Animus Storm

Howling Thunder

Prologue: If I die before I wake, to whom do I pray my soul to take?

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Locking my truck I pull my hood over my head to shield my ears from the cold wind. Winter has definitely come at last, it’s a bit late this year. Maybe more people will start buying into global warming…Nah I wonder that every year. At least the snowboarding should be good this season.

The tiny snowflakes begin to descend from the night sky. Chancing a peek up, I can only sigh at the murky sky. This damn city smog is blocking any view of the stars or the approaching storm.

The sleet has been trying to take over the world all day, the path from the parking lot to my apartment is covered in black ice.

My sister chooses now to call me, “Hello.”

After a minute of her rambling, “Yes sis, for the tenth time you’ve asked today, I’m sure I don’t mind watching the kids tomorrow. No I won’t let the girls stay up watching slasher movies. Have a good night.”

I hang up and resume my little icy adventure in the parking lot, sliding every so often just for fun. I didn’t say anything about killer space aliens, Muhahaha!

After navigating the death trap I begin my slow ascent up the stairs. The cold makes my knee sore, one of those wounds that just like to annoy you the rest of your life.

Light is coming out my front window, I unlock the door step inside.

While taking off my jacket, “Babe you here?”

Nothing, she usually texts me if she’s coming over. Maybe I just left the lights on this morning.

Walking into the kitchen I grab a beer from the fridge. As I snap the cap off with my military ring I notice my dog hasn’t come to greet me as usual.  

“Tesla…..I’m home girl.”

Now I see it, the note on the counter.

Placing the beer on the counter with a thud I pick up the three sheets of paper.

It’s clearly written by my girlfriend, “This can’t be good”

Taking a seat on the couch I begin to read, “Dear bla bla bla, she write a fucking novel? Where’s my dog?”

We haven’t even been dating a year yet, this is way over kill.

Skimming through the notes I pass many ridiculous phases; cold, irresponsible, childish… Does she not realize she’s the one who was jobless and still living with her mother?

I find what I’m looking for on the last page, she met a nice guy who owns a Laundromat and is taking my dog because she thinks I can’t take care of it…. What the fuck?

I’ve had that dog for five years?!

Wow, I’ve never had to call the police on a girl after a breakup before, this is a new low.

I sigh and lean back on the couch. Construction work may not be a glamorous job but they pay me really well and have been really great working around my bad knee.

Looking at years’ worth of pictures on the wall I start to reminisce. The floor to ceiling map tells the story of my own grand adventure. The red pins circle the earth, photos show deserts, oceans, the largest cities in the world, beautiful beaches, and some of the dirtiest bars one could imagine.

On my fourth deployment a damn bullet that ricocheted off a wall and into my knee brought my fun to a bitter end.

This is my reward for my years of service, a lonely apartment and a stupid college girl stealing my dog.

Other pictures on the wall go clear back to high school, those were the days. I used to take off on the weekends and let the roads lead me on whatever grand adventure the Midwest has to see.

Sounds like a fine idea about now.

Grabbing a bottle of whiskey from my cabinet I head out my door.

The snow is picking up but I don’t care, it’s a beautiful night to get lost, leave the annoying glow of the city lights behind and just drive.

As the hours slip by I managed to take count of all the girls I dated at some point…32. That’s more than one per year.

I’m not sure to whether to be proud or more depressed.

My rear wheels doing a momentary fishtail brings me back into the moment. This truck just got new tires this year. The road ahead is completely concealed by my headlights reflecting of the snowfall.

A white out, fortunately this portion of the highway should be a long straight away…or not, seems I’ve been driving longer than I thought. While lost in my thoughts and my excessively loud stereo I  failed to notice my gas gauge approach empty or the road signs telling me I was nearing the border.

The slight reflections of the posts on either side of the highway are the only thing telling me I’m still on the road.

If I pull over I may risk getting buried in the snow or hit by another vehicle.

I kill the headlights and use my lowlights to cut down on the refection in the snow. The road starts to curve and snake. I must be entering the mountains, this is bad.

As if to tell me ‘no shit’ the wind suddenly slams the side of my truck sending me into a slide. My tires find nothing but ice as I try to correct.

The pine trees come into view in almost slow motion, my frantic cranking of the wheel feels completely pointless in the face of this wind and ice.

I let go and sigh, “Well fuck it.”

The sound of the impact is blocked from my mind as I see the passenger side of my truck crumple towards me like a tin can. Glass shatters, branches rush in, my stomach lurches like suddenly falling, everything gets turned on its head.

My eyes clamp shut, the pain is worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. I can feel the vehicle swaying. Blood is rushing to my head.

Wind, a howling gale, though muffled it is the only sound I can hear anymore. Well, unless you count my uneven breathing.

I reach for the bottle under my seat, at the slight touch of my fingers it slips past my hand and hits my chin.

“AH GOD DAMMIT!”

Wrenching open my eyes it’s clear that everything is indeed upside down. My stereo is still going with my 90s grunge… Ironically the current song is one of my favorites and the chorus repeats the words “In the pines.”

Branches have broken through every window, one of the branches happens to have impaled my arm and the right side of my chest.

Held upside down by my seatbelt and impaled by a tree I still scream along with the last verse of the song with all my might.

I cough up blood with a smile, guess the branch penetrated my lung. This fucking pine tree, from the branch stabbed into my now numb arm I’d say it’s a blue spruce

Great, a final act of defiance, I’ve damaged a state tree.

“Pardon my blood stains, who said you could grow here anyway, asshole tree.”…

Great I’m talking to the fucking trees now.

Fuck it, why not?

“Hey Blue, you don’t mind if I call you that right? Anyway, what am I doing here huh? Why did I think north sounded better than south?”

Silence…

“Too good to talk to me, huh Blue? Well go to hell…  fuckin tree”

Speaking of hell, I wonder what is waiting for me here. My phone isn’t getting any signal and I don’t see how I’m going to move let alone get out of the truck and down from the tree. The truck being on upside-down is probably the only reason I’m not getting buried in snow.

Frozen to death was never my ideal way to go.

Hell sounds warm but I don’t like the idea of hell, seems pointless. Why bother with endless punishment, no thank you.

And heaven, fluffy clouds and happy go fuckin lucky times, booooring.

Reincarnated as some animal like an elk or whatever? Might not be too bad, at least I could still get laid.

But they get parasites, put in zoos, short lives until some jackass shoots them out of season. No thanks, I’d rather my next life doesn’t end with my head on a wall.

Well, not that frozen in this tomb is any better.

“Built tough my ass, couldn’t beat Blue here could ya shitty truck.” don’t mind my bitching I’m just enjoying my icy deathbed.

That’s right a bed is a bed, as my grave I’ll lie in it.

I flick the switch to recline the seat but my impaled arm keeps me from straightening out.

At least I’ll pass out before I actually die.

I look right, “fuck you tree.”

Truly lovely last words, may they be etched on my tombstone should my body ever be found.

But last they were, after that I closed my eyes and that’s all she wrote.

Dead, or at least, in this lifetime.

 

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“I still hear wind, dammit I ain’t dead yet?”

Wait, it’s warm.

I open my eyes, blue sky, partly cloudy….

“Fuck the forecast I’m alive?!” I yell in excitement.

“Um, not really darling.” a sweet feminine voice from somewhere.

I jump up to my feet….my bare feet…I’m naked…meh at least it’s warm.

Who said that?

Looking around I’m in a field of tall green grass. Aspen trees in the distance, much better than pine trees. A serine blue pond a few yards away, white peaks in the distance.

Ah, I know where I am. I used to camp here with my parents, those where the good times.

Turning around I finally see source of the voice. She’s maybe five feet tall, blonde hair in a bun, blue eyes, leafy green mini dress…..really my heaven is a green field and fucking tinker..

“STOP, stop that thought right there.” Her right eye slightly twitching, fists clenched at her sides.

Oh she can read my mind?

She points her finger at me, eyes narrowed, “I know that character bears some resemblance but I will not have my godly image compared to some human cartoon.”

Like it or not missy but you can’t lie to a mirror.

In a flash and a poof of gold dust her hair turned blue. Well whatever lets you sleep better.

Slightly impatient, “So who are you then? Miss not cartoon fairy”

She still puts her hands on her hips….nice hips, and gives an introduction, “My name has been lost to your history and as such I can no longer remember it myself. I am your judge for this afterlife.”

Is that so?

With a shrug I ask, “Fair enough, now why you and where are we? No fluffy boring paradise or pointless painful eternity?”

The cute pixie rolls her eyes, “Nope, not since you don’t even believe in such boring endings. I am here because I best represent your beliefs. You should be thankful to this aunty, normally that stuffy Christianity god doesn’t take kindly to being denounced.”

Aunty? If this girl asked me to buy her a drink I’d ask for her ID.

She stands tall and places a delicate white hand at her collarbone,  “I was once a being worshiped by pagan druids, but they are long gone and I’ve been quite bored. You’ll have to humor me a bit, maybe I’ll go easy on your judgment.”

She’s got a mischievous grin going there, sexy honestly.

“Well I’d hate to be a bore, and if you’ll pardon my bluntness. There is an awful lot of soft, green, grass,” I gesture around us.

Winking at her, “good for rolling around in if you know what I mean.”

She laughs and smiles, those really are pretty blue eyes.

“Boy, I thought I told you this isn’t heaven. Let’s move on shall we?”

From behind her back she pulls an old school, huge, leather bound book, wait where does she keep that thing?

“We have here a record of your life,” she flips it open and starts browsing.

“Brilliant child, excelled in school, made the other kids jealous, this led you getting picked on.” my right eye twitches in annoyance to her monolog.

Miss fairy grins, “What, not happy memories? Moving further, this continued till you became a bit unstable, irregularly medicated, rebelling against the lifestyle that’s left you with few friends. You traded your parents pride for popularity, you did make some good friends, and plenty of poorly picked girlfriends.”

She scowls at me, “while you helped your family from time to time, you fell apart from breakup after breakup and slipping motivation. You made halfhearted attempts at higher education, and while you performed admirably for your country, you know you could have still done better.”

That’s right, I’ve done nothing but shoot myself in the foot on purpose since I turned twelve and started thinking for myself.

Maybe that was my mistake.

She slams the shitty book shut and unceremoniously tosses it into the nearby pond.  

Hands still at her hips she looks at me with a rather wicked grin, “So judgment time, you are a young soul and as this was your first lifetime a certain leniency is in order.  Impulsive, comically nonchalant, and self destructively rebellious, you were neither saint nor terrible sinner but simply a bit of an asshole.”

Uuhh, hey wasn’t that my life story you just chucked away, and who you calling an asshole?!

She chuckles, “So reincarnation seems most fitting for you, well make it easy, something human based and a world similar to the earth you’re already familiar with. We’ll pick a slightly dangerous one as your small amount of punishment. You do merit a small reward as well but I’ll leave that to your next world’s god.”

Again from behind her back she pulls out something, this time a blue prism like orb the size of a baseball. To my surprise she spikes it at the ground like a touchdown ball.

A wave of darkness bursts from the orb, passing me with the feeling of a slight shock wave.

Day has suddenly turned to night and the sky is a vast ocean of stars in formations I don’t recognize.

The woman is staring at the stars as if to pick her favorite one.

“Ah! Perfect and you’re such a fitting young soul for my friend, you’ll make a fantastic present for her, and I know she will adore you!”

She’s really jumping with joy…I can almost see up her skirt… Wait did she just declare I will be a gift to her friend?!

Nothing about this seems right you know?!

The evil fairy waves a dismissive hand at me.

“Oh shut up, you know you’re interested, and as I said everything’s perfect.” she steps up close and presses herself against me, hey now I’m still naked!

“You can’t hide your emotions so well when you’re like this, can you? Anyway it’s been fun darling and I do wish we had time to… roll in the hay was it? But you must be getting on.”

I smile, put an arm around her and point at the night sky, “Second star to the right and straight on till morning?”

After giving me what might be the most annoyed look I’ve ever experienced, she lifts up her hand and blows some gold glittery stuff in my face.

“What the hell!” I’m rubbing my eyes furiously as I stumble and fall on my ass.

“Ciao darling!” I get a glimpse of her smiling and waving as I’m blinded back into darkness.

————–

“Damn pixie, fairy, whatever!” I fumed while trying to rub the gold dust out of my eyes.

Once I’m finally able to open my eyes again I notice I’m not in a field anymore.

The grass is gone, replaced with dark dirt with patches of a blackish moss along many a twisting root of the last thing I want to see right now. Pine trees, granted these are far bigger and darker than that bastard Blue.

These have to be as tall as any skyscraper I’ve seen in the biggest cities. An almost black wood, needles several feet long and the darkest shade of green I’ve ever seen. The canopy they create blocks all sunlight.

In an eerie silence, a black fog bank rolls in from among the woods. The way it swirls about and rolls off the roots reminds me of a predator stalking its prey.

Now slightly fearing for my nonexistent life, I turn to run away only to stop in my tracks after taking just one step.

If the pines are an impossible existence, so is this throne in front of me. Carved in the base of a burnt stump of one of the pines I feel like I’m looking straight into the mouth of a vicious wolf. The blackened stump being the size of a modest house and this wolf head carved into its entirety.

If not for the seat in its maw I’d almost expect it to hide a vast hidden treasure complete with magic lamp.

Every line of fur on the head, the ragged ears, the hungry look in its eyes, the etched blood on its fangs, I can imagine this being a life’s work. In the mouth, a grand seat whereupon the fog is gathering around.

First to form was a pair of gigantic black wolves, one with yellow eyes, the other green. They trotted to the sides of the seat and sat down facing me.

From the look in their eyes I feel like a bug in their home.

“Nice doggies?” I mean I’m already dead what can they do to me?

The green eyed one growls at me while the yellow eyed one cackles like a hyena.

The remaining fog takes form on the seat.

It starts with a head of gorgeous, long, oil black hair and a pair of piercing electric, lime green eyes. A small perfect nose is next above full lips painted midnight blue; I can see fangs showing in her smile. What follows only further takes my breath away.

Her pure white neckline leads to a massive bust presented and contrasted by a black fur lined, armored, leather corset. It frames her slim waist with a matching loin cloth.

Her perfectly bare and smooth looking legs are crossed and bouncing, her large fur boots match the corset, black fur on black leather.

She must be nearly eight feet tall.

As I can’t help but find the image incredibly alluring, I now notice her smile and the look in her eyes seems as if she sees me as dinner.

Shit, I’m still naked aren’t I.

She holds her head high as she speaks, “Greetings, child of the Earth world, it’s been well over a few hundred years since that nymph has sent a pup to our world. I was beginning to think she’d become lost.”

I slightly wish she had.

Her voice has an almost British accent and similar to that of a teenage girl, “My name is Freki, don’t speak, I can already tell that pesky bitch told you nothing of where she was sending you.”

Pointing at me, “First, you should note the obvious, that you are still yet to be reborn, we are in my domain. I am the goddess of the hunt and for your next life I will be your patron deity. Normally there would be no need for meeting like this however it is customary for souls who accomplished at least a measure of good during their first lifetime to receive a small blessing, a sort of setting a standard if you will. Do bad be punished, do good be blessed, simple right!”

Is this a grade school lecture?

My eye twitched, her eyes narrowed and she gave a toothy lick of her lips. “Right you’re not an idiot, in fact by the nymph’s word and mine own intuition you’re actually quite my type.”

The two wolves look at her and whine, causing her let out a rather cute giggle.

The predator continues, “So, let’s answer the many questions that have been floating in that head of yours. In order; yes, I’m single, no, I won’t eat you,… unless you really want me to”

She winks, I look away from the angry growling wolves, “This world is named Terra, you’ll find many naming structures and themes are the same as ones found throughout the history of your Earth, for the most basic example a dog is still called a dog.”

Looking at her hand as if recalling a list, “From there however it goes off the deep end compared to your boring previous world, the lost races of your myths are alive and well here. In fact, humans are quite the minority. Magic is commonplace, the continents are closer together, and there’s none of that electriwhatsits.”

“HA” I interrupt, “Similar she said!”

“Quite” she carries on, “Now, not that you’ll remember any of it” she stops and glares as if daring me to interrupt again.

Gods don’t seem to like their monologue being stopped. It’s scary, but at the same time I’m kinda getting turned on.

She gives another of her fanged smiles. Mind reading sure is a troublesome ability for women.

She looks at my waist, “It doesn’t take mind reading to guess where your mind wanders.”

Damn it.

I ask, “Hey this mind reading thing, am I going to suffer this a lot in my new world?”

Freki answers the pointless question, “No, as you are a soul in my care nothing is hidden from me. Otherwise clairvoyant magic users like Vulpi may have some measure of ability.”

Who’s Vulpi?

Resuming her speech, “You’ll remember nothing of your previous life or this conversation, save for the odd dream. The same goes for any other reincarnated soul; I won’t have you think you’re the only one. Once again the only reason we’re having this conversation is so I could meet you before you are born as a descendant of my tribe and so you can make an informed decision on what blessing you’d request of me.”

She leans forward, that hungry look back in her eye, “This is because your soul perfectly matches me, normally I’d let my darling pups here pick for you.”

She looks lovingly at her pets and the wolves bark cheerily before shooting a bragging look at me.

Freki takes a quite a serious tone, “I will advise you however, to pick some sort of simple ability that is suited to your personality and will give you an early advantage in the world of Terra. There is a rather unfortunate mortality rate for children, especially weak ones.”

I take a long minute, letting my childhood fantasies run wild, taking in everything Freki had said, and sparing a lustful gaze towards the goddess and those tight thighs that glow like pearls.

This earns her now trademark, fanged grin and angry growls from the large “pups”.

Looking away from the dogs all I see for miles is pine trees…. Fucking pine trees, I remember I once saw lightning strike one. The whole tree instantly shattered… Oh my god!

“Yes?” she responds, batting her eyelashes like she’s flattered.

Trying my best to hold back my excitement, “You mentioned magic?”

She nods.

“Then I choose lightning powers, and I very much look forward to our time together.” I give my own impish grin.

She breaks out into a giggle again as the two wolves are now standing and looking fed up with me.

“In your dreams pup” she winks, “very well lightning it is, a rare trait in my clan, how fun.”

She pauses as if making up her mind, “I knew I liked you! You will be my first champion! All the other gods seem to have one at some point, even my brat niece already has one.”

“Now let’s bestow you a new name fitting for my pack and send you on your way.” she looks deep in thought.

Her pack?

She looks at me, “I did say humans are a minority race right? You’ll part of my race, the lycans, specifically wargmen but that’s not important right now.”

Feeling the need to ask, “Sooo I’m gonna be a dog? Or a werewolf?”

With a wave of her hand she dismisses the idea, “Of course not, do I look like a dog? Werewolves exist in Terra but that’s another matter you don’t need to worry about.”

As she says that a perky pair of black dog ears pops up from her hair and a silky black tail wags from her waist….

What kind of world have I come to?

She doesn’t even acknowledge it, “Relax, we’re fairly similar to humans as you can see, just stronger and better in every way. I mean really 18 years to grow up?! You’ll be an adult in half the time, and you should be thankful. I’ve decided to give you to my friend Vulpi I mentioned earlier, she’s a queen, you’ll be royalty.”

…No thanks, that is waaaay too much responsibility!

She stands up with a hop, tail wagging,  “Too bad, I’ve already decided. Now I was picking a name.”

I can’t pick my own?

Freki gives a last signature grin, “Farewell for now Nox, I so look forward to your life my pup.”

She does another little hop and runs over. She plants a soft kiss on my cheek before bursting into the black fog and quickly encasing me, bringing me once again into darkness.

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Chapter 1: A New Life

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Darkness, all I see is a horrifying darkness.

A crushing pressure, as if I’m slowly being pushed upward, a freezing chill stings my body. With a gasp, a rush of air fights its way into my lungs.

I feel as if I’m being held upside down now by my spine. Something smells awful and I think it’s me. I still can’t see anything, this sucks, I start to whine.

A muffled voice, “A black tail madam, this will not please Madam Hyndla.”

Someone screams, “Would you shut the hells up, get these pups out of me! I swear to all the gods I’ll haunt your dreams for years if you take a moment longer!”

As I’m dunked into something wet and warm I hear a whine similar to my own from somewhere.

“A red tail girl, at the very last you may have an appropriate heir, Madam Inari.” The same voice slightly more clearly.

I’m being swished about, I’m dizzy, I think I’m going to puke, yup there it is.

Great, I’m back in the wetness again.

Dammit quit pulling my spine whatever that is.

I can now hear two whines similar to mine as I’m wrapped in something warm and soft. Hey, this isn’t so bad.

“At least the first one was a grey, praise the gods he matches the Fenrir!”

A now exhausted voice, “Didn’t I tell you to shut up. The Fenrir will be pleased with his pups from me regardless of their blood trait. Get out. Patra, pass me my black fluff ball, and quit grabbing their tails, are you an idiot?”

A high pitched voice from very close, “This is so gross, they’re covered in …your stuff, I’m never having pups.”

Another woman’s voice, “keep being rude to the Inari and I’ll declare you concubine to that black pup here and now.”

A moment of me being lifted and spun and nearly puking again. Someone make it stop!

The younger voice, “but mother the red one is cuter.”

The original angry woman, “hand him over already and go get packed, you two are leaving first thing in the morning.”

After a moment she continues, “funny you said that, I suspect this one will be a rather good match for that girl.”

“It would be an honor…. congratulations Vulpi, I better chase her down. She’ll just toss everything in a pile if I don’t watch her.”

The voices all go quiet, I’m slowly being rocked against something warm.

I’m tired.

“Me too my darling pup, me too.”

While my eyes are still locked shut, I quickly drift to sleep.

A few days later and I can finally open my eyes. The problem is I can’t make heads or tails of anything I’m looking at. Well, aside from the heads and tails of the other two whiners in this large woven basket with me.

The three of us have clean white skin, two arms and two legs. My tail, the source of my spine feeling yanked, is frizzy and black. The other two have pointed, furred ears that match their tails so I assume I’m the same. Their tails are different, combed smooth, one grey and one red.

The red one is currently hugging my frizzy tail while the grey one is pulling on it, this sucks. But there’s nothing I can do other than slightly shuffle.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and the grey one will fall out the basket.

Red sneezes in my face, okay, maybe I had that coming.

“It’s time to eat, my darling little pups.” This person has the voice that matches the angry one from before.

A big red tailed person lifts me from the basket. I have a brief look at the rest of the room, it’s a torch lit room made of some dark wood. The round nub is placed in my mouth, I now notice it’s attached to one of the mounds of this big red tail, I’ve come to call these mounds of food and glory, boobs.

No idea where the name came from, it was really just sudden inspiration, I must be a genius.

Some other woman speaks, “Red eyes, and those longer ears, surely this black one is a bad omen.”

Mother lowers her voice, “Ragna, I have red eyes… anymore superstitious nonsense from you and I’ll throw away Hyndla’s recommendation of you to succeed me here as the den matron.”

With a slight burp I announce my full stomach.

Again, all is right with the world and I’m happy to fall asleep.

More days pass and I can now shuffle my way about the basket, this much at least was necessary given the behavior of my siblings.

Grey seems to have a constant need to grab mine or Red’s tail, while Red has discovered great joy in hitting us.

The large red tail calls herself our mother but she seems to do nothing to stop these little monsters, in fact, I think I see a look of pride in her eyes whenever Red hits us.

Whatever, I will be the first to manage this crawling movement I’ve been working on, then we’ll see if Grey can grab my tail. Mother has also stopped presenting us the glorious boobs. Instead, we have these shitty leather pouch things, it’s sour, I’m not happy.

I kick Grey while mother isn’t looking.

Time keeps moving along, I’ve mastered crawling about, but that clever bastard Grey was quick on the take up. He was plodding along after only seeing me move about a few times and Red was only a day or two after that.

Grey, beginning the other day, has stopped touching my tail, sure he still chases me around but he seems to avoid my tail. His fur on his ears seems to stand up when he approaches it.

Red seems unfazed and still uses the frizzy thing as a hug pillow every night, and continues to hit me during the day.

I’ve had enough, as she’s grabbing my tail I swat her hand and punch her ear. She cries, and mother looks angry. Red is her favorite after all.

“I’ll be sure you learn early to treat your sister well!” she seems a little huffy.

Mother picks me up by my tail and plops me into the wash bucket filled with cold water. I’m now freezing, and panicking.

For some reason the cold reminds me of a nightmare filled with gloomy darkness and white flakes falling from above. I start howling like my life depends on it.

She pulls me out, “Oh, sorry, stop crying , please stop crying, don’t be mad at mommy.”

Mother sees this may have been a bad choice for me and tries to quickly dry me off. When she reaches my tail there is a sudden spark of light. Mother is surprised; I spot Grey and Red peaking over the basket. She goes to touch my tail with the drying cloth and again there is a flash of light.

My tail is noticeably less frizzy for the first time.

Nothing more happens however, and so while a tad curious, it’s set aside as something weird and random.

Weeks slowly come and go. Red, Grey and I have now been moved to another room in our apparently large home. All the walls are the same dark wood. The hallways seem to go on forever with endless doors.

As we go down a floor I get a look at a grand pair of opposing curved stairways in the largest room I’ve seen yet.

Massive doors are at one end surrounded by the first windows I’ve seen. Each pane is framed in smoothed, knotted, wooden branches. No light enters however, only the ever present candle light.

The new room is further into this floor. Interestingly this room has dark stone walls and a large area blocked off by a short wooden railing. Mother leads us into this area.

Shortly after, more pups are brought in. They all look about the same age as us.

There are a couple dark grey tails, a few orange, and the rest are some shade of brown. There are no other black tails, no other deep red tails like sister or mother, and none as bright a shade of grey as brother.

I tug at mother’s red silk robe. I point at my own tail, then at the others.

She smiles at me and gives a proud look, “You are the pups of two powerful Alpha bloodlines. Don’t bother comparing your coats to the other families, even in our own pack.”

Sooo, don’t worry about it?

Mother seems to notice something in my expression, “Don’t let it get to your head pup, bloodlines and power don’t make someone a better man.”

Really not sure what she means. My right ear twitches; I don’t like the word pup.

The playroom is now a daily event, Gray has many tails to chase and the occasional flying insect, although he still spends most his time attached to Red’s side.

Red has now come out of her shell as a true bully. She likes to hit the other kids when they have a toy she wants.

I am determined to stay ahead and am trying to walk while holding the wall. Grey being always mindful of me comes over.

By chance I accidentally brush him with my tail as I stumble about and he lets out a rather loud yelp. He seems fine, clearly confused, but fine.

Mother had rushes over thinking I hit someone again. Come on, it’s fine when Red does it?!

Anyway, while she’s looking at me angrily, I hold up my tail and tap it on the nearest idiot, brown tail. The poor fool yelps as a bright spark hits his arm.

I poke the tip of my tail myself and watch the small spark ark, it didn’t hurt me, and instead it just felt warm.

Mother seems completely thrilled and thrusts me in between the majestic boobs, unfortunately, there was some frizz left in my tail and with a bit of a yelp she put me back down quickly yet carefully.

“My darling little fuzz ball I was wondering when you’d begin showing your blood traits. This is so much better than the other mothers thinking you are just the ornery pup!”

Who dares call me such a thing? I’ll thrust this fuzzy black thing down their throats!

I swear I heard a feminine giggle from somewhere. I spot a small black cloud hidden in a dark corner.

After that day mom no longer hugs me or picks me up without a cautionary look at my tail.

Meanwhile, Red still seems completely immune to the spark and finds incredible joy in dragging me about the room by my tail and using me to threaten the other pups for toys and snacks.

Late one night, when all the torches are put out, our room seems chilly. A small candle barely gives any light. Grey is happily snoring and Red is kicking me in her sleep.

As I shuffle out of range of her legs I’m pulled back by her yanking my tail. Someday this has to stop.

From somewhere in the room I hear a high pitched cackle, “Not so smart mouthed now is he?”

A pair of yellow eyes floats over our basket.

A green pair joins and a smooth, feminine voice is heard “Awe he’s so cute.”

The two sets of eyes glow from a pair of black clouds swirling above me. I feel someone tickling my chin, I can’t help but crack a grin.

The male voice, “Yes, adorable when he’s not a human trying to sleep with the mistress.”

I try to grab the clouds, for a moment I seem successful, only to have them slip away.

The female voice, “Oh, seems he’ll take to the mistress’ gifts quite smoothly.”

“As long as he’s not an idiot.”

A soft giggle, “That didn’t hold you back Mauggy dear.”

With a slight growl, “come, let’s leave before the Inari notices us.”

The black clouds fade away into the dark room. So awesome!

Ouch! Red kicked me again!

----------------------------

Chapter 2: Attention Deficit Hazardously Disorderly

-----------------------------

Like water, four years slip by.

From my view on top of the barn, I can actually see out over the tall and lengthy wooden wall shielding the entrance to our enormous cave we use as a den.

Within this cavern are four buildings, the large mansion with halls going deep into the cave, a store house with attached workshop, an armory with a lookout tower on the second floor, and this barn.

Down below I can hear the other pups laughing.

Grey, Red, and the wild one of our white furred, twin cousins, are racing in attempt to catch a stray chicken we let out of the pen.

Grey, as always, is taking the event way too serious. I’ll show him the consequences of trying to show off for the girls. They round the store house and are heading straight to the barn, Grey the clear leader.

As he circles the barn and comes back to the front, he finally manages to grab the feathered prey.

I jump down without a sound.

Grey only gets out, “Hey I caught WUAAAAH!”

I land right behind him and grab his tail to give him a good zap.

After catching the thrown airborne bird, I turn to grin with victory at the girls.

Wild White stops to laugh but Red charges forward with a hungry grin. I’m tackled to the ground with such a force that my breath is knocked away.

Looking up I see Red, cheerfully straddling my chest, chicken hanging limp by the neck in her mouth.

With tail wagging she raises the bird into the air, “Haha I win!”

“Hey sis, we weren’t going to kill it.”

She raises an eyebrow and cocks her head sideways, blood drips on her chin, “Then why chase it?”

Grey walks back over, “How was that remotely fair brother?”

I narrow my eyes at him, “It’s only as fair as how fast you can run.”

“Hey!” shouts a loud angry man, an adult…brown and black tail?

Ah, this must be Ptah the blacksmith. Mother always complains about how his hammering away in the smithy ruins her drinking time in the study.

After walking over he sighs at the scene, “It had to be you pups?…. Your mother is going to yell at me over this…”

He examines the chicken, “Hunting isn’t for sport, that’s a human thing. We of the beast race must be quick, sneaky, and strong all at once to bring down our prey as fast and efficiently as possible and only as much as we need for food. Now, all of you inside and clean up before dinner. Black one, you stay.”

The others laugh as they run in.

Ptah looks down at me with a stern face as if sizing me up. I straighten my back, but coming in at only waist high to him is kind of depressing.

Cutting him off as he opens his mouth, “Hey what tribe are you from? I haven’t seen any other black tails.”

Once more he sighs with slumped shoulders, “What your mother told my wife might just be true. I’m from a Jackal tribe, you should’ve seen my sister and nephew around somewhere in here by now. I just want to make sure you’re not hurt, I saw you jump from the barn roof.”

I pat some dirt from my tail, “Oh, I’m a bit dusty but I’m just fine.”

He raises an eyebrow, “How?”

What do you mean how? Ah, I suppose three floors is pretty high up, “I’m just light?”

He grabs the scruff of my jacket with one hand and lifts me up to eye level with him, “No, in fact you’re a bit big for your age.”

Slightly nervous, I accidentally send a shock to his hand, he drops me of course. My frizzy black tail turns fluffy like a black cloud and my fall is broken just before hitting the ground.

By the time I’m on my feet again my tail is back to normal.

He looks over my shoulder at it, “Can you do that at will?”

What’s with all the questions, “No, it just sort of happens.”

“Hmm, and the shock?”

I have no idea how that works, “Um, I can’t do it a lot, and I have to touch someone to do it.”

He nods his head, “Instinctual magic huh, given your parents I suppose it would be more surprising if you couldn’t do this much at least.”

Yup, he’s lost me.

Seeing the confused look on my face he laughs, “Don’t worry about it, keep practicing and I’m sure you’ll be a big hit at the academy in Yoden. Anyway, hurry up inside, I have a chicken to sneak to the kitchens.”

I nod and run back to the main hall. The large wooden doors are a pain to open alone.

My lonely struggle is interrupted by Mother shoving them open from the inside.

“Fuzzy, you smell like chicken blood too. Hurry up to the bath.”

I avoid looking at her as I abandon the door and take off up the stairs towards our family’s private hall.

At the end of the hall is a sliding paper door framed by a wooden square archway painted red, a torii, mother calls it. The bath chamber is decorated in the style of mother’s homeland.

Just inside is a large, stone fox statue, the guardian of mother’s private hot spring. Vents to the outside keep the air breathable, adjusting them lets the steam build up. It feels so natural to me, like I could join the swirling clouds.

A giggle from my sister reaches me.

She is laying on a warm rock watching Grey try to hold his breath under water. The white twins are here too. The wild one counting on her fingers while the shy one admires Grey.

I sneak up and grab Wild’s shoulders, “Hey! What’s he at?”

She jumps a little from surprise, “You jerk!”

So she said but she is smiling at me.

“Ah I lost count!”

As she looks back at the pool I plop my chin on top of her head, “meh, the show off will get over it.”

The other twin mumbles, “He’s not a show off.”

Red cuts in, “Hey what is it called when you do a trick in front of others watching?”

My thoughts exactly, “I believe it’s called showing off.”

Wild giggles under me.

Grey pops up, taking a deep breath, “how long was it?!”

He frowns seeing my position.

Mother speaks up from somewhere behind me, “Too long, you’re not done washing yet?”

Red hops up, “We’re done!”

“Then get to dinner, and next time little miss, don’t kill any of my chickens”

“Yes mother!”

Red scurries out the door, the shy twin following behind.

Their personality is the only way to tell them apart but it is surprisingly easy.

The one under me reaches up and pats my head to signal she’s leaving. I try to hold back the wag in my tail.

The moment she is out the door, Grey declares, “Black, they’re mine!”

“Huh?”

“The twins, I saw them first.”

He’s staring me down, but no matter how serious he seems I really don’t get it.

“Brother, they’re not slices of meat or a new toy.”

Mother cuts in, “Exactly, now hurry and get dressed Grey. Really you’re too young for this argument. And I doubt your grandmother Hyndla will allow you both twins in the future anyway. She’s always thinking in terms of what’s best for the bloodlines.”

Grey angrily splashes his way out of the water and dries off to get dressed.

Before leaving he turns back to address mother who is trying to get the dirt and blood out of my hair, “Mother, what makes the best hunters?”

Her fingers stop scrubbing my head.

Really Grey, just go eat already, I was enjoying that.

She blows a strand of her red hair out of her face, “The silent predator of course, the prey never has the chance to flee or fight back. Hurry up, you’re going to make me late. I’m supposed to be the image of a perfect woman…never mind that nonsense. 200 years I’ve overseen this den and I can’t believe how unprepared I was for my own children.”

She returns to helping me get rid of the chicken blood smell while muttering to herself, “This is your fault Skoll, you should have knocked up your stupid, feather headed wife…”

I can’t hear anymore as she pours water over me. She’s careful to sit to my side in order to avoid the small sparks discharging from my tail in the water.

Grey is gone, I ask mother while the water runs down my bangs, “Will I be going to the Academy in Yoden?”

Mother sighs once more, “Go rinse off.”

As I hop in the warm pool she answers, “That sort of thing will be decided once you leave this place, which won’t be for a few more years at least. Worry about your first day of lessons tomorrow instead.”

“How much longer till I get a name?”

She takes a seat on the warm rocks alongside of the pool, I guess she’s given up making it to dinner on time. She lifts the bottom of her flowing red kimono and dips her pearl white legs into the pool.

“I’ve told you before, you forgetful pup, you’ll be named once you pass the den’s ritual for all noble born pups.”

Ah…I heard instructor Ragna whispering about this recently, ‘it’s easier to get over the ones that die if they don’t have a name.’

She looks up at me with a new intensity, “Don’t you dare fail my fuzzy little troublemaker, you’ll break your mother’s heart. Ragna has a big mouth.”

Dipped in the edge of the water are mother’s…tails?

Three reddish tails with glowing white tips are swishing the water’s surface, candle sized, white flames dancing above them. The flickers take the shape of small fish as they spread out over the pool. The slight shifts in the flame colors from white to blue and red give the fish the feeling of living things.

Trying to pick one up as it hovers along the surface near me, I cup up the water below it. The fish makes a small circle in my hands before fading away into the steam from the pool.

Mother is smiling brightly at me from the side, “You won’t learn that in the Academy my little darling.”

The next morning, in a room on the first floor.

“Everyone hurry and sit down already!” Pleads Ragna, her voice beginning to crack.

The room is large enough to fit all the other pups within a year of age from me. While the wall with the door is wood, the rest of the room seems carved into the mountain cave. The other pups are slowly finding a spot to plop down for our first day of group lessons.

Sister waves to me, an incredibly bright smile on her face, “Over sleep again brother?”

Wading through the crowd of tail chasing, idiots, I find Grey seated between the twins, with Red next to the shy one.

Another fine chance to mess with older brother!

I step very close to him, he barely dodges a face full of my sparky tail, and plop down on top of the wild twin once more. There’s a slight twitch of his lip but he remains silent. The girl under me flicks my ear and points at sister.

Red looks annoyed for some reason, ah, I suppose I kind of just ignored her greeting.

A stern woman’s voice, “Ragna, get these pups under control already.”

Oh, she is the twin’s mother… She is glaring right at me. Getting off her daughter might be a good idea.

My slow movement over to Red’s side while smiling at the white tail adult earns me a quiet laugh from Wild, success!

Once seated, I place my fuzzy tail in Red’s lap, “Good morning sister.”

She pouts but it fades as she absently strokes the black fur.

Ragna decides to just start before I can say any more to cheer up Red.

“Today is your first lesson of many as a group here in the den. While I’m sure all of you have questions, please quietly listen and ask your mothers later.”

Ahh, having my tail pet feels great, I wonder if regular wolves enjoy this.

“Ehrmm.”

Oops, the twin’s mother is glaring at me again. Ragna is nervously waiting for my attention before continuing.

“Anyway, before you learn anything else, you must learn who you are yes? Today I’ll cover the basics of who and what we are.”

Bored is what I am, Mother taught me this already.

Some war happened hundreds of years ago, we won. We being the beastmen race in simple terms; I don’t remember the fancy real name.

Mother says my father’s tribe, the northern white wolves of the wolfmen clan, led many other tribes from other clans to victory.

Now we control the center of all the known continents. East of us are humans, to the West are the demons. North are free lands for some reason, and South are more beastmen clans under my family’s rule.

“Arghmm!”

Ahh, they’re staring at me again. Why waste everyone else’s time just for me? Get on with it!

A red spark flits within my tail as if to dare Ragna to keep stopping.

While Red pats down my agitated tail fur, the instructor moves on.

“Right, so the important thing to take from this is that within our race, all of you are members of the Lycan Clan. While you come from various tribes, we are all part of the nobility of our great capital city Yoden, under the protection of our glorious leader, the Lord Alpha Fenrir.”

Which is why we are kept hidden in the den for safety till we’re old enough. I could almost see stars in her eyes when she talked about Yoden, it should be a great city. What makes father so glorious anyway?

Is she going to say anything new?

“That’s all for this first lesson!”

Guess not.

“Be sure to ask your mothers tonight about your tribal heritage.”

Ragna is smiling; perhaps she enjoys teaching boring things.

The twin’s mother stands, “Everyone is to meet in the center courtyard for the second part of today’s lesson. Go on, get your butts moving!”

Ragna looks apologetic that she forgot to give these instructions.

After a race of a few dozen children out the front door, all of us stand outside the big house facing Ptah. A couple of female guards standby with barrels, hopefully its food, lunch should be soon. I wonder if Ptah is really the only male in the den.

Ptah clears his throat, “Ahmm, alright pups welcome to the second part of your first lesson. After who you are comes where you are.”

He waves towards the large, black wood gate in the massive wall shielding our den from outside. As they slowly open, I get a better view of what I could barely glimpse at from the barn roof yesterday.

We see the massive black pine trees reaching far above the cave ceiling. Each one has a trunk larger than the guard tower; the needles look longer than I am tall.

“Behold the Great Black Wood, home to creatures so dangerous, no one would dare step within twenty miles of it. This is where our great capitol has chosen to hide and protect our future leaders.”

Leaders? The brown tail pup over there is trying to scratch his ears through his nose.

“Here you will learn how to defend yourself from would be assassins, large animal attacks, and politicians.”

The last one sounds especially dangerous, is it like a poisonous rat?

From behind us I hear mother, “Ptah, stay on track please.”

When did she come out?

Ptah rushes to continue, “You must also learn to hunt, and harness your own talents. Weakness is absolutely not tolerated as a noble of the Yoden beasts.”

This time he signals to the grey tailed, guard women with barrels. They begin handing out sticks to everyone, each one is carved flat and about an arm’s length.

“Almost anywhere you go in our Terra, swords will be the most common weapon, whether you’re looking to buy a weapon or needing to defend yourself from an attacker. The best way to familiarize yourself with a weapon it to first, give it a try yourself. We will be focusing on this for the next month.”

Bla bla bla, only two things matter. First, I have a stick. Second, I have a grouchy older brother.

While Ptah begins to lecture on the names of the parts of a sword, I lightly jab Grey’s leg.

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. Please, like you didn’t see this coming.

This time I poke a little softer at his elbow.

He completely ignores me, this is new…. Ah!

I whisper, “Hey, are you practicing to be an expert silent hunter like they mentioned yesterday?”

He doesn’t face me but nods, intent on hearing the lesson.

“Then allow me to help dear older brother.”

Now I poke somewhat hard, directly at his side below his ribs.

Grey turns and glares, I know he’s at his limit.

While staring him in the eye with a smile I slowly raise the stick and bit, by bit, move it towards his face. I stop just before contact; he looks like he doesn’t believe I’ll actually do it. Really, do you not know your own brother?

I sharply jab it right at his nose.

“Enough!”

He flicks my strike away with his own wooden sword and swings to crack my head open.

The first strike seems slow so I step to the side and try to smack his chest with the flat side of the wood.

However Grey dodges so fast I can’t even come close.

I follow up with a series of wild swings with the sword in one hand, each time he either blocks like he’s been training for a year already or side steps it.

The other pups moved out of the way and are cheering us on, Ptah is simply watching alongside Mother.

I make the hardest swing I can at Grey.

He grins, “Too slow little brother.”

My Attack is harmlessly glanced away with the side of his stick and he counter swings for my face.

Every strand of fur on my tail tells me I can’t dodge this hit.

The edge comes down; I keep my eyes open, refusing to flinch.

But the wooden blade simply passes through a black cloud where I once stood. I reform on the ground behind him in time to watch him stumble and nearly fall.

Grey looks back at me furious, “Not fair.”

With a shrug I look over at Mother and Ptah. He is looking like he expected this, must be what he said yesterday about insticktive magic or whatever. Mother is smiling and gestures at me to get up.

I hop to my feet and renew my charge at brother. This time before he dodges I send as much energy into the blade as I can, it feels like it doesn’t want to let me however.

Despite my excited, sparking swing, Grey still grins and dodges so fast it almost seems a blur.

He comes at me from the sides and behind. While blocking as best I can, nothing can hit him. Abandoning defense and trusting my black clouds, I make an all-out attack.

I focus on feeling his movement more than seeing it, he’s easy to guess.

After another of his swings passes harmlessly through clouds, I reform where he dashed to for his next strike catching him off guard.

I take a stance directly in front of him and use both hands to upswing for his chin with all my strength.

This time he doesn’t manage to dodge but still blocked the attack.

That’s all the chance I need! I deliver a kick square in his chest sending him stumbling back.

Still he doesn’t fall.

Both of us are breathing heavy … really, is it lunch yet? Grey also looks tired and ready to be done, walks towards me.

Ptah calls out, “Not bad you two, but”

Red interrupts, “I wanna play too!”

To my horror she is running full speed ahead at us, sword raised, fully ablaze with red fire!

She takes a fast, crouching stance upon reaching us and makes a noisy sideways swing.

The flames come fast at our heads, Grey and I both block only to be thrown off our feet and onto the ground.

I quickly brush off the burning wood coals from my chest.

Red looks at the charcoal remains of her sword, barely enough to hold in her hand.

She cries, “Mister Blacksmith it broke!”

-----------------------------

Howling Thunder 3: Into the woods.

---------------------------

Three and a half more years creep by, eight years feels too long to be kept hidden away from the world. Commoner males of my race would be striking out on their own by now in search of adventure, work….women.

“OUch!”

What just, waaaaah it’s cold!

I have no trouble in the dim candlelight of my room finding my blanket and pull it back over me. The source of the pain in my ribs is revealed.

Red is hugging my tail, legs kicking in her sleep. She still does this on occasion whenever she’s nervous or upset. It’s happened less since two years ago when we got our own rooms finally.

I pinch the ankle of the offending foot, she wakes with another kick. This one sending me over the edge and onto the hardwood floor.

“You know sister, you have your own bed. Remember? It’s in that room on the side of the hallway with windows. The room which you chased older brother around the entire cave making scary faces until he gave it up.”

A cute girl with short, layered red hair and small red fox ears sticks her head over the side of the bed to look at me on the floor.

Her eyebrows narrow, “I wasn’t making scary faces! I was trying to breath fire!”

….Is that so.

I get up and dive back onto the bed, “I must have dozed off in the lesson about fire breathing foxes.”

She puffs her cheeks, “When aren’t you asleep in class? But no, I saw mother do it! She turned into a fox with two tails and blew little rings of fire!”

Well I wouldn’t put anything past mother, but I think she’s thinking of the smoke rings from mother’s pipe.

While fixing my blankets, “You don’t think you’re getting a bit old to be sneaking into my bed still?”

Red steals the thicker top blanket and wraps herself up in it, “My room is cold, your tail is warm. Why, could it be you feel nervous sharing a bed with the beautiful girl I’m becoming?”

More like I fear waking up with broken ribs, “Hardly sister, besides, you’re tall as some adults, stronger than most of them, and flat as a …”

--------

A knocking wakes me up, must be the throbbing in my head.

Mother walks in my door, she’s upside down… I’m upside down.

She pulls me up by the arm, “Did you sleep like that all night, no, nice black eye darling.”

“Sister seems … to dislike comments about her chest.”

The noble, living goddess, Madam Inari plops onto my bed and snatches up my pillow to sulk into, “My little pups are growing too fast. Look at you, you’re tall as the guards already. Where did my grumpy, little black fuzz ball go?”

I recall the instructor saying something about our race grows larger depending on our individual strength. I’m taller than all the other pups except my siblings. Grey barely beats me but Red is quite ahead.

Sitting on my bed side, mother looks me over. Her arm length pipe sending smoke to my ceiling, I can faintly smell cherries. I like the silver clouds design on the pinkish wood.

She flicks my nose, “Your fine, hurry downstairs, well, don’t hurry, you did hit your head. Just get going, you’re the last pup we’re waiting on.”

Ah! The hunt!

I grab my equipment and stuff it in a pack along with the extra snacks I snuck from the kitchen last night.

Mother watches this from my bed with a grin, I hug her before dashing out into the hallway.

Out in the courtyard the large group of pups stand waiting.

Just as a couple were about to comment they seeme to notice my eye. All the pups look at Red.

She reels back, “He deserved it!”

Red folds her arms as if to say that’s the end of it. I see Older Brother roll his eyes and turn to face the large male in front.

Ptah in his usual blacksmith attire addresses the group, “Alright, now that we’re all here, today as you well know is your final test to earn your names.”

He pauses to look at the excitement in the pups, “You will be moving out in teams of three…”

I’m sure he’s going to go on for a bit, I should give my equipment a check.

“...been sighted a bit west of here, be wary of their markings on the gigapines..”

I quickly glance at the menacing, giant black pine trees that tower into the sky, blocking nearly all light. The den, the gate, the furniture in my room, even the shaft of my spear is carved from the dark wood.

“Lastly, remember that you must be back by evening tomorrow. Any way I won’t delay you anymore, first group step forward.”

Oh? Well that’s a first.

The groups make their way forward from the gate, Ptah holds them until the previous group is out of sight and sends the next one in a new direction.

When Grey’s turn is next, the wild white twin leans over to me and plants a kiss on my cheek, “Good luck Fuzzy.”

She almost skips to catch up with my silent brother. I’m doing my best not to laugh at the annoyed glance he gave me as he ignored Ptah and immediately turned west out the gate.

“Black,” Sister looks in the same mood as Grey, “your tail is wagging.”

“Pardon me for trying to enjoy my day despite waking up on the floor because of a certain someone’s temper.”

Her body goes rigid, “I do Not have a temper!”

Says the girl with flickers of red flames in her hair. I pat them out and she seems to relax a bit. Just in time for our turn.

Ptah pulls a black and tan furred boy from the group of remaining pups, “Black, take my nephew with you two. Head directly north, don’t bother hunting till tomorrow, the further you go the better chances of finding something to compete with what your brother is after. Just don’t be late or get your group killed. Your mother and my family will torture me till the end of my days.”

The jackal tribesmen doesn’t seem to be kidding.

Whatever, I do a last mental check of my gear. Spear, jacket, rope, blanket, knives, food, everything I need to get lost for one night.

We set off straight ahead. The dark woods welcoming us like death itself. The enormous black pines barely allow a few snowflakes to make it to the ground. What new adventure awaits us? What danger lurks...

“So are you gonna marry my cousin?” Jackal boy asks.

The dangerous look from Red is not quite what I had in mind.

She snaps at him, “You! What are you talking about?”

His tail wags at my sister’s attention, trust me buddy, it isn’t a good thing.

He puffs out his chest, “Call me Copper, and I heard my uncle talking to the Inari about it at dinner. They said Black here will get Ptah’s daughter for a wife.”

Ohh, “Is she cute?”

Red immediately punches my shoulder, I nearly trip over a branch.

Sister is too selfish, “Red, let’s not injure your nice older brother before we even make camp.”

She lets out a single laugh, “Nice? Who was it that spent a whole week bursting from shadows to scare Instructor Ragna? Or how about when you poured honey into eldest brother’s pillow.”

Copper adds in, “Uncle told me you once hid a fish in the forge, he said the stench lasted for a month.”

“Wasn’t me.”

A flat lie. Both of them stop to look back at me.

I let out a sigh, “We’ve been holed up in the den for years, pardon me for getting bored.”

Red stretches her arms as she continues ahead, “You’re always bored brother.”

Jackal boy asks me in a whisper, “Do think she’ll be happy if we find something fantastic to hunt?”

This little…, “Oh yes, Red won’t be satisfied unless we bring home at least three bears.”

I see her smile back as she slightly glances at me.

Copper grips his spear tighter, he’s either motivated or nervous...probably both.

From Red up front, “I wonder if there are dragons in these woods?”

The Jackal pup trips on a stick and his face hits the dirt.

The trek is completely and disappointingly uneventful. After setting up camp and a few awkwardly horrible joke attempts from Copper over dinner, we call it a night and I drift off to sleep...

I’m falling, plummeting from a cold night sky. The stars light up the endless snowy mountain tops below. The white capped trees below look like spikes waiting to embrace me. The icy wind chills my every bone.

Just as I see the outline of something large flying off a cliff below me into the trees a voice echoes in my mind, sweet and alluring.

“Wake up my toy, we’ve so fun much ahead.”

Fun?

A giggle, the snow surrounds me and all fades to black.

My eyes snap open, above me is the canvas I stretched over the two large tree roots we’re sleeping between. The dim light of the all but burnt out fire lets me watch the smoke crawl along the cloth until exiting out the gap in the back at the base of the great black pine tree.

At the crackle of the embers I look around, Jackal boy is nestled opposite the fire, Red is snuggled with my tail behind me. I slowly wave my hand through the small wafts of black clouds emanating from my frizzy tail fur. Small sparks tickle the back of my hand, a humid warmth, she’s always liked it.

Feeling the chill of the night I put another chunk of wood on the fire with some sticks. I’m not sure I want Copper to see my sister like this.

I look out the open front of our shelter, the tree we chose is growing at the edge of a small rock outcropping on a hill side. I can see by the light of the stars, distant pines, normal ones. As a few snowflakes drift past the entry I can’t help but shudder.

The dim light of the sun begins to creep into the sky off in the far distance.

With a flick to Red’s ear, “Wake up sister, let’s get this done and go back to our cave….I don’t like it here.”

She instead gives a very uncharming grunt and rolls over, my tail still in her arms, I get dragged on top of her.

Red opens her eyes and gives a small yip at me being on top of her.

Copper wakes up, “What’s all the fuss….I’m sorry, I’ll wait outside while you two finish.”

“Ah! No...Red stop turning all red!”

Her embarrassed face is not helping here!

I hop up, head hitting the canvas, “Don’t be saying stuff like that Copper! She’s my sister and furthermore I have no interest in a girl without any brea.. OOMpf!”

Red kicked my legs out from under me….something smells like burning, “MY TAIL!!!”

I had landed in the smoldering fire, once more I jump up and pat out my singed tail fur.

Red hands me a biscuit, “Stop fussing brother, your tail is so frizzy from your own sparks that you can’t even tell where it was burnt.”

Clutching it in my arms I stare her down, “Suppose I’ll just send a few of those sparks at your tail then we can match.”

I point at her silky red tail with it’s slightly blackened tip.

The sharpness of her gaze cuts me to the core, “Do and I’ll rip yours off your ass, you should be happy brother, I won’t need to sneak into your bed anymore.”

Copper is now sitting on the large root behind her, unsure what to say, only to stutter, “Y-You can use my t-tail if you want Red.”

She doesn’t even look at him as she punches the root with enough force to make a dent and shake him off of it.

He stumbles to land proper but instead falls on his face.

A small, icy gust blows through our site and I look back out at the ravine. The sun has begun to peek over the horizon from under the grey clouds. The light reflects from the snow covered trees below.

“Seriously, I don’t like it here let’s get hunting already. We’re at the edge of The Black Wood like Ptah instructed, this should be the primary territory of the dominant animals.”

Red gets a glimmer in her eyes, “We’re looking for something big right?! Like a dire bear or a lion!”

Copper, “Of course! We’ll bring back something so that Uncle will declare us the best hunters in the den!”

Sister raises an eyebrow at him, he corrects himself, “That you’re the best hunter Red.”

Wimp, I laugh, “You won’t be taking my credit dear sister, but Copper if that is your stance I don’t mind letting you carry our packs for us.”

While Red pounds her fist into her palm thinking it’s a great idea, Copper raises his arms to decline the offer...only to have sister’s pack placed in them. Too late fella, you asked for it, once she sees you as an underling you’re stuck with it.

We head along the ridge line, the edge of the gigapines. Anything large enough to be an alpha beast would hunt in the normal forest but still make it’s home in the large pines.

It’s odd that the great black pines don’t bother me like the normal ones down the hill. I suppose it’s because all I can really see of them is their trunks. The branches and needles are far above us, blocking out the sky.

Hopefully if we keep along here we find something good before too long. Ptah sent us out this far, it would suck to head back empty handed just because we ran out of time.

Crack.

A snap of a twig from behind me.

Copper is holding twigs in his hands….

Whispering in anger, “This isn’t play time, we won’t get anything if you’re banging sticks around!”

That’s really not as satisfying as just yelling, maybe I should copy sister and just hit him next time. He puts his hands together and bows his head silently to apologize. Red shrugs so I let it be.

Turning back around I take one step.

Crack! Far louder than before.

Rehearsing to the ground in front of me, “Alright, I’m sorry Ptah, Copper tripped and fell, he landed really awkward. A broken arm will mend in no time.”

Turning around reveals a surprise. Copper is looking rather confused at the twigs in his hands. Behind him is a black creature similar to a deer, looking equally confused. It’s large, easily bigger than any ox or horse from the den, and it seems out of breath.

Red yells, “It’s an Alce!”

As Copper turns around in shock, I yell, “Who cares, Kill It!”

The Alce no longer standing still in shocked fear, turns to run.

Copper barely manages to leap after it, the tip of his spear barely making a small cut on the rear of the large beast. It reacts by kicking out with its hind legs to hit Copper square in the chest.

He flies back against a nearby root clutching his chest and slumping over onto the ground.

Red single mindedly jumps after the Alce but I call her back.

“Stop!”

She looks back at me angrily and then sees the injured jackal boy.

With a sigh she says, “I want to hunt something more impressive anyway.”

Helping Copper to sit up, I can feel that he surely has at least a couple broken ribs.

The ground begins to shake, like the rumble of distant thunder we can hear something coming towards us from the direction the Alce ran.

Louder by as each moment the booming rumbling is getting closer and will reach us soon. Red and I move Copper into a knot of the large root.

I barely toss down my gear and grip my spear when it charges into view.

A black bull Alce is a tower of a beast, large enough to feed off the pine branches which would extend over even the watchtower of the den.

The size of his antlers is such that I wonder how it even navigates between trees. The flat center is bordered by countless white spikes, some with red stains.

But this is no time to be messing around, it clearly is charging directly at us.

Copper mutters, “that must have been it’s pup we just attacked.”

“I don’t think they’re called pups...Whatever, get ready Red, here’s our great prize.”

The fearless grin appearing on her face gives away the excitement she has to match my own.

She cracks her knuckles and dashes to the nearest pine. As she starts to furiously climb, claws digging into the bark as if it was mud, wood chips scatter in her wake. I steady my breath and stare down the approaching threat.

Closer, the thunder of his hooves beating the forest floor is almost deafening.

Closer, I can see the movement in his muscles with his heavy breathing as he charges.

I point my spear at his muzzle, Mother would kill me if she saw this.

Closer, I can see my reflection in his enormous brown eyes.

The moment that would see me crushed into dog mush instead I burst into a black fog.

He rears up his head in fury, I reform on top his head between the antlers.

Red dives from the tree landing on his left antler and running to meet me atop his skull.

I stab down with my spear, point barely piercing the flesh before making contact with rock hard bone.

He whips his head right as if to shake off a fly, throwing me loose.

Red has no choice but to dive forward from the upturned antler, her arm is coated in flickering red flames as she manages to punch him in the left eye.

She catches onto the coarse black fur of its muzzle, arms still alight.

My fog breaks my fall, the beating in my chest makes my blood scream with excitement as I roll away from his front hooves as he bucks.

He rears his head one more time, successfully tossing Red back up into the trees. It would be impossible to miss her laughter echoing as she disappears into the pine needle branches.

The bull takes a stance to stare me down with his one open eye, the smell of burnt hair in the air.

With a snort he lunges, scooping his antlers to impale me on one of the hundred points.

The air around me crackles with energy, jumping I land on the antler and begin to charge up the flat center as he lifts me up, time seems to slow as I take my leap towards his right eye.

It’s strange to watch my own reflection in the black center of his eye as big as me.

I land with my spear in dead center, kicking off to get clear before he can thrash his head from side to side in utter fury and pain.

The big, bad, Alce is now almost completely blind, my spear deep in his right, the left constantly blinking from Red’s fiery claws.

She drops from the high canopy, arms in a full coat of red fire. Her hair ablaze, flickering off the tip of her fox ears. Her tail leaving a trail of embers as she lands on the monster’s back.

He bucks and kicks, chunks of wood flying everywhere as the nearby pines have their trunks destroyed by his hooves.

Flames and smoke can be seen all along his back as Red claws about, digging into his flesh in order not to be thrown off. Barrels worth of blood seems to be raining from the wounds she’s carving out.

It barely catches sight of me and makes one more attempt at a head butt.

I can’t help but laugh like my sister did as I once more shift into the black fog.

He’s only helping me reach his vitals faster, I reform standing on top of my spear still deeply embedded into the eye.

I call back to Red who is just clawing her way to the top of his head, “Sorry Little Sister, but this trophy is mine!”

Feeling the surge, I discharge every spark I can muster into his eye.

The light is blinding and the spear itself becomes charred ash as the Great Alce spasms his head up, throwing me into the air.

I watch him collapse below me, face first into the dirt.

Upon landing I can see Red’s frustrated pout, she yells, “I was about to finish him!”

“I don’t think he would have died from your scratching his back a little.”

She looks about to argue but instead looks behind me in shock then fear.

A high pitched, hoarse voice cackles, “Hahaha not bad little fuzzy toy, I love free food.”

Spinning around I see a giant of a black wolf, easily the type that would have hunted such a large alce.

It narrows menacing yellow eyes at me and jumps forward, I once more shift to fog.

The enormous wolf’s front paw is too fast and I can feel myself pulled out from the cloud and pinned to the ground.

A toothy grin, “Come now don’t try to escape already... Hehe, heehehe..”

He busts into an annoyingly loud cackle mid threat, then suddenly bursts into a great black fog bank himself.

Sitting up I catch sight of it, now only slightly larger than a normal sized wolf, rolling on the ground nearby in the fog. After a moment it manages to stop and after a sigh the wolf gets up and shakes the dirt off its rugged black coat.

It whimpers, “I’m sorry mistress, I couldn’t keep a straight face.”

Looking back at me, anger in his yellow eyes he growls, “Get home fuzzy toy, your friend doesn’t look well. Leave the Grand Alce, I’ll take care of it.”

Really it is hard to take his menacing tone seriously anymore, I can see the edges of his lips struggling not to grin.

I hear him once more break into a cackling laughter as he fades into the fog.

The black fog spreads everywhere, I find Red by the flickering light of small subdued flames in her hair.

She whimpers, “What’s going on brother, where did that monster go?”

With a shrug, “Let’s just find the idiot jackal pup and get back to the den.”

As if to show the way, the black fog thins to reveal the spot we hid Copper.

Like the wolf said, he’s having a hard time breathing, his eyes shut with no sign of waking.

We carefully pick him up between us.

Sister nervously looks around, “How will we find our way….oh.”

Like a tunnel in the cave, the black fog leaves only one direction clear, she looks to me.

I guess that fellow isn’t going to eat us, “It’s not me, don’t worry let’s just get moving, we’ll be late at this rate.”

As we walk she suddenly asks, “What about my trophy!”

After sniffing the air I sigh, “Our trophy Sister, use your nose.”

She perks up in surprise, “It’s gone?! I can’t smell the blood or the charred fur!”

I don’t say anything but continue to pull her along as we carry jackal boy.

Can’t say I like this, walking blindly through the dangerous Black Woods, led by a crazy monster, our prize disappeared.

The day slips by, I can only think Red will panic if we stop to rest in this darkness.

A familiar smell hits me, “We’re home Sister.”

She perks up looking forward, true to my word the fog bank clears to reveal the front of the den only a bit ahead.

Mother is standing in the open gates and begins to walk forward, Ptah right at her heel. She waves her hand and he steps ahead of her to take Copper from us.

Red and I collapse to the dirt in exhaustion.

Mother looks behind us and smiles warmly, “A rather showy way to escort my pups home Mauggy.”

I feel the air shift as Red and I watch the great black fog that led us home quickly funnel into the form of a small black dog, a wolf pup.

It happily barks and runs past us, jumping into mother’s arms… I swear it just buried his head in mother’s chest.

She laughs and flicks his nose, “Naughty, Ulfy will punish you.”

Mother looks past us as the smell of blood fills my nose, “Not bad my pups, your father would be tickled with joy like the idiot he is.”

The Grand Alce bull carcass is laid at the edge of the woods just behind us.

Howling Thunder 4: What’s in a Name

---------------------------------------------------

With a sigh I get to my feet, resisting the urge to wince. My everything is sore, bed sounds very nice about now.

Mother has other things in mind as she sets down the black pup and sends him towards the den.

We watch as he shifts into a small black cloud and disappears.

She turns back to us, “Hurry inside, bathe, rest for a little bit then get ready for tonight’s ceremony. Red darling come to my room, Black go to your brother’s.”

As we head into the den I spot Grey near the stables standing next to a brown bear larger than a covered wagon. It’s huge head is maned with darker fur. The fur on its back and forearms are matted and hardened to the appearance of armor plates. The teeth are so large most don’t seem to fit in the mouth.

Walking up to him, “Nice bear brother.”

“Dire Bear.” he corrects.

Red puffs out her nonexistent chest, “Not quite as impressive as my alce however.”

Feeling the pangs of a headache, “Our alce, sister.”

Surprisingly he laughs, “Ya, not bad you two.”

We lightly chuckle, glad that the event is over.

Grey has more than a few scratches in his armor, I can spot the twins napping against each other at the base of the barn. They’re no doubt responsible for the several puncture wounds on the bear’s side from their ice magic.

Noticing my gaze Grey points at the holes, “I should learn magic, my sword couldn’t cut most of the hide. They brought it down while I kept it busy. Then it’s so big we had to make an ice path to slide it home.”

Not helping it I grin, “Guess there’s a bit more to it than sneaking up and being fast huh?”

He raises an eyebrow, shrugs his shoulders and leads the way inside, we pick up the twins on our way.

Hardly a moment later and I’m sitting in the bath large enough to swim in, it is almost too relaxing. The steam rising from the hot water swirls in front of me. Nevermind excitement for receiving a name tonight I actually begin to drift off to sleep.

“Wake up fuzzy.” whispers a sweet female voice.

My eyes bolt open to look around, Mother is busy with preparations and sister left before I dozed off. The voice didn’t belong to either of them and yet it felt familiar.

The steam  swirls as if a wind had somehow managed to reach this deep in the cave and from somewhere I hear a faint laughter echo.

It’s been too long of a day.

Returning to my room I find Grey standing around, he must have got impatient waiting for me.

With a grin I tease, “Hey brother I think you need to try harder at this perfect hunter thing if you can’t even wait up a bit.”

He scowls and jerks his head at the outfit waiting on my bed, “Hurry, I don’t want to look bad for Mother by being late.”

What and I do? “Fair enough.”

The leather jacket is black with a black, rabbit fur collar. A set of black cotton pants and shirt to match as well and a black sash. The whole get up is opposite the white outfit that grey is wearing, except his doesn’t have the right sleeve.

He’s really not the most muscular fellow, “Who are you trying to impress big guy?”

I laugh as he leaves the room without response. I already know he’s trying to look impressive to the twins.

Surely the twin’s Mother dressed them up, now I’m getting excited.

Meeting brother in the hall, we wait outside of Mother’s room. Eventually she and Red step out in matching red, silk kimonos. Mother’s reveals some of her chest and is patterned with white and pink flower petals.

Red’s sleeves end at her elbows and the bottom ends just above her knees. The pattern is of black flowers I don’t recognise, as the candle light catches the dress is almost looks like the flowers shimmer in red flames from the silk. It would be nice if she wasn’t so tall and kept her hair short and layered in spikes.

Red smiles, “Are your tales wagging for me?”

Grey and I, “As if.”

He turns down the hall.

I say as I turn to follow, “I bet the twin’s mother will dress them to compete with sister.”

It isn’t hard to notice as he almost trips, Mother can be heard giggling from behind.

Red pipes up, “I’m obviously going to be the best dressed in the den.”

I let out a fake sigh, “Sister it’s obvious that such dresses aren’t suited to you.”

Mother disagrees, “My darling daughter looks radiant no matter what she’s wearing. I’ll curse any boy who attempts to steal her from me.”

The only one dumb enough to even try to chase the tail of such a barbaric girl is Copper, speaking of.

There he stands next to his mother and Ptah.

While Copper lets his mouth hang open at Red, Ptah pounds the top of his head and says, “Get in the front pups, it is time to start.”

My ear twitches at being called a pup but before I can say anything, something brilliantly white catches my eye.

The twins are in the group of pups, a space separates them from the others who are too nervous to accidentally brush against the perfectly white dresses.

Their white hair is cut very short in the back at the neck but then from the top it makes a curve along the sides coming to a point with the bangs to either side of their face being down past their shoulders. Their bare shoulders, a line of white fur connects the flowing sleeves across the top of their chests to the pure white gown that tightly fits them.

As always the only way someone could tell them apart is by the way one tries to make herself seem smaller so not to stand out while the other is scanning the crowd on her toes without a care. She spots us and pulls her sister along over to us.

She looks at me with a stunning smile, “Glad to see you in one piece Fuzzy.”

Surely I have a stupid grin right now, the shy one is playing with Grey’s hair.

Red growls from behind, “So this is why your tails were wagging.”

I notice Wild’s face blush slightly as she sees that mine certainly still is swishing back and forth.

…..As if I’m ever going to let Grey have her.

Wild doesn’t let it get awkward however and moves to admire sisters kimono.

The lights begin to dim and we straighten up, on either side of me is Red and Wild, opposite her is her sister and then Grey. He takes her arm in his causing her skin to turn pink against her white dress.

Wild sneaks her hand through her own folded arms and pulls me closer to her, she’s trying not to look directly at me as she smiles.

Worried Sister might get angry and possessive like usual, I look at her. To my surprise however, she’s fidgeting and biting her claws.

She whispers to me, “What if I get a stupid name? I’ll lose all respect.”

Oh this is too good, “You’ll be fine. …Maybe.”

She glares daggers, “What if I’m cursed for hitting the other pups?”

With a shrug I tease, “I wouldn’t be surprised, but don’t worry your pretty head, I’ll still let you use my tail as a hug pillow. Unless, you’re stricken ugly and forever flat chested, in such a case please don’t touch me.”

She is slowly becoming a mirror image of mother, a tall, fiery, red beauty fitting a queen.

Wild pinches me and gives me a sheepish grin as if to tell me to stop teasing my sister.

Grey whispers at the surprise of everyone, “Don’t fret sister you are surely already blessed and as Mother has said countless times, you will be father’s pride and joy.”

A hint of jealousy is visible in the shy twin, I imagine Grey has been keeping up the silent act with even them.

Red seems to once more glow with pride and self confidence. I can’t help but wonder if what she said about the gods cursing someone for their behavior might have some merit.

I guess we’re about to find out.

The candles in the room begin to snuff out starting from the front entrance. Slowly the darkness creeps past the gathering of mothers behind us. The great antler chandelier above us goes out.

Small flickers of ghostly white flames appear along the mirrored, curved staircases on either side of the great hall.Two large flames ignite near the center of the balcony.

The fire seems unreal, as if it should make more light than it is or shift in color. Instead the flames remain pure white. Soft crackles of embers can be heard even though nothing is really burning. I can’t smell any wood burning...the fire has to be magic.

These ghostly flames seem to dance around the Inari as she ascends the stairs.

With the fire’s glow as her backdrop, Mother steps forward to the railing holding a white stone. It’s perfectly round and polished to a gloss, it’s size slightly larger than my head.

She calls down, “Before we hear the words of our gods, let us take a moment to pray to them for mercy. May they treat with care the souls of our little ones who did not return from the trial of our pack.”

It dawns on me now that not all the ones who stood in the courtyard yesterday have returned to stand with us tonight.

A couple soft, feminine sobs can be heard before Mother continues, “While the tradition may seem barbaric to some as Terra is idle with peace, never forget the cost at which it came. This is the cost we pay to maintain it. The strength of our people, our great city of Yoden, favored by the gods is what holds back the tide of evil which would see Terra drown in chaos.”

She pauses, waiting for the tears of those lost in grief to stifle.

As silence returns, Mother begins the ceremony, “Let the pups ascend in order of birth. Come and learn what the gods have named you, let them guide you towards glory and prosperity for our Yoden.”

A small flame moves from the staircase and stops in front of an orange furred pup of the fox tribe.

One by one, the embers guide pups up the staircase to have them stand before the stone. after a moment Mother calls down a few words including their new name and the god which granted it. Everyone softly claps and the pup comes back down to join their mother in the crowd.

What does that mean though? Some god has already decided our entire life for us? Am I about to walk up there and be given no choice in my future? Do I have no say, is this all a game to some otherworldly being?

I refuse…

A familiar giggle once more, I look around but no one else seems to have heard it.

The next ember stops before Wild, I can sense her tensing up and hesitate. Something beyond reason compels me, gently, I press her forward from the small of her back. As I watch her nervously climb the stairs she glances back to me.

I smile... She really is pretty...

Then looking at the stone I whisper so quietly no one can hear, “There is no place in any heaven or hell to hide from me should even a god bring harm to my family.”

These words seem strange, just what is heaven or hell… I can see mother staring directly at me as Wild reaches her.

I feel a pulse in my tail, small red sparks flicker in the fur drawing the attention of my sister.

Once more, I smile… can she tell it’s fake?

A quiet laughter whispers in my mind, a woman’s, again familiar.

This laughter...who is it? The same person seems to always be there, haunting me from the shadows. Every now and then I catch glimpses of a black shadow watching me from some random hiding place. It’s been like this as long as I can remember.

Mother from up above, “Let us congratulate Asta, blessed by Vasilisa.”

I clap softly along with everyone else. When Asta returns to my side I can see a slight look of embarrassment in her face as she avoids looking at me while seeming to be resisting the urge to bury her face in her hands.

The shy twin is already moving up the stairs.

Shortly later, “Let us welcome to our family Sassa, likewise blessed by Vasilisa.”

As she joins her sister, I see that she too has a pink tinge to her face. She however, seems to be fighting back an enormous smile. She sneaks a glance at Grey who is now watching an ember approach him.

Somewhere behind me I hear whispering, “Madam Hyndla will be so proud of her granddaughters.”

The woman is talking about Grandmother?

Grey reaches the top of the stairs.

The stone emits it’s eerie white glow, a moment passes. Grey has a complicated expression but still he stands up straight and faces the crowd.

Mother sighs and turns towards us, “Let us …praise, Walther, favored of Vilia.”

The clapping is less enthusiastic this time. the younger folk seem fine, it is the older mothers that seem unsure of what to do.

As Walther begins to descend the stairs I hear the same whispers, “A minor dark god? Really he was such a fine boy…”

The next ember stops before me preventing me from listening more.

As I walk past brother I can see a look of worry on his face, his brow furrowed, eyes lost in the wood floor. I can only pat his shoulder as I walk by. He knows better than to wear such a face in front of the girls.

Nervousness creeps into my chest as I walk up the stairs now. Each step feels heavier than the last. It is as if I can feel every eye in the den on my back.

At the top of the stairs I’m surprised to find Mother smiling wide. The light of the ghost flames can be seen in her eyes. She says nothing, her arms present the stone in front of me.

I can see my reflection in it, pressed back black hair that reaches my shoulders. I have sharp features with my lean build, dark red eyes like my mother and siblings. Red always said I look like the villains in the playroom story books.

The stone pulses suddenly and I feel like something has stolen my ability to move.

The familiar female laugh once more rings in my head, “Ah, finally...My darling pet, I Freki give you the name Nox and deem you the agent of my will, my champion in this world. I’ve granted you my lost bloodline and more. Fear nothing in this world, whatever path you chose, all shall stand aside.”

What about my will?

She laughs like a cute young girl, “Oh relax, I play nice...ish. Anyway now that the important shit is out of the way, obey your mother, she’s a good sport. Have fun with your fiance, she’s smarter than she looks. Oh, and continue to be a good hug pillow for your sister she’ll probably be a great queen one day. That’s all this time. Later Fuzzy, love ya.”

As I stand here, atop the railing, I find myself in a small state of shock.

Mother can hardly hold it in and giggles slightly.

My ear twitches and a rather violent red light pulses through my tail.

She smiles and fearlessly puts a hand on my shoulder, “Let us congratulate Nox, Champion of the Goddess Freki.”

When she announced this, my mood didn’t keep me from noticing a few concerned, almost pained, expressions among the adults while the rest of the pack applauded harmlessly.

Mother then whispers, “Now move along Fuzzy, it’s your sister’s turn.”

I slowly descend the stairs. Passing Walther, Sassa, and Asta, I take my place next to Red just as an ember leads her away.

Asta can tell I’m upset, linking an arm with mine. The momentary distraction allows my tail to deflate from its static charged state and it begins to calmly wag.

Not being able to help it, I grin over to Walther who is attempting to kill me with his eyes.

Sister slightly fumbles on her way up the stairs, the nervousness getting to her. She glances at the crowd but everyone else knows better than to laugh at her. My little sister’s failed attempt at elegance...I chuckle.

Despite the rather… well, whatever message from that goddess Freki, I’m enjoying tonight quite a bit.

My mirth quickly fades when I see the pained look my mother has as sister finishes with the stone.

Mother gives a lovely fake smile and announces… no, commands, “Hail, Akane, future Empress and Chosen of Hoji.”

Again the ignorant applauds and the old cower.

I also notice some confusion in the other pups, in myself as well. What is an empress?

The whispers behind me speak up again, “All three pups blessed by dark gods, surely the Inari is being punished for her pride. This one is hardly a surprise the way she bullied the other pups so much.”

Did this bitch just...

I slowly exhale and whisper to myself, “Stay calm.”

...Stay...Calm...

A flash of red sparks from my tail, “Nope!”

Whipping around violently, I grab the source of that insult to my mother and sister.

My recent growth spurt has put me standing face to face with none other than the instructor, Ragna. With my hand tightly gripped around her neck, I briefly remember the black wolf from this morning.

I can actually smell her fear, it’s in her blue eyes that watch as black fog rolls up my arm. My fingers grow claws that draw blood, another dim flicker of red light from my tail and I swear her grey hair lifts slightly.

Mother calls down from the balcony, “Let her down Nox.”

When did I lift her off the floor?

The Inari speaks in a cold tone, “Ragna, I will not suffer insubordination or insults in my own den. Present yourself in front my study immediately and wait, do not enter.”

After the old hag exits into the hallways the remainder of the ceremony proceeds smoothly. At the end everyone is encouraged to go enjoy the feast in the dining hall.

Walther, Akane and I wait for Mother in the main hall.

She tells us to come up and we follow her to the study. As we exit the hall the ghost lights dim out and the normal candles all relight at once with a small poof.

Ragna is standing outside the office door, clearly nervous the way she shifts her weight from foot to foot and clenching her fists into her grey robe.

Mother opens the door and ushers her in and us as well. She shuts the door behind her then heads over to her private cabinet where her sake is kept.

After sitting down at her desk with a small pitcher she takes a drink and motions Ragna forward.

“I would think by now, Miss Ragna, that you would understand my title of being a Living Goddess was not some fluff or pretty words but an actual fact. As such you should know that your whispered gossiping was heard clearly just as much as if you had yelled it directly into my ears.”

Ragna wipes the sweat of her palms behind her back and starts to mumble, “My apolo-”

Bang!

A cup is slammed against the desk.

“No! I’m tired of your apologies,” Mother stares her in the eyes, “You are lucky I don’t curse you to a year of nightmares let alone agree to you succeeding as head of this den as per Hyndla’s proposal.”

With a stutter, “M-Madem Inari, if I return to Yoden with such shame, Mistress Hynd-”

She stops as Mother stands, “Hyndla will blissfully ignore your plight.”

As the instructor seems to be searching the wood floor for answers to her confusion, Mother sits back down.

“You will depart with the next caravan. Now leave, send up Rota immediately.”

At the mention of the twin’s mother, Rota, Instructor Ragna stands rigid. She stares at mother as if to confirm her thoughts only to receive a cold grin for a response.

She fixes her posture as if to salvage her remaining pride, “As you command Madam Inari.”

Mother closes the door behind the woman and returns to her desk, “Maug, come on out.”

From the shadows at the edge of the fireplace, the black wolf puppy with yellow eyes trots out and jumps into her lap.

He gives an odd cackle, “Hehe, Ulfy would have loved to witness that.”

“And who says I didn’t?” A smooth woman’s voice comes from the couch facing the fireplace.

I lean a bit and see there is a gorgeous woman stretched out where no one was a moment ago.

Her legs are bare all the way to mid way up her thigh, she’s wearing what looks like a black knit dress that tightly hugs her alluringly slim figure and delicately hangs from her pale white shoulders. Her silk black hair lazily covers her neck, bright green eyes wink at me.

A crass bark from the puppy and he jumps over the desk enlarging to a normal sized wolf, “You’ll stop staring at my mate, Fuzzy Toy!”

The woman gets up, she’s a head shorter than me.

Smiling at me, she walks around the couch to pet the upset wolf, “Now now Maugy dear. He’s allowed to look but not touch.”

Maug starts to growl again but Akane cuts him off, scowling at the woman, “Who are you? What do you want with my brother?”

Walther cuts in, “What are you.”

What?

Looking at the woman again, she doesn’t have ears or a tail...ah.

I ask, “A human?”

She frowns, I sense she’s disappointed at my guess. She smells the same as the wolf next to her.

Mother introduces them, “Maug and Ulfa, are both the same as you Nox. Servants to the Goddess Freki, Lycans with black fur. They both have grown up in this world finding it easier to appear as something else. You’ll understand once you study your family’s history at the castle library in Yoden.”

The woman, Ulfa, stands and smirks at Akane, then looks at me, “We are here to instruct our mistress’ champion on many basics related to his bloodline. One of us will remain here in the den at all times until you all depart for Yoden. At that point Maug will escort the caravan while I proceed ahead to The Bastion. Once he reaches the city I will serve as his tutor until it is no longer necessary.”

Akane looks to interrupt once more but Mother cuts her off, “You, my darling daughter, will be too busy studying with me to worry about your brothers, and as Hoji instructed, once we reach Yoden you will be always at your father’s or my side from dawn till dusk. On that note, Walther, you”

 

A small knock at the door.

Mother calls, “Enter.”

The twins mother, Rota, enters, “You called for me Madam Inari.”

Facing the room, Maug and Ulfa have moved back over to the fire, two black wolves lay on the floor.

Rota only spares a glance before presenting herself in front of the desk.

Mother pours another drink for herself, then another and passes it to Rota, “I hereby name you as successor of the den, however”

She pulls out a letter, “Your first task is to balance learning your new duties while teaching my eldest ice magic. He should have a talent for it in some capacity or another, his grandmother is already looking forward to how much he can learn before he reaches her and your two eldest for further training.”

They drink to her appointment and we are sent off to eat before bed.

Akane absent mindedly follows me to my room only to throw a small fit at the sight of Ulfa stretched out on my bed.

Don’t tell me this tease even plans on staying in my room?!