Onward (Part 2)

After a night of rest Iskandor was the first to wake. "Looks like it's about 5, guess I'll do some stretches and pack up everything into the tent." Iskandor mutters. He moves the bit of cooking supplies and spare firewood into the extra room in the tent and does some light stretches. "I kinda miss my flexibility..." He mutters, thinking back to his time on Earth as a human.

"You told us a bit of your life story, but you didn't talk too much about yourself, mind sharing as we walk?" Hikari asks.

"What would you like to know?" He replies. Seeing everyone awake he activates the enchantment on the tent to collapse it down into a bag the size of a large bed roll before walking out with everyone close behind.

"Physical appearance, favorite foods, whatever really." Serena says.

"I was about 6'2", black hair and impossibly rare red eyes. Albino humans had red eyes too but mine were unique even among them... But somehow many didn't take much notice." Iskandor starts.

"And now you have black scales and red eyes... I doubt it's a coincidence." Lar says.

"I agree but I'm not sure what the significance is." Iskandor replied. "In my younger years I was a bit overweight, but due to reasons you wouldn't quite understand yet I lost a lot of it. The best way to describe it would probably be a game that you send your mind into... Keep in mind that statement isn't entirely accurate but due to my mind being elsewhere I wound up skipping meals. After a while my friend cut me off from the game so I went back to one of the few things I enjoyed, creating. I was great with my hands when it came to tools. Only in those moments could I achieve greater precision than a surgeon doing an operation on their child."

"What was the game about?" Hikari asked.

"It was fantasy, or on Earth it was, here it would be akin to the everyday. Due to my fascination with dragons I chose to be the race most closely related to them, I actually didn't look much different in the game than I do now... Kinda suprised I didn't notice that parallel until now... Rosemary was never an area mentioned in the lore of the game, Kitsune suprisingly didn't make an appearance and such, so I can't be in the game turned reality." Iskandor explained with some paranoia towards the end. "Anyways... As a human I could eat more or less anything, being an omnivore, but that isn't any different from humans here. But due to the vast variety of foods and the ability to become picky about what foods we do and don't eat I wound up having a very poor diet... Luckily my tastebuds as a dragonborn seem much different."

"You should recreate some of the foods from Earth, maybe something that had meaning to you." Serena suggested.

"Well...For most of my life my meals were almost always one of two things... One of which was only because I could get so much of it for so little, it was called instant ramen. It came in these cups you put boiling water in to cook the noodles and add some seasonings for flavor. Otherwise it was ordered Pizza, Bread topped with tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni. If I ever had a little extra I'd make one with ingredients I bought, I never got to making it from scratch however..." Iskandor explained, soon after his stomach growled, loudly. The next thing they heard was the howl of wolves.

"Arent wolves supposed to be nocturnal?" Iskandor asked, drawing his sword.

"Apparantly these guys didn't get the memo!" Serena replied, drawing her sword.

"Perhaps something antagonized them." Lar suggests, also preparing to fight.

Hikari is the last to draw her weapon and not a moment later a dozen wolves appear from the Southeast, they seem aggressive but out of fear rather than hunger or protection.

"Should we attack? Or should we let them make the first move as they seem afraid of something?" Hikari acts.

"Lower your weapons, but don't sheathe them, be cautious." Iskandor says, sheathing his sword instead of lowering it. He take slow, cautious steps towards the wolves. "Hey there, no need to be scared. We won't hurt you if you won't hurt us, do you understand?"

Suprisingly the wolves seem to understand the meaning of the words, even if they don't know the words spoken. Despite this they still remain overly cautious.

"Are any of you hurt? I may be able to help." Iskandor tells the wolf he assumes to be the alpha. The alpha looks towards the back of the pack to an injured pup. Unlike the rest of the wolves who are dark gray in color this cub has black fur, it's eyes are swollen shut and is being carried carefully by another wolf.

"Do you trust me to help?" Iskandor asks.

The wolf sits and looks at Iskandor, somehow he can tell what it wants to convey.

"I may not trust you, however the pup will hinder us while we flee. If you can help we will be grateful, if not we will be forced to abandon him. We will mourn him, yes, but the pack comes before any one individual." the wolf seems to tell him.

"I'm not sure how I can understand what you are conveying to me, but I understand your words. I can help him recover but he probably will still slow you down until he is fully healed. I am willing to raise him in your stead and let him decide whether to come back to the pack, stay with me or find his own way." Iskandor tells the alpha.

"It would be for the best. We wouldnt be slowed and he should survive. I respect you, if you follow your word you can call on me and my pack to help you if we can. I, Ulmer swear on my honor."

"Thank you Ulmer, I will raise the cub, does he have a name?" Iskandor asks.

"No, we name our young later in their life, when they have proven they can survive. It is so we don't become overly attached so that if they held us back we aren't as affected." Ulmer explains.

"You can be on your way, I'll do well on my word." Iskandor confirms. As he finishes his sentence, the she-wolf carrying the pup walks forward and carefully places him in Iskandor's hands.

"To form a permanent empathy link on a creature with a mana core you place a drop of blood on it's head. All animals have one, even if they remain unused or dormant." Serena says, seeing the exchange even though she only heard one side of it.

"Ulmer, you and your pack have earned my respect, not everyone can pass their child off to a stranger when it's necessary. If you ever need my help I, Iskandor, shall do my best to give it."

"We will be on our way then, the temporary empathy link should end by sun down." Ulmer explains quickly before heading off.

"Serena, I'd like you to explain empathy links later. On another note should we see what was causing their fear or go onward?" Iskandor asks.