The Wolf Mage

Another Wolf Mage

Everything around me was clear to my eyes and nose. The darkness of night was like daylight to my eyes, and the ground below me felt smooth unlike the road of town. The ground sloped upwards, and then steep down hill. There was a small stream running through the area up ahead. An odd scent mice with the smell of perfume. I didn't like it, and it urged me to run faster. My back paws slid against wet stones as I hurried forward. I heard whimpering and hissing up ahead. I called out, barking to Erza. There was no reply other than the whimpering. I padded closer, and I could see Erza near the stream. Her dagger sparked in the night. A small spark of lightning forced a large, long animal backwards. It hissed furiously, and backed up a bit. It turned, taking me into notice. It faced me, and exposed its long teeth. It was a cougar. I took a step forward, and it darted forward. I backed away, and snapped my teeth at it. It's sharp claws scratched me forcing to back away. I heard its teeth click harmlessly in the air, but dangerously close to my neck.

"Jeremy!" Erza called. The cougar backed off, turning towards Erza. I charge forwards at the cougar, but with speed that startled me it spun around. I was larger, but this animal had the wild mentality to fight.  It's teeth slashed my shoulder. I slammed a heavy paw on it knocking it to the side, and charged. My teeth clipped the side of its muzzle. The cougar hissed, and screamed. It's paw lashed out at me dragging its claws on the side of my face.

"Jeremy!" I heard Hunter call. He was carefully making his way across the slippery stones. He whipped his dagger out, and it lengthened into a long sword. He was a foot away from me at my side.

"Keep it distracted, I'll get to Erza" he said. I lunged forward at the cougar. It attacked with both front legs. I backed away, and moved In from the side. It's claws hit my muzzle, but I slashed its shoulder. I could taste hot blood in my mouth. I spat it out, and moved back before I could be hit again. My eyes flickered to Hunter who was making his way to Erza. The cougar turned noticing, and hissed at Hunter. It stood up, and began to charge.  

"Oh f*ck" Hunter muttered under his breath. Fighting this beast was different. It was wild, and we had human minds. Even if I was in a different body I was fighting with a human mind. The tactics and fighting style was different. I charged, lunging for the cougar. My paws hit its left flank, and my black nails dug into its skin. I bit down, dragging my teeth into its flesh. I was barely thinking about the fight other than saving Hunter and Erza now. It was no different than the was actually. It was a struggle for power, one would win, and the other would die. I jumped backwards fast enough to dodge its counterattack. It hissed at me furiously, and darted forwards. With my tail tucked low I backs away to avoid the wrath of its claws. My back leg slipped clumsily on the wet rocks. I wasn't used to fighting like this reminding me of a new disadvantage. I growled threateningly at the cougar. It's tail swished behind it, and it bared its teeth at me. They were long and lethal teeth.

I kept back as it twisted around to bite back. I wasn't not fast enough though. It's teeth hit my neck. A loud yelp escaped my muzzle, and I fell over wig it on top of me. I thrashed about, writhing beneath it. My heavy paws hit it forcing it to let to go. It backed away turning to Hunter and Erza again. Hunter looked up from Erza's wounded arm, noticing the nearing danger now. He poised his sword at the cougar, but that cougar had weight to her that Hunter's weapon didn't.

"Brad!" I heard Tyler call. Brad was stumbling towards us. The vines of Tyler's plant were trying to restrain him, but failed to. Brad was still sick judging by the way he was walking. His mouth was partly open. Tyler put a hand on Brad's shoulder trying to him him back, but Brad shoved him away. The impact send Tyler flying backwards. Their arrival had caught the attention of the cougar giving me a chance to rise back up to my feet. My light brown fur was stained heavily with red.

"Brad, what the hell are you doing?" Hunter called to him. Brad didn't reply, and as he came closer I noticed a certain look about his eyes. Rather than the usual light blue color his eyes were yellowish. He walked towards the cougar; hub hed over with a hand over his chest. Perhaps the fever had made him insane. His breathing was loud, slow, and heavy. The cougar now seeing Brad as a potential threat faced him. It was badly wounded, but still had some fight left. I started to move towards it, but found myself struggling to move. A sudden searing pain flared up in my neck. I couldn't ignore it any longer, the heavy wounds were getting to me now. I winced, now finding myself struggling to stand. 'Damn it what was he doing?' I wondered. I watched in horror as the cougar charged forward, its tail lashing in the air behind it. I couldn't chase after it, and Brad was obviously insane. I then remembered the scratch. His hand on his chest was exactly where the scratch was! I started to move trying chase after the cougar. It lunged a few feet away from Brad, but at that moment so did Brad. A loud, primal, in-human snarl tore from his throat. I skidded to a halt on the wet stones.

His crooked jaw and face became longer, chest and rib cage tearing through his shirt, and two legs and arms became four legs. It happened in an instant.

"What the hell?" Typer whispered in shock. He was getting up now, and I heard him at my side now. His body slammed onto the cougar taking it also by surprise. It's claws raked his shoulders before it jumped back. The cougar hissed threateningly at Brad. It's teeth were bared, and its eyes gleaned furiously. Brad lunged in, snapping his teeth at the cougar. It's jaws met his neck, but he twisted around and clamped his own muzzle down on its neck. It released his flailing around and letting out a sort of gargled scream. Blood was everywhere, running down the wet stones and into the stream. The cougar was tossed aside, now lying limp creating a second stream of red.

Brad turned, now looking at us. My eyes narrowed, something was wrong. I took a step forwards towards him. He growled, eyes narrowing, and gleaming if rage. Just as I thought, he'd gone into feral mind. I darted forward at him.

"Jeremy, Brad!" I heard Hunter call. Brad lunged, but I body slammed into him. He clumsily slipped, but regained his footings quickly. His teeth snapped threateningly at me. I lunged, and twisted. My teeth clipped his shoulder as I threw him down. He started to get us, but I sharply growled a warning. He stayed down this time.

"Brad? Are you still there?" I asked the large wolf who was panting from exhaustion. His eyes flickered to me, calm, and no longer gleaming with out of control rage.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked. He frowned now noticing that talking was different.

"Jeremy is he cool now?" Tyler called. I looked back, and barked. I could hear Hunter and Tyler let out a sigh of relief. Hunter had taken his shirt off. It was now tied around Erza's arm. She stood up, a bit wobbly from the shock after the cougar's fearsome attack.

I looked at Brad who watched the three head back to the makeshift cabin. 'That scratch did this. Damn it, I wonder if there was a way to have prevented this?' I thought. He started to move, taking notice of his front paws as he clumsily tried to stand on four legs. The feral mind of rage was gone now, and only the human mind remained; unused to having four paws.

"Sorry dude" I apologized. 'This was my fault, that scratch did this' I thought.

"What're you talking about? This is pretty cool" he replied. He struggled to stand still on four paws, and started to walk away with the other three. I caught up to them. At least he wasn't mad, but still. I was curious if he could use wolf magic now. He may be able to shift, but did it mean there was another wolf Mage?