Raising a wolf (Gil McKeen the bloodhound)

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A newborn cried aloud, from the depth of his being, he called; bystanders did not know the reason, yet no one minded the cries of this miracle. It sounded similar to a beautiful song, the melody of life, giving news of hope amid despair; indeed, the birth was a magical moment. This moment was the closest one would be to creation, the power of forming something alive from nothing. Maybe this was the reason women had such a special place in many cultures, as the giver of life, they were respected and treated with utmost care.

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The child continued to cry as they cleaned him in water, washing him of the remains of mucus; he did not understand the special care he was receiving, so the wails continued, breaking the silence of the night. However, just as before, the faces showed nothing but satisfaction and happiness. They were happy that the baby was healthy; a sigh of relief was heard from a man who looked exhausted; the stress of the operation had him beat. Yet, his eyes shined with light; they were filled with affection towards the baby and the mother.

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The woman was drenched in sweat and tears; the procedure had almost killed her; this was her first time going through labor. She heard the desperate howls of her son, knowing them to be natural. However, her heart was breaking by listening to the sad shouts of her small child. She swore in her mind at that moment; this was her child, she would love and protect it until her last breath; all who dared to act against him would feel the wrath of this angry mother. She meekly raised her hands, asking the maid to hand over the small child. The wait had lasted long enough; she wanted her baby back; this was after all HER son.

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The maid thoroughly cleaned the newborn delicately; this was a small creature and had to be cared for responsibly. She dared not slack in such an important task; she was now in complete control of this small life, thus paying attention to details was extremely important. Once the baby was covered in a clean cloth by her, the mother weakly signaled her to hand over her dearest son. She obeyed, handing over the crying infant to his mother, knowing she would be able to calm this scared little creature down.

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"It's ok, baby I'm here, as long as you have me there is nothing to worry about, I love you with all my heart; just ask, and we will move mountains for you. You are the sun, the moon, and love of my life, everything I am, and all I have is yours forever and ever," The mother whispered lovingly.

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HMMMMMMMMMM!

The child slowly calmed down, opened his tiny eyes, looking at the exhausted face of his protective parent; for some reason, he felt incredibly safe.

HMMMMMM

He made a happy sound, showing his contempt and slowly closed his eyes. Enough energy had been spent for one day; some rest was necessary.

Two small bright eyes slowly closed; the child slept comfortably through the night.

Silence fell on the night once again, washing away all signs of this miracle, only the witnesses were the ones who could later give news of this event.

A conversation followed as the father left the room, letting his wife and newborn rest comfortably.

"Kall, you have a healthy boy that's great news for us" A man addressed the father, upon closer inspection one could find similarity between him and Kall, suspecting them to be related.

"Yes, father, I have a healthy boy now, thanks to mighty 'Mah.' I shall kill some livestock for and give to the temple of the moon goddess," Kall responded.

"Good, boy, I have taught you well, later we have to bring a priest to bless your newborn. The labor took a very long time; I am worried both of their energies have been depleted now so after they recover a little it would be more effective" Kall's father added.

"Father I am also concerned about the main branch of the family; will they help him reach his full potential?" Kall asked anxiously.

"Do not worry about that, earlier an elder of the main family asked me if we could recommend some new talents. After all the family is growing but there isn't enough new blood around to form a strong foundation. He was born in the best time possible; he is going to be treated like one of the young masters. With their help and our own resources, he has to succeed to make us proud" the grandfather answered.

The old man told his son to go care for his wife and child, as he himself went back to have some rest; tomorrow they had much to do, a celebration was in order. They had to show an heir was born, carrying their name to continue the legacy and bring honor to the house.

Time passed in a flash, days, months, and years went by; meanwhile, the child grew slowly. He had turned into the pride of his family; the name Gil was accompanied with much enthusiasm. The child of now 12 years had monstrous talent, becoming a pillar for the family very fast, even the main branch had cared deeply for his well being and cultivation. Life went by smoothly for him, after all the McKeen family was very wealthy, as they had strong ties with the Moon goddess Mah's temple. Gil was going to be sent as a temple paladin trainee, which had been a great opportunity and honor for the entire McKeen family.

...

Again, the cruel passage of time struck; minutes, hours, days, months passed, while the boy was hard at training. His speed of learning had the instructors in awe, soon becoming the top pupil under the tutelage of the warrior priests; then he jumped to become commander's student. All of his life had been supported and love, Gil never knew defeat until he was a cadet in the military training, even then they were treated very well. However, against all of the odds, this extremely talented individual was apathetic, sometimes one would be able to see a bloodthirsty flash in his eyes. Similar to a wild animal he was hungry, for flesh and blood; a wolf may change its hide, but nature remains.

This feat showed itself when they were sent on a mission to exterminate a group of heretics, where the beast had been unleashed to shed blood. He could easily locate the traces of foes, attacking them viciously until none survived; throughout his missions, not once had he brought any prisoners back. Thus, after a while, the boy, who had turned into a young man, was called the bloodhound. The accuracy of the name had been so high that it became well known and agreed upon very quickly, yet Gil hated this name. He was a hunter, not a dog, but as a paladin of temple constantly fighting their wars this point was arguable.

One day a decision was made, he needed more room to grow and hunt, so Gil ran away from the temple, towards the border seeking asylum in other countries. He did not mention anything to his own family, so when the temple sent an envoy to ask his whereabouts, the McKeens became very frightened. One of the pillars of the family had vanished overnight. At first, everyone suspected the talented young man to have fallen, yet with the reports of spies a horrifying truth was uncovered, he had become a hunting dog for the neighboring kingdom

...….

"By the end of the month I don't want to see your ugly face anymore, or I will kill you personally Gil"

An officer was yelling these words aloud in the face of her angry audience, who happened to be the bloodhound, Gil. She had always hated the sight of this murdering fanatic of Mah, in her opinion they were all imbecile following the empty promises of their master like mindless slaves. In addition to murky background, he was an outsider, which gained the poor man no love from the hierarchy of the army; why would they approve of a foreigner with unclear motives and shady past?

Gil felt more pressed in the new environment as if he had struggled to save himself from the frying pan only to fall into the fire, making a critical error in his calculations. However, the new circumstances were not unbearable, forcing the man to run away again; Gil simply needed to gain merits, by performing tasks for this kingdom such as killing their enemies. Thinking about the massacres ahead brought a grin to his face, one that gave all the bystanders, including his officer, the creeps. At that point, the man looked more animal than human, which made his impression within his new home, even worse.

From that day onwards, Gil volunteered for more missions, did more killing, all in hopes of improved impression amongst his new superiors. Yet they did not change their behaviors, rather they started to blatantly use the man for more dangerous tasks. Treating him as an expendable pawn in their control; at some point, one of the officers simply used him as a hired tool for some personal matters. This was indeed the heartache of those who betrayed their own kind for profit, often they were treated terribly until their breaking point was reached; once they acted to smooth over their grievances, they would be immediately discarded.

The same case was occurring to Gil the bloodhound, as he was being pushed around on every occasion, with no change in sight. For him there was no light at the end of his tunnel, slowly pushing him towards despair; making him have dark thoughts about going out of control and showing them the history behind his just nickname. However, he knew by doing so he would lose the only layer of protection he had, making him a target for the McKeen family, who would take him out, to show their sincerity to their goddess. This was a cruel world, allies one had could turn into blood enemies within a blink of an eye, it was kill or be killed in the truest of form.

Unfortunately for Gil, he was not a smart man, his advantage lied within his ruthless manner of approaching a problem, giving him a unique edge. Most of his achievements were the by-product of his reputation as an atrocious individual, making others sloppy while running away, which made his job of finding them an easy task. Once defected, his glorious notoriety was tarnished, thus a large part of his ability was lost, so far so that even the weakest of his enemies dared to conspire against the fallen man.

This mistake would have been the end for many, nevertheless, Gil McKeen was a hound baptized in blood; so, he would not take these insults with open arms. He swore in his back heart to inflict the maximum pain to those who wronged him, all who dared to conspire against him, and all of their loved ones!

This was his method of solving the new problems, if the old stories did not scare his foes any more, he would write new ones, this time with more gore!

From that second, another villain was born in the world, he was swift, brutal, strong, and lacked moral; a perfect mix for an assassin.

He started with his female superior; while the normal method to seek vengeance for his hardship would be to frame the poor woman, destroying her career. Even killing her would be an acceptable stretch in such a hectic world. Yet, the crazed Gil did the unthinkable, which in its own right was a perfect crime; since no one would suspect such extreme reaction for small problems.

The bloodhound, stalked his prey for days, familiarizing himself with her normal routine, from the morning when she left her house leaving her daughter with maids and guards, to all of her stops alongside the way. Going into the barracks and coming back home later.

One day, when the officer was not home, he broke into the building, went to the roof, away from the guards, took out a brick from the top and threw it towards the head of the poor child, effectively killing her in one move!

The severity of such crime was to a degree that it was unanimously agreed upon the accidental nature of it!

...….

This was the first of many loved ones he had involved within his childish vendetta, later he poisoned the depressed woman's food since she had her guard down. Then while she was stumbling in the dark allies of capital, two hired goons came in and raped her senseless!

Later the "unfortunate accidents" around the capital had spiked many folds, all handyworks of Gil the bloodhound. He cut the face of his superior's teenage son, blinding the poor chap. Pushed a lover down the stairs, breaking her back, turning the beautiful lady a cripple for life. Many more harsh punishments followed the ones who had used the man, like a curse of bad karma.

After sorting the remainder of his peers, the man started to make some progress within the army, gaining rank and fame. However, this did not mean he had got away with his crimes, rather the investigating team kept a close eye on him, as their number one suspect, since he had a close relationship with all the victims. But, because all those who had been wronged were soldiers with no backing, besides being provided with some simple militia as house protectors, they did not acquire any more accommodations from the kingdom. The investigators did not want to give the king a bad reputation by picking on the foreigner, or later no more foreign talents would think of joining them.

To distance the suspect, without alarming him, they assigned him a mission inside the dungeon in the kingdom close to the holy lands of Mah the moon goddess. As there had been some activities inside, suggesting the infiltration of a group of Mah fanatics, thus making Gil the bloodhound, a perfect candidate for this job, with knowledge about the workings of his previous collaborators and good tracking skills.

Gil thought to himself: "This is a great chance for me, I will get a lot of merits for killing this round of intruders; Bahahaha, I can't wait to see the surprised look on their stupid face as I scalp them. Bringing the skins back will be considered a sign of allegiance, making me an official officer in one swift move. You all should be honored to become my steppingstones, as I climb everything to stand above all. I wanted to kill for merits, this is the perfect job for me!"

He quickly rode his horse towards the location given to him, with a curious heart, since this was the first chance he had in entering the dungeon. He had heard many tall tales of heroes conquering them for fortune and power. getting lost in sweat thoughts of acquiring legendary weapons in his journey, to become the perfect killing machine was pleasant for him.

Lost in thoughts, he did not feel the hardships of the road, and once there, he gave the horse to the proper agents of kingdom in the stables. Then he showed the mission papers to gain entry; all of the process was done so smoothly that he was inside the place a short time after his arrival. What Gil failed to notice was the pale face of all who had the bad luck of taking a glance at him; as he was exuding a shocking desire for slaughter coupled with his uniform, all bystanders learned his identity as kingdom's hunter, making them feel sorry for those poor bastards who were targeted by this hungry predator.

Gil started to walk around the dungeon killing any creature insight, from normal monsters to lone adventurers, in hopes of finding any treasure. While unsuccessful, it helped the deranged man pass time, before arriving at the scene of the crime. He stood there excitedly for a short time and immediately ran towards the deeper layer of the dungeon.

Such a bizarre act confused the new guards and their commander, since they had kept even the bodies intact so that it would give the investigators a better idea, yet the man had smiled freakishly and disappeared into the darkness ahead.

The new commander instructed his daze squadron: "What are you lazy bunch looking at? Get back to your posts before the kings fires your ugly useless asses, also Roy run back and report that the agent arrived and left towards the deeper area. Then ask for workers to come in and carry our fallen comrades outside, they have dies very recently so by the time their bodies are handed over to their families, they should not have any bad smell"

The scared soldiers quickly stood in formation, while the one named Roy sprinted towards the exit.

None of these events concerned Gil as he sped deeper inside; the truth was that he did not know who was behind the small skirmish, and he did not care. All he found from the scene was that the assailants must have had a good reason to neglect the rules of the military, making an enemy of an entire country. This meant there was a strong possibility of fortune!

The bloodhound followed the trail of dead bodies and fought his way to a massive door filled with extravagant carvings, making it feel ancient.

He put his hands on the door and started to push.

........

The story will continue within the main timeline from here on out unless I get specifically asked to open this one up more.