CHPT 205: Whose Evolution?

Aeron Michaelson.

That had been his name when he was a man. When he was weak, and everything was ripped from his powerless human hands. He hadn't heard anyone use that name in a long while— not since before he entered his latest Tangent. Not since before he was mauled by one of the Silver Cursed and changed into a WereWolf.

Everything was taken after the event. Punished for surviving— they forced him into what he'd become….and he was thankful. He was liberated from the shackles of humanity and forced to see their flaws from the inside and out.

He'd started his exhibition simply— as an accident, he wasn't in control of himself, then the Full Moon came. And he killed a team of Heroes— maybe a couple civilians…and woke up to being surrounded by Monsters. Monsters like himself that desired to see human blood. The rest was history.

That's what it felt like. But, now he found himself revisiting his past in response to the events that were taking place just outside the base he occupied.

His failsafe had been unsuccessful. And now, he resided inside the base of his captives— vessels, like the humans he hunted only hours before.

He couldn't help but feel the unease the Shape-Shifter outside induced within him. It disgusted him. Why? Why could one like himself make him feel so small?

Based on his gear, the Hero was of no high ranking— probably not even belonging to a Guild. Night Runner's in general were usually the vultures of Heroes, left to pick up the scraps of what the strongest left behind. Nothing more than glorified janitors with a savior complex. So why did he feel human again in the presence of the Hero surrounded by his inhuman friends?

The Hero had no Lunar Artifact— nothing that allowed him to draw on his shifting power at will like himself. That's what made him so dangerous and confident in whatever he ran into. WereWolves were strongest around the Full Moon, and he had it by him at all times. So, why did this match up feel so uneven?

Aeron thought to himself, retreating back to his memory bank of knowledge gained from his time with the humans.

"Could he be something…other?"

The possibility was slim for a few reasons. "Other" consisted of things even rarer and elsewhere in location. WereLion's roamed the plains of the Sunlands. Skinwalkers were even further from society and more of a myth than reality, and other shifters like WereTigers were found in the East.

The lack of understanding plunged him into a new realm of fear— and anger.

Anger at being afraid, anger at feeling human, anger at losing his tools and anger at the Hero for destroying his latest experiment.

"DAMN IT!" He growled before smashing his fist through the table and getting a fearful jolt out of the strung up Raiders behind him.

"You shut the hell up! I'll be back, and when I return our trials will begin.." He said with yellow eyes that lit the dark before exiting the Base.

As soon as he pushed aside the tarp and stepped into the cold night air, bare chested and snarling— he saw them.

Emerging from the dark cloud within the forest, the first thing he saw was eyes. Slowly, bodies molded around them as they stepped into the clearing lit by the moon. The animals emerged first— two wolven monstrosities, one shrouded in black fog and the other strapped with muscle and frosted tipped brown hair that stood on end with agitation.

The WereWolf could smell another but he couldn't see— or focus as the Hero stepped out from within the darkness.

Once again, the WereWolf was reminded of their obvious difference.

His hair hung like tattered curtains over his radiant eyes and skin that somehow looked darker and resembled leather. Even though the bottom half of his face was covered by a mask, Aeron knew what he'd find beneath wouldn't show too much resemblance to that of a human.

The wind picked up briefly, blowing his— now burnt, cloak off to the left. Revealing the shredded and scorched remains of the Gnoll he spent so much time empowering. It was unrecognizable. It looked like it had been thrown into a pond full of fire breathing Piranhas.

He tossed the desecrated Monster halfway between them, letting it limply hit the ground in a tattered heap. More burnt and slimy skin fell along the way, spreading the smell even further.

There was that fear again. So many times in one night, it drove him mad. But the voice of the interested scholar at the back of his mind forced its way to the surface. It hadn't done that in a while.

"You still haven't told me why you're doing this? Why play Hero?" Aeron asked, sweat sliding down his temples in the process.

The Hero stayed silent, letting the growls of the creatures around him vocalize his feelings. Instead of talking, he started to walk. The Wolves followed in his wake.

Aeron felt himself backpedal in response. "Who changed you? Are you telling me everything wasn't taken from you afterward? Don't be so naive! You think they care for what you're doing?!….WE…are Monsters!"

The Hero snarled.

The primal challenge in the sound caused Aeron's slowly onsetting transformation to speed up in response.

Along his forearms his skin started to split like wet paper, revealing heavily muscled fur covered limbs beneath. He snarled back and wiped the sweat from his face while his fingernails were pushed out of his fingers and replaced by claws that matched the Hero's.

"TELL ME!….wHaT GOOD…haVe the HUMANS….bRoUGht!….after your CHanGe?!" He asked, voice cracking and changing in nature as the voice at the back of his mind that added malicious twists to his ideas and experiments fought to become the dominant existence within.

The Hero stayed silent and steady in pace— completely unbothered by the WereWolf breaking out from inside of the man.

Amidst the sound of pained snarls and humanoid cries, bones began to snap and reform. His barren chest started to expand while the skin split like clothing that didn't fit. His lungs now took in infinite gulps of air, only making the change more painful with each deep shaking breath.

He fought to stay in his hideous halfway state with his skin ripping at the seams and bones reforming because he wanted to speak. At least that's what he remembered— but a new mind fought to replace his own. The mind of something Wolf-like in nature. A mind that now took note of the fact that he was without a pack….and there was something like him only dozens of feet away.

Nostrils flared with every curious inhale— looking to scent the Hero again.

He smelled of Magic, Forest, Wolf— but also other animals— too many, as well as blood…and hate.

A very relatable smell.

Very relatable, indeed.

***

Claude watched with disgust as the WereWolf's human sheet of skin ripped and split to sprout fur from the cracks. The necklace on his chest looked like it was burning a hole in his chest while the ethereal blue tentacles that spewed from it wrapped around him in a sickly hug.

"[The pendant Claude. That's what's allowing him to change.]" Arne pointed out.

Claude assumed so.

He watched the man change further until he could almost see the true form of the WereWolf beneath. It stretched his chest and forced his limbs into the position of something that was supposed to be on all fours instead of two. Instead of continuing to change in a hurry, the WereWolf stopped and eyed him with curiosity as if they'd never met while he sniffed the ground in his direction intently.

Suddenly, he stopped limping away from Claude and sniffed a final time.

"You are like me…"

Frosty barked angrily in response.

The sound battered the WereWolf's now sensitive hearing. When he regained his focus, they were closer, causing his fear to rise like steam from a freshly cooked pot of stew.

"WAIT!….I smell your hate!….you've experienced what the humans have to offer us, haven't you?!" The WereWolf stammered.

"Shut…up.." Claude said, now close enough to see the heads of sweat on his skin.

The WereWolf raised a split skinned hand, "I know what you feel! Look at us! We're the same!…..they took from me too. Th-they took it all….they massacred my family. There were no procedures or god damned silver tests! They just sent a blond haired psychotic female member of the Detection Corps to my home…she killed them all...the humans took it all. EVERYTHING!"

Claude froze at the man's words, recognizing Det. Cyrene's sick handiwork immediately. It seems she created just as many Monsters as she defeated.

He was right, there was truth to the man's words. He was even able to sympathize if he tried. But there was an obvious problem. His smell. Despite talking of losing his family— just as Claude had, and being hunted, he smelled of excitement beneath his overwhelming fear.

"You're excited….to be like this…You don't care anymore— that you lost your family and humanity. You want to be a Monster…" Claude realized as he stared down into the man's monstrous yellow eyes. "You don't want revenge..you just want death."

The WereWolf— unable to reach Claude's thoughts, thought he had made progress. A fiendish smile broke out on his face, splitting the skin in his forehead and showing teeth falling out, only to be replaced by canine incisors that were too big for his mouth.

"Join me. Quit playing the game of Hero and Villain and embrace the life of a Monster…." Aeron spoke passionately while his human body continued to split and peel like a skin suit, "I smell what you feel….the hate…it's enough to drown a city..huhuhuh. With your physical prowess and ability to commune with beasts combined with my knowledge and experiments….evolution would ge inescapable!…ITS EVERLASTING! Join me. Let's drown SkyHaven in the blood they drew from us. Let's grow our numbers…increase our ranks…spread a miasma of fear over every city we enter. We could do it. We could get revenge."

There was only stillness after his speech. Only the sounds of his ragged breaths and breaking bones. There was only silence. Then, there wasn't.

WOO!

With a snarl, Claude lunged. He closed the small distance between them in seconds causing the WereWolf to jump back fearfully and fall on his back in the grass.

"Your scents betray your words…" Claude growled in disgust.

The WereWolf rolled in the grass, whines turning to snarls as he got up onto all fours and arched his back with a loud snap.

SNAP!

"ARGHRSHH!!!"

The skin over his back completely ripped in half, revealing a muscled back covered in silvery black fur that continued to grow and push from his skin.

Suddenly, his head spun around to eye Claude, showing that his face ripped and the jaws of a Wolf pushed through with canines like a sabertooth. His voice came out in an unintelligible slobbery mess, "YOU DARE QUESTION MY MOTIVES BASTARD?!"

He rose to his feet in a flash and bit the skin on his arm, ripping it off effortlessly to reveal the growing wolven limb beneath as his fingers stretched and thickened into paws.

"I'm going to kill you…and cover your body in all the runes ever written!" He snapped.

With another volley of cracks, he crouched in preparation for a lunge.

WO—

"AARP!" The WereWolf yelped as a Feline snarl broke out from behind him followed by deadly sharp claws raking the back of his legs.

Woo!

He spun around 180 degrees and swiped at nothing. In a panic he turned back around to find Claude and his Wolves standing right in front of him.

With a snarl, Claude grabbed ahold of the WereWolf's neck that continued to thicken in his grip while he raised it to his height.

The Monster scratched and pulled at Claude's arm, only ripping at his durable arm guards.

"WhY!?….YouRE….erk!…aLoNe!" Aeron forced out from beneath Claude's crushing grip.

"No I'm not, asswipe." He replied angrily, followed by the Wolves behind him stirring silently, along with the hostile eyes of many becoming visible at the edge of the forest all around them. Animals, they were everywhere. He found himself blinking repeatedly in disbelief.

"DonT..DO This….We're the SAME!…EUGHR!!" The WereWolf struggled to speak with a cough while he grabbed at his throat with a human hand and monstrous paw.

Claude's face twisted further with anger, "We're not the same at all. My family was taken by Monster's— individuals like you." He spat, shaking the Monster in his grip for emphasis. "They made me like this…and the humans made it worse. I trust none of you bastards.."

The WereWolf's eyes widened, ."B-but…reven—"

Claude cut him off by squeezing his neck tighter, "You don't want what you speak of, Wolf! You want flesh! You're sick…..and your in my way."

An abrupt chill rattled its way down Aeron's shifting spine as he sensed the finality in his words. In a panic he slashed at the Heroes face and grabbed for the pendant on his chest.

WOO!

Shlck!

He snarled at the Hero in response to ripping off his mask and opening a thin line of red across his cheek.

"Wha—!" His smile quickly faded. Quicker than a fire being snuffed out in the middle of a snowstorm. His pendant wasn't on his chest. He started to run his hands over his body in a rush, hoping it fell while Claude held him in an iron tight grip.

After a few seconds he stopped, the Hero was watching him. Waiting for him to realize. Realize when it happened. And he did.

A memory flashed within his mind of the Hero lunging at him for the first time and sending him sprawling on his back. He was too caught up in the abrupt change to immediately take notice of the feeling of something being ripped off his neck.

"Fuck…"

Fear was now all he felt as he opened his eyes and looked down at the Hero's left hand. The hand that held his pendant— his Lunar Artifact. It's wisping blue airy limbs radiated from the stone and coiled up the Heroes arm soaking into his flesh faster than he'd ever seen. The relationships was magnetic.

His eyes flicked up to the Hero's face just in time to see his jaws thicken and elongate while fur sprouted from his face and his teeth sharpened to deadly points all accompanied by hot rising spirals of steam. The WereWolf had never seen such a fluid transformation, he'd only ever dreamt of it. His evolution.

His eyes watched the terror unfold when suddenly the marvelous shift was shrouded in a cloud of smoke.

The WereWolf rose further off the ground and the grip on his throat tightened, now accompanied by hot talons on his neck.

Amidst the smoke, two glowing green orbs rose to meet his eyes, causing goosebumps to ripple along his flesh and the blood coursing through his veins to freeze.

"Wwait….wwa—"

WOO!

With inhuman power, he was yanked forward, cheek to cheek with the Monster that once vaguely resembled a Hero.

He had no idea what he was looking at. In fact, he did. The pinnacle of Shape-Shifter evolution— in his eyes. He found what he was looking for— at his doorstep. And it was here to kill him.

Saliva as hot as lava fell on his shoulder as the Monstrosity opened its wolven jaws and made to speak in a grovely voice filled with rage and intensity that threatened to destroy his eardrums.

He smiled suddenly, in the face of death something became abundantly clear to him.

He was a fool for trying to recruit…whatever the being holding him in a death grip was. He was obviously the lesser creature on this field. But his goal would be reached. It now lived through the wolfish monster in front of him. Maybe, it always had.

It was the life of a Shape-Shifter.

The dance of deceit made up of two pieces and many steps; To be found or not to be found. But there was another piece to be added to such a violent sequence. A piece that fit the life of one who harbored hatred, strived for revenge and yearned for power. The final piece of the dance.

To spread the change.

The WereWolf laughed to himself, feeling his human mind completely in control in the face of death. He should've seen it before. It was never his evolution.

He was sure of it as the Monster raised him towards the moon, shining it's lunar rays on his bestial face that held the traits of many.

"Y….your…e-evolution…heheheh. Yesssss.."

"Rikah….is…mine!"

CRUNCH!

[+385 EXP]

DING!

[You have Leveled Up! You are now Level 18!]