553 CHPT 553: Arrive in Style…. Primal Style.

Thursday, Early Morning. April 1st, 2241. Location, To be explored….

The rising sun felt like a cold shower— colder than the Ocean as it split the thick clouds and ripped orange-purple streaks across the sky. Colder than the Moon, that once sizzled the skin beneath his fur…. Scales ….. flesh— whatever he shifted into during the loud night.

During the run across the ocean. A run that had come to a close hours ago. His speed was theres. And the enemies? Their speed was no more.

Claude pulled a piece of cloth out of his teeth as he sat on the main deck of a Pirate ship.

The giant wooden beams holding up the sails pressed against his spine, sending heavy vibrations through him with ever gust of wind.

He almost couldn't hear it over the heavy breaths of the slaves in cages across from him. Opened cages. They wouldn't exit.

He remembered his father telling him some would jump in the water, despite how much worse it could be in the deep. But not this time, not when the King Mosasaur swam so close. Close enough to rock the boat as its fins ruffled the waves beneath them.

The Silver Cursed laid atop its back in a twisting huddle, exhausted— slowly retreating to their human forms in a gross and gut wrenching process. All except the Crocodiles who swam in the monstrous Sea Primals orbit like Gnats.

They had stamina. Regular Crocodiles could surf for weeks. He was glad to find they were no different…. Aside from the much larger bodies and sabered poisonous teeth.

Claude held his hand out to them. Focusing— ignoring the smell of blood and humans that flowed from the ship. Pushing them into their own minds were sleep crept onward. He could almost see the magical bonding threads in the corners of his vision like fractal light. Like they were reaching for the world beyond through his mind. Still on the hunt.

Pushing them away— folding them in on themselves, felt like trying to bend steel as thing as hair and as strong as a sword.

As he did so, he watched the world beyond through the King Mosasaur's glassy eyes.

The waves were calm. Tinged with red. Frothy like warm spittle.

"[Do you know what this is called?]"

"Moon Water." Claude replied. "Helena mentioned it…. I think.. It's unique to these waters."

"[You're sharing a mind, I don't doubt it. Just remember, folding wire… but never letting it touch.]" Arne replied, reminding him what to imagine to keep the others at bay.

"Like the Druid spiral…." Claude mumbled as they watched a whale explode out of the water before splashing back below.

The oceans for a moment were as crazy as the night. Swishing, seating, violently rocking the boat until his butt hurt against the hard wood.

But then the waters calmed. And land was visible. For the first time in a whole hellish night.

By the gods it was worth it.

So worth it.

It was beautiful.

Not overtaken by human greed and monetary gain. Not run down and caught in the structures of the Old World. It was, both modern and untamed. It was refreshing and horrifying.

Green stretched forever in sweeping hills and cliff sides. Against the calm red waters littered with floating viscera it stood out that much more.

Dense clouds and hot fog rested over the peaks and valleys. Split only by massive rainforest trees and buildings where the city resided. Pterodactyls the size of Horses flocked like seagulls, divebombing into the green for their breakfast.

In the center of all of it, a massive statue of a man with hands outspread jutted towards the early morning sky. Claude couldn't see its face, or much of its body due to the giant Snake bones coiled around it.

"What the hell..."

"[Titanoboa, The Unredeemable.]" Arne spoke.

"…."

"[When the first Tangents opened here, they spit out Primals. It's said that the first thing done was the overtaking of that statue. No idea why… could be a crock of shit. I mean bones don't last that long out In the wind. Tourist attraction?]"

"I'll keep an open mind." Claude pushed at the fractal lights. It was getting easier as the sun rose higher.

Claude whistled down to the crocs, "Dive, we're approaching land."

The Crocs disappeared beneath the red waves soundlessly.

The Mosasaur veered away from the ship, following his guidance clearly.

Claude continued to meditate and observe for the next hour.

Then, his reality returned. His (Eyes of the Wild) faded, bringing him back into his own mind. His eyes stung, bloodshot arcs of veins spiraled around his green irises— making his Lupine form all the more horrific.

The lights were blinding—

The sounds.

Sensory overload plus a Full Moon feast hango—

"[Cutting it close there, mate.]"

Claude burst to his feet, tripping as he burst open the floor beneath him and falling into the bottom deck.

The remains of what he'd done welcomed him.

Removed arms. Guts decorated the windows where cannons once jutted out from. A single head lay at the center of the floor.

His stomach grumbled.

"Fuck…"

With one long furbound arm, he reached up and pulled himself to the upper deck.

The Slaves smelled so strongly of fear he couldn't even make out their faces.

He walked to their cage. In a blur he lunged at the front most man and ripped off his arm sleeve.

Still reeked of sweat fear, piss and bile. He tore it in half and tied it over his eyes before diving overboard and soundlessly sinking beneath the waves.

The water combed through his fur and massaged his skin, peeling away the dried blood and dulling the loud world.

Even so, he could hear the Coast Guardsmen yelling as the ship of slaves hit their port.

He cringed, realizing he forgot to slow the sails, causing the Pirate shit to slam into the wooden docks and blow out a few floorboards in a million tiny splinters.

Fittingly enough the commotion pulled the Guards away from the waters beyond as they prepared to defend their post.

Claude rose from the water, walking on two feet. A WereLion strung over his shoulder, sleeping. Behind him, the Hybridized WereWolves— looking more like grey skinned wild men appeared the same. Than the crocs with the Tigers.

The remaining men guarding the gates into Tierra Primazon stood slack jawed. One moved to yell as Claude summoned Overfang.

The nearby world silenced as everything fell beneath its pressure.

The Shifters rushed past him and filled into the Amazonian world. They hung to the steamy trees as Railcars similar to The Sunlands whistled through the jungle pulled by Panthers on vine leashes.

Above, the Pterodactyles he'd seen before were more clear. Speckled skin and mounted by Man. In constant oversight of the jungles that would be infinitely more deadly otherwise.

The deeper they went, the more lax security became as they entered the true untamed. Past city and more until lush green was everywhere.

Miles grew in their wake until they found their way to a cave. It echoed as they slept. Claude finally took off his blindfold after marking up every entrance he could find.

The tiredness cut into his back muscles and legs with deadly claws.

He smiled internally, remembering a similar instance he went through with Ursula. He missed her.

Almost there. He just needed to find a Guild Hall… a portal— anywhere. Then he could get back to them. Find the General. Find safety.

"Soo…."

Claude didn't even get to finish his words as he drifted in the cave.