No words could explain how shocked Drake looked the moment I broke the news. I hadn’t found the courage to tell them I was actually a Falston. I could only imagine their face cringing in disbelief. Right now, I wanted to keep things private. Even I couldn’t believe it. It still hadn’t sunk into me yet. All my life, I was made to believe as someone I was not. My rights to my real identity had been snatched from me.

All that I knew about myself vanished. Uncertainty loomed on the horizon about who I really was. I felt lost and nullified. My whole being had been put into question. Who was I? Where did I really belong? Thinking about all the possibilities of who I could be inflicted so much pain – more than my body could absorb.

“Any luck yet?” Tom asked, sipping on his cup of green tea. He stood by the door, on a lookout.

I shook my head. “I’ve googled all that there is to find, but nothing comes up about the Falston or any of the Circle tribe. I don’t think the mortals know of our existence.”

“That’s impossible,” Tom said, his eyebrows arched in a frown. He walked up to me and put his cup of tea by the computer. He squeezed me over, grabbed hold of the mouse, and scrolled through the results.

My limited knowledge in computers and technology wasn’t an excuse for the lack of information about the Circle tribe. I had typed all the possible keywords that would hint me toward the desired information, but it just wasn’t there. I’d been sitting on that computer for more than an hour in an attempt to find something about where I came from and the incident Tom had told me about. But it just wasn’t there.

Tom’s fingers moved so fast I got dizzy from watching him. He clicked on every result and skimmed through the articles that led to another, but even he couldn’t find any related contents about the Falstons or the Circle tribe in general. The frown on his face deepened as his fingers smashed on the mouse automatically when all that he’d searched rendered him results unrelated to what we were after.

He sighed. “This is frustrating,” he whispered under his breath, trying to keep himself relaxed and composed. “They’ve erased us from history. Our existence is unknown to the mortals...we’re not even included in their lists of mythical creatures.”

“Erased?” I rolled the word in my tongue clearly for a greater emphasis.

“It must have been Lord Blair’s doing. He has quite a connection to the mortal world and he must have got someone erased all the information about us.”

“Why would he do that?”

Tom darted me a lazy look. “Isn’t it obvious? He knows you’ll find out about who you really are and he took a greater precaution and got the evidence destroyed.”

“But I’ve never seen him cross the borders,” I said in a great uncertainty. I couldn’t remember Father, no he wasn’t my real father, Lord Blair, leaving the house on his own. He was always accompanied by my brother. Wait, don’t tell me both of them knew about this? I shook my head. No, no… Rob could sell me out for a dime of gold, but he could never betray me. After all, he was still my brother, right? Tears welled up in my eyes as reality struck me; I felt betrayed. I didn’t know who to trust anymore. Everyone I’d loved and cared for had turned their backs on me.

Why?

What did I do to deserve all this?

I didn’t realize that I’d been staring at the floor until Tom patted my back and wiped the sweat from my forehead with his hand. Having him around had somehow helped me loosen up. He placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me into his stomach. His heartbeat vibrated through my ears. Without the need to say a word, I knew he just wanted the best for me and I couldn’t be any happier that he was around.

“He isn’t as smart as we thought he was,” he said, bringing my attention back to the topic.

“Why is that?”

“He must have erased the information online, but he can’t destroy the original hard copies.”

I didn’t want to look so innocent, but I had no idea what those original hard copies were. “I’m sorry, but what do you mean by original hard copies? Are they old books of some sort or something?”

“You’re right, they’re old books deeply buried in the basement’s library.”

“You mean the dungeon?”

“It used to be a library before, but since technology has evolved, my family got carried away and got every book in that library digitalized for easy storage.”

An idea sparked in my head. “So if they’re digitalized, that means it’s somewhere on the computer in the system.”

Tom’s face lit up and threw me a cheeky grin. “On point.”

Just seeing him in the mood got my spirit sprinting. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on him until now that I was smiling at him, sharing that glint in his eyes. “What are we waiting for, let’s get cracking.” I leaped forward, but before I got any further, he said something that made me stop.

“There’s a password on the monitor and it’s guarded by Ms. Holgaway.”

That particular name, Holgaway, stole my excitement. She wasn’t so important apart from being the headmistress of the house who stood guard over all the important documentations of the Gryther’s family, but more so of the Falston pack under the protection of the Gryther’s family. She’d been set to throne by the Circle of Justice to protect all the legal and private records of the pack. No one had ever dared to cross her path.

I shook my head and pursed my lips. “That’s…” I said, lost for words. “That’s definitely a problem.”

Tom walked past me without saying a word.

“Where are you going?”

“To the good old days.”

Good old days? “What the hell does that mean?”

“Just follow me.”

* * *

The old library took us into the deepest end of the castle. My throat was dry and sweat soaked my whole body. Imagine coming down on a hundred sets of stairs without having to stop.

Dust covered the dungeon, I meant library… Broken stuff lay on the floor. Chairs and spindles were piled up in the farthest corner. The ceiling was covered with thick spider webs. I wasn’t scared of insects, but seeing the huge spiders and long centipede made me want to jump off my feet.

I clung on Tom’s arm. “Let’s go up. I don’t think I can go in there.”

“Are you scared?” he mocked, grinning at me with a funny look on his face.

I shoved him away and crossed my arms over my chest. “You wish.” I rolled my eyes at him and stepped toward the entrance. The door itself looked intimidating at its size and loathsome with the slime covering it. Leeches crawled on the surface. “We’re running out of time. Let’s get this done and over with.”

Tom kicked the door down. Storm of dusts clouded the entire place, making me cough my lungs out.

I could barely see a thing with the clouds of dust. I probed for him for support, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I screamed at the top of my voice as insects crawled onto me. They got into my shirt and tickled me to dance. It didn’t take long before the air cleared out. I saw Tom standing next to me, his gaze fixed at the rows of tall shelves.

“This used to be my playground. Drake and I would run around here and no one would scold us because no one comes here anymore,” he said, getting a little sentimental.

“No one will dare come down here. It’s exhausting,” I said, waving the dust away from my face.

“There used to be an elevator somewhere here…” He walked around the place, leaving me at the mercy of the leeches and insects on the ground.

Following him led me to the heart of the library. It was fully furnished with all the books still intact to their original spot. I couldn’t peer through the bookshelves in between the books. Although this place had been abandoned for years, they had left it tidied. It was well organized, but the termites ate some of the books away…especially those at the bottom shelves where it was damp and wet.

Out of nowhere, the entire dungeon came to life as the lights turned on one after the other. From the furthest side – which extended as far as a kilometer away, the lights flashed on toward me.

“They still haven’t taken out the generator,” Tom said, his voice echoed from the right side.

“I’m surprised it still works after all these years,” I said.

“Tell me about it. The engineer who’d installed the generator is none other my father,” he bragged as if I didn’t know about it. I’d seen some of Mr. Gryther’s inventions before and they were absolutely jaw-dropping.

“You should have been an engineer then, like your father.”

“Nah, can’t be bothered. Besides, I’m not that keen in math. Suck at it, really.”

Now that the lights were all turned on, the library’s former glory came into view. Behind the carpet of dust coating the walls and ceilings, the magnificent carvings on them couldn’t be hidden. As I scraped off the dust, paintings of gold revealed the history of the entire Falston pack. There was something magical about this place… It was like I was in another world – in another dimension, where everything made sense, where secrets did not exist. This place was honest at its grandeur and if these walls could speak, what stories would they tell?

I wondered.

“Don’t expect the walls to talk to you,” Tom scoffed.

“I know that alright,” I snapped, throwing him a nasty glare. “But I wonder what the paintings are trying to convey…”

Despite the low tone of my voice, he still managed to hear me. Sharp ears. “They’re just works of art. The history behind those paintings are inaccurate. They’re done by one of Falston greatest artists, but he died fifteen years ago–”

“The same time the Omega disappeared.”

“That’s right,” Tom said, nodding his head as he traversed into labyrinth of book shelves. “You’re that Omega whom we’ve been looking for. But since rumor had spread that you were dead, the pack had lost hope and accepted the fact that the future generations would be born out of the wombs of women, like myself.”

I couldn’t understand the difference between being born from a woman or an Omega. “What’s the difference?”

“Omegas are male dominants who possess pure characteristics of a werewolf, good agility and longer lifespan. Most of the warriors back in the days came from Omegas, that explains why we’re at the top of the Circle pyramid, because of our strength. But over the course of time, Omegas began to die out so when the heir was rumored to be dead, the pack lost hope that we would ever gain back the strength we once had.”

“And I’m the last Omega?”

“Based on the result of your DNA test, yes, you could possibly be the last Omega whom we’ve been looking for, for years.”

I didn’t know whether to feel gladdened by what I’d heard, or feel anxious by the pressure laid on my shoulders. Accepting my true nature was hard as it was, but being someone so important caused me to rethink whether I should go and continue finding my identity.

Tom poked his head through the book shelf. “You’ve got nothing to be anxious about. We’re still unsure if you’re really the lost heir, so relax. Take it easy.”

My lips tilted into a smile. “That’s right, I’ve got nothing to be anxious about,” I said, repeating what Tom had just said. But deep inside me, I sensed that the chance of me being that lost heir was high.

* * *

We’d lost track of time. We had no idea what hour of the day – or night – it was. The library didn’t have windows, and even if it had, it was buried right at the bottom of the castle that the natural light from the outside wouldn’t come in. We were basically buried kilometers underground. This place was massive that it took us a while to figure out our way in each corner. But at last, we – no Tom – found the section where the records, including the newspapers and written news reports on the incident fifteen years ago, were kept. It took us awhile to get through each and every one of them.

Based on the common information we’d gathered, an Omega family was travelling toward the east, accompanied by a royal Blair when the accident happened. Some historians asserted they were ambushed, while the minority claimed it was a pure accident and there was no third party involved. But digging deeper into the reports got me to weigh all the evidence available.

“Found any useful information yet?” Tom asked while flipping through the large pile of newspaper on the floor.

“Nothing worth sharing,” I said. “All of them have their own preconceived ideas of what really happened that day. It’s hard sifting through them.”

“No worries. We’ll get through this.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” I said, feeling drained and mentally exhausted.

My head kept falling over and my eyes drooped shut. I needed coffee. I brought my gaze to Tom, but he was so occupied reading the entire volume of encyclopedias that he failed to notice me. Only if there was a kitchen with coffee and hot water here, things would have been a lot easier.

I sighed and gathered all the papers into one pile. As I got on my feet to return them to the drawers, a piece of news article slipped from the pile. All of a sudden, my heartbeat took up speed. I grabbed it from the floor and glanced at its front and back. To my surprise, a contact number was written at the bottom of the article. I turned to Tom, but the article stole my attention again when I noticed a picture of a crescent moon. It was similar to mine.

Quickly, I ran to Tom and shook him violently so that I could get his attention. He wiped his eyes and stared at me with a sleepy expression on his face.

“I’ve found it.”

“Found what?” he said, yawning, tears glazed in his eyes.

“The possible contact number that would lead us to the biological parents of the lost Omega.”

His eyes brightened. “No way.”

I nodded. “Yes way,” I said, smiling.

“That’s awesome, man! We can finally meet your biological parents.”

“There’s one more thing.”

Tom’s eyebrows wrinkled. “What?”

I pulled my pants down slightly and showed him the crescent moon on my lower hip, followed by the photo on the article.

His eyes grew wide open and his jaw dropped to the ground. “You definitely have to connect to them, Aiden. It’s a must. There’s no way that you can’t be that lost heir.”

* * *

After a long hour of contemplation, Tom had finally convinced me to try and connect to the family of the long lost heir, which had started to grow in me that I was really that Omega. My hands shook uncontrollably. I could barely hold the article. Sweat dripped down my forehead and my knees trembled at the thought of rejection. What if they denied I was their lost son? All sorts of thought spiraled in my head.

Tom placed his hand on my right shoulder. “Whatever happens, I’m just right here. I’ll never leave your side,” he said, smiling.

My eyes glazed with tears. I didn’t know what to expect. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I grabbed the telephone and dialed the digits written at the bottom of the article. Then, I brought my gaze to Tom who looked as anxious as I did. He nodded at me with a tight-lipped smile on his face. As my finger pressed the last number on the telephone keypad, the telephone started ringing…

Butterflies roamed inside my stomach. More sweat dripped down my forehead. No words could explain how excruciating it was to wait for someone to pick up the phone. I crossed my fingers that the number provided was still in use.

A couple of minutes had ticked by, but the phone just kept ringing without any sign of anyone picking it up. Or at least that was how I felt.

“I don’t think it is still in use. I mean, this article has been written fifteen years ago and they might have moved out to another place or something–”

A screeching sound on the other line cut me off, making me gasp for air and zip my mouth shut.

“Who’s this?” the man who had the deepest voice I’d ever heard said.

For a moment, my world stopped. I didn’t know what to say. It was like I’d been paralyzed.

“Hello?” the man said.

“Say something, Aiden,” Tom said, kneading my shoulder to make me relax.

“Good afternoon, sir,” I said as I tucked my lips in to avoid any unnecessary sound from slipping from my lips.

“How can I help?”

It played to my advantage that he sounded patient. I pulled a deep breath from within and gathered all the courage to continue. Uncertainly loomed on the horizon. I didn’t know what to say or how to explain things in a way that its meaning would not be construed. I breathed through my nostrils and breathed out sharply.

“There was an incidence fifteen years ago that led to the loss of an Omega heir, isn’t right, sir?” I said, sounding more of an interviewer in a media.

“Who’s this?”

“Aiden, sir.”

“Apologies, but I don’t know who you are.”

From the fading sound of his voice, I knew he was about to hang up. So before he could slam the telephone, I jumped and went straight to the point.

“I’m the long lost heir, sir…” I said, my voice gurgled with mixed emotion. Rolling my tongue to pronounce the words nice and clear felt strange, but somehow it sounded right. It wasn’t because I had gotten used to saying it, but my instinct urged me to accept the fact that I could possibly be that person.

Silence hung in the air. I listened on the telephone and the man’s breathing was all I could hear. He was still there, perhaps contemplating about what I said. With crossed fingers, I prayed that he wouldn’t take me as a fraud.

I swallowed and wiped the sweat from my forehead. “Are you still there, sir?” I said in a low tone.

It took him awhile to respond. “Whoever you are, don’t try and fool me. My son had long passed away and is now in the care of the gods. If you’re trying to extort money from me and my family, you’ve picked the wrong person. Get lost, you filthy thief!” he spat out.

I could literally picture him yelling on the phone, wanting to slam it against the wall. Had I said it in front of him, he must have choked me to death.

Instead of feeling defeated and shamed, I pulled myself together and stood firmly as I clenched the telephone to prove myself innocent of his accusation. More than proving that I was the lost heir, which didn’t really matter anymore, I wanted to show that I wasn’t the person he thought I was.

“The lost heir had a crescent moon mark on his lower hip, and so do you. Every member of the Omega family has this mark, which proves that they belong to a royal pack. Fifteen years ago, the lost heir was travelling toward the East when the chariot he was in got ambushed. He was accompanied by a royal Blair, which I assume was Lord Blair, the Alpha of the Blair pack.” The words just flowed out of my mouth like a fountain of information. Everything clicked right before my eyes. Lord Blair had planned all of this. He must be the mastermind of the ambush that allowed him to kidnap me. But the reason behind it remained unclear.

“H-How did you know all that?” the man said, his voice quivered as tears threatened to fall down by the sound of his gurgling voice.

“Because I have the same crescent moon mark on my lower hip,” I said. I tried to fight the overwhelming emotion inside me, but the more I suppressed it, the more it gained strength. Tears involuntarily trickled down my cheeks. My chest felt as though it was going to burst out from the bottled emotion I’d kept for years. I’d always felt unloved and uncared for by my father, and now everything made sense.

“I would like to meet you in person, if it’s something that takes your interest,” he said, much gentler this time.

“No, I mean that sounds awesome. I’d like to meet you in person,” I said.

“Alright then. I can’t wait to see how much you’ve grown since the last time I’ve hugged and kissed you, son,” he said, this time he sounded quite emotional. “I’m sorry, I’m just feeling a little emotional right now. I really missed my son so much.”

I felt as though a feather was lifted off my chest. Never in my entire life had I felt so valued and cherished. I wanted to say something, but my lips froze and no words would slip out of my mouth.

“I’ll be gone for a week. But as soon as I come back, I’d like to meet up with you as soon as possible.”

“I can wait for a week.”

“That sounds like my son when he was younger. He had the patience to wait,” he said, which made my heart jump with joy.

“I’ll see you then?”

“Yes, I’ll see you then, Aiden.”

At the last word, he hanged up and the sharp and long sound of the beep lingered in my ears. I couldn’t help but imagine what my real father looked like. I startled awake when Tom squeezed my shoulder.

“How do you feel?” His eyes shimmered with mixed anxiety and excitement.

“I feel great. I can finally meet my real father.”

“Glad that you’ve found out who you really are.”

“Thanks for helping me throughout this time. I owe you all I am right now.” I placed my hands on his jaws, pulled him closer and planted a kiss on his lips. “Things will finally come to light.”

He just smiled and returned my kiss.

Before he could explore the depths of my mouth any deeper, my stomach heaved. All of a sudden, I felt hungry. I pushed him lightly and caressed my stomach. “Do you have food?” I said, half-smiling.

Tom broke into laughter, arching his head backward as he buried his hands on his face. “Again?”

“What? I haven’t eaten all day.”

“What do you want?”

“A whole zebra.”

“What!”

I grinned shyly. “The baby needs it, not me.”

“I thought you didn’t eat meat?”

“That was before I found out I was Falston,” I argued, rolling my eyes on him.

“Oh man!” he sighed. “Sorry, but there’s no zebra in the jungle.”

“A horse, then.”

“Alright then, let’s go.” He picked me up off the ground and carried me all the way up back to his room. Hope hadn’t abandoned me after all. Now, I was more than ready to face tomorrow for my child and Tom. I just hoped things wouldn’t get any worse than it was now.