Chapter 7 Episode 7

• Sebastian's face went blank. "What?"
• The guard repeated, "Your Highness, we found the Alpha king in the scriptarium."
• Sebastian quickly turned to Axelrod, who also looked concerned. They exchanged glances and without a word, hurried towards the scriptarium, a large temple where the pack's scribes copied and interpreted werewolf texts/ manuscript.
• As they walked, the silence was heavy, but they could feel their hearts racing and breaths quickening in the tense air. After a bit of walking, they reached the scriptarium, located near the palace's north gate.
• To their shock, the place was in ruins, and water was being poured inside. A strong smell of smoke hit them.
• When the scribes saw Axelrod, they stepped forward, saying, "Your Highness."
• Axelrod surveyed the destruction and asked, "Where is the Alpha?"
• One of the lead scribes, his face covered in soot, replied, "Your Highness, he’s inside."
• The scribe then carefully led the way. Axelrod and Sebastian followed slowly. Even though the fire was out, the heat still lingered. As they moved deeper, the edges of their clothes started to singe.
• When Axelrod reached the back of the room, he spotted a charred body on the ground.
• Axelrod frowned. "This—"
• The scribe leader quickly said, "Your Highness, it’s him."
• Without saying a word, Axelrod stepped closer. The body was burned so badly that it was unrecognizable. But as he examined it, he noticed a small piece of fabric that seemed to be trapped beneath the body, still intact.
• That small piece of fabric was a bright gold with designs of white wolf on it.
• In this palace, in this world, only one person could wear bright gold with design of white wolf on it.
• So this is the Alpha king?
• Axelrod's brows were furrowed tightly as he gazed at the burnt remains before him, his eyes filled with a fiery intensity. Even though he remained silent, deep down he was questioning, could this really be his father?
• His father, who was known as one of the greatest Alpha kings in werewolf history...
• Was this truly his fate?
• He took a slow step forward, crouching down to examine the remains closely. The people around him were too afraid to look, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the unrecognizable face.
• Was this the Alpha king?
• Had he really die here?
• With that thought, he turned to glance at Sebastian, who stood silently behind him.
• Sebastian met his gaze but remained quiet.
• After a brief moment of stillness, Axelrod rose to his feet, turned away from the charred body, and declared, "Send the word out. There was a fire in the palace, and the Alpha king didn't make it out alive..."
• "Understood."
• "From now on, the main gates will be shut, and no one is to leave the palace. Anyone who disobeys this command will face severe consequences!"
• "Yes, sir!"
• Once he had given these orders, he turned and exited the scriptarium.
• At that moment, a faint light began to break through the dark sky ahead, signaling the approach of dawn.
• Axelrod paused.
• Sebastian halted as well, standing just a few steps behind him.
• ***
• Astrid, who was stuck in a room, opened the cabinet in the corner again, but it was still empty. She let out a sigh, closed the cabinet door, and walked over to a chair to sit down.
• When those people brought her to this room, she knew she was in big trouble as soon as she stepped inside. She didn’t want to scream, so she just stayed quiet. After a while, she felt uncomfortable without any underwear, so she began searching the empty room.
• Sadly, she couldn’t even find a coat.
• She could tell that this room was probably facing the West. It looked really old and seemed to have been forgotten. It made sense that there was nothing in it.
• To make matters worse, after locking the door, those people left, and it felt like this place had been abandoned. It was so quiet that not a single sound could be heard.
• She had no clue what was happening outside.
• As the morning light came in, the light and shadows creeping through the crack in the door slowly changed with time. The sunlight shifted from orange to deep red and then faded into darkness.
• Night fell again.
• A whole day went by without anyone coming.
• In a chaotic palace where many people had died outside, it was actually a good thing for her to be hiding in this corner without being found. But for Astrid, the bigger issue was hunger.
• Thinking about it, she weakly made her way to the door, knocked loudly, and shouted, "Is anyone out there? Is anyone out there?"
• Her voice bounced around the quiet little courtyard, but all she could hear outside was the sound of leaves rustling in the wind; nothing else at all.
• Peeking through the small gap in the door, she noticed that all the other rooms in the tiny courtyard were deserted. She wondered if no one had ever lived there or if someone had left a long time ago. The door to the courtyard was locked too, and it felt like she was all alone.
• Yelling wouldn’t help her situation, so she just sat by the door, listening to the sounds outside, hoping to shout if someone passed by.
• But after a long wait, the only noise she heard was the wind; there were no voices at all.
• As hunger began to take away her energy, she realized she couldn’t even reach her wolf right now. Astrid leaned against the door and gradually drifted off to sleep.