84 BITTEN

Breaths hit his face.

The war wasn't over. He wasn't done— he wasn't finished. Not until they answered for what they did.

Like a demon fresh out of the volcanic gates of hell, Claude roared as he awakened with a vengeful charge.

The Lupine was female. Hairless and yellow eyed wearing a tattered dark dress with crow feathers and bone jewels.

He slammed the Lupine against a tree and raised his claws to rip her eyes out.

He had to take one of the senses. It was the only way he could kill Lupines. He wasn't strong enough without i—

The hairless Lupine exploded into a thousand crows that squawked as they flew past him.

He turned around at the feel of a hand gripping his raised arm.

"That's quite the bite, boy..."

She wasn't a Lupine.

She was a goddess.

One he'd spoken with before.

The Morrigan. Goddess of war, death and fate.

Claude followed her eyes and found the wound she spoke of. It was right on his forearm. Glowing green and red like it was hot enough to burn. Weird pulse waves of energy spun beneath his skin, emerging from the bite wound.

Hazily, he remembered Jack and Dolion's discussion.

"They….. he bit me. That can't be….. I can't be changed. I'm a defect. I can't have this!" Claude said.

The Morrigan clicked her teeth disapprovingly as she studied it.

"Defect seems to be synonymous with immunity this time around." The Morrigan turned his arm over, "This…. bite— this species. Their transference of power works like a virus. Like werewolves. Think of if this way, you had your rejection of the…. gift as they called it, at birth. But the second time around, you were different. And so was the one biting you. He was stronger. Pure blood. It's the only way this could've happened."

"….. I'm a Lupine of Remus."

The Morrigan raised an eyebrow, her eyes turned a fiery shade of red, "... Maybe."

"What?"

She dropped his arm and walked away.

Claude sat with the realization that he was a monster. A monster who lost everything. In the Astral Realm his memory— emotions, were hazy. Dulled. All he could do was sigh and shiver slightly.

The Morrigan walked off into the forest surrounding the clearing. It reminded him of home. But he was far from there in body and mind.

"What have we all asked you?" The Morrigan stepped into the shadowed forest. She circled him like a predator. "What have the gods been asking you since you awakened, child?"

"What will I do for power…."

"You never answer." The Morrigan said, "At one point in time, I think that was because you didn't know. You had no idea what you'd do for power. You just wanted to play hero with your friends. But your friends are dead now. And the ones living have become your sworn enemies. You have nothing, Claude. You are the true casualty of war. Not the dead. A lone survivor. A victim. Broken and bled dry."

Tears blurred his vision, burning his eyes.

The Morrigan's voice dropped an octave. She transformed, growing as tall as the trees with mummified wrappings and golden ceremonial armor.

Anubis barked from the shadows.

"We ask you again…."

Anubis transformed into Garm.

"With nothing left of your home and family— your gates have been breached."

Garm transformed into Lycaon, "Your castle has fallen and you are no king. Not of any Island or cabin ever again."

Then, the shifting collage of gods disappeared.

And the voice came from the sky.

"What will you do for power, Claude Grey?"

"….Anything."

"RrrRRRR….. then that will bring you back to me."

Claude turned around and was immediately hit with savage winds. He brought his arm up to guard against the cold front. When he recovered, he found himself standing in a snowstorm, facing an impossibly massive….

"That's not a mountain." Claude realized.

He was facing a wolf.

A wolf so tall, its head was in the clouds. It's eyes were the stars.

"What….. are you?"

"I….. am your power. Your purpose."

That didn't answer Claude's question.

"Do you not recognize me? I have always been here. You just weren't ready until this exact moment."

Claude looked harder. He suddenly realized, he recognized the eyes. Burning red beacons. He'd seen Anubis with similar eyes once. And The Morrigan. Maybe Lycaon and Garm if he focused his hazy memories.

It wasn't them.

They weren't gods visiting him.

"It was all you. Testing."

"Waiting." The god said, as if to correct him, "You weren't ready for me before. But now…."

Claude didn't say anything.

The god grinned, "That's the look I was waiting for."

The god suddenly looked away from him, "You have one problem."

"I have more than one." Claude thought.

"Your brother is dying…."

Claude suddenly heard the labored breathing in the snow beside him.

He looked down at the ground and found a being there. Beside him. Steaming. Shaking. Whining as their bones snapped and reshaped into incorrectly formed appendages.

He almost didn't recognize Frosty. He was huge. In some areas he had stripes— like a tiger, or paws like a bear. Beneath the fur he saw human skin.

Claude dropped to the snowy grounds, "Frosty!? H-hey….. what's going on, buddy! Come on, I got you, we'll get you some help."

"His help is here…." The god said.

It was then that Claude saw the matching bite mark on Frosty's front leg.

"…..they bit you."

"And he's not coming along as smoothly as you, boy." The god explained, "The Lupines of Remus are a race that holds purity and lack in structural diversity high. Only the strongest among them. Of few forms. There is no PitWolf in the genes of Remus. His body struggles to acclimate to the change. Even with Dolion's shifter potency as a pure-blood. He may die….. your brother….. your beloved and final semblance of family. You are losing h—"

"Just shut the hell up and tell me what you want!"

The god took a quaking step forward, "I WANT YOU BOTH!"

The words echoed.

"I want that hatred that burns like twin suns in your shattered hearts! I want the brothers born in battle and bred in strife to be reborn and reshaped by god-eating vengeance. I want us three to shape the world in grisly imagery….."

Claude turned away from Frosty to look up at the god. The one who'd been there since the beginning. The hunter in the dark.

"Who are you?"

"I am….. Fenrir, Wolf-god of Vengeance."

"Fenrir, save my brother."

Fenrir sneered.

Claude suddenly realized something was in his hand.

A thick strand of hair that burned slightly to touch.

"My essence." Fenrir said, "It will bridge the gap between Lupine of Remus and PitWolf of War. But it will also make him different….. like you."

Claude hesitated at the thought of force feeding his younger brother the essence of a conniving god.

Then Fenrir spoke.

"You said you'd do anything for power."

"And I wasn't lying."

Claude fed Frosty the essence of Fenrir.

DING!

[You have been Chosen by Fenrir, The Wolf-god of Vengeance.]

DING!

[Your Companion is experiencing a Hallowed Evolution! Wait time: 3 Weeks…]

Claude stood up from Frosty to look at Fenrir.

"I have nothing more for you now. Until next time. We will change the world. The three of us. And nobody knows it. As it should be. Find home in the shadows, Claude, you tried the light. Don't forget how it burned you. Don't forget…. how they, burned you."

Claude suddenly fell to lay in the snow right beside Fenrir.

It was there that he began to transform.

And it was obvious to anyone that he didn't look like any Lupine of Remus….