Episode 79: Kill the Light
Written By Karl White
Life rarely asks permission before it changes us...Sara Ivy had come a long way. The shyness that once defined her, had been worn down by necessity, replaced by resolve. Where she once avoided confrontation, she now ran towards it. She’d become a perfect hunter, precise, unflinching, the kind no one would have ever expected...least of all, her. Sara had turned what most saw as a curse, into a gift.
Not long after she killed Jones, Sara returned home with the unmistakable feeling she was being followed. A heavy presence on her trail. Instincts told her another werewolf, perhaps one who had traveled with the Nomad, was coming to settle a score. She readied herself, preparing for violence...Instead, waiting on the other side of the door was Uti.
He was the “historian” Jones spoke of...and he hadn’t found her by accident. Through discreet contacts within the Nightwardens, Uti learned of a Child of Nature setting things right, hunting human predators who harmed the innocent. With her name, he traced her deeds back, learning she was the survivor of an attack, years earlier, in the woods outside Thunder Bay. But he knew it was the curse passed on. He admired what she became, without knowing her struggle. But he hadn’t come to Sara to induct her into the long, fractured history of their kind, he was there because he required her help.
This was about his quest to find Cuetlachtli. A name who haunted his work for a long time. A figure who lingered on the periphery in handed-down stories...Just out of reach, and never confirmed.
The nightmare of Cuetlachtli haunting Uti’s dreams - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
For years, Uti suspected Cuetlachtli was the myth, the one of Light. The Wolf Tribe venturing into the world to spread their blood to create this specific soul for the Dark to find. Uti was convinced he had to stop it from happening. Little did he know, Sara controlled all of the elements...but his focus had solely been finding and killing Cuetlachtli.
Uti told Sara the story, that through another Child of Nature, he learned of an old, reclusive pack of werewolves. Led by one named, Chuy. The group resided on a reservation outside Boise. So Uti went to continue to add to his history, never suspecting it’d lead to the elusive “white whale” he’d been searching for.
Traveling to Idaho, Uti drove out to the small plot of land. It was worn, with dilapidated buildings, years of neglect clinging to everything. Uti could smell heavy death and decay in the air. These lands were used as killing grounds...not uncommon among groups of werewolves, but better efforts were normally made to conceal such deeds.
Uti meets “Chuy” - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Uti found Chuy, the alpha of the dwindling pack. Presenting himself honestly, Uti explained his purpose, his census, building the history of werewolves. Eager to share his story, Chuy agreed to talk. He carried himself with the posture of royalty, standing in sharp contrast to the condition of the reservation. And during what was a routine interview, he revealed the truth -- Cuetlachtli was not just a story, as he was sitting across from the historian, in the flesh.
Not at all what Uti had pictured, Cuetlachtli was a withered old man, with grey stringy hair and a face of cracked stone. A rarity, born a Child of Nature, to parents who were as well, he’d aged a year for every twenty or so of ours, which would have made him past seventy. But it was more the way he aged, not having an element, it affected him. Though he and Uti were both unaware of any of this knowledge.
But Cuetlachtli told all the old tales, in only the way someone who was there could. His own self-image was arrogant and certain, he was the protagonist, the hero, the king. He spoke proudly of his history of brutality. Egotistical about his supreme authority over the mythic Wonvertu.
Cuetlachtli even bragged to Uti about, and showed off the “Wolf’s Den”, the underground vaults where kidnapped humans were kept alive until they were fed on. Down in the chambers, Uti heard the helpless cries of innocent victims held against their will, knowing they’d be made into meals.
Uti descending into the “Wolf’s Den” - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
The historian did everything in his power to keep his composure, knowing werewolves were hyper-perceptive to even the slightest emotional changes…But nearby, members of the pack listened as their leader blustered. Uti could feel their growing disapproval and betrayal, as Cuetlachtli aired all their atrocities to a complete stranger. Sensing danger tightening like a storm about to break, Uti quickly wrapped up, offering his thanks, making his farewell.
He exited the compound under his own power...but it felt like an escape. He fled Boise immediately, and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he crossed the border into Utah, some 250 miles later...The nightmares were true, Cuetlachtli did exist, as did his blood-thirsty followers. Uti knew he couldn’t stop Cuetlachtli alone.
Killing another werewolf, even broaching the subject, was seen as traitorous to some, so Uti had to tread carefully. And with the knowledge the plans the Dark had for the Bearer of Light, failure wouldn’t be an option. He needed someone capable of doing what had to be done, and powerful enough to do it...which is why he sought out Sara.
She understood immediately. If the stories were true, Cuetlachtli had to die. But in exchange for her help, she wanted Uti’s assistance in finding her maker.
At the compound in Idaho, after Uti’s departure, a fight among the Wonvertu exploded. Cuetlachtli running his mouth, revealed too much. Orders were given to hunt down and kill the historian. But when no trace of Uti could be found, the anger turned inward. Emboldened by centuries of resent, and failing faith in his prophetic promise, the Wonvertu rose up and revolted against Cuetlachtli.
In a violent reckoning, the pack didn’t kill him, but instead dismantled him -- severing his limbs, stripping him of movement and authority...sealing him within the Wolf’s Den beneath the farm. There, Cuetlachtli was left to rot, abandoned by those who’d once revered him. The rest of the pack dispersed, each member carrying the weight of their complicity into separate futures.
Sara and Uti, along with a contingent of Nightwardens, quickly mobilized to meet the threat of what they believed Cuetlachtli and his followers to be. Infiltrating the farm, they expected a war...but found only silence.
In the vaults below, Uti discovered what remained of Cuetlachtli. Barely alive, reduced to a husk...yet still clinging to the belief that he was chosen. As even then, ego would not leave him, nor let him accept his long string of failures.
All that’s left of Cuetlachtli - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Before a final act to put the king out of his misery, Uti asked one final question -- about his elemental power of Light. But Cuetlachtli didn’t understand what he meant. Though the tribe that raised him had told him he was the “Light of the World”, Cuetlachtli never developed an elemental ability. Neither had his Wonvertu. He had no earthly no idea what Uti was asking.
The certainty Cuetlachtli was the one the Wolf Tribe set out to create, shattered in an instant. Uti’s pursuit, his obsession, had betrayed him. But whatever Cuetlachtli truly was, king, monster, or warning, Uti had no qualms finally putting him out of his misery.
Uti thought the pieces of Cuetlachtli fit the question. But maybe it was the Dark’s way of throwing him off course. Fixating on the evilness in old stories, made Cuetlachtli the obvious villain. Uti wouldn’t mourn his death, as if even a fraction of the horror about him were true, then the would-be-king deserved to die.
But killing him brought no sense of triumph. Only the grim certainty, the Light Bearer was still out there, vulnerable to being found by the Dark. For Uti, it marked the moment he understood that recording the history of the Children of Nature was not a noble pursuit, but a dangerous obligation.
TO BE CONTINUED…