I follow the sound of the roar, a challenge issued and a challenge accepted. The two werewolves I beat limp behind me. On a hillside, there is a cave that looks as though it has been dug out rather than naturally formed. Inside, to the eyes there is only darkness. But my ears and nose catch so much more.
The scent of wet fur, burnt fur, so much fur. The scent of things burning, dust and grass. My ears hear clanging, somewhere deep within. I enter, my head held high. I do not feel my wounds, I assume I have healed from them. The two werewolves have recovered somewhat over the hour-long journey to their lair.
ALERT: WOLFHEART RACIAL BONUS DISCOVERED. REGENERATION NOW LISTED IN SKILLSHEET.
Having to discover what your own race can do. It’s strange, yet it fits that I would have to discover anything over again. This isn’t the same place as my old life, why should the rules be the same?
We descend on wooden platform manned by another werewolf, and we go down a lot further than I would have thought, until light shines up from a massive orb at the center of a carved cavern. Stone pillars strategically left to support a massive, stone roof.
The place is not huge - perhaps it holds thirty or so werewolves, but still. I had expected a damp cavern or as most some kind of tribalistic village. There are four buildings made of cut stone. One bellows hot air, and I can smell the singed fur from inside. Another is cloaked in some-kind of fabric.
The lift stops, the chains rattling as they coil on the ground. The two werewolves walk me forward, towards perhaps the most grandiose building, one made of cut stone, but with rusted iron spikes crudely bent around the frame. Square, gray and boring, but impressive for werewolves. I could see claws getting in the way of a lot.
The entrance has a door, of a sort. It’s a pair of mail shirts crudely stitched together so that the bottoms touch. I walk up the gray steps until a guard in actual armor stops me. He levels a spear across my chest, blocking any further entry.
I growl, lightly, and the added intimidation skill seems to aid me. He looks at my eyes, then back to the two behind me, still hurting from our fight, and he lets me pass.
ALERT: INTIMIDATION ATTEMPT SUCCEEDED
I march my way through the door, slapping the mail aside and stepping in. Inside is very warm, two braziers on either side of the room casting a deep orange glow across the room. More armor is hung up on the walls, and I see two swords, and a great axe with blood stained on it.
A werewolf is lounging on a throne, naked as the day he was born. Two casai women lay on him, sweaty and naked. I step forward, catching his attention.
“So you are the one who challenges me for my pack.” He says, voice crawling and rugged. I notice an absence of fur on his neck, on the left side. His fangs are long, and his fur gray. He’s the oldest I’ve seen. He chomps down on what looks like a heart of some creature, and the blood drips on his fur. “Which pack are you from?”
I try to speak, and I can form the words. Speaking to my own race seems to be a skill I possess.
ALERT: UTILITY SKILL DISCOVERED: WOLF SUBGROUP LANGUAGE.
“I am from no pack.” I say, deepening my voice and adding a little growl to it.
His eyes turn to shock. “Packless?” he asks. “You, a Wolfheart, packless? How?”
Wolfheart? Are these not fellow Wolfhearts?
“Regardless, I won’t be for much longer.”
“You’re right. Join us.”
I am confused. “I challenged you. Are you afraid?” My heart is thumping in my chest, and I keep pulling myself in my mind. I should run. If they all attack me, I’m dead. Yet I don’t. I’m not sure why, but I want to fight. To kill all the pent-up frustration of my old life, to prove I’m strong.
“If you fight me, you may win, but the pack will not follow. I can tell - you aren’t packless - you are new to this world.” He says, shrugging off the casai women on him and standing up. I had almost expecting him to tower over me, but instead I tower over him. “I’ve lived long enough to see that.”
“How?” I say, faltering.
“You have no idea what you are, nor do you seem to know the history of what you are. I will offer our history to you, and then you will understand. You may be able to dominate this pack as I once did, but to control it is a different story.”
I take a step forward. “As you once did? What do you mean?”
“My name is Aidan Spears. I’m from Australia.”
