CHPT 37: Mantra

Claude roamed, explored and hunted within the Forest of the Chosen for what felt like weeks. He slowly found himself forgetting about the tragedy and betrayal he was faced with in the real world.

After every successful hunt he took his pack on, he felt their chemistry — their understanding of eachother increase exponentially.

During his time in the forest, he began perfecting his hunting skills to an impressive degree. Sometime along the way he made a weapon— a spear. As he thought, he loved everything about the weapon and even passed time after eating by practicing with it for hours, while Ashe and the rest of the pack watched with interest.

Another development that was made during his time in the forest was his forearm. The short and thick black hairs that lightly covered his arm increased in length and density. His skin also became darker and harder— leathery almost. The muscles in that forearm increased in size and strength and sharp black nails sprouted from his fingers that stayed even when he wasn't using "(Beast Trait)". He'd sometimes look at it and think about how it somewhat looked like Jack's arm causing him to lightly panic.

His dark and hairy forearm now stood out like a sore thumb on his bronze colored hairless body, but it also functioned as a weapon, just as much as his spear.

After giving a name to the she-wolf that was probably alpha before him, he named the rest in time.

He was now tracking a buck with the rest of his pack— learning to look with his nose just as much as he did with his eyes. He followed the earthy scent of the buck for a few miles, it continued to get stronger as they closed the distance between eachother.

The scent led them to a hill up the forest where the smell seemed strongest. Claude tightened the grip on his spear as he looked up the tree covered hill and saw a buck standing majestically, looking over the forest like a king looked over their castle.

Claude lifted his spear and inhaled deeply while he took his time to aim at the creature.

Upon exhaling, he launched the spear up the hill and towards the buck with incredible speed.

WOOSH!

CRCK!

The spear sailed through the air and towards the buck. But, the accuracy was off and the spear brushed against its antlers, startling the creature and sending it running off and out of their sight.

"Shit!" He said as he ran up the hill in pursuit of the buck with the rest of the wolves.

The pack scaled the hill with impressive speed and were now a dozen or so feet behind the buck. His left forearm began to tingle and itch as he got closer to his kill.

He jumped onto the back of it and sunk his clawed left hand into its shoulder muscle to slow it down.

The buck began to go wild as it jumped and swung its body around in all directions. Claude would've been fine but this buck had abnormally large and wide antlers, the end of its left antler hooked under his arm and ripped it out of its shoulder. Now that he had no grip, the buck sent Claude flying off its back.

He sailed through the air clumsily and smashed his head on a rock that jutted from the ground.

Smack!

He lay against the rock while his blood stained the pale stony surface crimson. Despite being dazed he had a much needed moment of clarity causing him to remember something he shouldn't have forgotten.

"Your a hero, not a hunter."

Claude started to feel his chest tightening and his throat closing up once he heard his fathers voice.

The sentence played in repeat in his mind, slowly becoming a powerful mantra that made him reflect on the way he was currently living.

"Even though the statement wasn't meant for this scenario, it still fits. I'm not a hunter, and I'm not living like an animal, I'm living like a monster who hunts for reasons other than survival....pathetic." He thought as he slowly started to recover.

He heard snarls and barks from the wolves once he came back into focus. He looked towards the sound and saw the wolves standing off against the buck, the anger in their eyes and posture was more than visible. Claude got up as if he was never hurt and called them back, realizing his hunt was unnecessary.

"This hunt is over, we've eaten more than enough." Claude said causing the wolves to back away immediately. The buck stood its ground and flared its nostrils angrily as blood dripped from its shoulder wound.

"I'm a fucking Beast Tamer, and here I am hurting a beautiful beast such as this...on a full stomach. I'm so sorry." He said under his breath, he tried to think of how to ease the creatures anger so it would no longer think it was in danger. After a few more tense seconds he got an idea.

The Phantom Wolves watched him with confusion as he dropped to one knee and placed his left forearm, fist first in the dirt. His head hung low and motionless like he was bowing.

Ashe soon understood what he was trying to do and copied him, she quickly snarled a command to the other wolves causing them to copy their alpha.

The buck started to calm down little by little until it eventually started walking towards them. Claude listened and waited patiently hearing its hooves crunch through the leaves on the grass. The wolves started to growl silently as the buck inched closer until it was right in front of Claude.

He stayed as still as possible and tried his best to ignore the urge he had to attack the buck. He suddenly felt hot breath hitting his head and neck.

The buck continued to smell him until it seemed completely calm, then it snorted quietly and bounded off and out of their view.

DING!

[Quest Complete!: You have lived with and like your animal affinity for enough time to further increase your understanding of them.]

[Rewards!: You have been rewarded +100 EXP and +1 Level to your Beast Tamer skills. You can see what level increases do to your skills at a later time.]

DING!

[Level up! You are now Level 4]

"How fitting." Claude said while getting up from his position on the ground.

***

He now walked through the forest with the wolves, he felt like a weight was off his chest but he was deeply saddened that he couldn't remember his fathers wise words before he went on and pursued his gluttonous desires.

He began to feel the urge to make a new spear and train, so he decided to ask the wolves and see what they thought about it.

"So, how ab—"

FWOOM!

Before he could complete his sentence, he was hit by a pair of thick black horns that were completely engulfed in flames.