Chapter XXII

After that battle Jonathan along with Omar and Ciro were summoned by the SkinWalker undoubtedly terrifying beings, evil incarnate no one present knew for sure where they came from and why they did not have the ability to become human if they were humans with fear in their hearts the three went to the agreed place that the leader had pointed out to them the three leaders arrived as men and a creature that made them doubt was already waiting for them, Ciro was the oldest his eyes had undoubtedly already seen monsters that with just moving a hand could defeat entire armies, but seeing that Skin left him petrified, the Skin growls at them on the spot the three of them gather their courage get out of the vehicle and turn into their wolf form to follow him, he enters the desert after a long walk they arrived at a cave in which they began to descend as expected the further they descended the more overwhelming the darkness became, the air became denser making it difficult for the guests to breathe so they descended a hundred more meters.

Panting on the verge of losing consciousness with blurred vision, the three believe that tiredness is playing a trick on them when they distinguish flashes of colors, the three reach the origin of the flashes discovering that it was nothing other than a campfire where the leader was waiting for them, a creature of normal height, it was a humanoid wolf without any hair, extremely thin, its teeth protruded from its snout, its eyes were blood red and its smell, that smell that almost made the three back away, was that of the incarnate dead, total putrefaction, the stench was that of an animal dead for days, he invites the guests to come in and sit by his fire, he offers them food but they refuse, he offers them water, the three accept immediately, the host smiles at them.

"I saw your fight, it was interesting," he says in a voice that sounds more like a whisper. "I could see they're not natural, but who here is?" He smiles. "What I'm getting at is that magic plays a big factor in it. It's strong, old magic."

—We already know that, we're working on it.

"I know, I've seen it. My wolves have followed those things that kill for no reason. They're not on my land, no, they're coming from beyond Alaska, crossing the Bering Strait, they have hiding places along that route." He throws a map of the hiding places at them. "We won't go hunting because of our appearance."

—We'll take care of it, sir.

—I know it does, however, there is another problem, you might ask, what is it?

—he throws at Elián—. We found him days ago, out of his mind—the Skin leans down and runs his “hand” through the Greek’s hair—. He reminded me of my late son, his broken bond, his desire to die. This boy must release his pain if he wants to defend his cubs.

—He is not a child, he is a man of almost five thousand years.

— However, she behaves like a puppy in her first heat.

—His partner committed suicide. Guilt consumes him.

—I understand, in that case —he makes a sign, another Skin arrives and places something in his nostrils, causing the Greek to wake up, suddenly disoriented, taking errant steps until he falls on his buttocks onto the hard floor.

—Is it the Styx? Where's the ferryman? My coins! Without my coins, I can't go to Hades. I can't reach the judges to be judged. —Desperately, he searches blindly for the gold coins. A long, bony hand touches his right shoulder. He sees the hand out of the corner of his eye. His breath catches, all his muscles tense. —Boatman

Is that you? —He gets no answer, the hand closes over his mouth and his nose falls suddenly to the floor.

"You killed him," is all Ciro can say.

Elian's passion

"Not at all. You guys," he points to one of his people. "Help the guests out and carry this one. Listen carefully," he sniffs at Ciro. "Right now, your brother is between this world and the next; he must face his pain alone."

-As?

—A broken bond can lead to madness or death. From what I saw, your brother is seeking death. Trust that this journey will bring him back to his senses.

• I trust that it will be successful.
• Let's wait. Now get out of here.

With lethargic steps, Elián walks down the stairs of his house in Atenas. He doesn't remember how he got there. Breathing the air of his home, his pack, brings a big smile to his face. He finishes going down the stairs, surprised to see no one running through the hallways. He looks everywhere without finding anyone. He feels like swimming, grabs his things, and goes to the beach near his villa. He gets in the water, begins to swim and swim until his thoughts become confused with the water. Already tired, he returns to the beach, gets out, throws himself on the sand, turns over face down, and out of nowhere begins to cry.

"You know, for the big bad wolf, you're a real crybaby." He recognizes the voice immediately and stands in front of her.

—Am I dead?

• Not yet, but if you keep going like this you will be. —She offers him her hand, he accepts and lifts him up.— Let's walk.

He follows her for a couple of minutes.

• Why did you leave me? Why didn't you think about our daughter? About me?
• I thought of both of them, and that's why I left. Look, Emilia... she deserves to have a normal family. I can't give her that. She'll be happy, you'll see.