Nyx looked at me approvingly after I said that I would face my fears. Happy that she approved of my choice, I waited for her to teleport me near the wolves. Before she teleported me near where the wolves lived she gave me some advice. “The bear may not have been a challenge to defeat but the wolves are different. While they aren’t as strong as the bear they make up for that missing strength with their numbers. If you aren’t guarded from all angles a wolf might sneak behind you.”

Knowing that she was just worried about me, I listened to all the advice she gave to me before I assured her that I would be fine. “Don’t worry mother, I'll be careful enough to make sure that the wolves won’t even get close enough to be a danger. I can always teleport to a better position if they manage to sneak behind me.” I wasn’t as skilled as Nyx when it came to teleporting long distances but I would still be able to distance myself from danger.

She showed me one last worried expression before grabbing on to me as we teleported. Thankfully teleporting just consisted of hiding in your own shadow and then appearing out of a different shadow so it never disoriented me. When we came out of the shadow I asked Nyx about what direction the wolves were in and how far away they were.

“In truth they never left the area around your village because they took over the fox dens that existed near your village. If we were to walk forward for a few minutes we would find the clearing where your village used to be.” I was stunned after I heard what she said because I never thought I would go back to my village. But I quickly cleared my head and posed a question towards Nyx.

“Why are the wolves still near my village? There shouldn’t have been enough animals near my village to hunt for multiple years worth of food because of the soldiers burning the village and nearby parts of the forest down. I highly doubt that they decided to only eat berries for the rest of their lives.”

Nyx took a second to let out a light chuckle at what I said before she continued to speak. “The barrier around your village didn’t just keep dangerous animals out. It also let out a magic scent that is appealing to many smaller animals. Even after the barrier disappeared the magic scent continued to lure animals closer so the prey just kept voluntarily entering the wolves hunting grounds.”

“But how is the magic scent still around when the barrier has been down for over half of a decade by now?”

“Well it’s likely that the hidden room underground had some type of device in it that continued to produce that magic scent.”

I had my doubts about that theory because I didn’t remember any such device down there, but then again I couldn’t recognize the magic surrounding magical devices when I was younger so I may have failed to notice it. I pulled myself out of my thoughts as I figured that in the end it doesn’t matter why they are still there, all that matters is if I can defeat them.

“Well Kat I’ll be hiding in the shadows so I’ll leave you to fight the wolves. Just keep walking forward until you reach the clearing and by then you should be in range to use your Air magic to figure out where the wolves are.” With those parting words Nyx disappeared and I began to walk.

It didn’t look for me to reach the clearing and I began to follow Nyx’s instructions. I spread out my Air magic as far as I could around me and started to visualize the shapes of everything the air had to move around. For a while all I could find was trees,a bunch of beehives, and different types of flowers. After about five minutes of searching I finally found six wolves attacking a moose and I eagerly rushed over to the wolves by rapidly teleporting between different shadows.

When I finally reached the wolves I stayed hidden in the shadows as I continued to examine them. I noticed that one of the wolves seemed to be unlucky as it was lying still on the floor with some blood spilling out of its head. I assumed that the moose had managed to give it a good kick to the head before it was killed. I turned my attention towards the five remaining wolves that were currently eating the dead moose. At first I questioned why all of them were way smaller then I remembered when I was younger, but I figured it was because these were pups or I had just incorrectly remembered how they looked.

Seeing that they were distracted I prepared myself to kill them before they could realize that I was here. I quickly used Shadow magic to darken the area around them and then I solidified some shadows into sharp knives before using air magic to propel them into the wolves from a distance. Four of the wolves died instantly but I missed the last one. I quickly shot another shadow knife into the wolf and managed to hit it this time.

I grumbled to myself about how I should have practiced more with the Air, Water, Fire, and Earth elements instead of mainly training with just Shadow magic. But Nyx was best at using Shadow magic so even if I wanted to train with the other elements Nyx would have still made me focus on learning Shadow magic.

Realizing that I got distracted I pulled my thoughts together and I once again used Air magic to search for the wolf den. It didn’t take me that long to find it so I guess it was correct when Nyx said the wolves still lived near the village. Seeing that most of the wolves were still inside all the fox dens they took over I hurried towards them with a plan in mind.

I quickly reached the rest of the wolf pack and I activated my Air magic to make sure that the wolves were still inside their dens. Finding out that they were, I started Operation Flash Flood. Nyx always told me that my naming sense sucked but I don’t see the problem with calling as I saw it.

Anyway I used Earth magic to block all the entrances to the den before I conjured up a huge amount of water. I planned to drown them all before any of them could get close enough to hurt me and by painfully drowning them I can get some revenge for all the trouble my missing arm has caused me.

A few minutes later I checked the dens again using Air magic and not a single wolf was still alive. Thinking my revenge was a bit anticlimactic I was getting ready to start heading back to the house when I heard the sound I was scared of most. Feeling the same terror I had felt years ago I turned around to see another large pack of wolves that were way bigger than the ones I just killed. With the small part of my brain that was still thinking rationally I remembered how animals that absorbed mana would become stronger, faster, smarter, and most importantly bigger. I had not yet enacted my revenge upon the wolf pack that terrified me as a child and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to, because as soon I realized that the giant wolves were still alive I abandoned all reason and ran away as fast as I could.