CHPT 32: Who’s shirt is this?

Claude and Conroy parted ways once they were back on the training field. He kept thinking about what he smelled at Prof. Galens door and imagining horrible scenarios of the Professor sprawled out on the floor with his organs out and splattered across the room, or catching Jack— who seemed to be out "sick", eating the Professor like a rabid animal as he turned and exhaled his putrid breath into Claudes face.

Claude shook himself off anxiously, saying, "stop overreacting, it could be a dead animal....maybe Prof. Galens into taxidermy or something. I'll just bring it up to Prof. Brennan when he gets here."

Claude scanned the field for Ursula. Looking for an unnaturally muscled girl with two battle axes was fairly easy so he found her fast, but to his surprise she was talking to someone he hadn't seen since the redwoods.

"W-Warren?" Claude said out loud in confusion as he watched Ursula converse with him.

Despite warrens dark complexion, he looked pale and even from where Claude was standing he could see the bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in forever. He wore black and brown light armor and had a short green cloak over it all with a quiver full of well made arrows on his back.

Even though Claude couldn't hear what the two were saying, Warrens sad and sunken face combined with Ursulas understanding expression told Claude, Warren was making some sort of apology. He decided to approach them instead of starring creepily until they noticed him.

"I just don't think what I did can be forgiven...but I still want to apologize." Warren said to Ursula.

"He's more forgiving than you think...I think." Ursula said.

They both turned as they heard someone approaching. Warren gasped in surprise once his eyes fell on Claude. He walked towards them with his thick black eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

Warren began to feel increasingly more guilty as Claude came closer and the damage he sustained became more visible, the most apparent was his left ear and the scar under his eye.

"C-Claude....hey man." Warren said with a shaky voice.

"Hey Warren, were you just reborn?"

"Uh...yea yesterday to be exact..apparently Tai was too."

"Huh?" Claude said in surprise as he looked around until he spotted Tai on the wooden platform back in Samuels shadow. He looked pretty much the same but he wasn't wearing heavy armor like him and Samuel usually wear. Instead he was wearing a black and silver sleeveless robe with a flashy silver, black and gold scepter.

"He's a mage?" What are the chances of that?" Claude wondered since it seemed like the system completely ignored his personal characteristics and combat experience once it made him a mage of some sort.

"Listen Claude, I know there's no reason for you to forgive me. But, I still need you to know I'm incredibly sorry for what happened in the redwoods."

"Yea don't worry about it." Claude said without looking at Warren.

Warren walked away with his head down silently and waited by the door that took you into the University.

Ursula watched the conversation with pure disappointment in Claudes social skills. "Do you not understand how you look most of the day?" She asked angrily.

Claudes newfound self consciousness was revived by her question causing him to look away from her as he responded, "I-I don't look in the mirror much."

"Yea, well you should smile more.....or make facial expressions other than....that." She said as she pointed at his face.

"Why?"

Ursula looked at him like he was an idiot. "Because you left Warren thinking that you want nothing to do with him. Do you know how in danger he is since he was JUST reborn and now has to go into a Tangent?"

Claude suddenly understood the situation. "Well, that's not what I meant."

"I think you should tell him that." She said flicking her head in Warrens direction.

Claude and Ursula headed to where Warren stood with a lost expression on his face.

Warren heard footsteps and turned to see Claude approaching him with Ursula by his side giving him an encouraging smile that somehow seemed natural on her deceptively cute freckled face.

"I...Erhm..I think you should stick with us in the Tangent." Claude said.

"A-alright, thank you."

***

Claude and the reunited members of team 7 spent a few minutes stretching and warming up until Prof. Brennan finally left the building and walked onto the training field. All the students fell silent as he walked out with a bald man in silver armor close behind him.

"Ok everyone, there's a D ranked Tangent south of here you guys will be going in as your first Tangent run. You all have no reason to panic, the worst species you'll face are low level goblins and similar species. I've seen what all of you are capable of and I'm sure that you all will do great as long as you work together."

His words seemed to calm the nerves of the silent students, but others wariness would only be quelled once they were inside and saw it for themselves.

Prof. Brennan pointed to the man next to him and began speaking again.

"This is Bradley Smith, he works as a Knight with the SkyLight Guild and he's a very strong fighter so your all in good hands if anything goes sideways."

"You all can call me Mr. Smith." He said to the class.

"Alright! Now get out there and represent on behalf of the great Phoenix!" Prof. Brennan exclaimed proudly.

With that Mr. Smith clapped his hands to gain the attention of the class. They were soon in a line behind him heading south and through the forest farther behind the training field.

***

After walking through the small forest for a couple miles silently, they ended up in a field that led to a steep hill. Students all through the line stopped to look at the Tangent that stood atop the hill. It looked like the result of something ripping open reality itself with its jagged and uneven appearance. The Tangent glowed an ominous hue of blue that seemed to stand out stronger as it got darker outside.

Warren stood at the back of the line with Ursula and Claude in front of him. He was terrified to put it simply, a voice in his head kept feeding him thoughts that were like fuel to the fire of his fear. He kept having to wipe his sweat soaked palms on his pants, eventually the aggressive wiping of his palms got the attention of Claude.

"Warren, you have to relax. Your job is simple, keep your distance and rain arrows on whatever's in your sights. Ursula and I are your line of defense, so have some faith in us." Claude said with Ursula nodding in agreement.

"Right, shoot and stay behind you guys." Warren said finding relief in the fact that he had a team backing him.

The team realized the rest of the students began moving again and sped up to catch them.

Once Mr.Smith was at the top of the hill he waited until the rest of the students made it up before speaking.

"Ok guys, I can see right now how scared some of you are. so if you feel like it's too much, just stay by me." He said simply while looking at a group of girls that huddled together closely.

"Great. He's a creep." Ursula said to Claude.

"Now, let's enter." Mr. Smith said as he stepped into the Tangent.

VWOOMP!

The portal made a weird vacuum like noise that startled the students. Eventually batches of teens began to step into the glowing blue tear in reality that was the D ranked Tangent entrance.

Group after group entered shakily until Warren, Ursula and Claude were left.

"This is where it all begins, guys." Ursula said before entering.

VWOOMP!

Warren stopped right before entering as he noticed Claude wasn't moving.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Claude didn't answer because he was busy working with his system. During their walk to the Tangent Claude remembered he had 3 stat points to spend, and now would be a perfect time to do that.

He looked over his stats thinking about how to spend the points...

He eventually decided to put all three points into strength since it was his lowest stat aside from accuracy which wasn't important at the moment. His strength stat was now sitting comfortably at (15). He could almost feel his muscle grow and adjust to their new strength.

Now that he was done with spending his points he was ready to go.

"What the?" Claude said stopping in his tracks.

Warren turned and saw Claude looking at the floor with a confused expression. "Come on man, now is NOT the time to be noticing scary shit." He said.

"Uhh....sorry, too late." Claude replied as he stared at a print in the grassless ground near the Tangent. It was a footprint..literally. "Who came all this way barefoot?" Claude though as the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise.

"I didn't think I'd be saying this, but can we go??!!" Warren pleaded.

"Y-yea let's go." Claude said as he took his eyes off the footprint and followed Warren into the Tangent.

What they didn't notice were the combat boots sitting in the grass nearby.

***

VWOOMP!

Claude stepped through the Tangent entrance and bumped into someone's back. Nobody moved once they stepped through, they all stood in a group seeming to take in the area.

Nobody noticed, but the tangent entrance behind them flashed an evil shade of red before disappearing, meaning this was wasn't a regular D ranked Tangent anymore, but a Deviant— a Tangent that poses as normal but as soon as a team steps in, it closes up and changes rank.. it can go all the way up to the Mythic level. The odd thing was everyone should've been notified that this wasn't a normal Tangent, but they weren't.

They were in a sort of coniferous forest. Tall pine and sequoia trees stood like dark natural pilllars at the top of hills and mounds in the long and spacious grassland they stood in. Little patches of forest stood in the distance.

A few minutes passed and Warren began to shake and furiously tap Claudes shoulder. "L-l-look!" He said as he pointed deeper into the grassland where a throne could be made out but barely.

"Someone's there!" Warren whispered to Claude and Ursula who was now listening in. Claude looked at the throne and realized a black figure was indeed occupying the throne, he could only make out a vague shape.

It took up most of the throne and had two points on its head like....horns...ears? Claude couldn't say what he saw to be honest.

"CWAAAAAK SAMUEL CWAAAAAAK!"

Everyone jumped as a Nighthawk—birds with the ability to copy human speech, flew above them saying what sounded like Samuels name. They all watched the giant black bird fly over them screeching his name.

"What the hell?"

Students began to wonder why and how a bird knew Samuels name.

"Alright let's get moving, we can't stand around all day." Mr. Smith said.

***

After they ventured deeper into the field and closer to the throne he began to wonder if the apparition sitting on the throne was real, it seemed unnaturally still, even from his current distance.

"I could see better if I had the eyes of a- ....oh yea." Claude thought as he used his skill "(Beast Trait)" and gained the impressive sight of the Nighthawk. His eyes began to glow green as they took the shape of a birds.

His vision immediately increased as everything looked clearer and zoomed in. He looked at the throne with his new sight and noticed the being sitting there was gone, there were chains connected to the stone arm supports that seemed to be broken...like something broke free from them.

AUUUWOOOOO!!

KRASH!

A bone chilling howl split through the forests silence followed by a lightning strike that lit up the sky and started a light drizzle of rain.

The students now shivered as fear rooted itself in their hearts like a deadly poison. The howl spoke to the most basic parts of man, it spoke to the part of man that spent millions of years being hunted. They all felt it...they felt themselves becoming prey.

GRRRRR!

A deep and menacing throaty growl came from behind the group.. Everyone spun around but saw nothing.

"Everyone form a circle, NOW!" Mr. Smith said in a panicked voice.

The students began to make a circle as they shook with fear. "Any archers with vision skills, use them and try to locate whatever's out there." Mr. Smith directed as he looked into the forest where the growl came from.

Warren used his vision skill "(HawkEyes)" and began looking around, his bow followed the movement of his eyes with panicked urgency.

A couple seconds later all the archers started to vomit and cry hysterically.

"Warren, what is it? What did you see?" Ursula asked.

She only received quiet sobs from Warren so she looked to Claude for answers. "Hold on." He said as he used the "(Beast Trait)" skill again.

He scanned the forest until he saw what the archers did, he now understood there extreme reactions.

As everyone slowly noticed Claudes glowing eyes focused in the direction the growl came from people began to ask questions since he didn't seem completely traumatized like the rest.

"What the hell is it, Claude?" Samuel asked.

He didn't even know where to begin.

What he saw was what looked to be an unholy union between man and beast. The beast had a tall and lean build, even though it was covered in wet black fur he could see the muscles rippling with power underneath. It had large veiny fur covered hands with 6in black claws that seemed to retract in and out with anticipation.

As Claude looked up towards its face he noticed it had a wolf-like appearance— sporting pointed ears and a long snout. It's black lips were peeled back into a sinister smile full of razor sharp teeth, saliva coated it's canines causing them to shine brightly and its baleful yellow eyes screamed with hunger.

Claude took all this in as the beast padded towards them— sometimes on all fours and other times on its two wolf-human hybrid feet and legs. As it came into view everyone went silent and those starved yellow eyes fell on Claude.

The beasts sinister smile faded and it began to tilt its head back and forth the same way a dog does when it's confused. The furious yellow eyes seemed to die down as a glimmer of human intelligence settled into them.

"Claude, does this thing know you?" Tai asked as everyone became suspicious of him.

Claude ignored Tai's question as he continued to stare at the beast thinking about how much the two gray streaks of hair on its muscled wolf-like head reminded him of his father.

"RRrrrrRmmmm"

"RWAAAAGHR!"

The beast broke out of its confused trance with a shake of its head. It's yellow eyes were back to their previous wild yellow glow as it let out a hideous roar.

The students bolted immediately after hearing the roar. Ursula, Warren and Claude ran through the tall grass at the back of the group. Claude spared a glance back at the beast and realized it wasn't chasing.

The beast was on its knees punching the ground and grabbing its head...almost like it was frustrated or fighting an urge.

ARRRROUUUGGHR!!!

Another howl broke through the forest sounding more aggressive and less like a wolf.

The beasts head perked up at this and it looked wild again as it dashed towards them on all fours. Claude was startled into running with newfound stamina.

They all ran with the beast close behind them until they were in a grouping of trees and greenery that made up a small forest.

"Where is it?" Mr. Smith asked as he looked around. Claude and his team moved deeper into the forest as they looked around trying to find any indication that the beast followed them into the forest.

"Ouf!"

Claude made a noise as he tripped over a clump of fabric.

"You ok?" Ursula said as she helped him up.

"Yea." Claude said as he got up and looked at what he tripped over. It was clothes. The clothes belonged to the University and they looked to be the clothes guards wore under their armor.

"Waiiiit a minute." He said as he picked up the clothes and brought them by his nose. He sniffed and caught the awful smell of decay and blood that reminded him of Jack.

A pair of bright yellow eyes opened in the darkness of the forest behind one of the female students near Claude. A large clawed black hand reached for the girl and ripped her throat out in a flash.

SHRIP!

The students turned to face the sound and saw her limp lifeless body hit the ground as her blood leaked out into the dirt.

The beast stepped out of the shadows and Claude was now positive it was Jack because the smell of blood and decay was so strong and thick on the air it was hard to breathe.

Jack was no longer the short and scrawny man with wild eyes, he was now covered in black and grey wiry fur that was speckled with raindrops. He had a similar build to the other beast, but he was shorter and bulkier. His greasy black hair now hung down around his head and below his snout in dirty black clumped strands.

Claude was the closest to Jack aside from the dead girl. Before he could make a move, Jack burst from his position knocking Claude over in the process.

Jack dashed over to Samuel before anyone could react and ripped the armor on his left arm off. Samuel began slamming the hilt of his sword on Jacks monstrous head as he yelled, "Get the hell off me!" Right next to Jacks ear.

To Claudes surprise, Jack reacted more to Samuels yelling than his hits.

"Sensitive hearing." Claude thought as he began to get an idea.

Mr. Smith charged in and Jack caught him by the throat with one clawed hand— all while he still held Samuel against a tree.

"ARRGHH!" Ursula yelled madly as she charged at Jack who was overpowering Samuel and Mr. Smith.

CLANGG!

The sound of armor colliding rang through the forest as Ursula hit Mr. Smith— freeing him from Jacks grasp.

During this time the Nighthawk flew in circles above Claude waiting to work with him. He used his skill "(Beast Assistance)" and spoke to the great bird, not in the language of man, but the unknown and unspoken language of a bond.

The Nighthawk received Claudes message and swooped down towards Jack. As it got close to Jacks pointed ears it let out a deafening screech.

SKRAWWWWWK!!!!!!!

Jack was stunned as the noise obliterated his eardrums. He now staggered and fought to stand. Samuel kicked Jacks heavily muscled midsection and he took a few steps backward towards Claude.

Claude dashed in closing the distance and swung heavily with adrenaline fueled strength at Jacks thick fur covered neck.

Swoosh!

Jack ducked but not fast enough. Claude cleaved his ear clean off, Jack reached for his ear and yelped in an almost human voice. While he was distracted by his pain, Ursula and Mr. Smith charged him.

AARP!

Jack yelped again as he was sent into the air due to the power behind the combined charge of Ursula and Mr. Smith.

Jack rolled in the air doing a backflip and landed on his feet, he turned and took off on all fours.

"Jack! You killed Prof. Galen didn't you?" Claude yelled, causing Jack to turn around and look at Claude.

"YyyOuR INterEssshhtinG....MayBE THe GIFtT SHhouLd GO to ThE tHRee OF youuuU." Jack spoke in a broken and unnaturally deep voice that made Claudes skin crawl. He looked at Samuel, Tai and Claude before taking off.

"What do you mean "Jack"??" Samuel said as the students began to look at him warily.

"I smelled blood behind Prof. Galens door and noticed that Jack was out sick...I thought it was....odd."

"But how did you know that...thing was Jack!" A student asked as he looked around the forest in a paranoid manner.

"He left his clothes here." Claude said as he pointed to the pair of guards clothes behind himself on the forests dirt floor.

"Then whose clothes are these?" Tai asked as he held up a purple torn shirt.

Claudes heart dropped as he looked at the purple shirt and immediately began to smell his fathers natural lavender scent.

He stomped over to Tai and snatched the shirt from him, he looked inside the shirt and saw writing on the collar of it.

"Who's shirt is it?" Ursula asked Claude as she noticed his face took on an expression of horror.

"Nobody you know."