CHPT 48: Memories of a Monster

"RAGHH....FUCK!"

Claude woke up from his newly developed night terror, slashing at absolutely nothing and sweating bullets. He looked up at the dark early morning sky until he was interrupted by a familiar smell.

"Blood."

The smell sent his memories of what happened a few hours ago flooding back to him like a tidal wave. He brought his clawed hands up to his mouth and touched his face, he felt the dried blood clumping around his mouth— what truly horrified him was the way it increased his heart rate and made him incredibly hungry.

He got up and began to head for the pond a few miles ahead in the forest when he tripped.

"Ugh!"

He looked down and saw a pile of clean and shiny white bones. He reached for them cautiously— once his fingers touched their smooth surface he was hit with a shocking memory.

An animal. That's all that could describe what he saw as he watched himself ravenously tear and rip at the deer— consuming everything like a starved monster. Claude snapped out of the memory and gagged while heading to the pond.

In his angered walk toward the pond, Frosty found his way beside Claude and looked at him with concern, noticing his horrified expression.

Despite Claudes mood, he couldn't help but appreciate the forest. With his new enhanced vision everything was vibrant shades of all the colors on the spectrum.. it seemed to be brimming with life and activity.

***

He stood in the pond aggressively washing the smell off himself, he panicked after a while, noticing he still smelled it as clear as day. His heart rate picked up with his steadily increased anger and panic.

Splash!

He slammed his hands into the cool water, scrubbing underneath his nails and in between his fingers. He brought them up expecting them to be clean, instead his claws returned along with his thick black forearm hair. The water stilled and he met his own frightened, glowing green eyes.

"GOD DAMMIT!"

He yelled into his hands angrily.

"[Claude, you have to come to terms with what you are now. If you don't, life will be much more difficult— you'll have more trouble if you try to force yourself to be something your not.]" Arne said softly in an attempt to help Claude understand that just because he wasn't human, didn't mean he was a monster.

But, Claude had trouble seeing the Lupines as anything else. Despite his willingness to accept this, he couldn't help but think about his father....Dolion....Jack.

As he thought of the faces that belonged to those names he remembered that what he'd become could help him in killing them. The thought triggered an important memory.

"If I have to become a monster to avenge my father, then so be it."

He remembered himself saying the words and felt ashamed that he could ever forget them.

"As traumatic as it is. This is part of being what I am, I don't have to like it, but I have to deal with it....somehow." He said to himself as he slowly began to calm down.

Just like that, his fear and disgust was overcome with determination— the intense need to exact revenge.

***

He used the faces of his tormentors as motivation during his daily required exercise and came to realize he was even stronger. Now using 80lbs of added weight as he performed impressive calisthenics movements and exercises.

The sun now hung high in the cloudless sky and the air smelled like wood and vegetation. He headed to the front of the cabin and grabbed his backpack and shortsword— for some reason, he felt like bringing the twin short spears was a bad idea. He turned around facing the forest circle and saw Frosty sitting down and breathing hard as his tongue hung out of his powerful jaws.

"Hey buddy, I'm gone for a week again. But don't worry, something tells me I won't have to keep leaving you." Claude said as he brought his head against Frosty's.

Frosty licked his face before turning and running off into the forest. "At least he likes it here." Claude thought while heading out to wait for the carriage.

He emerged from the forest circle feeling a bit more relaxed than he did when he woke up. He rolled his shoulders and scratched his upper leg as he waited for the carri— "upper leg?" He quickly looked down at his legs wondering how he was scratching his upper leg.

"I'm fucking naked??!"

"[It appears that you forgot to put your clothes back on after working out.]" Arne said flatly.

"Yea thanks for pointing that out genius!" Claude said as he bashfully ran back into the forest to retrieve his clothes.

***

Claude shifted his shirt nervously while he waited for the carriage.

"Arne, will Samuel and Tai attack me on sight at all times now or what?"

"[No, they are connected to Dolion. He sort of controls them...not at all times, but he can influence them.]"

"Wait! What's stopping him from realizing I'm not like them?"

"[He's not linked to you, so he most likely thinks your dead. But, if the twins survive their first full transformation, Dolion will officially make them members of his pack and meet them in person. If that happens then they'll tell him your indeed alive, and different...changed like them.]" Arne replied.

"Full transformation? Like Jack?" Claude asked with a shiver.

"[Yes, as I've said before, one of the reasons your bodies have changed is so they're strong enough to handle the transformation or shift. Not everyone survives, or they force it before they're ready and end up dying painfully.]"

Claude suddenly remembered Samuel and Tai groaning in pain and becoming those hideous monsters outside the University on that night. He could only guess that manhandling the transformation and succumbing to your rage made you turn into that monstrous deformity.

His head snapped in the direction down the road and he saw two beautiful black stallions pulling the carriage that would take him into the city of SkyHaven.

"Whew....let's do this."

***

He stepped out of the carriage, now at the entrance of the SkyLight guildhall.

The city was a lot louder during the day now that he had better hearing. It seemed to have a steady ambience of idle chatter, metallic clanging and laughter. He could only think one thing as he entered the fairly crowded guildhall and headed down the long hallway that led to the portal.

"I hate cities."

VWOMMP!

He stepped through the portal and entered the portal room of the University of the Phoenix. He slowly remembered running up the stone steps in a rush to leave this place two days ago.

Calmly he headed out of the room, slowly falling back into the rhythm of life at the University.

"Uh!"

He stopped dead in his tracks as he started to understand he was hearing something, someone breathing. They were smooth and relaxed breaths— like the person had been inactive for a while. "Waiting." Claude thought immediately. He raised his nose into the air and let it tell him what was waiting for him outside of the portal room.

"Shit. Nothing." Claude thought after sniffing the air and realizing he didn't smell much other than slight sweat and soap— a masculine scent, leading Claude to believe, a man was waiting for him, probably someone from the Detection Corps.

He started to walk again, slowly getting more anxious as the fear of the unknown at away at him.

Claude stepped out of the portal room and saw who was waiting for him. They leaned against the wall with a relaxed expression.

"WHA-!"

Claude screamed internally. He was stunned by the poised and professional looking woman that stood in front of him, her smile barely made itself visible at the corners of her mouth as if she was expecting Claude to be surprised.

"[She's dealt with races similar to ours before, Claude. She made you think she was a man with her smell to startle you and prove that your senses are inhuman!]" Arne said, sounding rattled for the first time.

"Dammit! She must've heard me stop and sniff the air." Claude thought.

The woman pushed herself off the wall and gave Claude a chaotic smile saying. "Hello, you must be Claude. I'm Det. Cyrene."

She calmly offered her hand. Her nails had shining silver claws attached to them.