Mathias (#1 The Chronicles of the Demon Wolf)
Chapter 31

“I’m stuck!” Tanto exclaims as his legs pinned underneath a large debris.

Ryker opens his eyes, unwrapping his arms from Eva as he shielded her earlier from the impact. He quickly helps his younger brother by lifting the large debris high enough for him to pull out. At the same time, Tanto is cradling the Pandora Box.

“Get him out of here,” Ryker orders Eva. “I’ll search for Mathias and Chelsea.”

Eva almost protested but nodded. She helps Tanto to stand and guides him out of the collapsed castle along with the Pandora Box, hoping the witches would know what to do next. Ryker yells for Mathias as he searches around. Eva and Tanto are limping their way to the battlefield and that’s when they witness the miracle.

“Tanto, look,” Eva says, gesturing to the corrupted trees.

The corrupted trees slowly disintegrated. Whoever traps inside falls to the ground. Their eyes are closed but there’s a light pattern of chest movement in each one of them. Eva rushes to one of the bodies and checks for a pulse to see whether they’re still alive.

“He’s alive,” she tells him.

Tanto checks a woman closest to him. “Same as her.”

“They’re all alive.” she spins and looks at all the unconscious bodies. “The box…”

The Pandora box in Tanto’s hands glowing in red. Tanto lets go of the box and it spins in mid-air. Red essence escapes from the unconscious people and it gathers around the box. Eva takes a closer look at the box and realizes something. The box is removing all the bad essence that was produced by the Heart when it was corrupted. The box might not be big but she can feel the changes of the energy line around her as if the box is acting as the Heart itself.

Then the box exploded in mid air. From there, emerging a white light in the form of a beautiful maiden. She’s hovering above the ground while holding onto a white staff. Her hair is golden as if it’s made of gold itself. Her emerald eyes are so piercing that Eva feels like the woman is looking right into her soul.

“Who are you?” Tanto asks, pulling Eva behind him just in case another thing happens.

“My name is Lady Areuthiel. I’m the keeper of the Pandora Box,” she says, smiling at them.

“So much for a keeper,” Tanto says sarcastically.

“The Pandora Box is made by pieces of the Heart,” she says. “That’s how she knew where the Heart was.”

“How do we put Goddess of Death back into the box?” Tanto asks. “There must be a way to put her back.”

Lady Areuthiel smiles and looks at the sky. “That is up to the Moon Goddess to do it. After all, only her could perform such powerful magic to keep the Goddess of Death away.”

She transformed back into the Pandora Box and it dropped to the ground. Without wasting time, Eva grabbed the box and helped Tanto to get to the rest of the pack. They had to replace Stefano because he was the only one who could deliver the box to Moon Goddess’ kingdom. They regrouped with everyone and saw the battle had stopped. The monsters were returning to the cracks on the ground and jumped in as if they were afraid of something.

“The castle collapsed,” Tanto told Enzo who is helping the injured Enforcers. “We need to get to Stefano.”

“Stefano isn’t here. He’s up there,” Enzo replies, pointing to the sky. “Where’s Mathias?”

“Somewhere inside the rubbles. Ryker is searching for him.”

Then, Tanto groaned in pain. He has a small metal stick pierced through his right leg. Eva helped him to sit down and looked at his injury. Enzo left the place and headed to where the castle was to assist with Ryker looking for Mathias. At this moment, it would take a while before a search team could be deployed. They have limited help. Majority were trapped inside the trees and now they’re unconscious on the ground.

Enzo reaches the collapsed castle and sees Ryker is clawing through some rubbles as if he’s looking for something. A hand trapped between the rubbles. He recognizes the bloodied hand and rushes there.

“Mathias!” Ryker yells. “Hang on, we’re here.”

Someone groans from somewhere underneath those rubbles. Ryker and Enzo pick their pace and replace their older brother pinned against a rubble with a metal stick goes through just below his ribcage. Carefully inspecting the metal stick, Ryker tries his best to stop the bleeding. Mathias is severely wounded. There’s a large wound on his head. His entire body is covered in blood. Ryker knows his older brother isn’t looking too good right now.

“I’ll get the medic here,” Enzo says, getting up to leave.

“No,” Mathias replies, grabbing his hand to stop him. “Look for Chelsea. She’s somewhere here.”

Ryker and Enzo look at each other. Reluctantly, they nod and search for Chelsea in the expense of delaying getting the medic. One rubble after another, the search goes on but they still couldn’t replace her.

“She’s not here. She’s probably deeper underneath,” Ryker tells Enzo. “Just stay here. I’ll get help. Make sure he stays awake.”

“Yeah...where else would I go?” Mathias jokes.

Ryker gets up and runs to the forest. After a few meters, he stops and glances at Mathias. His head hangs low. His hands are clutching the metal stick. Ryker’s eyes found Enzo who also doesn’t look too convinced they have enough time to get help.

Enzo sits next to Mathias, trying to give him comfort through the pain. They’re not talking. There’s only the sound of Mathias’ painful breathing.

“The sun is almost set,” Enzo says, nodding to the horizon.

The sky is in orange-red color as the sun almost sets. Long ago, they used to talk about taking a trip together with the family. But, Mathias, Ryker, and Tanto enrolled themselves into Alpha’s training so that they could take care of the pack and give the retirement days that their father always dreamed of.

Not a minute later, Mathias’ hand falls by his side.