Dealing with the aftermath

'What happened?' Max thought, panicked after realizing the sudden silence that installed into the room.

'Calm down Max, you need to be rational at this moment' Matt advised Max, calming him a little.

Max took a few deep breathes, trying to make as little sound as he did so; he knew that what Matt said was the truth and the best option he had at the moment. He inspected the room, looking around to find an answer to his question.

He slowly made his way through a small corridor which was defined by the rows of wooden shelves filled with different items.

'This is a storage room' Max thought while inspecting the dark room with his improved vision. In the past he wouldn't be able to do it so he could only thank himself for becoming a werewolf; that was until he realized that he was in this mess because he became a werewolf.

"Max!" Alexander's voice suddenly made its presence and in response Max was able to identify the direction from where the voice came from.

"Teacher?" Max then asked, trying to pinpoint his location while sprinting forward.

"I am here, next row to the right" Alexander spoke again guiding Max to his location which made the latter question how Alexander knew his position.

Even so Max followed his teacher's directions and as soon as he turned right he was able to spot a light that emanated from a flame in the distance. Max closed in to the light and soon was able to see two creatures one standing above the other which was unconscious on the ground, the one standing on top emanating light from its hands that had the texture of hot metal.

As Max got closer, he noticed that the creature on the ground was covered in scales, dark green in color. Its wings that protruded from its back had a similar texture but the shading of the swings was different as the membrane present on it had a lighter tone of green similar to an emerald.

On top of it was a brown-furred werewolf, the sight wasn't shocking anymore as Max was slowly getting acquainted to seeing creatures like them. It wasn't until he noticed the hands of the werewolf that Max felt astonished, seeing that from the forearm, its hands weren't covered in fur anymore but in a strange substance that flowed slowly, maintaining the shape of a hand with five claws at the end.

'This is Alexander?' Max said, thinking about the time when he met with the leader while trying to identify his teacher in the crowd of werewolves but he wasn't able to.

"Stop staring and get her up. She got knocked out" Alexander said, his tone being monotone and heavy. He looked at Max before changing the direction of his gaze back on Aphrodisia.

"Her form won't reverse until she consciously chooses to do so. I am telling you this so that you know for the future, if a shapeshifter changes into his human form while being 'unconscious' then he is just trying to lower your guard; ignorant fools fall for these kinds of traps." His spirit seemed to get better as he moved away from her, going toward Max.

"Get her back into the room from before and leave. After she wakes up she'll have two choices, either give up on you or try and kill you. No matter what she does I'll have your back so you don't have to worry." Alexander then passed Max, went around the corner, and just then it clicked in Max's head. 'He's leaving me to clean this up?!'

He quickly sprinted and turned around the corner, not accepting the task at hand.

"Wai-" He said as he looked in the distance but it was too late, the light from Alexander's hands alongside him vanished.

***

Heaving a sigh of relief Max collapse onto his bed. He was done with the cleanup job Alexander made him do, leaving Aphrodisia into the room he was told to leave her in. It was a difficult job even though that was the only thing he was supposed to do; a man shouldn't ask a woman her weight but Aphrodisia was an exception, Max finding it hard to even drag her on the ground, much less carry her.

"You're back?" It was Mark who opened the door to Max's room, entering it uninvited.

"Yes, just leave me relax for a little bit," Max said, short of breath. One wouldn't know but Max wasn't upset because he was left on clean duty but he was dejected by the fact he was supposed to drag a person that tried to jump on him a few minutes ago.

"You look really tired…" Mark commented but it didn't seem he took Max's request seriously "So… What did you ask Alexander about, and what is that thing he wasn't going to respond to?"

"I asked him about my element and if he could…" Max stopped before thinking of a lie, the cut in his speech obvious " If he could find a teacher of the same element for me but it seems like I am unlucky…" Max said but Mark knew that he was talking nonsense.

"See? I told you so many times but you keep on lying. It was about those three, right? Did you tell him that they bully you?" Mark then tried to find the topic of the private conversation but it seemed like Max kept quiet, not divulging anything else to him.

"Alright then…" Mark was deeply disappointed as he looked at the ground. "Did you know that tomorrow is a full moon? Maybe we do something like spar and stuff, it is said that the moon is really big this time and so it will be really clear during the night and it seems kind of cool." Trying to make conversation Mark picked up the first topic he thought about after looking out the window, seeing the moon rise on the horizon.

"The full moon?!" Max jumped out of bed suddenly, his mind being blank except a phrase he heard from Dylan a while ago. 'You'll transform on the first full moon you experience'