Chapter 7
The house was unguarded. Empty. It was perfect. She was gone and now stuck somewhere else for the night. This was the chance he needed. Tonight, the Shadow would claim the final secret. The one thing the Wolfblood who tried to claim the mantle of his guardian had denied him.
The lights were off. The darkness was everywhere. Letting his body relax, the Shadow dissolved to merge with the blackness. His physical body now having no corporeal form, he was able to flawlessly slip under the heavy oak door. Once inside, it was a simple matter to head to her room and break open the wardrobe door. There was no risk of being heard. The Hunters lived far enough away that there was no danger of getting caught. He could make all the noise he wanted.
Rifling through the scrolls and books packed tightly at the bottom of the wardrobe, he eventually found what he was looking for. The one that even Segolia herself wouldn't dare to touch. So dangerous that it had been sealed by a power that rendered the paper stiff and brittle. The scroll of the ancient Wolfblood, Andeddu. The wolf who lived a thousand lives. The rumour had it that he'd discovered a way to live forever by sacrificing other Wolfbloods and maintaining eternal youth. To use the power of the gods to wield shadows as he could was a birthright in and of itself. One Segolia had busily tried to deny him while running the organisation that she disgustingly discarded her Wolfblood name to run. Even worse, she was now parading that name around to Wolfbloods and humans alike as a banner to rally behind. She wanted to make Wolfbloods a secret from humankind while breaking the biggest rule of their species and thrusting in the face of the humans the one name it was forbidden for them to hear. Every Wolfblood's true name must be kept a secret from the humans. It was the drilled into them from birth. And she wanted them all to cast their rightful names aside? Never!
His anger consuming him, the Shadow used Ansion and directed it towards the scroll. His consciousness was instantly dragged towards it, the room around him seeming to vanish in an instant. Resisting, he pulled back. Instead, the spirit he'd been trying to commune with was pulled forwards into reality. It rose up from the scroll with a primal howl of raw, untamed fury that would bend the knee of any lesser Wolfblood. But as the Shadow already knew, he was not a lesser Wolfblood.
"I am Dessel. I come seeking knowledge contained within this scroll. I come for the secret of eternal life." The spirit in front of him regarded him with a look of what could only be described as contempt.
"Do you know who I am?"
"You are Andeddu. The Wolfblood who has lived a thousand lives." Des decided to pray the rumours were true, rather than say no and risk a confrontation.
"You know why I am not forgotten?"
"You unlocked the secret of eternal youth." Des again chose to focus on the stories he'd heard. They surely had to come from somewhere, at least.
"No!" Des' stomach dropped as Andeddu reared back, the projection of his spirit doubling in size and casting an imposing shadow over the other Wolfblood. "No life is ever truly eternal. I no longer walk this Earth. I lived a thousand lives and each of them ended eventually. I didn't just sacrifice a thousand Wolfbloods, I possessed each and every one of them! And then when I was finally bored, I wrote that scroll to only be opened by the worthy. My final body. My final life. I put the secret of my long-attained legacy on paper for someone powerful enough to read one day. Two copies in two separate places. My ultimate dream was that my power would draw in others to try and learn my secret. The ones worthy to learn it would each take on another they deemed worthy. One to embody the power and one to crave it. Then one day, the two pairs would meet each other in a glorious battle of Wolfblood sorcery. And the ones who survived would be the only ones truly worthy of the power that I offered. Such chaos was my final gift to the world."
"So what would I have to do to possess another Wolfblood?" Des asked. Snapping out of his train of thought, Andeddu glared at him again.
"You would have to enact the spell of life-essence transfer." His tone suggested there was a 'but' coming. "But it is a risky procedure. If you want to do it again, and keep the power afterwards, you'll have to find a Wolfblood that also possesses a talent for our sorcery. Not an easy thing to find. They must also have a weaker will than yours. If you can't overpower them, your consciousness will be cast into the void. You will be everywhere and nowhere at once. You will lie in the darkness with your secrets unable to call for help, move or use any powers. You will just... be. That is, until death eventually takes you. It's a horrifying way to go out, but there will be no way back. The spell also destroys your last body. Your decision must be final."
"How does the spell work?" Des asked. Andeddu was silent for the longest time.
"I will not tell you. You are not worthy of this secret. You too easily believe rumours you hear and you're too rash. Too quick to action. You won't be able to make a proper choice. I can already see your future. You will fail on the first attempt. My disclosure to you will be for nothing." Des glared up at Andeddu, spite and hatred fuelling him. He remembered something he read in another scroll about being able to force the avatars that guarded the knowledge to divulge their secrets, but it was risky. To get it wrong would see the knowledge he sought destroyed. And finding the second copy would be impossible. If he did this and managed it, the scroll would also be destroyed. But not immediately. Rather than the avatar destroying the scroll and itself in the process, the stress would cause the scroll to crumble slowly away. It would allow him time for one reading and one reading only. He had to make sure he got it right. With that in mind, he dropped the scroll to the floor and let himself vanish into the shadow cast by the apparition. Using that he was able to disappear into the scroll. The spirit threw back its head and howled, shuddering violently and thrashing around. Suddenly, it vanished in a cloud of black mist. Des emerged from the scroll and grabbed it quickly, opening it as the seal crumbled to dust. He quickly began reading, the parchment instantly beginning to crumble as soon as the scroll was opened. It was as though as soon as he read a word, that very word was the next thing to be destroyed. The damage chased his eye line as he poured over the text. Finally, it was his. The secret of eternal life. While it wouldn't be possible to retain this body, that was fine. He could save it for when he was older. Or should he ever be attacked and his body pushed to the point of near death.
"And now, Segolia; It's time I paid you a visit." With that, he walked over to the window. Without a backwards glance, he smashed it open and blended into the shadows. He took off into the night, now on the hunt once again.