I may have bit off more than I could chew.

As the day went on, I doubled my territory. After fighting the shambler, I felt so confident that I marked every single tree in the area, meticulously. Now, something larger is heading my way. Not a massive amount of somethings, like the pack, but something else.

I see a black shape, and then a claw rakes across my chest. A claw that is eerily similar to my own. I turn away from the cut, it’s shallow, I’m faster than it, or just as fast, I’m not sure.

It roars, and I feel fur stand on end. My hackles raise, making me look bigger, and my opponent’s are already raised. It stands just a tad smaller than me, and it’s fur is a dark blue instead of my pitch black, but it is unmistakably a werewolf.

ALERT: WEREWOLF DETECTED. MINI-BOSS LEVEL CREATURE.

WEREWOLF HEALTH STATUS: FRESH
WEREWOLF ENDURANCE STATUS: FRESH.
VS
RYAN RIVERS HEALTH STATUS: LIGHTLY DAMAGED
RYAN RIVERS ENDURANCE STATUS: FRESH

I can’t describe it, but I know I can win this fight, even though anyone else would look on us and say it’s an even match. My stats on my skillsheet are about 20% higher than normal thanks to that passive that gives me stats from eating. Though I don’t know if this werewolf has something similar. It’s all stuff I don’t know. Too much.

I need answers, and perhaps he can give me them. I let out a roar that shakes the ground, and he doesn’t budge.

ALERT: INTIMIDATION ATTEMPT FAILED. INTIMIDATION ATTEMPT FAILED.

Why is there two?

Something jumps from the treetops, and my ears catch the rushing of wind as it falls. I scramble back, avoiding the ambush, but the first werewolf jumps at me, and he catches me. Suddenly we are a ball of claws, raking and biting each other, but only one can be the winner.

His instincts seem better for this, but this kind of chaotic fight where both of us are on the ground and anyone else can’t tell what is what is my forte. I’ve been in enough scraps like this to know a few tricks. I put my leg out, and then use my greater weight to roll myself over, putting me on top. I trap one of his arms behind my back, so that the only thing he can do with one of his claws is scrape with futile, shallow cuts. Then I put my leg onto his other arm so he is defenceless.

My jaws close around his throat a second too late, as the other bowls into me, sending me flying off the other one. I had expected that, and so when my upper back touches the ground, I bring the rest of my body over in a roll, throwing the werewolf off me and onto the ground, face first. I get up quickly, and rake my claws along the back of the smaller werewolf, cutting huge gashes into him. He cries out, and I turn to the other one who has gotten to his feet and, hearing the cry of his pack member, rushes at me.

I go low, ducking below the frenzied claws, and ramming my shoulder into his midsection. I hear the cracking of bones, and I continue, using my new size and strength to pick the werewolf up, let him go, grab his legs, and smash him like a table into the ground. The effect is devastating. The snout cracks, and turns to mush as the packed soil gives no leeway. I press my clawed foot into his back, digging in, and for the first time in a very long time, I feel alive.

I open my mouth all the way, letting out a roar full of exhilaration from the fight, pride and victory smearing the sound as it carries through the trees.

ALERT: INTIMIDATION ATTEMPT SUCCEEDED. INTIMIDATION ATTEMPT SUCCEEDED.

INTIMIDATION THRESHOLD REACHED. INTIMIDATION ATTRIBUTE + 10

I take my foot off the first werewolf’s back. I am so full of power, so completely sure of myself, so I grab the back of his neck, and I tell him he’s mine. They are now part of my pack, under my leadership. They simply whimper.

This feels so good I can almost cry. The feeling of rewards when I get stronger, and the physical power I feel in my body. To be able to kill something else is, to know you can, is something else entirely, something I have never had. I love it.

“We cannot join your pack.” Says the raked-back werewolf. “We serve the leader of our pack.”

“We submit to you, powerful one.” The wolf says through broken jaw bones. “But we cannot join until our bond has been broken.”

Something in me smiles, some bestial nature, some hidden instinct of what I now am.

I roar again, just as loud and just as hard, and this time, somebody else roars back.