CHPT 537: Into Alpha’s Tower

Wednesday March 25th, 2241. Location, Unknown.

Cold. Silent. Hungry. But the nightmares weren't—

"— RRRWAkE uP bOy! THe ParTy's JusT gEtTinnnng StarrRRGTED!"

His eyes shot open like a Samurai unsheathing a blade. Instant, seamless and with violence.

The floor he laid face first on reverberated with every slam and footstep. Every roar and snarl. Every noise he couldn't scurry recognize amidst the steady ensemble of audial slavery.

He stayed deathly still— surveying his area, watching the dozens and men and women go to work carrying smoldering buckets and sheets of metal with hammers in hand.

FWSH!

Something many feet below the metal floor he laid on erupted. Suddenly the floor wasn't so cold. In fa—

"ACK!" Claude exploded to his feet as the metal floor began to steam like a skillet.

With his rise, portions of the skin on the left side of his face ripped off along with his shoulder and left leg.

His leap was cut short by a tugging on his neck— and leash and steel collar, that pulled him butt and hand first back to the ground.

He scrambled until he found his leash connected to a boulder behind him. He mounted it like a frog and finally eyed the area fully.

Then his next problem came.

[Alpha Position Lost.]

[Alpha Powerset Unavailble]

[Hex of Weakening: Active]

[Hex of Mana Sapping: Active]

[HP 30%]

[MP 5%]

"[I won't say welcome back, but you're back indeed. You were asleep for over a day. It's not like we had an escape plan on schedule, but let's try not to make that a habit.]"

"Got it."

Claude's stomach clenched as his System Screen rattled off his dire circumstances in numerical form while Arne spoke.

"Something tells me you just lost your Alpha position." One of the many Shifters in the shadows approached him.

He wasn't tall. He wasn't really anything in terms of unique or standout traits. Like everyone he was criminally emaciated, sweating bullets and his breath reeked of poisons. He dragged his weighted boulder on a chain effortlessly.

His silver blond hair was cut low in a buzz. Scars ran in straight lines along his scalp as if he cut it with deep scratches every Sunday.

As he stood across from him under the moons glow they looked like tattoos.

"My names Tom." He spoke with an energy that didn't fit the area. Not exactly warm or even welcoming, but intense.

He held out his hand for a shake.

Claude wouldn't take it if there was food in it even with the grumble of his stomach.

Tom shook his own hand before dusting them on his tattered loin cloth. "I get it. I get it. But you'll have to work with us eventually. You're strong as all hell but this place…..this is worse than that."

"You all attacked me first. I've seen hell. It's not worse than this." Claude slowly hovered a foot off his boulder to test the floor. It sizzled but he needed a fighting position. He groaned and jumped off the boulder, landing into the heat on his tiptoes.

Tom laughed as he ran a hand over his buzzed head, "You ain't seen shit yet, son—"

"I'm not your son."

Tom continued, "And we had no choice. We had to attack you first. Sure, some of us enjoyed it. It's our nature, war— violence….red initiation. We have to work this way to survive. People got kids here, I know you saw them when you came in. We all fall under one. And it's that big knuckle dragger up there."

Tom pointed to the open scaffolding above, suddenly remembering the monstrous StoneApe that was horrifically— and obviously, also a WereWolf.

"His name is Alpha—"

Something fell. Something light, barely loud enough for Claude to hear but what followed was more than loud enough even for man.

"AUUUUUUUGHHHHHHH!!!" The shrill of pain gripped Claude's spine and had him grasping at his sharpened ears in pain.

The floor warmed again as something reptillian and monstrous let out a territorial bellowing noise. It shook the SkyScraper with phantom hands.

He could hear Alpha hooting in a rage. Throwing things, spitting and cursing.

"What the hell is going on down ther—"

Tom grabbed him and began pulling him to join the other Shifters at work.

He got a single step before Claude grabbed his chain and manipulated it around Tom's neck.

The two snarled at eachother as their shining foreheads collided so hard blood spilled. The other shifters rose at the altercation.

Tom laughed as Claude tightened the chain until the veins in his head bulged like dozens of flexing biceps.

"What?! What are you going to do? Choke me out and jump out a window? We're trapped! We have to work together! I don't know where you came from— or what you even are for that matter, but the pack is everything where I'm from. Even if it's Leader is wrong. Work with us. I'll give you answers after we survive this. Someone was burned."

"Tom. Don't touch me."

He smiled, "Ohhh you're going to love it here."

Alpha began scaling the floors. He could feel the massive beast as it swung and stomped its way up to their floor. He was holding something dead. And very burnt.

Claude let Tom go. The two joined the other Shifters.

He walked among them.

"[Dont go on the offensive. it's practically commonplace for Shifters to absolutely disrespect your personal boundaries. Let them.]" Arne reminded.

"I remember." Claude thought as the Wolves swarmed him. They did so in a very sneaky way. They didn't leave their work and all begin sniffing him like dogs. They tip toed around him while others handed him things. A loin cloth. A hammer. A belt. A pot of steaming hot liquid metal. All the while, they got just close enough to scent his skin. Look in his eyes. Feel his hair. It was a battle of nature and nurture. Beaten into being worker drones but even still, the wolf remained.

Tom led him further along the walls of the SkyScraper. Now so close, he could see the wolves at work. Pouring the steaming Liquid Metal along the skeletal framework of the skyscraper. They were building it from within. Building it beyond what it already was. Incorrectly.

"Alpha isn't smart. He's an Ape given incredible power by our enemy." Tom explained as they continued walking among the Wolves.

"The General." Claude finished. His legs burned from pulling his boulder. But his urge to dry out and dismember the Elder burned hotter. His urge to get back to his people, even more so ….

Tom nodded. "He feeds Alpha half dead ….well, Alphas to take their rank and power, adding it to his own. And now, A Vampire Elder is in control of one of the strongest Silver Cursed packs to date. All subjected to building Alphas Tower…. And beyond. In the Elders eyes."

"Strongest?" Claude questioned.

"How much do you think the Boulders weigh?" Tom grinned.

Suddenly the scents changed as they turned and occupied the next stretch of metal wall. Subtle differences continued to stockpile. Some people were on break. Others worked at explosive speeds, firing nails into pieces of sheet metal to fortify the walls. Once in, they dug their curved claws into the slim spaces between and climbed, hammering in the next set. And the next. The balance, strength and explosiveness required was…. Feline.

Slitted eyes welcomed him— followed by immense anxiety. Lions and Tigers.

Only the men slyly scented him. The women sized him up. Along with another man. A boy— no older than Claude. Maybe younger. He was tall and pale with black hair sleeked back against his head. Three gashes ran across his face, filled with Liquid Metal left to harden.

Claude passed him, never dropping his gaze until an older WereLion pulled him into work. Only then did Claude see the girl standing behind him. They looked just alike. Neutral eyebrows, big round eyes, pale. But her hair was white.

"That was Marcel. You gave him a rough time when you first arrived….. despite your physical state. And the girl behind him is his sister."

Claude turned back frontside as they walked along the walls, following the contours of the big metal box.

"Y'all still got time for childish wounded ego?" Claude asked in response to Marcels obvious contempt. All the while Alpha climbed from below. Slowly— inadvertently telling Claude how many floors the tower was.

"Quite the opposite actually. You see, there's more than one reason why we need to break in every new Silver Cursed The General throws in here."

Claude tripped over a nail burned to the floor.

"What's the reason?"

"You really aren't like us…."

BOOM!

The hatch over the stairs from below burst open, shaking the grounds and Shifters all the same. Alpha came flying out in a blur of cloak tethers and Lunar Artifacts. He landed on his scaffolding jungle above.

Before Claude could look up, something smacked the floor, breaking like burnt wood and scattering across the ground.

His nostrils flared at the scent of dead scorched skin. He was able to gather a single glance.

It almost looked like a husk. Like a dried out casing, steaming intestines and viscera left to spill out of the cracked mold that drew muffled screams from women and men alike as they worked even then.

It was a woman. Small and frail for a Shifter—

"Work!" Tom forced a whisper.

Claude picked up his hammer and beat at already pinned nails until they were practically blended into the walls.

"BURNED!" Alpha roared. "Need…. NEW!"

The scent of fear spiked. Alpha dropped to the floor and began walking through the pack. Scenting. Touching. Pulling scabs and dead skin off the backs of healing shifters and eating it.

Eventually he stopped at the Wolves and grabbed one of the younger ones. They reached the door and he removed the boulder from the Shifters leash.

"NO! PLEASE!"

Alpha lifted him by the leg and slammed him against the floor like a ragdoll.

Slowly, he lifted the Wolf, looking in his eyes. "Silence…."

He dropped the Wolf and pushed him down the stairs. He gave one last glance before going after him.

"Alpha equates size to power. He thinks he's smart for grabbing the smallest Shifters to unleash since he thinks they won't fight back."

Claude was still passively paying attention to the wolves mourning their loss. Her name was Wendolynn.

"Anyway. The reason you all had to jump me?" Claude started.

Tom nodded, "There are multiple Packs within the overarching single pack belonging to Alpha. We're still segregated. The politics here are strong. Alpha is aware of them subconsciously. If a Silver Cursed is strong enough, they can disrupt everything here in one day. In one battle."

"What's wrong with that? He'd still work under Alpha right?" Claude thought as Tom handed him another bucket of Liquid Metal. Pouring it over the metal framework was the single dumbest thing he'd ever done. But it was all he could do. Other than looking outside….. which was horrifying. They were hundreds upon hundreds of feet up. He couldn't see land. Just ocean. Hurricanes spun. Tentacles as long as roads in SkyHaven ripped above the waves, holding whales and sharks in death grips.

When Tom spoke again he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Packs aren't just Alpha and everything below, kid." Tom started, "It's intricate. You should be able to feel it. Alpha can. We can. You disrupted it. You beat the living hell out of Marcel with a barely working arm and enough blood loss to fill a Vamp. Marcel is one of the WereLions best. They rule the Tigers. Now the Tigers have a choice. Fall under you, or challenge the Lions. Alpha will make them fight. He can sense the tension. There cannot be tension in the tower."

"And that's why he's angry. I didn't embarrass him. I put his whole fucking Pride at risk." Claude realized as he nailed a sheet of metal over the reinforced metal framing, closing off the nightmarish world from his gaze.

Tom looked over at him between hammer swings, "I didn't take you for one to feel bad at something like that."

"I'm not a monster."

"You aren't?" Tom asked in confusion.

Claude didn't reply.

Tom whistled and waved somebody over. The man was large, like all the people from the group he worked with. They carried massive support beams and walked around leaving them at each wall to start the next level.

Crocs.

"My friend here is gonna need some shoes." Tom started.

The Silver Cursed titan of a Shifter looked down at Tom—never directly in his eye. His bronze skin was tight and almost ashy looking— full of bumps and grooves like bark. Or scales.

"Friend?"

Tom nodded, "I think so."

Another came from behind the giant Shifter and placed his hands on the man's back, effortlessly ripping off his skin.

Claude looked down at Tom's feet.

"Croc skin. Heat resistant." Tom tapped his temple."

Two hours later and Claude was fitted with his own pair of shifter skin shoes and working mindlessly on the Tower. Trying to blend in. A Lupine alone, again.

All that kept him awake and from collapse were the conversations. The eyes on his back. And the goal.

"Alright Arne, it's time to figure out how we get out of here. I can't feel them. I can't feel Ursula…. Cassidy or Frosty. And with me missing, the Tournament could go up in flames."

"[We have another issue.]"

"Of course we do."

"[Why can't you use Wild Magic?]"