CHPT 113: Mystery

After sparring with Chase for half an hour, Prof. Raizen called for paired sparring to end and called everyone off the field for Mob to start with all new students since Claude and Samuel were banned from participating until further notice— the students tried to hide their relief, but he could almost feel how happy they were that the two Lupines wouldn't be playing.

He sat with Warren, Isaac and Ursula for the remainder of class thinking about how he could raise his strength as much as possible before the full moon. He played around with a few ideas but most of them were either too risky, or too little of a reward. By the time class ended and he jogged with Frosty back to Predator's Forest, his head hurt from overthinking and lack of sleep.

After entering the University and settling in at the Mess Hall, he was reminded of a guaranteed way he could get stronger by Warren and Ursula as they discussed how tired they were from Training.

The second the idea entered his thoughts, he scarfed down his dinner, told his friends where he'd be and rushed out to the library.

He urgently jogged up flight after flight of stairs and headed down multiple hallways until he was pushing his way through two large doors with the Library's signature bright orange lettering above it.

There were almost no first years he recognized in the portion of the room he could see aside from Conner who sat comfortably at a table to the left of him by a large window, letting the dark starry night leak into the calmly lit room filled with books and artwork.

He looked up at the depiction of the Hero, Gloria, on the ceiling once before heading to the front desk.

"Hello. I was wondering if you had any books on Gods and the Astral Realm." He asked the attractive pure whitehaired librarian.

"You and your requests....there's a few shelves to your right, behind me that's titled "Gods and Deities." You'll probably find information on both in that shelf." She said before continuing to read her almost impossibly large book.

"[Im sorry I'm not much support in this subject. Since I was never chosen by a God I never had any interests.]" Arne said.

"It's fine. Hopefully by the end of today we'll both know more than enough." Claude replied as he began searching for the right grouping of bookshelves.

During his walk towards the desired shelves, a scent he smelled most of the day came stronger in his nose until it was right in front of him. He stopped in preparation for what he assumed was an upcoming confrontation.

The student stepped out looking like the living embodiment of anxiety and uneasy nerves. He somehow looked worse than Claude did which was saying something. His wild blond hair was slicked to his head with sweat while tiny beads of it glistened and slid down his cheeks and neck, his bottom lip trembled lightly and bags hung under his eyes. He clutched 3 or more books to his chest tightly.

"The fuck are you looking at you barbarian?" Tai spat angrily.

"What do you think, dumbass?" Claude replied with a growl beginning to coat his voice and raise the hairs on the backs of nearby students necks.

The two Lupines stared at each other, silently snarling and unmoving until a voice behind them grabbed their attention.

"Hello Detective. Are you here in search of a book or do you need to speak to me?" The Librarian asked from the front of the Library.

"Oh nothing like that. I'm just here to browse." The silky feminine voice said before footsteps headed deeper inside.

Claude was suddenly able to smell the electrifying scent of fear— diluted and ruined by the mixed scent of nearby Lupines of Remus.

"You and that smelly mutt better stay the hell away from me, you filthy animal." Tai snarled before rushing past him, sending the scent of fear crashing into his face. Before he completely passed him, Claude was able to see the spine of one of the books he carried. It was partially covered by his arm, but he was able to make out one word. It read; WereWolves. The rest of the title was covered by his arm.

"[Hm. He seems to be afraid of the Detective as well because he's becoming suspicious of what he is.]" Arne noticed.

"Or Detective Cyrene is telling him Samuel's different. Splitting them apart." Claude replied.

"[That dangerous..]"

He suddenly heard Det. Cyrene's venomous voice again near the area Tai was heading towards.

"Ah! Tai, just the handsome twin I was looking for. Walk with me." Her voice took on a deadly undertone as she said the last part. Not soon after, a pair of footsteps were heading out of the Library.

"Oh thank god. She wasn't here for me." Claude thought before turning and continuing to look for his bookshelves.

After a few more minutes of searching the Library full of tall bookshelves, he found a group of them with title he was searching for. The books were grouped up and color coordinated with words beneath their individual shelf. Some looked like they hadn't been touched by students in years.

A group of green books had the writing "Celtic Mythology" beneath it in bold letters. The next few shelves above it were covered with purple books with the labeling; "Hindu Mythology.". After passing a few more colors, he found part of what he was looking for.

"Here we go." He said after stepping deeper inside the row of shelves and finding a grouping of dark blue books with the labeling; "Norse Mythology." He grabbed a book titled, "Fenrir, Father of the Wolves." And quickly left the shelves.

He searched around for books on the Astral Realm and was only able to find one that looked like it had what he was searching for.

After finding a seat in the back corner of the Library where no students were, he immediately started reading up on the God that chose to share its power with him.

"Fenrir, also called Fenris, Vanagandr and Fenrisulfr is the monstrous God of Wolves. Fenrir is one of the three children of Loki— The God of Mischief, and Angrboda— Jotunn Mother of Monsters..."

Claude stopped reading and looked up with an angered expression on his face.

"I don't know what the hell I just read..." he said before quickly getting up and grabbing a few more books on basic Norse Mythology.

After returning to his seat, he read up on the terms he didn't know.

"Jotunn, or the Jotnar is/are an entity or member of a race of nature spirits with superhuman strength in opposition with the Aesir."

"The Aesir are the Gods of the principle pantheon in Norse Mythology."

"So are the Jotnar like...the bad guys?" He thought. "Wait. If Fenrir is the child of Angrboda—- who is Jotunn and Loki who isn't morally good.....does that mean Fenrir is bad as well?" He thought.

"[Only one way to find out.]" Arne said before Claude agreed and fished through the pile of books on his table to continue reading up on Fenrir.

"...Fenrir was raised by the Aesir Gods out of fear of losing control of him and causing him to wreak havoc on the Nine Worlds. As a child he grew at astonishingly fast rate and displayed incredible levels of strength. The Gods eventually feared his power and capacity for chaos, this left them with the idea to chain him up and contain his power."

"[The skill he gave you, (Unbound), makes a lot more sense now.]" Arne pointed out.

"Hmm. Your right. I wonder if I'll get a chance at more abilities in relation to his past struggles." He thought before continuing to read."

"...After two failed attempts to restrain him under the guise of it being a game, The Aesir Gods had the Dwarves create an incredibly powerful chain that was able to hold Fenrir, but not before he was able to take the hand of the God Tyr. After being bound by the Gods, Fenrir was tied to a large boulder and his jaws were forced open by a large sword. It is said that as he snarled and howled madly, a foamy bubbling river called "Expectation" drooled from his damaged maw."

"These Aesir Gods sound like assholes." Claude noted.

"[They made him out to be a monster from the beginning.]" Arne added.

Claude continued reading— now worried of what he'd find next.

".....The name of the river that flowed from his jaws oddly enough fits and puts him under suspicion of being a Dark God since this was not the end of Fenrir— from a mythological standpoint. It is said that at Ragnarok, he will burst from his chains and have grown to such an impossibly large size that he'll run with his lower jaw ripping through the earth and his upper jaw breaching the clouds— devouring everything in his path. This information is meant to be taken lightly but also beware of what could be true. One thing that is true is that he's free and sharing his power with whoever he chooses. That begs the question, has Ragnarok already happened in some other world.....or is it upon us all now?"

"[Thats incredibly...ominous.]" Arne said.

Claude closed the book sat still, incredibly deep in thought.

"The Aesir Gods made him what he is from the beginning. Once he was set free he wanted revenge- I get that. But why would a God who may want to end the world, chose to share his power with someone who wants to save it?"