Chapter 394: CHPT 394: To Embrace, Is to Evolve....
After the madness within the canyon had reached it's peak, Claude was sent to the dark confines of his unconscious mind. It didn't stay that way for long. As always, it seemed life hadn't dealt enough punches. It hadn't made his path to revenge any smoother. It hadn't made his goal of keeping his pack safe any more feasible. And it never would. Which was neither fine nor dreadful. It just was. He had stamina. He'd fight.
And for that same reason, he didn't stay unconscious for long. At least not in body. Fenrir never let him rest for long. Probably never would until he walked the earth as a clone of the canine god of destruction, revenge and wolves.
So, true rest would stay on the back burner for a while.
Not that he cared at the moment.
All that mattered in the current moment were two things.
Frosty and Ursula.
His responsibilities.
The last he heard was Frosty's snarls as the PitGnoll descended on him. He still shook at the thought. His palms sweat with the furious waves of anxiety that wracked his frame.
But for reasons primarily inhuman, he remained still. Urgency doing little to affect his state as it was in the Astral Realm.
It was the same as his dream when he'd first awakened inside the canyon of demons. When Fenrir had first woke him. He was in a forest-- hidden in a bush like a predator in the shadows. His eyes could see as clear as day in the crisp black of midnight. The stars shimmered overhead and gleamed into the forest like they were cast from a eerie disco ball. Their pure wild light speckled and dotted the fur of the Doe as it drank from a pond.
So completely unaware. Simply existing as a part of nature.
The sight was beautiful to the naked eye. But its implications were understood, nonetheless. This sight was beautiful, but it wouldn't stay that way. It wasn't meant to. In fact, the worse he made the sight in the following moments, the better.
Because that's how Fenrir operated.
He didn't even need to say a word. Claude understood.
He could feel the gods eyes on him from somewhere both far beyond and incredibly close. Close enough to make him itch as the change took him over in a sweeping sensation of warmth and wicked cracks.
Moral upbringing and humane social norms to the wind. Humane.... humanity..... there wasn't a single human in the canyon for miles on the outside. It was the wild. What a joke. Life and death hung in the balance, and he had a chance to do something. Anything.
Anything. Anyhow. Any way.
The forest went silent in response to the awakening of a predator. Birds fled the trees-- reminding Claude of his first time meeting Fenrir....
Woodland creatures smaller than his pawed hands scurried up the thick oak trees that lined the forest and dove into their holes in the floor.
Even the fish in the waters of the rivers lining the forest flew downstream in a splashing panicked flurry.
Emptiness welcomed him.
The Doe's ears flickered. It froze, and when it's head finally rose from the cool pond, Claude could hear the blood pulsing it's thick throat. He could smell the musky odor of the wild wafting from it's short golden-brown fur.
A lifetime of experiences-- a lifetime of escapes and close run-ins with death at the jaws of all manner of fanged things in the night. All leading up to this moment. A moment where he needed something. Anything. A catalyst. An evolution-- as Aeron would've put it.
The Doe moved to take off with it's slim and powerful legs. Claude didn't make a sound and slapped the floor, causing a roiling wave of vines and roots and wrap the creature's legs hard enough to snap bones and tear skin.
Immediately afterward he was on the massive female Deer. His claws sinking into it's barrel wide midsection as his jaws closed over the back of its neck where he bit down hard enough to snap its spine.
The creature died quickly, falling limply into it's natural restraints. Claude hesitated for a fraction of a second before Frosty's snarls made it to the front of his mind once more.
And then he dined on his kill. Every piece. Every blood soaked and fatty morsel until all that remained was cracked bones sapped of their rich marrow.
It was only then that he found himself staring at the thick pieces of black fur stuck to the bones. Thick and wiry-- covered in black smoke that blended in with the night.
More of Fenrir. No surprise. He'd definitely feel that on the outside.
He rose from the pile of bones. Blood died his snout and caked his claws. His muscles felt fresh beneath his leathery skin. No room for feeling anything more than the urge to fix everything.
He approached the pond, not bothering to clean himself off as he viewed his reflection.
He stayed that way for a minute. His patience already as thin as the godly hair he'd consumed resulted in him smacking at the water hard enough to ripple the entire pond.
"Where are you, dammit!?"
When the water stilled, he found himself looking into something he'd never seen before. Not him. Not Fenrir. Something in between.
His fully transformed Lupine face greeted him, with full green eyes and flaming chains wrapped around his snout and held in place by a sword lined with glowing runes. He looked as large as the sky above him and felt as small as the lightning bugs glimmering in and out of existence in the reflections presence.
"tOok yoU lONG eNOUGH...aSshoLE....."
Fenrir growled, loud enough to shake the lake. As he spoke, Claude jumped at the sudden feeling of something scratching at his wrists. Not an assault but an urgent maneuver. It felt like claws-- that thick, slippery smoothness was familiar. But when he looked at his wrists, nothing was there.
It was from the outside. Something was different.
"Take me back."
"hahHAHAHAH!!!!.....wITh PllLEasUREeeeahhh...." Fenrir replied.
FWOOBOOM!
Out of nowhere a massive force hit the ground and a paw as large as Claude himself slammed into his back, flattening him against the floor.
Claude growled in pain, but made no moves to escape.
"Hehe....rrrr... you prOGrEsSsss....iN wAyS yOU WouLD'Ve fffFFound...uNSaVorRryyy....mOnTHS AgOooo...."
"Life was different months ago." Claude replied with a grunt.
Fenrir barked in enjoyment. It sounded like thunder. "...aS youUU wiLL bE yEaRSS fROM NnnOWw..... DiFFerENT...uNRrrecogNIzaBlllle....hAHAh..."
"If that's what it takes."
Fenrir dropped his snout low enough for his fiery breath to ruffle Claude's long locks of hair, "AS...yOu cAN sEeeee...iT wIlllll, boYyy..."
Indeed it will. Claude had suddenly begin to fade. As he did so he spoke, "Despite the fact that you want to eat the world. Thank you, Fenrir."
"rrrRR....fUCk yOu!... yOu'Re StIlllll weAker thAN pUpPy ShIT..."
Claude could hear the smile somewhere in his doomful thunderous tone.
"And you're still an asshole. I'll see you when I see you."
"yEss, yOu Will... ClLLaUDe...."
Weekly Power Status
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