"What? You want me to do what?" Denise could feel sense leaving her and was trying hard to hold onto it.
Denise; wuwuwu! Sense, Don't go!
The wolf gave her a look that told her that she was indeed stupid, "it's not complicated. I'll repeat and you will act as I tell you."
Denise wanted to shake her head but thought maybe doing it while he spoke would help her make sense of it.
She responded, "okay."
The wolf had drawn, deep into the soil using his claws, a pair of concentric (irregular) circles. Inside them were symbols (baby doodles). They was something that looked like a pentagon crossing every part of the circles.
"Lay down on your back," he instructed and she followed, laying back in the weird symbols he had drawn.
"Make sure you're at ease. Now, raise your legs but keep your feet on the ground. Spread your hands away from your body," he supervised every movement and only when it was satisfactory, did he give the next instruction, "spread your legs so that your feet align with your hands."
She didn't spread her feet. Instead she gave him a questioning look.
The wolf looked at her like she couldn't be dumber. He accompanied what he said with hand signals, "spread. your. legs."
Denise let herself fall through with it and spread her legs, avoiding the sight of the naked man telling her to spread her legs.
He smiled, satisfied, "and now, Adore me."
She had thought that when they got to this point, her brain wouldn't crush for the second time but she was proved wrong.
"Wha-," she was completely perplexed. "How?" she decided to ask.
He encouraged, "you can start by calling my name."
The wolf really didn't realize the magnitude of his words. He had learnt this method when he was very young. In fact, he had over heard a conversation between two older wolf beastmen. When he had heard the process, he wanted to know what it was for, so he asked.
They told him, 'males protect females and give them food. Females adore males in this way.'
At that time, he had nodded in complete understanding. But he never had the chance to know exactly what the 'adoration' entailed.
It should have been something that comes out of either pure instinct or observation. But for a wolf that had to channel all his instincts towards survival in seclusion, it wasn't very obvious.
Denise immediately put her legs together and sat up. With a scowl she spat, "Not that. I'm asking how this is going to save me from anything?"
The wolf explained, "if you adore me, I may have mercy on you and offer you some sort of protection."
"Some sort of protection!" she scoffed. Whatever sense she had tried to use to assess the situation had long fled.
She stood and dusted her clothes. She asked without any interest, "and why would I ever 'adore' you?"
"You're weak, and I am strong," he said, "I can help you, if you please me. Don't you want my help? Then suck up to me. Isn't that how beast gods work?" He was referring to himself as a beast god, considering himself very powerful.
Denise started to walk away, "I already have a God to suck up to, thank you very much."
She was starting to wonder about his character. Did he have some sort of personality disorder? One moment he was ignoring her and the next, he was very talkative. One moment he was putting her life in danger, and the next he was offering help. What kind of disorganized personality was this? Maybe living alone in a forest did it's share of psychological damage.
The wolf froze at what she just said, "you have a beast god?"
Denise assumed that that was probably what they called the supreme. A God of beasts and a God of men, they seemed the same.
"Yes, yes I do. Now leave me," she said trying to depart.
The wolf pulled her back. And with a penetrating expression he commanded her, "summon him."
"Eh!" she couldn't even start to make ends of what he was saying.
Meanwhile, the wolf was starting to have a greater (mis)understanding. The queer nature of Xiao Hēi, the fact that she wasn't scathed by the fog's companion, why she appeared out of the blue, it must all be related to her mate.
He had looked her over but he hadn't seen any markings. It was possible that beast gods never left any marking to protect their mates or maybe-
He reached out towards Denise's blouse and tucked a finger underneath it. She frowned and tried to slap his hands away. But without remorse, he lifted her blouse up to her neck and ogled her bosom.
His eyes stared at one mound to the other. Although they were covered by a weird contraption, there was enough flesh exposed for observation. He expected to see a marking over the heart but there wasn't a single symbol on her body.
'Maybe the mark is somewhere else,' he thought, eyeing her shorts.
Denise slapped his hand away and pushed her blouse down, "what the hell has gotten into you?"
She couldn't help but think of the personality disorder. Perhaps he had turned into a pervert for that day while on another day he was aloof and cold.
The wolf got more aggressive, "hurry up and call on your beast god."
Denise's brain took a death dive, "what?"
Denise; what special kind of bullshit is this!
"If you don't call on your gods," his murderous aura exploded.
Denise asked, "you want me," she pointed at herself, "to call on my gods?"
"You won't leave this place until I see your beast god," his voice shot up, "call on him."
"This guy!" Denise was wide eyed, "what kind of miracle are you asking me to perform?"
The hierarchy of power in the forest was the wolf then everything else. She was obliged to do that kind of awesome act because she was lacking in strength. But, what kind of god would she surmon and they appear?
"I really can't just surmon Him, that's not how it works," she tried to explain while still in amazement.
When she looked at it, she would have also loved to surmon a powerful omniscient entity to explain what had happened so far.
He looked down at her menacingly while his arm transformed, growing fur and terrifying claws.
"Calm down, calm down!" Denise sweated, "let me surmon. I'm summoning."
The wolf stopped advancing, he retreated his hand and silently watched the environment with a strange alertness.
"But, you see, this ... right now isn't the time. He cannn only he surmoned on a certain day at a certain hour ... using certain methods," Denise laughed internally. It was going to be the second time in a couple of hours that sue was forced into such a situation.
"What methods?" asked the wolf that had never seen a beast god before.
In a moment, an idea came upon Denise. She eyed the wolf and smiled deviously.
"First you must tell me exactly what you know about these beast gods," she said, more relaxed than before.
The wolf who struggled with giving up information decided to talk, "beast gods are very powerful beastmen."
"Is that all?" Denise inquired, realizing that they were referring to different entities.
The wolf shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to let out anymore, "if you have a beast god, why would you ask me about it?"
Denise stood quiet in thought. "Wait! Beastmen are like beasts that can transform like you?" she whispered to herself, "I've read about this before."
She raised her head in astonishment "Oh my God!" she exclaimed in a low tone.
"One of the astounding parts of Asian mythology is their belief that human life actually started in form of beastmen. These were animals that could shape shift into a human form. This is why they believe that everyone is connected to a certain animal. That could be a snake, tiger, and more-,"
Denise recalled a lecture on Asian anthropology. She wasn't even supposed to be in that class. She was only escorting a friend with whom she would have a discussion. But the talk of shape shifting animals caught her attention and she began to look through the text as the lecturer talked about it.
How would a random story become her life? And the hell was it with a myth becoming real?
'So this is like- the Stone Age?' only at that moment had Denise realized that.
'So this wolf that is talking to me right now is actually a great,' she paused in her thoughts, 'fossil.'
"But there isn't any valid proof to base the theory on. It may or may not be examined, depending on the examiner's mood," was what the lecturer had said.
"This," Denise almost pulled out her hair as she whispered to herself, "this great fossil isn't even an examinable topic and yet he is ruining my life like this!"
Denise was a student whose brain was built from the cutthroat, competitive means of the "forced curve" grading policy. Every class had a grade below which they shouldn't drop. Worse still was the fact that no matter how well or poorly a class performed, the last six people would receive warning letters. More than two letters and you're out of the prestigious establishment.
Denise's brain was influenced to only give necessary attention to topics, people and habits that would grow her grades.
How was she ever going to start respecting an attribute of a non examinable topic?
(A/N; I intended to put this up earlier but, the days went by so first. I actually only discovered yesterday that it had been more than 5 days. I'm so sorry, I've had a bit of a tight program. I will respond to your comments as soon as I can. Thank you for the support.
Note; friendly reminder. Please add this book to your library so that you can get notifications on updates. Or you can show your support by tapping that star. Tysm kisses muah! muah! muah! )