Mythropolis

Chapter 1

Help us…

We’re suffocating…

I don’t want to die…

I knew I was dreaming, yet I could not wake. Not until I made sure those voices, those screams, existed first, in my dream and second they survived. That was the benefit of dreaming, you cannot control it, yet you can reassure yourself at the end, it will end when you wake up.

So I let it continue.

The voices drew closer. The darkness that surrounded me began to thin, opening into a faint light ahead. My vision was blurred, as though my eyes resisted what they were about to see. Still, one image persisted, appearing again like a warning.

698A, glowing green in a narrow, dark alley.

“Please help us…” a child cried.

I walked and with each step, the light at the end of the alley expanded, however when I was near, I realized it was not a source of light at all, but fire. Flames were dancing, forming a barrier between me and the voices, They were on the other side.

And they were still screaming

The alarm signed my waking at 5:30 a.m. However, I was already awake. Whenever I had those dreams, they left me sleepless and irritable.

“It’s okay,” I reassured myself, as I could feel my neck and clothes damp from sweat, my chest rose and fell rapidly as exhaustion threatened to pull me under. But I refused that as I said my affrimation for the morning “Today is a new day.”

My morning routine was my anchor, my sense of calm. Regardless of whether I had slept or not, it brought structure to the day and made it feel brighter. For four years, I followed the same sequence.

I woke at 5:30, brushed my teeth, drank my coffee, put on my gym clothes, and went down to the gym in my building. I returned home, showered, completed my skincare routine, dressed, and applied minimal makeup. By 7:30 a.m., I was ready to leave for work.

On my way out, I greeted Mrs. Smith, my neighbor. I patted a dog named Donut and picked up an apple from the farmers’ market.

Everything was in order, precise, aligned, and moving in tandem with my pace and schedule.

So, when dreams like that, disordered and insistent, with hidden meaning threatened to unsettle me, I trusted that if my day continued as planned, everything would eventually return to its place.

A bright smile spread across my face as I walked through the streets of Mythropolis. The capital, an evolved place where all creatures lived together in carefully maintained harmony. The weather was neutral, as it often was at the end of September. Around me, banners announcing the upcoming mayoral election hung from buildings and streetlights, their colors competing for attention. There were many candidates; however, the one who showed the most promise, in my opinion, was Mayor Caleb of the werewolf clan.

He spoke often of democracy and equality. His campaign centered on restoring balance and reinforcing equal rights among werewolves, vampires, witches, and humans. I had seen what happened when that balance weakened. Inequality rarely announced itself loudly at first; it began with small transgressions like someone cutting ahead in line, a service denied without explanation. But it escalated quickly. I had witnessed disputes erupt into violent confrontations, magic weaponized, old resentments resurfacing beneath the fragile surface of civility.

That was why this election mattered.

Several decades ago, Mythropolis had not existed at all.

Back then, humans; creatures of ordinary strength, were enslaved by vampires, valued primarily for their blood. Werewolves and witches, bound by a fractured ancestral lineage, used one another as instruments of power: werewolves relied on their wolf forms to unleash raw magic and strength, while witches required living vessels to channel their spells. Their alliances produced acts of brutality so excessive that they threatened their own survival. Populations dwindled. Territories collapsed. War became unsustainable.

It was then that Chang intervened.

Chang was human,unremarkable in strength, powerless by no magical standards, but politically formidable, he had a voice. He understood something the others did not: that dominance without sustainability was self-destruction. Chang proposed not peace born of morality, but coexistence born of mutual dependence. He divided the land. The east to werewolves, the west to witches, the south to humans, and the north to vampires; but established Mythropolis as shared ground, governed collectively and protected by binding accords.

In our city, knowledge flowed between witches and werewolves. Humans raised livestock, not as prey but as trade, supplying vampires through regulated exchange. Vampires, in turn, provided humans with protection, medicine, and resources necessary to sustain agriculture. No group ruled outright; all were invested.

The system worked, not because they trusted one another, but because Chang had designed it so none could afford to break it alone.

Now, standing beneath election banners and campaign slogans, I wondered how much of that design still held.

Mayor Caleb spoke of equality because he understood its fragility. Others spoke of economic expansion, privatized districts, and reallocating resources, ideas that sounded progressive, yet quietly threatened to unravel Chang’s framework. Amber City had been built on balance, not profit. To shift its foundation was to invite old hierarchies back into power.

Fingers crossed, I hoped he would win.

I entered the police station and waved to our belloved security “Good morning, Ahmet..” the old man looked my way and smiled “Good morning Selin..” He stood up and came to inspect my badge, my weapons and my bag.

“Don’t you get tired of doing this every single day?” I asked sarcastically.

The old man chose to continue his inspecting and sighed “Shape shifters are common these days, my dear.. who knows when one will copy your look and your mind..”

“that’s true..” I agreed “but we need a code”

The man laughed “I thought we had one..”

“ofcourse, one banana gluten free donut on your desk by noon..”

He groaned and shook his head as he gave me my things “have mercy on me..”

I laughed, took my bag and headed up to the fourth floor by the stairs, where human resources were placed. It took people around me awhile to adjust, that not all people who work in the police station are officers or investigators.

“Do you kill people…”

“Do you arrest criminals..”

“is your job dangerous..”

So to answer all of these questions “No I do not kill people, nor arrest… My job is dangerous, that I deal with the problems of people who catch and kill people…and they are the worst”

I graduated with honors from undergrad school, in criminal acts and psychology department. The program indicated that you need three years of active training at police academy in order to become a police officer. From year one, I failed.

I was not good at endurance tasks, nor hand combat, nor did I possess extraordinary strength like the werewolves, nor manipulative strategies like the vampires.

I am a witch, with the least power effective in police force, which is empathy, I feel people’s feelings, I can experience their pains, struggles without even going through it. And, as my grandmother discovered months ago, I might be a Seer.

Witches have many power traits, one witch can have from one to five traits, our coven sister has seven active power traits, from cognitive powers such as telepathy and temporal manipulation to elemental manipulation, spiritual powers and so much more.

After graduation, I had two choices: work in an office or teach at the coven academy. I chose the least favorite.

Nevertheless, I was enjoying my work, it was laid back, scheduled and comfortable. The stories excited me from my fellow friends and their gossip at lunch breaks.

Once I reached up the stairs I smiled, a sight to make my heart flip and joy spread throughout my body, my old best of friends

“Hi Demi..”

“Hey beautiful..” he answered and returned my smile, with his and his obvious fangs.

Demi, shortened for Demirkan was and will be one of my best friends since high school. We were neighbors, my grandmother and his, fought and endured tea together every afternoon. When the decision was made for us to go to college, we decided to do it together. Though, he passed with flying colors at the police academy, and I didn’t.

He is now lieutenant, head unit in Narcotics and I could not been any more prouder.

I went over, gave him a quick hug that I needed to tiptoe to reach, smelled his calming odor of wood and musk smell. From his own coffin, that I saw many times.

He turned his blue eyes towards me as I opened the door of my office “Did you sleep well?” he asked and I lied. “yes..”

I threw my bag on the chair and hooked my arm with his as we went to our usual coffee morning walk.

“Your lying Selin.. I know you”

“I know that you do, but seriously I am fine..” I expanded my smile just for him to forget it.

“now, the most important part of the day… what coffee will you be having?”

“oh you know, hot matcha with oats milk and two pupps of vanila..” Demi mimicked a teenage girl and flipped his head and black jet hair as a movement.

“Never.”

On our usual stand Demi started talking about the newest department opened “so they wanted me to head the new unit, Homicide with unusual phenomena. Complex Homicide and Anomalies Unit”

“Sounds interesting..” I replied as I took a sip of my hot black coffee, before it burnt my tongue, I said to myself.

“it sounds ambiguous like it’s name, whatever does it mean…” he stalled and then took a sip of his coffee

“but you know, there are unusual activities and up-raises that are bit odd..”

“I agree, with the upcoming of the election, you would see that…” I agreed and looked at my long friend

“But if anyone can do it, I know you can..”

Demirkan looked back at me and nodded his head “I am still thinking about it, choosing a team, heading a unit is a bit of a hassle.”

I took another sip and looked at all the people coming and going infront of our building.

“I know, but if you are saving lives, it is worth the effort.. and that’s the most important thing”

Demi felt tensed, this is no ordinary decision to make, but what I said, I did believe in. if anyone could have done it, it would be him. He started as an level 1 entry officer and ended as a lieutant in the four years we were working here, he solved many crimes, he locked many criminals and still had time to visit his family and go hiking with me.

He was amazing,

I did what I do best, I took his hand into mine, pictured myself in a calm state and channeled a wave. Demirkan tightened his grip on mine and exhaled deeply.

“Thank you…but it is still too early, to determine anything”

“I know..” I sent him another wave of complete calmness and he started to laugh.

“so here I exploded my feelings to you, are you going to tell me what’s wrong with you?”

After using my magic to send him waves of calmness, I didn’t want to disturb him with my sleepless and confusing dreams. So I said nothing

“I just slept late watching documentaries…” I lied again “I know now..”

After our usual coffee drinks, Demirkan went his way and I went to my office, opened my computer and started replying to complaints, emails and looked at my scheduled meetings.

First one at 9:00 am. Boru from Homicide department and Kurt from evidence unit department.

That’s interesting, I looked up at the clock and found it 8:45, where I still had 15 minutes to review the case.

Case 1:

"Boru wanted to use it in the field, but Kurt refused; Boru attacked, breaking Kurt’s arm".

That's it?

Lina, my office fellow friend arrived with a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and chocolate box on the other

“Good morning my lovely Selin, you look … well as always today” I tried to act like that comment wouldn’t reach me, but it did as I involuntarily moved my hands on my hair to fix it. She on the other hand, was ravishing, her blood long hair was in curls, whereas her green eyes were big and fill with long lashes and eye-shadows, with big red lips, I wondered when she had the time to do all of this but then again, she was late for work two hours.

“Good morning to you too.. Lina”

“I am so tired, yesterday I went to the newest club, membership only ofcourse..” she went on and I continued to nod as I was searching boru’s profile.

Name: Boru Valihad.

Age: 35 years old

Clan: Werewolf

With Lina’s voice in the background and what I am reading in his profile, I noted nothing special about an upbringing of a were-wolf, he was excellent in combat, strong in physical endurance tasks, passed average from the academy, worked in homicide for two years, before that was assigned in the east. However what struck me the most is his warnings, struggles, never listens to instructions, allows abids by his own rules, but has solved many cases and is always alone. No partnership.

“Selin, you’re coming with me next time..”

“W..What?” I quit daydreaming and looked at her, then looked at the time.

“We’ll talk about it later; we have a meeting..” I gave her a quick background on the case as we went over to the meeting area.

I saw, who seemed like a Kurt, petit figure with glasses and a big box but nowhere in sight was Boru.

“Hello Mr.Kurt, my name is Selin Sepideh and This is Ms.Lina Ozlgan, I trust that Mr.Valihad knows of this meeting?”

Kurt, at his name grimaced “Do you know, that I had to seek help from a WITCH so she can heal my arm?” I knew he was a werewolf right away, but apparently Boru had the upper hand in combat.

“I do not see anything wrong with ask help from witches, Mr. Kurt..as we are both witches here” Lina, delight as always, always rose to the defense of her clan.

“Where is Mr.Boru?”

“Who fucking knows.. I hope he is in hell for all I care”

At that being said did the door open and a man with the size of the door entered, he had long brownish hair, brown beard and small eyes, his demeanor demanded respect, I wanted to sink in my chair and bow like royalty, because neitherless he did have that aura. Lina sat down and looked at the file, avoiding eye contact where I made the mistake of doing that.

we locked eyes and suck in my breath, there was something unusual about how he looked at me, his green eyes bore into mine, searching for something, even I didn’t know.

Kurt fake coughed and I flipped with my file and tablet as they all fell to the floor.

It was weird

“I am sorry…” I quickly said, went down to gather my steps and imagined myself in those romance accidentients in movies, where he goes down, helps me with my papers and files, where our hands touch and electricity grows. But fast forward, I waited for that moment and it did not happen. I just ended up seeing his legs, he walked away, and I was left on my own gathering stuff.

Even in these situations, I was unlucky.

I straightened my pencil skirt, placed my file on the table and sat down, waiting for myself to calm down and adjust everything so I can begin my meeting. Two witches with two werewolves. Another lucky thing to look at.

We were programmed from birth, werewolves were barbecuic, wild, had no manners and witches were tricky, liars and manipulative.

I looked at both parties, trying to avoid eye locking with the handsome werewolf and took a deep breathe, I took out my phone and placed the recorder.

“we will begin our first meeting with both parties. Mr…” as I listed all the details of the meeting I couldn’t shake the feeling that Boru, was simply mesmerizing.

He was widely handsome, I wanted to comb his hair and braid it, shave his beard, yet still have him with it. And he, was looking at me with the same intensity.

“In your defense Mr.Kurt, why did this incident happen?” I asked, feeling myself hot under his stare

“He had something I wanted…”

“what was the thing you wanted?”

“a piece of evidence..I wanted to take it to the victim’s parents, and take it back to evidence unit” he explained.

I looked at Kurt “is that true?”

“yes, however based on regulations. He needs an official letter in order to obtain these items”

Boru heaved “unbelievable, I was not going to wait for letters to be handed, where the girl might have still been alive..”

This peaked an interest as I asked him to recall what happened from the beginning.

Boru showed frustration as he ran his hands through his hair “I don’t have time for this drama..” he shouted and looked at me

“a week ago, we got a call that two teenage girls were kidnapped from the park next to their school, we had leads, however one of them vanished. All I wanted was the girl’s journal, to see if there were any names, contacts we can follow.. yet this idiot wouldn’t give me!”

“because the case was closed…” Kurt yelled “the kidnapper was identified and captured, case closed”he repeated

“it was not!.. the fraile human could not even hurt a fly, both girls were vampires!”

Their discussion went on and on, where my immature self wanted to search with him for evidence about this poor girl, I had to do my job and focus on both parties. If the unit, declared this unit closed we had to work on resolving the issue at hand.

Lina interpered “Mr.Kurt and Mr.Boru, please lower your voices and remain calm, we need to know what happened with the physical attack happened”

Kurt looked at her “he came charging, claiming he wanted the journal urgently, and then when I refused he shoved me to the shelves and broke my arm..”

One of the things I needed to do, was to check the status of the journal, I wrote all of the points I wanted to ask about and asked kurt about the journal. He searched in the box, and took out the journal and handed it to me.

The discussion still was ongoing, as the men were explaining to Lina what happened, I extended my hand to take the journal and as I touched it. An overwhelming wave of emotions poured inside my body.

“Help me…” that voice

“I don’t want to die…” that same voice

My body shook, glimpses of the girls’ hands writing on the journal, then looking up, seeing a figure approach her, then suddenly a dark alley followed, screams from another girl, blood. Too many images, were repeated in an hazzarous way. Nothing made sense. But the girl’s feeling was overwhelming, her emotions all over, she was scared, alone, guilty, they all consumed her and she was just crying and screaming.

698 A, I saw her lips when she was saying it.

I saw tears on her eyes as she was dragged into that alley with flames.

I felt her agony, felt her pain as I suddenly went back to the meeting room.

I pushed back the chair and stood up quickly, feeling dizzy from the sudden movement but sweat covered my forehead and my tips were sweaty.

“Excuse me…” The words slipped out before I had time to shape them, and I was already rising from my seat, moving past the meeting room door. I did not have a destination in mind.I only knew that I needed to leave. The air inside the room felt dense, unmoving, as though it had been breathed too many times already.

The walls seemed to inch closer with every step. Voices overlapped, chairs scraped, bodies filled the corridors, and each space I passed through felt smaller than the last. My chest tightened, my breaths turning shallow and ineffective, as if the oxygen had been thinned or stolen. No matter how deeply I inhaled, nothing reached my lungs.

My body took control, guiding me toward the exit on instinct alone. The rooms pressed in around me, crowded and suffocating, their air heavy and stale. I needed space. I needed distance.

I needed to get out, before the walls closed completely and there was nothing left to breathe.

An exit door appeared and I pushed it with all my strength and opened it. Sunlight and the breeze of cold air was the first thing I felt in my senses as I stood and started to regulate and organize what I felt and saw.

That was the first time something like this happened.

The dream, I had related to an object.

I need t call my grand-mother, ask about this. My thoughts were disorganized and as my body started to calm down I felt a hand on my arm to turn me around quickly.

“you saw something.. didn’t you!” I needed a moment to understand what was going on, and saw Boru.