When the bonding ritual was completed, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying lay side by side on the bed for a while, holding hands. When Youn and Ali could be heard laughing near the chamber, Lan Zhan straightened up. Wei Ying sat behind him, took a hairbrush and gently brushed his hair. "Your hair feels wonderfully soft. It smells like sandalwood, as does your whole body."

"Is that so?" Lan Zhan asked, reaching for one of Wei Ying's hands. He stroked his hand, kissed it, and said, "Now I'd love to hear what kind of creatures werewolves are and where they come from."

"So now you want me to tell you what I know about these creatures?"

"If you would be so kind. Yes."

"The history of werewolves, which are actually Lycans, is not very old. It began in a small village about 250 years ago, with the birth of twins. The mother of these children was the 3 daughter of a simple farmer. She was 15 years old and already promised to a man. The son of a captain from he city. Shortly before the wedding she was to meet her future husband for the first time. Her mother wanted to prepare a big meal for this and sent her daughter into the forest to collect mushrooms. But the daughter did not come back. The parents and many volunteers from the village went to look for her. But she could not be found. So they assumed that she ran away to escape marriage to a strange man. But three months later she suddenly returned home looking exactly as she did the day she disappeared."

"And where was she?"

"She didn't know. She didn't even know she had disappeared for three months. Even stranger, she was still wearing the same clothes as when she disappeared. And the clothes were clean. And her hair was still braided the way her mother had braided it for her the morning she disappeared. Even the gold-colored new bow was still in her hair."

"How can you disappear for three months without knowing it?"

"That's what her parents and the people in the village wondered. And yet there was no denying that she returned after three months, carrying a basket full of mushrooms and dressed and coiffed like the morning she disappeared. And, what's more, without a single scratch on her body."

"So she was in a place where time stands still?"

"Hardly. There's no such place. Time never stands still. But it is possible that she was in a place where time moved much slower. Although I don't know if such a place really exists."

"And then what happened next? Did she have to marry the captain's son?"

"Yes. Only a few weeks after her return, the wedding took place with the 31 year old son of the captain. It was clear that the daughter was not very happy about the fact that her husband was already 31 years old, when she herself was only 15 years old. But as a woman, she has no choice and must do as she is told."

"I know. And I think that's awful."

"Mhm. When her husband, drunk from the wedding party, performed the wedding night with her, her desperate cries were said to be heard throughout the village. But she was only a woman, so no one helped her. And things got worse for her. As a woman, she had to move into the house of her husband's family. And there, not only did her husband brutally abuse her again and again, but also her father-in-law and her two brothers-in-law. When she became pregnant for the first time and nobody knew who the father of the child was, they gave her a bitter potion and she lost the baby. Besides, they thought if she was pregnant, they couldn't have any more fun with her."

"How awful. That poor girl."

"Yes. Her torment went on and on. For three years they went on and on with her. But on the night of her 18th birthday, it was especially cruel. For on that night they all took their pleasure with her and they did it again and again. The morning after this terrible night, the girl was more dead than alive. They wrapped her in a blanket and secretly took her to the forest, where they laid down her maltreated body and left her to die. She once again gathered all her strength and dragged herself deeper into the forest until she reached a stream, where she collapsed and became unconscious. When she regained consciousness, she was lying on a bed of moss and leaves in a cave. Her wounds were almost healed. She was not alone in this cave. A being was with her. But it never showed itself to her during the day. The being provided her with food and water and protected her."

"And then?"

"One blood moon night, after more than 2 months with the creature, the creature showed itself to her in the form of a man. A breathtakingly attractive man, with whom she fell in love at first sight. In this blood moon night she gave herself to the being voluntarily. It loved her tenderly and spoiled her the whole night. And although it changed back into this being in the morning, she stayed. She decided to remain devoted to her savior, her beloved. Even if it meant they could love each other only on blood moon and full moon nights."

"So she really felt love for this being?"

"Not for the being. But for the man he became when the full moon shone."

"Okay. And she got pregnant by him or?"

"Exactly. On another blood moon night they made love again and that night she got pregnant. She gave birth to two children. Twins! A boy and a girl. They looked like normal babies and not like the creature. But they were not normal babies, as she quickly discovered. Horrified, she watched her few-day-old babies turn into creatures for the first time. Although she loved her babies, she was also afraid of them. They were the first Lycans. Mixed creatures of a human and a creature that looked like a giant wolf."

"What did she do?"

"When the creature and her babies were asleep, she snuck away. She ran through the forest and as far as her bare feet would carry her. As much as she loved her lover and her babies. So little could she bear the thought of her being the mother of two children who looked to her as if hell had spat them out. The creature raised its babies alone. And as soon as they grew up, they moved through the country. They mingled with the people, multiplied. And whenever the wolf in them wanted out, they went into the woods and hunted. One day they came across a group of people who had set up camp in the forest. In their transformed form, they had no control over themselves. They killed almost all of these people. Only a few survived badly injured. But miraculously, their wounds healed within a day. But they were no longer pure humans. Because of the bites the two Lycans inflicted on them, they became Lycans themselves. And contrary to what people claim to know about them, Lycans do not depend on the full moon to be able to transform. They can transform at any time. On full moon nights, however, they are at their strongest."

"So that's how they came to be. And how do you kill them?"

"Only with silver. Cut off their heads with a sword made of silver. Any wound inflicted on them by silver heals very badly."

"What happened to their mother?"

"She fled to her parents. When they tried to take her back to her husband and his family, she took her own life."

"How do you know all this?"

"From a Puritan woman. Once I met a wandering people the old Puritan woman had once joined and she told me the story."

"And how do they know it?"

"I didn't ask them that. But they wander all over the world and hear all kinds of stories."

"True. In my travels, I heard a lot of stories, too. But surely not even half of them were true. But what became of the creature?"

"Who knows what's true and what's not unless you were there? And as for the creature, well she couldn't tell much about that. But if it wasn't exactly immortal, maybe it died in its cave at some point. And if it is immortal, maybe it's still there, waiting for its loved ones to return."

"That would be really sad if it was still waiting."

"You're right about that, Lan Zhan. But true love doesn't end just because the loved one, or whatever, is no longer there."

"I agree with you on that. Still, I would consider it sad. He rescued and cared for her. He always treated her well and was a loving man to her. And she repaid him by running away from him and their children just because the children came after their father. True love then probably only he felt. For otherwise she would not have left him."

"She was only human, and she was afraid. Perhaps she would have returned to them if she had had a little time to think. But I suppose the prospect of having to go back to her Brutal Husband and his Disgusting Family was so horrible that she preferred to die rather than have to go back to them."

"It could be, of course, that it was like that. I guess we'll never know, will we?"

"Who knows? Maybe she will be reborn someday and remember her first life."

"If she can be reborn. After all, she took her own life. Didn't her soul go to the underworld as a result?"

"You mean hell? Like the Christians claim?"

"No. My parents told me and my brother after one of our neighbors took his own life. He hanged himself in his house. My parents said his soul will go to the underworld for that and he can never be reborn because of it."

"The underworld is not a place to hold souls captive. If her soul had gone to the underworld, the God of Night would have been pleased to see her come and would have made her an offer she could not refuse. He would have offered her to take revenge on all her tormentors by giving her a new body, putting her soul into the body and then giving her powers with which to carry out her revenge. Because he especially loves the tortured souls who are after nothing more than revenge."

"Because he knows exactly how these souls suffer? Since he too was tormented and took revenge?"

"Exactly. All other souls of suicides go to the in-between world. The Christians call it purgatory. There the souls linger until it is decided by a judge of the dead where they go. Depending on what kind of life they led as a human being before they died. Or else they will have to stay in the in-between world forever if it can't be decided where the soul should go."

"A judge of the dead?"

"Mhm. He is the judge of the in-between world, the only one who decides on souls. And depending on what kind of person you were, he will appear in white or black clothes."

"And how do you know that? If only dead people get there, how can you know all that?"

"Who says only dead people can get to the in-between world? There are ways to open the portal to the in-between world."

"And you know these ways?"

"Well, I know at least the way out."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you about that another time."

"Like some other things?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I can't tell you everything yet. And now my dear Lan Zhan, we should see what Youn and Ali are up to. And I should show them a chamber where they can rest."

"Do you really have to do that now?"

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to be alone with you a little longer."

"We'll have plenty of time for that. Now, however, come with me. Let's give your sons something to eat and then show them where they can sleep."

"You and I must sleep, too. Where will I be put up?"

"Where would you? With me in my bed. That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Absolutely."

"Then it will be like that." Said Wei Ying. They kissed each other and then went to Youn and Ali. They sat on the floor and talked about the life Ali led as a slave.