RISEN FROM THE ASHES

Far from the human world, in the untamed part of the deep forest enclosed by an unseen barrier lay a vast prosperous land where werewolves thrived. Versipellis was known for its beauty and it's stable economy among other werewolf packs. Their near independence made them stand out. But there was an ugly secret which was unknown, other werewolves had since believed that residing in Versipellis was a blessing but that wasn't the case for all their tribe members.

In the outskirts of Versipellis, where farming thrives and buildings with thatched roofs were abundant, lived a group of segregated werewolves. Separated and differentiated from their own tribe, they were the Rogues. Some believed that the Rogues were humans bitten that survived and turned into werewolves, others say they were cursed by the Moon goddess, others expanded their thoughts to werewolves who found their mates in the human clan and had children. Regardless of which was true, they were looked down upon by every class of werewolves in Versipellis and were forbidden from entering the main city unless on business and trading purposes. Though most Rogues had learned to accept their identity there was one little Rogue who just couldn't accept her fate.

"Three..Two..One..Ready or not here I come!" Auburn squealed in excitement as she looked for her two friends in the fields. Auburn even among the Rogues was looked at with curiosity, both her mother and her. Auburn was probably the finest five-year-old werewolf you'd ever see but that's not what made her stand out, she was probably the only one in the entire Versipellis with auburn hair as her name implies, her mom was even weirder, she had silver white hair which was something that had never been seen before in Versipellis. Unlike other werewolves which when in their wolf form have fur colours of; grey, black and white, brown and so many other similar shades, Auburn turned a jet black colour in her wolf form which always brought about gasps from onlookers. Her mom had since then restricted her from entering her wolf form.

"Found ya'!" She laughed as she held on to her friend's shirt as he tried to escape. He had smooth dark skin and black hair, he was really adorable.

"Why am I always the one who's caught? No fair!" Cyprian accused pouting. He was terrible at hiding, if only he knew.

"Oh come on Cyprian, don't be such a cry baby. It's not Auburn's fault that you are terrible at hiding," Colette his twin sister said plainly. She was a very blunt and outspoken girl.

"Maybe you should take training more seriously then!" I said as I dropped Cyprian carelessly on the ground. We did our own sort of military training were we would teach ourselves and practice sword fighting. Cyprian was horrible at using fake swords, to be honest, he was horrible at many things. The only thing he probably did well was eating, at least that's what Colette says. It wasn't far from the truth though. Colette wasn't so bad at using swords but I think the twins were better off with raw strength just like their element. Everybody had an element in Versipellis the most common were Earth, Water and Fire. Lightening and Air were super rare, snow wasn't an element in Versipellis at all, mom said it was only found in Otia the Tribe she came from, they lived in the snowy region and mother was the Crown princess then. She never really talked much about why she left, but unlike like others, I didn't have an element. I was so sad when all other children my age went to Mister Gregory who was the only the werewolf among the Rogues who could use a bit of magic other than mom of course. Mom knew basic magic from her home tribe, not that anyone knew. In Versipellis,a child's element can be seen from just a few months after been born in some cases while others couldn't see theirs until they were at least three years. I was five and I hadn't seen mine, saying that would make it seem like it hasn't shown. Truth is,I don't have one. Placing my hands on the orb that Mr. Gregory was holding,it turned out pitch black, it had never showed such a colour before and people around who heard of it concluded I was cursed.

"Auburn! Cyprian! Colette!!" We heard our mothers call. My mom and theirs were close friends, he only friend my mom had to begin with. We were all like family, Cyprian and Colette were like my older siblings and our moms often cooked together,so we like one big family. They were probably calling us for lunch,I was hungry. After training,a warrior must have her fill,I thought.

"Who's in for a race?" Colette asked with a smirk as she folded her arms. I nodded my head, I was always in for a competition.

"Why do we have to compete to get home too? Don't you too ever get tired?" He heaved a sigh like he had been doing something manually tasking earlier.

"You're just too chicken to join in because you're afraid you will lose to us," Colette snickered as she taunted Cyprian. She enjoyed doing this the most.

"Fine, I'm in. So what's the price?"

"Last one in has to help both our moms in the farm tomorrow," she ruled out as she smirked at Cyprian with her hazel eyes glowing in determination. I suddenly felt like this was now a deal between of them instead of the three of us but I didn't care as long as I wasn't the last. I sure wasn't planning on doing all the work.

"I'll count. On three. One... Two... Three," Cyprian as always ran before he said three,he probably had the fastest wolf transformation among the three of us,he charged towards the house. I on the other hand wasn't allowed to use my wolf form so I quickly sprinted alongside Colette in her dark brown wolf form,we smirked at each other as we quickly overtook Cyprian who had attempted to cheat. He was probably yelling how we probably did something against the rules to catch up with him, he always had an excuse for why we beat him at almost everything. I was first to enter the house,with Colette coming in a few seconds after quickly turning back to her human form. We gave ourselves a quick high five. Cyprian came in a minute later panting as he turned back to his human form.

"You guys cheated again didn't you?"

He said between pants. He could not just accept defeat.

"A race down here,again?" Cyprian and Colette's mom asked rhetorically, her name was Eydis. She was used to us competing like this all the time.

"Don't tell me Cyprian lost again right?" and she definitely knew who always lost, she let out a small giggle.

"So what was the deal this time?" Mom asked coming out with plates of food and serving it on the table. They had cooked my favorite, Shepherd's pie and Soda bread.

"He is going to be helping y'all on the farm tomorrow," Colette spoke with all confidence and pride, I was really happy that we were free from working on the farm tomorrow. We only had to the the house chores now.

"I am not making a deal with you girls anymore," Cyprian pouted as he sat at the dining table and started eating his sorrow away.

"Okay, Cyprian, no need to be mad. This simply means you need to get stronger to protect your sisters," Eydis comforted him.

"Nah-ah, there's no way I'm going to depend on him to protect me. I think I can very well take care of myself mom."

"I'm with her a hundred percent," I backed up with my arms folded. " I think we can protect ourselves quite well. Cyprian would be better at certain things if he put more effort." I wasn't lying,he didn't like putting effort in anything.

"Okay now, it's okay honey. Let's all sit down and have lunch. Tomorrow evening, we'll do some evening lessons on sword fighting," my mom said to get us riled up. She usually taught us how to use a sword. Being a Rogue wasn't such a bad thing, we had relative freedom to do whatever we wanted to, besides, it was peaceful and quiet here. No dramas, no unnecessary disturbances. Life was actually great here.