CHPT 202: Trials, of Magic and Torture

"[It appears the disheveled WereWolf is calling your bluff, Claude.]" Arne said in reference to the Monster in human skin refusing to come out of the base.

"Looks like." The Lupine replied while he rolled his shoulders and headed for the base, "Fine by me."

Frosty and the other creatures of the night followed cautiously in his wake.

With every inch made towards the towering base built around a thick tree, the scent of fear and pain grew. Followed by yelps, snarls and more blood that caused him to freeze for a moment.

He clicked back to the animals at his back and motioned for them to circle around back.

Now alone, he edged closer— straining his ears to listen to the breaths of many Raiders and two others who stuck out to him like glaciers in a desert. They smelled of Wolf and an odd earthy Magic that smelled like the sky, water and madness. He couldn't explain it but the scent was familiar, it attracted him.

"[Stay on your guard. He's not going without a fight.]" Arne warned.

Claude silently understood, now under the even darker shadowy expanse of the over reaching base and voluminous spread of leaves from the tree that burst from the top of the base. The tarp sheet that resembled a door was only feet away, the fear of the Raiders— of Rikah, close enough to taste.

"Your time will come." He growled before drawing his sword and pushing the tarp aside with it— meaning to keep a safe distance from any surprise attacks the WereWolf might have.

Nothing.

The room inside was spacious, wooden floors and benches lined the skinned walls to the right of him were partially crafted weapons and blueprints laid loosely. Further inside, he could see the tree at the heart of the room. Fronted by the Raiders, caught and restrained.

For a moment, he lost sight of the current objective. But only a moment as the WereWolf emerged from behind the tree being led by something covered in a black sheet and chain.

"You've been underestimating me this whole night, boy! You have no idea what you've even encountered here….allow me to show you the earliest advancements of my research!" The WereWolf spat through a partially transformed face before kicking the cloaked thing towards him.

Whatever was under the cloak came barreling through the door as Claude backpedaled cautiously.

Frosty, the Phantom Legion and the Glorian Lion were back in the front, snapping at the tumbling mess of chains and black sheets in an instant.

Their teeth ripped and tore at the cloaked thing, helping it free itself as they tried to rip into it while the Phantom Legion loomed at the back, waiting to deliver a killing blow to whatever revealed itself.

Beneath the rips and tears, Claude could see something begin to glow with life.

"Get back!" He roared, causing them all to disperse just as a gangly fur covered arm ripped through the sheet.

It wasn't normal Gnoll arm— in fact, he quickly learned it wasn't a normal Gnoll in any sense.

With preternatural quickness, the creature ripped apart the cloak, allowing its head and upper body to rip through and face the cold night winds while the chain stayed loosely across its chest like a metal sash.

It was unnaturally small for a Gnoll at only around 6ft. He assumed it was due to its canine parent being something anywhere between some sort of Coyote or Jackal. It was a nightmare.

With a slim snout and giant crinkled ears pinned flat against its head, it snarled aimlessly and sniffed at the sky like it's never been outside. He wouldn't be surprised if it never had, whatever the WereWolf did to the monster required time and meticulous attention to detail. It was sick.

All along it's brown and black furred body, runes and markings were carved deep past the fur and into the dark pink flesh of the creature. Whatever inscribed the markings was no knife, leaving the scars thick and unmistakable on its patchy fur— like it's body was having an allergic reaction to them. For a moment he questioned if they were actually runes when he suddenly noticed they were beginning to glow brighter.

The scents of earth, sky, water, madness and Magic grew with the heightened luminescence of the markings until a full bluish white glow accompanied the once red bloody markings.

The eyes of the monster matched the color of the runes as they lowered from the Moon above to settle on Claude for the first time.

It shook lightly and twitched psychotically while steam escaped from its jaws.

Claude took a step back— immediately realizing Gnoll's don't steam out of their mouths like dragons.

"[Oh…..shit…]" Arne suddenly said, bringing words to both of their feelings of disbelief as the Monster let out a noise partway between a whine and a snarl.

The black strip of hair down it's back rose with agitation, following what Claude could only describe as a growth in Magic around him.

"RAGHSHS!" The Monster snarled, ripping and pulling at the chains while steam still drooled from its mouth.

The internal struggle lasted only a second before it grabbed ahold of the chain and held it below its mouth to let out a burping blast of red and light blue fire.

The portion of burnt chain fell into the grass as a steaming silver liquid, followed by the chain and cloak around the monster being completely removed from its body— revealing more glowing runes.

"Ok….what the hell is this?" Claude asked while he held his sword to the creature that continued coughing tufts of odd blue and red flames. It wasn't in any sort of control— a slave to its runes.

Before he could answer, the creature jumped at him, spewing its odd rendition of fire like a furry malnourished dragon.

Woo!

He dodged, leaving the creature to slam into the ground and burn the patch of grass below. The animals and creatures of the night moved to descend on the attacker.

"NO!" Claude yelled to them, quickly realizing that it would burn down this whole area if they fought. In the forest he'd have more weapons, and no chance of accidentally letting the thing burn down the base. Plus, he had no idea how dangerous this altered monster was.

"Come on!" Claude ordered before heading towards the forest.

The Monstrous rune riddled Jackal followed after them moving in an odd gait while it continued to spit fire in unhealthy coughs.

"Arne….speak!" Claude said while they all ducked and dodged through the woodlands, slowly being illuminated by blue and red flames.

"[Ye— Yes, forgive me.]" Arne snapped out of his thoughts.

"What can you tell me before fighting this thing?" Claude questioned mid run.

"[Well. I've seen this work before, just not to this degree— or on Monsters….]" Arne paused before continuing. "[What do you know of MAE Trials? In my time they were merely a loosely practiced theory with a few documented experiments— but it seems the ideas they produced have come to fruition since my death.]"

Claude scrambled through his memory while he focused on surviving and keeping his pack alive. Despite its lackluster size and obvious poor health, the creatures runes and Arne's shaken tone made him cautious.

As he went through his mind, he kept thinking of how the acronym sounded familiar, but nothing he'd spoken about recently. He spent another few seconds racking his brain until his memories worked in his favor.

"Oh yea! Magical Animalian Empowerment Trials. I remember my Father telling me some bills passed by the Grand Magister of the Angelos District. I don't know much else….but if you do, spi—" He was cut off as a fireball flew past him.

"Time is of the essence, Arne!" Claude panicked.

"[Right. MAE Trials were used to make Beast Tamer's with low grade or single use Companions more powerful. It didn't start out that way, but the working Hexblades and Mages soon learned that high level predators just became mindless monsters after the Trials— no longer fearing or showing any emotion towards human life…or any life.]"

"What….so they were turning animals into Monsters?"

"[It was a byproduct of predators already at the top of the food chain gaining a boost of magical might— just like how Animals from Tangents are more likely to attack humans. I never knew much— but I had friends who were close to the subject.]" Arne replied amidst the sound of flames and monstrous barks.

"Then it was unsuccessful?" Claude questioned.

"[On the contrary. It was very successful in the few that worked, bringing forth animals with powerful abilities that not only made themselves more useful but allowed their Beast Taming partners to borrow the ability in some cases. They found a way around the animals going mad by using Animals that had a stronger understanding of where they stood in the pecking order…you know, smarter more opportunistic animals that weren't known for their overwhelming combat power.]"

Claude vaulted a fallen over tree, "You mean like, Foxes…Vultures.. Owls…Coyotes..and some species of evolved Rodents?"

"[Yes, as well as certain Reptilian creatures and Felines. But there was still a drawback?]"

"Being?"

"[Well, whether from the torturous experiments or a byproduct of infusing them with human magic, they become spiteful and violent to anyone that isn't their respected Beast Tamer. The first species to succeed was a young male Fox I believe…Yes! They called the breed the Vulkura— hinting at its vulpine origins and rotten demonic similarity to Kurama. Anyway, since the whole process is so controversial not many people should know of it no matter what bill is passed— whoever this man is, he is very smart.]" Arne explained, sounding shaken.

"So you're saying…that psycho WereWolf put a Gnoll through his own MAE Trials…..is he even a Mage— or a Hexblade?" Claude asked while the Gnoll climbed up a tree and rained fireballs down at the zig zagging animals.

Claude quickly spun around and aimed a glowing hand at the creature, causing the branch it was perched on to twist and bind around the Gnoll's legs.

It's enraged howls shook the forest.

"[Yes and no. He's no Mage or Hexblade…but he did put the Gnoll through that. That's the problem….wait—that's why it was cloaked..]" He said to himself, seeming to sink into his own thoughts.

"Arne, why was it cloaked?" Claude asked as the smell of burnt wood filtered through his mask.

"[I think he was hiding it from the Moon. You saw the way it's runes glowed once the cloak fell. I think he found a way to make the runes attract and use Lunar Magic. That means he had something to draw on Lunar Magic— meaning the man in the base is a WereWolf who can transform without a Full Moon.]"

Claude almost tripped at the realization before he was abruptly reminded of what he was running from by a fireball slamming into the ground at his feet. Bringing forth the biggest problem, currently.

FWOOSH!!

Another fireball flew past Claude's face, smelling of many things and heating up the left side of his face with its heat.

"God dammit! We gotta get rid of its range advantage." Claude thought.

"[Claude…the Gnoll's fire isn't normal. In a sense, they're like Lunar Flames….]" Arne suddenly said.

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"[If you get hit, you're going to be subjected to the change that overcomes us all on the Full Moon. The Gnoll can trigger your Lunar Madness, Claude..]"