Twice Marked Twice Chosen

Lyra POV

It all started at midnight, loud and glinting noise that can rip ears into two.

I pressed my small body against the wooden wall of the Omega quarters, my four-year-old hands trembling as the sounds of terror echoed through our village like a tornado.

The other children huddled together in the center of the room, but something pulled me toward the window. I had to see, to know what was actually happening outside.

The moon hung like a crying wound in the sky, casting everything in crimson light. Below, our pack warriors shifted into their massive wolf forms, their howls mixing with sounds I had never heard before, sounds that made my bones ache with fear and something I can not really phantom.

The Kanimas had come again.

I watched through the cracked glass as the shadow beasts zoomed between our homes like living nightmares. They moved wrong, too fluid and too fast with terrifying speed that can make someone go crazy, their serpentine bodies crowned with heads that seemed carved from darkness itself. Their eyes burned red as the cursed moon above, and wherever they touched, our beautiful territory scattered.

"Get away from there, little one." Old Martha, who helped care for us Omega children, reached for me with shaking fingers. But before she could pull me back, the world exploded.

A massive Kanima crashed through our roof in a shower of splintered wood and stone. The creature's head shifted toward us like a devil who is about to try out new death skills, and I saw death in its glowing gaze. The other children screamed, scattering like leaves in a hurricane.

I ran, my feet nearly touching my skull.

My bare feet slapped against the cold earth as I fled into the chaos outside. Smoke burned my lungs and stung my eyes, but I kept running. Behind me, I could hear Martha calling my name, but her voice grew fainter with each step, but by bit.

The village I knew was gone. In its place stood a battlefield painted in blood and shadow. Warriors fought desperately against creatures that shouldn't exist, their claws and fangs useless against enemies that reformed from darkness itself. I saw Beta Marcus fall, his wolf form crumpling as a Kanima's tail whipped across his throat, oops!!

Terror made me stumble, and I crashed to my knees beside the pack's central fountain. The water had turned black, reflecting the cursed moon like a mirror to hell.

That's when I heard them.

Child of two worlds...

The whispers drove into my mind, speaking in voices that sounded like wind through dead leaves. I turned around, searching for the source, but saw only destruction and desperation.

Blood calls to blood...

My hands began to tingle, a strange warmth spreading up my arms. When I looked down, silver light flickered beneath my skin like captured starlight. I didn't understand what was happening to me, but the whispers grew louder, more insistent.

Awaken, daughter of shadows...

"Stop," I whimpered, pressing my palms against my ears. But the voices weren't coming from outside, they lived inside my head, growing stronger with each passing second, deep and scary sounds.

The silver light pulsed brighter, and suddenly I could see things differently. The Kanimas weren't just mindless beasts, they were searching for something. Their burning eyes swept over the fleeing pack members, dismissing them, hunting for... what?

One of the creatures turned toward me, its massive head hovering like a predator recognizing prey. Our eyes locked, and I saw something that chilled me to the bone, something that makes my bone cold to the brim.

Recognition..

It knew me. Somehow, impossibly, this nightmare creature knew exactly who I was.

The Kanima began to move toward me, its movements suddenly purposeful. I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't work. The silver light under my skin grew so bright it hurt, and the whispers became a roar. Then everything went black…

::::::::::::::::::::::

Sixteen years later...

"Move, freak."