CHAPTER 4

Shana slowly opened her eyes to the tears of her crying baby. She was weak in the bones and down in the flesh, thirsty and hungry, she managed to breastfeed her baby. She suckled on her until she stopped crying.

"Tanya…" Shana called out to her baby as she stroked the child's forehead gently.

"Tanya…please let your father be safe…I pray for you…" She begged her child as tears ran down her cheeks.

She gathered the strength to make a small fire out of the grasses and little woods she'd collected from the forest after placing her baby in some wrapped clothes under a big tree.

When she was done making her fire, she didn't see her baby.

"Tanya!" She screamed loudly, her voice echoing in the forest.

"Who carried my baby? Give her back to me!" She demanded in an authoritative voice. She then noticed big black birds clouding the sky in a circle.

"You black birds of the evil forest, cursed and worthless, give my baby back to me or I'll bring you the wrath of the alpha wolf!" She ordered.

"Give me back my daughter!" She yelled in tears, falling to her knees and weeping. A big green and black snake came down from the tree with her baby, wrapped around it. She heard the hissing of a snake and soon, the cry of her child as she looked up and saw her daughter.

"Tanya…" She called out, getting to her feet.

"Give me my baby!" She demanded from the snake but it wasn't dropping Tanya to her.

"I said give me my baby!" She screamed again and this time, the snake went high up on the tree and threw her baby down.

With the flash of light, Shana opened both of her hands to catch the baby as she screamed her name when lightning sparks came out of her right fingers, strangling the snake as it slit the body into tiny pieces until it was completely dead and chopped off.

Using the other hand, her baby was held in the sky until the snake was dead then slowly, the baby came down to her arms. She was surprised at what happened but had no time to think about it as she hugged her baby tightly to her chest.

She later opened her hands and saw the sparks still there but it was decreasing. Something caught her attention, the sparks seemed to have generated from what was written on both of her palms.

On the right palm, it was Bilal that was written on it while the other was Tanya. Does it mean the name Bilal means save and Tanya means destruction? Will Tanya really bring destruction to the world?

She questioned her inner mind but couldn't find an answer. Bilal had said nothing to her about that. She was only aware that Tanya was going to be the mother of the curse breaker.

Or could it also be that Tanya then was a curse? Why would it have to be her child that'll be the curse breaker and not her? But Bilal had told her that his offspring were the only curse breaker.

She flooded her mind with those questions as she stared at her hand after which the names disappeared slowly. She wished Bilal was here and wondered if he was safe or not. What could be happening to him? She didn't get the answers to any of her questions either.

Back at Warleigh, Bilal was chained like an animal. He was taken to the king who wanted to behead him and use his head as a sacrifice to the gods of their land, to appease them and his blood to cleanse their land after they found out that he was a different being from any other person, having white blood and different skin from others.

The execution ground was prepared and Bilal was brought forward. He was to die a slow and painful death but can the son of the alpha wolf be killed? People were scared if they could really do that but they needed to try it out to get their answers.

Bilhal's method of death was known to only the king as he was the one to decide how he should be executed. Everyone gathered at the execution ground to witness the event that was to take place.

"Greetings people of Warleigh kingdom!" The king greeted, standing to his feet and waving his hand fan made of rafia and sacred feathers stained.

"Hail the king…!" The people responded to his greeting excitedly.

"As we all know today is a very important and special day. A day when the evil that lies between us shall be cut off and the blood of the evil shall be smeared all through Warleigh kingdom to cleanse the land.

Today also, we shall conquer our enemies by taking the life of their leader. This young man here (he points at Bilal) shall die a slow and painful death and I want everyone to eat and drink to his or her fill and satisfaction as you make merry and cheer to the victory of Warleigh kingdom!" The king:s voice sang throughout the ground and the people cheered loudly.

"I have decided on his death method. He will be set ablaze and burnt to ashes!" The king declared as everyone bursted out in joy, singing and dancing.

"Bring the culprit and let the party of execution begin!" He said as he made a toast.

Bilal was taken to an iron roofed cage where he was locked inside with chains on his body as he was chained to the heavy iron cage. Hot coals were thrown inside and soon, they set the cage ablaze.

The people cheered while only a few felt for him. Children's eyes were covered to prevent them from seeing such a traumatizing situation as Bilal was burning.

Something strange began to happen. Bill's voice was heard crying but it changed from a human's voice to that of a beast. Amidst the high flames, they watched as he grew bigger and bigger and broke the chains, coming out of the fire on four legs.

Everyone got scared and wanted to run but they were stopped from going anywhere. They wanted to see what would happen next when Bilal tore the skin of the guards that guarded the cage. He then made for the crowd and seized their king, jumping up a long distance to where he was and ran off with him.

People that had ran for their safety befan to chase the beast out of curiosity. The road that the beast followed led up to the sky as the people watched. They tried to follow it but they didn't see the pathway as the ground wasn't solid.

"Did he walk through the air?" They whispered the question to themselves as they watched him go up with their king and soon disappeared out of sight.

They all stood there petrified and rooted to the core of the earth as everyone was scared of what just happened. In a flash of light, the sky opened with the beast swallowing up everyone and that was the end of Warleigh kingdom.

Tanya continued on foot her journey out of the thick evil forest that took away her baby once. She didn't have a rethink of waiting for another minute again before she left the place. She didn't know where she was headed to but kept on going.

Whenever she was tired, she'd take a rest and continue her journey later. She journeyed through the thick bush for twenty one days and nights.

She finally reached the end of the forest and saw the sun for the first time in a very long while. That was the first sun of Tanya, as Shana opened her face to see the beauty of the sun.

Shana was confused about the direction to go after reaching the end of the forest. There were three roads to follow and she didn't know which to go through. She unwrapped Tanya a little bit so she wouldn't feel hot when she noticed a mark that wasn't there before on her hand.

It showed her three directions in the form of an arrow. The middle direction had a shiny golden arrow which glittered and the layer soon disappeared.

She looked up and saw that the road was just as the one drawn on her hand but the golden glitter wasn't there,meaning it was an indication to show her where to follow.

She went through the middle path and spent fourteen days before she saw some houses. She looked up and smiled as she went up to them. The people seemed nice and caring and they took them in.

After thirteen years, Tanya had already grown up into a young beautiful girl. She had so many friends both male and female and everyone wanted to be close to her not because she was beautiful but also special.

She had golden blue eyes just like her father's. She grew up with the knowledge that her father passed away. Shana didn't know that Tanya had powers so she never got to teach her anything related to magic or how to utilize it.

Tanya grew up into a stubborn girl. She fought a lot with people which was risky for her as she might end up misusing her power. Her mother never saw her do anything supernatural so she thought the girl didn't have such powers yet.

Tanya never disobeyed her mum even though she was super stubborn. She fought with boys and beat them up. She was stronger than a boy and that amazed everyone.

People got to know that she was strong, that's why they hung out with her even though she was stubborn. They admired her beauty as she had most of the qualities of her father, Bilal.

She was called the monster girl and sheoved the name because it made her look tough. Shana soon got fed up with her attitude and told her she's a grown up lady and not a five year old anymore. Shana stopped Tanya from playing with her friends.

They were to go to the mountain top with her friends but without the permission of their parents as they knew they'd not allow them to. They were five in number, two girls and three boys. Tanya, Shey, Jaman, Guni and Shanti. Shey and Guni were boys while the rest of them were girls.

They had arranged the time they'd meet. Tanya's mother was the strictest so the others would wait at the junction close to Tanya's house while she would meet them and they'd all leave together when it was dark and everyone had gone to bed.

The friends did as planned and all met each other and went down to Tanya's roadside.

"Where's she? We all agreed to meet by this hour of the night but Tanya is nowhere to be seen." Guni asked impatiently.

"Let's give her some minutes, I'm sure she should be on her way by now." Jaman, Tanya's crush, remarked. He had fallen in love with Tanya but he couldn't approach her. He was a naturally shy person and also older than her by four years.

They were about to give up on waiting for her when they saw a shadowy figure running towards them.

"What kept you so long Tanya?" Guni asked, frowning.

"I'm sorry guys, I just found it difficult to escape from home." Tanya apologized, catching her breath.

Tanya had prepared herself to leave for home as she carefully put her slippers under her bed. Her mother hadn't gone to bed on time as she waited for her to fall into deep sleep before she left.

"Tanya, won't you go to bed?" Her mother asked her as she saw Tanya through the door.

"I'll be going now…I wanted to ease myself." Tanya replied as she went into her room and locked the door. She had been keeping watch on her mother to go to bed but she was still awake in the living room.