CHPT 121: The Last Bastion

Claude woke up, unmoving with his eyes closed. He expected to be greeted with intense pains as his cuts reopened from him moving on the snow covered ground he collapsed into from exhaustion.

Before he could begin to question if he was still even in the Astral Realm, Arne spoke into his mind.

"[You made some real progress in there. Not many people your age can claim to kill so many Draugr— especially by brutalizing them with mere wooden spears. Fantastic work, truly!]" Arne said in an excited whisper.

"Thanks." Claude said as he sat up massaging his temples in anger from the small portion of his nightmare he remembered.

It wasn't the usual nightmare that ruined his mornings and left his mind raw with pain. Instead, he just remembered himself in the Deviant fighting Dolion with Jack watching in the distance like the creep he was. They were in nothingness. No ground beneath them, no moon or night sky above them, just him and the wild Lupine of Remus facing off in an abyss. The dream was less terrifying and more just....chilling.

He remembered how tired he was, how in pain he was. While Dolion looked like he would've gotten by using one hand and being blindfolded. The dream made him incredibly paranoid and the eventful night in the Astral Realm suddenly felt like nothing.

"Arne?" He suddenly said.

"[What is it?]"

"Who leads the Lupines of Remus? Who's the strongest?" He asked as he positioned himself on his bed to face the open window and look out at the dark early morning sky.

"[What year is it again?]" he asked.

"2240."

"[I believe Remus is still alive....which would also mean he's by far the strongest since he's the very Progenitor of the Lupines of Remus and spiteful brother of our Progenitor, Romulus.]" Arne replied.

"Tell me about him." Claude said while he watched the cool October winds move the grass below silently.

"[Violent. Brazen. Wild. Arrogant. Emotional. He was very much unlike our own Progenitor, Romulus from what I'm told. One of the scariest stories I've heard that's a testament to his power was told by my mentor when I was around your age. To grow his numbers to the frightening degree they were at the height of his dominance, he traveled the world, defeating some of the strongest fighters he could find. It didn't matter if you were good, evil or anything in between. Once he bit you, you had no choice but to succumb to the change and follow him...forever transformed until you weren't much different from a super powered attack dog...]" Arne said, sounding both enraged and incredibly sad— like he was connected to the subject.

"Forever transformed...." Claude whispered as he tried to imagine the fact.

"[He only let the strongest of his ranks change back to their human forms to live among humans as spies, scouting out future members and enemies. His cult like following and immense power led people to giving him a similar name wherever he went.]" Arne added.

"What was it?" Claude asked, now immersed in the Lupine history lesson.

"[The Second coming of Satan.]"

Claude looked up at the cloudless night sky, scratching his chin in thought. "If he was able to gain this much power and influence, why are their no books? No stray Lupines of Remus? He sounds like he could've brought about a second apocalypse. What happened?"

"[He was smart. Despite his self sabotaging traits he was able to control everything from the shadows and only revealed himself when his opponent was hurt in numbers, money or power. He knew how to find strong people at their worst and bring them up being forever indebted to him— he had a knack for it.]" Arne snarled the last bit of his sentence, once again sounding deeply connected to the topic.

He continued. "[Erhm. As for the strays? There's no record of anyone crossing him which is one of the reasons the public is unaware of our existence. Now, for the second apocalypse he could've started. To summarize; there was a battle that rumbled across New Gloria— right under everyone's noses. The Lupines of Romulus were searching for a magical artifact in the Great Basin Desert when they were ambushed by Remus and his men— he never attacked them so openly and it caught them by surprise. Some of Romulus' men didn't even know what Remus looked like....]" Arne said before stopping, seeming to be sorting his own thoughts.

"[...Bodies dropped everywhere, the sand was painted red. The battle concluded with Remus tearing out Romulus' heart. That was officially when the Lupines of Romulus lost. From what I've heard, Remus was so riddled with pain and guilt from murdering his own brother that he became a shut in. Closed all plans of changing the world in his image and turning the planet wild. I think for now, new Alphas have stepped up and are simply lying in wait for Remus to rise again.]" He finished ominously.

"Wait.....you all fought in the middle of the largest Desert in all of New Gloria? How did you survive? I read that the desert is full of wild ambient magic and attracts powerful Monsters from the Tangents." Claude asked.

"[Well. I was told that when Remus killed Romulus and dropped his— still beating, heart into the sand, it sunk into the earth and changed the terrain drastically. His heart was so charged with powerful magic that it became a beacon that drew basically everything to it. None of the Lupines were able to find it after either..]"

"Wait....it's like that because of magic that was in Romulus' heart??" Claude asked, stunned.

"[Mhm.]"

Claude sat in silence for a few long moments. He simply tried to imagine the vast and incredibly dangerous world he was thrust into unknowingly. In his mind the brothers sounded like Gods. The thought made him realize something he didn't consider before.

"Arne.."

"[Hm?]"

"I'm the only one that knows about what Remus plans to do who isn't in support of him, aren't I?" He asked shakily.

"[Well— yes.]"

"..."