Sage Myonghorang looked at Noble Wolf with a sharp gaze, attributing some of the pain he relived with the memories of Myonghorang to Noble Wolf's delayed arrival. Noble Wolf had anticipated the reprimand he would receive, but it was evident from Sage Myonghorang's demeanor that the situation was different. "Why didn't you come when I first called?" he asked Noble Wolf, her voice slightly raised.
-We can no longer sustain the meat and provisions we brought. They spoil too quickly. Although the village population is not very large, our numbers have diminished due to illness and injuries during hunts. We need to distribute what we've brought before it spoils. But you're aware of this situation too, Sage Myonghorang. If I know you, and I don't intend to be disrespectful, your agitation is probably related to the news you're about to give me.
-Yes, indeed, Noble Wolf. The things I'm going to tell you are related to the worsening of this curse. We've figured out why the animals are more ferocious, provisions are less durable, and the forest is no longer abundant. One of those who went on night patrol in the village stumbled upon one of the cursed metin stones outside the forest where you went hunting. It's impossible for these cursed stones to be here. The whole world, even the Dragon God, has vanished. I've conducted some examinations on the fragments of the metin stones, and they are definitely lunar meteorites. It seems the curse has even begun to shatter the moon. This implies that the world will be shattered very soon. Perhaps before the earth cracks and explodes, these stones falling from the moon will have already brought about its end. The fact that they fell into our village provides some clues. These magical lands were likely constructed somewhere between the moon and the earth. If these fragments of stone can come here from the moon, they can also take us back to the earth.
-But why should we return to the world? It's a place where those who desire our demise reside.
In truth, as Noble Wolf posed this question, the answer was already clear in his mind. When the world perished, those who inflicted tyranny upon them would meet their end as well. Moreover, the Dragon God, who had blinded himself with power and cursed the world with his magical abilities, would be destroyed by his own hand. Yet, the implication was that the inhabitants of this hidden village would be the last humans to walk the annals of history. Once they perished here, there would be no creature left with the intellect to comprehend the universe. There was no benefit in acting or thinking out of the bitterness and anger of the past.
On the day of the massacre, Noble Wolf, once a young lad, had grown to become the strongest, the most astute, and the swiftest among them. Among the hunters here, he commanded respect owing to these qualities. The other transformed individuals recognized Noble Wolf's strength, as well as his compassion and leadership, and thus accepted his command with solemnity. Once known as Batur Ay Han in his human days, his name was now Noble Wolf. Only 15 years had passed. It wasn't too late to rescue his family members who might still be alive and in captivity. By returning to the world, they could prove themselves and perhaps have a chance to save their women and children, even at the risk of their own lives.
-But you also know the answer to this, Noble Wolf. But if you truly seek a reason, it is to save us all from oblivion.
Myonghorang wasn't entirely honest when he spoke of saving us all. Noble Wolf knew the answer, but he wasn't prepared for today. Over the years, he had quietly accepted that he would fade away in these enchanted lands. He couldn't find a reason to cling to life. What about love? He had already started to disregard his own life, but what if his wife still hoped for rescue? It wasn't the fear of death that held him back, no. The real issue was helping humanity, the very same that inflicted such pain upon them. Who could stomach such a thing... As questions and dilemmas raced through his mind, Sage Myonghorang watched Noble Wolf carefully, as if he could read his thoughts like an open book. After a prolonged silence, the sage spoke, "If you wish, let us proceed to the meal and continue our conversation over food."
Feeling genuinely hungry and confused, the commander nodded and followed Myonghorang to the set table. Myonghorang continued, "I know what's troubling you. It's hard to help those who have wronged us. When we were still humans, living on Earth, we were a respected dynasty. Do you know where that respect came from? Was it merely from helping those in need or sharing what we already had in abundance? Anyone with a heart would do that. Even if we had a population that wouldn't benefit a great dynasty, why were we recognized and respected? I don't blame you for not knowing this. When we came here, you were too young to experience life. But now it's time to grow. We shared what we had with the hungry, even when our own land was insufficient. We shared our space with those without homes, even when our own home wasn't enough. It seems the true Creator who made us wants to see what we will do at this point. Will we wait for death here, or will we return to the world of humans and fight, even if they have done us wrong? It's easy to do good to those who do good to us. It's hard to do good to those who do us wrong. And we won't do this just for them. We need to fight for ourselves as well. In short, the salvation of humanity and the world lies in your hands. There's no guarantee of success. But even if death awaits at the end of this path, it's more honorable and befitting for us to walk this path."
"Very well," Noble Wolf said. He had momentarily silenced the voices in his mind to listen to Myonghorang, yet he hadn't convinced himself enough to resolve the dilemmas. The sage had already noticed his plight. Undertaking such a heavy responsibility wasn't easy. External enemies could be defeated with sharp swords, but the internal enemies could only be subdued by wielding the weapons of mercy, forgiveness, and magnanimity.
"After you've finished your meal, you can stay here. I've heard you've been experiencing disturbing dreams lately. I have some insights about that," Myonghorang said.
Noble Wolf focused his gaze, listening more attentively to the sage. Myonghorang continued, "It seems the disease that turned us into werewolves won't stay confined to our bodies. The transformation that began in our bodies will eventually affect our souls and minds. This torment will likely continue until we completely transform into wild beasts on all fours. We will lose all human traits - speech, thought, imagination, self-control. For now, this disease, which has taken control of your mind even in your sleep and nightmares, will leave nothing of you when it fully consumes your brain. We will turn into wild wolves living in the mountains. Even death won't come easy for us. I hope this helps you make your decision."
Noble Wolf continued eating silently without uttering a word. "I don't want to stay here. With your permission, I'd like to set out to rest in my own tent," he finally said. Myonghorang nodded in approval. After finishing his meal, the commander thanked them and set out without saying anything. As he descended down the path, he saw a blue fireball descending from the sky. Despite trying to flee from the object, he couldn't predict where the fireball would land. He started running. As it approached, he realized it was a cursed metin stone, but he couldn't escape far enough. With a loud crash, the meteorite struck the ground. Before he could comprehend what had happened, he collapsed to the ground, knocked unconscious by the intensity of the impact.
When the wolf pack gathered for the morning hunt and noticed their commander's absence, they went to his tent. He wasn't there. Knowing that he had met with Myonghorang, they set off towards the sage's abode. Just a short distance away, Noble Wolf lay sprawled beside a cursed stone emitting blue smoke. Despite their attempts to rouse him, they couldn't succeed. He was breathing but unconscious. After a while, they too began to feel unwell, their consciousness fading. It didn't take long for them to realize that the amorphous meteorite was the cause. They collectively managed to shatter the stone with claw and spear blows. Once the rock fragmented, they noticed a change in themselves. They tried again to awaken their commander. This time, Noble Wolf managed to open his eyes, albeit weakly. They informed Myonghorang of the situation. When they brought their commander to Myonghorang's side, he assessed the situation and thought that Sage Waheela might be able to help.
They laid Noble Wolf before Sage Waheela. Waheela had honed her skills in the art of healing as much as possible. He had meticulously worked for years to extract the magical essences from the meats and fruits brought from the dark forest to alleviate the effects of the virus and heal the wounds of the hunters injured during the hunt. Discovering these elixirs had not been easy for Waheela. After Noble Wolf drank a few sips of the blue and red elixirs Waheela mixed, the elixirs took effect, and Noble Wolf regained consciousness.
Waheela said, "Tell me what happened." Noble Wolf recounted how he had fainted after the meteorite fell from the sky and how he had experienced nightmares. He described how he had been consumed by desires for killing, tearing apart, hunting, and mating, more intensely than ever before, and how he couldn't seem to wake up. "Hmmm," Waheela murmured. "This is not a disease related to your bodily organs. It's beyond my understanding. Sage Naguel and Sage Myonghorang know more about this." He gestured for Noble Wolf to approach them. When he reached them, Naguel intervened. Waheela had already heard what Noble Wolf had told her. "These experiences are just the beginning, Noble Wolf. The disease we contracted on Earth had halted its progression because we were far from the metin stones. But the meteorites falling from the moon are reviving the curse and advancing the transformation. The only way to protect against transformation is to go to Earth. The moonstones are accelerating the progression of this disease thousands of times faster than the metin stones on Earth. Throughout the night, we've made calculations and obtained other information from our investigations. The metin stones that came from the Moon are not yet large enough to reach the Earth. Judging by the shape and size of those that fell here, there are still decades to go before the lunar metins large enough to reach the earth before they are destroyed. If you go to earth, the progression of the disease will slow down a lot. We could only find a way to send 1 person to the world. The magic words are in the old language, but there is no one among us who knows the old language very well. In the letter that brought us here, it was written that research was not advanced enough, but it was still possible for the magic to work in reverse. We tried reading the magic words using the sample meteoroids we had and saw that it worked. It was not possible to reach the metin stones for the way back in these lands, but now the curse has reached here as well. The meteorites collected from metin stones and the resources we have will only be enough to send one person. Doing this will come at a great cost to us. Presumably, while the path from this world is being opened, an explosion will occur that will cover the village during the teleportation. And this explosion will suddenly tear apart and destroy these lands, which were created entirely by magic." he said. The Noble Wolf stared in astonishment. While he thought that he had to make the decision between life and death, the sages had already given up on their own lives. "What about the others?" he could only say. "Others. Except for you and the hunters in your hunting squad. They are already at a stage where the disease is very advanced. It is no longer possible for them to heal after the moon metins were plundered. As for other hunters. There is never a fair way to make such a choice. However, it is thanks to your family that we have been able to continue our lives even for this long. That day, your family entrusted only you, their only heir, to us. The rest of your family, including your only wife, Ateş Hatun, sacrificed themselves to bring us here. We will also expect our friends to show loyalty and pay their life debt. Moreover, if we look at it as if we were choosing soldiers in a devoid of spirituality and emotionless way, the result does not change. "Except for the opportunities that fate and luck will throw at us, you are the most talented hunter who has the power to go to the world and fight as a warrior," Naguel explained. Myonghorang interrupted after most of the conversation because he was tired.
"According to our calculations, the number of cursed metin stones coming from the moon will increase. Whether you go or not, there will soon be no one left living here anyway. At least one of us needs to honor our deaths. For this reason, if nothing else, accept the mission. We need to start preparing for the ritual. Collect as many meteorite stones as you can before evening. You'll find the lunar metins inside after you crack them, but not all of them. Fill your bags and come with your friends. Say goodbye to each other. Let's perform the ritual before it gets dark and without leaving anything to chance." said.
He had set out for home last night to do some shopping in his mind, but after the meteorite that fell to the bottom, he had neither the time nor the mind to think. What he heard now caused the Noble Wolf to turn into stone from his head to his feet. There was nothing to hesitate, nothing to question, nothing to say yes or no to. Destiny had closed all the doors and left only one way open. He had to walk this path now, whether he wanted to or not. Noble Wolf was able to calm himself down and say, "Okay." The other hunters in the squad, who were listening to what was being said a short distance away, also turned pale. They had no other choice either. With desperate resignation, they all went out to patrol in a different direction to find and break the moon rocks.
They began to look around the village with their spirits drained. It took a long time to break down the text stones they found on their own. They were dealing blow after blow to the stones, regardless of the wounds they received from wild animals. After all, there was no such thing as tomorrow anymore. Their wounds could hurt until the afternoon at most. They had come across enough moonstone metins within the borders of the village without having to venture into the forest. If so many stones are already falling on the square, as the wise people say, death was not that far away for those living here.
As they agreed, when the sun reached the top, they met as usual in the village square, on the stream, with the meteorite pieces they had collected. They embraced each other. Many of their bodies were covered with bleeding wounds due to the blows they received from wild animals. After saying goodbye, they set out towards the wise men without feeling the need to clean or bandage the wounds. The sage men examined the materials they brought. Sufficient amount had been collected. Until the wolves came hunting, Naguel waited at the bottom of the village, next to the werewolf enclosure he had built in his spare time. Although he completed the head part of the statue, he could not finish the lower part yet. Still, he thought this was the right place to perform the ritual in this small magical village. They said goodbye to Sage Waheela and Myonghorang and went down to the end of the village. When they came to Nageul, he asked them for the ingredients. He told Noble Wolf to stand in front of the statue and the others to line up around him. During their experiments last night, the sages noticed that the materials obtained from the metin stones began to emit black smoke when they started to say the words in the ancient language that brought them to this magically fermented world. Naguel also asked everyone here to read the magic words backwards. It was not a difficult task for these hunters, who had been transformed from humans into wolves, who could not get over the sadness they had experienced since the day they arrived here. Most nights, they would see the magic words they said that day in their nightmares and relive those moments over and over again. The only difficult condition was that the Noble Wolf remained completely silent. Naguel asked him to take one of the meteorite stones they had piled up and carry it on him. He said that this stone would take him to the human world, but until he left, the bad effects would shake his mind because he was so close to the stone, and he had to endure it. They didn't do anything like this when they came. The wise Naguel did not bother to explain why. But the sages guessed that there was a risk of the world going to random wild places through the door opened during their meetings, and that the return path could lead to more than one unknown wild place, not a single door as on the way back. It was obvious that these stone pieces under the influence of the curse went directly to the human world. They just randomly bumped into this magical world on the way. This means that the cursed spells in the world were pulling these stones towards themselves. In order to reach the world by following the right path, a piece of these stones had to be carried on the person to be teleported. Then, as soon as the direwolf put the stone in his bag, he did as Naguel said and started to writhe. Since he was forbidden to make a sound, he was trying to relieve his pain and reduce his pain by clenching his teeth and muscles. The other hunters in the manga and Naguel began chanting the words:
Kı Kı Palkar,
Lor Lor Kunar,
Uluk Toprak Tar,
Guy Guy Fa Fular,
Der Der Ger Ger Nunakar.
As he repeated the words, the black smoke began to grow and turn red. As the nursery rhyme continued, the red smoke grew so much that they realized that it reached everywhere their eyes could see. As Myonghorang said, if the explosion this time did not teleport them (which is what it was said), it would be their end. Everything they had done so far was going as they expected. Even though the others sacrificed their lives, they would obviously actually succeed in sending the Noble Wolf back to the human world as a result. A very small black hole appeared in front of the direwolf. It was not possible for his body or even his hand to fit in there. He turned his eyes, which he had closed tightly in pain, and opened them only to see the surroundings, and looked at Naguel. Naguel nodded to the dark thing to approach. As the direwolf reached into the black sphere, he noticed that his hand was getting smaller. He jumped on it with his whole body, and as he fell on it, his body became so small that he literally fell into the dark hole. As soon as he fell into it, there was a tremendous explosion. The explosion was tearing everything apart, from the outermost part of the red cloud to the central place where the hole was located. As soon as its destructive effect reached the area where the portal was formed, the opening of the hole overlooking the village where the wolves lived was closed. As Myonghorang mentioned, this explosion was enough to destroy the entire magic-created village. It was a sad vindication, for him and everyone who lived there. The suffering caused by the stone in Noble Wolf's bag continued. But he also realized that this stone allowed him to move in a direction in the middle of nowhere. The object of gravity was not his body, but the lunar meteorite next to him. After writhing left and right dozens of times in pain and being dragged for a long time in the direction where the stone was pulled, he saw that there was another opening in front of him. He wasn't doing anything to reach her. The clearing was getting closer and bigger to him. Yes, that was the human world where they were born. As he passed through the clearing, he noticed that the stone in his bag was starting to crumble. He finally emerged from a red hole. Her pains went away immediately as soon as she was born. He opened his bag and saw that the lunar meteorite had turned to sand. He immediately turned her over and shook her insides, so that she wouldn't start having pain again as soon as possible. He looked around and recognized this village he came from. After waiting for a while to recover, he moved to go to the village center.