Chapter 163 - Larion - Part 1

Larion, the land of magic.

It was the first time I'd heard of such a place, as well as the Wishing Tree, a tree that will grant your wish if your intention is pure. To save Luke, we must ask the Wishing Tree for its fruit, which has the power to heal all illnesses in the world.

With all of the benefits that come with the fruit, the road to finding it is said to be extremely difficult. Maggie said that even finding Larion itself is difficult, as the gate's location changes every two days and there is no way to know where it will move to next.

Though I didn't want to leave Luke behind, I was the only one who could help him find the antidote. Not wanting to leave him alone, I had to ask Lisa to take care of him while I was away, and she immediately sobered up when she saw his condition. Apparently, it was her first time seeing the Alpha so vulnerable.

When we decided to leave, Luke had passed out from the excruciating pain he was feeling and had no other choice but to be bedridden. The last time I saw him, he was sweating all over, and the color on his face had faded away.

"He's going to be fine," Jack crept beside me and whispered in a soft, yet solemn tone. "He's the strongest werewolf alive. Such a measly poison is not going to kill him."

"Right," Andrew chimed behind, nodding. "If he was that easy to kill, I'd have been the Supreme Alpha long ago."

I forced a laugh, trying to look as calm as possible to not worsen the situation. Even though these two men looked at ease, I knew that they were just as worried as I was. After all, they had known him longer than I had, so there was no way they were not affected by this. 

Just as how Luke is staying strong to fight the poison, I, too, have to stay strong and bring him back the antidote to help him win the fight. 

All this time, he was the one who went out of his way to help me, and now it's my turn. I won't waver just because of a slight hindrance like this, because I know he's not going to leave me. He promised.

"I know," I smiled at them as I tightened my shoelaces, holding my head high as I stood. "Because we're going to save him."

With one last look at the manor, I walked towards Maggie, who stood by the start of the forest, looking for something inside her bag. When she finally found the thing she was looking for, she pulled out a doll, smiling when she saw it. 

"Hell, where did you pick up that doll?" Andrew mocked the doll, scrutinizing it with a disapproving look. "Anyone would believe you if you said it was cursed."

The doll looks like a bear, but at the same time, it doesn't. It was brown, with one of its eyes nowhere to be seen, as well as its tail. It was holding a cane, a candy cane, and it was no bigger than Maggie's palm.

I didn't know why Maggie was looking for a doll out of nowhere, but then she whispered something to the doll, and the doll started coming to life. Andrew, who was still mocking the doll, suddenly got punched by a fluffy paw and fell backward out of surprise. 

"Did it just—" he stared at the doll, clearly taken aback by the fact that he had been punched by the so-called "cursed doll."

"That's a warning to not judge his appearance," Maggie laughed, content with what happened with Andrew. The doll then sprang out of Maggie's hand and stood on its own two feet, clinging the candy cane to the ground for support. 

"What is this doll?" I asked, trying to ease the confusion on the two men's faces, including mine.

"Call him Coco," Maggie introduced him, and he bowed down to both me and Jack, but not to Andrew. "He may be small, but he will lead us to Larion. And unless you want to feel his fluffy punch, don't call him cute or any other insult." 

"Who on earth will call this thing cu—" Andrew was cut short by another fluffy punch to the stomach, grunting as the punch was getting stronger than before. "Is he made of bricks or what?!" 

No one responded to Andrew's grunts and started to walk forward, following Coco and leaving Andrew behind. Is this what magic can do? Making inanimate objects come to life? It seemed that Coco could understand what we were talking about, but had no ability to respond in words. Instead, he responded with his actions, as what was shown before.

Maggie pulled out a map of the three lands, putting it on the ground for Coco to see. Coco sat by the middle of the map and closed one of his eyes—which was all he got—and folded his paws to his chest.

A few moments passed, and Coco finally stood up, walking around the map with his eyes still closed. After walking around the map for one full circle, he settled on a place and opened his eyes, tapping the map with his paw.

"He said it's somewhere in the Shadow Woods," Maggie said, and both Andrew and Jack groaned. "It's time for you two wolves to shine, no?"

Not knowing what she meant by it, I turned to Jack, asking for an explanation. 

"Shadow Woods isn't exactly a good place to go to. There are a lot of wild animals, and the trees are so dense and tall that it's hard for the sunlight to even get through them."

Right. Though I've only seen the Shadow Woods briefly while I was on the way back from Gordom, I remembered it being really dark and eerie. 

Andrew squatted down and nudged Coco, asking, "Are you sure this is the right place? It might be good if you could check it again, just to be sure." 

Coco briefly glanced at Andrew, then looked away without giving him any response. I could almost hear a huff from Coco. 

Andrew gasped at the disrespect.

Jack, following Andrew, squatted down and asked the same question, immediately receiving a nod from Coco. Andrew gasped again.

"How dare he..." he said, glaring at Coco's small and round back. He then mumbled something about hiding Coco's candy cane while he slept.

As we made our way down the mountain, I could see that our surroundings were empty, and even the hums of the birds couldn't be heard. All the animals we had seen before had gone to hide, yet it was still unknown what or who they were hiding from.

According to Andrew, he could smell another wolf in the area, but it was neither a rogue nor someone from our pack. When he asked Jack about it, he said he could smell it too, but he also didn't know whose smell it was.

As there was still a chance that this presence would pose a threat to us, we gathered a few groups of warriors by the manor, led by Lisa and Zeke. If the news of Luke's condition spread, it would undoubtedly create a huge opportunity for anyone interested in the position of Supreme Alpha to take action. We have to make haste.

Wanting to go at a faster pace, Jack and Andrew shifted to their wolf forms and became our means of transportation for the day, running through the cold winter breeze. We'd usually have to travel for two hours to get to the Shadow Woods, but we cut it down to one hour by taking a shorter route which humans usually take—ultimately risking ourselves being discovered by them.

Thankfully, there weren't many people around, and those who were around didn't seem to notice what we were riding on as we were running at an inhuman pace.

Following Coco's instruction, we went out of Wonsvile's gate and dived into the dark forest, immediately finding ourselves surrounded by tall and daunting trees. Though it was still early in the morning, it looked like it was past midnight here.

It was dead silent, and the only sounds were those of the two wolves. We ran fearlessly, going deeper into the forest without knowing what would appear in front of us. Due to the darkness and the speed, Coco got a little confused while telling us the way, but it soon became a small matter when we reached the mouth of a cave.

"We're here," Maggie said, followed by Coco's energetic nods.

Both Jack and Andrew shifted back to their human forms, and their clothes immediately appeared out of thin air with a single word from Maggie. She said she didn't appreciate the sight she was seeing. Andrew protested.

As we got ready to enter the cave, a few growls and hoots came from behind us. We turned around and saw a group of animals, ranging from lions to a handsome looking bird—which was said to be an eagle—that appeared to have been following us from behind the shadows. 

"I swear, if this isn't the right place—" Andrew sighed, his gaze fixed on Coco, "—say goodbye to your candy cane."