Moonlit Betrayal

Third Person

The weather was as bright as the sunny day at the heart of Javini, one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the country—not until an attack from the werewolves occurred in a nick of time. Human beings who were about to start their day and fight for their hassles in life were distracted by the presence of the werewolves, interrupting their lands, breaking the money-making infrastructures, and slaughtering the innocent minds of the people—wondering as to why their lives had been placed at the tip of their purpose to live.

People are shouting for help. Most of them called for the Werewolf Hunters to come and save them. Ever since the world began, werewolves and human beings were in rivalry with one another. In a world where peace should be mandated, war became a norm of everyone’s living.

Amilita Plasmata, who had just finished an examination, and her brother, Yvar Plasmata, hurried out of the school grounds together. They attended Beautiful Paradise University, which is regarded as one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the Javini region. The alarm system, which served as a warning for the students to flee the building before the werewolf could further invade the area, caused everyone in the class to experience a state of terror.

“Yvar! We should go back to our house as quickly as we can!" Amilita shouted to his brother after she rescued him from the jaws of a werewolf. Yvar was meant to be broken into pieces, but Amilita immediately grabbed him and moved him to the other side. This caused the werewolf to attack the student who was passing behind Yvar instead of Yvar himself.

The werewolf was rendered oblivious to Amilita and her brother's presence when Amilita grabbed a sunflower plant that was growing to the side of the entryway and flung it in his face.

Yvar stopped to question, "I-I thought werewolves could not maintain themselves under the heat of the sun for so long," as he continued to run after a short pause.

“They are, don't they?"

Amilita gave a little shake of the head. She responded by saying, "It was most likely the witch who was responsible for bestowing them."

Yvar was pausing for a while to collect his breath as he continued to adapt to his sister's faster jogging speed. It seemed as if she did not need to be concerned with taking one breath at a time. Because Yvar couldn't detect even the tiniest hint of fatigue or trouble in Amilita's expression or running speed, he found himself looking over at her with his brow furrowed and his eyes darting back and forth.

"Don't be distracted, Yvar," Amilita stopped Yvar from glancing around and reminded him after, "Our parents and other siblings were probably waiting for us to arrive."

Blood was found strewn over the whole city. Numerous dead residents were scattered along the sides of the highways and in the midst of them, looking like unwanted corpses that had been abandoned by their owners. Lost souls are constantly emerging, morphing the previously noisy metropolis into a place where there is only solitude. The city was left in such a state of full destruction by the werewolves that even the werewolf hunters were unable to maintain their resistance against them.

As soon as Amilita and the other people who had barely survived emerged from their respective buildings, they saw a number of horrific sights, including human bodies that had been beheaded, arms that had been severed from their owners, legs that had been torn into pieces, and stomachs that had a hole in the middle of them.

The highways and even small roadsides that Amilita and Yvar were trying to escape were blocked for them by a werewolf. Due to Amilita’s knowledge about plants and nature in general, she was able to whip up a scent-based lure on the spot, which allowed them to escape the werewolf's grasp before he could murder them. Yvar, who was just nine years old at the time, could not stop sobbing while seeing his sister, who was 11 at the time, battle for their life.

However, Amilita did not let the end of their existence take place.

"Stop crying, please! It is not going to help us in evading capture!" As soon as she had finished off the werewolf, she pointed a finger at him by accident.

When they started looking for a way to go back, Yvar started sniffing about. However, just as Amilita was ready to take Yvar to the other side of the roadway, she caught a group of werewolves approaching in the direction that they were heading. She moved swiftly to dislodge her brother and concealed him in the rear of the enormous rubbish can. When Amilita saw that a big number of werewolves were rushing in unison, her knees trembled that she had to make a beeline for her brother as soon as she could. She ducked around the corner of the building and whispered to her brother to put his hands over his ears as she hid the same.

The werewolves, however, were unable to capture them, which came as a complete surprise. Amilita did, though, realize that the werewolves in question were moving in a path that was analogous to that of the others she had seen on the other side.

It is heading towards the rural town of Javini!

“Oh, no! They are heading towards our town!" Yvar wailed, his fingers trembling in horror as he continued to bite his fingertips. Both of the children ran towards the forest but they kept their distance from the werewolves the whole while. Amilita's sunflower shield, which she utilized in the conflict, was strung up at the front of their pack bags.

Amilita bandaged Yvar's wounds as soon as they reached the rural limit of the city, which is marked by a large number of trees and serves as an indicator that they have arrived at the forestry section of the city, or the town, to be more accurate. Before continuing, they stopped walking for a few moments to catch their breath.

“Sister…”

“Yes?”

"W-What if the werewolves had arrived in our town and devoured our parents?"

After hearing her younger brother ask the question, Amilita's mouth immediately began to fill with saliva. The fact that her brother, yet so young, had to face the brutality of this world was incomprehensible to her. She just couldn't get her head around it. She averted her gaze and fixed it on the untamed landscape while heaving a sigh and shaking her head. She was attempting to persuade herself not to let herself get taken away by her feelings.

She got to her feet and after exhaling a breath of assurance, she gave the following response: "They will definitely survive."

The werewolves had successfully taken control of the Javini Town. Humans were still being caught by the werewolves despite the fact that there were bushes, towering trees, and other naturally grown items that they might use to hide behind. Even a faint chiming of their voices could be heard by the youngsters across the forest, particularly when the werewolves howled. Their sounds reverberated throughout the woodland.

"It's them," Yvar stated in a voice that shook with anxiety. Amilita's shoulders jerked in surprise as she abruptly turned her body in the direction of the wailing sound.

Her eyes progressively expanded as she came to the realization that the direction was precisely the one that led to their town!

“Oh, no… We need to move!”

Amilita shrieked at her brother, asking him to go with her as soon as possible. They were attempting to get back to their way when all of a sudden, a werewolf descended from the sky above them. It was later discovered that this werewolf had been keeping an eye on them from a distance, high up in the thick branches of a large and tall tree. Both of them let out a breathless sound. While Yvar's neck started to get covered in sweat, Amilita was gulping.

"Big sister… What should w-we do?" While he was hiding behind Amilita's back, Yvar questioned in a quiet voice what was going on. The eyes of Amilita fearlessly peered directly into the maw of the ravenous werewolf.

Amilita and Yvar persisted to retreat at the back as the beast approached them with heavy footsteps. When a person looked at the gray fur of the werewolf, it had filthy white highlights that made it seem to be parallel to the sun's rays. This caused the person to have temporary vision loss. On the other hand, Amilita is subconsciously impervious to this characteristic, and the werewolf was even astonished that she did not get antsy about it.

After becoming aware of Amilita's ability, the werewolf, whose name was Umeko, ceased its forward motion. Assuming that this lady was the same age as him due to her baby face and petite frame, he giggled. Umeko hurried to her side and quickly shattered the sunflower barrier by bursting it into bits with his claws as he struck it with a single stroke. As they hit the ground, his swift move caused the two siblings to just go completely motionless.

"P-Please, do not eat us! O-Our parents are waiting for us!" Yvar shrieked in the manner of a helpless kid.

"We are minding our lives here. Why did you disturb us? Our place?" Amilita wondered out loud.

Umeko took a step forward, which caused her siblings to tremble out of terror. When Umeko came to a halt in front of Amilita, he leaned his face on the side of her cheeks while he spoke to her. Because of the enormous pressure that was building up all around them, Amilita was unable to move even one inch, and she started to sweat.

After Umeko had earned her confidence, it took Amilita a few seconds to decide to raise her fingers and gently pet her head. Her hands were shaking. Yvar's breathing returned to normal and he focused his attention on his sister as she tamed the werewolf.

She questioned, "You aren't going to eat us, right?” The sound of the river started to draw her attention away, giving her the feeling as if she was floating on the water's surface.

However, rather than replying, the werewolf let out a howl. He scratched her right leg with his claws before running away, which caused the siblings to become agitated once again.