For as long as I can remember, I never had a father. It was always just my mother and me "Vyas, come here, Food is ready!" my mother called me, her voice was warm and loving and whenever she saw me a soft smile appeared on her face. After eating, I would run outside to play. Just a street away lived a girl named Manjari. She, too had grown up without a father, her father had died during a hunt. Maybe that's why we understood each other so easily. Two children carrying the same emptiness, filling it with shared laughter. As we grew older, that bond only deepened and when I turned twenty-four, I finally told my mother that I liked her. My mother smiled and we went to ask for her hand, Manjari's mother agreed and so did Manjari. We married soon after and those were the happiest years of my life. Two years later, our son Vayu was born.
But happiness never stays long. The very next year, my mother passed away. Losing both my parents should have broken me, but I stayed strong—for my wife, for my child. Eventually, I joined the Hunter Squad. I climbed the ranks slowly, winning duels one after another, whenever I thought I will lose, I remembered their faces and stayed strong. No matter what wild beast stood before me, I never ran, never trembled, I stayed strong.
But today, for the first time in my life…
I felt weak.
Terrified.
Two guards dragged me across the cold floor toward a massive glass tube filled with glowing green liquid. I had seen what happened to the men before me. I had heard their screams. Watched their flesh melt away until nothing remained but bones.
My breath shook, they bound my wrists and ankles and forced a mask over my face.
"Please… let me see my family for one last time" I begged as tears flowed down my face , but the man just smiled, I knew my end was near, I closed my eyes and pictured my son's smile, my wife's gentle hands and the home I never thought I would lose. Then the pulley creaked and my body was slowly lowered into the tube. The moment the green liquid touched my skin, fire exploded through my nerves. I screamed, I screamed until I could not feel my throat anymore and soon I lost consciousness. The room echoed with my agony as the liquid swallowed me whole, the last thing I saw was the blurred outline of my shaking reflection—skin dissolving, strength fading and the hope that I would ever see my family again slipping away. Take care my Son Vayu was my last thought.
*************
When Soma reached the cage holding the women, a heavy silence hung in the air. Every one of them had heard what they were going to be used for. As the guards began dragging them out, Vayu's mother didn't fought like others, she walked calmly.
She had lived as an ordinary woman for years… but once, she had been a talented fighter and she choose to die, rather surrender to the fate, when the guard grabbed her arm, she reacted instantly. In one swift motion, Manjari slipped the dagger from his belt. Before he even realized what happened, she raised it to her throat—ready to end her life rather than be violated and slashed. But the guard moved faster than she expected. His hand slammed into hers, jerking her aim off-course. Instead of her throat, the blade slashed across her face, deep, jagged and bloody.
Manjari fell to the ground, crying out in pain as the guard clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Useless, She's damaged the king won't touch a woman with a scar like that throw her with the slaves" the guard said while grabbing her by her hairs. Just then, footsteps echoed in the corridor, one of the Maharaja's many queens, the Sixth Queen was passing by, her eyes narrowed as she noticed the commotion.
"What happened here?" she asked, her voice was low but everyone heard her clearly. The guard bowed quickly and explained how the woman had tried to kill herself and ruined her face, making her unfit for the king's harem. The queen studied Manjari for a moment. The woman was trembling, blood dripping down her cheek… but her eyes were filled with fury and showed defiance .
"Give her to me," the queen said simply "She will serve as my personal maid."
The guards bowed and stepped aside, bleeding and half-conscious, Manjari was taken into the palace—not as a concubine, but as the personal attendant of the Sixth Queen. That how she began her life inside the Wolf Clan palace.
Meanwhile, far beneath the palace, Vayu and the others were being kept like animals. Their underground cells were so small they couldn't even fully stretch their legs the food they got was watery mush and was thrown in their cell once a day.
Most of them had already stopped crying as they no longer had the strength. On the seventh day, heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor. The iron doors clanged open and the children were dragged out one by one. They were taken to a chamber that smelled so foul it burned the back of the throat. In the left corner lay a pile of bones, it was the same room where beta experiments were done and now it was their turn. Several new cylindrical tubes were being assembled, each filling with eerie green liquid that glowed faintly in the darkness.
A tall man entered he had a beak instead of a mouth, his neck had a thick coat of white fur resembling a vulture. In his hands, he carried a small, humming crystal orb "Form a line and come one by one, If you disobey… you die" he said in a chilling voice. Fear forced the children into a quiet line. The beaked man pointed at the first child.
"Place your hand on the crystal"
One after another, they obeyed as they kept coming forward one by one and put their hands on crystal as instructed. If the orb didn't glow, the child was shoved toward the left side—toward the tubes. If the orb glowed brightly, they were taken to the right, Out of 112 children, only 37 were taken to the right. Ryan… Jai… Vijay… Mei… even Aspen—each had a strong glow, earning a nod of approval from the beaked overseer. Then it was Vayu's turn, he stepped forward, exhausted, hungry, bruised… but his eyes were still burning. When he placed his palm on the crystal, the orb didn't just glow, it exploded with light, A blinding brilliance burst outward. Even the vulture-man staggered back.
All the selected individuals were divided into three groups, thirty-one of them were dragged toward the green-colored tubes.
These chambers contained highly diluted shapeshifter genetic material, barely 20% purity. The transformation would be mild—painful, but survivable.
The next five children, those whose crystals glowed brighter than the rest, were taken to the orange tubes.
These held around 50% pure shapeshifter genetic essence—a volatile blend of beast DNA . Their bodies would be pushed far beyond normal limits, the chance of evolving were low.
Vayu stood alone and was escorted to the final chamber, a massive container filled with deep crimson liquid.
The red tube.
Inside it was 80% pure shapeshifter genetic material—the highest concentration, It was so potent that it could effect the genes of a shapeshifter. The beak-man scientist watched Vayu with a mixture of awe and greed.
"His risk of death is… extreme," he murmured. "But if he survives—" his eyes gleamed.
"—he will become something far beyond a normal shapeshifter, A superior hybrid, A perfect weapon"
The crimson liquid rippled violently as Vayu was lowered into the red tube.