More than two thousand years ago, two kingdoms had been at war for years, the armies led by the crowned prince of each kingdom. The war lasted for years that travelers were afraid to pass through their kingdoms. It got to the extent that their food supplies ran dry, their rivers stopped flowing and their citizens had no choice but to flee the kingdoms to the neighboring ones to begin their life anew. Those who stayed behind either were killed in the war or starved to death.

The soldiers started dropping one after the other, not because of the intense of the fight but because there was no food, no water and no healers to tend to their wounded bodies. When each kingdom had only both five soldiers with the princes included left, they were too weak to even lift up their swords and shields. They were both at the mercies of others but no one could take the win.

Days passed by with them lying on the battlefield without an ounce of strength to finish what they started. At the end, they went their separate ways, the hatred still lurking in their hearts but there was nothing to do about it. A prince led his remaining men through the woods, while the other led his men through the desert.

The men journeyed for days, searching for food or water. The prince and his men in the woods kept walking, believing there was a better tomorrow but had no idea that they were been trailed by a monstrous beast that had awoken from his slumber and was in killing rampage. It challenged them and with the strength they had gathered within the days, they managed to kill it but it was already too late. Their prince had suffered a bite from it and although they thought him dead and had buried him, he rose and bit them one after the other, turning them into the beast he had become.

The other prince and his men journeyed through the desert, searching for anything to eat or drink but there was nothing, not even a tree in sight. Until one day, they came upon what looked like a dying tree. There were no leaves and the branches looked broken. The bark was black rather than brown but the men didn’t care about these tiny details, they were overjoyed that they saw a tree and quickly cut out a few barks to drink the sap or whatever liquid it holds. But as they fed on the liquid, they noticed something was different, it tasted different. The prince stopped his hunger to inspect what he and his men have been feeding on and only discovered that the tree was bleeding blood.

He stopped them, thinking he was protecting them, but it was already too late as something started happening to them, their bodies started burning in pain that has never been felt before. It was so painful that they each collapsed from it. When they opened their eyes, everything has changed, they noticed the difference with them and their hunger for the very same blood they had ran away from.

The men stayed around the trunk, feeding on it when hungry and learning their new abilities until one day, they woke up and the tree was gone. The prince knew it was time for them to continue on their journey and so with their heightened speed and sense of smell and fast healing bodies, their journey wasn’t treacherous anymore and they fed on anything with blood to satisfy their hunger.

As fate would have it, the two nemeses met again. Reborn as they were, their hatred for one another still burned deep and so their unfinished war started again. They fought for years, day and night, with one part looking like wolves and the other part, looking like humans but with added speed and agility that no man could muster. They fought, and fought, and fought until they realized they were of equal strength and no one was going to win the war.

The two princes came to an agreement, to each take his men and go, set up their own home and avoid the other. And so, the treaty was signed, the treaty that states they are not to engage in a fight upon meeting each other and to try to live peacefully. Although they honored the not engaging in a fight part, it was difficult to live peacefully and so whenever they crossed parts, they snarl and growl until the distance consumes them. They all went into the human kingdoms, making kinds like them, the men mated and produced off springs. They were so different that the humans noticed and so to protect their offspring, they moved far, far away from the human kingdoms where only ones like them were bred.

As the years rolled by, they picked up names for themselves, since the other kingdom turns into wolves whenever they want and howls at full moons, they were called the Night Howlers and as the other kingdom prefers moving at night and feeds on mostly blood, they were called the Night Walkers.

With the passing of the years, new things were learnt about them. It turned out the Night Howlers can grow old and die while outliving the normal life span of humans but the Night Walkers, not so much. And so when the first Night Howlers all died off, the First Night Walkers, fondly called the Originals, decided to do the same but nothing can kill them and so they went in search of the tree that made them what they were and by instinct, tried killing themselves with a sharpened edge bark and so it worked, they killed themselves. All the soldiers, except their Prince.

The Prince had watched each and every one of them find someone they loved and bred their off spring, except him. He had bedded a lot of females, both humans and his kind, but none could give him a child and then he knew that he could only put a woman with child if he loves her. Not ready to leave the world without experiencing that feeling, the Prince injured himself so that he would be in slumber and wait through the years for that one that would be his. With an emotion as strong as his, he was determined to wake up when the one for him would be born.

And so, the legend said.

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Happy new year!