Chapitre 14 :
° Disclaimer still in the prologue.
"Mr Giles, is Xander here? We need help, i…it's about Oz…"; Cordelia said tearfully, as he watch another boy walking behind her looking strong but nervous.
In the mean while Xander was in Ripper's office listening to who Mayaeb had been, her role, and what was expected of him, of his pack.
He learned a lot of things, things he would never had imagined possible or real, but now that he knew of it; things were clearer and much more comprehensible. First he learned were were-creatures came from.
Were-creatures were created a long time ago by the magic to protect herself, at that time people had found a way to forcefully used her gifts for their own selfish need, hurting her in the process. They were uncontrolled and greedy, using more than she was willing to give. She was young and wasn't mature nor experienced enough to stop them alone. Magical accidents began to happen around the people that called themselves priests as they couldn't control the wild magic. People began to die violently falling victims to demented priests that became drugged on magic, panic make itself known and a catastrophe would have occurred, if the magic hadn't created her first protectors, the were-creatures.
At first they only had two forms, their animal forms which were two to three times bigger than the common animal they took their form from and their humanoid forms, which consisted of a human body with the head of an animal. Their fur's colour differed according to their power; the stronger was the were-creature, the darker was his fur.
They spend many years controlling the use of magic without being seen, lessening the number of people capable to use it and the suspicion and violent deaths at the same occasion. They prevented a catastrophe and continued to for some years before they were inevitably notice.
Ironically they were finally discovered by Ménès the first pharaoh of the first dynasty, they had thought that he would run away terrified, but to their shock he had knelt down before them honouring them as deities.
Shrines were created in their name in exchange for their advice, their real existence were only known of the pharaohs and their priests; assuring the safety of their 'gods'. Many people went to pray at the door of their god's shrine, not knowing that those gods were really living there. Priests had became really rare at this period only the stronger had been able to pass their ability to use magic to their children, and those were usually working under the pharaoh.
The were-creatures hadn't been sure that taking the role of gods for a newly evolving civilisation was a good idea, but they quickly observed that from there they could influenced the priests in learning their power according to the natural way of magic. In fact the priests were too happy to learn, once they realise that this new way wasn't hurting and exhausting them so much. Their ancestors had been abusing the magic by forcefully using her, making the process unnatural as didn't have her blessing. This time they learned to venerate and ask for her blessing in rituals each time they were to use powerful magic, rapidly noticing that it was a lot less demanding on their body than before.
All those years when pharaohs were reigning on Egypt, the were-creatures were counselling them, helping them in keeping their people safe. During that time they felt safe and began to make families, each "god" began to form their pack and numerous new Egyptians gods appeared. They were numerous in their diversity too; they went from the feline nature to the canine passing by the bird of prey… That was why there was so numerous gods in Egypt; with their peaceful existence they were able to have children which with time took the role of gods as well to help their parents keeping the magic safe.
What was not well known was that a werewolf wasn't sure to birth another werewolf; it wasn't common but there was always a possibility that they would birth a werecat or others, as the type of a were-creature was linked with its behaviour's dominant traits. Each species were known for different traits; for example Bastet was the goddess of mothers and pregnancy. She was represented as a woman with the head of a lioness or cat, but in fact she was a werecat. Werecats be they male or female were really protective of their young; they lived for their children and had the uncanny ability to conceive or be pregnant easily. They wouldn't attack first but if one of their loved ones was threatened they wouldn't hesitate to kill; they were fiercely protective. As opposed to the werewolves who would attack first if it was needed to defend their pack, they were warriors. They were strong and liked to fight; they were good hunters and had an aura of wildness surrounding them.
All was well for a long time but as time passed the were-creatures were less and less honoured, some were even forgotten and decided to go back to help the magic out of the humans sight. As the reign of the pharaoh's died their priests which had become a lot more numerous than the first time turned their back on their 'gods' and went back to using the magic without rituals, scared of what was going to happen to them. Blood and violence came to the front again and the priests went after the were-creatures thinking that if they could use them to amplify their magic they could save everyone. They lost themselves with the loss of their pharaoh's authority.
In no time they were back to their ancestors' blood and magical lust for power, crazy and drugged out of their mind on magic. The weakest 'gods' and their family were the first to be slaughtered. The priests needed help in their hunt for power and told the people that demons had taken their 'gods' shrines for themselves and that was why their pharaoh was killed, their gods were furious against them for letting it happened and had punished them.
In this time of crise the people was only to happy to listen to the priests who they thought were the most powerful after their pharaoh, and that they had to know what they had to do to mend things. So that was when they went to hunt after what they considered evil monsters.
It was the beginning of the end, after the first deaths the were-creatures went back to hiding in their animal forms hopping to lose there assailants and protect their families, but the hunts didn't stop and they couldn't abandoned the magic they were to protect in the first place, so the massacre began.
They were strong but most weren't created to fight against human, they were too peaceful for that. Had the humans threatened what they were protective of, they could have fought back, but as they were hunted individually, they couldn't. Entire packs and families were exterminated and only the strongest survived; most of them were of canine (wolf, dog, fox or hyena), feline (lion, panther or cat), birds of prey and reptile nature. None of the others nature survived, not being strong or fierce enough.
The magic had been horrified; her own children had been exterminated in pure cruelty by those very humans she had gifted with her magic. She wasn't stupid she knew that the priests had pushed the people in hunting her children by scaring them and she would react according to it. She would punish those humans by abandoning them to their fate, not helping them but not adding to it.
Though the priests were hers, they killed her children in cold blood and they would pay, all of them. Grieving and completely furious, she didn't hesitate; she killed all those she judged as too dangerous, crazy or cruel. The others, those that followed or were just plain scared and not evil, she banished their magic. The weakest of them went crazy at their loss when the others went back to a normal life, though she didn't care in the least.
To help the were-creatures who survived the slaughter, she gifted them with the ability to take a third and completely human form that allowed them to blend with their surroundings and hide if it was needed. Scared for her others children that were helping her in other countries like Greece, the Celtics countries, South Africa…; she decided to gift them with the third form as well. They would be a lot safer as she felt that the Minotaur and Medusa were being threatened for guarding some of her magical sources too. She didn't want other humans to do what had been done to her poor children again.
That had marked the end of an Era; to this day no human had been gifted with as much magic as they had been before the massacre. Magic had freely flowed at that time and the shrines, palaces and pyramids were still a symbol of it today.
"Now that you know of the creation of the were-creatures, I will tell you more of Mayaeb." Mayaeb's look-a-like told Xander.
Xander could only nod in agreement as he was feeling a little overwhelmed with all he had just learned. He wasn't sure that even Ripper knew the truth of the were-creatures' existence.
Mayaeb had been the first were-hyena to be born in South Africa; her role was to keep watch over the self proclaimed 'sorcerers' and make sure that they wouldn't try to use the magical source that was hidden in the savannah. At that time the magic had gifted her with three forms, scared that what happened in Egypt would take place there as well. She could mostly be seen in her animal form as the people there were less bothered by her different size.
As time passed and the people became more and more numerous, they began to populate the savannah as well making it more difficult for the were-creatures to protect the magic. The were-hyenas decided to gather with each other forming a pack, of which Mayaeb became the Alpha. United they were a lot stronger than before and were able to keep the source hidden cohabiting peacefully with the humans for a few years.
During those years life for the pack was perfect; it was growing strong and healthy with the birth of pups and with other were-creatures that wanted a safe home. Mayaeb had found the pack a beta and herself a lifemate in the person of Draith. He was a pure warrior, stronger and bigger than her but who respected her decision toward the pack and respected her as his Alpha. That time had been pure happiness to them, loving each other dearly and being surrounded by the family they had chose for themselves.
The pack had been protecting itself by making peaceful treaties with the humans preventing them to disturb their territory where the source was hidden. Though it had only needed one new member easily bribed by wealth for the pack to be betrayed and slaughtered. That one fateful day had been ironically magnificent; it had been warm, sunny with not a cloud in sight as the pack was merely basking in its warmth, when harsh sounds and voices came from the border of their territory.
People who where living in villages surrounding their territory were coming, Mayaeb knew instinctively that they meant troubles. They were breaking the treaties for once and the tone of their voices coupled to the harsh movements they made let her known that they were prepared to battle. Minutes later they came face to face with the pack looking blood thirsty and armed, with the 'sorcerers' they had helped to control their magic in front eyes glistening with craziness. Only one thing came to Mayaeb's mind at that sight, they had been betrayed; no one new besides the others were-creatures where they were protecting the source. She couldn't believe that one of her pack had betrayed them, they were a family, they were more important than whatever the humans could think of to bribe them.
That was when she saw her, that nervous looking wererat. She had let the girl joined the pack on the behalf of her when she had asked Mayaeb to join the pack, but Mayaeb hadn't been able to trust her, she had felt wrong like she wouldn't hesitate to betray them for the good price and she seemed scared of her own shadow. When harm had come to a pup on the girl's watch, Mayaeb had finally banished her from the pack. Mayaeb had made a big mistake, she hadn't thought that the girl would go to their enemies for vengeance, she had thought her weak minded, but she should have known that the reject would have caused her to search vengeance, she would have felt belittled.
The pack saw it too and was beginning to gather itself to protect their pups when another group of humans attacked them from behind their back, they hadn't sensed or felt them as they had masked their presence with magic. They didn't have time to react before the humans captured the pups, nor could they do a thing as those monsters killed them before their eyes. Parents howled their pain and sorrow attacking the killers in grief, but didn't have a chance as they were slaughtered by the 'sorcerers' who had been waiting for them to react.
Mayaeb had to watch as her entire pack was exterminated before her eyes, she had been the first to be magically restrained and had been left alive to watch. At first she had wondered why, but when she had seen that wererat smirking coldly as she was dragging her heavily hurt mate, she had understood. They wanted her to suffer the death of her pack, tortured by their howls of pain as she was unable to move. Though it didn't seem that it was enough and as she lifted her eyes to saw the pained look of her mate she knew that his death wouldn't be as quick as the others.
And long it had been, she had been forced to watch that girl Petra tortured Draith for hours, before his release came in the form of death. He had told her that it wasn't her fault, that they all should have seen it happening because she was nothing but vermin. He had smiled lovingly at her when in her anger at his words; Petra had finally broken his neck.
Finally as she took her last breath she couldn't help but regret that she didn't had the time to tell Draith he was going to be a father, she had wanted to tell him that night but now it was too late, they would never had the chance to meet their child.
A sob could be heard as Xander relieved Mayaeb's memories, he could felt and taste the gilt, remorse and hate; it was overwhelming. Though now he understood why her only wish was to form a pack. She wanted a second chance, to be surrounding by loved ones and pups once again.
Then he turned back his attention once more to Mayaeb's knowledge wich was explaining how and why she stayed as a spirit all these years with Draith.
At her death, Mayaeb had asked her mother magic to become a spirit; she knew she had more to do on earth before she let herself passed away. What she didn't know was that Draith was feeling the same way and had asked for the same thing. The magic had been horrified that her children had been slaughtered once more by humans, she had been totally furious when she met them as spirits. She had never told them what she did to the culprits, but they new they had been avenged and it must have not been a pretty nor pleasant sight.
The magic had felt that they still had a role to play as well, so she agreed to let them go back to earth in spirits form. The two had seen thousands of years before meeting Kyle and Xander, but at first glance they had felt they were theirs. During all those years they had felt a slight link with other persons but those had always been missing something; none of them had what Mayaeb and Draith were searching for, except for Xander and Kyle of course. They were made for each others, and Xander felt his last feelings of guilt toward Mayaeb and Draith's deaths disappeared. They had been tired of this life, they had just wanted to make sure that their luenor and his friends had a chance at a good life together.
Xander had just finished learning how to form and made his loved ones pack when he heard a panicked Cordelia entering the library. When he heard her talked about Oz, he felt a feeling of dread coming upon him. He just knew that something was wrong and by judging by this feeling, that something was extremely wrong and they had no time to waste.
°I'm very proud of this chapter! I have wanted to write it for a long time. What do you think?
°Thank you Carlough I always love your reviews! And yes you are right^^ But that's not a surprise I love him^^
°Please review!!!