"The eyes of the wolf hags are upon us." Aranea smiled while addressing her pack, which consisted of five wolfkins who were standing before her. Two were females, and three were males. Today was the day they were going to rid the Lonely Road region of all insectoid presence. This road was one of the five routes that allowed them to bring supplies to Fort Uglo, the current seat of His Excellency, Wyrm Lord. Then the supplies were distributed throughout this region. Wyrm Lord sent supplies to local villages and small towns in an attempt to entice them to join the Reclamation Army. Insectoids grew bold and dared to attack these caravans. Thus, they will be ended, "There will be no mistakes. We go in, clear caves, and go out. Easy picking. Do not worry, check your gear and…"

"For Spirits’ sake, Aranea, we all hunted insectoids as cubs," Kate shrugged. She was another scout in the group. Her black armor was covered with ornate words of prayers, similar to the ones that covered the power armors of the shamans, but unlike the prayers on the shamans’ armors, the prayers on Kate’s armor were all about purity of mind and body. Her fur was half black and half rust. Weird coloration like hers was considered a sign of a bad omen by the shamans. Kate lost to Aranea in the most recent match, and the wolf hag Sonya put her under the command of Aranea as a punishment. There was still a bruise on the right side of her head. During their fight, Aranea aimed to take the ear of her fellow scout, yet Kate’s paw gave in, and Aranea’s hit came above the mark, ending the fight sooner and without much damage to Kate. The scout was playing with ornate beads in her left paw and said, "These are just some bugs. Even males won’t fuck this up."

Kate wanted to slam Kaleb behind his neck, but Aranea grabbed her arm. Even the new slender power armor was almost too big for Kaleb, the smallest wolfkin in their group. Aranea was getting tired of having to push Kate away from him. Kate even forced all the other females in Sonya’s pack to stop dominating Kaleb, instead, Kate always seemed to try to push the little guy down by forcing him to do the trials that were too hard for him. Aranea had no idea why Kate hated him so much, both wolfkins grew up together and were of the same age.

"It’s fine…" Kaleb went silent as both scouts ignored him.

"No dominating," Aranea growled, "We lost in the last sparring session because Kaleb was limping. If this happens today, I will declaw you. You got it, Kate?" They locked eyes with each other, and finally Kate nodded, stepping back, throwing one last furious gaze at Kaleb.

"It really was my…" After Kate growled at him to keep him silent, Kaleb quickly became silent again.

"It is not my fault that he is so soft." Kate angrily mumbled, baring her neck in submission.

"Five minutes before the start of the mop-up operation," Sly said quickly, checking the time on his armor's wrist, "The drones are about to complete the map in a few seconds," He pointed his finger up, where, high in the air above the mission area, several tiny mechanical machines were flying, covering the ground with green light, scanning the underground caverns below the surface, and adding their positions to the map, "This is a simple operation, caverns have two exit points that lead to the main cave. Yet there is something that bothers me…" He began talking, but Yuki stopped him with a laugh.

"There is always something new that bothers you. Relax, this job is easy peasy. You think Sonya would have allowed us to participate without her if there was even the tiniest chance that we would have allowed her to be ashamed of us?" She jokingly pushed Sly in the back, while Kostya nodded. Kostya was the oldest member of the group, his fur was starting to turn gray. Yuki, on the other hand, had almost completely black fur. While many members of the Wolf Tribe had brown stripes on their black hides, Yuki’s hide, meanwhile, was of a solid black color, a sign of Ravager’s favor. Despite this, Yuki made no attempt to rise in rank.

The forms of both wolf hags, Sonya and Siri, were visible on nearby mountains. Both made a bet that their team would eliminate the bigger prey, and currently both wolf hags were waiting for the operation to start.

"Do not worry, Sly. I read about insectoids. There's only one reason they're this bold around here," Aranea smiled, pointing to the group's grenade launchers, "And we happen to have enough firepower to put an end to this unexpected reason."

"But then we should warn Olesya! She has no idea about…" Sly stopped as distant sounds of gunfire were heard near the second cave’s entrance, "What? This is too early!"

"And here is our cue," Aranea said smugly, pleased that her prediction had come true. She knew that Olesya would break the rules once again, "Get ready to move out, people, the hunt is about to start early. Yuki, Kate, with me on the front. Kaleb, Sly, you're behind us. Take apart anyone that we leave on our way."

"Please let me take the front as well," Kostya asked, speaking for the first time during the night, "I can take just as much punishment as any female."

"Good for you then, since you will be taking up the rear. Keep the other boys safe." Aranea smiled, as she received a message from Sonya, who approved their advance. It was always wiser to wait for the command of the wolf hag, for Sonya liked to beat out any unwanted initiative from her subordinates. Kostya nodded unhappily, but as always, he obeyed orders.

The group charged to the entrance of the cave, the lenses on their armors activating. The wolfkins could see in the dark to some extent, but the latest technology provided by the state allowed them to see the dark depths as clearly as if it were daytime. In the left corner of Aranea’s eye, a map appeared, showing her location. On the right side of her field of vision, the icons came into being, indicating the approximate status of her team. The current generation of power armor of the wolfkin was not as advanced as the ones of the Ice Fang order, so Aranea turned the icons off. In the past, they have frequently displayed false information, and they also occur in the field of vision. After a moment of hesitation, she also turned off the map. This terrain was easy, no need to use it. Instead, she summoned an omnidirectional view, allowing cameras built into her armor to project a full 360-degree view of the surroundings onto her retina. This holoprojection strained her eyes, but the wolfkins never risked going blind. The state's medics were able to remove any long-term eye damage at the base, and the wolfkins' natural hardiness allowed them to use this mode for an extended period of time before suffering permanent eye damage.

The air inside the cavern was just as dry and hot as the air outside. Aranea sniffed and sensed the smell of an insectoid slime, a substance that workers used to glue the stones together. A thin smile appeared on her lips. She was right. Olesya and her team might have gotten a head start, but they absolutely lacked the proper gear for this mission. Smile disappeared. She and her team better hurry up. I can’t mock Olesya if she dies, right? Aranea thought as her eyes detected movements and the wolfkin grabbed their shardguns. The road ahead was taking a turn to the right. The group jumped backwards just as they heard a noise from above. Cracks appeared on the ceiling, from within the stone cracks, a swarm of insectoid workers poured down on the place where the pack was just a moment ago, and another wave of insectoids poured from the turn of the corridor ahead.

Crafty! Aranea thought and smiled, opening fire. Each shot of the shardguns released several small armor-piercing objects that were moving at 400 m/s. This was the favorite weapon of the Wolf Tribe. It lacked accuracy for a ranged fight because the spread of the armor-piercing bullets became too great at a distance, but this simple weapon was well worth its weight in close quarters. In the tightness of the cave, shards shredded through the chitin plates of the insectoid workers, killing and maiming those behind them as well.

"She is definitely here!" Aranea said it out loud, and through the cameras on the back of her armor, she saw how Sly nodded nervously. The scout made a note in her head to ask Yuki to cheer up Sly later. Aranea considered herself to be pretty bad at inspiring people.

Insectoid workers were six-legged creatures, roughly reaching to the knees of a normie in height. In length, most of them were rarely longer than one meter. They were deceptively sluggish in their advance, a warrior could have killed dozens of them, and then the next one would gore her in a rare short burst of movement at a close distance. It was as if these creatures lured enemies into a state of false security before killing them off. Each leg of the insectoid ended up with a sharp claw, capable of crushing stone and effortlessly tearing through steel armor. Weird hair on the critters’ legs allowed them to move up and down the walls with ease. Long mandibles were able to crack open even the armor of the vehicles and would quite easily take even the limbs of a wolfkin away in a bite or two.

And yet, right now, they are the ones dying. The workers were easy prey for the soldiers in a cave, forcing them to advance ahead while three shardguns blasted them. The moment the front line of Aranea’s team shot all the ammo in their shardguns, all thirty shots, they lowered themselves on one knee to reload the shardguns. At this exact moment, a burst of speed came, and the critters increased their speed from deceptively sluggish, to outright blinding. The rear team's shardguns opened fire above the heads of the front group, tearing through the ranks of incoming enemies, pushing them back, and buying just enough time for the front team to reload their weapons and continue the slaughter. Insectoids did not care for the individuals, but the team of Aranea caused unacceptably high losses to them. Just as Aranea and her front group reloaded their weapons, the living river of the critters began moving backwards, and the injured creatures tried to shield the healthy ones with their bodies, to preserve their soldiers for a future ambush.

Not willing to fall into this obvious trap, Aranea ordered her pack to proceed slowly. They continued to fire into the retreating ranks of the workers and finished up the few critters who pretended to be dead as they followed after the living river that ran from them. After the turn to the right, the pack ended up in another long corridor, perfectly suited for their advance. The spread of their weapons had little meaning, when the entire corridor was filled with insectoids hurrying toward the main cave.

"Prepare everyone. It has to be now. We walked too far without meeting them." Aranea said calmly, cooling the heads of Kate and Yuki. Both of them were tense, their instincts screaming to charge after the enemies, to rend them apart, to feast and devour. The smell of blood, even if this was merely the ichor of an insectoid, was annoyingly hard to ignore. It aroused the combat instincts within the female wolfkins. The males held their positions much better, Kostya was calm, even relaxed. This was just one of many hundreds of operations he was involved in. There was nothing new for him to see here. Kaleb was trying his best not to screw up, yet Aranea saw that it took him a second too long to reload his weapon. He was better than a few months ago, when he accidentally forgot to reload in time and, as a result, Kate forced him through the shooting range again and again, drilling the routine into his head. But even now, he still had some problems, and he nervously glanced at Kate from time to time. Aranea will speak with Kate one day. Whatever her beef with Kaleb was, it affected his performance. Sly was, as usual, more concerned with counting the dead for the tally than worrying about his life. Aranea sent a message to Kaleb, ordering him to watch over Sly.

A large stone was hung on the left side of the ceiling. A shadow moved from behind it, a long spear-like limb shot forward, almost reaching Sly. Kostya raised his weapon a second too late, and the enemy was already nearing his fellow wolfkins. Kaleb shouted in warning, grabbing Sly by the collar of his armor and pushing him back. A long, needle-like limb sliced across Kaleb's fingers, slicing through the armor and injuring his paw. Another limb struck where Sly's neck was just a moment ago.

"Sack of shit!" Kate pushed her weapon past the head of Kalen and opened fire, aiming at the creature as it darted behind the stone.

"Above!" Aranea shouted, pointing her weapon and firing up. Her shot tore into the belly of the insectoid warrior who intended to fall on them from above. Insectoid warriors were far more dangerous than their brethren. Like the other critters, they moved around on six limbs. It stood tall, reaching almost a meter and a half in height, looking like some weird parody of a human, if a human had six legs and an incredibly thin torso. Its head had small, almost elegant mandibles, and two huge black compound eyes were at the sides of the small head. Two long, spear-like bladed limbs served as arms and were fully capable of moving with blinding speed. And the warriors were smart. These two hid among their kin's carnage, using some unnatural ability to even block the smell of their chitin bodies. And once the pack was in their range, the insectoid warriors attacked.

The first insectoid warrior fell dead on the floor, and Aranea felt the rush of blood in her veins. She grunted and forced the blasted power to go away, taking her "reward" along with it. She had no need for it. A second insectoid warrior reappeared from behind the hanging stone, jumping on the ground, ducking low, and charging into the group. He came too close to Kate, and the scout lifted her weapon. Suddenly, the stone under her leg crushed, and the scout fell on one knee, cursing as her blade arm flew above her shoulder, missing the armor and body of the scout. The insectoid tried to back down, only to be gunned down by Yuki. Unlike Kate, she didn't miss, the shardgun’s rounds hit directly in the middle of the thin torso, tearing the creature in two. Yet even in the air, its limbs twitched, trying to make one last thrust. Kate grabbed the warrior by his blade-like arm and slammed his upper body into the floor, stomping on it with her leg. The scout growled as the reward flowed into her, bringing her just a little closer to the peak.

"Stupid, blasted sack of shit! We will lose points because of you!" Kate screamed, almost in desperation.

"I am sorry…" Kaleb started, but the scout threw an enraged gaze in his direction.

"And you shut up! Sly, take care of his wound," Kate commanded, turning to Aranea and baring her neck for showing unwanted initiative. The collar of her power armor slid into her chest armor, revealing her neck for Aranea to bite. Aranea simply pushed her fellow scout ahead, not wanting to spend time dominating her. She was used to working with what she had, and Kate at least tried to work as a part of the team today and deserved some encouragement for this.

"You should respect our traditions more." Kate quietly said, and Aranea slammed her across the shoulder with a paw.

"There. This should count as punishment," Aranea simply stated. Warlord Janine, was a fierce follower of the traditions, encouraging her troops to do the same. Yet, as Janine once explained to Sonya, traditions never state what sort of punishment there must be, only that it must be physical. This allowed Aranea to wiggle away from punishing the soldiers. And Aranea prided herself on the fact that she had never bullied her troops with physical force. She felt proud that her pack was just as good as the packs of the other scouts, despite her lack of domination. "I will scold Kaleb later," She could sense how Kate’s body became tense under the armor, "No. You are not to punish him, you got it?"

"As if this stupid weakling could endure punishment." The scout mumbled words in acceptance of this command.

The pack charged toward the main cave and saw the picture of carnage inside. In the middle of the cave, Olesya and two other female wolfkins stood on top of a literal pile made of the bodies of the insectoid workers. The living river made of countless bodies tried to swarm them, yet the wolfkins made no mistake for their enemies to capitalize on.

Broken bodies covered with ichor cracked under the wolfkin’s legs while the soldiers kept fighting, dodging just in time as some of the workers charged with their sudden burst speed at the wolfkins. Just as the shardgun of Olesya unleashed its last round, a form of the insectoid warrior rose up, hiding among the attackers. The warrior was almost on Olesya and her soldiers, his blade-like arms made a thrust, aiming for the neck of Olesya. Aranea took aim, fully knowing that it was too late to stop the insectoid warrior. Damned fool! This insect used the desire for fame of her fellow wolfkin and even counted the number of shots. The insectoid warrior timed its advance as perfectly as it possibly could. Now that the wolfkins are without ammo, they will be easier prey…

The insectoid warrior twitched its head as a hole appeared in the side of its head. Olesya turned around, perfectly timing her attack while her enemy was disrupted by shock. The blade arms missed their marks, and the jaws of the scout closed on the head of the insectoid warrior, biting it off cleanly. Aranea could see how Olesya smiled, crushing the head of the foe and hungrily gulping the remains in her mouth. This was the first time Olesya killed an actual insectoid warrior, and Aranea could see how the body of the scout slightly trembled, as power sent her the reward, increasing muscles ever so slightly. It was a tiny increase, but it will stack with each new type of foe that Olesya defeats in the future.

Foolish girl. Aranea thought sourly. You can’t trust this power. She remembered fully what had happened to her mother. Each time her power tried to "reward" her, she refused the gift. She will reach the top with her own might and skills, not thanks to the cursed blood and the powers of her ancestry.

"There!" Kostya pointed at the three male wolfkins who were standing near the second entrance to the cave. They carried unusually long rifles in their hands, and bursts of automatic fire erupted from their barrels. Seemingly uncaring for the safety of their own comrades, they showered with bullets both the wolfkins and the insectoids in the middle of the cave. And yet bullets harmlessly bounced off the wolfkins’ power armor while leaving small wounds on their enemies.

"Blastguns!" Aranea laughed, taking aim and killing a swarm of insectoids near Olesya, "Oh, you crafty girl!" Aranea’s pack joined her, carefully shooting at the enemies who were the furthest from the wolfkins in the center of the cave. Blastguns were low-powered rifles not meant to be used against foes in power armors. Mostly, they were wielded by patrol troops.

"Olesya gathered enemies around herself and used the males to soften up the foe before the kill. She trusts men a little too much," Yuki observed as she fired her weapon, "It should have been the other way around. What if they screw up? Her plan was reckless and endangered the lives of the valuable troops."

"Hey, as long as it works." Sly smiled. Yuki growled but made no attempt to discipline him.

With both teams firing into the gathering of the insectoids, their ranks began to thin. Despite their large numbers, they were not endless. Here and there, forms of the insectoid warriors appeared, only to be cut down by the gunfire. Slowly, step by step, the cave became devoid of life. Olesya put her shardgun behind her back, unleashing her claws, and jumped into the swarm of enemies. The adrenaline from the reward was driving her into a battle frenzy, she slashed and stomped insectoids, cheerfully laughing in ecstasy. Her pack kept her back protected from ranged fire. The battle stopped for a moment as a large wall at the far end of the tunnel started to crack. Tremors ran across the ground as something huge began to move.

"Now." Aranea said, seeing the hive queen break out of her hiding place. The long, fat body was gleaming with its white chitin plates. The massive body was carried forward by countless legs from a hidden spot in the cave, large black eyes locked on the wolfkins in the middle of the cave. Two large scythe-like arms, each bigger than an ATV class vehicle, rose up, damaging the ceiling and preparing to slam into Olesya. The soldiers of Olesya pack open fire, yet even the shardguns barely caused scratches on the plates of the queen, while blastguns were utterly useless all together.

If she gets injured, this win is mine. Aranea thought. Her paw stopped halfway to the grenade launcher on her back. Surely Olesya herself was at fault for this situation, right? She was a liability, someone like her will never change the Wolf Tribe. If Kaleb was injured, chances are that if Aranea stepped in, her pack would lose. And losing meant no promotion, no chance to one day change the tribe. "And I have great many things I want to change…" whispered the familiar voice inside of Aranea’s head.

"Open fire! Push the beast back!" Aranea shouted, grabbing the grenade launcher. I will change everything in my own way. I will not become him. She reminded herself, taking aim at the queen. Six shots hit the head and chest of the queen, pushing her massive body back. For a brief moment, explosions and smoke obscured the enemy's body before the queen pushed forward from the smoke, insane from pain and agony. Her eyes were gone, her mandibles around her mouth were cracked, and the chitin armor on her head and chest was in ruins. Yet her blade arms still worked, and the queen slammed the first blade into the ground, almost slicing Olesya in two. The blade went deep into the ground, and the queen pulled it back, ruining the floor and causing the wolfkins in the center of the cave to fall. Ceilings began to crack, and stones started to fall, as the massive body of the foe thrashed around in pain, blindly lunging at everything around her.

"Again." Aranea calmly took aim, firing the second shot into the wounds on the enemy body. Shots rang out within the massive body, and the queen rose, her upper body gone, her massive blade arms falling to the ground, but her lower body thrashed in pain. The ceiling finally gave in, and the torrent of stones started to fall on the floor.

"We better run." Kaleb stated the obvious, as the pack turned around. Kate grabbed Kaleb by the collar of his armor, almost dragging him after herself, before finally putting him in front of herself.

"Stop blabbering with your mouth and just run, you idiot!" The scout snarled, kicking him in the butt to encourage him to run faster, "Use all four of your limbs, you dumbasses!" Kate howled in rage, as Kaleb and Sly continued to run on both legs. As he was lowering himself on all four limbs, Kaleb accidentally lost his weapon, and Yuki grabbed the grenade launcher with her jaws, as she ran toward the exit on all fours.

Through the cameras on her body, Aranea could see how Olesya and her team were running away, charging away on all fours as well. A hail of stones almost reached the pack of Aranea as they charged toward the exit and jumped outside. Aranea was the one who left the cave last, as befitted the leader. She was in charge of this operation, and it was up to her to prove that she could ensure the survival of her pack.

"We live! Fucking yeah, we won!" Sly shouted outside, falling to the ground in exhaustion. His helmet slid down from his head, and he looked at the night sky with amber eyes. "I say we deserve…" he stopped as a massive form landed near him, slamming a foot on his neck.

Wolf hag Sonya towered above him. Even without armor, she was bigger than most wolfkins in the group. Her black and brown fur had a few gray strands here and there as her age was showing itself. She was dressed in a long leather military coat, with an insignia of her rank on the left lapel of her coat. Her leg was on Sly’s neck, forcing him to struggle for breath. Sonya dropped a large bag on the ground.

"You live. This much is true," Sonya said in a deadly calm voice, increasing the pressure in her leg. "It's not up to you to decide whether you won or lost," She growled, "It is not for you to decide what you deserve. You are not allowed to relax like a cub after the mission, not until your commander says so. Am I understood?" Sly frantically tried to nod his head, whining ever so slightly in a sign of submission. Sonya removed her leg, putting both her paws behind her back, "Form up!" She roared.

The pack gathered in front of their leader, standing with their helmets removed, while the wolf hag was looking at them critically.

The mission was a success, the nest was destroyed. Congratulations on your survival," She said as she turned to face Aranea. "You took heavy weapons on the mission. You knew about the presence of the queen?"

"Yes, ma’am." Aranea nodded, and Sonya slapped her across the face, drawing blood. The wolf hag held back her claws, yet even her palm was hardy enough to draw blood from the lips of the lesser wolfkin.

"Three points deducted for not informing your fellow soldiers," Aranea licked her lips, "plus six points for listening to the lessons and reading additional materials. Plus two points for waiting for an order to begin the mission. Ten points for saving the lives of the second team," Sonya sniffed the air, taking a moment to inhale new knowledge. She turned toward Kaleb and growled, advancing on him, "Explain your injury." Without a mistake, she grabbed the wounded paw of the wolfkin, looking at the crude bandage.

"This was because of I fa…" Kostya tried to say something, but the wolf hag turned toward him in a blur, punching him in the snout. He fell on one knee as blood ran down his face and into his armor.

"Minus one point for speaking out of turn. Minus another point for being such a weakling and falling on the knee," "Minus two points for the injury," Sonya said to Kaleb, her eyes widening as she noticed his weapon in Yuki's paws, "Minus three points for damaging the armor. Minus three points for losing your weapon," She looked at frightened Kaleb, towering above him, and said, "Minus one point for fear. You are a disgrace. I can see that punishment is needed to improve morale. " She raised her left paw, unleashing the claws. Kaleb swallowed in fear as the shadow cast by Sonya’s claws fell on his face.

Aranea forced herself to stand still. Sonya was still stronger than she was, even now after all these years. If she challenges the wolf hag while Aranea herself is still in armor and wins, no one will accept her as the new wolf hag. Her future will be locked away for a while. Aranea looked blindly in front of herself as Kaleb was about to receive new scars. Just endure it. You can make it up to him later. No one can solve all problems at once. Besides, this is his fault. She tried to convince herself, feeling burning shame at being at the mercy of someone’s will, One day, I will change it all. No more pits, no more infighting, no more… I will make you all grow up. Aranea promised herself. "Small sacrifices must be made for a good cause." The voice chuckled inside her head, and Aranea clenched her paws, ready to leap at Sonya.

"Permission to carry on punishment," Kate asked, stepping forward. In the Wolf Tribe, it was not unusual for scouts to punish warriors and warriors to punish males. It was never a wolf hag's job to deal with male problems, so Sonya simply nodded, stepping back as Kate leaped on Kaleb, biting his throat and throwing him down. She slammed the paw near his head as she clenched her jaws, biting his skin lightly and drawing blood, before releasing him, "If you ever dare to dishonor us like this again…" She slammed her leg into the ground near Kaleb’s ear as he shuddered from fear, "You will end up losing more than just a few drops of blood." The scout turned her back on him, returning to the line. Aranea clenched her paws. One day, she will make Kate pay for her bullying.

"Hey, everyone!" Aranea turned her head as she heard the voice of Olesya, carrying a large bag behind herself, similar to the one that Sonya put on the ground. Her pack was following her, while the wolf hag Siri was standing away in the distance. Siri moved her head, and Sonya nodded.

"You may socialize and feed," Sonya nodded at the bag. She glanced at Kaleb, "Keep your wounds clean, male. Despite your guilt, I grant you the right to eat as much as the other males on this night." With these words, she leaped in the air, grabbing the stones on the nearby mountain slope and climbing up, Siri followed after her. The wolf hags liked to consult in a remote place. And liked to compete with each other as well, both Sonya and Siri tried to out speed one another.

" Looks like you will win this round," Olesya said, coming nearby and taking off her helmet. Five long, deep scratches were across her face, torn wounds were still fresh, and the meat inside was bleeding. Aranea raised her brow at such fresh wounds, she was sure that Olesya had come unscratched from combat. The scout noticed this and giggled, licking the blood that was falling from her snout, "Siri was pissed about us starting early, so she showed her displeasure," Olesya put her helmet on her belt. Her fur was brown, meaning that she was unlikely to ever rise in rank above a warrior's rank. Yet, thanks to the intense beating of her fellow scouts and training from Siri, Olesya managed to become a scout, "Spirits, I can’t wait to finally own her. You know that I lost to her three times already? My ribs still hurt from the last beating. " The scout complained. Aranea put her paws on her shoulders and made her sit. Kate gave her leader a medical pack, and Aranea began cleaning Olesya's wounds.

"Sonya beat me down five times by now, and you don’t see me whining about it. Stop frowning. We need to clean your wounds and stitch you up, or you will start bleeding pus once again." The scout chastised her fellow scout as their packs sat nearby, rummaging through bags. The wolf hags brought them the meat and milk of cusacks. The winners were supposed to take the larger share, but neither Olesya nor Aranea cared to count the exact amount right now, so they both shrugged and gave orders to share everything evenly.

"Not fair. Why can’t I heal just as well as you? Ow. Take it easy, girl." The scout complained as Aranea finished cleaning the wounds and started stitching them. The wolfkins healed far better than normies, but even their wounds could potentially get infected in rare cases. Aranea was somewhat of an exception in this situation, she never bothered to clean her wounds, nor was she ever ill afterwards. Sometimes her wounds would close with parasites and fleas still in them, and yet she was always fine afterwards.

"That’s because you are weaker than me." Aranea teased her.

"Weaker, huh? I should pound you for such insolence and add a bit more for not warning me about the queen’s presence."

"It's not my fault that you are dumb." The scout replied, faking a smug smile on her face, enjoying herself, and Olesya laughed, despite the pain.

"We’ll see if you are still this smug when I become the wolf hag way ahead of you."

"In your dreams, perhaps," Aranea finished stitching up the wounds of her fellow wolfkin and sat down, reaching for food, "I will drop Sonya way before you ever touch Siri."

Olesya was from the pack of warlord Martyshkina, while Aranea herself served under the leadership of warlord Janine Ironjaw. Both packs have been closely working together for a long time. They were stationed in an area near Fort Uglo and saw little action in recent years. The surroundings were tame, even calm. By the standards of the Ravaged Lands, of course. By the standards of the Core Lands, the Ravaged Lands were hell on earth. The normies had to wear special anti-heat suits here. Even during the night, heat could easily kill a normie. Food and water were scarce. And yet, despite all this, quite a number of people lived here. People who will one day be reclaimed by the state.

When Kaleb finished his portion of food, his stomach rumbled suddenly, and Kostya silently extended him part of his own portion. Seeing this, Kate growled, forcing the males to step away from each other before they could exchange food.

"If you're still hungry, go to your direct superior instead of begging for food from your pack members," Kate hissed at Kaleb before ripping a large piece of meat from her own portion and hurling it in Kaleb's face, ""And you!" She growled at Kostya, "Feed yourself well, old man, and next time actually prove your worth. "Can take just as much punishment as any female" my ass. Can’t even keep an eye on the other males. What good are you? Be better! If you can’t, I can always run you through the training courses as well, just ask!" The scout laughed bitterly, reaching for her beads and playing with them as Kostya nodded.

"Kate, that is enough." Aranea growled in irritation, "If you have such burning energy in you, then prostrate before me." Without saying a word, the lower-ranked scout instantly dropped her food in the sand and fell on her belly, hands extended toward Aranea. "Stay this way until I allow you to move."

"Please, I really did not want to cause any problems…" Kaleb started, but Aranea silenced him with a look.

"Eat." She simply said this and reached out, knocking Sly on the head. The wolfkin was too absorbed in entering some data into the terminal on his wrist. Aranea was sometimes worried about him. Sly could easily spend the entire day and night tinkering with weapons and gear, forgetting to eat and drink. It was the first duty of Kate, and now it is the duty of Aranea, although she was mostly putting this duty on Yuki, to drag him out of this weird state and make him take care of himself. Sly even filled out a request to be transported to the engineer corps, but it was of course rejected by the shamans. The wolfkins of the Wolf Tribe were made for war and nothing else. One should first leave the Tribe before pursuing a career anywhere else, and Sly was afraid of such a move.

Just one more stupid rule that I will remove. Aranea promised herself in her thoughts and looked at Yuki. "Ensure that Sly is eating his norm and that no one is stealing from him."

"Why must I always be the one to care for him?" Yuki rolled her eyes, but obeyed her order, moving closer to Sly, "Come on, swallow the food already. Not like this, you idiot, chew the meat first!"

After the pack members finished feasting, Aranea allowed Kate to hurriedly finish her food and stand up. She turned toward Olesya, while Kate was busy eating: "It is a bet then. The one who becomes a wolf hag a day early will win." She raised her paw, and Olesya gave her a fist bump.

"It will be me, as always!" Olesya laughed, standing up, "I was born to become a warlord. Just you see, I will run ahead of you yet!"

Siri and Sonya jumped from the stones above, each taking their pack to their own camp. Aranea looked at how Olesya was leaving and hoped that the stupid moron would keep herself safe. They met five years ago during the usual scramble between the members of two packs. Ever since, they have tried to one-up each other. Aranea was unsure why she was wasting her strength on something so childish, but her rivalry with the fellow scout helped her get through some of the darkest times in her life. One day she would make Olesya bow to her, but until that day she was content with their struggle.

"It was decided. You won this round. Siri ran her pack all the way into the negative score for missing the clues about the queen's presence and for disobedience." Sonya chuckled quietly, clearly in a good mood.

"This means the title is mine?" Aranea asked, feeling her heart beat a bit faster.

"Yep. You now officially have the honorable title of being the first among the scouts between two packs. Congratulations," Sonya said in a dry voice and gestured for the rest of pack to move ahead. As both of them were left alone, the wolf hag looked at Aranea with amber eyes and said, "You still want to go, girl?"

"Yes. But not tonight. When we fight next time, I will drop you down properly," Aranea saw no reason to lie. They both knew that moment was coming.

"Drop me…" Sonya thought for a moment, "Then you better hurry. Word just came in, Wyrm Lord declared that the warlords among the locals have three months to submit. Or they will be forced to bend the knee."

"War is coming?"

"Yes," Sonya bluntly responded, "From this day on, we will face proper challenges," She looked up, "You have half a year to try. After this, you will be promoted to my rank as per my will."

"Why is that?" Aranea asked in confusion.

"Old age, girl," Sonya pointed at her own hide, showing gray hair, "I am not rich enough to afford the rejuvenation shots, nor am I important enough for the leaders to give them to me for free, so I will get old like everyone else. The shamans had sent me word that I was to write my will and visit their tent in half a year. The Wolf Tribe has no need for old farts like me." The wolf hag turned and followed her own pack.

****

"If you had just bowed your head to us a few days ago, none of this would have happened." Janine Ironjaw spoke in a cruel, metallic tone, looking down on a small normie in front of her. The man was dressed in a torn anti-heat suit, and Aranea could smell sweat and blood from him. He was the elder in this small town. This place had barely a few thousand people living here who stubbornly refused to bow down, claiming that the Resistance would protect them from the Reclamation Army and the horrors of the Ravaged Lands… and now even fewer live here on this day.

The forces of Resistance indeed visited this place. Made up of the Regulators, Bento tribe, Soultakers tribe, and dozens of other gangs and raiders, this relatively new military force was formed to obstruct the Reclamation Army's advance. This town was supposed to be a part of their territory. The Resistance visited this town, taking everything of value, stripping it down to the bone. Food, water, the few facilities to produce both food and water, animals, anything that could be used in industry—all were taken away, along with the wealth of the citizens. The previous elder tried to argue against such treatment, and now he was no longer in this world, along with anyone else who tried to resist. The new elder quickly called the Reclamation Army and offered to join them. Janine Ironjaw and her pack arrived to keep any marauders away from the town until proper forces arrived to establish control.

This community was built on the ruins of a town from the Old World. Due to the harsh sandstorms in the area, larger buildings collapsed a long time ago. Whatever catastrophe happened during the Extinction split the entire city into four parts, one part sank underground, two remaining parts were swallowed by fire and destruction, and the remaining part still had numerous buildings in it. People of the Old World built stuff to last for ages, so many machines still worked and only needed some minor repairs and new energy cells. The town was surrounded by man-made mountains, when the Old World was dying, the ground rose, creating a natural barrier around this place, somewhat protecting smaller buildings from the harsh conditions of the new world. This town was under the ownership of the Regulators, once a supposedly respected gang in these parts. They initially refused to join the Resistance, intending to fight the state on their own, but then the leader of the Regulators was killed by his own daughter, and the new leader quickly joined forces with the Resistance. In Aranea's opinion, a gang was a gang. Only a fool would put their trust in them over the state. And now this town has paid the price for its respectable loyalty to the gang. Even from the ruined entrance, Aranea could see the smoke still pouring from some buildings. In one night, the loyalty that had been built over the years was gone.

Only one month had passed since Wyrm Lord's declaration. And meanwhile, border towns and villages burned as the Resistance looted them. Aranea could not wrap her head around this fact. Weren’t people here also part of the Resistance? What could they possibly gain from such cruelty?

"We apologize," The man whispered, and the scout could feel the pain in his voice. And not just physical. This person loved this place, and now it was just ashes and death here, "If you need to, you may claim my life. Just sa…"

"Be silent, citizen." Janine’s metal jaw snapped at him. The enormously huge wolfkin carried the huge axe on her shoulder. Her jaw and one hand were missing after her meeting with Kalaisa. The missing hand was replaced with a flamecaster, the long-barreled weapon that was surrounded by the three rings of metal. Each ring had a red diamond on it, currently, only one diamond was above the weapon, while two were under the barrel. Janine's missing jaw was replaced with a cybernetic jaw. When Janine was silent, her metal jaw almost fully covered her snout, leaving only the amber eyes visible. The warlord refused to accept vat-grown replacements for her lost limb and body parts, stating that the skinwalker had blessed her with grace. While the old power armor looked positively ridiculous on the warlord, the newly made power armor suit looked too thin on her body, it was as if she were dressed in a skintight outfit made of metal. Yet no one was mad enough to try and mock her, for before, Janine’s speed was limited by her old armor, and now, she was free to utilize her speed in full, becoming a true death incarnate on the fields of battle, "We are here to drop supplies for you and the people here to survive a few days. The more serious force will be here in two or three days. They will establish a perimeter, ensure security, provide people here with food and water, and officially accept people into the state. Until then, you are on your own when we are not around. Is this understood?" The metal jaw clicked as Janine stopped talking.

"Of course." The man said, and quickly bowed in thanks. This community would not last a day without water around here.

"Deliver the supplies. Clear the rubble. Locate the wounded and drag them to the doctors. Count the dead." Janine gave orders to three wolf hags, Sonya was among them. During the time of war, it was unusual to see a warlord without the shamans around to guard her, yet on this day, Janine had to split her forces. Several villages and towns were hit. Wyrm Lord gave orders to provide for all the victims involved in these attacks, so Janine spread her forces thin, taking the weakest members with her. As the wolf hags hurried to carry out their orders, Janine was left standing near the ruined city gate, axe still on her shoulder. Her head tilted as she looked at the mountains near the city, as if she were listening to something.

Aranea and her pack were given orders to check up on the northern part of town and deliver news to a hastily made camp of doctors from Free World, an anarchic organization that provided free medical help to all. The Reclamation Army disliked them for providing aid to their enemies and usually refused to associate with them, only sparing some supplies from time to time as a sign of thanks for treating wounded soldiers.

"So why are we helping them now?" Aranea asked herself as she opened the door of the first half burned building. For an hour, she checked house after house, finding only dead remains inside and outside. The smell of rotting meat filled the air inside this house. An elderly man lay on the ground, his head smashed and half of his body burned. Aranea turned him on his back and found the dead body of a child underneath him, the kid had choked to death. Aranea nodded and marked this place as empty in her terminal. She glanced around the place, noticing that someone was rummaging through things in the house…

"Why does this not bother me?" Her glance returned to the dead bodies, "Should I not feel anger? Hate? Disgust? Sadness?" She asked herself, "What is wrong with me?" Aranea remembered how other warriors reacted to the deaths of locals in previous villages that they visited. Many of the normies from the Reclamation Army were outright shocked, even some wolfkins were silent. So why was she calm? What was it about her that was so flawed? Is it not human to be sad about a loss of life?

I can at least fake that it affects me. Aranea decided. Her parents would have wanted at least this minor thing from her. She picked up both dead bodies and carried them to the remains of the church. There, dead bodies from the entire city were supposed to be burned, sending the dead on their new journey into the skies. Someone from the Resistance hanged two priests, their pale bodies were hung from the third floor of the church. Aranea hoped that they actually broke their necks when attackers pushed them from windows, instead of slowly being choked to death.

The price of resisting the Regulators. These words were painted in red on the second floor. No priests were in sight, Aranea could guess their fate.

"What… what do they hope to achieve with this?" Aranea asked out loud. Her inability to find reason in the actions of the enemy hurt her more than the actual cruelty around her. She called a nearby wolfkin and gave orders for him to remove the bodies of the priests and to drag the bodies that she brought to the pile. Surely their enemies pursued some objective with such cruelty. But what exactly?

Aranea decided that she had had enough of wondering about the motives of the madmen. She moved toward the camp of the Free World. Several of their tents were in the area near the broken wall. Janine gave orders for them to relocate to a safer part of the town, but the stubborn bastards ignored the order of the warlord, claiming that people would die during relocation. Aranea saw Kate and Kostya, who were giving food to children, empty crates were standing next to them.

"Now scram, you stupid bastards," Kate snarled, showing them her empty paws, "No food anymore. Go hide somewhere, you useless sacks of shit."

"You should not talk to kids in this way." A doctor of the Free World said, tired looking man in his forties who came from the tent. He pulled away the cowl of his anti-heat suit from his head and reached for a cigarette.

"I said scram!" Kate showed her fangs and slammed her paw into the ground, causing children to run away in panic. Then she turned toward the doctor, breathing angrily, "This is exactly how I should talk to them. Half of them have rags instead of anti-heat suits, they better go hide somewhere before they die from heat."

"This is not the reason to…" The doctor took a drag on his cigarette with pleasure.

"Stupid idiot. The girl with dirty blonde hair had her mother and father killed yesterday. The male cub with a black eye saw his grandmother torn apart before his eyes. Did you even talk with them? Most of them are all alone now." Kate came upon the doctor, but he calmly looked at her.

"What does this have to do with anything?" He asked, "If anything, these horrible events mean that kids need to be comforted…"

"It is a good thing that they are afraid. For one day, we will stay. For the other two days, you will be helpless. Who will save them if the bastards come back? You? You don’t even use weapons. Locals? Where are their weapons? What if insectoids come and the cubs decide that they are toys? No. Fear can be overcome with time, but right now it is better for them to be on the edge, to be afraid, and to be in horror. More chances to stay alive for them this way," Kate pressed her nose against the man's face, who showed no fear and continued to smoke calmly. "Oh, they probably should be taken care of. By whom? You? You can't do shit because you're already overworked. Me? I am a walking curse, a bringer of misfortune. Much good will I do for them. Neither of us can help them, so the least we can do is not encourage them, let them be scared until the actual help arrives. You got it, you miserable tra…"

"Enough. Kate, you will not speak with our current allies with such disrespect." Aranea said, closing in on the scout. Kostya bowed, but Aranea ignored him.

"My apologies, useful ally," Kate said, with a voice full of venom, to the man who simply nodded amiably in response, "Aranea, we delivered the supplies. May I have some free time?" The scout reached into her armor, finding praying beads and playing with them with one paw.

"For what?" She was surprised to hear the scout ask her for a favor in almost a normal voice. Kate was usually always in a constant state of anger, yet now she suddenly spoke in a calm manner.

The scout pointed at her ornate armor. "Locals mistook me for a shaman." "They need someone to say prayers for the lost, and all their shamans are dead. I know the words, so I can play the part."

"Spirits will curse you for pretending." Kostya warned her.

"Ha! Can’t curse someone twice," The eyes of the scout twitched in aimless anger, "Besides, I have protection."

"Fine, do it. Just don’t cause problems." Aranea nodded.

"Am I ever?" Kate actually smiled before leaving. This scared Aranea, and she turned to the doctor.

"My apologies for the scene. I will discipline her later."

"For what? We are all on the edge here, and you people at least help us," The doctor released smoke from his nostrils, "I had to choose one out of three people to save," He crushed the cigarette in his hand, "Compared to this, she provided me with a nice distraction. Seriously, there is no need for punishment, she helped us set up the camp this morning and even helped us distribute food to the locals. " He looked into the distance. "If only we had just a bit more hands and resources…"

"You would have had them, had you not cared for all the trash in the Ravage Lands," Kostya suddenly said, with a hint of anger in his voice. The doctor looked at him as if to argue, but the wolfkin quickly continued, "Your group actually provided medical aid for the blasted cannibals. Two of my sisters had to die to save the sorry asses of your fellows from their clutches. Just… just how insane are you people? Not everyone deserves to be helped."

"Free World was founded on a promise to help everyone we could, and this is what we do," The doctor shrugged and continued, "I am sorry for your loss, my friend, but gangs may be made of terrible people, it is true, we know it! But there are children among them, there are genuinely innocent or misguided people among them. If not us, who will help them? I know the gang you speak of. Don’t their kids now live in your state after the soldiers wiped out most of the gang? For the price of a few lives, dozens are now saved."

"Just concentrate your efforts on saving the people who won’t kill you or eat you in response. I assure you, there are aplenty of such people around the globe. That’s all I ask for, sir." Kostya said so sternly. Aranea put her paw on his shoulder before he went too far. She was in agreement with his opinion, but people here needed help. Even if it came from the weirdos of the Free World.

"Look after Kate for me. Make sure she doesn't ruin anything. If weird things start to happen…"

"I will run straight to you," Kostya nodded, hurrying after the scout. The doctor turned around and went back to the tent as someone called him, while Aranea went into the basement of a building nearby.

Inside was Sly, surrounded by countless cables, furiously trying to fix an energy generator. The Free World had its own generators, but they were small and low-powered. Anarchists lived on donations from Iterna, the Oathtakers, and the Reclamation Army, and only Iterna was willing and rich enough to give the doctors of the Free World actual good stuff. So Janine gave orders to fix at least something, to take some load off the equipment of the doctors and ensure that no one would die if the generators of Free World suddenly went offline. Yuki was standing nearby, looking at the watch on her vambrace very condescendingly.

"You either stop now and go to eat, or I will knock you on the head and make you go to eat. Your choice." The warrior said innocently. "Keep in mind, no matter what you choose, the outcome will be the same."

"Just a few more minutes!" Sly howled in desperation, reconnecting the cables. "I just getting to interesting part…"

"You were saying this five minutes ago, yet here we are and I am still bored," The light blinked and went out for a few moments before returning, "And this right here would probably kill someone if we had connected this generator to an energy grid "Sorry doctor, all life support systems just gone dark. Whatever will we do?"." Yuki parodied the voice of a nurse and laughed.

"No, it would not! We have… Son of the whore!" One of the wires exploded into Sly’s face as he connected something, and suddenly the generator behind him began humming. The wolfkin started to laugh madly. "How the hell did this work? Why in the world did this work? I need to know!"

"Ok, I got it, you fixed the damned thing. Now you are going to go and eat."

"No! Wait, I can still improve the output…" Sly howled in despair, reaching for something in the generator.

"Punching time, it is then." Yuki cracked her knuckles advancing on Sly.

"Where is Kaleb?" Aranea demanded to know. She assigned him to help Sly.

"He grew bored of waiting, so I let him go to the hospital and started setting up… Oh Spirits!" Sly evaded the grasp of Yuki and jumped away from her. The helm slid on his head, and he screamed something to Kaleb over the com device. Aranea turned on her own com device to listen and heard the curses of the smaller wolfkin. Apparently, something exploded in his face in the hospital.

Seeing that everything was under control here, Aranea left the basement, going back to the city gates. After all of the tests, Sonya demanded her presence, and Aranea went to meet her. Janine stood on the ruins of the city gates, gazing out into the wastelands. Her head was still tilted, there was no helmet on her head. The warlord was listening for something still.

Sonya, dressed in pitch-black power armor, was standing before the ruined gates. A weird shield-like device was on her left arm, going from the shoulder all the way to the elbow. This was a piece of ancient technology, provided to her by the higher ups. Unlike the Ice Fang order, the Wolf Tribe rarely had the luxury of providing exotic gear to the lower ranks. The higher the rank of wolfkins in the Wolf Tribe, the more important they became and the more advanced equipment they were given. Low ranks were expected to compete and rise, or to fight and die. The helmet on Sonya’s head slid back, revealing her head as she heard Aranea’s steps.

"You took your time." The wolf hag noted. This was not a sign of aggression, just a statement of fact. There was no time limit on Aranea’s assignment on this day.

"The place is a wreck. If they come back…"

"I know. Because of this weakling in charge, we are reduced to waiting," Sonya growled, "If Ravager was still with us, this entire war would already be over by now. We would have torn the throats of the enemies, devouring their flesh. Instead… we play "his" stupid games."

"His? You mean Wyrm Lord?" Aranea asked.

"As if. This fool will never have the guts for this. These supplies, inviting the Free World, us going ahead of force and guarding them? It's all because the Weakling-in-Charge is embarrassed in front of the locals for allowing this to happen. No, the one behind…"

"Aranea. Sonya. To me." Janine ordered, turning to look down at them.

Both wolfkins leaped up on the wall, climbing on the broken structures. When a warlord calls, you obey. Hesitation means rebellion. Rebellion means a challenge. And only fools dared challenge the warlords. They both climbed and lowered themselves on one knee before their mistress, baring their throats. It was an empty gesture, Janine was no longer capable of dominating in this way. Her jaw was too big, too clumsy, and too dangerous now. Instead, she simply used the claws on her legs. Quite a few wolfkins bore the marks of these mighty instruments of death on them.

"Aranea. What do you think about this situation?" The warlord demanded to know, using her flamecaster to lift the scout's jaw and make her look up.

"It makes no sense. The Resistance intentionally deprives itself of valuable resources. Locals hate them now, they will no longer rat us out for them. It makes no sense." She heard how Sonya chuckled.

"Stupid," With deadly calm, the warlord said. The amber eyes cast light on Aranea’s face. Like Kalaisa, Janine was an alpha, someone who was close to becoming a skinwalker. Unlike Kalaisa, no matter what Janine does, she can’t cross this threshold, the medics said that she lacked something and was thus safe, "Their plan makes sense in terms of the history of the Ravaged Lands. Three times, various warlords from other lands tried to conquer these lands. Three times the Resistance was formed before under different names, and three times they burned their outer cities, taking everything of value to their version of the "Core Lands". Warlords stretch their forces too far, too thin, and eventually perish in the counterattack of the Resistance. A strategy known as "Scorched Land" is at work here."

"And that fool is falling for this," Sonya said angrily, The warlord moved the flamecaster away from Aranea and turned to Sonya, using the barrel of the weapon to force her to look up.

"The only fool here is you," Janine said quietly, "I despise the weakling in charge as well. However, dare not mock our leader so openly in front of the civilians or in a place where they can hear you. Hush your voice when you mock the commander. Obey me, and this situation is forgiven. Or disobey me, and next time I will release the flame," The barrel of the flamecaster was pressed against the throat of the wolf hag. Sonya nodded slightly, "Resistance is missing the scope," The warlord said to both soldiers before her, "Reclamation Army is no petty warlord who gathers an army in the waste. They burn and loot cities? We will restore them, even better than before. Their people will be loyal to us. No matter how thin they want to spread us, it won’t help them. Like an avalanche, we will move ever onward."

"Then the declaration of Wyrm Lord was…" Aranea understood.

"Yes. It was "his" bait." Janine’s snout twisted in disgust, "That person used it to bait the Resistance into action." They burn their outer lands, leaving them undefended for us, hoping to endure us like any other storm before. They hope that we will spread ourselves too thin and that we will be decapitated in one strike that comes from the Resistance. Instead, we will take left-alone lands in one move, all without breaking our formation. Reliable rear, rebuilding locations, reporters who will interview the population and shift public opinion to our side... All at the cost of a few lives," Something akin to hate was in the eyes of Janine as she looked at the ruined city, "That man calls it the "Strategy of Darkness" and we are involved in but the first steps of his plan."

"Who are you talking about? If not Wyrm Lord, then who is…" Aranea decided to ask.

"Murzaliev. The chief strategist of the Third Army and kin to Wyrm Lord," Janine returned her gaze to the mountains, as if someone was watching her. This time, even Aranea heard it. Heavy stomping of some beast, something unconcerned about being stealthy. A wave of fear hit her, a horror that she had never felt before. She instinctively knew that death itself was out there in the mountains. Death was looking at them right now. Death! "Snap out of this," Janine said, looking at her, "It… just a fluke. Pay it no mind, there is no one out there," The presence of danger disappeared just as quickly as Aranea felt it, leaving the scout to wonder if she really just freaked out because of nothing, "Anyway, the one responsible for these events is the blue wyrm. Yet I received news from Martyshkina that a band of raiders had been caught and destroyed by a group of mercenaries. Nigel’s Raiders, Easy Going Pals... Someone hired them and used them to prevent the raiders from torching the city to the west. Conveniently…" Janine spoke sarcastically, "…mercenaries stepped in to help only after the raiders declared their intentions to locals. No idea what the mercs told the locals afterwards, but the locals already welcomed us with open arms, as the Regulators betrayed and abandoned them. The locals sent the word to other places, some even believed them enough to join us."

"Then this mean…" Sonya said, and Janine nodded.

"The Procrastinator is making his moves as well. The black wyrm joined the hunt as well, pulling his own strings. The strategy of "Winning without lifting a claw" is also in action, along with the strategy of the blue wyrm. And we are caught between the ambitious and the devil. All the while our master does nothing but hides, allowing his strategists to duke it out," Janine clenched her axe shaft with anger, "This is not the proper way to fight. Not the proper way to conduct war."

"But if Murzaliev forces our enemies to make mistakes, this is good for us, right?" Aranea was unsure who the black wyrm was. She never met either the captains or the commander of the Third army, "We took the city with no losses to ourselves. This is a clean victory."

"You call this…" Janine pointed her axe at the church, where Kate was leading the farewell ceremony. A crying woman was lowering the dead body of a small child into the burning pit. Janine pointed her weapon at the ruined buildings, "…Clean? Ravager took whole countries, seemingly overnight. She stormed the palaces alone, devouring the leaders and the rest, who bowed their knees in horror and fear in front of her. Oh, they might grumble a few years afterward, but all were too scared of her to rebel. She created stability through fear. Yes, the army suffered losses, but this is what we are born to do. To fight. To dominate. Not to... hide while people are being butchered," Janine said as she looked up at the sky, "Murzaliev is too extreme. He should never have been unleashed. Two times he was court marshaled for causing too many big losses among the civilian population, and both times he escaped the judgment as the court of law found his decisions tactically sound and found no evidence of his guilt. And the other one is just as extreme in his own way, taking too long to avoid losses. Without someone to reign them in…" Janine fell silent, before finally saying, "We are not pawns. We could have stopped this massacre ourselves if only intel had bothered to warn us. Yet because of "him", we were left in the dark. No more. Martyshkina and I are of the same mind about this. Sonya, you and the others will take your packs into the wild tonight. Convoys are still going between the cities, barely defended, almost as if someone wants to use them to provoke the Resistance with an easy target. I will not allow them to be slaughtered, screw this "Darkness" and screw "him". Find "them" and call me."

****

Aranea and her pack followed Sonya across the mountains. Thirty wolfkins in total were out today under the command of the wolf hag as she led them toward the canyon ahead. As the state slowly expanded its influence within the Ravaged Lands, this place became a point that connected three different towns. Yet this road was considered neutral ground, territory not owned by either of the sides. Tonight, a convoy was supposed to bring goods to one of the towns. Never before has the Resistance dared to attack the convoys of the state, not during the current truce between the two sides or during peacetime before. Even so, the warlord had a feeling that tonight would be different.

Sonya stopped, lifting her head to the sky, the helmet of her armor sliding backward, revealing her snout. She sniffed, stretching up, lifting her hands to stand in the moonlight.

"Tonight," She said, looking at Aranea. "Tonight, we will finally settle this. You and I will fight."

"I made no challenge. What’s the hurry?" Aranea blinked in surprise. Even now, she was smaller than her commander.

"Can’t you feel it? This presence in the air, sense of dread all around us. A presence that makes your blood boil, a presence that demands the death of one of us," Sonya sighed as Aranea shook her head. She continued, almost with pity, "A cursed child indeed. Your tainted blood prevents you from feeling her call."

"Call? Whose call?" The scout demanded to know.

"Are you really this stupid?" The face of Sonya changed into the mask of anger, lips moved, revealing the fangs, and drool fell onto her armor. And yet there was some content behind her amber eyes, as if some ancient fear was going away, "We left the city hours ago. Where are the animals? Where are the insectoids? No prey, no hunter in sight, no life to be sensed… Divinity descended upon us on this night. My journey is finally at an end. No fear ahead, just peace at last." She took a deep breath.

Aranea looked around and saw that the rest of the pack had removed their helmets. Confusion was on the faces of some, fear and horror were on Kate’s face, the rest simply stood calm. And yet one thing united them all. Some sort of longing was in their amber eyes. It was as if they did not fully understand but felt that something magnificent was about to fall on them. Even Aranea felt some weird tremor in her paws, like someone was trying to nudge her to go forward.

"You can feel her too, can’t you?" Sonya smiled warmly after witnessing this reaction, and said, "From this day, you truly are our kin. Don’t let anyone call you cursed ever again."

The wolf hag took a step forward, as if to embrace Aranea, when a loud explosion caused all of them to look toward the road. An explosion happened some half a kilometer ahead. One side of the canyon began falling, closing the road to a moving convoy and trapping it.

"How could we not have noticed them" Kaleb screamed, his voice filled with half fear, half a desire to charge forward. He ducked low, preparing to charge, forgetting to put on his helmet. Aranea stood before him to stop him, and he nearly charged at her, his body twitching as he growled. Kaleb was never the one to throw himself into the fray, yet right now he was close to a battle frenzy.

"Calm yourself, you idiot," Kate put her paw on Kaleb's shoulder pad, holding him in place. The scout reached for her beads and clenched them to her chest, trembling, "Don’t charge ahead. Everyone be calm! She is not here! No one had seen her in years! Breathe, breathe, breathe, or the Spirits will damn you! Don’t let that damned ghost drag you into madness! We are better than this!" Aranea was shocked by the concern and the genuine fear in the voice of her fellow scout. Just what was going on? What made Kate so afraid tonight? What made everyone act so weird?

And then she felt it. Someone was looking at her, same sense of dread as before came back. She turned around and looked into the wasteland. She thought she saw an enormously tall wolfkin standing in the wastes, far away from the group, the fur of the newcomer had the color of the darkest night. However, the figure vanished in an instant. Aranea blinked. Nothing could have moved away so quickly from the open field. She convinced herself that her vision was playing tricks on her, she saw a mirage, nothing more. Whatever it was, the presence was gone, Aranea was clearly mistaken.

"Helmets," Sonya commanded, while she was calling the warlord. Sounds of gunfire and sounds of energy weapons could be heard from the direction of the stopped convoy, along with screams, "Form up. The warlords will arrive shortly. We will save whoever we can."

The pack charged across the stone toward the sounds of battle. Like beasts, they leaped from stones above the canyon, using claws to help themselves run down the stone wall of the canyon.

The enemies ambushed two large trucks and six cars. Aranea could see foes dressed in leather uniforms of gold and black. These uniforms covered them from neck to toes, their faces were hidden behind silver masks. Their heads were covered by cowls of black cloaks. They were moving in groups of three, two were armed with rifles, and the one in the middle carried an energy weapon in his hands. Before the eyes of Aranea, one of such groups approached a car. The person with the energy weapon melted the door, and his fellows showered those hiding inside with bullets. Aranea felt rage boiling in her, she broke the formation, jumping ahead of her pack. She charged forward instead of using the lower ranks to take the brunt of enemy attacks. Her legs collided with the shoulders of two enemies who were shooting into the vehicle. She felt armor underneath their uniforms and cloaks, and yet the force of her hit easily crumbled the armor underneath the clothes. She felt how the enemies’ bones snapped under the pressure of her legs. The injured foes screamed, falling to the ground. The last one pointed his energy weapon at her, and Aranea kicked him in the knee, breaking it. She tore the weapon from his suddenly weak hands and slammed it on the enemy’s head, knocking the foe out. She glanced inside the car and saw blood, an unmoving body, and a couple of moaning people, all of whom were covered in wounds.

Something landed before her. The creature was green in color, and chitin plates covered it from head to toe. Instead of eyes, a massive plate covered the area where they and the nose should have been. Fangs, too large for the jaws, were visible from the mouth, each hand of the creature ended up with five long claws. Nothing but mindless hissing came from the mouth of the new foe. It took a swing with its left arm, tearing through a part of the car’s roof and nearly slicing Aranea in two. She took a step back, evading the blow. Claws left scratch marks on her armor. She reached for the shardgun with her right paw, taking it just as the creature struck with its right arm, closing the distance at a fast pace. Aranea let it move past her, grabbing the right hand of her foe with her left arm and pressing the barrel of the shardgun to its side. She pressed the trigger, and the torso of the enemy exploded. Green blood shot from holes in the left and right sides of the weird creature. It stumbled, but then spit something out of its mouth. Aranea dodged to the right and spit on the truck behind her. Armored doors, which withstood the attack of the energy weapons of the enemy, began to melt. The creature tried to launch another spit on her, and Aranea took a step forward, pressing the barrel of her gun to the lower jaw of the foe, firing once. The upper head of the creature disappeared in a torrent of green slime. Adrenaline surged through Aranea's veins, and she turned down the gift once more.

A bullet hit the truck near her, and Aranea ducked, rolling behind the truck. Another trio of enemies were taking aim at her. But the one on the left disappeared as Kostya jumped onto the truck, shooting away the head of the foe. The last two aimed their weapons on a new enemy, and Aranea charged from her cover, smashing the head of the enemy with the energy weapon into the ground, knocking him out and breaking the helmet of his armor, along with the silver mask. She heard movement and turned to face the barrel of her last enemy.

"Use your weapon!" Sonya angrily snapped, landing nearby. The shardgun in her hands shot a hole in the side of the enemy, killing him nearly instantly, "Stop trying to take them alive!" Sonya leaped away, landing near Yuki, and saving her life by shooting at the weird green creature who sneaked up on the scout from behind while she was busy taking down silver masks in front of her.

I am trying to take them alive? Aranea thought to herself, briefly looking at the shardgun in her hands. Sonya was correct, Aranea had never killed a human, only monsters and creatures up to this point. But…

She saw how a wounded man came from the car, his eyes mad with pain and confusion. One of the enemies in a black uniform pointed a rifle at him. Without thinking, Aranea took aim and fired. Large holes appeared in the torso of the enemy, and he was thrown back like a rag in the wind.

I took a life. Aranea thought, while jumping to a wounded member of the caravan and shooting again, killing another enemy armed with an energy weapon. It was a weird feeling. As a bullet hit her in the back but failed to penetrate her armor, she grabbed the injured and forced him back into the car. She turned around, her shardgun blasting away the foe behind her.

This was her first-time killing a human being. Not a monster, not an insectoid, not some mad machine, no. Actual human. Someone who had desires and dreams, a living, breathing person like her. Aranea saw how even her fellow wolfkin were sometimes shocked after their first kill. Olesya was weird for a week after she was involved in taking down a gang of cannibals. And yet Aranea herself…

She felt nothing. All her thoughts were about how to keep her pack alive, where the enemies were, where the enemies were, how to save people… This scared her. Not the fact that she just killed another person. The fact that she felt nothing about it. Her parents would be disgusted with her.

I should feel something! She angrily thought. Aranea remembered the hanged priests, the dead people in the town, scared and dead cubs… Yes. Something primal spoke to her. Etch this in your memory. They deserve to die. Just like Tilden. Let it go. Slaughter until the night turns to day, and rain rage and hatred on those who...

The scout snapped out of it, noticing how a wolfkin nearby ended up being attacked by the green creature with claws. The wolfkin warrior had her chest pierced, the creature pushed its hand all the way through her. Kostya landed nearby, gun aimed at the head of the creature, but it swung its still-twitching body, crashing a wounded wolfkin into Kostya and pressing him toward the stone of the canyon. Aranea charged forward, taking aim at the left side of the creature and shooting, injuring it. She placed the next shot very carefully, trying not to hurt the warrior or Kostya. The creature twitched and fell, Kostya took off the body of the wolfkin from its limp hand and shook his head. The warrior was dead. Aranea did not know this woman, but her death caused a surge of hate and rage in her. A pack member, someone who would have had her back in any situation, just died.

"Sly, Kaleb, Kostya, secure the injured! Yuki, Kate, cover them." Aranea commanded, sending an image of the car with the wounded people to her pack. She noticed that Kostya appeared before one of the warriors, pushing her aside as a soldier with an energy weapon fired, melting away flesh and armor from Kostya’s side. The gun in the arms of Aranea fired, killing the enemy armed with an energy weapon, "Kostya, this was an order. Kaleb, treat his wound," She said angrily, The soldier had more than enough time to dodge, Kostya’s help was unneeded. What was up with him?

Aranea quickly glanced around. The enemy attack was slowing down, foes were dropping dead left and right. Some tried to escape but were gunned down. A few had already surrendered and were now being restrained. It seemed that…

One of the warriors screamed as a red beam appeared behind her, shooting her through the chest. A nearby male wolfkin turned around but found no enemies nearby. In the next moment, someone broke his neck like it was a dry branch. A slick, metallic body jumped from the cliffs above, landing near one of the males. The body was designed in the shape of a woman, with a bald head and glowing blue lenses in place of eyes. The being stood up, facing a male wolfkin. The soldier aimed his shardgun at the being and demanded that she state her business here. The metallic woman tilted her head to the side and suddenly charged into motion, her palm piercing his chest, pushing through armor with ease, reaching the heart, and splitting the spine column. A nearby warrior took aim at the woman, but she dodged at the exact moment when the warrior was pressing the trigger of the shardgun. The shards missed their target. The next burst of motion carried her foe to the wolfkin, and with a single strike, the woman beheaded the warrior. Another beam of red light shot behind one of the scouts, instantly killing the wolfkin. Once again, Aranea could neither see, nor smell the foe.

"Yuki! Kostya!" Sly shouted over the com network, "I have an idea how to take out an invisible enemy."

"Then do it already!" Yuki snarled back, fighting with the green creature. After a brief struggle, she dodged the hit and pressed the shardgun to the enemy’s head, blowing it up. Nearby, Sonya saved Kostya from being torn apart by another green creature, and he returned the favor by shooting another green creature that tried to sneak on the wolf hag from behind.

"I need your help for this! Bastard only uses a low-range energy pistol and melee attacks, so he or she must be close to someone to attack..." Sly began explaining.

"Cut the crap, what must we do?" Yuki demanded to know.

"Go to…" Aranea failed to hear the rest of Sly’s words as a new foe arrived and her full attention turned to it.

The sound of a working engine broke through the night. Something enormous landed on one of the cars, crashing the entire vehicle underneath its steel feet. A behemoth crafted from steel rose up, the machine shaped in the form of a man. Shoulders extended way behind the head, and a single arm was almost as big as Aranea’s body. When this new foe stood up, he towered above everyone on the road. The torso was connected with the legs via a long pillar of steel, which served as a parody of the spine column, the chest resembled an enormous cage. A human face was sculpted on the head, the mouth twisted in the eternal smirk, and instead of eyes, two red lenses glanced at the world. A series of red, glowing dots covered the armor. One massive steel spike was on each leg of the monster, going all the way from the knee to the foot. Inside each foot was a circular opening, meant to allow the spikes to slide into the ground for an unknown purpose.

"Abnormals of Reclaimers?" A male human voice boomed from the steel chest of the entity. The leg made of metal rose up, moving with a speed unbecoming for such a giant. A male wolfkin failed to get out of the way, and the leg smacked him, crashing him into the stone wall of the canyon. "Pheh. Not impressed." He started to move at the wolfkins, each of his steps accompanied by the roaring sound of the engine.

Several more figures crashed into the road, half men, half machines. A creature that landed before Aranea lacked all skin on the right side of its body, gleaming steel replaced the soft human skin. Both arms were replaced with mechanical claws, and one eye glowed with blue energy from within. The cyborg struck with his right arm, and Aranea grasped his right hand with her own left paw. This foe was smaller than her, yet she felt that he was about to crush her own paw.

"Lesson learned, no hand-to-hand with it. Or is it him?" Aranea gritted her teeth and unleashed claws from the fingers of her left paw, piercing through the hand of the foe. Not even a sign of pain was in the enemy's human eye as he reached for a gun on his waist with his free hand. Aranea moved faster than he, pressing her shardgun to the enemy’s neck. She pressed the trigger twice, and the enemy's head had fallen backward, still dangling on a few wires, while the enemy’s hand almost reached the gun. Blood, oil, and sparks were pouring out of the neck’s wound, yet still no sign of pain was on the enemy's face, only concertation. Aranea fired once more, shooting away the head of the foe, and the body finally dropped dead. The head rolled on the ground, and the human eye looked at the wolfkin with hatred, the first emotion that this new enemy displayed. In a few moments, a gleaming blue eye turned black, and a human eye closed itself. Finally, this strange foe was killed, and once again, blasted power attempted to force reward on Aranea, but she resisted.

The steel behemoth pointed his hand, and from his wrist, a fire came, killing one scout as she tried to get the wounded member of the caravan out of the way. The behemoth’s head moved, and two beams of energy shot from the eyes, slicing a male in two. Nearby, a smaller steel enemy crushed the head of another male wolfkin like a pebble. Several warriors opened fire at the metal behemoth with shardguns, yet armor piercing bullets failed to do anything more than scratch the enormous creature as it laughed.

They are butchering us! Aranea angrily understood and contacted her pack, "Change of plans everyone. Take whoever you can and retreat. We need heavy weapons to bring this thing down, and there are none in sight."

"What about you?" Yuki asked. Her breathing was calm. Aranea could see that the warrior was standing in the shadow of the truck, breathing calmly. Turning her night vision on, Aranea could see a steel net surrounding the space on the ground around Yuki’s legs. Aranea was about to ask what was going on when sparkles exploded on the net from behind the warrior, and Yuki suddenly kicked back with her right leg in almost an arc-like motion, the armor on her foot sliding away, allowing her claws to be released. Someone screamed behind her, and a new figure appeared in the night, a man in a black uniform, his right arm sliced in two, and his energy gun on the ground.

"I'll try to distract the big thing and join you later," She said. Kaleb began to protest, and Aranea snarled, "No second-guessing. Take the injured and run, this is an order." She moved to the left as another mechanical foe jumped at her.

Kostya appeared near Yuki, just as a gun moved into the left hand of the wounded man in a black uniform from the sleeve of his clothes. The body of the man began to disappear from view, but Kostya shot him in the head, killing him. Kaleb helped two normies get from the car and turned around as he heard the steps of the metal woman behind him. Kaleb tried to stand his ground, understanding that if he were to retreat, the enemy would be able to kill the people. He began raising his weapon a moment too late. The mechanical foe jumped on Kaleb, crushing the wolfkin to the ground. Aranea could see how the enemy twisted the right arm of the soldier, breaking both the armor and the bones within, causing Kaleb to scream in pain. Sly shouted in worry over the com network, running to Kaleb. The mechanical creature pushed her hands into Kaleb’s mouth, trying to tear away his lower jaw.

But before she could rip off Kaleb’s, the metal woman sensed something and jumped away from the wolfkin as Kate fired into her back. Shards missed their mark, and the metal woman stood up, looking at Kate, who was standing near the car. The scout pressed the trigger, and the metal woman started dodging just as Kate’s armored finger was pressing the trigger of the shardgun, evading the shot with automatic efficiency. In the next moment, she charged at Kate, and the scout had to use her own shardgun to block a piercing strike from the enemy’s palm. The palm broke through the shardgun, causing it to accidently discharge into the nearby car, and the engine of this car exploded when armor-piercing bullets broke through the metal of the energy cell within. An explosion threw Kate and her foe away from each other.

The scout rolled away from her enemy, loudly cursing the situation because, as a result of the explosion, she now had a metal spike stuck in her lower back. The metal pierced her armor and injured the scout slightly, making her unable to reach the vitals. Meanwhile, the mechanical woman tried to stand up. She was just a moment too late. Kaleb, still lying on the ground and holding his gun in his left paw, and Sly, who finally reached Kaleb, both fired shardguns into the back of the metal woman, making two large holes in her chest. The body of the foe stumbled, and Kate was on her, tearing away the head of the foe and smashing it with her paws.

Blood and brain matter flowed from the crashed metal head. Kate growled for a moment as reward hit her, then turned to Kaleb, quickly grabbing him and putting him over her shoulder. Then she grabbed an injured person from the convoy with her second arm, while Sly was helping the others. The members of Aranea’s pack and the members of Sonya’s pack were busy quickly grabbing whoever they could, retreating ungracefully from this battle.

Aranea finished off the mechanical creature just as the steel leviathan noticed her. He carelessly threw away a warrior’s dead body and stomped toward Aranea. The chin of the behemoth spread wide with the sound of moving metal, revealing guns hidden in it. Aranea cursed and jumped back as bullets hit the place where she stood just a moment ago. The creature jumped, landing before her, blades slid from within the fingers of his right hand, and he made a slash with new weapons. Despite all attempts by Aranea to dodge, the blade hit her across the ribs, tearing through her armor as if it were paper. The massive blades slash across her skin, causing laceration wounds and nearly opening her stomach. She moved her shardgun up, firing at the smiling face of the steel behemoth, but only scratches remained on the target.

"Not once, but twice, you survived me," The voice from the chest spoke once more in a thunderous sound, "Know this, oh pathetic yet stubborn foe. On this night you die by Allahkoliken hand." Aranea saw a flame within the wrist as the hand pointed at her.

She jumped back as the flame shot forward. A searing flame hit her feet but failed to do anything because of her armor. Her armor screamed a warning, advising her to leave this "hazard area," and she turned off all warnings as she desperately tried to think of something. Her foe was all but invincible, her weapon and claws could not even hope to damage this machine.

"At least I am faster than…" Something clicked behind the back of the legs and behind the back of Allahkoliken’s body. Thrusters spit fire behind him, propelling him forward in a straight line. His body moved forward, throwing the nearby car aside like a card box, reaching Aranea faster than she could have run. His shadow fell on her, and she felt horror.

No. She thought stubbornly, looking around for a way out. There is still so much to do. Tribe. Mother. I can’t, I refuse to die he… Her mind went dark for a moment as the mechanical hand swiped her, tearing through the armor on her left arm, leaving torn wounds on her flesh. She rolled to the side, ending up in front of the truck. Pain hit her as her consciousness came back.

"Die." The mechanical monster said, raising his hand for a final hit. Aranea slowly began standing up, trying to force her body out of the danger zone, but her own body simply refused to follow commands. She moved as if in slow motion, while death was falling upon her.

She felt herself hit to the side and flew to the left as Sonya appeared, standing in her place. In the claws of the wolf hag was the form of a torn-apart mechanical soldier, she threw aside as she pushed her left paw forward, and an energy shield shot outward from the wolf hag’s arm, deflecting the incoming hand. The mechanical beast’s arms slide from the shield, crashing into the ground instead of crushing the wolf hag.

"Bitch." The voice boomed from the chest of the machine, and the energy beams were shot from his eyes, only to be deflected by the shield. The hand rose again, and this time he pushed through the shield, tearing a piece of meat from the left side of Sonya’s body, "Should have run when you had the chance." The enemy mocked as the machine kicked, and Sonya flew into a car.

Aranea looked at this situation as she stood up.

Tonight, we will finally settle this. You and I will fight. A memory flashed in Aranea's head. Aranea was weaker than Sonya. If the wolf hag were to die here, Aranea would be promoted. Sonya probably deserved it anyway. You are a disgrace. I can see that punishment is needed. Aranea remembered Sonya’s paw, which was ready to maim Kaleb. She remembered every single time that Sonya left claw marks on Aranea’s body and the bodies of others. How many scars has she had by now because of the wolf hag? Surely, Aranea was a better person, a more valuable person, than this spiteful bitch. For the good of the Wolf Tribe, Aranea had to survive at all costs…

"And I have a great many things I want to change in our order. And for this, I need authority" Tilden spoke in her head, and the scout shook her head, looking at the truck. The door was melted away by the acid spit of the creature. She leaped inside, desperately looking around crates, until she found a familiar sign. The sign of portentously dangerous equipment. She tore off the lid of the crate and saw rows of energy cells within. Long objects, roughly half a meter in length, were encased in the armor glass, yellow glow was within them. Metal lids were at the ends of each object. At the top were several buttons.

What am I doing? Aranea asked herself, but then she stubbornly decided. I will win in my own way. Screw it all, I won’t become him. A good person helps others no matter what. No matter what comes, I won’t become another Tilden!

"Sly, I am in need of your advice," She called the wolfkin over her com network, grabbing two fully charged energy cells, "You once told me that if you smack energy cells together and press red buttons, something catastrophic will happen. This means, running for your life to the hills type of catastrophic, correct?"

"Yes. It will begin releasing energy and… The hell are you planning?" Sly asked, his breathing was hard.

"Want to cook someone, no biggie." Aranea responded quickly, grabbing three energy cells.

"Aranea, whatever you do, do not use more than four energy cells at the same time. Otherwise, you will end up in…" Sly began to scream, but she turned off the communications.

She charged out of the truck, just in time to see how Sonya's shield went off. Bullets from the jaw of the machine hit the wolf hag in the left hand, piercing through the armor. Sonya growled, but still stubbornly continued to lead the foe away from the cars and trucks. New scratches were on her black armor, she left a blood trail as she moved back. Booming laughter came from inside the chest of the giant machine, foe was enjoying himself. A few remaining members of the pack were locked away in a fight with mechanical enemies and a few green creatures. The majority of the pack managed to escape, taking wounded members of the convoy and even prisoners with them.

The scout darted toward the enormous beast of steel, evading a green creature on her way. The green creature turned after her, but a nearby scout charged at him. Aranea wished her kin the best of luck as she herself sneaked upon the massive body of the enemy. She slammed two energy cells together and pressed two red buttons. There was some place where the torso of the foe was connected to the metal legs, and she dropped cells into this space. Suddenly, the torso turned around one hundred and eighty degrees to face Aranea, with the legs still facing Sonya.

"What are you doing, little beastie?" Allahkoliken asked in a mocking voice, and as he moved backward with deadly precision, his leg rose up to smash the scout.

"Oh, to the abyss with this." Aranea pressed the red button on the remaining energy cell and dropped it. She jumped away just before the steel leg could crush her. The mechanical leg collapsed the energy cell on the ground, causing it to explode, and the world of Aranea turned white as an explosion rocketed through the canyon. A shockwave carried her all the way back to the truck, slamming her into the steel side of the vehicle and making her croak from pain. Not even her armor absorbed all the impact from this collision. Cars were forced to fall to the side, and fighters all around were thrown off their feet. Even the massive truck trembled. As Allahkoliken was dropped into a newly made crater that appeared beneath him, smoke and dust hid him from Aranea’s view. The stone at the edges of the crater melted due to the sheer heat from the exploding energy cell.

"One of these won’t do shit, beastie!" Allahkoliken laughed in a voice that sounded like a mix of static and the cackle of an elderly man. This voice echoed in the canyon while he was getting out of the molten crater. His leg was covered by a black substance, the steel on his leg no longer gleamed, but otherwise he was unharmed.

"How about two more, you freak!" Aranea shouted back. Laughter came to a halt for a moment as the adversary looked at his body with concern. The red dots that covered his body moved, appearing to be a host of cameras on the wires. The red lenses of cameras were moving around his body, looking for anything suspicious.

He failed to find the danger in time, and a new explosion started. For a brief moment, Aranea could see the enormous black silhouette of her foe before it too disappeared against a white color that seemingly engulfed the entire world. Aranea could hear nothing but the loud screaming of the explosion. Her armor's warnings resurfaced, activated by the auto system. Loud sirens in her armor began to scream, indicating that Aranea should escape from this location as soon as possible. No matter how she wanted to, she physically could not move anymore, as she was slowly pushed into the truck behind her by the shockwave. Finally, the inevitable happened. The truck, which was meant to endure an avalanche of stone from the canyon’s walls, fell to the side, and Aranea flew backwards, her body dangling in the air, before being slammed into the wall. The end came abruptly, the white color disappeared from view, the noise stopped, and Aranea could finally breathe deeply. She lay on her back, looking at the night sky, feeling that it was impossible for her to stand up.

"It’s over." She told herself. Nothing could survive this hell. She won.

Stone cracked to her right, and she saw a mechanical soldier coming at her. This cyborg's right hand was severed, blood was gushing from within the flesh, and a human eye was popped. Yet the mechanical eye still worked, and the foe lifted his claw to finish her off. Aranea started to stand up, feeling pain in her entire body.

"Let’s dance the pain away, then." She mumbled, waiting for a strike. She can take the first one. She should be able. Then she will tear off his head with her…

She was still thinking when a large form of the wolfkin smashed into the soldier, crashing him against the wall with her legs. Aranea blinked when she understood who this was.

"Hey, how ya doing?!" Olesya asked cheerfully as she leapt away from the wall, grabbing Aranea before she collapsed from exhaustion, “Girl, you look like shit, lemme tell ya that!" Aranea blinked again. Yes, it was definitely Olesya, she was even bigger than before. "Now lie down and let me and my pack take care of the rest. We will show you how it’s done." The scout teased her fellow, carefully holding Aranea with one arm.

She fell silent as they both heard loud footsteps. Something came to the truck, lifted the entire vehicle, and then tore it in two. Allahkoliken's form had been blackened by the explosion, and wires with cameras had burned away, but he stood unharmed. He held two sides of the truck in his hands before throwing them several meters away.

"You dared to ruin the paint on my body. For this, I will tear away first your right arm, then your left arm. Then I will tear off your head." An angry voice boomed from the chest of the machine.

"On the other paw, it is stated in the teachings that thou wilt share with thy fellow sisters in times of need." Olesya said in a weak voice.

"No, no, he is all yours, I insist." Aranea joked, feeling despair. This blasted thing seemed to be invincible.

The wolfkins of Siri’s pack appeared from behind the machine, firing shardguns into its massive bulk. Without turning, Allahkoliken shrugged his long shoulders, and metal ropes shot back from behind his shoulders. Steel ropes wrapped themselves around the pack members, and several wolfkins screamed in pain as restraints began to tear through their armor and burrow deep into their skin. Allahkoliken raised his arm, and the blades on his fingers twitched in anticipation.

"Drop me and run," Aranea whispered, "Look after my pack if you can. Someone needs to hit Sly in order for him not to forget to eat, and someone should knock Kate around from time to time in order to keep her bile level down."

"Eh, let’s try to get away together." Olesya whispered back.

"This thing has lasers."

"Oh, then we are dead anyway," The scout said, swallowing her drool nervously. Despite her bravado, Olesya was terrified.

"Beg for your life, bitch." The machine was almost on them, its arm moving toward Aranea.

The screams of the wolfkins stopped as someone shot away the wires that held them. The behemoth started to turn as two massive forms landed on the ground behind him. Warlord Martyshkina, a large black wolfkin who wore no helmet, stood up. Her armor was a brown color.A fur coat, a rarity in these lands, was flowing from her shoulders, held by the pauldrons of her armor. A large scar was visible in the space from her left lip to her left ear, no fur grew on the damaged flesh. In her paws were two oversized revolvers. Seemingly instantly, she pointed her gun at one of the green creatures on the road and fired. The shot made the entire upper body of the foe disappear in an explosion of gore. Near her stood the form of Janine Ironjaw, her oversized bulk dwarfing even the form of her fellow warlord. Janine's legs and arms looked a bit too small for her massive torso, yet she moved around with ease. She raised her flamecaster, two rings ran around the barrel of the weapon until two red diamonds appeared above and one below. A white-hot flame shot away from the barrel of her weapon, turning a nearby mechanical soldier into molten remains, the flesh was scorched away instantly.

"New playthings," Allahkoliken laughed, "Who will be first? Or are you ready to die together?" He turned away from Aranea, and Olesya hurriedly began carrying her friend away from the battle. Aranea could see how Siri, in the distance, was dragging Sonya away. Other members of the warlords’ packs had arrived, taking injured away and leaving space for the warlords to fight.

"Shall I kill him?" Martyshkina lazily asked, spinning the revolvers in her hands. She threw one weapon in the air, reloaded the second gun, and repeated the same process with the first weapon. Instead of answering her, Janine moved forward.

"What was it that you told my kin before?" Janine asked in a calm manner, advancing on the huge machine and taking the huge axe from her shoulder.

"Will this be a melee?" Allahkoliken laughed, and beams shot from his eyes, stopping him dead in the warlord’s armor. Janine did not even bother to defend herself. Machine lifted his hand and flame shot forward, but one swing of the axe cleared space before the warlord, and the wind from her slash moved with such force that it dragged fire to the right. Janine moved forward casually, the axe back on her shoulder, the blade of her weapon looking up at the sky. Allahkoliken moved his hands behind his metal head, and his spine shot up from his torso. He closed his arms on the metal spine, taking it from his body and revealing it to be an oversized sword, "I love myself a good melee," The voice smugly said from his chest, "Let’s see how long you can last."

"Beg for your life, bitch. Were these the words that you uttered to my kin?" Janine asked, ignoring his boasts. Her voice was still calm, without threat. Each sentence was followed by a metallic click of her jaw.

Fire shot from behind the legs and back of the steel behemoth, carrying him forward at great speed, sword in his hand turned into a blur as he made his slash. The sword was almost at Janine's head when she moved. Only once before did Aranea see such speed. When her mother faced the sword saints. Aranea had failed to see a clear picture before, and she nearly failed to see it now. While Janine was slower than either of the sword saints, she was stronger. Normies and wolfkins alike told legends about how she once cleaved through the great gates of a walled city in the north. According to the legends, the gates were as thick as the entire tank and could withstand rockets and lasers alike without any scratches. When Janine took her weapons into both arms, they were reduced to a single blow. Janine no longer had her left hand, and many years had passed since then. Nonetheless, rejuvenation technologies kept Janine looking as young as she had before; there was no sign of gray fur on her body. With her single arm, she struck forward, the speed of her strike so great that it made the air scream and created a shockwave that hit even Aranea, despite the distance. The tip of the steel sword broke, and the right shoulder of Allahkoliken cracked under the massive pressure as the axe carved its path through his body. The remains of the steel blade missed the warlord, raining down on the ground in a shower of metal pieces. The steel behemoth recoiled back for the first time in fear on this night, raising his remaining hand to unleash a torrent of fire, and Janine struck again, slicing away his left hand.

"How… What the hell are you!" Allahkoliken roared, laser beams shooting from his eyes and bullets flying from his jaw. With a single slash of the axe, his head was sent away.

"Let’s see you do the same." Janine said, once again ignoring him.

"Don’t get cocky, you overgrown beast! Flesh will never be equal to steel!" As Allahkoliken jumped back, gaining distance between himself and Janine, his chest opened, revealing a massive cannon inside. Spikes on his knees crashed into the stone road, going down almost all the way as a cannon extended itself forward from his chest. With horror, Aranea understood that there was something… no someone behind the cannon. A brain, floating in a weird juice in a cistern of armor glass, was behind the cannon. No spinal column or eyes were present on this chunk of flesh. Rumors about the Bento tribe were true. They really were becoming one with steel. Energy started flowing into the weapon, preparing something deadly to be unleashed on the warlord, "I will blast you away in one shot. Not a single bone will be left for your wretched whores to chew on! Say your prayers!" The voice began to cackle madly.

Janine raised her left hand. Metal circles began to run across her flamecaster, all three red diamonds appeared above her weapon. The form of the steel behemoth suddenly twitched, as if he sensed something. Aranea could hear the tiny buzzing noise of an alarm within the machine’s chest.

"Wait… If you shoot this… Stop it, you idiot! Do you even know what King will do with you for this? Don’t you dare!" The voice boomed, while the cannon in its chest fired at the same time as Janine fired her own weapon. A ball of white flame left the hand of the warlord, just as a multicolored laser beam shot from the chest cannon of the machine. The ball of plasma hit the beam and pushed it back, energy was flying away on all sides, melting the road and slicing through the stones of the canyon. Allahkoliken screamed in horror as his beam lost the struggle and the plasma ball was moving towards him. His screams were cut short when the plasma ball hit him in the chest, and the entire steel form evaporated almost instantly. The ball continued to move forward, making a new cave in the stone wall behind the vaporized foe. In a matter of seconds, the new cave collapsed as stones from above fell.

Janine's rings turned dark as the flamecaster began the recharging process. She put her weapon down, turning to Martyshkina, who put her weapons back in a motion too fast for Aranea to see. In one moment, the warlord still had revolvers in her paws, in the next moment, they were in her holsters.

"All done, it seems," Siri and Sonya appeared. Wolf hag Sonya was limping, yet she walked all the way to her warlord and fell on one knee. The wolfkins of the Sonya pack start moving back from the cliffs, carrying prisoners and injured members of the caravan, "We will count the losses and…"

"How long are you going to hide!" Martyshkina roared, thrusting her snout into the sky. A surprise appeared on Janine’s face as she also looked up.

Aranea heard clapping and saw a figure standing on the cliffs. A figure was dressed in a simple leather coat the color of sand, oversized pants held by a rope at the waist, a richly looking white shirt, and black boots. No anti-heat suit was on the newcomer, yet no sweat was running down his wrinkled face. His gray hair was receding. He appeared to be a typical normie, the same size as almost everyone in the wastelands. The only unique thing about him were the eyes. The whites of his eyes were solid green. The pupils of his eyes were solid black.

"Most excellent!" The old man shouted in a welcomed voice, "Not many can notice me when I do not want this."

"Only friends can sneak up on me," Martyshkina said, cracking her neck. "Judging by how hard it was to notice you and how you just happened to appear next to Resistance scum, I dare to make a guess that you are one of them. Ready to give up, or shall we make you shorter on the head?"

"Your guesses are both correct and incorrect," the man smiled, "I am a member of the Resistance, true, but these attackers here are most definitely not from our ranks."

"Bullshit," Janine said without raising her voice, "For whom do they work for then?" She nodded at the prisoners and the dead.

"I have no idea," The man smirked, "But I was sent to eliminate those who pretended to be us. I am so glad that you made my work easier. Truly, there is a future for cooperation between us. Now if you would just step aside and allow me to finish my job…"

He went silent as forms of Janine and Martyshkina disappeared, the ground underneath them exploded as they both jumped up. Martyshkina landed to the man's right, Janine to his left.

"Friend, I think you misunderstand," Martyshkina smiled, "We insist that you join us on the way to our camp. Our leaders have so many questions to ask you…"

"Ah-ah. I am afraid I must decline," The man smiled back at her, "You see, this road down here is neutral ground between our lands. No one really cares what happens there. But these cliffs here are the land of the Resistance. Touch me and…" He put his hands in his pockets and said, "War just might break out early." We wouldn't want this stain on your master's honor, would we?" Martyshkina only kept smiling, and the man sighed. "Anyway, I am a professional, so…" Something shot from his coat, tearing through the pockets. Small bones hit every prisoner in the head, striking with perfect accuracy. Some ricocheted off stone walls and even cars in order to hit their target, yet eleven people were killed in a barrage launched by the man, "Much better. You always got to finish the…" The old man was silent as Martyshkina pointed her gun at him, no longer smiling. He quickly raised his hands to the level of his head, the pupils of his eyes moved to the sides. Each pupil was looking directly at one of the warlords, "Come on, no need to sweat over small things."

Janine slammed the shaft of her axe into the ground, causing stones underneath the old man and warlords to fall. As they were falling on the road, Martyshkina put a finger on the trigger:

"Damn shame that you are now on neutral ground, eh, friend?"

"Actually, I am glad." The old man replied, "It is good to learn new things at my age. And dish out lessons for others."

Janine slammed her axe on the man, but his form disappeared, reappearing standing on the axe as it sliced the ground underneath him. Martyshkina fired, and the man threw up his right hand, somehow backhanding the bullet back into the shoulder pad of the warlord, causing the bullet to tear through the warlord’s armor and leave a mark on the flesh underneath. The man hit Janine with his left palm, striking her belly. His palm pointed up, and then he made a half-circle motion, turning the palm down. Aranea was unsure what happened, but the massive body of Janine flew backward, the armor on her chest cracked, and a drop of blood fell from her upper lip. Both warlords moved away from the man as he jumped back onto the cliffs.

"I was sent to also "sniff" you out, so to speak," He smiled, landing on the stones above, "Pardon for the provocation, but I just had to know how good the warlords are. I must say that…" A blood suddenly flowed from underneath his right arm, wrist of his right arm was sliced by the round from the revolver, and a long slash appeared on his right shoulder, with blood pouring from it. The old man looked at his injuries with a mild surprise.

"I hope we didn't disappoint you, friend." Martyshkina smugly said, reaching for her wound and sniffing her own blood.

"Just be glad that I was not paid for taking your lives on this night," The man looked down on them, no longer smiling. He said with a calm tone, "Or there'd be a few more dead bodies on the road. Enough for tonight. I bid you farewell." He jumped away, crushing stones underneath his feet.

"Wheh. "Quite the customer," Martyshkina chuckled. "It's nice to know that the Resistance has someone worth our time."

"Check out the bodies. If some of them are still alive, save them, we need all the prisoners we can get. Tend to the wounds of caravan members and escort them to our camp. If any of them perish because of wounds, I will treat this as a challenge," Janine gave orders with a disinterested voice, "How many of our kin are dead?" She asked with a hint of emotion for the first time.

As the dead were counted and the wounds of the survivors were treated, Olesya was busy bandaging the wounds of Aranea. Aranea’s pack contacted her, reporting that two of the six people that they saved were in critical condition, so Aranea gave the order for them to go straight to the camp. Janine overheard the order on the com network and gave her brief approval, seemingly glad that Aranea solved it on her own.

"Just sew the wound edges together," Aranea said, frowning as Olesya cleaned her wounds and extracted the metal remains, "It all comes out eventually." Sonya came to her and Aranea stood up. The wolf hag took off the armor, giving it up to one of the wolfkins nearby. Her wounds were bandaged, but Aranea could see red appearing on the bandages.

"Drop your armor. Your friend can take it back to the camp," Sonya gave the order as Janine and Martyshkina came over to them, "It’s time. Follow me."

"Is it reasonable to leave?" Martyshkina asked, "What if this weird dude…"

"Marty," Janine said in a strangely kind voice, "Sniff the air. No one can stop this challenge now."

Martyshkina threw her head back and sniffed the air for a long time. Finally, her amber eyes opened, shock and awe were in them.

"Holy Spirits," She whispered, "Is this really?" She looked at Aranea, almost with pity, and said, "Girl, it’s do or die this time. This will not be a simple challenge. Two will leave, one will come back. If you want to win, let out your ancestry. Use the power, let it make you strong while there is still time."

"I don’t understand." Aranea said, "Challenges were never meant to be until death. One will submit, one will rise, and the tribe will live on."

"Not this time," Janine shook her head, "Sometimes, very rarely, the time of death comes. One must die, one way must end," She weirdly looked at Aranea and said, "You want something different, am I right?" The scout refused to answer, and the warlord nodded, "Two ideas clash. One way will perish."

"My warlords, it’s not my place, but…" Olesya threw herself on the ground, "Scout Aranea is wounded. She is hurt. It’s unfair, not right to make her fight now…"

Martyshkina leaped on Olesya, biting her in the neck and lifting her in the air. Surprisingly, the punishment this time was light; the warlord simply bit the scout's skin and forced her to stand.

"It is not your place," Martyshkina said, hitting Olesya lightly with a paw by the side of her arm, "But… I am human too. There are times when nothing we can do will solve the problem. Trust in your friend. If she fails, keep the memories of her in your heart," The warlord turned around, shouting at the packs to form up.

"You are injured. Let me make your burden easier." Janine said as Aranea removed her armor. The warlord crashed the shaft of her axe into the ground and grabbed both the scout and the wolf hag with her good arm, jumping on the clips in a single leap and putting the wolfkins on the ground. "This is all the mercy I can afford to give to both of you. Sonya," She addressed the wolf hag, "You served me well and I was never disappointed in you. If you perish, be reborn as someone happier in the next life. Aranea," The warlord turned to the scout and said, "You are a half-breed, not truly my kin. And yet I always thought of you as one of us. If you die, may you and your family reunite in the next life as friends or family. These are my farewell words to one of you. Fear nothing, for nobody can stop your duel on this night. Give it your all." She turned around and jumped down.

Sonya looked at Aranea and took a breath.

"Follow me. The place is not far," She turned around and ran, leaving drops of blood on the ground behind her. Aranea followed after her.

A sense of dread fell on her as two wolfkins ran across the stones to a lonely hill ahead. With the back of her head, Aranea could feel as if something was following them, unseen, unnoticed. She could almost feel how something was sniffing her from behind. She turned her head to the left, and the presence shifted to the right, always staying outside of her field of view, never allowing her to notice anything. And yet she saw something else. Drops of blood that she and Sonya left. Some of them were missing, as if something had licked them away. They ran, coming closer to the mountain, and for a brief moment, the moonlight was gone, they were running in the shadow of something. Aranea wanted to turn back, but fear forced her to move forward. What could it be? They were in the open plains. Could it be a bird? Then a yellow light fell on them, disappearing in an instant, and the moonlight returned. And yet Aranea could not get rid of the feeling that something truly scary was following them. Death itself accompanied them on this night.

Finally, they reached a small clearing before the mountain. The crude shape of a circle was made with six large stones, the hill towered around the makeshift arena, the disk of the moon was visible just above the hill’s top.

Sonya stopped in the middle of the circle and turned, breathing hard. The bandages on her left side turned red.

"This is it, kiddo," She smiled, sweat visible below her fur, "This is where you go down. But I want to ask you. Just what do you want to change?"

Aranea stepped toward her.

"I will make us grow up. I will remove these idiotic traditions, like killing the elderly. I will remove the pits," She said, circling around Sonya, reading for a strike, "Cubs will play with each other instead of fighting. Males and females will be equal. Cubs could go to school, could choose a life of peace instead of war. No more killing defectives, no more mauling, no more pain."

"You mean you'll destroy us." Sonya growled, "Softness leads to extinctions."

"Are we really this weak, to keel over because of small changes? If so, then we are doomed either way!" Aranea shouted, ducking low as she was behind Sonya, "But we both know this isn’t so. The Ice Fang order lives well enough without our traditions, why can’t we live new lives as well? It may sound arrogant, but I will make us open our eyes. All of us, me included. We all deserve to be happy."

She leaped, and Sonya turned, hitting her with an elbow in the shoulder, sending Aranea rolling backward.

"If your way is so great, then how come you are so weak?" Sonya mocked her, "Some ways are destined for extinction. If only I were a better parent," She sighed, "Your way might have lived. You were given to me to raise you, yet I always coddled you, treating you too softly. Even now, I fail to see hatred in you. If only I had pushed you hard enough to accept your gift. My fault for ruining your dreams," Sonya shook her head, "But it’s all over now, Aranea, for both of us. The time for dreams is over. Reality cometh."

The wolf hag lunged at Aranea, and the scout jumped all the way back to a large stone pillar behind her. The right paw of her foe rose, and the scout jumped to the left, as the paw tore chunks of stone from the pillar behind her. Aranea rolled around and stood up. The wolf hag was walking towards her, her right paw pointing at Aranea, while her left paw held the wounded side of Sonya’s body. Sonya's right paw shot up like a piston as she accelerated and quickly covered ground between opponents. The wolf hag always favored precise hits, ones that tore muscles and bones in a single strike. Sonya could barely run now; her breathing was labored due to injuries, and her vision was blurred. Her aim was no longer as great as before. Aranea dodged the paw and hit the wolf hag with her right paw, aiming for the eyes of her foe. And yet, even now, she was too slow. The right paw of Sonya slapped the hand of the scout aside and slammed Aranea into her jaw, forcing the world to spin around as she fell. Aranea looked up and saw Sonya bending over, pain on her snout from this simple movement. That moment of pain gave Aranea a chance to dodge, as Sonya's right paw slammed into the stone ground, going into the stone up her wrist. Aranea jumped to her feet, while Sonya tore her arm free from the stone.

The wolf hag turned and charged at Aranea. She slashed with her right paw and claws, leaving a wound across Aranea’s left eye. The scout still managed to dodge the full attack, but the pain and lack of stamina made Sonya slower than usual. As Sonya's right hand missed the mark, the scout hit her with an elbow into her wounded side, and Sonya gasped for air. Aranea grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her knee into her belly, but Sonya blocked the kick with the palm of her left paw. The head of Sonya crashed into Aranea’s head, causing the world to spin. The scout fell, rolling aside, trying to banish the dizziness. She stood up and saw Sonya clenching her side with her paw, also trying to gain control over her body. Two clashed again.

They fought in the night, claws against claws, fangs against fangs. Both left deep marks on each other's bodies. Neither was ready to surrender. A shadow fell on them, as the moonlight was gone, and for a brief moment, they fought in utter darkness. Then they were each surrounded by a circle of yellow light.Aranea saw fear in the eyes of Sonya—the same fear that she felt as well. Death was looking at them, judging them. Sonya pushed Aranea out of the circle, and Aranea hid behind the stone, listening carefully. Sonya threw a stone to the left but suddenly appeared to the right, and the scout hit her in the jaw with an elbow, pushing her way back into the circle.

They clashed again, and Sonya threw Aranea on the ground, grabbing her by the throat with her left paw, her right paw held Aranea’s right paw. Aranea desperately tried to breathe, yet Sonya was choking the life out of her. With the remains of her strength, Aranea punched with her left arm into the left side of her opponent. Right into the wound. Again. And again. And once more. Sonya growled and released her, backing down. Aranea charged after her, and Sonya kicked with her left leg. Aranea grabbed the leg and crushed the knee, all strength was gone from Sonya’s body. The wounds of Aranea were slowly healing, but the wounds of Sonya were still open. The wolf hag let out a growl of pain, and Aranea slammed her into the ground. Sonya tried to protect herself with her left paw, but Aranea broke her arm, slamming the elbow of one of her arms under Sonya's elbow and twisting the wolf hag’s arm until it broke. She followed up her attack by grabbing the head of the wolf hag and slamming her into the ground several times, before resorting to simply punching her foe into the snout and into the sides of her face. She stopped, when she noticed that Sonya was out cold, blood running from her left ear and mouth. Aranea released her claws on her right paw. Something demanded death. The yellow light that engulfed both Aranea and Sonya demanded life. Life must be given. Adrenaline hit in her blood, as her power tried to break through to give her "reward".

This time their lives are the coin that will ensure…

"Fuck you all!" Aranea shouted, slamming her paw into the ground near Sonya’s head and forcing the power to back off. "Screw it, screw your traditions, and screw this power. Screw sacrificing others. My way! You hear it!" She looked up and saw nothing. Just the moonlight. It was all just a dream.

The ground trembled as something softly landed on all fours behind the scout. A loud sniff came from behind Aranea, and she turned around. The largest wolfkin she ever saw, bigger than any skinwalker, was standing behind her on all fours. Her eyes were lamps of yellow light. Her fur was smooth and had the color of the starless sky. Her jaws were slightly open, threatening to devour Aranea whole.

"Who are you?" Aranea and the strange wolfkin asked each other at the same time. The wolfkin had a weird melodic voice, yet a hidden rage was inside it. By the sound of her voice, Aranea understood that the being before her was female.

"I am Aranea," The scout said weakly. This thing. She dwarfed even Janine. If she decides to kill her…

"You have the shape of my descendants, yet you do not smell like one," The wolfkin turned her head to the left, looking at Aranea, "You have my power in you, yet it's all watered down, and you share it with the power of others as well," The wolfkin tilted her head to the right and said, "One of your eyes bears my color, while the other is not. What are you, cub? And why are you refusing the reward?"

"Your name first." Aranea demanded, standing up.

"Me?" The creature let out a chuckle, "Forgotten at last. Ah, some freedom. Name’s Ravager."

Ravager. The progenitor of the Wolf Tribe The former commander of the Third Army. The original champion of the Dynast. One of the original great trio of Dynast’s champions was standing before Aranea, talking with her casually.

"I am the child of Kalaisa and Gregor Wintersong. Kin to the Ice Fang order and to the Wolf Tribe." Aranea responded honestly.

"Ah, I see now. I sensed a funny smell, and this is why I followed you this night. You remind me of another cub," Ravager nodded, "But unlike her, you at least look like me."

"The other cub?"

"Not my secret to give up. Ask her yourself if you ever meet her," Ravager spoke calmly, not demanding domination, or trying to bite Aranea into submission. It was almost as if she had no ties to the Wolf Tribe and no care for the traditions. Ravager looked at the knocked-out Sonya, "Will you eat her?"

"Of course not!" Aranea responded in shock, and Ravager opened her jaws, revealing numerous fangs inside.

"Then I will help myself." Her head moved to the wolf hag’s body.

"Back off!" Aranea stood before the massive jaws, showing no sign of aggression, but refusing to back down. She was unsure how to react. Legends told of the violate temper of the progenitor, yet she sensed no threat from Ravager, "I won. Her life is mine."

"Then take it." Ravager looked at Aranea, waiting for something.

"No. I… I chose to make her live on," Aranea responded, and Ravager blinked in surprise, "I won, right?" The progenitor's giant eyes flashed with emotion, too fast for Aranea to comprehend, "The prize is mine, the decision is mine. I refuse to kill my opponent and change this stupid tradition right now, just like I will change the Wolf Tribe one day. Progenitor or not, I will not obey you here."

"You want to become this?" Ravager stood up on two legs, pointing at herself with an enormous claw, "I overheard your dream. Let me tell you, to change something, you need power. To bring about great change, you need even greater power. And with power comes change. Will you truly be happy by becoming like me?"

"Screw and screw your power!" Aranea shouted at her ancestor, "I won today. I won with my own two paws, my own claws, no power was needed. I will change it all, in my own way," Aranea stubbornly said, and Ravager crushed all four before her, putting her head on the ground.

"Stupid, stupid cub. Once, I too, tried to change something. And I created skinwalkers," The great creature mused in a sad voice, "Let me show you the foolishness of your way. Attack me in any way you want, young one."

"You made the skinwalkers?" Ravager nodded, lying still, "Do you… do you have any idea what you have done? Because of you, because of the filth like you, my mother, my Mom is!" Aranea raised her paw, releasing the claws. Ravager was lying still, waiting for her advance. She made no effort to defend herself or to attack. She only smiled. Aranea made a step forward and made herself stop, breathing heavily. She shook her head. This creature here was not someone who ruined her life. Her Mom would not approve of her taking her anger out on others. Her Dad would never have done such a thing, "You want to pay for your sins, do community service, or something. Don't expect to be absolved of blame just because you let me beat you up. Best of all, come back and help me reform the Tribe…" She stopped as Ravager began to laugh cheerfully.

"Pay for my sins…" Ravager was still lying on her belly, yet she was howling with laughter, "As if such a thing is possible. Girlie, there are truly bad people in the world. I am one of them—a monster, not a human. From the first day of my life, I suffered. No one helped me, because no one helps monsters, so I had to save myself. One day, someone will end me, and this will be the end of it. There is no redemption or salvation for me; there has never been and will never be.No, girlie, all there is for me is fighting and killing," She wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and extended her arm, "I am telling you to attack me to teach you something. For you see, unlike me, you can do something good with your life. Potentially. But you must learn the harsh truth of the world," Ravager snapped her finger at Aranea’s body, hitting her lightly. The force of the blow sent Aranea flying all the way back into the hill, smashing into it. Her left arm cracked in two places, bones tore her skin on her left arm. Aranea fell to the ground, fighting for each breath. Ravager looked at her and said, "This. This right here is the limit to your dream. You are weak. Frail. Unable to protect yourself, let alone make your dream a reality."

"Shut up!" Aranea growled, trying to stand up.

"Why should I? You can’t persuade me, you can’t make me stop, you can’t even hurt me… You can’t do shit as you are right now." The enormous creature smiled.

"I said be silent!" Aranea roared, jumping on her feet and charging at the creature before her. She hit the nostrils of her ancestor with her paw. Sharp claws, capable of leaving marks on steel and stone, failed to even scratch the tough skin of the first of the wolfkins. She kicked and clawed, failing to leave even a single mark. After a full minute, she stepped back, thinking. There are two places where she can’t be that tough. Aranea thought and smiled madly. Her idea was crazy, but if her opponent truly wanted to let her go all out… She grabbed with her right hand, ignoring the pain in her broken bones, and climbed onto the snout of the bored Ravager. She looked at the scout with disinterest as Aranea lifted her paw and hit the left amber eye with full force. "You will feel this, you…" She stopped in uncertainty as her claws failed to penetrate the eye of the creature.

"You done?" As Aranea desperately tried to claw out the progenitor's eye, Ravager lazily asked. Ravager did not even bother to blink. Finally, the enormous hand rose, taking Aranea’s body into its gentle grip, "Feelings of being sorry are unknown to me, so any apology from me will be hollow and fake," Ravager admitted, "But this humiliation was a necessity. If you truly want to help the Wolf Tribe grow, you will need power."

"What do you care!" Aranea shouted at her, "You made all these stupid laws! You made us fight with each other. Do you have any idea how many cubs die because they are "weak"? Do you have any idea how many more end up being maimed, because being cruel is apparently a good fucking thing in our tribe!" Bile and hatred flowed from Aranea’s mouth, she felt nothing but anger and hatred. This thing. No. This person before her had all the power in the world, and what had she done with it? Left her offspring in the dark and let them rot. "What kind of mother are you!"

"I am mother to no one. No one has ever cared enough to help me, why should I care for anyone!" Ravager shouted. A hint of aggression could be seen in her eyes, but the beast pushed emotion aside, saying, "I made no laws, no traditions. My head hurts sometimes, and I forget stuff from time to time, but I know this fact for sure. I only taught my kin how to fight and survive. Eat this, don’t eat this, hit like this… This kind of stuff. Once, I talked heart-to-heart with Zero and later with Dragena and Alpha. That is all."

"But the shamans say…" Aranea said, shocked.

"They believe in whatever they want to believe. Girl, I can’t even read, do you think I am capable of creating something?" Ravager started to laugh, sadness and madness were in this laughter, "No. The tribe has made its own laws. I left the Tribe, so you can all grow up without me hindering your growth," She looked at the broken form of Sonya and said, "Even now she can kill you. When she is healed, she will challenge you, it is in her blood."

"Then I will beat her down again." Aranea said stubbornly.

"No. You will lose. You only won right now because of her injuries. Let’s change this fact, shall we? Release it." Her last words were not a request.

This was a command. Something hit the mind of Aranea as Ravager unclenched her fist, allowing the scout to fall to the ground. Something that Aranea had blocked for so many years was finally unleashed. She screamed as her body began to change, her muscles began to grow. Over the years, she lost two fangs, and now they are growing back in her mouth. Her broken bones were healing, becoming thicker. Her left arm healed itself, the bones disappeared under the skin. As she looked down at the ground, her paws grew larger, and her shadow grew larger. Anger that Aranea had bottled up inside was pouring out. She felt nothing but hatred, the world was colored red before her eyes. The scout slammed her fist into the ground, breaking the stone. A few small pieces of stone jumped in the air because of the impact, and Aranea took a deep breath. Initially, she could do nothing but accept this new power. But as her body grew, so too did her mind. She could see the stone falling in slow motion.

She blinked, gaining control over her senses, and the stone fell at its usual speed. No longer was she so utterly dominated by the words of Ravager. An image came to Aranea’s mind, Ravager howling in some dark place without any light. There was no hope to escape, the person was locked in this place without food or water for months, surrounded by the dead as the world above this place was dying as well. Only anger remained, the only thing that helped Ravager go on. The same anger now flowed into Aranea, holding the lid of sealed away power open.

"Back," Aranea said, forcing the flow of power back, forcing the image to disappear, "I don’t need you or your anger," Her growth started to slow down, her muscles no longer hurt, "I don’t need this… this abomination. I… I will not end up like her." She resumed control, forcing power back into a deep place in her mind.

"Why do you stop it?" Ravager asked in confusion, "There is still quite a bit more of it in you. You can become stronger yet. Release it." Once again, this was not a request. The will of Ravager hit the mind of Aranea with the force of a whip blow, seeking to break the barriers and force Aranea to open a path to this power.

The wolfkin bit her own tongue to feel pain, but she pushed back with all her willpower. She felt something weird, as if two giant shadows within her mind pushed back along with her, forcing the will of Ravager away from her mind.

"Ha-ha! Can’t believe that you also have got "them" inside of you. Even if I and they in you are just ghosts, I have to admit, it feels strange to share space with them." Ravager laughed, not even a little annoyed at losing control of Aranea's consciousness and hearing two new voices. Within Aranea, they chuckled at this as well. For a second, a new image came into Aranea's mind. The darkness that had kept Ravager locked was ripped apart and unhappy looking Ravager found herself sitting in the plains. A snowstorm raging all around her, while two enormously large figures of white furred wolfkins with beaming crimson eyes were standing by Ravager’s side, trying to talk with her.

A large hut was visible in the distance, light was in its windows. The white-furred wolfkins spoke soothingly, trying to persuade Ravager to go into the hut, where there was warmth and food, and work with them, while the black-furred wolfkin refused to even notice the white-furred duo, amber eyes shut as if she was pretending to sleep. The image disappeared as soon as it appeared, leaving Aranea alone once more.

 "Oh well, it’s your loss. At least now you actually bare your fangs at me, and you won’t be killed so easily anymore." Ravager said calmly to Aranea.

Aranea looked at her suddenly huge paws. She was slightly bigger than Sonya now, and her muscles felt like steel ropes in her arms. The night was suddenly no longer dark for her, she could see clearly.

"How dare you," Aranea growled, struggling to keep anger in check, "How dare you force this upon me? All these years I struggled to keep this down and now…"

"And now the lid was open. "And eventually, it will be open again," Ravager cracked her neck, making a cannon-like sound. "You want to change the tribe, but you reject a part of us. Now you will know what it’s like to be one of the Wolf Tribe," Ravager touched the back of Aranea with a single finger, giving the scout a gentle pat, suddenly calming her down, "Your dream is nice. I would’ve really liked to see it become a reality. But we are monsters, we are not like the Ice Fangs. Surely you can see it now, just like I do. I can feel the aggression in you. You gained the strength to move on closer to your dream, yet you have also changed yourself. Will your dream survive this?"

"Yes, it will. I will change us. I will lead by example if needed. We… we can grow up, become better. No matter how many years it takes, there will come a day when even you, Ravager, will admit this," Aranea slammed her paws into the ground, just as the last remnants of the power were finally locked away. She struggled to keep her sudden anger in check and took several deep breaths to calm herself.

"Then stand up, Aranea. Stand up and prove me wrong." Ravager jumped away and vanished into the night. She moved with a speed not befitting such a massive body. Aranea listened, but only silence was in the air.

The wolf hag Aranea stood up, looking at her oversized paws once more. Then she shook her head and came to Sonya, gently picking up her unconscious body and placing it over the shoulder. Aranea took one last breath to finally calm herself, and started running toward the camp.

***

She reached the camp when the night was almost over. The first morning lights start to slice through the dark. The camp was located in the ruined city from before, now with two whole packs of warlords, the place was beating with life again. Worker teams made of wolfkin males, a few warriors, and locals were busy fixing the buildings. The engineers who accompanied the warlords nearly restored light in the city, though there were occasional explosions of energy accompanied by normies' curses among engineers, who despised outdated and half-broken local infrastructure. The shamans were busy sending dead warriors on their last path. Injured people from the convoy were treated in the Free World hospital, meanwhile guards sent Aranea to a newly built hospital nearby. The warlords brought their own doctors with them. The majority of them were now outside, assisting at the Free World hospital, but a few remained inside. To Aranea’s surprise, she was greeted by the doctor from Free World.

"To the left room," The doctor pointed at the room, "I will call your people, they seem to hate it when I treat your kind without them."

"Why are you here?" Aranea asked, placing Sonya on the large bed.

"Why not?" The doctor shrugged, "Apparently war is coming, if I am with front line troops, I will have an opportunity to treat more people. And as that old guy said, I will stay alive for longer," He smiled, extending his hand, shaking Aranea's paw, "Name’s Marco. I and a few of my fellows will be among you for a while. Find us, if you need help." He disappeared, leaving to find doctors of the Wolf Tribe.

"Damn it," Sonya moaned, waking up. She tried to stand up but fell back onto the bed. Aranea could see how the white sheet underneath her slowly turned red, "You… you are Aranea, am I right? Cubs sure grow up fast these days." The former wolf hag mumbled something in astonishment, looking at Aranea.

"Try not to make any rash moves. I broke your arm and leg. And probably cracked your skull." Aranea said, placing a paw on the chest of Sonya.

"Not hard enough, apparently, since I am still in this world," Sonya whispered, looking at Aranea, one of her eyes was red with blood, "What the hell... wolf hag," she had to force herself to say. "You could feel it, you should have offered my life to our blessed mother..."

"There was no one divine out there. No gods, just fellow humans. And I don’t kill humans for fun. I changed this tradition, at least for myself," Aranea said, avoiding the explanation of the night's events, "Heal up. There will be some changes in my pack, but this will wait."

"Tent it is for me then." Sonya said with anger and hatred that her head fell on a pillow as she closed her eyes.

"Don’t count on it yet. That too is something that I intend to change," Aranea lightly slammed her palm across the good shoulder of Sonya and left as three doctors came inside.

She heard curses about "barbarians and their traditions" as people started their work to nurture Sonya back to health. The warlords and shamans ordered the Wolf Tribe to ignore any remarks about the way of life of the Wolf Tribe from doctors of normies, and their allies used it fully to constantly berate wounded members, mocking traditions in full. Aranea actually liked them because of this, it was good for someone who openly hated stupid duels for domination. But most members of the Tribe hated them. Not because of mocking, no. Being locked in a hospital was the worst thing for any wolfkin.

The wolf hag asked the nurse for some spare clothes, and the man pointed her toward a nearby room. Once she finished dressing herself, Aranea met Kostya in the corridor as she exited the room. The wolfkin was returning after checkups. He still had a few bruises and scratches on him, and some parts of his body were in bandages, yet he was mostly unharmed and received permission to return to duty tomorrow.

"Aranea? This is you, right?" Kostya smiled after a minute, having trouble recognizing her, bowing and baring his neck, "No, it is wolf hag now, right? Congratulations. "Does this mean Sonya?" He asked with concern.

"She is alive. Angry and bitter but willing to return to the field in a couple of months," Kostya raised his brows in surprise, but did not ask further. He moved to pass by, but Aranea grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "I think you owe me an explanation." What the hell, Kostya? In my pack, we do not throw our lives away. Why were you so intending to be in the front line?"

"I…" Kostya licked his lips, "The shamans sent their word to me some time ago. They expect me in a tent in a couple of months. I am scared," He finally forced himself to say, "To die in combat is one thing. Giving your life for your friends is something to look for… But being butchered is…" He clenched his fists and said, "I don’t want to go to the tent."

"You won’t. Kostya, you till an able soldier, you can…"

"That’s the problem, I can’t!" He said with despair in his eyes, "You remember this incident with insectoids? I was late to protect Sly. Today I was also slower than usual. Kate is right about me, I am no longer as strong as…"

"Ignore her," Aranea snapped at him, "I will talk with her to keep her in line."

"Why? She speaks the truth and has never hurt me, unlike the others. Spirits, she has saved me more times than I can count! Point is…" He looked at his paws, "I am getting old, we all know it. But just the mere thought of this day, the day when I will have to walk all the way to the tent, knowing that all is over, that inside…" He stopped, breathing hard in fear and horror, "I just want to die a proper death, to give my life for my comrades and not to be s… not like a cusack."

"Listen, we can always talk to the warlord, and Janine will approve you leaving the Wolf Tribe for good," Aranea grabbed his shoulders, "You will not be killed by the shamans, I promise." 

"And where will I go?" He looked up into her eyes. "I don’t know about anything aside from fighting, so I won’t be able to work in the Core Lands, they have no need for warriors there. I can’t join Free World, since I am not a medic, I will be a burden to them. Oathtakers? They take away your soul. Pearl? You heard what happened there not long ago. And Iterna… Well, I don’t know them, but they too probably have no use for an old wolfkin like me. It’s the tent or starving in the wastes for me. Both options are scary, so I push myself to…"

"You will not starve, nor will you end up in the tent. Kostya, have I ever lied to you?" He shook his head, and Aranea forced him to look into her eyes, "Trust me, I will figure something out. Calm yourself and live on. Don’t you dare give up now," She waited for him to nod and then pushed ahead. Just one more thing for her to solve. Aranea asked for directions to Kaleb’s whereabouts, and they pointed her to the correct room. She arrived to see how a doctor was injecting something in the back of Kate, while she was sitting on the chair, playing with the beads in her paw. Kaleb was lying on the bed, his broken arm was locked in a steel construction that made weird buzzing noises. He hugged his knees with his good arm and looked at his toes.

"Sister, you mind leaving us alone? This room is full, and this is Sonya’s pack here. We are currently mourning the loss of our leader," Kate muttered without looking at the door. All her attention was on the beads in her paw.

"Don’t talk like this, she might come back yet." Kaleb spoke weakly.

"She would have come back, if she had actually used her power. As of now, the case is clear," Kate responded angrily, "Do you think she would have liked the flowers on her grave? I can buy some, I still have some tokens left."

"Well, you are wrong as usual." Aranea smiled, stomping her leg proudly on the floor. Kate raised her hand and blinked, trying to understand who it was before her. Then she recognized the familiar features and smirked.

"You actually did it, you mad…" She quickly stopped, "I mean, congratulation on your promotion, wolf hag Aranea." Kate almost forced these words out of herself, a small smile on her snout. She tried to stand, but the doctor loudly slapped her across the back of her head. Kate growled but submitted to the silent order and allowed the woman to continue working on her back.

"Wolf hag, I am glad to submit to you." Kaleb tried to look official in the presence of an outsider, but Aranea just laughed.

"How is your arm doing?" She asked, still laughing.

"This idiot did it this time," Kate angrily said, "His arm cracked in more places than I can count, doctors say it will be at least a week before they let him back into action. He's on leave at the warlord's orders and will most likely spend the next week sleeping here like a cub. It's not like you can actually do anything else in this hole. And I will have to do both his and my jobs once again."

"Sorry." Kaleb looked down.

"Oh, don’t you worry right now," "You will be sorry later, when I force you to run the course again and again, until I finally beat it into you to be more careful," Kate said angrily, "You thought that it was hard last time? This time your body will really be hurting, you useless, stupid sack of…" She fell silent as Aranea leaned on her.

"No more." The right paw of Aranea pointed at Kate’s chest, as anger rose in the wolf hag.

How many times has she warned Kate before? Aranea felt her head spitting. She killed several people during the night and still felt nothing. Ravager, rummaging through her head, forcibly releasing her power. Then, her worries about Sonya and Kostya, she needed to find a way to save them from the tent. And now Kate dares to add to the list of her worries? Who does she think she is? Fears, anger, and frustration exploded in Aranea’s mind. Why can nothing work as she wants it to? Why does no one even try to behave like a decent human being for once! She tried and tried to make the scout behave. But once again, Kate dared to threaten Kaleb. Fine then. Aranea decided. It was time to beat the lesson into Kate’s thick skull using the only method that the scout could understand.

A claw shot from Aranea’s paw, and she pressed it to the skin of the scout, right below her right shoulder, "I warned you to behave," The claw pierced the skin of the scout, biting deep. Aranea's mouth drooled against her will as blood flowed from the wound. Her instincts urged her to lunge forward, to bite… Aranea moved her claw to the left side of the scout, feeling her claw scratching across the bones of the scout. Kate was sitting calmly, despite the pain in her chest, only a tick in her left eye indicated that she felt pain. This lack of fear enraged the wolf hag, "You forced my paw. Fine, we'll play by your rules. Rule number one: you will never insult Kaleb again without my permission." She looked for something that might cause the scout to break and noticed that Kate nervously moved the beads in her paw. Aranea grabbed them away from her with her left paw.

"Aranea, please don’t break them," Kate asked in a weak voice, trying to stand up, despite the claw still being in her skin. Kate’s eyes were looking madly at the beads, she was ready to leap after them. Aranea felt how the scout was slowly standing up, the claw going deeper into her chest. The wolf hag smiled. Finally, they were getting somewhere. Finally, she could sense real fear. The doctor took a step back, pressing buttons on a wall, "Aranea, I beg you, without them I..." Aranea's paw closed, breaking beads into dust, and fear ran in Kate's eyes.

"Rule number two: you will never hurt Kaleb again. Is this understood?" She twisted her claw, tearing through more flesh, as the scout tried to speak, "We are still in the middle of the lesson, so shut up your dirty mouth and listen to the teacher. Is this understood?" Kate gave a quick nod, and Aranea smiled. She felt ecstasy, she felt herself sublime, almost divine, "Rule number three: from now on, you will always speak to me in a respectful tone. I am no longer a scout, I am your master. Now apologize for your behavior, you defective trash." Aranea moved the claw along the line of torn flesh, allowing it to bite a little deeper this time in places where bones allowed it.

"Aranea! This is not actually…" Kaleb tried to stand, his voice filled with fear, but he stopped as Kate threw a glance at him.

"Lay down, you idi… Kaleb." Kate forced herself to say, as the claw of Aranea twisted in her body, increasing the wound and causing the blood to flow, "I am sorry for my behavior, wolf hag." The scout bared her throat. Aranea lowered her jaws to bite the scout. She could sense pain and fear in Kate. These were such pleasant feelings. She had previously attempted to change her through words and actions. No more. Pain will force her to grow up. Aranea's mouth watered as her huge jaws spread wide. This will leave her with a mark she will never forget. Something chuckled in the mind of the wolf hag.

"Wolf hag! Aranea, please, she saved me today! She always saves me!" Kaleb shouted.

You are a disgrace. I can see that punishment is needed. Aranea heard a voice in her head. But we are monsters, we are not like the Ice Fangs. Surely you can see it now, just like I do. I can feel the aggression in you. You gained the strength to move on closer to your dream, yet you have also changed yourself. The wolf hag heard a new voice and almost jumped back, forcing herself to stay in place just by sheer force of will. She quickly took the claw away from Kate’s body, trying not to hurt her anymore. What was she doing right now? She promised herself to lead by example, yet just now she was acting just like Sonya. Aranea felt her paw trembling. What was I doing just now?! What example am I setting?!

"I…" She licked her lips, unsure what to say. She had never gone this far before. Kate was always an asshole and a thorn in her side, but Aranea never used physical violence to punish her before. She wanted to change this rule in the Tribe, not to follow it. Blood was running down from the wound on Kate’s chest. "There will be no further punishment. Kate, how much did these beads cost you? " Aranea wanted to move forward to treat the scout's wounds but stopped, suddenly afraid of the fear in the scout's eyes. She sees me as a monster. She understood. But then, what else could I be called? Mom, dad, what have I done? How am I supposed to fix that?! A panic ran through her thoughts, and Aranea forced herself to look calm, at least, she forcibly clenched her fist to stop trembling, and Kate looked at her in fear, worrying that she would punch her.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. They were just a pretty plaything to calm my nerves, that’s all." Kate quickly said, reaching down and grabbing the dust of beads with a trembling paw. Ignoring the wound, the scout looked at the ruined things in her paw with almost despair on her face, yet Kate forced herself to be calm as she stood up. Aranea understood that the scout was afraid of her, truly afraid for the first time. She could smell the odor of fear coming from Kate’s body. This smell made Aranea feel sick. Even when they fought for leadership in the past, Kate never felt fear, she just shrugged off the loss, "I will find some stones to play with, please don’t concern yourself with it, wolf hag…"

"What is going on here?" Marco said in an angry voice, coming inside. He looked at Kate's wound and frowned.

"I overstepped my bonds, insulted a fellow soldier, and paid the price for this," Kate quickly explained, "This was my fault alone. Please, excuse me, I need to visit the shamans as soon as possible."

Marco came to Kate, noticing her trembling paw with the ruins of the beads. The wolfkin almost tried to run, but the doctor stood in her way. Kate let herself be pushed back into the chair as Aranea frowned. Marco nodded to the doctor, and the woman approached, giving Marco instruments. He forced Kate to sit down and began treating her wound.

"And this" minor scratch is what put you in this state of shock?" Marco asked, looking at Aranea with suspicion. "There is constant banter and curses here between your kind, yet no superiors dare come here to punish the wounded. This "minor scratch" is no small thing, the wound goes to the bone. I don’t care what she had done, but you will not abuse patients in the hospital, is this understood, wolf hag Aranea?"

"Please, this was really my fault…" Kate started.

"Crystal clear." Aranea cut her off. The wolf hag felt herself like shit. Never before was she so suddenly angry. What is happening to me? Aranea asked herself and decided that while she can’t fix the past, she will make sure to never snap like this ever again, "I apologize for overstepping my bounds. Scout Kate, I expect you to send me information about the cost of the ruined thing and where I can buy a replacement. " Aranea had never before seen the wolfkin turning pale from a mix of horror and something else, yet there is a first time for everything.

"There is no need to pay for anything, wolf hag." Kate said, almost hysterically, in a strange, high-pitched voice, trying her best to keep her calm, "It’s… this is not something you can buy anyway. This is not something you should know about. Please, this wound is nothing, just a scratch, I need to go to the shamans, I really must go!"

"You will stay here, until this "scratch" is treated and healed," Marco said in a stern voice, "I am also quite curious about the reason behind your fear. I think that you will stay in the hospital for this day."

"No! You don’t understand, I must go! If I don’t get r…" Kate's eyes were crazy with fear and despair, as if she had nearly revealed some dark secret, "Bad things will happen," She finally forced herself to say, "Please, just let me go."

"I will pick them up from the shamans," Kaleb said, standing up. Kate threw a mad look at him, but he simply shrugged, "What? My arm is not going to fall off. Don’t worry, I will lie something to them."

"Idio… Kaleb," Kate forcibly stopped herself, "No. Don’t you dare. You need proper rest and…"

"It will be fine," Kaleb dismissedively said, struggling to put on his pants, "The shamans are nearby, I will be back here in a few minutes."

"Kaleb," Aranea asked, "What is this all about? What are you going to "pick up" exactly?" She noted the almost pleading look on Kate’s face as she looked at Kaleb.

"Nothing. It's just some empty thing. It really is nothing." Kaleb shrugged, clumsily, yet carefully pulling the jacket over his right arm.

"Then I will just walk with you, if this is really that minor thing. Don’t worry, Kate, I will keep him safe." Aranea glanced at the scout one last time and noticed a mix of fear and relief on her snout. Relief probably came because she was leaving. But why fear?

She and Kaleb walked out of the hospital doors. Kaleb was walking a bit slower than usual, his snout became strained when he walked down the stairs from the hospital doors. It was just three stairs, yet pain showed up on his face, and he took quick breaths.

"You probably should go on your way, wolf hag," Kaleb said in a sorry tone, "I am not yet used to walking with this." He nodded at the device on his right arm.

"No, I think I will escort you. You have permission to speak freely, Kaleb. You may use any words you want, I won’t get angry." Aranea said, waiting for him to collect himself.

"Well…" Kaleb took another breath, "I am glad that you came back and all of this. But did you really need to screw up the situation yet again? I just got Kate to speak with me, and now everything's gone to shit."

"Kaleb. You are a good kid. But stop trying to be nice to everyone. Kate has been bullying you since the day you came to my pack. I overstepped myself, true, but don’t say that she had not had it coming in a long time."

"Eh. You only think this way because you are lucky," Kaleb looked at the shocked face of Aranea and continued stubbornly, "I am sorry, but it is true!" He started walking forward along with Aranea, "I know about your family, everyone does! And I am sorry, so sorry that this happened to you. But…" He swallowed, "The worse shit can happen to others." He showed her his good paw, which was tiny in comparison to Aranea's current paw. He was small, even compared to other males, "I don’t really know my parents, the shaman said I was just brought in one day and thrown into the pits. A single male in an entire pack of girls," He laughed, as if trying to force memories away.

"But…" Aranea frowned, "This is an impossible situation. You would never have survived…" Males were suppressed in the Wolf Tribe. While the cubs were still small, they were put in the pits, where they all had to fight among themselves for food. The strongest ate in full and even more, while the weakest only got scraps. Males always received less, as females pushed them around, some of them even died during these trials. A single male, in the pack of females… It was impossible for him to survive as a cub.

"I know, but this is how it happened. All day long trying to get to milk and meat and…" He stopped for a minute before continuing, "There was, however, a girl with me. The shamans named her a cursed child, and the teachers barely cared for her. We were not Branded, this much I know, yet our parents never came to visit us. Other cubs took after the shamans and despised her as well. Yet this girl was the one who always shared food with me. If you could only see her back then, covered in bites from head to toe, bleeding, yet still making me eat. For months, we two only had ourselves to speak freely as the others ignored us… Until Janine saved us from this horror," Kaleb shrugged, "The point is, you had three years of a happy life. You were never truly in the pits. I and many others were. You have no idea just how horrible it was there. Please don’t judge our relationships by your standards."

"What happened was horrible, Kaleb," Aranea responded, clenching her paws. Even now, some cubs are suffering somewhere because of these miserable traditions, "But it was in the past. She has no right to treat you badly now. You have done nothing to suffer for."

"Once again, you judge us," The wolfkin spoke in a tense voice, and Aranea looked at him. Kaleb was never angry, he always tried to solve all conflicts in the pack peacefully. Yet now he was agitated, "Kate made me promise that I would never reveal it… but fuck it," Kaleb stomped his leg on the ground and growled as pain hit his right hand. Aranea wanted to help him, but the wolfkin stubbornly moved on, "She never hurt me badly intentionally, I was the one who asked her for additional training, because I am weak. But because males cannot take initiative, she created these bizarre scenarios to make it appear as if she was the one who initiated the training. Was I hurt during training? Yes, but this was my fault! She explained to me what I did wrong after every mistake, helping me to avoid them and… I just want to do something for her. Just once. When Kate is herself, she is always so angry and bitter with everyone. I want her to loosen up at least once. As you say, the past is over. I want her to move on. So I talk with her each time the chance comes."

"Well, you are about to do something for Kate now, right?" Aranea put both hands behind her head, thinking about this weird situation, "You are about to bring her something, am I right? What is it? What is this thing that she needs so much? I thought that she hated the shamans."

"No. Sorry, Aranea. You can beat me up if you want, but I'm not going to tell you," Kaleb came to a halt, looking her in the eyes, "I swore to Kate to never tell anyone about this, and this one oath I will uphold no matter what."

"I won’t hurt you, Kaleb," Aranea responded softly, and saw doubt in his eyes. She was hurt but forced herself to be calm. She already proved her words false, and time will be needed to remedy this situation, "And I won’t hurt her anymore either, well, challenges aside," The wolf hag smirked, and Kaleb relaxed a little as they both walked forward, "For what it is worth, I am sorry about what I did."

They walked in silence for some time as they came to a building that the shamans had taken over as a place to stay. Shamans had no real need for homes, aside from the tent where the dead went to rest. They could conduct rituals in the field if needed. To become a shaman, a female needed to remember every single name of the Spirit of the Tribe, every single prayer and be able to recite them without a single mistake. Books with all the information about traditions and prayers existed, of course, in the rare case where all the shamans of the pack somehow perished, but the spirit guardians of the Tribe rarely used them during prayer, it was considered to be a bad tone. Sonya once joked that it is easier to become a warlord than a shaman, you need to know less.

This simple two-story building was before the pair. Just yesterday it was badly damaged in a raid, but shamans worked themselves up, fixing cracks and the roof, replacing the windows. They even tried to restore the water supply to the building but failed and had to ask for help in this from the rest of the Tribe. As Kaleb explained, Janine wanted to send proper engineers to help, but the shamans refused aid from the normies, at least until they fixed the rest of the city. So now fifteen wolfkins are working furiously nearby, trying to restore the water supply to the building. Engineers brought massive devices capable of producing water with them. The problem was connecting such a device to the systems in the town. The ground around the building has been excavated, pipes and rubber wires have been revealed, the team was busy fixing them to ensure that they won’t blow up when water flows.

"Hey, Kaleb!" Yuki, neck deep in dirt, waved her paw to greet the wolfkin, "They let you out already. Who is your new girlfriend, is she from Siri’s pack or something?"

"Actually..." Kaleb began, but Aranea laughed.

"I will let this indignity slide, Yuki. Provided that you will wash yourself, before going to rest."

"Aranea?! No way! How the hell are you so huge!" Yuki blinked in surprise. Nearby, a wolfkin screamed in worry as one of the huge wires nearby snapped, mud shot out from the torn rubber.

"How is it looking out there! Is it water yet?" Aranea heard Sly's voice from inside a nearby one-story building. Several wires were going into the basement of the building.

"It’s mud. Muddy water!" Yuki shouted back, laughing, "For the record, I am not drinking it! And you said you'd wait until we fixed it..."

"Can’t sweat over every single detail! Now we know that this wire is not suited for our task, we can replace it. Let’s test the next one…" A loud noise came from the building.

The flow of mud stopped. In the next moment, a part of the wire near Yuki exploded, and a torrent of water hit her, throwing her away from the dirt.

"How about now? Is it clean water this time?" Sly inquired from the basement.

"Yes, you bastard! Now come out so I can drown you in it!" Yuki angrily shouted, trying to regain her footing, as water washed away the ground from under her and the warrior fell on her face again.

"I will go on alone, from here," Kaleb whispered, as Aranea was laughing, looking at how Yuki was trying her best to stand up, "Please don’t follow me. Do this one thing for me." The wolf hag nodded, and the small wolfkin moved toward the building of the shamans. He knocked on the door, and one of the shamans came out, a female in richly ornate power armor. She glanced with disapproval at the situation nearby, before looking at Kaleb. He tried to say something, but the shaman raised a single finger, stopping him. She put a finger on his forehead, uttering prayers for his future wellbeing, thanks to the people who treated him, and prayers for his speedy recovery. Deciding to trust Kaleb on this one, Aranea moved away from this place, just as a screaming and angry Yuki was busy dragging Sly out of the basement.

Aranea walked all the way to the temporary command center. This wasn’t much of a headquarters, just a place where both warlords could contact the command. The Wolf Tribe was not involved in military planning, they struck fast and then waited for new orders. Planning, rebuilding—all of this was new to them. The guards let Aranea go inside the single-story building, and she found warlord Martyshkina lying exhausted on the armchair, while Janine was standing nearby on wobbly legs, looking in the window. Martyshkina poured some alcohol into a glass and noticed Aranea.

"Oh. You really survived, girl. Congratulations." Martyshkina quickly drank from the glass, "And you are all beefed up now. Finally, you accepted your gift, I see. This deserves a shot of celebration," She poured more alcohol and swallowed it as well, "Also shot in memory of my dearest Sonya…" Another glass was filled and then depleted.

"You never even talked with Sonya." Janine calmly noted.

"Actually, Sonya is alive. She is currently in the hospital," Aranea quickly said, "And I pushed the power back."

"Well, that deserves another shot of celebration and one shot of regret." Martyshkina consumed two more drinks.

"Just drink the whole blasted bottle, will you?" Janine said with a hint of annoyance. She let go of the window and turned toward Aranea, "Aranea, was she the… Of course not. My congratulations on your victory. I approve your promotion. Now you are to rest until the evening. Try not to overextend yourself and eat more, such a sudden change is bound to have an effect on both your body and mind. I will send some engineers to you, to make adjustments on your armor. Tomorrow we are to rest according to the orders of..." Anger and hatred appeared in Janine's eyes, yet she finished her speech calmly. "… our masters."

"As you command, warlord." Bowed Aranea. "Is everything alright? I've never seen you so... so..."

"Don’t lie, you saw me without my jaw." Janine snapped, calmness returning to her eyes, "As for right now, if you think me weak or unsuited to lead, then challenge me. I will show you the meaning of power."

"Don’t listen to her, girlie," Martyshkina hiccupped, reaching for the next bottle, "She just pissed that black and blue were using us as pawns once again."

"Pawns?" Aranea asked in confusion.

"Our dear leaders just contacted us," Ironjaw spoke calmly, turning back to the window, "Tell me, have you ever met the wyrms? In person, I mean."

"No, my warlord."

"Enough with the warlord for now. For the next ten minutes, I give you permission to speak freely and stand freely. Take away the bottle from Marti, if you want to drink."

"I will fight to the death for my precious!" The second warlord protested, "They are mine, all mine."

"Wyrms can make you talk," Janine ignored her and started to explain. "Not like "talk-talk", not with physical violence, oh no. They look at you, and you can’t help yourself but to do anything to please them. You know how you sometimes forget some minor detail? Well, wyrms can drag it out of you, because, deep down, you do remember it. This process is mostly harmless but leaves you in a mess for a while. And tonight, they questioned us, thoroughly about our encounter with the Resistance. Every single detail, every minor thing that we saw," Janine's paw moved from window to window, fist clenched, "And why do you think this is so? Why were all three of them, black, blue, and gold, in Uglo when we called to make our report? We're supposed to believe that they all just hang out all the time, despite hating each other's guts. It’s because they used us once again," Janine growled, "The wyrms needed information about the enemy. The blue one knew that the black one would never allow our troops to die in vain, so the blue one tried to play it all by himself, yet the black one ensured that Marty would be nearby just in case. The wyrms knew that I dislike the blue one, and they knew that Marty would support me, so they sent me here to tip me off by allowing me to see this carnage. Then they, or one of them, sent an unprotected convoy to tip off the Resistance, and here we are, everyone made a move, all without the wyrms ordering anything directly and without them breaking the truce. Now they know more, the Resistance has proven to be unreliable, raiding force destroyed as the blue one intended, the Resistance contacted their spies in various places demanding to know what the hell happened, allowing minions of the black one to locate and capture spies. And we are reminded that we are just pawns, pawns that can be easily predicted and controlled."

"To be fair, Wyrm Lord apologized to us. He too was kept in the dark about this." Martyshkina stated, "He promised to make up for…"

"Make up!" Janine roared in anger, before starting to whisper passionately, "Make up for allowing black and blue to use us! Weakling-in-chief indeed, he is unable to reign in his minions. Screw him. I hate being used as a pawn, I hate it! Ravager never treated us like this. We were the storm back then, we were the death!"

"Come on, it’s not all that bad," Martyshkina tried to cheer her fellow warlord on, "Our losses are vastly smaller under new leadership, we also have access to better gear. You said it, remember? Some changes are needed. Abyss, Wyrm Lord, even persuaded the shamans to let the wolfkins receive payment. We are no longer working for free, and now we can buy all kinds of stuff…" She went silent and smiled innocently as Janine looked at her.

"Trinkets. Trinkets for our honor. For our dignity," Janine breathed heavily, trying to hold back anger, "We are growing soft."

"Warlords, I have a question," Aranea said, not wanting to waste any more time on useless regrets about superiors. She had far more important things to worry about. Ironjaw looked at her, and the wolf hag quickly corrected herself, "Janine, Martyshkina I need your help, please. One of my pack, is reaching the age when he should go to tent to the shamans for the final farewell. I was thinking that perhaps there is a way to..."

"Yes, of course," Janine let out a sigh, "I will issue a declaration that will postpone the killing of our elderly until the war is over. I'll need the vote of another warlord for this. Marty would you…"

"Don’t even ask," The warlord saluted her with a glass, "You have it. I hate this stupid law anyway."

"Laws are laws. "They were put in place for a reason," Ironjaw said to the other wolfkin, but the warlord simply showed her tongue and drank another shot. Janine decided to ignore her and turned back to Aranea, "Until the end of the war, he should be fine. After the war, if he survives, he will have to face his destiny," Janine turned to Aranea, "There are still two ways to save him. One is exile…" Janine looked into the face of Aranea and nodded, "I see. No need to explain, I feel the same as he does. The second way is, if you will offer your claws for his life. The ritual of declawing."

***

Aranea left the warlords and went to the south of the city. She was ordered to rest, yet there was one more person she had to speak with.

The ritual of declawing.

She looked at her paws, releasing her claws. This was usually reserved for criminals. In the Wolf Tribe, natural claws are treasured. Way in the past, wolfkins used them to attract males for copulation, even in these days, some wolfkins were obsessed with them. And on top of all that, claws were a really good weapon. Declawing means removing claws for good, unless you can pay for a costly operation, the victim will never get his or her claws back. Aranea clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to memorize the shape of her claws forever. From what she knew, the ritual was extremely painful and was made like this on purpose.

"Guess I better start saving to buy these cybernetic replacements for claws," She decided. Surprisingly enough, there was a market for such things in the Reclamation Army. You could even order them all the way from Iterna, although the shamans would probably strangle her for this. Claws were not important. Who cares which melee weapons you use, as long as they kills? Only lives are important. Still, there was a problem with Sonya and her age.

"Maybe I can save enough to buy a full set of natural claws, get them declawed again, and then buy some cheap replacements? I wonder if this is acceptable…" Aranea intended to check the laws about it. She'll get rid of this stupid tradition one day, but for now she'll have to make do with what she's got.

Siri and her pack were put in charge of finding orphans in the town. Tomorrow, new settlers were supposed to arrive, along with forces to finally restore law and order in the town. Orphans will be given proper education and medical care as per the laws of the state. Siri took her assignment quite literally and left no stone untouched, as her pack was busy hunting after the scared cubs. Martyshkina told Aranea that Siri reported that the task was completed, then asked for additional time because a challenge had been issued. Aranea hoped it wasn't what she thought.

The chanting of wolfkin, as well as the sound of fighting, could be clearly heard from it. The roof of the warehouse was half gone, allowing light to come inside. For a brief moment, all sounds were silenced before someone roared triumphantly. Aranea hit the rusted gates and stepped inside. Unconscious Siri was lying on a floor, the stone floor was cracked under her body. Countless wounds covered her body, her ear was connected to her body with a thin layer of flesh. Olesya was standing over Siri, one leg on the chest of the fallen wolf hag. Half of her torso was covered with lacerations, ribs were visible on her left side, two fingers on her right paw were broken, and yet her smile was one of true happiness and joy. The floor and walls of the first floor were covered with splashes of blood, as if someone were butchering cusacks here. The wolfkins filled the second floor of the building, looking above and chanting the name of Olesya. Most of the wolfkins were holding one or more normie’s cubs under their arms.

"I can’t hear you bitches! Louder! Put your soul into it, will you?!" Olesya threw her arms to the skies, showing her middle fingers to the sun above, and chanting increased, "Who is the best?! Who is the strongest?!" Her new pack chanted her name, "That’s right, me, and don’t you dare forget it!" Olesya’s body began to increase slightly, as reward hit her, and the former scout roared again in ecstasy.

"Stop fooling around, you ridiculous idiot," Aranea laughed, standing outside the doors, "You are scaring the cubs."

"Bullshit! They enjoyed the show as well!" Olesya turned her head to the entrance and blinked, confused for a moment. Then she leaped from the fallen Siri and charged to Aranea, grabbing her in a hug, shouting happily, "Still alive! Still alive! You made it! I knew you would! And you are all grown up and muscled up now, what did you eat Sonya, or something?"

"Nah, she is alive, and all is well for now," Aranea grabbed Olesya into her own hug, and the two struggled for a moment, "You ain’t so soft yourself either, I need to watch out in the future, or you might beat me one day!"

"I can drop you here and now, if you want!"

"You are just a half dead buffoon! Know your limits!"

"Never! I will always aim to be at the top! Cause I was born to be a warlord," Olesya laughed, letting go of Aranea, "To become the strongest among the strongest. To dominate and win! To make my Dad and Mom proud!"

Olesya turned her head back to her pack and roared:

"What are you standing for, like a bunch of peons? Velka, take scout Siri to the hospital right now, the cubs are to be delivered to the base. Right now! Move it, move it lazy bums! The break is over!"

"Listen, Oles," Aranea whispered into the ear of her fellow wolf hag, "Can I ask you to come over. I have something I need to talk about. Please, if you feel like you can, put the hospital aside for a while."

"Why so serious?" Olesya lifted her ears in surprise, "You met someone? Some boy caught your eye? Or someone bullied you?" When the wolf hag saw Aranea's pleading expression, she simply shrugged and yelled for her pack to bandage her wounds as soon as possible.

Aranea let out a sigh of relief and hurried to her room. Janine pointed out on a map the building in which Aranea and her pack were to rest and sleep until the next mission. It was a three-story-tall, old-looking building. The first two floors belonged to her pack. Scouts and warriors are on the second floor, males on the first. As of right now, her pack lacked the numbers, fresh recruits are expected to arrive soon from the Uglo fortress. A half-ruined third floor with a single remaining room was the new home of Aranea. Her items were thrown in the corner, no one touched them. A simple looking bed was the sole commodity in the room.

"So, what’cha so scary happened, eh, girl?" Olesya stepped inside, looking to sit on the bed, but instead dropped to the floor.

"A lot, Oles. I think I started in the wrong order," Aranea explained to Olesya about how she snapped and mauled Kate, "I seriously have no idea what came over me! You know me, I never lost control before, so why now?!"

"Eh, who cares about a few scars," Seeing the face of Aranea, the wolf hag shrugged, "No, really, who? You and I bear our shares as well. No, there was something else that scared your birdie. Hm…"

"It doesn’t matter! What matters is that I snapped!" Aranea looked at her trembling paws and said, "What if it happens again?"

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Olesya dismissively waved her paw, "It's because of the power,. You can feel the rush of adrenaline when you win, right?" She smirked, seeing Aranea's puzzled expression, "But you bottle it down, forcing it to retreat. And then…" She pressed two paws tightly together, to the point of them trembling, and finally threw them away from each other, imitating a blast, "It exploded, right? All at once went out. You feel like you can fly right now. It's like a drug. This feeling is supposed to be short lived, but since you rejected it for so long… Well, you see the result. It’s unhealthy to reject yourself."

Aranea looked at a wall. Could the explanation really be this simple? She somehow doubted it. There was quite a distance from the dueling grounds to the town. Surely she would have come to her senses by the time she came back?

"There is... one more thing," Aranea forced herself to start the confession, "I… killed a person on this night. "A living, breathing person." She expected Olesya to laugh, but the wolf hag was calm.

"You can come over to my place for the night if you want," Olesya suggested, "I remember my first kill well. We were taking over a makeshift fort of cannibals, I was sent to free prisoners. Here I am, breaking down doors, and then there is this blonde dude, barely older than a teen, with a dagger in his hand. So I gunned him down. Then I came to the cells of prisoners and found that the second team had already busted them open," Olesya looked at the wall. "I killed this dude and to this day I am not sure if he was a prisoner or an enemy. Even if he was one of the enemies, I could have easily taken him down without killing him, right?" Olesya was silent for a moment, before continuing, "Shittiest feeling, really. It was hard to overcome it."

Aranea remembered this story. Olesya asked to sleep in her tent for a couple of nights, screaming in her sleep. Olesya never showed any signs of weakness during the days, and they never spoke about nightmares, but there was clearly something that bothered her.

"It’s… it’s not like this with me," Aranea forced herself to speak the truth, "I… I felt nothing as I was killing them. Even worse, when we arrived at this city, I saw dead bodies. And I felt nothing either. Humans are supposed to feel sadness because of this! And yet I… Oles, do you think this is bad? Do you think I can be a monster?"

"No idea," Olesya shrugged, "All I know is that you tried to save people, this much I saw. Hell, you saved Sonya, if reports are to be believed. Twice actually, since you didn't kill her during the challenge. You may think what you want to, but no, I do not consider you a monster."

They spoke for nearly an hour more before Olesya finally left for the hospital and Aranea started to unpack her things. She placed a broken mirror on a wall, she messed up during packaging, and the stupid thing broke during march.

"Just another bad omen," Aranea said, letting out a laugh. From the mirror, an alien face was looking at her. Her snout was too big, both of her eyes glowed ever so slightly. Amber and crimson, glowing like dying lamps.The single scar was over her left eye, barely visible right now. In fact, many of her scars were missing. No longer did she have a slender form, now she was a creature of brute force. She opened her mouth and saw pristine white fangs. They too were bigger than usual.

"I am no longer myself." She chuckled and fell onto the bed. Aranea decided that she could finish setting up her room later. The wolf hag was exhausted, as if all of the damage from the previous day and night had suddenly returned to her. Yet no matter how she tried, she could not fall asleep. She was tossing and turning in bed, yet dreams refused to come.

Finally, she stood up and walked to the mirror. She froze in horror as she saw herself. A massive body was standing in the room, a single scar was over her left eye. And her fur was white. With horror, Aranea understood that Tilden was looking at her from the mirror.

A knock on the door woke her up, and she jumped up, biting her own hand in order not to scream. Ignoring the noise at the door, she charged to the mirror and saw her new self. Still black fur, still Aranea. She breathed hard and screamed:

"Who is it?"

"Repair team, ma’am. We need to take measurements from your body, orders came to adjust your power armor."

Aranea blinked and let out a laugh, opening the door. This was true. She was huge now.