Wolfen - Part 7

Verik stepped out of his burnt and smoky rooms. He paused and listened for a bit, but Nari, Keil, and Syla still seemed to be sleeping, based on the sound of their steady breathing coming from behind the doors. He decided that it was best that he let them get their rest. Meanwhile, he wanted to speak with the elders. There were a few questions that he wanted to ask them.

He retraced his steps, easily following the scent trail that they left on the way here, all the way to the door leading just outside the dome. Opening the door, he walked through and stepped outside. The sun was starting to set in the horizon and above him, the sky was blocked by a large sheet of dark-grey clouds. Several drops of rain fell from the sky every few seconds and it was clear to Verik that it was going to star raining pretty hard later on.

Not really wanting to get his fur wet, he quickly rushed through the beautiful lawn and reached the large doors to the dome on the other side. There were no handles that he could see. When they entered last time with David, the doors opened on their own. Should he knock?

Verik lifted his hand to knock on the hard surface, but they started opening just like last time. He entered and walked through the hallway until he reached the large fancy doors that led into the large interior of the dome. He quietly pushed open the doors quietly, so as not to disturb anyone who might be working in there.

On the inside, five of the elders were standing inside the pool of water in the center, their feet only submerging a few inches below the surface. They were all standing hand-in-hand, forming a circle around the orb floating above them. Their faces were tilted upward and a bright light was emanating from their eyes, casting a concentrated beam of light into the orb.

Verik watched them for a while before he was startled by a voice directly to his right. “They’re meditating on what you told them earlier.”

He gasped in surprise and looked over. The oldest elder sitting on the ground, examining the other elders also.

“Why are you not with them?” Verik asked.

“Meditation is very hard on the mind. It requires a great deal of mental energy that I just don’t have. You see, that orb is a very interesting piece of magic. It connects with our minds and increases its power, allowing those connected to essentially travel from their bodies and study things from outside this fortress. It is very stressful and tiring, and I am already getting quite old. Soon, the very act of sustaining my body will require too much energy and I will die. But until that day comes, there is no point in worrying about it.” He looked Verik in the eye and smiled. “Let’s talk more outside this room. I don’t want to distract them.”

The elder got up and they both left that room. “So,” he began again, “what is it you were wanting to talk to me about?”

“To start, I need to apologize. The room I was staying in is pretty much destroyed. I had a distressing dream earlier and apparently I released some of my power in my sleep and burnt everything in there…”

The elder chuckled and placed his hand on Verik’s shoulder. “No matter, don’t worry about it.”

“But I believe you were right. I need to learn how to control my abilities. The next time, I might hurt someone. I just need to know what I should do.”

“We, unfortunately cannot help you. You have a power that we do not understand. We work with the human’s magic, but yours is different. However, what we sensed inside you, we have also sensed inside your leader, Keil.”

Verik widened his eyes. “He has power too?”

He nodded. “Yes, he does. Compared to you, it is insignificant, but he does have some and he is well-trained in using it. Ask him to train you and I am positive he will gladly assist.”

Verik nodded. “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know your name yet.”

“Since we embraced our way of living, we have no need for names. However, before I became what I am now, I was known as Karthan.”

“Karthan, huh. Well, what exactly are you? All I know is that you worked with humans to create this place and that you can use human magic.”

“If you have the time, I would be glad to tell you. I and the others were originally part of a large wolfen pack. We had almost thirty members total, one of the largest packs that was around. We were hoping that if we formed a kind of wolfen city, that it would do two things. Either it would start to give the idea that we are not as animal-like as we may seem, or if that didn’t work, it would discourage those who hate us to stay away. Unfortunately, neither of those ideas worked. Our large and increasing numbers put fear into the humans, but that didn’t prevent them from attacking. In fact, it did quite the opposite. They formed a small army and marched it into our dwelling place. They easily killed almost all of us. Only I and five others survived the attack.

“Since then, we just fled to this fortress, which at that time was all in ruins and abandoned long ago. We stayed there for several years, living like a normal small pack and we never had any more interaction with the humans. However, one day a group of human wizards found that place as well. We almost attacked them, but they, through telepathy, told us they were friends. Against our better judgment, we decided to trust them.

“As it turns out they really were friends of us wolfen. Their goal was to make humanity see us as we really are. So, they stayed with us and helped us rebuild this fortress and taught us their language as well. With the use of their magic, the fortress was done in about a month. They brought many human things from their city and furnished the building, making it a comfortable living place for us and whoever lives with us. Once it was complete, they enchanted the fortress so that nobody would be able to enter unless it was approved by one of us.

“After all of that, they decided to try and help us learn to use magic. Before I continue, let me tell you a few things about this world. All around us, there is an invisible force called mana. It is what keeps the whole world alive. Humans can harness this force and use it to manipulate things around them in many ways. Certain people have a better connections with the mana, giving them the capabilities to do many things with magic. They are known as wizards.

“Anyway, these wizards specialized in enchantments. They, with their vast knowledge, enchanted these stones to allow us to connect to the mana, since us wolfen are incapable of doing it on our own. To use them, though, we would have to sacrifice one of our eyes.” He pointed to his pure black eyes, which Verik realized were just polished stones.”

“You’re blind?” Verik asked surprised.

Karthan smiled and shook his head. “No, not blind. We may not be able to see physically, but we are not blind. Far from it, actually. You see, these stones had an additional effect that the wizards did not anticipate. They gave us sight that was far better than what we had before. Instead of our vision being limited to our eyes, these stones let us perceive things through the mana. It’s not just an energy source, it is almost like a living being that is able to collect information so detailed and with such clarity, and those enchanted stones let us share all that information. It was so intense, that it actually put us in a coma for a few days before our minds finally adapted to it. Once we had that, our real eye was actually just holding us back. All of us decided to have them replaced as well.

“So, with our new connection to the mana, we gained knowledge that was far more than anyone that had ever lived on this planet. It gave us the ability to see things beyond the present into the past and sometimes even into the future. The humans helped us learn the capabilities of mana, but we eventually surpassed their knowledge and ability, so that they had nothing left to teach us. Considering their job done, they left us and returned to the human cities, where they tried to convince the people to make peace with the wolfen. Unfortunately, some of the more thick-skulled hunters got angry and killed them.

“We decided to spend the rest of our lives here, where we dedicated ourselves to gaining more knowledge and using it to help other wolfen. That was a long time ago, and the things we have done is astounding. David already told you about the pendant he is wearing. It is the most efficient way of passing down knowledge. As long as we all wear one of them, it stores our collective knowledge and memories and delivers it to the wearer’s mind.”

“What else have you done?” Verik asked curiously.

“For example, that orb that you saw in the main room; that was one we created. We also created a stone that can read the minds of everyone around you and modifies your senses so that your ears register what others say as if it is in your own language. It also does the same to them. In short, it lets you understand humans and lets humans understand you. It hasn’t been put to use yet, but I’m sure, it will be quite useful when peace becomes an option.”

Once Karthan finished his story, Verik continued on with his next question. “What do you know about Vannah?”

He scratched his ear thoughtfully. “I haven’t heard that name in quite a long time. I have to tell you that I don’t know very much. I received a few visions from her, but ever since I got these eyes, I haven’t heard from her since. Maybe the connection with the manna severs the connection with her.”

“Do you know who she is?”

Karthan shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know that either. I know just as much as any other wolfen. I don’t know if she is the spirit of someone deceased or a god of some kind. The only thing I know is that she is definitely not physically on this world. She has given some useful advice to us. She was actually the one who gave me a vision, telling me to take our pack to these ruins.”

The door to outside opened up and Keil, Syla, and Nari entered. Once Syla saw Verik, she squealed happily and ran to his side, hugging him. “Thank the heavens, your safe!”

Verik looked at her, confused. “Yes, I’m okay…why wouldn’t I be?”

Nari scowled, but the look in her eyes, said that she was happy to see him.

“We saw smoke coming beneath your door.” Keil said. “When we opened it up, everything was burnt and smoking and you were gone. We thought something might have happened to you.”

Verik smiled. “Oh, sorry. I had a little unintentional power demonstration. Anyway, I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I came to talk to the elders. I’m sorry, I should’ve left a note or something.”

“It’s fine. Did they find anything yet?”

Karthan shook his head. “I am not connected to the others right now, but they are meditating about it. They should have answers in not too long.”

Coincidentally, the door to the inner room burst open and the other five elders rushed through, into the hallway. “They’re here!” One of them said with grave urgency. The fur on their backs were standing up straight, telling that they were genuinely afraid. “The evil that they mentioned is here!”

Everyone there froze in fear, the room filling with an unnerving silence. “What do you mean?” Verik asked. “They’re already in this world?”

“They’re already at the fortress!”

As if on cue, there was a loud crashing sound above them and the whole building shook. “What was that?” Syla asked. She was still holding on to Verik so he could feel that she was trembling really badly.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure they won’t get in.” He turned to the Karthan. “This place is enchanted. That means they can’t get in, right.”

Karthan’s face was filled with fear and guilt. “We didn’t bother enchant the roof. Nobody could get up there unless they could fly!” Another crash sounded against the ceiling.

A door opened and David rushed through it. “Come one, guys! Follow me! The elders will hold them off while we escape through the basement!” Yet another crash shook the place, but this time the ceiling cracked like damaged glass.

Keil stopped and looked toward the cracks. “Vannah?” He said with a look of confusion.

“What are you doing?” Verik asked, but before he could answer, the next crash came and the ceiling broke apart. Big chunks of stone fell to the floor and dust flew everywhere, creating a large cloud around the room. Everyone watched in silence, waiting for the cause of the destruction to emerge.

There was a low growl from inside the dust cloud. Suddenly out of it, a large black whip-like object that had a large blade on top shot out through the dust and swung at the elders. They all jumped back, but the one in the front was too far forward. The blade struck him just below the ribs and passed all the way through, severing his torso from his legs. Blood exploded from him as he fell down in two pieces.

Karthan’s face changed from fear and concern to a look of pure fury. He screamed and rushed forward to join the other elders. David almost fell to his knees, a look of sorrow and fear on his face, but he quickly regained composure and yelled to the group. “Come with me! The elders will hold them off. We need to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

Reluctantly, they turned and ran, leaving the elders to deal with whatever that creature was. They rand down the hallway and into a small room that seemed like just a storage room. David pointed to a small shelf on the side. “That shelf, move it to the side. It covers a trap door that leads to the basement.” He kept his voice natural, but tears were streaming down his face.

Keil and Nari went to work moving the shelf. Verik went over to David and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

David shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We just need to get out of here.” Once the door was revealed, he opened it and dropped through the opening, followed by everyone else. Below was a dark dusty series of rooms. “Come, the exit is this way.” He started walking toward one of the doors, but then suddenly dropped to his knees and pressed his paws against his skull and cried out.

“What’s wrong?” Keil asked.

“They’re all dying! It’s slaughtering them like animals! They don’t stand a chance!”

Verik pulled him to his feet. “There’s no time to worry about what you cannot control. Right now, you need to lead us out of here.”

David’s legs were shaking hard and the fur on his face was soaked with tears, but he said, “You—you’re right. Let’s get going.”

They ran quickly through the rooms, most of them were almost completely empty. When they entered one room that had only a few empty shelves along the wall, Keil suddenly stopped moving and stood still. Verik jumped to the side to avoid running right into him. “What the hell are you doing?” Verik demanded.

“I heard something.” Everyone remained silent, trying to hear whatever it is that Keil heard. There weren’t very many sounds down hear. The sounds of heavy breathing and fast-beating hearts were the loudest noises. But, there was actually something else way in the distance. Like the sound of claws on stone…

Verik suddenly stood up straight, an uneasy feeling spreading throughout his body. Something found the entrance to the basement and was following their trail. “Something’s down hear with us!”

Nari gasped, “Shit! Where is Lu?”

Everyone looked around frantically, but she wasn’t there with them. “You go on ahead!” Verik told them. “I’ll go back and find her and then meet up with you.” Before they had a chance to object, he tore off towards the way they came from. As he ran, he cursed himself for not realizing her disappearance.

Each room he entered contained no trace of her scent. When he finally arrived at the third room away from the entrance to this place did he find her scent, but it wasn’t alone. And it wasn’t the scent of another wolfen, either. He hadn’t smelled anything like it before, at least as far as he could remember.

He lowered himself to the ground and followed the trail. It lead off into a side room and what was inside made him freeze. There was a large amount of blood. Syla’s blood. There was no sign of her body though. The blood lead off into another room. Again, no sign of her body, which was a good sign. However, lying in the corner, was a creature lying on the ground that unnerved Verik greatly. Its body was completely black and covered with scales with large wings extending from its back. Its eyes were a bright yellow with vertical oval pupils. Horns grew from its head that curved back and then down to point forward. Its long snout was filled with razor-sharp teeth. At the tips of its fingers were long arched claws.

He looked at his own hands and realized that they were exactly the same. He remembered from when he looked at his reflection that his left eye was identical. And he could feel very plainly that his horns also alike. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Unfortunately, he had no time to consider the situation further. His sister’s blood covered the floor and he didn’t know if she was alive or not. He broke his stare from the creature and ran off into the direction of Syla.

As he got nearer, he started to hear the sounds of snarling and hissing getting louder and louder. He burst into one room where he saw Syla and three other black-scaled creatures locked in combat. They were lunging their claws at her from all directions, but she was swift enough to block their attacks and maneuver out of the way, even though there was a deep gash in the back of her shoulder that was still dripping with blood. She was holding them back pretty well, but that wouldn’t last long. They were slowly backing her into a corner and pretty soon, she would not be able to avoid them any longer.

Verik ran silently up to one of them, grabbed his neck, and threw him backward as hard as possible. The creature, however, just landed with a roll and quickly got to its feet again. The other two shoved Syla to the side and turned to face Verik. In unison, they both slashed out with their claws, aiming for his neck.

Seeing this coming, he dropped to the floor and swiped his leg across the floor, knocking their legs out from beneath them. However, their long strong tails dropped and caught them. One of them pushed off and kicked out, landing his heel square in Verik’s forehead. The impact threw him backwards and he stumbled to the ground. By the time he got up, all three of them grouped together again and closed the distance between them.

Before he could get back up and fight, two of them grabbed his arms and legs and pinned him down. The third one crawled on top of him and looked him straight in the eye. “My master wants you.” He said, hissing out every word, “He never said whether he wanted you alive or not.” He lifted his hand and placed a claw on his neck, ready to tear it open instantly. “Personally, I prefer dead; it’s much easier.”

Before he could finish him off, Syla appeared behind him and latched onto his shoulders and sank her teeth into his shoulder. He hissed in pain and slashed at her with his claws. They struck her in the chest, leaving three gashes. Syla gasped in pain and then fell back to the floor.

The creature grabbed Verik’s neck, ready to tear it out when suddenly a bright light flashed, blinding Verik for a few moments. When his vision returned, he was standing behind the three creatures, who looked just as confused as he was. Having no idea what just happened, but not wanting to waste this opportunity, he lifted up his elbow and then slammed it down with all his strength into the creatures back. Upon impact, there was a loud crack and it was clear that he had just snapped his spine. He fell limp to the ground and never moved again.

The other two creatures leapt away to a safe distance and hissed in anger, but fear was plainly written all over their eyes. Verik bared his teeth and let out the most ferocious snarl that he could muster, and it worked. The other creatures fled the room.

Once they were gone, he quickly ran to Syla. She was lying in a small pool of blood mostly from the shoulder wound. The three cuts on her chest were luckily not that deep and were only bleeding a little bit. “Syla! Are you okay?” Verik said worriedly.

Syla opened her eyes and looked up at him. Verik smiled at her, glad that she was okay. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back into her head and she started going into harsh spasms. Verik held her down, but she was surprisingly strong. He was unable to do very much to hold her still. Just as soon as she started, she stopped, lying completely still.

Verik could hear her breathing stop and the sound of her heartbeat disappear. A chill of horror flooded through him. No, she can’t die! He wouldn’t let that happen! “Wake up!” He screamed at her. “You’re stronger than this! Get up!” He slammed his fist into her chest several times, but she just lied there, lifeless.

The realization that she was gone struck Verik like a knife. Tears flooded his eyes and fell down his face. He hugged her tightly, crying silently into her soft red fur. About a minute passed and he decided that he had to move on and catch up with the others. He stood up and walked toward the door, but there was a small noise behind him. He turned around to see what it was, but nothing was there. It happened again and again, and Verik realized that it was the sound of her heart coming back to life.

Verik ran to her side and picked her up in his arms. “You’re alive!” He laughed joyfully, drying the tears from his eyes. However, her heartbeat continued to speed up until it was racing unnaturally fast. Her eyes shot open and her hand flew toward Verik’s throat and closed around it. There was a crazed look in her eyes and a low growl escaped her throat.

He was easily able to bend her hand to release her grip and push her away. “Hey, it’s me, Verik!” But there was something clouding her mind. She rushed at him again, but he sidestepped out of the way. “Syla, stop! I’m your brother, remember?” That did nothing to stop her. She kept growling and lunged after him again. “Please, don’t make me hurt you!”

Completely ignoring him, she threw herself at him again, but this time, he ducked under her outstretched arms, came up behind her, and shoved her forward hard. She lost her balance and slammed her head into the wall. She fell to the floor unconscious, but still alive.

Verik ran to her and picked her up. He had to leave this basement and join the others. It didn’t take long for him to find the scent trail of the others and find his way to the end of the maze of rooms. He emerged from the final room and into the cool refreshing night.

“Damn you, Verik!” Nari cried out as she rushed to his side. “I thought you might have died! What took you so long?” Then, noticing Syla in her arms, her expression darkened. “Who did this?”

“It doesn’t matter right now.” Verik replied. “We need to get out of here and bring her to safety.”

Keil rushed to them and helped to carry Syla. David, who stood in the lead had an emotionless expression on his face, but his eyes were bloodshot and displayed a look of deep sorrow. “Let’s go. We’ll be safer in the forest.” He said in a monotone voice. The group all started heading for the forest.

Just before they reached the safety of the trees, there was a loud thump from something large landing in the grass behind them. Before Verik had a chance to turn to look at it, something slammed into his back. He slumped forward and he saw, protruding from his chest was a large blade piercing into his back and through his stomach, the tip buried in the ground. He didn’t feel any pain, but he saw his blood gushing down the blade.

A low voice growled from behind them. “You don’t know how long I waited to do that. Now you will finally pay for what you did to me!”

To Be Continued…