The one behind all this
Narrator
The aspect of the place revealed no comfort. Anyone who spent a few minutes there would immediately think of leaving, as the smell flooded the nostrils in such a penetrating way that it even caused dizziness.
The girl had her ash-blonde hair tied back in a tight braid, her eyes fixed on the vessel full of shimmering sand in front of her.
“Are you afraid the sand will disappear, sister?” asked a voice beside her.
She took a few steps back to move away from the vessel, afraid that her brother might knock something over or trip and endanger the container.
“It’s just that it’s been so much work to get it... I’m afraid it will shatter into pieces and the sand will escape into the cracks in the floor.” The young woman took a deep breath and looked at the wall to her left, completely moldy with a nasty green color.
“Simona, we’ve been slaves since we were born. Tell me, what haven’t we faced together? The Order of the Star has hit us hard non-stop.” The young man rolled his eyes, almost identical to his sister.
“The Order has given us everything too. If our mother hadn’t sold us, we’d be dead. They gave us a home.” Simona grabbed her brother by the shoulders, she didn’t like it when he spoke ill of the organization, especially now that they were so close to achieving a feat that would give them great freedom.
“You talk like Madame Laya, and you know she’s a bitter woman.” Simon rolled his eyes and took his sister’s hand to lead her out of the room. “I can at least say what I think, if I can’t do anything but follow orders.”
They had both become accustomed to the fetid aroma of their home. That small room was their home within the castle where they resided. The two beds were side by side, separated by an old piece of wood that pretended to be a nightstand. The room was filled with old wooden shelves, where hundreds of jars with different substances for experimentation could be seen.
In the Order, they were both instructed in advanced and hidden witchcraft that was reserved only for those born without a wolf, on the night of October 13th. When the moon did not shine with the same intensity, at the moment when one of the Grand Masters perceived the signal that a child would be born from a marriage between enemies.
Each of those children was taken to the castle of “The Human.” An old castle hidden in the forest so far south that no pack showed interest in such a cold and unprosperous territory. They were hidden from the surveillance of the nearest packs by the enchantment that The Human performed when founding the order, which hid the castle from the eyes of any wolf that roamed and also from any human who did not possess magic.
It was a secret site, but its members did leave the territory for exploration. Members of the order who turned twenty took a test to determine whether they obtained the position of observers in the outside world, or had to stay in the castle as alchemists.
The children who were taken to the castle were not treated like normal children. To develop magic, The Human had imposed a series of rules and tests to follow to train the children in the Order of the Star. They had only two meals a day, only almost uncooked beef and in the afternoon, medium-boiled eggs, at least ten. When learning to walk, each child had to walk at least four hours a day. They had to sleep only during the day, the day began when the sun went down.
Only when they turned fifteen could they see the sunlight, to get used to it in case they were selected to spy on the packs outside and pretend to be normal slave humans. They had to cook, clean, chop wood, train, from the time they were six years old. Once a week they had exams on the books they had to read, all about the language of the stars, healing, witchcraft, wolf hierarchies, and human nature. The most experienced were called “Astronomer Masters” and were the ones who instructed the younger ones.
They were not physically mistreated, but each day was exhausting, and as the years passed, the work became harder.
Usually, children were not born every year under the specific circumstances. Both parents had to develop a deep hatred for each other, which turned into a strong attraction, so strong that it resulted in union, and from this, a baby was born. It was not frequent. The Human managed to bewitch the parents so that they did not even remember the birth of the baby and took them away. The children grew up thinking that their parents had sold them to save them from poverty or disease; the stories were different for all of them. The Human was eighty-three years old; not possessing a wolf, he did age, but possessing magic, he would also age in a more retarded way.
The case of the twins Simon and Simona was unique; they were the first twins to be born both with the abilities, and therefore, the training was even harder. The other young people of their age had made their existence more complicated, being jealous that they were likely to obtain the position of observers in an easier way.
An observer had to fulfill an important role for the Order, spying on important packs when The Human ordered it.
For Simon and Simona, this meant that they could finally leave the cold and hostile territory where they lived. The loyalty to the Order was so strong in all of them because upon entering, they were all marked with an A-shaped symbol, which united their spirits, and they had to serve the Order no matter how much they wanted to disobey.
“You will see The Human today.” The voice of Kashmira, another of the young people of the order, made Simon’s skin crawl.
Both brothers looked at her distrustfully; days ago, she had set a trap for them so that they could not take their Astronomy exam, and they had been punished by making them chop wood under the freezing snow.
“They say their mission is quite dangerous. You may not come back alive; everyone has heard of the fearsome Belcekar.” Kashmira smiled, looking at Simon with a spark of cynicism in her eyes. “The queen is a powerful witch too. It will not be like what other observers have had to face.”
“That’s why they entrusted this work to us.” Simona faced the girl; her eyes were red because nerves invaded her. Still, she would not be intimidated. “Because we are capable of manipulating the king and his witch wife. She does not possess the knowledge of the stars. None of the wild beasts possess our knowledge.”
“But they are strong.” Kashmira giggled. “If they discover that something is wrong, they will kill you. That’s why they send you, because we lose nothing if you die.”
“Silence!” Simon shouted, trying to gather courage, because he was also afraid.
He pushed the girl aside and continued walking with his sister. Of course, both were trying to master their fear. Once The Human gave them the box, the sand would be deposited there, and the condemned magic would manage to be potentiated until it opened.
The twins had to carry out the plan strategically. The Order had knowledge of everything that happened in the Royal pack, what happened with Lumen, with Rosé, with the queen. The Human needed the box to open when the two strongest wolves faced each other, when the two strongest packs shed their blood in a confrontation, and thus, the plan he had thought of for so many years would be almost complete.
King Belcekar had already been receiving information from another infiltrated observer, who was convincing him to use a different magic, something new, that no wolf witch knew. Belcekar’s desperation was essential for the Order to finally leave the shadows behind. The power of the knowledge of star magic gave them wisdom, resistance, and gifts, but still, they were not enough to combat the beasts that possessed supernatural powers because of the Moon Goddess.
It was written that the werewolves could be enslaved by the Astronomer Masters when the Moon Goddess conferred power to the last Moon Daughter with her silver magic; it would be the right time to attack and destabilize the world that the wolves had dominated for so long.
