Surviving the night

She had never harmed anyone before, and the thought of using the razor-sharp claws to kill was unbearable. But she had no choice, it was either its life or hers and she unwilling to throw away her life without a fight.

The wolf beast charged, its jaws wide open. Maya raised her hands, and to her surprise, her dragon claws extended instinctively. She swiped at the beast, but her blow was clumsy and hesitant. The wolf beast dodged easily and countered with a swipe of its paw, Maya leapt backwards narrowly missing the attack making her heart race.

As the wolf attacked again, Maya's claws flashed in a desperate bid to protect herself. She stumbled backward, her movements awkward and uncoordinated. The wolf took this chance to bite down on her forearm making her scream out in pain, she reflexively swatted the wolf's head and it crashed to the ground a meter away. The beast gave her a wolfish grin as it licked the blood on its mouth, making Maya feel disgusted.

[-10 HP]

The wolf beast was strong and relentless, but Maya refused to back down, she was determined to win, she didn't want to die in an unknown world and end up as food. She gritted her teeth and beared with the pain, she couldn't afford to make another mistake. Her initial hesitation disappeared slightly but her injury made her a tad slower than before giving the wolf more chances to land blows on her.

As the battle raged on, Maya's body accumulated a lot of injuries, although none were as serious as the bite on her arm, they still made her feel alot of pain and bleed. The wolf didn't come out unscathed either, its worst injury was the deep gash on its eye but it was still able to fight much better than Maya.

When she was on the verge of collapsing from fatigue, pain and blood loss, she felt strange familial energy course through her body from her chest. The energy felt so comfortable and refreshing as it flowed to the wound on her arm and her other injuries. Realising it's purpose, Maya sighed in relief, with the strange energy alleviating her pain she was able to focus more clearly than before, the wolf was also catching it's breath and was already beyond annoyed that she had proved to be a tougher foe than it had expected. It stood on its hind legs as it prepared to launch one more fierce attack at the half dead female.

After realising that the strange energy seemed rather useful, Maya decided to try experimenting with it on a whim. She directed the energy meant for the wound on her arm to her dragon claws since it was the closest and where most energy was gathered. The energy was like an obedient dog following its owner, once it reaches her claws nothing happened, it felt like there was a wall blocking the path for the energy to pass.

She didn't have the time to ponder or experiment with it any further because the unyielding would beast was already upon her. She suddenly felt very annoyed at this wolf who refused to die no matter what she did, Maya threw all caution out the window and delivered a fierce swipe at the wolf intending to swat it to the ground.

Seeing the female's last minute transformation the wolf beast wanted to turn around and leave, this wasn't an opponent it could fight, it had been tricked again!

But it was already too late, it had already lifted off the ground, once off the ground it couldn't defend itself, it could only raise It's paws to shield its face but it was all for naught.

Maya's claws were glowing with a soft, blue light. She felt the strange energy course through her veins, all the energy was directed towards her hands and left through her finger tips before slashing at the unfortunate wolf beast.

Maya's eyes widened in horror as she watched the energy leave her fingertips and slashed through its paws and landed on its chest before the energy completely disappeared. The wolf landed a few inches away from Maya's feet, it's front limbs were amputated and on its chest there was 5 deep gashes but no blood flowed out. Whatever the strange energy was, it seemed that it contained burning properties.

[-75 EP]

The wolf whimpered, no longer having its previous stubbornness, Maya just stood there in a daze, her glowing claws dimmed down and her hands reverted back to normal. Seeing this, the wolf used up all the energy it had left and let out a loud howl before it stopped moving and it's body reverted back to its demi-human form.

Maya seeing such a young boy who seemed to be no more than 16 years old felt so guilty that she knelt beside him and started crying "Am sorry am sorry, I didn't mean to...l didn't know that you were a-"

She paused when she heard something hitting the ground from behind, she looked over she saw a buff dark skinned man with coffee brown hair, golden eyes, he was wearing a brown leather skirt with a long brown tail peeking from behind.

Seeing another person present, she subconsciously begged "please, can you help him?"

"What are you doing? He just called for backup from his pack, you better run before they get here" he said with a sense of urgency.

"No.. l won't leave him, if l do he will die! It's all my fault am so sorry...please don't die" She stubbornly refused as she continued to sob.

At that moment distant howls could be heard, the dark skinned stranger immediately looked tense.

"There's no time, if you stay here you will die!" He said as he rushed towards her.

Maya wanted to dodge but the moment she stood up, she felt a wave of weakness wash over her and was about to fall but the stranger caught her.

"You used up all your energy, you can't even walk on your own." He said to make it clear that he was only touching her because he had no choice. But Maya was barely holding on to her consciousness, she didn't hear a word he said.

The stranger grabbed her and threw her in the air while transformed into a huge lion, a moment later Maya's body landed on his back and he immediately fled the scene before the wolves could arrive.

[Quest complete]

[Hidden quest complete]

[Combat mastery LV2]

A while later, a pack of wolves could arrived at the scene, the biggest wolf who seemed like the leader shifted into his demi-human form before the rest followed. Looking at the amputated hands and burnt wounds on the boy's body, his face darkened.

"Dragon energy" he said calmly as he sniffed the air, he picked up a leaf which had a drop of blood on it, he sniffed it before licking it.

"A fledgling?" He said in surprise.

"Impossible! A fledgling with this much power? I have never heard of such a case before! It must have been an ascended shifter!" A skinny man called Jeff said in a booming voice.

"Silence! Do you think that I would make a mistake?" The leader asked with a dark expression.

"That's not what l meant brother, it's just that-"

"This is why am first in line for the tribe leader position and not you. Do you think Deyo could manage to make an ascended shifter bleed?" The leader asked coldly.

"No brother, l...was wrong" Jeff admitted with his head hung low.

'This fledgling... his bloodline must be very noble. He will make a nice gift for father....he can finally breakthrough and leave the tribe to me' the leader thought with a slight smile on his face.

"Let's go" the leader said as he turned around.

"Brother, what about Deyo?" The Jeff asked.

"His life served a purpose, the information about this dragon is very valuable" the leader said emotionlessly.

" I mean... he's still alive, let's bring him back" Jeff said.

"No, remember the rules of the forest. It's either you kill or get killed, that's what makes us stronger" the leader said as he shifted into his wolf form along with the others and left.

Jeff remained behind as he looked at the boy who was on the ground and gritted his teeth before transforming into a wolf and left.

'am sorry brother'