The Black Alder Series (Books 1-3)

Cayce Pov

“Long ago, I fell in love with a human man named Aethlius. Aethlius was the current king of Elis at that time, and he made me his wife. We were in love. So, in love, we ruled the city of Elis with strong wills and passion, bringing glory and peace to our once-troubled city. One day, a prophet came to our kingdom. This prophet was blessed with the gift of seeing the future. Not many people have this gift, not even me.

My king and husband asked this prophet to tell us about our future.

“Your future’s not set in stone, as there are many paths it can take. One thing is certain: The fruits of your love for each other will bear you a son who will grow to be strong. He will be king of Elis.” The prophet tells us.

My husband and I were ecstatic. All we wanted was an heir to our throne.

“One of his paths, however, is a dark one. It may or may not be certain,” the prophet says.

“What do you mean, dark? Tell us at once,” my husband demanded.

“I cannot tell you what this timeline consists of, but I will deliver to you this warning.” The prophet says

He will fall in love with a powerful force, but with this force, he will also become undone. You must not let your son fall in love, or it will mean the end!

The prophet soon disappeared after the warning. I had seen many prophecies, one with a deep meaning, when I heard one, and I was prepared to make sure it didn’t come true. Years later, our son was born. We named him Endymion. We would have thought he would have had some of my nymph qualities, but he was purely human.

Due to the prophet’s warning, my husband withdrew his love and compassion for both Endymion and me, which hardened in the years that followed. He was strict with him. Teaching him how to fight at a young age. In Endymion’s spare time, he trained himself on how to be an Aeolian shepherd. No matter how strict my husband was with him, he always found ways to love all the things around him.

My son grew up to be the most handsome man in the kingdom, wanted by many, but he would rather focus on the love of his hobbies instead. You three resemble him greatly, except he has blonde hair, not black. Anyway, one of his favorite things to do was stare at the moon at night and draw the stars around it. I knew of the prophecy, but my little boy was so bright and smart. How could I deny him the simple pleasure of love?

Once he reached 18 years old, my husband passed away due to illness, which made my son the new king of Elis.

When Endymion reached 21 years of age, he came to me. He told me the story of how, one day, he was staring at the moon and a woman came down from the sky in the moonlight. The mystery moon girl told him he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, and they had fallen in love. I had never seen this girl, so I dismissed this story. I assumed maybe he dreamt it. Days had passed, and it seemed like he would become impatient for some reason.

I didn’t know how real his story was until it was too late. I found out. One day, my child disappeared. There was no trace of him at all. I exhausted every resource that I could find to find him. I used every power I had to find him. A few days after his disappearance, that same prophet from years ago came to me. He shared with me the knowledge of what had happened to my baby.

I saw in his vision that Endymion’s story was true. It was the moon goddess Selene that my son had fallen in love with. She visited him each night and fell in love with him as well. She loved him, but she loved his beauty even more. My baby was worried, since he was human, that he would not be able to be with her for too long. He wanted to be with her forever. Selene had not possessed the powers to grant immortality, so she asked for some aid from the Roman god Jupiter. You may have learned about Jupiter, as he also goes by the Greek god Zeus. God of the sky and thunder.

Zeus told Selene that if he were to grant such a request, there would be a danger that would lurk around my son, as his heart could soon grow cold from watching all of his loved ones die. Zeus offered Selene the choice to decline the gift and leave my son alone, or to accept the gift for my son, but he would have to be put on an island filled with fire and ash, separate from the outside world, so no one would know about his immortal life. They would be together, with no one to disturb them.

Selene accepted the gift, and she and my son were transported to this island. My son is now immortal but still human. He was bound by the island, unable to escape, but he didn’t care. He had the love of his life, and he was happy. Selene created a few humans, or wolves, to keep him company since she was only able to visit him at night. When he would sleep at night, she would come, which changed his sleeping habits to where he would only be able to sleep during the day but would be awake at night for her.

Months and years went by, and Selene started to visit him less and less. He was only left in the company of the wolves and humans. Food was getting scarce, and he needed to hunt. His hunter instincts took over one night, as he was being driven to madness due to a lack of food, and he managed to kill a wolf. The parents of the wolf were instantly alerted as they felt the death of their pup. When they found their pup, he had blood all over him. Endymion was kneeling on the ground over the pup, drinking its blood and eating its flesh.

The wolf’s parents howled to alert the moon goddess, and the wolves on the land rushed to Endymion to try to destroy him. However, Endymion was not only a hunter; he was an immortal. He could not be killed. He ended up killing all of the wolves that day. He threatened the death of humans who would not eat and drink the wolves with him as a means of survival. The wolves, being mystical beings, had some of their animal essences mingled with Endymion and human blood. The violent nature of the wolf’s death was so terrible that it created a curse upon Endymion and the humans. They grew fangs. They were not allowed to walk in the sun. They were forced into the shadows. They had become the first vampires to ever exist.

When Selene came back to the island and realized what he had done, she cursed him and the other vampires to endless sleep. It is said that during that period, she still thought he was incredibly handsome. So beautiful, she slept with his sleeping body and had fallen pregnant over 50 times. Since her power was too great for her children to have, some ended up gaining the powers of immortality and the bloodlust their father had.

One day following that, a witch by the name of Ravenia was looking for a way to get revenge on some people who had wronged her and ended up transporting herself to the island Endymion was on. She saw his beauty, for he resembled someone she loved. She woke him up with a spell and gave him the ingredients he needed to escape the island. The ingredients consisted of the blood of the strongest elemental magician, mixed with his blood. She taught him how to channel dark magic, unaware that he was only using her. He learned how to siphon magic from his blood. My blood. Once she asked for his help in getting rid of her enemies, he dismissed her, and she left him.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Once the witch was gone, Endymion used his blood and mingled it with the others on the island to wake them up from their long slumber. Since he was bound to the island, he was unable to look for the elemental. Instead, he channeled the dark magic he learned about and sent his vampire minions into the world to do his bidding. They partnered with other vampires. Some of them were his children, and some were simply turned by another vampire.

When Selene saw the chaos that vampires created, she created a special line of werewolves that would control the elements to be a line of defense against them, as she could not bear to kill her children, regardless of the chaos they created.

23 years ago, a group of hunters destroyed the line of elemental wolves, unaware that the wolves were needed by Endymion, as the wolves had not used their powers to fight back for fear of revealing who they were and wanting to protect the next generation of elementals, which is why they stayed hidden. Before the last wolf was killed, a baby was taken away and hidden near the North Carolina palace.

This baby is a direct descendant of the royal wolves created by the moon goddess herself and is rumored to be the most powerful. The one Endymion has been looking for all this time. The one he has now. Your Luna. He will find a way to mix some of his blood with hers, which will make her fall in love with him. She may even forget who you three are, as his blood will make her think she is his mate.

Once she reaches her fullest potential, only then will he drain her completely. He will then be able to escape the island he is on and go seek his revenge against the moon goddess. If he does not get her directly, he will destroy wolves and humankind alike. Imagine a world filled with a few wolves and humans, overrun by bloodthirsty vampires. So, you see, this does not only concern you and your Luna; the whole world is at stake.” Adonis Pov

We listened to the story Cayce told us. All of this destruction, all this death, riding around not only saving our Luna but killing what seems to be the very first vampire in the entire world. Fuck.

“Why would you tell us this story? Wouldn’t it make sense to support your son in this?” Ares asked. I am also curious about this.

“Because I didn’t know it back then, but I know now. I have always seen goodness in my son. I saw so much of it that I was blinded by the bad. I didn’t see how power-hungry he was. So power-hungry, he killed my husband. His father, so he could be king. It was too late when I found out what he had done. I vowed that no matter what, I would do anything I could to find him and destroy the creature he had become. That brings me back to you,” she says.

“Why us?” Ash asked.

“You are bonded to the only person in the world he needs to compete for his spell. Not only that, but you three are filled with celestial power from the moon goddess,” Cayce explains.

“Yeah, but we can only use small portions of it,” I told her. She shakes her head.

“It does not matter. The three of your powers combined into one giant ball of energy aimed at him will kill him, but it needs to be done before he has drained your mate.” She explains

“What happens if it is done after?” Ares asked.

“By then, it will be too late, and you will all die.” She simply says,

FUCK!