CHPT 140: Two sides of the same Coin.

The smells came first.

Wet rocks, mud, metals, greed and death. The final scent being the most prominent and worrisome.

Next came the pains.

His skin felt raw, like he was just scalded by steaming water for hours and dried off with sandpaper. His jaw ached and pulsed in a similar fashion to a migraine, while his muscles stayed in a constant state of intense burning.

"[Claude?...Claude! You have to get up and get out quickly, I'm not sure how much time you have left in here!]" Arne's voice faded into his mind, urgent and rushed.

Slowly, he started to form coherent thoughts and begin to remember what happened before he fell asleep.

The smell of death immediately caused a string of gruesome and unsettling ideas to fire off in his mind as he opened his eyes in fear.

"AH! What the fu— Goblin?!" He yelled in confusion as he came face to face with the green skinned, yellow eyed head that lay next to him.

He sat up, ignoring the plethora of pains that fired off within him in response as he surveyed his surroundings.

He was in a cave, a wet and dark cave partially lit by the sun rays that broke through the entrance. The floor and walls were splattered with blood and pink entrails that stuck to the wall like bloody spaghetti noodles, while eyeballs and brutalized green limbs rolled along the uneven wet ground.

"[Claude....your alright. None of them were people. Just Goblins.]"

He suddenly remembered to breathe after hearing Arne's words. "Whew thank god. So what happened, did I stumble into a forest filled with Goblins? How far away from the University am I?" He asked as he peered out of the cave exit.

"[You don't remember?]" Arne asked.

"Remember what?"

"[I could've sworn there were random moments where you were back in control— only for the briefest of moments. But just enough to steer you into different directions. I thought you were in control when you went inside this Tangent....but it would make sense if you weren't.]" Arne replied.

"..." Claude was baffled. The only things he remembered was fighting the twins and Det. Cyrene in the forest. The memory reminded him that they were gone. Back with Dolion and Jack.

"Dammit!"

"[Ive never seen a Lupine with so much control on their first Full Moon.....and to fight so hard to get it back so many times...oh! I'm getting distracted, we have to leave, now!]" Arne said, raising his voice towards the end.

"Right." Claude replied before slowly rising to his feet.

The cold wet rocks felt good on his burning skin and made him want nothing else than to be asleep on them again. He ignored the soothing thought and limped out of the cave.

The forest that greeted him was illuminated by the sun— which highlighted the remains of the massacre that took place inside it. It looked similar to the inside of the cave— only worse.

More limbs, more blood and now deep claw markings on the trees. After passing a few, he noticed wet spots at their bases that smoked and fizzled with magic against the bark.

Before he could question what it was, his system notification went off in his mind.

DING!

[Your body and mind have taken the final step in becoming a Lupine.]

[Racial Skill Unlocked: (Bite)]

[Racial Skill Unlocked: (Territory Marking)]

[Racial Skill Unlocked: (Innate Body Language Understanding)]

"[Before you went to sleep, you marked this whole forest as your territory. It's instinct and makes any area in the wild a safe space for you to sleep.]" Arne informed him.

"Great....Magic piss." Claude replied before walking through the forest with his eyes on the floor to avoid looking at the graphic state of the area.

After walking for a few minutes through the forest, more and more pieces of his memory during the Full Moon came rushing back to him.

"Det. Cyrene....who took her?" He mumbled to himself.

"[Ive been wondering that myself. At first I thought Tai was taking her, but why would he do that? Would he even have enough control to stop himself from eating her?]"

Claude hopped over a fallen tree that a Goblin was crudely wrapped around with a branch sticking through its back as he listened to Arne fire off the same questions he was having, "You don't think....."

"[Hell no. Why would Tai take her to Dolion? To kill her? Changer her? If she became a Lupine she'd probably off herself before she lived like them.]" Arne explained, already knowing what Claude was thinking.

"So that means, she was killed by them....or someone else was in the forest with us." As he approached the Tangent exit.

"[I hate to say it but yes. Plus Tai couldn't be taking her, there would be no point.]"

"Why not?"

"[Lupines of Remus don't allow The Malformed in their packs. He's a rogue now if he's alive.]"

Claude suddenly felt uneasy at Arne's words. "The Malformed?"

"[Lupines that can't fully transform tend to die. But some become a misshapen mess with disfigured limbs and such. They're called The Malformed and they tend to end up like that because they're not meant to be Lupines due to a physical or mental weakness. They can become very dangerous since their brains are as wrong as their bodies.]"

"So we got one Lupine of Remus who's backed by two incredibly powerful Lupines and another who's a misshapen rogue that's roaming the earth freely.."

"[Yes that's right.]"

"Fuck." Claude whispered before exiting the Tangent with a whole new issue to be anxious about.

VWOOMP

As soon as he exited the Tangent and stepped into the real world, the blue portal popped out of existence, leaving him standing in a field under the recently risen sun with the Full Moon still partially visible in the unevenly lit sky.

A shiver rattled his body as he remembered how the Moon looked to him when he transformed. It was terrifyingly beautiful.

"I really survived...." he said before taking in a deep breath of the cool early morning air.

"[Now, it's time for you to get back to the University— preferably unseen. Luckily time in the Tangents work differently and allowed you to sleep off the transformation without cutting into your studies. That would've been— difficult to explain with your current state and attire.]"

"True." Claude replied as he looked down at himself.

His feet were dirty and he could feel the small cuts on the bottoms of them. His pants were blown open and in tatters all the way up his thigh— revealing his legs completely whenever the wind blew. He wore nothing else since it was all too restricting and ripped to shreds when he transformed.

This only left him in pants, leaving his upper body exposed to the elements. Revealing the dozens of scabbed over cuts and large bite wounds that covered him. A gruesome and unsettling memory was assigned to most of them— but others left him clueless. He didn't remember getting them all.

"Did the Goblins cut me up that bad?" He murmured.

"[Not entirely. Some of those you did to yourself.]"

Claude stood in silence for a moment. "You're saying, I was attacking myself?"

"[Claude, you weren't as gone mentally as you think. Just some parts of you were suppressed— while others were emboldened by the Moon. So, I think you not wanting to be a monster was heightened when you transformed— that's actually quite a dangerous mix.]"

Claude thought over what Arne was saying as he started to head back the way he came— somehow knowing but not remembering.

"Can you explain that more? I was under the impression that the Moon affected us all the same way. I thought Lupines, Werewolves, natural predators and other Shape-Changers all went mad." Claude said.

"[Well for the most part we do. Lupines of Remus and Werewolves are more towards the side of losing complete control though. We retain more of our minds and who we are during Full Moons— but we're also still affected by its Magic. The only difference between us and them is that we keep our most important values and urges. It's what keeps you as....well, you— to a certain degree. After a few more Full Moons— you'll transform, but be in much better control.]"

"So, as long as I keep in mind what's important to me....what? I won't kill people? That sounds like some fairytale shit."

"[No. That's what I'm here for— to remind and guide you. Also, it doesn't stop you from killing people. It dictates how you act and where your focused lie. Remember you're still you when you transform so there's certain things you'll be motivated to do.]"

"What does that mean??" Claude asked, finding himself more and more confused the longer Arne spoke.

"[Ok here's a common example. Dominant Male and Female Lupines that end up becoming Alpha's act a certain way on their first Full Moons.]"

"....."

"[They tend to have core values that involve becoming the strongest. So, they search for the most dangerous predator in the area and kill it. Or they attack their Alpha's to try and take their position. Once in a while there would be Lupines who had the urge to protect as well but that's a rare one.]" Arne explained.

"Hm. I think I get it. It's like you're broken down to the simplest or most basic version of who you are— combined with violent animalistic urges?"

"[For the most part, yes.]"

"So. I'm assuming mine is being a Hero?" He asked as he entered another patch of forest.

"[No.]" Arne responded, sounding almost uncomfortable. "[Your strongest core value is doing what you think is right. I'm assuming that's why you went inside the first Tangent you could find.]"

"Isn't that the same thing?" Claude replied.

"[I guess it is. Heh.]" Arne said, neglecting to point out that with a value like that, he could become whatever the world pushed him in the direction of— or whatever his mind was molded into.

People with values like that had the capacity to become saviors, or the worlds worst nightmare— and Arne knew that. It also made him wonder. How many more times did he need to be shown that Heroes were flawed. That humans were flawed. How much could he take before he directed his hate towards them? How much pushing and prodding would it take for him to switch sides on the coin of morality and become something vicious and evil in the eyes of man?

The thought of it made Arne uneasy and brought to light how much more important his job had become.

"[Erhm. Anyway, that's enough information for now. I don't want to overfill your brain with such important things in one sitting. Plus you've got enough to think about. We'll talk more tonight, for now you need to hurry up and get to the University before the students wake up.]"

Claude nodded in understanding before breaking in to a light jog towards the University as the sun rose behind him.