Amazing cover image made by Shreya_VA <3
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After the sun has set and the sky is left black with shimmering stars and the moon shining bright, Naomi, Malachi, and Nesosa make their way down the old cobblestone road leading away from Balmoral and into the dark, misty forest. Distant howls can be heard echoing throughout the night from all directions, sounding against the wisp of the cool night's wind.
As they walk, Naomi's mind wanders back to earlier. She can't get Lavern's words out of her head but she doesn't know why.
I thought you of all people would see sense amongst this bullshit, but you're just like everyone else.
Naomi has spent most of her life being the exact opposite. She and her friends were always the odd ones out, separated from everyone else at their school. She doesn't have a problem with that, she takes pride in it. How could being different be a bad thing? It's not a weakness, it's a strength. It makes her unpredictable, which makes it fun. So being told that she's just like everyone else gives her a feeling that possibly resembles guilt with a hint of uncertainty.
It makes her wonder what she did wrong. Just the other day Lavern was telling her that he wanted to be her friend, and that made her feel better about missing Nisha. But now something must have happened to make him change his mind, something that's probably her fault.
Trying to set the thoughts aside and focus on the present while the doubts still linger in her mind, Naomi sighs and looks forward over Nesosa's shoulder from her place atop her back.
"So... how are we going to do this?" she asks, her voice sounds off and she hopes no one notices.
Nesosa grins eagerly. "Nae much tae it. Just find one o' th' damn things 'n' slaughter it. Ah can't wait tae run mah blade through its jugular," she says and her eyes light up.
Malachi groans and shakes his head. "Wouldn't a more... tactful plan be better? We're dealing with werewolves for crying out loud."
Nesosa scoffs. "That's fine fur ye, bit I'm goin' tae murdurr them however ah damn well please. Nae fun in bein' 'tactful'." She rolls her eyes.
Malachi frowns. "This isn't supposed to be fun," he states.
"Um, aye. Which is exactly how come I'm making it fun. Have a go tae keep up, auldjin." She slices her blade through a low-hanging tree branch.
Naomi looks off over the dark forest and sighs sadly. The doubts return to the forefront of her mind despite her mental protests. She should be focusing on the job, but thoughts of Lavern never cease to intrude.
Hearing the absent sigh of unease, Malachi glances back at her. "What is it?" he asks.
Naomi frowns and looks down. "Do either of you... know what's going on with Lavern? Why was he getting so upset earlier?" she asks.
Nesosa shrugs. "Hell if ah ken. He's just insane fur wanting tae protect those monsters. They're animals, nae people," she states.
Naomi looks to Malachi, only to see him as he looks forward again and stays silent, keeping his focus on the trees and shadows. She wasn't really expecting any input from him and at this point, it's probably best to not get her hopes up.
The distant howling has stopped for now, leaving their footsteps and the wind the only sounds in the dead silence of the night. Through the woods down the path they tread, a low hanging fog rolls in over the dead autumn leaves blanketing the forest floor, making it hard to watch their step.
After enough arduous navigating, they reach a small clearing and stop to look around some more.
The blue glow casting through the trees and fog, gleaming against the darkness and lighting up the gentle mist like stars in the night air.
If it weren't for the werewolves and other various creatures lurking in the dark and waiting to kill them, this would be an actually peaceful place to sit and read or daydream or something.
Too bad for the impending doom.
Naomi slides off Nesosa's back and steps towards Malachi, the light fog swirling with her steps. "What now?" she asks with uncertainty.
Malachi sighs, a small breath of frost puffs in front of his mouth. "Werewolves are more likely to come out if someone is alone, so I'd say you and I should split up and meet back here if one of us runs into one. Nesosa, you stay here to kill it once either Naomi or myself come running back. Got it?" he explains.
Nesosa groans. "Ah have tae stay 'ere? That's nae fair!" She huffs and crosses her arms.
Malachi glares at her. "You're the only one of us with combat experience. If you're not here to kill it when one of us gets back, then we'll most definitely die."
Nesosa frowns and drops ungracefully to the grass and dried leaves, the fog parting around her before slowly creeping back to hug her stallion form. "Fine. Just don't bugger this up 'n' get murdurred afore ah have a chance tae kill the thing. I'm wantin' tae have at least a little fun tonight."
Malachi turns to Naomi. She still has her head down and her shoulders slumped, thinking about Lavern again. After he took off, where did he go? He couldn't have gotten far, maybe he went back to Balmoral without them noticing.
Malachi clears his throat and she startles and looks up at him. "Stay focused, Naomi. Remember that what we're doing is dangerous. You can and will die if you're not careful. That said, are you ready?"
She nods slowly. "Yeah... just tell me when," she says as enthusiastically as she can manage.
Malachi sighs and looks off to the forest. "Let's go now, just remember the direction you came from and only move in a straight line," he says and starts walking off in a random direction.
Naomi nods again and does the same, sparing Nesosa one last glance before heading deeper into the forest, towards the echoed howling.
She walks through the drab forest, the only light coming from the soft glow of the moon and stars overhead, which illuminate the steady fog that hugs her ankles and swishes around like water in a shallow pond.
The howling has resumed, but it all sounds distant. In the open like this, it's hard to tell exactly where the sounds are coming from. They sound both close and far-off, everywhere and nowhere all at once. Not knowing where the threat is should be enough to keep her focused and alert, but her mind fails to be sharp while her thoughts of Lavern leave it dull.
She knows she's been really excited about this quest to find the fragments, but if Lavern meant what he said earlier, he wishes she wasn't. Why? What's wrong with being enthusiastic about something as awesome as a quest in a fantasy world when all her life has been spent trapped in her bleak reality? Is it really so much to ask for a bit of adventure and fun for a change?
Then her mind wavers to the other thing that's stuck with her that leaves her confused. Everything was fine until they were told about needing to hunt down and kill a werewolf for the fragment. What is it about werewolves that seemed to have gotten so deep under his skin that he just decided to up and leave in a fit of anger? He left without so much as an explanation, making her wish she could find him and get one. She feels she deserves it after his outburst at her.
As her mind wanders and her thoughts become nothing more than a cloud of fog in the dark that spirals with doubts, confusion, and spite, she's left with it all piling into a headache.
She stops walking and holds the side of her head with irritation and huffs, breathing out the frost from the crisp autumn air. The drumming in her skull manages to push all thoughts aside, not only the ones of Lavern. It takes her a moment to stifle the annoyance enough to notice that only silence surrounds her.
The howling has stopped.
She slowly lowers her hand from her head and looks around, seeing only fog and trees, the rest is darkness aside from the moon's subtle glow overhead.
She feels a sense of danger that she recalls having a few years ago when she tried walking home from school and somehow ended up in a completely different city. She was young and alone in a big place filled with strangers with no clue how to get home. The whole time, she felt as though she was being followed, but she never was.
She hopes this situation is the same as it was back then, that it's all in her head. But unlike back then, she isn't going to be brought home by her dad who drove across the city to find her.
She comes to realize that the apprehension isn't just in her head as the silence is broken by the snapping of a twig, followed by a low growl from the infinite shadows engulfing everything in sight.
She quickly turns towards the source of the sound to see the glow of crimson eyes pierce through the dark.
In her sudden movement, the growling switches to a vicious snarl and a rasping bark. As the beast comes into her view and her eyes slightly adjust, her body grows cold as her face drains of blood and she freezes in place.
The monster rises to its hind legs with its arms hanging to the ground, bearing daggers for claws and razor-sharp teeth, its eyes hold a wild hunger that falls fixated on Naomi. Its body is covered in gnarled black fur and mottled patches of dark skin etched with scars left by animals and humans alike.
Naomi's mind runs blank which makes her fail to stop herself from unconsciously letting out a nervous laugh like she would when talking to a stranger who is an obvious lunatic.
The sound makes the beast let out a salivating roar and lunges towards her with bladed claws ripping through the fog. She doesn't know how she managed to avoid getting hit, but she did and falls back.
The werewolf emits a savage growl and towers over her. As it fully comes into view, her mind finds some aspect of clarity and she forces herself to push off the ground to sprint back the way she came, but she halts as she realizes she can no longer recall the direction she came from through the dark and mist.
With her back turned and her mind frantically searching for an answer on what to do, she fails to act in time before the beast sounds a spine-chilling roar and lunges at her, slicing its claws down the moment she turns around.
The lethal blades slash across her shoulder and chest and throw her against a tree. As the pain kicks in and fills her with the most agony she has ever felt in her life, she lets out a scream. Her cry echoes through the forest.
She looks down at the wound to see her skin has been torn to bloody ribbons. She shakily tries to cover the gashes with her hands, but it would only hurt more and do nothing to stop the bleeding. Her head begins to feel dizzy but she fights to keep hold of her consciousness.
The beast bounds at her again and repeats itself, slashing its claws down across her arm this time and howls ruthlessly.
She cries out again and tries desperately to crawl away, but it grabs her throat and pins her down. Its grip tightens beyond the point of allowing her to breathe. She tries pulling its hand away, but it only tightens its grip and roars wetly in her face.
She feels her body growing weak and her vision darkens. She hears a sudden snap and thinks it was her neck, but it came from the darkness lurking on the sidelines to watch her die.
She tries to look towards the noise but is unable to move her own head or see clearly. The beast opens its mouth and goes to bite down on her, but in an instant, a white blur rams into it and forces it to let go of her.
Naomi grabs her throat, coughing and rasping violently while also still trying to stay conscious and now see what has grabbed the beast's attention.
Through her darkening vision, she sees that standing directly across from the beast is another werewolf, with fur as white as the shining moon. The werewolf is slightly smaller than the black one, but no less ferocious.
The white beast releases a savage bark that comes out a little smoother than the black wolf's. The white one then extends its claws, ripping them down towards the black one, tearing through its chest. It lets out a pained snarl and throws itself towards the other, but the white wolf swiftly dives out of the way and rounds back, slashing both sets of claws down over the black one's face. Its eye gets torn out, blood splattering over the ground.
In the chaos, the fog disperses from the area and hangs back with the shadows. Naomi struggles to move, she tries pushing herself to sit up, but her arms and torso give out and she just collapses back to the dried leaves and sticks. All she can do is lay there and watch.
The black werewolf howls out in pain and grabs the white one by its arms, forcing it off the ground and slamming it back into a tree. The white one bites down on the black one's arm and rams it back the moment it falters.
The white wolf stays in its place and watches the black one thrash across the ground, clawing at its arm and whimpering like a dog.
For a brief moment, Naomi forgets the pain she's in and her curiosity takes over. She watches the black werewolf's thrashing suddenly grow weaker. It fights to stand up but collapses with each failed attempt. All while the white wolf stands over it and watches. She can only see the white wolf's back from where she is, but the blood covering its arms is what catches her drifting eye the most. The crimson stains in the beast's snowy fur.
The black wolf suddenly grows still, the thrashing and whimpering cease. Its breathing has stopped and it just lays there, with its glowing red eyes open.
The white werewolf lowers down to all fours and crawls towards it with its back arched like a prowling cat. It sniffs around the neck of the black wolf's body and lets out a grunt. Naomi feels her consciousness slipping fast, but she sees as the white werewolf turns its face towards her with a savage gleam in its golden eyes.
The only scar on its body is the faded gash running over its right eye.
It growls low and begins approaching her, baring its teeth and snarling viciously. In her state, she's unable to do anything to defend herself so she just stares at it blankly and lets her body go limp, trying to force herself to breathe.
The werewolf rears back to prepare to lunge at her but halts the movement and stands up on its hind legs. It twitches its ears as it hears a voice echo in the distance. "NAOMI! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Malachi's voice is shrill against the silent night, and is followed by distant drumming of hooves crashing through the trees and a valiant war cry echo over the forest.
The werewolf looks down at Naomi and lowers back to all fours, sniffing around her as she closes her eyes and falls comatose.
Its ears snap back and fold against its head and it leans back and looks her over. It sees the blood spilling from her shoulder, chest, and arm and notices how her breathing slows. It then looks down at itself, at the blood covering its arms and seeing the crimson on its nose from the blood across its face. It looks back at the dead werewolf before returning its attention to the sound of crashing hooves on dried leaves growing louder.
In a swift motion, it grabs Naomi's brittle form and lifts her off the ground. It spares the direction of the hooves one final glance before sprinting off through the forest on all fours, holding onto Naomi tight in its right arm, slinging her over its shoulder. It grunts and pants as it just runs until the hooves and voices are too far to hear.
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As Nesosa and Malachi finally reach the place they believe to be the source of Naomi's scream, it's already too late.
The moment Nesosa's hooves stop marching, Malachi shifts and drops off her back, rushing over to the body of a black werewolf. The dead beast is covered in blood and deep gashes, as well as blood on its hands.
Nesosa trots over and eyes the creature. "Damn, ah missed mah chance! Ah had better see some action tonight, otherwise I'm off tae be hella pissed!" she huffs. Malachi ignores her and keeps his eyes on the body. Nesosa steps forward to stand at his side and stare down at the dead werewolf as well. "How'd the damn thing die anyway? Ah doubt Naomi did all this."
Malachi slowly lowers and kneels beside the beast, examining its wounds. All the claw gashes on its chest and face are severe, but nothing fatal for the strength and resilience of a full-grown werewolf. He then casts his gaze down a bit to see its arm has a deep bite mark dug into its mottled bicep. The area around the bite is slightly swollen. Curious, Malachi dips his finger into the blood from the bite and brings it up to his face to examine it closely. "It was attacked by another werewolf," he says to himself and Nesosa cocks a brow.
"But how did it die? It does nae look like it bled out," she questions.
Malachi slowly stands up and wipes the blood on his finger off on his coat. "It was bitten by the Expiryvus..." he mumbles as he tries to make sense of what he's saying.
Nesosa laughs. "Och c'mon, auldjin. Ye must be goin' senile tae believe that. Expiryvus does nae exist." She snorts and rolls her eyes.
Malachi stares grimly at the bite wound. "'Through the ancient howls come men who walk as beasts. The terrors of the night; humanity made their feast. Mortal souls shall fear for their lives while the wolf sates its hunger with man's dying eyes. Then through the dark, the White Wolf shall rise. Expiryvus' bite takes away the beasts' lives, then shall turn its feast on man, for its hunger never dies,'" he recites, then turns his gaze to the centaur.
"Expiryvus is real. The werewolf capable of killing both man and beast with only a single bite. They are believed to be a myth because there can only ever be one Expiryvus werewolf every three hundred years," he explains.
Nesosa nods slowly. "So... what I'm hearing is that thae 'white werewolves' are extremely rare. Somethin' tells me the numis fur one o' their pelts would have me set fur life! We need tae find it!" she exclaims and lifts her greatsword.
Malachi frowns and shakes his head. "Is that all you think about? Blood and numis? Dammit, we need to find out where Naomi went. So why don't you just shut up and help me look," he grumbles and looks around. Nesosa scoffs.
"Whatever. If that thing attacked her, she's likely lost more than a few pints o' blood. If she isn't dead already, she likely left a trail. But ah doubt we'll be able tae track anythin' with the dark and fog." She shrugs and puts her greatsword away as she motions to the fog.
Malachi sighs. "Yeah... we can camp back at the rendezvous point in case she comes back, then if she's still gone in the morning after the fog's cleared, we'll go looking for her," he says and starts walking back the way they came. Nesosa huffs and crosses her arms.
"How come? We've already got what we need," she motions to the dead werewolf. "Let's just skin the dead bastard and get back tae the cat who'll give us the fragment. We kin be outta Balmoral by sunup," she states with a grin.
Malachi scowls at her. "We're not just going to leave a sixteen-year-old girl to be torn apart by werewolves. She's annoying, but that doesn't mean we should leave her to die," he sighs.
"Besides, we need the Cle boy in order to get back into the guild. Like it or not, we're staying," he states and turns back, resuming his walk.
Nesosa groans and begrudgingly follows, her hooves treading over the blood-stained autumn leaves buried beneath the fog.
All the howling is silent.