Jackson's POV

"Where are we even going!?" Percy shouts just as we reach the town.

Athena looks around, from the houses to the statue, to the sky until finally resting upon the crack in the earth. Now visibly glowing a vantablack hue, occasionally moving and shifting to reveal the underworld under it. "I'm...not sure" She silently comments.

Along the cracks I see a white haired figure walking alongside them, pointing out something we previously didn't see. "Irene?" I call to her.

"If they found Hemsa at the end of that trail...then what's at the end of this one?" She eyes the one going directly through Oracion's tomb and leading to who knows where. "I think we should follow it" She states.

"I..." My voice speaks with hesitancy.

She clicks her tongue in annoyance, "What much do we have left to lose? Go" She points one more time and without question Athena jumps to the direction.

"Let's go Jackson" Percy shakes a little bit to encourage me to grab on.

I lean forward, filling my hands with his pelt as we run past Irene's figure. Connecting our eyes just before running out of sight. Leaving through the shattered village walls as the fissure leads us towards Oracion's tomb.

-

Percy slows down a bit, "This place is still full of clouds..." He takes his next steps cautiously but Athena again dashes past him.

"Athena?" He questions, picking up speed to catch up to her. "Aren't you scared?" He asks.

'I can't see these clouds that you can see, why would I be scared?' She pings through my head, running into the centre of the tomb.

"A-" Her wolf's gagging and vomiting pierces my ears as a stench fills my snout. I manage to catch up to her, stopping just beside her.

'Anubis was revered for his regeneration, but what the fuck is this'. She spits out while her eyes bounce along the shattered rocky walls. Chris' blood decorating the darkened scene, splattered along just about any surface it could be thrown onto. One...two...maybe even four different limbs, scattered and plucked of their fur, left to rot on the ground.

I look back towards Athena as she snarls, her proficiency in her abilities suddenly dropping as her thoughts leak out briefly. 'I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.' She chants over and over before walking through it all, still continuing her leaked thoughts.

I tap Percy a bit as if to ask, "Should we say something?" But he shakes his head a bit, instead choosing her to let it loose on her own.

Her wolf picks up pace alongside Percy as they continue following the ground's trail.

-

As we run past Persephone's rotten curse zone, I can't help but think to recognise the area we're going into. Further and further we continue going back, back to the start.

"Isn't that..." Percy thinks out loud, notices the burned down debris of what used to be a home further ahead of us.

I hop off of Percy, instead deciding to walk the rest of the way. "That shard lead to Hemsa...."

"So what about it?" Percy asks.

"This...is where I met your old Alpha, Keyon. Digging, just over there" I look towards the giant pit within the ground, cautiously walking up to it.

We all look down into it and sure enough something's glittering within it. "Jackson wai-" Percy calls to me but I've already jumped down. I slide my hand through the gentle soil, picking up the iridescent shard as the dirt falls off of it naturally.

A voice just behind me sends a calming breeze to my back as the other two jump down in reaction. "The rest of them remembered their names, so how come I didn't?"

The shadowy figure from before walks past the two, looking down at me and lifting my chin, "The rest of them need to possess something, so how come I don't?" He questions again, letting go of me.

"What are you doing here!?" Percy yells.

But he ignores him, "Through Keyon I got a body, and through Athena I regained something I had lost." He points his claw like fingers towards her, "You asked my name, and it's Adam. That is who I am, The First Human."

"And are we meant to celebrate for you now?" Athena spits out.

"I'm well aware of your predicament, but your solution is already there." He calmly responds.

"What the fuck do you mean?" She cusses.

"The Megalo. Don't you find it ironic that each time it has activated, it wasn't done through the body of a wolf? I've seen your memories Athena, each and every...single...time. It's a wolf in human skin releasing that amount of power." He causes her to pause as she begins listening intently.

"What are you saying?" She questions.

"Those you encountered unknowingly chose to make a pact with the gods in order to obtain strength to challenge him, Fenrir. That is the Megalo. Anubis' curse was placed within the blood of wolves who lost their way, tainted to feel the loss he felt, a way to exercise this strength from Fenrir." He continues.

"But it has never been the wolf that makes this pact...it's the human side of you hybrids. And I hear it...each and every time a chant is made, a pact is sealed and a soul is lost. In fact...I can hear it right now. The pacifist, the one you all went to when there was a problem with no solution. The calmest of the pack. When I first met you all I was well aware of the god within your husband, the god within Percy. The reality control of Jackson and Irene. But none scared me more than that woman...the beast inside her wasn't dead...it was sleeping. That is your solution."

-

Yue's POV

"RYAN!?" I scream throughout the pack house, running through with my white fur coat skin getting cut with the passing splinters throughout the air. I left her for moments...minutes, 'So what the fuck is all of this?' I think to myself.

'Be calm, Yue' Galene advises, but I don't respond.

As I run along the floor, making my way to the staircase up I see a pack of wolves running towards me. My...pack of wolves. Just in that moment...I feel something 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 inside me. The silhouetted crystal above their head, their spiralling frenzied eyes...I see.

Almost as if I've been waiting for it, I blink. Feeling a soaking texture run through my teeth and out of my mouth. Opening them back up again to catch the life draining from one of my pack members. "You're in my way" I simply state, knowing I could possibly save them...but I don't care.

I let go of its throat, tearing it out and splattering it over my fur. They run over each other, uncaring of the how or why they're trying to get to me and causing them to kill themselves as they step along each other. I watch in disgust as some leap over the others to get to me quicker, I quickly throw myself to the side, almost winding myself against the wall but quickly regaining myself to bite down on the neck of the one that landed next to me.

The taste of my own kind...I never would of thought I'd be bathing in it like a queen. I clench my jaw, snapping the spine from the outside and watching its body drop. "YUE!" I hear Ryan call above me as a hole opens up in the 2nd floor. I glance down at my claws, never truly knowing the power of myself as I throw myself onto the opposing wall, digging my nails into the wood and running up the wall to him, each crackling chip of wood ending up between my pelted claws and drawing blood...but it's all for her.

I barely avoid the snarling and barking wolves beneath me, jumping to the 2nd floor and glancing at the room I placed Melanie in. "Ryan!?" I scream again.

"Yu-" I hear him gasping for breath, my body tenses but I'm unable to prepare myself for the sight I was about to see. Melanie's figure wrapped around Ryan's back as if he tried to piggyback her out of the room, her teeth are stuck into his neck, gradually draining the colour from his skin.

I panic, jumping on top of them both and forcing her to let go of his neck. He quickly scampers away behind me as I shift back to a human to restrain her limbs. "Melanie please!" I scream while holding her back from Ryan. Her animalistic growling nothing like I've seen before...not to mention...why is she so strong.

"Yue..." He whimpers, but I ignore him, trying to put my full attention to keeping her in check.

"Yue" he calls again. "YUE!" He screams, finally dragging my attention.

"WHAT!?" I yell back.

"Her eyes..." He lets loose a tear as I lose a bit of strength in myself, hesitating as she gets loose and darts back to him.

'Her eyes' is all I can think to myself briefly. Regaining myself and jumping on top of her just before she reaches his leg. I roughly turn her to face me, throwing myself to sit on her stomach to stare back into pearl white eyes shining and reflecting my face right back to me. "Melanie's gone...isn't she" I ask myself.

I look up at Ryan while she thrashes below me, "Melanie's gone...isn't she?". He looks back at me with a terrified gaze but I need an answer. "Melanie is gone, isn't she?" I ask again.

"I-" He stutters as the ceiling above us crashes down, hitting us both in the head as blood runs down our faces. A droplet from my chin hitting her in the mouth as she licks her lips, smiling at me.

The sunlight breaks through, hitting her flesh and causing her to scream a high pitched tune throughout my ears. I lower my head to her face, covering her revealed skin with my loose hair. Touching my forehead with her own, "I'm sorry. I'm so...so...sorry. My perfect mate...my little soul." She tries biting my face, snapping her elongated fangs towards any sort of flesh is nearest. I shift to place a kiss on her head, my vision turning to white as I gaze upon a memory of hers.

A dark room accompanied by the presence of something unholy. Climbing along the walls and avoiding the light, scratching and tearing at her skin...trying to get in. The wall to the side her opens, a woman who brings reassurance to her, lifting the weight of her body.

She screams as the woman grabs her by the throat, slamming her against the reconstructed wall over and over, "N-o!" Melanie begs as she barely manages to get away.

She raises her sword up, "Illuminate!". Revealing the figure of Nimue..."Aluca" she sings out as Melanie turns her head, watching the pear eyed beast pounce onto her, ripping her open and climbing inside as Nimue stands there...watching. 'It hurts...it hurts so much. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry...I couldn't defend myself...I couldn't be as strong as you. I'm...sorry.' Her last thoughts chant out with solemn.

With one last deep breath I look down at my mate, my tears dropping and running down her head as I lift my face back up. Allowing the light to touch her skin, the figure beneath me thrashes, digging her nails into my bare flesh and screeching but I refuse to look at her face. "You're not her, don't scream like you know my pain" I speak over her.

I hear Ryan move his body away as the weight beneath me poofs into nothing. I can't bring myself to look, the sensation of dry dust is enough. I place my hand down along the floor to gather the strength to stand back up, instinctively turning my head to see my hand with the remaining ashes of her body, picking them up and scattering them like sand into the wind.

"So this is life, ash?" I ask to nobody in particular.

My brain audibly ticks, 'Nimue.'

'Yue please' Galene tries to calm me again.

It ticks again, 'Nimue'

'Goodbye...Yue' Galene cries from within me.

An elegant voice crawls into me, 'What do you desire?' sharply ingraining itself into my mind.

'Power' I chant.

'Why is it you want this?' It asks.

'They don't deserve the lives they were given.'

'Do you care for what's to come from this exchange?'

'No.'

'This'll kill you.'

'Gladly.' I smile.

-

'It's you.' The voice begins.

'It's you.' I repeat.

'It's me.' It continues.

'It's me.' I repeat.

'It's us.'

One final breath of complete solace, "It's us." I whisper as the pain within my body disappears, the scent of ash and blood vanishes...and my sight, locked onto nothing more than the image of myself in the regal mirror. My pure white hair, edged with black and my eyes swirling gold. "Nimue, I'm coming...for you."