Moon Lovers: Bound by Blood and Revenge

[ Northern Gate Portal… ]

Thirty minutes before midnight…

Ronan Zhou, the current gatekeeper of the Northern Gate Portal, arrived at the entrance of Northleaf Timberland Forest where the portal was located.

He was accompanied by Cedric's lackey who would serve as escort. Although Ronan Zhou had the magic stone, it won't work against wild animals like boar, fox, and other predators residing in that forest. 

Furthermore, Cedric's motive for assigning his lackey was to monitor Ronan's movement. He was very cautious. Tonight's mission was very important so any mistake was unacceptable.

Ronan and his escort entered the forest, navigating in the dark with only a torch as their source of light. It was also useful to fend off wild animals if ever they would encounter one.

He didn't want to admit it but Ronan could feel the chill and eeriness of that forest. The dark woods stood like giant black knights, waving at them as the leaves and branches swayed at the blowing winds.

He was glad that he had his escort by his side. This was what he hated the most being the gatekeeper– navigating the forest at night. It was his late brother who always opened the portal at night while he was assigned during the daytime.

Ronan gathered himself and worked his way along the narrow trail, leaves and small branches sliding across his forearms. Fortunately, he was wearing a black hooded jacket.

While they continued traversing the forest, they heard the sound of creaking tree trunks, the flutter of wings unseen, and the snapping twigs nearby.

"What is that?" Ronan asked his escort, his heart slamming against his ribs.

His escort tapped his shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid. I think they are here. The Assassins."

Cedric assigned five elite Werewolf fighters to do this mission. Five loyal Witches and Wizards and five Human Hunters who are members of Triple W accompanied the team. They were already in the forest, following Ronan and his escort.

After fifteen minutes of navigating in the dark forest, Ronan finally reached his destination. Before him stood a large arch made of stones. It was the doorway going to the Kingdom Phantasia.

However, before the gate would be open, the gatekeeper had to do some ritual wherein the gatekeeper needed to recite the chants in front of the gate. 

This ritual chant was only passed down to the gatekeepers and they were the only ones who knew how to utter those magical words. This power was only bestowed to them by the Moon Goddess. Even the Witches couldn't learn this chant.

Ronan moved to the center of a circle which was engraved to the ground in front of the Stone Arch. He kneeled and closed his eyes while pressing his palms together. Then he began to concentrate, meditating internally.

His escort maintained a one-meter distance from him as he watched the gatekeeper. Ronan started reciting the chants in words which he couldn't understand nor decode.

He roamed his eyes around the surroundings. He saw the shadows of the assassins hiding in the bushes and trees near them. Everything was set for tonight's assassination attempt.

Several minutes had passed and the Stone Arch started to illuminate shimmering lights around the entrance. It was shining too brightly, blinding their eyes so they had to squint their eyes, raising their arms to slightly cover their eyes.

The portal gate connecting the human world and Kingdom Phantasia had been opened! All eyes were fixed on the entrance, waiting for the werewolf prince to pass through the portal.

"Mr. Zhou, step back. We need to hide now," The escort notified Ronan, reminding him of what they should do next.

Ronan nodded his head as he stood up, leaving his spot. The escort guided him at the back of the giant stone nearby.

The portal gate would only remain open for half an hour after the gatekeeper left his spot. Without his presence, the gate would close automatically at the given time.

Ten minutes had passed and the man they were waiting for emerged from the portal. The werewolf prince finally showed up and he was alone! This was a perfect opportunity to attack and ambush him.

The moment Dylan stepped into the land of the humans after passing through the portal he was surrounded immediately by several men wearing all black, their faces hidden in a hideous-looking porcelain mask.

They were pointing several guns at him which were loaded with silver bullets. These were the Human Hunters.

The scene alone was enough to tell Dylan that these people were not sent to welcome him warmly. Besides, his arrival here was hidden to others, only his parents, the White Witch, and the gatekeepers were aware of it.

He could sense the killing intent emanating from them. So Dylan quickly spun to a defensive stance, "Who are you? What do you want?"

A cold glint flashed through his eyes as he caught a whiff of werewolf's scents nearby. 

Seconds later, he heard the crackling sounds as several paws stepped on the dry leaves, inching closer to them. It was followed by loud growls. The five werewolf fighters came out from the shadows, surrounding the werewolf prince in different directions.

'Fuck! This is clearly an ambush!'

Dylan clenched his fists, getting ready to shift into his werewolf form. However, his enemies had already figured out what he was about to do. They had to stop him from transforming as he was ten times stronger in his wolf form compared to his human form.

The hunters started to shoot in his direction while witches and wizards started to cast spells to immobilize the werewolf prince. They attacked him all at once, not giving him the opportunity to shift!

'Fuck!' Dylan cursed under his breath as he got hit by several silver bullets. 

But thanks to his speedy reflex he was able to avoid getting hit in the critical spots of his body. He dropped to the ground, rolling over as he dodged the bullets and the witches' spells. 

But the werewolves leaped forward to attack him altogether. He tried to punch and kick them with all his might, sending the three wolves a few meters away from him. But one werewolf bit his right leg while the other one sunk its sharp teeth on his left shoulder.

"Argh!!" Dylan whimpered at the excruciating pain. 

'Damn! I didn't go here to get killed!'