“Uggh...” I was getting kinda tired of waking up like that. I looked around. I was in another bed, but this time, Ace, Don and James were there. “Holy crap, he’s awake!” Ace shouted. “Dude, what the hell happened?! I didn’t even know who you were until a few hours ago!” Don yelled. “What? Wasn’t that a dream?” I asked. “No! What happened?!” “Long story.”  “Well, we don’t have time anyway.” “What do you mean?” I asked. “We gotta go to a council meeting with the elders.” “What? Why?” “Because. They saw the scar on your back. I also kinda knew that you’d look a little different, but I didn’t know that you’d become that.” “Well, you could have told US!!” Ace shouted. “Well, I didn’t want to freak you guys out, or nuthin.” “Wha?! Seeing this half dead deformed thing turn into a kid that we know, you didn’t think THAT would freak us out?!” Ace shouted. “Well, I thought you guys could handle it.” “I really wonder about you sometimes, ya know that, James?” Ace said.

We left to a clearing, where a large group of Annumreale were sitting on the ground. There was a group of old looking Annumreale . This was, in itself, the strangest thing I had seen in my travels so far. This race of children, children with tiny noses and wide eyes, that seemed to be made to not grow up, and here, their elders simply had grey hair. Other than that, they looked completely normal. “Silence.” one said simply. “We have met here to discuss the pressing business that entails the finding of the Son.” he said. “Last night, our shaman and trusted friend Ebaele was given an assignment. He was to take one of our visitors, who we took in out of an act of kindness, and stab him with a knife. Why, You ask? Because we have reason to believe that this visitor is the Son.” immediately, the croud began mumbling, talking amongst themselves. “It was success. In our midst, we have the savior. The savior that will crumble the mountains own on the Machinists, who will banish the Dark one into the Mouth of Blackening. We have the Son.” he said. 

He pulled out three feathers, a white one, a black one, and a larger black one. “The dove, righteous, good, with nothing to hide, like water. It shows all it’s secrets..” he pulled out the smaller black feather. “The crow. Evil. Feared. Despicable. Like oil, thick, secretive, slow, always leaving it’s cancerous mark where ever it treads.” then he put the two feathers together, and pulled out the big black one. “While the crow fights the dove, the crow either has no idea about it’s manipulation by the raven,” he said, holding the big black feather up, “or doesn’t care, as long as it gets to destroy the dove. But the crow will fall, lulling the beaten and battered dove to bask in victory. Bu then comes the raven, huge, indestructible, and a hideous cancer on the face of Falacia. It easily destroys almost all of the doves forces, but then comes the flock. And there, my analogy ends. For now. Our brothers in Lernalaban have already made a group to escort the savior to the Black mount, as well as teach him, train him. Captain James Elias, a Drathias, Ace Jackson, a Griffoniniel, and Poseidon Simons, a Grffoninel. But, we too have an addition.” “What’s he talkin about?” I asked James. He shrugged. Two Annumreale brought a small, snowy-white haired Annumrele with a black-ringed raccoon’s tail, with his hands bound behind his back. The small Annumreale had bright yellow eyes. He looked angrily at the floor. “We have here Ustian, a thief and criminal. We had a punishment prepared for him, death, but he offered to do penance. He will guide and protect these Saviors, and help them to reach Nethrinoughe. If he is victorious, he will be heralded as a hero. If he fails, he will be killed. We made this hasty decision to give him a chance to repent because,” he sighed, “sadly, we are dying. As our visitors do no know, Annumreale do not give birth the way of the mammals, or even of the drathias or griffoniniel. If one of us is blessed with a kind heart and a loving mind, our gods repay our life with a child, whom we receive from the lake. We have had only two children be born in the past hundred years. Annumreale are not immortal. Slowly, we are dying. If young Ustian saves himself, we can only hope for a child.”  they took the small figure back. They also sent a few guards to come with us. And that was it. Simply, the crowd dissipated, and then we were left sitting alone. “What the hell jut happened?” I asked. “I think we have to leave now.” James said. He sat up. “Well, we’re off.” he said. “But what about your arms?” I asked them. “We’ll be fine. Let’s leave tomorrow, that way at least we’ll be rested.

I walked back to the hut, but Ebaele stopped me. “Follow me, again.” he said. “Well, do we have to do the whole, chase thing again?” I asked. “No.” he walked off. And I followed. “Am I gonna have to change into that thing again?” I asked. It was a painful experience. “Yes. Once more. You are a Lycan now, but I must teach you how to be a Lupius.” he said. “What’s a Lupius?” I asked. “What you were last night, that was a Lycan, a werewolf, as it is called by your kind. But since you did not feel the full extent of death, you were only partly changed. Your bones and muscles simply changed, nothing more. You changed back a few hours later in your sleep. They are mindless killing machines, the Lycans, driven by blood.” he scowled. “I despise Lycans.”

I didn’t ask why. I guessed it would be best to just leave it at that. “Well, what’s a Lupius?” “A Lupius is a controlled werewolf. It is smaller, smarter, faster. They have more control over their primal urges. In fact, they use their instincts to their advantage.”  “uh, what do they look like?” “They have the head, tail, and legs of a wolf. They are not snarling beasts, as they are intelligent. There are more of your kind in Dashona, if you seek understanding. And you will.” he said quietly. “They hunt in packs, although they only kill for two reasons: one, if their companion is brutally injured, and they wish for their pain to end, or if someone, any species, intrudes or commits an atrocity, then they shall be punished. But other than that, little is known about them. I personally, have met only two. Your father, and another.” “Um, do I have to stay a Lupius? Like, can I revert back to my human body?” “Yes, but as time goes on, you will not want to.” he said.

He said no more. When we were a while out of the village, he took out a small, leather book. It was red, and the pages were brittle appearance yellowed. “What’s this?” I asked. “Your father helped me write it. But know, you must become a beast.” he took out a knife, and I didn’t move. I knew what was gonna happen, but still. I didn’t like the idea of a knife plunging into my back. But this time, it was not coated in the black liquid. “Hey, why isn’t there-” and I stopped. It was painful, and I felt death. “AAAHH!!!” I screamed. It burned, and the I felt a white, blinding serenity. I could feel nothing, and I could no think. I realized later that this was the release of a hormone that changed my physiology. He took the knife out, and shouted, “you became that beast last night because you thought angry, hateful thoughts! If you keep a blank slate while thinking, your body does the same! Your body has a form programmed into you, but it needs no interruption to create it! Focus on the pain!!!” then his voice faded out. My insides churned and shifted. “Arrgh!!” I shouted as I held my stomach. I huddled over, begging my body to stop. It wouldn’t. My heart burned, spreading the pain as if it were a physical substance. It ran alongside my blood, spreading, infecting. My muscles began to tear, to rip, to twist. The snapped like violin strings, an explosion of pain and then a looseness.  My ribs pried apart, agonizingly slowly, like a weak bird cage. Then they snapped back, like they were caught in some hellish vice grip. My shoulders snapped, being pried back, then forth, then back again. My insides churned and roiled. I focused on the pain. I had no outside thoughts, but with this kinda pain, how could I? Then, my appearance began to change. My feet first. My heel was being ripped back in quick, merciless tugs. The balls of my feet grew, and they developed pads. Not calluses, pads.  Like a dog’s. they swelled, and then I lost feeling. My toes grew and thickened, my normal ones being replaced with heavy, sturdy ones. One by one, hard  black claws shot out of the tips of my new toes, painfully ripping the skin. I screamed, I yelled, I made every indication of pain possible. I screamed one more time, but I felt my voice crack. It rose, my throat pulling and turning, my voice-box growing, as if I couldn’t quite swallow something. Then, the pressure behind my nose. But this time, my nose couldn’t take it. It shot out, ripping cartilage, flesh and bone, simply refilling places on it’s own agenda with a cold, thick liquid. I felt it harden. My teeth dropped, or popped, I should say, out, one by one. They were replaced with what felt like tiny knifes, shooting out of my gums. Then, hair. It began as a slight tingle, raising the hair I already had throughout my skin, then a shooting, like  stalks of corn, tore through my skin. Millions of millions of millions of times. One by one. After I had finally completed, I stung. All over me. Then, a huge pressure in my lower back. My spine was being pulled, extended. The pressure built up, and built up until, rriiiip! It shot through my skin noisily, and I screamed. But no, it wasn’t a scream, it was a howl. I was in hell. Simply going through such pain took a lot out of me. I lay on the ground, panting. I was shaking with pain. But then, I stopped. I slowly stood up on my strange new feet, expecting me to lose balance. I sniffed the air, looking around. I didn’t feel itchy, like I was wearing a suit. The fur that covered my body felt, well, natural. I thought, and it was like breathing. It was strange, refreshing, both a simpler kind of understanding, and a complex response to the world around me. I expected being this strange creature that was now me to be strange, awkward. But it was, well, wonderful. It was nirvana. I thought being a human was what life was supposed to be like. But no. it was like, if one goes through pain for a while, then he becomes used to that as neither pleasure nor pain. It is his new middle. But when the pain is relieved, the life and regular feeling and middle felt good. So his standard of pain is set lower, and he is relieved. That’s how I felt. I was relieved. I turned to talk to Ebaele. It was harder, as my lips were longer, but I managed. “Wuh- wuhuh- wuh-s I always supposed to be like this?” I said. The wind went through my (uugh, it used to creep me out so much) fur. It felt great. “Yes. This is the real you.” I remembered my childhood. I wasn’t allowed to talk about my dreams in school. Because when I was small, the teacher asked us to draw a picture of our favorite dream. They all drew pictures of knights, or if they were girls, princesses, but I, and I didn’t know why my parents were so scared when they saw this, I drew a pack of wolves, and then I drew a stick figure me, smiling. They burned the picture, and they never spoke about it again.

I looked at myself. My feet, well, the heels were pushed higher, almost under the back of the knee. The balls of my feet had developed into wider, rounded pads. Tiny, hardened claws stuck out of them. My hands didn’t really look different, I simply had a thinner padding on them that covered my palms unjointed areas. My fingernails had been pried off (as with my toenails, only some of the original material had went into my claws) by the fur, and I had claws sticking out of my fingertips. They were smaller than the ones on my toes. I was taller, simply because of my extended heel. I was slightly bended over,, but that didn’t bother me. I felt my ears. The were taller, like a wolves, with a tuft of thin, wispy fur sprouting from it. Those myths about dog being color blind? Untrue, or at least this was the case for Lupius. I could see much farther then I could before, and it was in higher definition. I could see every icy hue of blue Luminusae had. I looked at the moon, expecting me to turn into the hideous creature I was last night at the sight of it. I simply thought it beautiful, a strange attraction flowing over me like water. But I shook it off, and turned to Ebaele. He was right. I didn’t want to become human again. “How long will this last?” I asked. “As long as you wish. Last night you were not fully changed, so you changed back involuntarily. But you may never wish to change back, and if that is so, only the Lupius in Dashona know how to keep this form.” his solemn face suddenly showed the playful slyness that was natural for it.

“Wanna freak out your friends? C’mon, it’ll be fu-un!” I liked him like this. “Sure, but on question: Yhavane told me that you were really mad or something while I was asleep. Why?” “Well, I thought you were a Lycan. I kinda had a bad experience, but c’mon!! Let’s go!!” And I agreed.

He ran off, apparently to the village. I wouldn’t be left behind this time. I slowly lowered myself to the ground, and got on all fours. My legs tensed, instinctively. “Okay, I’m ready.” I assured myself. Then, silently, I bolted off after him. I was really fast, almost as fast as Naru, but that wasn’t what amazed me. I didn’t get tired. At all. When we finally reached the village, we climbed to a branch above the hut they were in. He told me the plan. I asked, “won’t the other Annumreale be mad about the roof?” “Nah, ‘ll fix it. Besides, it’s a guest house anyway.” so he positioned himself right above the roof. He winked, shut his eyes, and jumped. He plummeted through the wicker roof, and I heard Yhavane scream. “Are you okay?! Omigod!!” Ace shouted. I mussed up my hair and fur (I suddenly related to Vitara, going against the fur hurts!!) Then, I curled my lips into a snarl. I was ready. I jumped into the hole, and pounced upon Ebaele’s body. “AAAH!!!” Yhavane screamed. Even James screamed a little. I pretended to tear him apart, and flung the little body against the wall. I could tell he wasn’t hurt, as he winked when no one was looking. I got on all fours, and growled. They backed away from me, but I could no longer see Don. That’s weird... I thought. Where- suddenly, a huge amount of pressure form both sides. I was picked up, and slammed hard into the wall. Don’s eyes were glowing blue, and his hands were conducting my movement. “HEY!!!” I shouted. And every one stopped. “What’d you do that... for...” Don’s eyes stopped glowing, and he looked confused. “Beldas?” James said, confused.  . Vitara peeked from under the bed she was hiding under, curiously.

 I chuckled nervously. “Uh, heh heh... Taa daa? Heh...”