Chapter 35

The temperature drops as you enter into the massive underground chamber, sending a violent chill down your spine. Light reaches neither wall nor ceiling, confining vision to a small circle of flickering orange cast by the torch; inky black water sloshes against a narrow strip of land that disappears into the darkness before you and jagged teeth of stone descend from the shadows above.
A gaping hole in the mountain, littered with tiny sparkling crystals not unlike the stars of the night sky, yet it was so mysterious... Inside the cavern, darkness was eternity. It was like an invisible force, crushing your body, squeezing the life out of you...We were all walking towards the small source of light that we could see. The Council members followed the contestants from front and back. I could feel Drima’s presence here but she was at the back.
Serafina was here too. I could understand that but she was not visible. She was using her magic to put on a cloak of invisibility around her body. Like the Invisibility Cloak that Dumbledore gave Harry Potter in the Philosopher’s stone. Yeah, I know, I might be a grown up shifter going to be an Alpha Queen but that did not mean that I could not like stuff written by humans.
And suddenly we were standing in front of a gilded door.
Torah and all those members of the Council who were walking in front of us came to a standstill. I could feel power wafting in waves off from something which was behind that door. Then she spoke.
“This is something which is going to be a secret that has been protected by the royal families and will have to be done so because the thing that now you are going to see is the most closely guarded secret of the Wolf Kingdom. Welcome to the real source of power of Amorentia!!!” she yelled as the doors of the room opened and I was not the only one who was in shock.
The brightness of what I saw blinded me. It took me a few moments to realize that I was not looking at something light but rather a crystal. It was a rock but to be sure, I had never seen anything more beautiful than this in my entire life.
The crystal had grown as something alive may do, growing in a pool of minerals over the ages. As such it became as a rainbow sea made of perfect rock, the shoreline ever present and still, as if it were a photograph of flowing colours. I could have watched it all day, captivated in that frozen moment that took longer than generations to form. The crystal glowed as if it welcomed the light in some embrace more than took it though so passively. The colours that shone in the brilliant light of day were a richness only nature can bring, a different sort of glow than the golden pools of streetlights. It was somehow more than light and molecules in that moment, as if together they were something greater than either could ever be alone.
It was polished and cut to perfection. The brilliant gem bounced rays of rainbow light over the dim cave. I stood there, transfixed by the enchanting jewel. Its surface was impossible smooth. Its colors, impossibly bright. A magnificent rainbow aurora surrounded it, giving off an ethereal glow. It shimmered in the cavern with a radiance of its own.
We all slowly walked towards the crystal. It was huge. Like it was gigantic in proportions and it could not be discerned that from where it began and where it ended. The power that it was pulsing with had a strange odour of vanilla and lavender mixed together which was something I could remember that the Red Queen used to sport. It was her unique scent and even more strange was that, I could feel her presence near me.
“Behold the source of power that will discern who is going to be the next Queen of the Wolves. The Ambrose Crystal is the only thing that powers up the ley lines that keep running underneath our kingdoms and your packs subsequently,” said Torah and I was still taking it all in. I was breathing in the power that I was in the presence of. The crystal reminded me of the smaller crystals that we used to power our vortexes. The mode of travel that we used when we were in a hurry. Moreover using human modes of communication was really cut for the wolves. As royals, our wolves were far more stronger than the other wolves and it made the humans uncomfortable with our presence near them.
“So what are we in here for today? I mean, I think all of us had enough of this history lesson shit,” said Rubina and all the necks snapped in her direction.
She had a weird and utterly negative way of taking all the attention of everyone in the room that she could be always in the spot light. It looked like she had perfected the art of being a bitch and no one could play the role better than her. However I had decided that I was not going to pay her the slightest attention, because when you do not pay attention to someone, they deflate like a pin pricked balloon.
But not everyone was going to think like me and Blossom reacted immediately.
“We all know that you are a bitch, so it is really not necessary to prove it any longer,” said Blossom and Ambernette smirked at her words. Rubina was seething but Torah cleared her throat loudly and we all turned our attention in her direction.
“You are all adults and powerful wolves. Not to mention the heiresses of Amorentia and the pride of your packs, so it would be really great if you all start acting like that,” said Torah as she grumbled and to honest, I agreed with her for the first time since I had arrived here in the capital for the Summit.
“So without further ado, we will move on to the contest today for which we are present here. Today is all about the strength that lies inside you. The strength that is in your royal blood and that is what makes you a royal. So today’s test is simple,” said Torah as she paused menacingly for a moment and then told,” You would have do nothing except put your hand on the Ambrose Crustal. And that will be all for the contest today.”
I looked at her for a moment hoping to hear her say again that this was a joke. A contest for the Summit could not be that simple, could it? Or there was something that was not being told.
“Are you fucking kidding me? What kind of idiocy is this? I thought that we were actually supposed to do something and not just touch the stone or rock in a cave!” yelled Rubina and I was getting increasingly tired of her rant.
“Your ignorance was interesting and somewhat amusing until now but it is getting really boring now, Heiress,” said Mason in a loud voice making her reel back. He was quite intimidating amongst all the members of the Council.
“How dare you speak to me in that way?” yelled Rubina coming forward and then Mason stood to his full height and spoke to her in such a menacing tone that even caused a shiver to go down through my spine.
“I speak to you that way because I can, Heiress. You reek of something that you should have dipped your toes in the first place. If you think Heiress that you can keep on going with this as your armour then you are living in a fool’s paradise. So would you like to go first with the contest or are you going to forfeit?” asked Mason and I had my fingers crossed. I hoped that she did forfeit and withdrew from the contest that she found so detestable.
“Hahaha!!” she said in a sarcastic manner and then said,” And you would like that, won’t you? But no, that is not going to happen. I am not going to go first. Who knows what is gonna happen if you touch that thing? My hand could blow off for all I know!”
“Then we shall start with Ambernette of Yellow Sunflower Pack,” said Torah with a tight smile.
Ambernette blanched visibly and gulped but she did not make a sound. I was beginning to suspect that such a submissive wolf, how was she the Alpha of her pack in the first place. Ambernette asked,” What do I need to do?”
“You need to go ahead and place your palm on the crystal. Preferably on any smooth surface and keep touching until we say otherwise,” said Torah as she smiled encouragingly at Ambernette and she went ahead. I looked at her intently and I could feel Serafina’s presence beside me. Both of us, rather everyone who was present in that room was watching with bated breathe.
She placed her hand on a smooth surface of the Crystal. And the crystal immediately changed colour in that region and turned yellow. That was eerie, it was like the crystal could sense the bloodline to which she belonged. And then Ambernette screamed in full volume as if she was in immense pain. I started to go forward but it looked like that she could not control her shift and she was changing into a wolf and her paw was stuck. The wails and the whining was not lessened and she was going into seizure looking like she was going to die at any moment.
“Get her away from there if you want her to live,” said Torah in a loud voice and immediately a knight with whom we had been seeing her rushed forward to help her and both of them were thrown back with a blast of power and connected with one of the rocks of the cave room. Ambernette was still shaking violently and I could see that her paw had been badly burnt. This was seriously risky affair.
“That was interesting,” said Rubina with a smirk and I wanted to punch her right in the face again. But I controlled. I had bigger fish to fry at the moment.
“So next will be Blossom of the Black Claws Pack. Please go ahead and do the same thing like your counterpart did a while ago,” instructed Torah. And Blossom although was hesitant moved forward. I could see the determination on her face.
She placed her hand on another spot from where Ambernette had touched. In a moment the crystal turned black with red tinge running in the middle of it slightly. The crystal sure could verify our blood lines and in a moment Blossom’s entire hand was covered in a black sheath and it looked like she was wearing a glove but it was the magic which was coating her.
Suddenly Torah called out,” Excellent!! That will be all Blossom of Black Claws pack.”
And she removed her hand. This would only mean that Blossom was a strong wolf and the magic that ran in her blood was also absolutely pure. Blossom had a huge smile on her face seeing that she had passed the test of the Ambrose Crystal.
“Next will be Rubina of the Purple Poison pack,” announced Torah, which meant that I was going to be the last one.