and kept its gaze there.

"Randall, call in Magus, we may need just one other pair of hands-" Ragna fell silent. The beast now began to stand up slowly.

Gerulf had now let go of the tail and was watching in awe as the beast slowly stood, taller than him.

Ragna loosened his grip on the wrists as the beast gradually stood up, taller than its father.

Randall's tail slipped out of his hands. He stared in reverence as the beast now stood at full length, towering over them all.

Randall was the tallest werewolf to date, even towering over the previous crimson wolf in its prime, but not this new born.

"Do-not-let-it-out-side" Randall advised, his voice now slightly shaky.

At this, the beast dashed through the window in a flash of silence. For a second, Ragna stared on, perplexed as the beast was now hanging on a street lamp outside below, his mind trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Soon after everything else seemed to register and react to the crimson wolf's action.

The window shattered.

Gerulf shot across the floor as if he was kicked, into a corner his back hitting the wall so hard it caved in a bit.

Randall was pulled over Edna and out of the window.

Ragna was pulled by the force alone into the wall next to the shattered window.

And Edna was pulled off the bed and onto the floor due to the now snapped umbilical cord, which was still attached to the werewolf at the time it jumped out the window.

Ragna, who was now unbalanced at this sudden turn of events, began to stir bit by bit, his ears ringing due to the sonic boom that came after he had been thrown into the wall by the force of his son's movement alone.

"Ed-Edna", he mumbled as he slowly made his way toward his wife, who was face down on the floor, bleeding out at an alarming rate.

Ragna turned his wife over onto his lap and stared into her hazel eyes.

"Zende", she breathed, her eyes not moving at all to even make eye contact with her husband.

Ragna helplessly watched as his wife let out her final breath with a word, just as Valko walked into the room with his guard,

"Ohhh.....this is going to be one wild night, boys!" Valko blissfully said as he walked around the bed to look at his war chief.

"Get up, Ragna, this is just the beginning", Valko stated.

Ragna looked up at his chief, who was now looking down at him with a smile on his face.

"Sir.....I failed to contain him" Ragna reported.

"I know...Randall falling to his death right at the entrance was an obvious sign" Valko said with a tone of glee in his voice as he made his way toward the shattered window.

"Splat! Right on his face, looks like a pancake with bones, you ought to go see!" Valko gleefully went on.

Ragna watched his chief in bewilderment as he proceeded to remove his suit, and just as his guard followed his steps, Valko held up his hand, making them stop.

"That won't be necessary", Valko stated.

Ragna watched as Valko transformed into a pretty much average-built werewolf, with not a single scar or any signs of damage on his body; his pure black fur was as sleek as ever, without a single hair out of place.

"You're going in, sir?" Ragna asked, shocked since he knew that the chief only ever stepped in when all forces were unable to complete a mission.

To this, Valko dawned upon a rather malicious grin across his snout, his eyes glittering.

"Tell me you're joking, Ragna, and I might get you a gig in entertainment", Valko replied.

Suddenly, the sound of many distant screams from the town folk filled this nightmarish evening. Ragna watched as Valko hopped up on the window sill.

"I just want a better view" Valko wheezed.

Ragna remained silent at these words that his chief had spoken, watching in disbelief as the man he loved and respected as an older brother for years on end, was now the opposite of what he had always perceived him to be.

"Everyone that is needed for the plans I have will live through the night", Valko stated.

"You're all here, after all."

"Truly a wild night for them" Valko went on, as he enjoyed the slaughter that was happening to many brethren miles away at the evacuation zone.

Ragna got to his feet, regaining himself.

"Gerulf, Luka, Magus, Tolland, Barun, with me" Ragna ordered

"If you want to go out and stop tonights events, you will all have to get through me" Valko warned, his gaze remaining in the direction of the screams.

"Valko, you're really full of it, you know", Ragna said as his anger began to boil.

"Those are our fellow men, women and children out there!" he yelled.

Valko, however, seemed unphased, and without warning, he was suddenly behind Ragna within a second, almost as fast as the newborn crimson wolf, except he had more control over himself.

"You want to lose the other arm?" Valko whispered.

Ragna remained silent and still.

A second later, Valko was once again back on the window sill, watching his favourite show.

Silence filled the room; only the screams in the distance carried throughout the night, along with Valko's lone laughter.

None of the other six men in the room dared to move that entire night, Ragna now even ended up with dulled senses as the screams of his werefolk and howls of his son got muted overtime as his burning rage grew for Valko, all the while shedding a single tear for sadness filled by both his wife's death and his sons first few hours of life he spent taking the lives of others.

"That thing is going to destroy the northern pack, I tell you" Valko cheerfully said.

"Zende, his name is Zende" Ragna stated firmly, glaring at Valko, who then acknowledged this with a slight nod without breaking his gaze.

Ragna remained by his now departed wife's side for the remainder of the night, the screams of the town folk, Valko's sadistic laughter and the occasional howls of his son being the only things that filled the night air, all three slowly fading as morning gradually crept along.