Chapter Text
Once upon a time, a long time ago, when the seas occupied greater territory than trees and the days were longer than the nights, the earth was dominated by beasts and men.
At the beginning, both races struggled to survive the hostility of the world and the threat they represented to each other.
The beasts, beings with dense earth-colored fur, large snouts full of rows of sharp teeth and strong legs, were good at surviving in the density of the forest. Hidden among the foliage, they attacked anything to feed themselves, thus attacking humans without mercy and staining the earth with blood and pain.
Wolves.
The nomads called the beasts that attacked them at night wolves. Howling beings that force them to be alert and that terrified the children in the stories they heard. Humans had learned to protect themselves from beasts through the fire they used to warm themselves and illuminate their surroundings. They had learned to use spears and create traps to protect themselves.
The strongest men of the tribes guarded the camp until dusk seemed to appear.
Beasts and humans had become enemies.
That's how it was, until the arrival of the great winter.
The sunlight had been replaced by the cold breeze of the mother moon. The fertile, moist brown soil had been replaced by a thick, whitish layer of nine that did not allow the seeds to flourish.
The forests, which in spring looked lush and full of fruit, looked dead and frozen. Cattle died as did men and beasts.
Aaron, the chief of the Vis tribe, upon seeing how his people were dying, decided to look for a new place to settle. So he and two of his men left when the night cleared. The cold air cut his cheeks and the snow dulled his feet, but his determination and love for the people kept him moving forward.
However, the snow spread like a blanket around them, covering beyond the horizon. Hope was beginning to leave his body.
They had walked for five nights in a row and nothing around them seemed to have changed. His men looked tired and the sores on their faces caused by the cold air of the day seemed to be getting worse. He couldn't have his people like this, he couldn't let them die without saying goodbye to their families and die next to him just because of his stubbornness and hope.
On the sixth night, the men were sent home and Aaron decided to walk a little further before turning around and returning to deliver the news that the great winter was here to stay.
The light of twilight came slowly, as if he too had lost all hope. Aaron walked for what felt like hours and then, when the sky of the day passed and became dark, he decided to rest next to a river in which the water barely flowed before freezing.
The sound of crunching snow was what alerted Aaron.
There, in front of him, was a huge wolf with thick black fur and deep brown eyes. Aaron then took his spear and stood up, ready to attack the beast in front of him.
The animal was five heads taller than him, its huge claws looking fierce and ready to attack, but Aaron was ready to die if necessary.
The beast did not take its eyes off him, however, it looked even closer, with a hesitant, tired gait.
Then Aaron understood. The beast was cold and hungry like him. That enormous being was looking for a new place to take his people. Where the babies did not die sick from the cold and where the seeds would sprout so they could eat.
Aaron dropped his spear, raised his hands in a sign of peace, and approached slowly. Aaron and the beast looked directly into each other's eyes.
That feeling was strange. Warm and worried, as if an invisible thread connected them in some way, I feel like their heartbeats had synchronized.
"Heat," Aaron said, pointing to the fire. The man moved slowly towards the campfire and brought his hands closer to it, showing that it was safe.
The animal seemed unsure of moving, however the cold air forced it to accept that invitation.
The breeze from the campfire was warm. The animal surrounded the small source of heat with joy and familiarity and Aaron swore he recognized a smile forming on its enormous snout.
"Water," he then offered, uncovering a cured goat stomach that he used to store the icy liquid. Aaron drank a little and waited for the animal to approach slowly before pouring some of the liquid into its enormous jaws.
This was how the first link between beings and beasts was born.
Aaron and the wolf then continued their journey through the promised land. The animal let Aaron ride its back to cross the straits and frozen lakes more clearly and Aaron took care of the animal, offering it snow turned into water and small bugs that he hunted.
However, not everything was simple and fun for them. The cold had made Aaron's human body sick. The cold breezes and lack of food had decompensated him to the point where he barely had the strength to ride Aleph, his new friend.
The animal and the man, who were once enemies, had created a bond of friendship.
"No," Aaron said as Aleph tried to help him stand up. "I can't continue," he explained. "My lungs hurt and I-" a loud cough broke through his words, forcing Aaron to double over in pain. "I don't want to go home like this, my tribe... I have failed them."
The wolf howled loudly at the moon, a mixture of pain and anguish tinged the sound. As if Aleph was begging the mother for benevolence and help.
"You've been a good friend, Aleph," Aaron continues, rubbing the animal's back. "You will take good care of your cubs and mine. Go and tell my people to last as long as the mother punishes us."
Alep stared at Aaron. Brown eyes with brown eyes. The animal seemed to be trying to say something that the man could decipher. He then pressed his forehead against Aaron and the man was impressed to understand it.
"Come in"
Aaron didn't understand the message. His heart raced rapidly, his blood rushed through his veins strongly, and a warm breeze of air surrounded them.
The man did not believe what his eyes saw.
His soul, floating above his limp body, now saw and felt everything from Aleph's perspective.
"I share my body with your soul" I heard Aaron say inside the new body they were in. "My tribe and yours will now be one to survive, I trust you human, to guide our people to survival."
"So be it" he responded without hesitation to the wolf's words.
Then he felt it. The energy, the heat, the strength. Smart and rational, fast and fierce. He was no longer a human, but he was not a wolf either. He was a lycan, a child of the moon.
Aaron then ran and ran into his new body. A much stronger and faster body. One where he could rest less and explore more.
He did not count how many days or nights it was, but he ran and ran until he discovered that the breeze was warm again and the snow was water again.
The great winter was over and with it, life as he knew it too.
Aaron became the first son of the moon. The first chief of the Lycans tribe and the first alpha to dominate the earth.
Aaron discovered that he could return to his new human form. His previous body, smaller and more fragile due to the ability to get sick, had been replaced by muscles, longer and stronger limbs, and the same conditions that he had in his wolf form.
His tribe then became smaller and larger. Aaron taught his people the ability to share souls with beasts and soon, all of his people became stronger and more united.
Aaron taught his children what it was like to be an alpha and how to govern, how to work the land and how to transform their bodies from puppies. Only alphas were born from his lineage, alphas who ruled the tribe and continued the teachings that Aaron had shared. Love, respect and loyalty.
The world then changed and humans and beasts became one. In lycanthropes that gave rise to three important divisions.
The alphas, men and women with the strength to guide the people. They were the leaders, strong and dominant, their presence commanded respect and authority. They were fierce protectors, driven by an innate desire to safeguard their pack and claim their chosen omega as their own.
Betas, who were the mediators of the adaptable and resourceful society. They were the race that was most attached to human genetics, however they retained the most primal instincts of Aaron's race.
And then there were the omegas, the heartbeats of the new world. They were gentle and nurturing, their allure irresistible to alphas. Omegas possessed a unique gift—the ability to carry and nurture life within them, ensuring the continuation of their species.
Those three new species filled the new world.