CHPT 374: Vanagandr's Influence, Luna's Dark-Light.....

Tuesday Afternoon, December 30th, 2240.

As winter waged on, the winds grew colder. Sweeping in through the forest like an icy blade. A blade made stronger when night fell and it's freezing sharp edges were illuminated under the waxing Moon.

The Moon. It was only a day away from reaching it's full potential that only came once a month. And every snowfall that came since then was like a cruel and overwhelming reminder. Every spinning snowflake sent fluttering towards earth, it's icy edges reflected the lunar rays like a dozen maddening and icy lightning bugs.

Bugs that silently buzzed and reflected the Moons light on Claude's skin as he trained every night since the day he'd started his newest training following the sea of knowledge he'd metaphorically drowned in, in regards to the truth of his Element.

Growth and WillPower working in tandem with the element of Life.

The reason he could see with his Natural Vision. The reason all living things had the same beautiful green glow. The reason Rollan could turn a broken stick into a tree-- he used his growth energy to expand and manipulate the Life within-- bolstered by his WillPower and experience.

A fascinating concept. And one that didn't make the training of unlocking his Elemental Shroud any easier.

Elemental Shroud. The act of infusing your Aura with your Element to create a buffed state for it's user with easier access to said Element.

Claude had seen it before. It was easy to imagine with a number of Elements.

Ursula used a crude form of her own, freezing her sweat into frozen armor. Maris used it in a reversed form-- taking inspiration from Ursula and manipulating the sweat and body fluids on other peoples bodies to blind and stab them.

Conroy and Isaac had the best and most effective with each using a near perfected form. Conroy, the Elemental Mage wielding Ice and Lightning, used his Lightning aspect to heighten his speed and add a shocking touch to his blade. Isaac's Shroud made him into a flaming defensive powerhouse.

And Claude...

Still nothing.

"Fuck." He said to himself as he thought the fact over while he played fetch with his Wolves....and Chimera-Hound....and Bird....and Berserker Bear-Wolf-Woman friend. What a team.

Ursula did little more than grumble a questioning sound in response to his inner monologues rising to the surface. She was too busy sitting on the twig that Rollan turned into a tree while she ate away at the hindquarters of a Deer. Her third Deer.

"[It's natural....at least I think.]" Arne answered his question before it arrived.

"You think?" Claude replied as Ashe dropped the recently thrown sharpened bone spear at his feet. Covered in dirt and frothy spit. Behind her, the rest of the pack waited patiently with their pink tongues lolling.

"[One thing I always heard about the Giant-Killers was their appetites. Probably one of the reasons for the inner prejudice that developed in our time. They exhausted resources faster than they could be regained. Maybe that didn't always happen. Maybe for some reason, they stock up on and around full moons....like bears. Make's sense, doesn't it?]"

"Hm." Claude said as picked up the bone spear and heaved it back behind his head before launching it back through the forest. The pack was off in a flash with Frosty entering his state of invisibility along the way.

When he looked back to Ursula, she was halfway through her Deer leg, and he could see portions of blood leaking from the rarely cooked meat. The sight ignited his senses and made him anxious for what was to come in less than a day.

When Ursula caught him staring she sarcastically growled with an eyeroll before moving to hold the meat over the fire longer before jokingly bringing out the charred chunk to let him view it, "Is that enough for you?? Fucking stiff."

Claude continued to watch her, the sight of the blood dying the snowy grass gave rise to discomforting images in his head about what tomorrow would bring.

Ursula must've seen it on his face. Resulting in her joking yet angered demeanor fading, "Claude....I-I'm ok, you know? Just hungry. Relax, don't worry about me."

No words followed her response. After a few seconds, her ear twitched and she turned to look at something in the forest. At first she looked interested, then her eyebrows flattened and her eyes lowered.

"Hey, Coolface, your brother is scaring the others again."

Claude was snapped out his thoughts-- not by her words, but the confusion and fear he felt from the others connected to the network of thoughts and emotions shared through their pack bond.

When he looked up from the snow and followed the direction of Ursula's gaze, he found himself viewing Frosty's newest change. In the three days since Frosty had awakened, they'd been checking for such instances-- just to see what Frosty's change meant. What it meant to be a VanaWarg.

What parts of Fenrir he'd inherited. The first being the physically monstrous twist to his features. Showing hints of varying beasts. The second being, invisibility. Something stemming all the way from Fenrir's father. Loki. The power and powers that went along with deception. Fenrir had inherited such gifts from his father, and Frosty from Fenrir.

Did that make him Loki's grandson...in a weird way?

All horrifying thoughts aside, a horrifying reality still remained in front of him. Frosty's newest change. An ability that wasn't at all common with basic evolved PitWolves-- also called Wargs.

An ability that he seemed to understand how to activate instinctually, as he stood comfortably on his hind legs, with his upper arms holding him to the tree as he reached up to rip the bone spear out of the bushes with his jaws.

His feet still touched the floor of course. The only problem was, the bone was up over sixteen feet in the air. As he stretched and reached for the bone, the muscles in his back continued to bubble and shift beneath his thin tough skin, spreading like wild-fire until all his muscles wriggled and grew along with his body.

His newest ability.

Size alteration.

When he got the bone fastened in his jaws and took it down from the tree, he fell to the floor, fluidly returning to his normal size. Before he settled into a highspeed trot to return the spear to Claude, he vanished from sight. The last thing he saw were Frosty's massive tusked fangs.

He suddenly felt very nervous about the upcoming Full Moon.

"[A Bronze Tangent teeming with Goblins won't be enough this time. Not with the four of you...]" Arne said, reminding Claude that Gil would transform as well.

"I know.....and we won't be alone." Claude replied, uncomfortably aware of the lacking number of HellBred as of late.