Verik pulled his arm back, ready to strike out, but hesitated for a second. It felt wrong to intentionally injure an ally, but at the same time, it had to be done. And since nobody wanted to do it, for some reason it fell to him.

“Just hit me already!” Myorakk chided. “The more you wait, the more I don’t want to do this.”

Verik sighed and threw his fist forward, connecting with his snout with a loud thud. Myorakk stumbled back, a few drops of blood dripping from his mouth. He looked at Verik and glared at him. Verik was about to apologize, but the demon growled and said, “Don’t stop! Attack me with all you’ve got. I’ll tell you when I have had enough.”

Verik shook his head and rushed at him again. He slashed his claws across Myorakk’s chest, scraping several scales off of his skin. Throwing his other hand around, he landed a solid punch to his side. He lashed out with his claws several more times, before he told him to stop for a bit.

He went over to a pool of water and examined his reflection. “Not bad, but I think I need a little more damage to my face. It looks kind of suspicions.” He waved for Verik to come over. “Take care of it, but don’t damage my eyes.”

Verik shook his head in irritation. Why was he given this job? Without giving any time to prepare, he swung his hand across his face, dragging his claws hard across the surface, leaving four fairly deep cuts that narrowly missed his eyes.

Myorakk, surprised stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. “Now that’s more like it.” He laughed as he looked at his reflection in the water and then winced. “That is actually quite painful.”

Verik held out his hand to help him up. “I’m sorry.”

Myorakk grabbed his hand and groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. “To make it look even more convincing…” without warning, he raked his talons across Verik’s arm, blood, skin and fur sticking to them.

Verik yelped and jumped back. “What was that for?”

“I need it to look like I escaped my captors. It wouldn’t be very convincing if I was able to leave without putting up much of a fight at all.” He waited a couple seconds before adding, “And slightly because I wanted to.”

Verik rolled his eyes, turned around, and walk away. Emmaline caught up with him and pulled out some green paste from a leather sack that was tied around her waist. “What’s that?” Verik asked her curiously.

She smiled and told him, “It’s a healing concoction that the human healer taught me. The wound should be healed within a few hours.” She applied it gently to his arm.

“It isn’t a serious wound at all. It wouldn’t have even hindered my ability to fight.”

“I know,” Emmaline responded, “but you and I both know that this may very well be the last time we see each other. I just wanted to do something for you before you left.”

Once she was finished, Verik pulled her close and hugged her tightly. “Thank you.” He whispered softly in her ear. As he saw her long scale-covered tail swish back and forth. He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “If we win…no, when we win, I will find the explanation to this.” He gestured to both of their scales. “I have a theory that we might have known each other at one point. Both of us being only partially transformed and both of us missing our memories…”

She nodded. “I have thought the same thing. I doubt that it is a coincidence. Just make sure you come back alive, so we can figure it out.”

Verik grinned and nodded his head. “I will make sure to do that.”

Behind him, Keil called out, “Okay, is everyone ready?”

Emmaline licked Verik’s cheek and then let him go. He joined the rest of the pack in the center of camp, circling around Keil. Verik could sense the emotions everyone was feeling. There was a strong determination in all of them, but there was also an equal feeling of fear and uneasiness. They all knew that this was going to be a dangerous task.

Keil went over their plans one last time before leaving camp. As they left, Emmaline let out a beautiful howl into the sky. They all joined in for what may be the last song they will sing with every one of them together.

/.\ /.\ /.\

The pack stopped. Ahead of them was the large human city. Tall stone walls stood high around the whole city. However, there were a couple large wooden doors that were shut, and most likely sealed from the other side. If they were humans, then entering would be quite difficult. However, they could easily scale the wall, using their claws to climb up the doors.

Verik chuckled. The humans probably didn’t consider that a wolfen would be crazy enough to try and enter the city. “Okay,” he told his pack, “I have no idea how long it will take to find him. From what he told me, there are many humans in there. It could take up to an hour. If I run into more trouble than I can handle, just listen for my howl.” He smiled and added, “I doubt that will happen, though.”

“Just be cautious.” Keil told him. “Stick to the shadows and don’t rush things. Don’t let the humans know you’re there.” Verik was about to tell him that he already knew that, but Keil continued speaking, “If they do find you, run and hide. Do not attack them and certainly don’t kill them. If they know that a wolfen infiltrated their city and attacked them, then all chances of peace between us would probably be destroyed.”

Verik nodded. “I won’t mess anything up.” Turning around, he headed off to the wall.

Once he reached the door, everything looked much bigger. He felt pretty confident on the walk over here, but now that he was about to climb, he started feeling uneasy. If he fell near the top, he would probably break several bones. Verik tried to push aside the feelings, thinking to himself that this is nothing compared to facing Erebos in combat again. It helped a little, but he was still a little nervous.

Before his nervousness was able to take control, he hurried and started climbing. Halfway up the wooden door, he looked back. Instantly he regretted it. He was only about twenty feet above the ground, but being this high off of the ground made him…uncomfortable. He shook it off and kept looking forward.

When he neared the top of the door, he noticed something. Off to the side, there was a glassless window in the stone wall that led into some kind of room. It wasn’t that large, but it was big enough for him to push through. If he continued upward, it would be much more difficult, as he would be climbing up a large section of stone, which was not a very appealing idea. However, if he entered inside the wall through the window, there could be any kinds of unknown dangers inside.

His desire to get back on the ground eventually won and he decided to go through the window. Climbing over to the side, he reached out and grabbed the edge of the cutout and gently pulled himself in.

When his feet landed on the wooden floor on the inside, he realized that his heart was racing. He hoped he would not have to do that again. Ever. He leaned back against the wall and relaxed for a bit. The room he was in was pretty plain. There was a table and a single chair by the window. On the other side of the room, there was a bookshelf and a door. Verik guessed this room was used for people to watch over the entrance to the city.

Unfortunately, he was not able to relax for long. He heard footsteps coming from somewhere within the wall heading this way. Verik quickly pushed off the wall and flattened himself against the wall on the other side of the bookshelf. The door on the other side opened and a human leaned in.

He didn’t see anything, but apparently he wasn’t satisfied. Pushing the door open all the way, he walked into the room and headed toward the window. When he was halfway across the room, Verik used this opportunity to slip out around the shelf and silently go through the door.

He entered another room with a fireplace that was burning brightly, keeping the area almost uncomfortably warm. He glanced around the room, looking for a way out, But there was nothing obvious, just several closed doors. He quickly tried the first one, but it wouldn’t move. The second one opened up into a hallway.

Verik quickly entered and shut the door behind him. There were a few doors along the left side of the hallway and one at the very end. The other side had a few barred windows that looked out over the outside of the city. He sniffed the air. The scent of humans emanated from the rooms on the left.

Making sure to walk as quietly as he could, he went to the far door and tried to open it, but, to his dismay, it wouldn’t move. Behind him, he heard a door close and the human enter the previous room with the fireplace. For all Verik knew, he could be headed to this room now, and there was absolutely no place to hide in this empty hallway.

Not seeing any other option, he backed up several feet and ran full speed to the door. Once he was close enough, he jumped into the air and kicked out his feet. The wooden door broke open with a really loud crack. If anybody in those rooms didn’t know he was there, the most certainly did now.

On the other side of the door there was a staircase leading downward. As he ran down them, he heard several doors open from behind him and gruff male human voices yelling, “Who’s there? Stop!” Verik could hear that several of them were pursuing him.

He was much faster than them, but he did not know the layout of these series of rooms. He sprinted through another hallway and crashed through the door at the end, not having the time to check and see if it was locked. In this room, he saw a couple windows looking on the inside of the city and a small door.

The door leading out was blocked from his side with a thick wooden plank. He quickly lifted the plank from the door and threw it to the ground and exited the wall and into the city streets. On the other side, there were several thick bushes. Verik dashed to them and crouched down on the other side.

Out of the door he just came through, four humans burst out and looked around, but couldn’t see him. One of them cursed and said, “It looks like he’s escaped. You all go inside and check and see if anything is missing or if anyone’s hurt. I will go alert the guards. Maybe they can help us catch him.”

Once they were all gone from the area, Verik sighed in relief. He took in a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scents around him and almost coughed over the smell. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was much more overwhelming than he expected. Thousands of humans walked on these grounds every day. Their scent all mixing together into a mass of confusion. There was no way he would be able to find Jack by following his scent.

He continued walking down the road, presumably heading toward the center of the city. He realized that this task might be more difficult than he originally anticipated. He knew it was a big city, but he expected to be able to find Jack’s scent, even if only a little bit. He increased his pace as he continued to keep searching for any trace of Jack. The sooner he found his scent the better. He didn’t want to be wandering around the city aimlessly when the guards started looking for him.

He walked down the road, examining all of the buildings. Most of them were nothing special. They were just simple dwellings made of wood. Some of them looked like they were falling apart. A place like this would still be a little large for a wolfen, since they were used to sleeping in a simple dome made of sticks woven together, just large enough for them curl up in.

He kept sniffing the air as he walked, but he was still unable to pick out Jack’s scent. About a minute or two of walking, he noticed something about the houses. They seemed to be getting nicer, the closer he got to the city. All the houses were now larger, painted and some of them were made with stone or bricks. Also, the scent of all the humans was a little less intense in this area. There must be less people walking through here on a daily basis.

Verik had an idea. He remembered something that Jack said. He was the descendant of some important person. From what he gathered, having an important ancestor affects one’s status. If Jack was telling him the truth, then he should be living in one of the nicer houses…hopefully. Verik prayed Jack wasn’t lying about that, otherwise, it could take an eternity to find him.

After a little while, a familiar scent finally entered his nose. Unfortunately, it was only the smell of a dead kelderan. It came from one of the buildings to his right, which had a wooding sign reading “Butcher’s Shop.” Verik smiled. Maybe luck was on his side today. Jack was also a hunter, he knew that. Maybe, he brought his kill here after a successful hunt. That is assuming that he actually hunts regularly, and that he regularly makes successful kills…and that there isn’t another butcher’s shop that he goes to on a different side of the city.

Deciding that giving it a try couldn’t hurt, he headed toward the shop and began sniffing around. As he got close, most of the human scent disappeared, replaced by the strong mouth-watering aroma of fresh meat. Resisting the temptation to enter and grab himself a piece, he moved around the buildings, searching for any trace of Jack’s presence.

When he reached a door on the side of the building, he found it. Just as he hoped, Jack most likely went through there regularly. His scent practically seeped into the surfaces. This was more than he could have hoped for. It trailed off down a different road. The further he followed, the more it blended in with the other human smell, but he was still able to follow if he moved slower.

He crawled on all fours, making sure not to lose the trail. As he passed through an intersection, it curved onto a different road and headed for another building. However, before he reached it, a voice yelled out.

“Stop! Who are you and what are you doing out in the streets at this hour?” The voice was gruff and intimidating, or at least trying to sound intimidating.

On the other side of the street, there was a human with armor and a long spear facing directly at him. Instinctively, Verik jumped to his feet and took off into the closest alley to hide.

“I said stop!” The man shouted and started running after him. “I am part of the royal guard and I command you to stop where you are!” Being a human, he was already slower than him, but since his body was covered in heavy metal armor, it slowed him down even more. Before the human even reached the alleyway, Verik saw a window on one of the walls and scowled. More climbing.

Verik ran at the wall and jumped, his hands easily reaching the window and pulling him up. Unfortunately, the window was covered by glass. He could break in, but that would be too loud and it would be obvious to the soldier where he was. He had to get higher. He got his feet to the edge of the windowsill and jumped off, barely reaching the next window.

However, his grip on it was not very good. His left arm slipped and he was only hanging on by the claws of his right hand. The guard was going to show up in the alley in a few seconds. He didn’t have much time. He quickly looked around. On the building opposite of him, there was a window slightly lower than him that was open.

Thanking Vannah for his good luck, and at the same time, hoping that he possessed the skill to make it, he pulled his feet up as high as he could. The movement made his claws slip from the windowsill, but before he started to fall, he kicked off the wall as hard as he could.

He kicked himself off the wall as hard as he could and went straight for the other window. He dove straight through it head-first, landing his hands on the ground and rolling softly to a stop without making barely any noise. Verik got up next to the window and carefully peeked outside into the alley. The guard entered and looked around. Not seeing anyone there, he ran to the opposite side and turned the corner to continue his search.

Satisfied that he was safe for now, he rested against the wall and took a deep breath. The air was filled with Jack’s scent. It was one of the only scents in this place, besides the faint smell of burnt food, smoke, and some other strange non-living scents. This must be Jack’s house! Verik could not believe it. Everything was going so well.

He got up and started to leave to go find Jack, when he instantly ran into a short table that was apparently right next to him and tripped over it. He, the table, and several small objects that rested on top of it came crashing loudly to the ground. The sound echoed throughout the still house. He cursed himself for his carelessness and got up. Hopefully, nobody else besides Jack was in this house, because there was no way that they wouldn’t have heard that.

Making sure to pay more attention to his surroundings, he moved on. Everything in this house communicated wealth. Every room was had more space than anyone needed, both horizontally and vertically. The ceiling was somewhere over twice his height. Various human objects that he had no idea what they were decorated the walls and the spare floor space.

It didn’t look bad, but it all just seemed unnecessary. Everything about it, he didn’t understand. There were people living in smaller houses that were falling apart, but Jack, alone lived in a house that could comfortably hold all hundreds of others. He decided not to put too much thought into it. Humans seemed to be so different than wolfen, that they will probably never understand each other.

He walked into one room with large chairs that were covered in cloth. There was also a fireplace built into the wall that contained a few dying embers. The walls were lined with large paintings of either landscape or human women. Above the fireplace was an arrogantly large painting of Jack. Next to it was an equally large picture of an older man that had similar characteristics to Jack. Looking closer, there was a small placard that read, “Sir Kraden: Loyal soldier and war hero.” So, this must be the special ancestor that Jack was so proud of.

He was wasting too much time looking around. He had to finish what he came here for. He sniffed the air. Jack was upstairs somewhere. Silently, but quickly, he went up the stairs. It lead out into another hallway. At the other side, he could see the shape of Jack, holding a bow, with an arrow notched and pointed directly at him. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?” Jack almost growled. “Are you a thief?”

Verik almost laughed. “I’m not a thief! It’s me.”

Jack didn’t move, but kept the arrow ready to loose. “I don’t know who you are. Speak or I will kill you where you stand.”

Verik shook his head. Do all humans have this bad of a memory not to remember a friend’s voice? Verik lifted up his hand and created a small orb of light to illuminate the dark hallway. “I’m Verik.”

Jack jumped a little, either because of the magic light or the sight of a wolfen in his house, Verik didn’t know, though he imagined it was a little of both. He accidentally let go of his grip on the arrow and it sped through the air, directly at Verik’s forehead. Verik quickly threw himself to the side of the wall and watched as the arrow flew almost few inches from his nose. It struck the wall with such force, that the arrowhead sank into the wall about an inch.

Jack cursed and ran to him. “Are you alright?”

Verik just grinned as he approached. “Of course, I’m okay. Did you honestly think you could hit me? A wolfen?”

Jack frowned. “Yes, actually. Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “I’m glad you’re alright, but what are you doing here? Do you know how dangerous it is here? Many people would try to kill you on sight!”

“I’d like to see them try.” Verik huffed. “But don’t worry. I avoided any conflict on my way here. No one knows that there’s a wolfen in the city. I am here to ask something very important of you. I and my pack have a plan to kill Erebos, but we need you. Did you tell anyone else about our time with the Iseyla?”

Jack scratched his head nervously. “I told my friends, but most of them thought I was a little crazy. What’s going on?”

“We are running out of time. Erebos’s army is getting bigger the longer we wait, and we have found a way to gain an advantage. We have in our possession, one of their kind. And we also have one of them, working with us.”

“Wait, one of them is working for you?” Jack repeated skeptically. “How do you know you can trust it?”

“One of my packmates can hear people’s thoughts. She was positive that he was telling the truth.”

Jack didn’t seem convinced. “I don’t like putting trust in the enemy.”

“He left the enemy. He’s no longer one of them.”

“That just means that he’s not loyal.” He crossed his arms. “Are you positive he can be trusted?”

Verik nodded. “Yes, I do. He has done nothing to make me think that he is going to betray our trust. My whole pack is behind this decision.”

Jack considered this for a while, thinking in silence. Finally, he sighed. Okay, tell me your plan and I’ll see what I can do.”

Verik told him everything that they planned. Once he finished, Jack stroked his chin, thoughtfully. “Not bad.” He said. “I think I know where I can go to find help. There have been many reports of monsters attacking villages and small towns around this city. Apparently, their homes have been destroyed and many people have come here to seek refuge and the king’s help, but the king is a weak coward and he wouldn’t do anything. I can find these people in the inns and taverns around the city.”

“Sounds like there could be several people willing to help.” Verik was starting to have more and more confidence in this plan. “What about your friends? Would any of them be willing to help us?”

Jack shrugged. “I could ask them, but I doubt they will do anything. They pretty much the typical rich do-nothing kind of people.”

“Okay. I will make my way out of the city and join back up with my pack. We will be waiting on the west side of the wall. Find whatever help you can and then bring them there.”

“It will be a couple hours until the sun comes up. That’s when the soldiers will let the door down and we will be able to leave.”

“I guess that can’t be helped.” Verik turned around and started heading out. He called out over his shoulder, “Use that time to try to convince everyone you can. We need all the help we can get.”

/.\ /.\ /.\

After another nerve wracking climb down the wall, this time avoiding the interior, Verik made his way back to his pack. Everyone stood up as he approached and Syla ran to him and hugged him tightly. “You’re finally back!” She cried happily.

Verik smiled back at her. “Yes, and Jack will be meeting us here in a few hours with anyone who was willing to help.” He turned to Keil. “Can you give me one of the circlets? I’ll tell Emmaline everything.”

Keil grabbed one of them and threw it over to Verik. He caught it and put in on his head, and instantly, he felt her presence. “Emmaline, can you hear me?”

Her voice appeared in his head, saying, “I don’t think that ‘hearing’ is the right word, but yes. What’s going on?”

Verik relayed to her everything that he discussed with Jack. Emmaline sounded relieved once he was done. “Great, sounds like we might actually get more help than we thought. I have been keeping in contact with Myorakk. He is about halfway to where Erebos is.”

Verik nodded. “Just make sure that he doesn’t arrive too soon. We want to try and fight them when the sun is starting to set. That should be enough light for the humans to see, and enough where our eyesight isn’t hindered either.”

“I’ll let him know.”

“Have you gotten anything out of David?”

Emmaline hesitated for a second before saying, “Please don’t call him that. That’s no longer him. But no, I haven’t gotten anything important, besides that they don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Okay. I’ll contact you again when Jack comes back.” Verik removed the circlet and then sat down with his packmates, waiting anxiously for the sun to rise, so they could see who Jack will bring with him.

/.\ /.\ /.\

The sun was fully visible over the horizon, but there was still no sign of Jack or any other humans. Nari folded her arms and scowled. “You did tell him we were on the west side, correct?”

“Yes, of course.” Verik said, doubt starting to leak into his thinking. “I don’t know why they aren’t here, yet.”

“Are we still going to go through with the plan if they don’t show up?” Nari asked. “Do you think we have any chance at this by ourselves?”

Lyan, Keil’s nephew, ran his hand threw his mane nervously. “From what you all said about the battle outside the fortress, you were all going to die, if Verik didn’t do whatever it is that he did. And you can’t repeat that, can you?” He asked Verik.

Everyone already knew the answer to that question, but Verik shook his head and said, “I barely had control over myself. I’ve been working on it, but I can’t recreate the state of mind that I was in at that moment.”

“Exactly. Erebos’s armies have grown, probably significantly. There is probably no way that we would be able to complete this task by ourselves.”

Verik growled at the situation and pushed his hands to his forehead, trying to think of something, but nothing in particular came. Finally, he shook his head and looked up. “You’re right.” He sighed. “We won’t be able to…”

“Look!” Syla called out. “Coming from the city! Is that them?”

Everyone turned to see what she was seeing. Coming from the large door in the wall, was a large group of humans, it looked like just a little less than a hundred men marching in their direction. Keil looked doubtful. “There are too many of them. I don’t think they are here for us. Get behind something. Don’t let them see you!”

Everyone hid behind rocks and bushes, watching as the humans got closer. Once they were close enough, Verik recognized that the one leading them was Jack. He stood up from his cover. “That’s them!” Verik said with amazement. “That’s Jack in the front!”

Everyone cautiously left their cover as they approached. Many of the human’s facial expressions mirrored the nervous looks on Verik’s packmates. The idea of working together was obviously strange to them. Jack separated from the group and went to greet Verik. “I’m sorry I’m late, but I had the opportunity to talk many more people. Every one of them are willing to go into battle with you and kill this creature.”

Verik was speechless as he looked over everyone. Finally, he let out a laugh and hugged Jack. “Thank you! This is more than I could have hoped for.”

Jack nodded. “They have all seen what Erebos is capable of and want to do anything they can to stop it, including working with wolfen.”

One of the humans left the group and approached Verik and knelt down. “I have been against the hatred against wolfen for a long time. I had the opportunity to observe a pack and I found out that they are not much different than us. It would be an honor to follow your pack into battle, and I will fight with all my strength to rid the world of this evil.” Many people in the group nodded in agreement and knelt with him.

Verik grasped his shoulder and dipped his head. “The honor is mine.”

Another man walked up to Verik and dipped his head. “I probably speak for most of us here. I have always dislike your kind, just like most humans. I thought you were just vicious wild animals. However, I see now, that it probably wasn’t true. Please forgive us for our hatred in the past.” He knelt down on the ground along with the other human.

“I forgive you. There is no place for conflict in this mission.” He looked out to the large group standing in front of him. “This is going to be a difficult task. Erebos is a strong creature, but with all of your help, I have no doubt in my mind that we can defeat him.” He turned to Jack and said, “I assume that you told them our plans.”

Jack nodded.

“Okay, then.” Verik called out. “Let’s go to the mountain!” He motioned for his pack to move.

The humans cheered and followed the wolfen to the mountain. Verik repeated what the humans just said to his packmates, since they didn’t understand the human language. As they were walking, Verik smiled confidently. “Thirteen wolfen and nearly a hundred humans. I like those numbers.”

/.\ /.\ /.\

Myorakk limped over a particularly tall hill. The one thing he hated about this land was all the endless hills. Once the forest ended, that’s all it was. Hills, hills, and more hills. Normally, he would just fly everywhere, but the injuries that Verik inflicted on him made it too painful.

Having these injuries were only for his sake, really. If he came back and told Erebos that he betrayed him and helped the wolfen set up an ambush on the mountain for him, Myorakk would be dead in a second, but Erebos would still go to the mountain. These injuries just gave him around a fifty percent chance that he would be able to keep his life when he arrived.

Erebos’s mind was very unstable. He didn’t know what happened to him before to make him like this, but his hatred toward Verik was deep. Whatever it was, he was always like that since the day he hatched from his egg roughly four years ago. Life since then was pretty hard for him. His siblings were always treated much better than him. Erebos seemed to hate him, but kept him alive. Myorakk didn’t understand why he was treated differently until he was almost fully mature at one year old when he learned, from one of his siblings as he almost beat him to death that he was an outcast because he was not telepathic.

After he realized what it was, he worked hard to be one of the most helpful of them. He pushed himself to the limit every day until he was the strongest, fastest, and, arguably, the smartest of all of them. However, things seemed to just become worse for him, as they seemed to see him as more of a threat.

After that, he just tried to take tasks that kept him away from others of his kind. He became a scout, looking over the lands and reporting everything he saw back to Erebos. He would often command him to wait back at their home while he left with a few of his siblings. When he returned, he would have much more of his kind with him, but he was exhausted, at times he seemed like he was near death.

What he was told was that they were rescuing them and bringing them back to live with them. He believed it for quite a while until recently. After he reported to Erebos about the Verik and his friends arriving at a fortress, he decided to secretly follow them to see what he was going to do. When he saw him slaughter all the older wolfen there and then try to kill the others, he knew that he was purely evil. He became suspicious of everything that he did.

A few days ago, he followed Erebos on one of his outings, keeping just out of sight. There was a small village a few hours away from where they lived. He waited behind one of the hills as they landed just outside of it. The smaller ones rushed in and drug out all the humans from their houses and violently threw together in the center.

Once everyone was subdued, Erebos walked up to them. He lifted his hands into the air and a dark purple sphere that looked like it was made of his own blood formed in the air between them. He roared loudly and hurled it at the ground. It exploded on contact into a thick cloud that surrounded them. He could hear painful screams from the humans below.

Once the cloud cleared enough for him to see what was going on, he was shocked. Half of the humans were dead, blood covering almost every surface of their bodies, which were mutated deformed. The rest of them were on the ground writhing as their bodies changed painfully into one of them. Myorakk realized that this was what they have been doing for the past several years, and he had been helping him do it by scouting out the land for him. After that, he ran away and found Verik’s pack, and now he was here.

“It sounds like you had quite a hard life.” Emmaline’s sympathetic voice appeared in his head through the circlet he was wearing on his head.

Myorakk shook his head. “I imagine that there are plenty of people on this world that have had it worse than me. Complaining about life doesn’t get you anywhere. You have to learn from your past and adapt, otherwise you’re as good as dead.”

“Well said.” She responded. “Hold on a second, I’m getting something from Verik.” There was a minute or two of silence as they communicated to each other. Finally, she came back, her voice more serious. “They have arrived at the base of the mountain and have started ascending. They’re waiting on you.”

Myorakk sighed heavily. “Well, I should only be about twenty minutes away. I’m going to go ahead and leave the circlet here. I don’t want to be seen with it, as it will definitely give me away if they can figure out what it is.”

“Okay. Try to stay safe, Myorakk.” The concern in her voice told him that she knew, along with him, that chances of them seeing each other again would be pretty slim.

“If I was trying to stay safe, I would be heading in the opposite direction. Anyway, I will do everything I can to prevent my death. Tell your pack ‘good luck’ for me.” He removed his circlet and laid it under a bush sitting on the top of the hill. If he made it out of there, then he would pick it up on his way back.

Ahead of him, he could see a large rocky hill. At the base of that hill was a large cave that led into a large underground cavern where Erebos and his kind lived. He tried to keep his confidence high, but the nervousness he got from the idea of facing Erebos was pretty strong, but he would never turn back. His desire to right his wrongs was even stronger. It was the only thing that kept him moving forward. Narrowing his eyes on his target, he began walking again.

/.\ /.\ /.\

When Verik and everyone else reached the base of the mountain, they realized that it was not going to be the easiest task. Halfway up, everyone was pretty tired and the snow was beginning to cause some extra difficulty. They only had a fourth of the way to travel until they reached the top, but they were starting to become exhausted and the snow was only getting worse.

Everyone was nervous, but dealt with it in their own ways. Many of the humans remained mostly silent, only talking when spoken to. A handful of them just would not stop talking. They told story after story, only pausing to take a breath. The more magically skilled humans that took the magic staffs and scepters were “practicing” with them, though it was obvious that they were just messing around them to occupy their minds.

Verik and his pack stuck together and talked about their strategy. They obviously couldn’t come up with anything concrete, since they had no idea how the demons would attack. Essentially, they were willingly walking into a trap that they set up for themselves. They were relatively vulnerable up at the top of the mountain. They could only hope that the cold weather slows them down enough.

Syla, who had her arms wrapped around Verik’s body, looked up at him with a worried look. “I don’t know if you remember this, but I need to be separated from the main group when the combat starts. I lose control of myself when I fight. I might hurt one of us.”

Verik had forgotten about that. That causes a problem. There was going to be too much going on to be able to just leave her alone. He witnessed that she was able to hold her own relatively well on her own, but if she got completely surrounded, there would be no way that she would be able to get out of there.

Nari apparently knew what he was thinking about. “I’ll stick with her. You know how fast and agile I am in combat. I can keep them from closing in on her, and it shouldn’t be any difficulty avoiding her attacks. No offense, Lu.”

Syla just smiled and dipped her head.

“Good, we have that taken care of.” Keil said. “I think everyone else should spread out in groups of two.”

“I will stay mostly by myself.” Verik said. “My main task is to take down Erebos when I can.”

Keil nodded and then matched everyone else with a partner. For the most part, their whole pack seemed content with their strategy. Once everything was decided, Verik went and joined Jack to tell him and the other humans the details.

Eventually, they made it to the top of the mountain, which, to the relief of just about everyone, was not as thick with snow as the sides. The temperature was still uncomfortably cold, but at least they would be able to maneuver without trouble.

“We still have several hours until sunset.” Jack announced. “Start a few fires around and get some rest. We’re going to need all your strength when they get here.”

Verik grabbed his circlet and put it on his head and immediately sensed Emmaline’s mental presence. He sent her the message, “We’ve arrived at the mountain. We’re ready and waiting.”

/.\ /.\ /.\

As the cave entered Myorakk’s view, he could see two of the demons standing guard at the entrance, holding long spears. They looked each other in the eyes, silently conversing. He examined them for a moment, envying them a little. When he was younger, he wanted nothing more than to be like them. Now he was helping to set up an ambush that will eventually lead to their extinction. He got a bad feeling in his stomach when he thought of his betrayal of his own kind, but he knew it was necessary. This world would die if they were able to continue.

Myorakk strode up to the two guards, he held his hands out, showing that he was not a threat. “Hey, guys. I’m b—” One of the demons quickly swung his spear around, slamming the blunt end into his skull. He fell to the ground, stunned.

“Erebos will be happy to know you returned.” One of them said with a sneer. “I’m sure he will love to hear your explanation for not returning.”

Myorakk rubbed his head, purple blood slowly oozed through the broken skin. “Relax, I was just scouting when I ran into some complications.”

The guard just growled. “He’ll be the judge of that. Get up!”

He pushed himself up and, and when he was just barely on his feet, the other guard appeared behind him with a chain and clamped it around his hands and his wings. Grabbing his arms forcefully, they dragged him into the cave.

As they entered deeper, more and more demons flocked around him, growling and slashing their claws through the air just inches from his eyes, trying to make him flinch or show signs of fear. However, he just remained silent, keeping a nonchalant expression that probably infuriated them more.

The cave was huge. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but once you entered, there was probably enough room for many thousands of them to reside comfortably.

They entered into the largest cavern in the cave system. It was probably around five hundred feet tall. There were hundreds of small demons flying circles above them, obviously excited to see what was Myorakk’s fate would be. In the very center of the cavern, there was a large stone throne where Erebos sat, his back facing them.

When they got within ten feet of the throne, the guards dragging him along shoved him forward. Without the use of his hands and wings to keep balance, he stumbled and fell face-first into the stone ground. He heard several deep thumps as Erebos stood up from his throne and walked over to him.

Myorakk looked up into Erebos’s angry eyes and grinned. “I think you need to teach them a lesson on proper welcomes. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that I wasn’t wanted here.”

Erebos snarled furiously, reached down, and closed his huge hands around Myorakk’s body. He lifted him off the ground and pinned him against a large stone column. He moved his face just inches away from his. “Where were you?” He demanded.

Myorakk sighed and rolled his eyes. “Forgive me, your greatness,” he said with obvious sarcasm, “but while you were sitting on your chair over there, I was quite busy just trying to stay alive. I was out scouting like I normally did—”

Erebos increased the pressure on his body. “I ordered you to stay here when I left. Explain why you were out of this cave in the first place!”

“Easy, I can barely breathe!” Myorakk winced as Erebos’s hand threatened to crush him. Luckily, he released his body, letting him fall to the ground. Several demons grouped together behind him, preventing any attempts of running. “Thank you.” He got to his feet and continued his story, “I apologize for leaving without your knowledge, but I knew you were going on one of those rescue missions, and I felt useless just waiting here for you to return. I wanted to do something useful, so I decided to go scout out more of the land. My plan was to be back before you returned, but I got careless. Your wolfen friends found me and ambushed me. They took me back to their camp and tried to torture me for information. They continued this for a couple days before I found an opportunity to escape. Don’t worry, though, I didn’t tell them anything.”

Erebos was not impressed by his story. “Why should we believe you?”

“Because I’m one of you!” Myorakk faked a hurt expression. “Why would I betray my own kind?”

Erebos just roared and swung his hand hard, the back of his hand colliding with Myorakk’s head. The impact was so hard that the tip of Myorakk’s right horn painfully broke off. As he fell to the floor, Erebos stood over him. “You are not our kind! You are a mistake; one that I should have killed a long time ago.” Erebos lifted his foot up, ready to crush Myorakk’s skull into the ground.

“Wait!” Myorakk cried out. “I know where Verik is!”

Erebos paused for a second, considering what to do, before finally setting his foot back down on the ground. Myorakk stayed lying down on the ground and told him, “He and his pack are currently on the mountain north of the large human city.”

Erebos ordered several of the demons around him to bind Myorakk up and lock him up in one of the cells. As they got to work, he said to him, “They better be there. If they aren’t, then you will wish that I had killed you today.” He lifted up his head and roared into the air. The demons joined in, letting out powerful screeches and flew to join Erebos as he headed out of the cave.

Myorakk was dragged away and thrown into a barred cutout in the cave wall that wasn’t even tall enough for him to sit up straight in. He knew that his life was essentially over. Once Erebos reaches the mountain, he will know that he was being set up. If he survives the battle, he will return and kill him. If he dies, then the rest of the demons would do it for him as a means of revenge.

His death wouldn’t be a pleasant one at all. He remembered a few months ago, there was a human that stumbled across this cave. He was stupid enough to try to kill Erebos. Obviously, he failed and he was captured and they didn’t just kill him. They tortured him for many days. He screamed until his voice gave out. They made sure not to kill him. The only reason he died after about a week, was probably because of extreme fatigue and lack of food and water. He could probably expect a much worse fate than that human. Mainly for the fact that his kind can survive much more than humans can.

He just leaned back against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. It was best not to worry about events he had no control of. There was nothing he could do from this point. All he could do was wait. “Good luck, Verik.” He said under his breath.

/.\ /.\ /.\

The wolfen sat by themselves in the snow, while the humans gathered together, trying to get as close to one of the fires as possible. Humans did not do that well in the cold, either. Their bare skin made extremely low temperatures very uncomfortable to them, unless they put on extra layers of clothing. Jack mentioned that he was rather envious of them and their ability to endure much more than humans can.

“There are certainly things that we are better at,” Verik had told him, “but the fact that almost all humankind hates us is a bit of a downside.”

Jack shrugged. “If we succeed today, we will be able to present Erebos’s body to the king. He will have no choice but to believe our story. When we do, we will make sure he knows about your help in all this. If we have him meet with you, you should be able to convince him to force peace between us in his lands. Once that happens, word will spread to other kingdoms and, soon enough, other kings will follow. Maybe in a few months, our kinds will be living alongside each other peacefully.”

Emmaline’s voice appeared in his head, “I’m picking something up from our demon. They are gathering together. Myorakk must have succeeded in his task. They are on their way to the mountain!”

“Can you tell me how many there will be?” Verik asked.

“No, I can’t. There are so many voices among them, it’s hard to get any specific information. But I can gather that he is definitely not messing around. He knows you defeated him last time and he is taking a much larger army than what he had last time.”

Verik thanked her and removed the circlet. He quickly reported everything to Keil. Getting up, he howled into the air to get the humans’ attention. They all went silent and looked to see what was going on. “Friends!” He called out to them. “The enemy knows where we are and they are on their way now. I can’t imagine that it will take them more than two hours until they get here. I’ve already told you all everything that I know. All I can really say now is to prepare yourselves the best you can.” He started to head back to his pack, but he turned around to add one more thing, “I also want to thank you all for your help. Not very many people would do what you have done today. I could not have hoped for better people to be with me during this.”

The humans all lifted their weapons into the air and shouted in agreement. Jack stood up and shouted with them. “Tonight, Erebos dies! His armies will fall, and the world will be in peace! We will be victorious!”

/.\ /.\ /.\

The sun was just starting to set, lighting the area in a haunting orange glow. Everything was silent. The humans were too nervous to say anything, the wolfen also remained quiet, and there was no animal life all the way up on this mountain.

However, this was going to make it easier for them to detect the demons when they arrived. Since they were flying creatures, it should be very easy for them to hear them flapping their large, leathery wings in the distance.

It was taking longer than they expected it to. Emmaline was unable to tell them anything about their position, since their captive demon had apparently lost his mental connection to the others. It had happened briefly before, so she assumed that it was only temporary. She was using several herbs to keep him sedated, which might have caused this. A large cloud moved over the top of the mountain, reducing visibility quite a bit. Until it got the connection again, they were on their own, waiting to hear them coming.

They waited for several more minutes, but there was still no sound whatsoever except the heavy heartbeats and the nervous breathing from the humans. This silence was broken by one of the humans calling out from the edge of the mountain, “Hey, guys? I think I saw something.”

The wolfen jumped to their feet and rushed to his side to see what it was. “What is it?” Verik asked him.

“I don’t know. There was a small break in the clouds and I thought I saw some movement through it. I wasn’t able to see any details.”

They all looked down over the edge, trying to see anything. At first glance, it seemed completely still, but after several seconds, they started to see something. A dark shape started to form in the haze. Immediately, Verik jumped away from the edge and yelled, “Get back away from the edge!”

But it was too late. A crude spear shot through the cloud and imbedded itself deep into the human’s skull. He fell to the ground, dead instantly. “Everyone, get ready!” Verik screamed. “They’re scaling the mountain!”

Instantly, the area was alive. All the humans rushed to their feet, adjusting their armor, finding their weapons, and getting into position. Those bearing large shields knelt down in the front, creating a small barrier. Archers and magicians lined up behind them, ready to barrage their army as soon as they appear on the surface.

Almost everyone got a feeling of fear as many black, scaly arms reached up over the edge of the mountain, followed by their horned heads. Once they were halfway up, the humans released arrows and magic at them. Not a single one of them was able to make it to the top.

Verik was starting to feel pretty confident about this whole battle, along with everyone else, until Verik heard Emmaline’s urgent voice in his head. “The connection is back! They’re climbing up all around the mountain! They’re surrounding you!”

Verik whirled around and, to his despair, he saw that many of the demons were already climbing up onto the surface and moving to attack them from behind. “They’re coming from all sides!” Verik yelled as loud as he could. Just almost all their battle planning was made totally pointless. They just assumed that they would only come from one direction.

Keil howled into the air to call the wolfen to him as he ran to fight at the rear. “Split into groups! Continue just like we planned!”

Verik glanced back at the humans for a second. Demons were reaching the top of the mountain faster than the humans were able to hold them off. As more and more of them rushed toward the humans, the archers and magicians fell back and sword wielders took their place. It looked like Verik and his pack was going to have to go alone for now.

He followed closely behind Keil and everyone else joined up with their designated partner and ran to confront the approaching forces. Several of the demons tried to throw their spears at them, but the wolfen’s reflexes were too quick. In less than a second, they closed the gap between them and the fight instantly became ferocious.

Verik got locked in combat with three demons, constantly having to dodge strikes with their spears. He noticed that they were significantly slower than the last time he faced them. They very skilled, coordinated fighters, but the cold was giving them a definite disadvantage. If they were fighting in normal temperature, this battle might have been over already.

He was easily able to avoid their attacks, but the spears were letting them keep their distance, preventing him from getting closer. He had to get one of their spears. Two of the demons thrust their weapons toward Verik’s chest. Seeing an opportunity, he dropped to his knees and leaned back, as the blades went within inches of his skull.

Quickly, he reached up with both hands, knocking one of the spears to the side and grabbing the other one. He jumped back to his feet, pulling the weapon from the demon’s claws. Not wasting any time, he spun the spear around and stabbed it through the unarmed one’s neck. It went through with ease and stuck into the ground. Using it as leverage, he swung around and landed behind the other two. Before they could react, Verik grabbed both of their necks and yanked them back, breaking them instantly.

He scanned the battle for Erebos, but he was nowhere. Did he only send his minions to take care of them? “Where is Erebos?” He asked Emmaline.

“I don’t know!” She responded, a hint of worry in her tone. “He’s somehow withholding that information. I don’t like this. Something’s wrong.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for him. Just keep giving me info when you get it.” He rushed back into battle to help his packmates.

Around him, everyone fought as hard as they could. Keil was surrounded by demons, separated from his partner, Lyan. He jumped into the air and changed into his raven form and flew into the air. When he was about ten feet above the surface, he returned back to a wolfen. Holding his claws out, he landed on the backs of the demons next to his partner, crushing them to the ground.

Nari was fighting with great agility. She spent most of the time off of the ground, jumping from one enemy to another, slashing their necks cleanly with her claws. It almost looked like she was dancing, especially with the look of joy on her face as her enemies fell one by one.

Syla, on the other hand, fought with a disturbing ferocity that seemed completely against her normal timid personality. The look of crazed fury in her eyes and the vicious growls that came from her, made her almost unrecognizable. She was one of the most effective killers Verik had seen, mostly because she did not hold back. As a couple demons got close enough to her, she leapt at them, knocking them to the ground. She sank her claws knuckle-deep into one’s eyes as she sank her teeth into the other’s neck and tore out its, and then immediately moved on to the next closest opponent.

The rest of Verik’s pack was holding their own rather well. The humans were not doing as well. They were killing more of the demons faster than they were, but there was at least five or six that Verik saw that were either dead, or dying from severe wounds.

Emmaline’s voice suddenly cried out, “Verik, it’s Erebos! He’s—” Before he heard the rest of her message, one of the demons threw its spear at him. He ducked as fast as he could, but it caught him off guard. The tip of the spear collided with the circlet on his head, knocking it off his head. It flew through the air and fell off the edge of the mountain.

He cursed and ran to take down the now weaponless demon. When he was about six feet away, it rapidly spun around. Verik jumped at him with all his strength, trying to tackle him with his back turned. Just after he left the ground, there was a movement in the corner of his eye. Before he had time to react, the demon’s long tail slammed into Verik’s head.

He fell on his back, stunned for a second. From the ground, he saw a large black object fall at high speeds from the sky. It landed hard on the snow-covered mountaintop only a small distance from him, the impact throwing all the snow around it into the air, blinding everybody around it. From the thick snow, there was a chillingly familiar ground-shaking roar. Erebos had just joined the battle.

Verik pushed himself back to his feet and ran in the opposite direction of the object. He only made it a few steps before he tripped over something else that was lying on the ground. Looking back, he saw that it was the body of a human, cut clean in half at the chest.

The snow cleared and he could see what happened. Erebos was standing in the center of the mountain, holding a massive war axe. The iron double-edged head was about as wide as Verik was tall. All around Erebos, in a ten-foot radius, several humans were lying dead in a large pool of their own blood, their bodies also cut in two pieces. All the demons around him, were flat against the ground to avoid Erebos’s blind attacks, the move executed perfectly.

Verik started to sprint toward Erebos, but one of the demon’s hand latched onto Verik’s leg. He kicked out with his other leg, but another demon latched onto it as well. Losing his balance, he fell back to the ground. Immediately, several more demons pounced on him and held him still. Verik struggled to free himself, but more and more of them piled around to keep him down.

The ground shook with each step as Erebos walked over to stand above Verik. He lifted his huge axe up above his head, ready to strike. “You lose.” He growled deeply and then started to swing the axe down.

As it fell, Verik acted quickly. He made a white-hot flame appear over his left arm, where he had the enchanted ring. The ones holding it down released their grip just enough for him to break his arm free and smash the ring against the skull of one of the surrounding demons.

A blue sphere appeared around him, throwing everyone on top of him away with a strong force. Erebos’s axe crashed down less than a second afterwards. Sparks exploded from the impact. Erebos roared with fury and continued to beat against the barrier, but Verik remained safe underneath.

There wasn’t much more time until the barrier dissolved. Verik only had one chance. He leaned back comfortably and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the sound of his own heartbeat until he couldn’t hear anything else. Opening his mind, he felt all of the lives around him, many of them disappearing as they fell in battle. He found Erebos and mentally reached out to it. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly, he was back with the real world…only something was different. He was looking down at himself from outside barrier. When he saw the giant axe in his hands, he realized that his plan worked.

/.\ /.\ /.\

Keil ducked under the fast-moving claws from the demon in front of him, and landed a hard punch to its throat. It fell to the ground and then was immediately replaced by another one, leaving him no time catch his breath and it didn’t show any signs of letting up. The enemy seemed to be endless. He and the rest of his pack did the best they could, but they were running out of stamina and they were slowly being pushed closer to the edge of the mountain. Within a few minutes they would reach it, and then they would most certainly die.

He couldn’t see the humans, but he imagined they weren’t doing well either. Keil struck down the next demon within his reached and, before the empty space was filled, he could see Verik lying down beneath his magical barrier and Erebos standing above him with his axe. When he saw this, his heart sank. Not even he could handle this battle.

Verik’s barrier disappeared, but Erebos froze just before swinging the finishing blow. His eyes looked pained and his whole body trembled. Several of the demons around glanced back to see what was happening to him. Whatever it was, all the demons could feel that it was bad.

Abruptly, Erebos moved his axe to the side and spun it around. The giant blade swung upwards behind his back and severed his giant wings from his back. All the demons paused briefly and looked back and shrieked into the air. Keil could smell a new sense of fear among them. Whatever just happened, it might have just turned the tide of the battle in their favor.

/.\ /.\ /.\

Verik sat up and gasped as he returned to his own body. Erebos dropped his axe and fell to his knees. Blood poured heavily from his back. Quickly recovering from the transition, Verik stood up and was immediately met by several demons running toward him.

“Stay back!” Erebos roared at them. “He’s mine!” Apparently able to ignore the intense pain, he picked up his weapon and pushed himself up. Glaring down at Verik, he growled, “I’ll kill you!” With speed much faster than what Verik expected considering his size and condition, he swung the axe down.

Verik moved to the side and barely avoided the blade, but it wasn’t even a second before the blade was back in the air and swinging toward him again. Verik never had a chance to go on the offensive. The pure anger and hatred was strengthening Erebos too much.

Verik jumped backward to avoid another swing from his axe. The attack missed him and struck a demon that stumbled into its path, decapitating him. However, this didn’t even make Erebos hesitate at all. The look in his eyes was pure insanity. The only thing on his mind was killing Verik.

Everyone around him scattered to get away from his wild swings. However, after several more attacks, he began to lose too much blood from the wound on his back. His attacks were becoming easier to avoid. Erebos lifted up the weapon above his head and swung it down with all his strength. The blade hit the ground with so much force that the more than half the axe head sank below the surface. He growled in frustration as he tried to pull the axe out of the ground, but he didn’t have the strength to remove it.

This gave Verik the time he needed to make a move. He quickly snatched up one of the spears that was lying on the ground next to fallen demon. He jumped up into the air and brought the spear down toward Erebos’s face. He saw this and tried to move out of the way, but he was way too slow to avoid it. The spearhead entered his mouth, broke through the bottom of his jaw and stabbed into his chest.

Erebos stumbled forward, trying to stay on his feet, but his strength ran out. He fell to the ground, drowning on the blood flowing into his mouth. Verik picked up another spear and knelt by Erebos’s face. “This is for all the lives you destroyed. I hope you burn in hell.” He thrust the spear through his one eye and pushed until it hit the back of his skull.

The realization that he just killed Erebos dawned on Verik and he laughed out loud. All the demons around him backed away in fear. Verik yelled into the air, “Our job is done! Erebos is dead! Everyone retreat down the south side of the mountain!”

Verik rushed into the fray to help clear a path for them. When he reached Syla, he had to use his magic to calm Syla down enough so she could cooperate. Within about a minute, they were all together and heading down the mountainside. Once he was together with the rest of his pack, the demons were easier to break through. The death of their leader lessened their courage and motivation.

When they were partly down the mountain, the demons suddenly stopped attacking and looked behind them at something, but Verik could not see. “Hurry! Let’s get as much distance as we can from them!” Verik called out to everyone.

When they were about halfway down, Verik looked back and smiled. Not a single demon was following them. He just sat there, thinking over everything that just happened. “We did it.” He said to himself. The words felt so good to say. “We did it!” He repeated again and then laughed.

Keil lifted up his head to the air and howled in victory. The rest of the wolfen joined him and the humans cheered. Nari ran up to Verik and hugged him tight. “I thought you were going to die for a second! Remember what I said about you scaring me like that?”

He leaned back and licked her muzzle affectionately. “I’m sorry.” He was about to say something else, but her back suddenly arched and she grunted painfully. She fell to the ground and Verik saw that one of the demon’s spears buried itself deeply into her back.

“Nari!” Verik cried and rushed to her side. He quickly removed the spear and pressed down on the wound. Verik looked up in the direction the spear came from. A lone demon floated high above them. It shrieked loudly and then began retreated to rejoin the rest of them. Turning back to Nari, he said, “Hang in there. Try to stay with me. Someone help me!”

Nari looked into his eyes. “It’s too late. I’m not going to make it.”

“No! I can save you!”

She just smiled weakly and said, “Don’t lie, to me or yourself.” She coughed painfully, blood spilled from her mouth. “Congratulations. You saved everyone…I wish I was able to know you more. I…I guess I’ll see you…in…” Before she could finish, her heart went still and her body went limp.

Their whole pack gathered around them, all the happiness they shared a minute ago was all gone. Verik stared down at her, his mind not accepting the fact that she was dead. “Someone, get over here! Help her!” He yelled at the humans.

Keil didn’t have to understand the human language to know what Verik was feeling. “Verik, she’s gone. There’s nothing anyone can do.”

Verik continued to stare at her, a small part of him hoping she would wake up and take a deep breath, but of course nothing happened. Keil called Thorren and Lyan over and they helped him pick up her body. “Verik,” he told him softly, “we should go. We don’t know if any more will try to attack us.”

But he wasn’t done yet. Verik stepped away from them and knelt down, concentrating hard. Scanning the sky for Nari’s killer. He detected it flying high inside a cloud away from them. He reached out his hand and grabbed him with his powers. Pulling back his hand, he yanked him from the sky. A second later, he fell through the cloud and hit the mountainside and tumbled down toward them.

When he stopped around fifty feet away, he ran up to him. He was still alive, but his wings, legs, and one of his arms were broken in multiple locations. He looked up at Verik and grinned. “I guess my aim’s not as good as I thought. That spear was meant for you.”

All Verik’s sadness transformed into a deep anger. He snarled at him and then slammed his fist against its leg. The demon hissed in pain and tried to escape, but his body was too badly damaged. “You’re not going anywhere.” Verik said grimly as he reached down and grasped his broken arm and dislocated it further.

It cried out and his eyes teared up. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

Verik leaned in so he was just inches from its face. “Because that’s more than you deserve.” Verik sank his claws into its chest and slashed it across the surface, leaving large gashes that oozed with purple blood. He continued to maul his body as he screamed in agony, his mind clouded by anger.

“Verik, stop!” Syla screamed from behind him, but he just ignored her and continued to torture the demon. She ran up to him and grabbed his shoulder. “Please, Verik!”

Verik immediately whirled around, snarling, lifting his hand to smack her away, but when he looked her in the eyes, he came back to his senses. He hesitated for a second before letting his arms drop. He pulled her into a tight embrace and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Behind him, the demon was whimpering, his body covered in deep many deep and painful wounds. Verik silently waved his hand back and its neck snapped, ending his suffering. He released Syla and started down the mountain. Syla still clung to his shoulder and leaned her head against him comfortingly. He motioned to everyone to move on and said, “Let’s go.”

/.\ /.\ /.\

When they reached the city walls, Jack walked up to Verik. “Hey, I’m sorry about your friend. I know she meant a lot to you.”

Verik was emotionally burnt out. Barely feeling anything, but this heavy feeling in his chest. “We’re not the only one who lost somebody. You lost many men back there, also.”

“Yes, we did.” He sighed. “Anyway, once re recover we are going to meet with the king. Once we give our report, he will want to meet you. Are you able to meet us back here in three days?”

Verik relayed the message to Keil who nodded in approval and thanked him for his service. Verik translated for Jack, “He will be there. He would also like to thank you for your help. There was no way we could even hope to have done it by ourselves.”

Jack nodded. “It was our pleasure. We’ll see you soon.” He and the humans separated and headed into the city.

/.\ /.\ /.\

On their way back, everyone remained in respectful silence for Nari. They left the other circlets at the top of the mountain, so they couldn’t tell Emmaline of anything that happened. They had to rest halfway home, since everyone was exhausted from the battle.

The next day, they made it back to their camp. Once they entered, Emmaline ran up to them with fear in her eyes. “Erebos was only the beginning! More are coming!”

“Calm down.” Keil told her. “What do you mean?”

“I was listening in on the demon’s thoughts. A little while after Erebos died, I heard several new voices, strong ones like Erebos. A portal was opened and more of them are coming!”

Every wolfen’s heart started beating faster at this news. “Are you sure?” Keil asked with uneasiness.

Silently, she gestured to the sky behind her. There was a large cloud moving across the sky. Everyone looked upward anxiously, waiting to see what it would reveal. What it did made everyone’s heart nearly stop. It was as if there was a giant hole in the ripped in the sky. From it, many winged creatures of varying sizes were flying through it and to the surface. It was quite far away, but everyone could recognize the creatures that were pouring through. Their victory on the mountain was not the end to the demons. Not even close.

Verik felt anger, sadness, and fear rise inside of him and he didn’t know how to react. Tears flooded his eyes. His legs started shaking and finally gave out. He fell to the ground and let the tears flow freely. Everyone else and just hugged each other silently, watching in fear as more and more demons poured into their world.

To Be Continued…