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They arrived in the middle of the night, enveloped by the darkness. No one saw them to come.

Maybe the man who was guarding from the top of a watchtower, outside the small town, was the one who was closer to finding out what the shadows were hiding. Walking from one side to another of its position he thought he saw something moving just a few meters away, but when he approached the tower's edge for take a look, he didn't detected anything unusual. Confused, the man shook his head and supposed that tiny mistake was due to fatigue.

Unknowingly, he had made a greater mistake than he thought: to lean out to the watchtower's edge, completely forgetting that his back was bare. The Beast who approached him from behind, silent as the night, knew how to take advantage of this to get closer and closer without being heard, and to slip a knife on his neck so softly that the watcher didn't notice until he felt the life escaping from his jugular. And then, it was too late... A few seconds later, the man was lying on the floor, dead in a pool of blood.

Not far from there, hidden behind a little pile of snow, Rukj observed the one who had killed the Human, until he raised his knife in the air, looking exactly at the place where they were waiting.

-That's the sign -the black wolf said, with a hoarse voice.

The group of Beasts behind him nodded in silence. They lit their torches and, stealthy as cats, started to move towards the city. The ground was covered by snow, but it hadn't snowed in the last week, so the houses' wood would be dry and ready to burn.

A few minutes later, the fire had already spread and the screams of horror filled the air; however, Rukj didn't seem to notice this fact and he went right to the city center, clenching. There was a building in the square; a building which a person lived in; a person who Rukj wanted to behead by himself. Once the group of Beasts arrived to that tall house, the black wolf gave an order to someone who belonged to the Clan of the Bull, who without any hesitation ducked his head and charged against the door. Rukj saw how the door literally exploded and, indifferent, he entered the house walking through the splinters, knowing exactly where to go, thanks to his wolf ear. He heard noises upstairs; the dying screams of the rabbit who knows that has been caught by a predator.

He took the stairs and soon arrived to the chamber of the one who he was looking for. The door was locked with a chair, but the black wolf just had to give a strong crush to cross the wood. He pushed aside the chair and then opened the door to enter the room. His eyes, flashing with hatred and revenge, swept the room searching the man he had to kill.

The Vindicator of Argenta saw him coming and let out a scream of terror, as he hid behind his wife, his lover or his prostitute (Rukj didn't really care about it), trembling with fear. The wolf let out a grunt of disgust; even in that situation, the Vindicator who had brought him so many problems proved to be a coward. Rukj reached the man in a few steps and, like if the woman who the coward was hiding behind was a fly, he pushed her away with an impatient blow. The Vindicator saw his shield slipping from his hands, and colliding with a lot of noise against a wall. Her face was furrowed by a deep scratch, which let out some small traces of blood.

-P...please... -the man begged, kneeling before Rukj -. Don't... don't kill me... have mercy on me...

Rukj observed him for a second, with disdain, until his disgust was stronger than his patience. He grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and lifted him until he was at the height of his menacing eyes. The wolf's sharp fangs gnashed as his throat let out a low growl, and the Human tried to release of the Beast's strong arm. The claws around his neck didn't let him breathe.

-What have you said!? -Rukj asked, bringing his jaw to the man's face -. Have you dared to beg ME for mercy!?

In that moment, the powerful and glorious Vindicator of Argenta seemed to be smaller than what he really was. As the man burst into tears, Rukj pressed his paw into his throat.

-Do you want ME to be merciful with you? You didn't seem merciful at all when you exterminated everyone I knew! My friends! My family! -With each sentence, his rage increased -. You send all to your damn town and tortured them in front of everyone! AND NOW YOU WANT ME TO BE MERCIFUL WITH YOU!? -The man whispered some words, but Rukj interrupted him -. Oh, damn it, shut the fuck up, you coward! You call yourself a Vindicator, but you're as pathetic as the rest.

The terrified Human still tried to delay his death once more, stirring, but the wolf was too much strong and didn't let him go. Furious because of that last attempt to escape, Rukj let out a roar of anger and dealt a strong blow with the paw that wasn't occupied in holding the man. Blood spattered his face, but he didn't stop until the Vindicator's head was severed and fell. The Human, dead in his claws, didn't try to escape anymore, and the wolf let him drop to the floor, with infinite contempt. After that, he crouched to pick up the head, and looked into the eyes of the dead Human.

-So weak... so mortal as the rest... -the wolf whispered, even knowing that the Vindicator of Argenta was dead now and he wasn't listening.

Then, he went to the balcony and found a scene that would take a lot of time to forget. The burning roofs of the town of Argenta seemed torches in the night: the fire had already spread throughout the city, and in that moment all that hadn't perished in the flames were being slaughtered by the Beasts. Rukj smiled, feeling immensely proud of him for the first time since... since that terrible day. To invade Argenta had seemed at first an impossible mission, but it hadn't been so difficult.

Raising the Vindicator's cut head in the air, he let out a howl of victory, which resounded in that chaos more as lament than a celebration. Some Beasts stopped what they were doing and chanted him with growls, roars and barks. Bulls, lynxes and hares, the other three subspecies of the Beasts, responded to his call. Rukj couldn't help but feeling excited and powerful. Beasts' combat forces were composed of young people like him, who had lost everything because of the attack of the Humans. And he had to recognize that vengeance had a sweet taste.

After one last look out, the wolf came back into the house and shot a quick glance to the wall where he had left the Vindicator's wife, lover or prostitute (the Beast was getting tired of thinking about her that way, so he decided to call her just "she"). But there was no one in the chamber.

-What the... -he murmured, starting to follow the trail of blood that she had left behind. He entered to another room and, once there, he found something that he would never forget.

The woman had approached the back of the room, where was a cot, and she was holding a baby in her arms. She seemed to be whispering some warm words to the baby while rocking him. When the woman noticed that the wolf was observing her from the door of the room she turned to him sharply and instead of being frightened, started to walk towards him slowly. The baby sobbed softly.

If Rukj was already surprised, that left him completely confused. What sane Human would approach a Beast, let alone knowing he had just killed a man? It was unthinkable. Beasts and Humans had been enemies since ever.

-Please... -the woman mused, spitting blood. She was having problems about talking, and Rukj even felt a little guilty for it -. Take him with you...

The wolf asked himself if he had heard right. That woman was able to entrust her own baby to a Beast? To the enemy? However, the surprise was rapidly replaced by the indignation.

-No, Human -he replied, hoarsely -. This baby will die with you tonight; right here and right now.

-No... please... take him with you... -the woman insisted, with effort -. Aron...

The wolf let out a grunt of surprise as his ears perked up.

-Aron? -he repeated, holding the woman by his shoulders softly. The baby started to cry louder -. What does this cub to do with the Vindicator Aron?

-He is... Aron's sev... sev... seventh descendant -the woman told him, with difficulty.

In that moment, Rukj started to notice that the strength was leaving her, until she was unable to stay up and tripped losing the balance. But the wolf was ready for that: he reacted quickly and grabbed the woman with one arm, before she fell to the floor. The situation seemed unreal: a Beast helping the Human that he had just killed... in the moments before her death.

-Take care... of him -the woman asked the wolf, still with the crying baby in her arms.

And then, light in her eyes faded.

Rukj still remained there a few moments more, watching the dead woman's face, and listening to the hysterical baby's weeping. He finally let the woman rest on the floor, with the baby still in his lap, and waited a few moments wondering what to do.

<<He's a Human cub>> the most radical part of his mind thought <<. He deserves to die, like the rest. C'mon, Rukj, a bite would be enough to end with him... >>.

But another part of his mind was still thinking in the words of the woman... and in the possibility that that Human cub was Aron's seventh descendant.

-Aron... -he whispered, with a bit of respect in his voice.

It was said that Aron, the "First Vindicator", had died a lot of years ago, in the days when the war between Beasts and Humans had not been made official. The time which he had lived in had been the first and last period of peace between the two races, condemned to hate and kill each other. Did this mean that the cub was the salvation of Beasts and Humans? The end of the war? The new Vindicator?

<<Don't flatter yourself, Rukj >> the wolf thought <<. He's just a Human cub. He couldn't change anything even if he wanted to>>.

But there he was. And, certainly, the baby had to be important if the destiny had guided him under his claws but kept him alive. Rukj would have killed any other baby without any hesitation. What should he do then?

The wolf looked at the window of the bedroom; the fire was illuminating the sky with a red bright, and devouring everything in its path. Nothing was going to be edified in that place until many years later, and the lives of who could escape of the tragedy would never be the same. Rukj remembered the death of his loved ones and felt a pang in the heart.

That cub... that boy could end with that. That boy was a new future that could be the end of the fights between the two races. Rukj took the crying baby gently in his paws, knowing that the most difficult and important decision of the world was going to be taken by himself.

And, finally, he decided what to do.