The weather in the last few days had changed, from a usual sunny day to colder and darker days, a fog had arrived in Lorath, and things began to get more sinister.

Somehow the strange weather made the quiet free city look suspicious, something was strange, and in these last days, only confirmation remained.

Today to make the weather even more...gloomy, it was raining, a heavy rain tormented them since before sunrise.

All those who needed to leave ended up having to face, in the stretches where there was no pavement in the streets, a large amount of mud, with a bit of bad luck you could lose your balance and fall, with luck you would just get soaked.

But amidst such a gloomy climate that many would not even dare to leave their homes, one boy was walking through the muddy streets.

With some form of protection that in a very rudimentary way resembled an umbrella, this boy walked fearlessly, only worried about getting dirty.

This climate, on some occasions, could be the least of the impediments to anyone leaving home, who would have thought?

A few days ago, some strange beings had begun to go out at night, they said they were some kind of bad spirits, as if casual encounters in front of the eyes of some unlucky one were not enough, a dark form in the darkness that quickly disappeared, they said they evaporated in the night, others, that ran over the houses looking for more victims, but what was irrefutable was that every time they were seen, on every occasion, soon after some piles of flesh were found, some remains that someday, as frightening as it may seem, belonged to a human.

It was undeniably frightening.

But even so, would a young man dare to leave? Even in such a frightening climate?

Well, maybe some did, but most didn't, that young man was the one behind these events. What do you mean by that? You might ask.

Only those close to him knew, but even so, some who were a bit clever ended up suspecting, this young man could be beautiful, could be noble, but he was really a frightening and cruel being.

Sure, frightening and cruel to those who had the misfortune to cross his path and call themselves 'enemies,' but even then he could not deny his cruel personality.

And now this same young man was walking with only concern not to get his expensive clothes dirty, he was walking towards an unexpected place, a place that no commoner dared to walk, they could not have the misfortune to anger the people there.

But, going back to the gossip of the last few days, those bodies that had been found, to everyone's surprise, were from some of the leaders of the region!

If they were commoners it wouldn't impact so much, after all, times are hard, and it was very easy to have the bad luck to find a sadistic bandit while you were trying to go home after a hard day's work.

But now, important people had died! Besides dying, you couldn't even say they were human bodies when they were found, only a few unworthy of their families could tell what was happening.

The funny thing is that there was no mourning, the other bosses didn't even blink an eye, in fact as vultures attacked the carcass.

But what was unexpected was that a beautiful brunette woman who ran a commercial company that had just been born was getting the juiciest pieces!

It was so enviable, it barely arrived and had already made a small commercial enterprise grow to a point that was bothering the big ones!

Maybe it even became the biggest organization here, a surprise, how much talent and luck did it take to grow among oligarchics?

But that news only ran through the homes of the richest, the poor could only think of the monsters in the stories.

They said it was dangerous to go out at night, with a bit of bad luck and you'd become a snack, even though most of those unfortunate enough to know them were near dangerous places, but still gangs disappeared overnight, so many were killed that those who were criminals either ran away from Lorath, or went into some hole to hide, in a way, these evil spirits were good for Lorath, how strange.

But even so, the scenery was so frightening, and now someone still dared to venture into a day that looked more like night, that young man walked carefree on such a dark day, was he brave or crazy?

The young man's footsteps were careful, he didn't want to get his clothes dirty, but he wouldn't allow himself to stand in some refuge, with his rustic leather umbrella and wooden frame, he was trying to reach his destination.

If you had the gift of observation, you could see that some other individuals were hiding in the dark shadows of the alleys and slowly following this young man.

It was not known here whether it was to pursue him for evil or for good, whether they wanted to kill him or protect him.

But they were still, in the same slow way, following him.

With a good sniff in the air, the young man knew the answer, the smells for a long time were already an easy factor to manipulate, for a long time his sense of smell had become powerful.

But with the answer about his pursuers, a surprised look crossed his eyes, he wanted to turn and go to them, but no, he would leave it as it was, follow his plans.

Accelerating his steps carefully, the young man did not take long to reach his goal.

In front of an iron gate with high, rusty bars, the young man walked to a man in noble but cheap clothes, who was waiting for him accompanied by some guards who were wearing silver-painted leather armor.

Unlike the young man who wore what could hardly be called an 'umbrella' for his rustic appearance, this old man with sharp eyes and prominent nose waited under a on the protection of a simple cover. a place commonly used only by guards, was a very humble place for someone who wanted to pass himself off as important.

This man was there waiting for the young man, if you had been looking for some time, you would see that he was waiting for many hours and from time to time he would walk back and forth aggressively, if you looked closer, you would see that in the sharp eyes of this old man who was probably in his fifties, fear and respect were present.

When the young man arrived, the old man did not hold on, took a few steps, and even going out for a while he took shelter and being lightly struck by the cold rain waters, he bowed a little bit, crossing his hand on his chest over his heart and the work folded backwards from his body, a slight bow of head, and then he prepared to speak.

The young man responded with a hand gesture indicating that he would be quiet, and then he began to walk toward the large mansion which stood beyond these gates, a little surprise crossed the old man's face, but he followed the young man's orders, and after waiting for the young man to take the lead, he followed him carefully and quickly.

The courtyard of this place was beautiful, many ornamental plants and trees, a small lake, and the like, the old man just took a look, didn't get too excited, even if it was aristocratically decorated, it was a courtyard in a very common style, many other noble houses had similar things.

The big mansion on the other hand was grandiose and in a more striking way was undoubtedly its architectural form, it was a work from an ancient time, perhaps it had been here since Lorath had been created, but it was still a memorable building, long ago it belonged to one of the Rulers of the region, but now it was in the hand of a foreigner.

When the young man arrived near the door, two maids opened it and respectfully let him in, a third woman came forward and began to take care of him, took off her coat and wiped the traces of water.

With a gesture of hands the young man told the maids to leave and with another hand movement he indicated that they should sit down.

With a little urgency the old man could not hold on, walked closer to the young man and did a little reverence again, returning to an upright posture with an expression of respect and undeniable anxiety in his eyes, began to spill the subject that made him wait so long in front of this old mansion.

"Young sir, I would like to congratulate you on the great acquisition you have had, the fortune is smiling at you, luck certainly loves you. "The old man spoke in a way to please the ego of this dangerous young man in front of him, but only an emotionless look was received as a reward, but without care he continued to speak.

"I am the Prince of Harvest, I can help you in many things, from what my old bones tell me, your ambition is not limited by the business you acquired the other day." In a more explicit way the old man began to indicate his reason for coming here.

Without excitement about what the old man told him, the young man answered in a cold voice.

"I have a name, my name is Wiliam. William Corvinus. And I don't need your help, my ambition interests me only, you have no reason to interfere here, you can go back where you came from, I have more important business that requires my attention," William answered coldly and no trace of sympathy remained, he was the second of the so-called Princes, who had come here after his business had flourished, the first with less respect demanded that William give him half of his assets, and if he didn't threaten to leave him with nothing, the result of that disrespect was a pile of bones being found near a sewer.

A pity they chose the wrong person to threaten.

The funny thing was that his heir came soon after and with fear, swore loyalty to William, and with anxiety began to tell secrets and everything he thought was important, but it wasn't, William just listened, they could be from old families in Lorath, however, they were unimportant, but even if he didn't need them, William could very well use them, so he got the Prince of Fishes under his control, but he didn't make that guy into a Lycan.

Poor princes, they were nothing more than mangy dogs who were driven from their homes and were now anxious to obtain something, even if their titles would facilitate the acquisition of more influence, it was not something indispensable.

"Mr. Corvinus, forgive me for the lack of polishing, I know I have not much to offer beyond my title, but if you help me, I..." the old man had tried to speak, but was rudely interrupted.

"Nothing else? Apart from your title, which I don't care about, you have nothing else I could be the least bit interested in," William spoke sarcastically.

The old man was left blank in shock, he had imagined it would be difficult, but wasn't this young man much more complicated than expected? He carefully tried to insist.

"I understand Mr. Corvinus thinks so, but... my aunt was a very beautiful woman and lucky enough to marry a man of great power..." The old man entitled 'prince' had begun to show his intentions;

"This man was from Braavos and his family business was the banker... well, he was one of the bosses behind the Iron Bank, great luck, right? But he didn't stop there, my lucky cousin married another man who was the same as her father, one of the members of the Iron Bank, and luckier still inherited everything that belonged to his father because he had no other heirs, so now I have a beautiful young niece who is waiting for a suitable man to be her husband, even if she is not heir to all the wealth of her parents, because she has other brothers, her beauty is unequalled...." then the damned old man came to the point, he wanted to sell his niece to gain control of Lorath? Surely there was something wrong with this story, what was the benefit of marrying a young woman with so much potential to someone who only controlled more than half the business in Lorath? The poorest city among the free cities.

"She's a beautiful young woman, but very complicated, her only problem is her personality... slightly... distorted?" The old man kept talking.

William was curious as to why they offered him the hand of a maiden of such potential, he was not in the least interested in an arranged marriage, but now understanding what had happened, he understood the motives; they were willing to give him a commodity with hidden problems in exchange for all he had.

Not wanting to pay any attention to what the old man wanted to keep talking about, William waved to one of the maids to drag this man away; he didn't have to say much to know she was a Lycan; it would be easy for her to drive this man away.

"Sir...Sir Corvinus, you got me wrong, I want nothing from Lorath, only your good will, I don't want to be driven off my family's land, I want my people to stay in Lorath" The old man was desperately trying to convince William of a failed business, it was not worth it. With a nod of the head the maids carried a desperate old man out.

Things happened very quickly, Lillith's plans were very well planned, and the executioners were experts in persecution.

First she discovered the habits of the nobles, with these routines discovered, things were plotted, choosing those she wanted killed and killed.

Each death in its own time, always before things happened, she planned how to maximize business gains, and William had to praise, it worked.

From a company with a lot of potential, to a company that controlled more than half of all the merchandise that came to Lorath and was resold, were several workshops installed in the city itself. With one small order and the military supplies destined for the Magistrates were stopped, with another the money destined for Lorath's 'soldiers' was stolen and that same money was used to bribe them.

One could say it was early, but one could say it had already taken too long for things to stay at that point, but in three months things were ready.

The rivals were weakened, their soldiers were out of morale, or they were controlled by William, and the funny thing is that many of the naive ended up choosing a partnership with him.

William wanted absolute control over Lorath, there could be no mistake in this place, everything should belong to him.

From the grain of wheat to the fireplace, to the soldier's armor or the merchant's ship, everything should come from William.

Now the only thing left was that the training of all the soldiers was ready.

Today there were 800 Lycans, of those in the army there were 500, the other 300 were specialized in other things like espionage and research, but the main point was the need for these individuals to have children, it was necessary for the Lycan army to start growing naturally.

These 500 Lycans were being trained to be unstoppable soldiers, trained to be a special force that really was special.

Chis slowly entered the room, with the helmet being held by his right arm against his chest, looking at William, he bowed and began to tell something that William had been waiting for a long time.

"Sir, the soldiers are trained, ready for combat. Chis spoke stoically, only his eyes showed the respect he gave his Lord.

Rising from his chair, William commands.

"Prepare the men, by nightfall the Lycans go to war. "William replied in a dominant way, it was about time little Lorath had a new lord.