Summer of the Wolf: The Beast Inside

"In each of us, somewhere in the depths of our souls, lives a Beast." Silver spoke, looking carefully at the faces of his students. "Definitely a Beast, with a capital B. Some will never know about its existence, leaving the Beast to sleep and not calling on its power. Someone knows that there is something inside him, ready to take control if necessary. And someone – then refuses to accept it as part of ourselves."

Another lecture from the leader of the pack became a breath of fresh air for Danil. After a three-day walk through the endless forest, he needed rest, especially mental rest.

"And there is another type of people – us. Those who know about the Beast and want to accept it. Take its power as our own."

Unfortunately, his need for rest was taking its toll on his focus. The teenager openly nodded off, although such speeches were precisely needed in order to kindle interest in the hearts of children. Danil was not interested in such words; he was already going to extract as much knowledge as possible from the old werewolf.

"So, let's begin." Silver suddenly said, causing Danil to raise his head and collect his thoughts. "This may sound obvious to some of you, but during meditation you should not think about anything. Of course, the first dozen times you will not succeed. For beginners, it will be easier to think about one thing. About the color gray, about melody that refuses to leave your mind. The most important thing is not to think about unnecessary things."

Silver's gaze settled on Danil.

"For those who already practice meditation, there is another piece of advice. Seek the farthest corner of your consciousness. There will be no thoughts, experiences or emotions, only primal instincts. In this place you will find the Beast."

"What should we do when we find it?" Sarah asked, causing Danil to look at her with interest.

He thought that the girl was already in contact with her Beast, having received vertical pupils like Silver's from the deal. But apparently, that wasn't the case. Maybe it was just a feature of genetics?

"It's entirely your choice." Silver answered. "Submission, cooperation, defeat, deal or takeover. The options are endless and only you can know what is right for you."

Sarah nodded and closed her eyes, trying to think about the color gray. As gray as a rabbit's fur... or a cloudy sky...

Danil made himself more comfortable and crossed his long legs under him, calmly closing his eyes. For a while, his chest was still rising up and down with his usual breathing, and then slowly stopped. The monster boy didn't take a breath for the next couple of hours.

Opening his eyes already inside the expanses of his own mind, Danil stretched his arms to the sides and stretched his neck. The familiar action calmed his nerves before facing the unknown. Now, he looked like a cross between an enderman and a human, with sharp black claws instead of nails and pieces of black skin in seemingly random places on his body.

Finding yourself inside your own consciousness is much easier than people imagine; it was much more difficult to navigate there. Tightly woven memories and emotions hid behind them notes of sensations that you had experienced before. Echoes of old traumas settled on the web of consciousness like black dust, moving apart only if you focused on it.

And all this was just a superficial consciousness. All the memories here were either very fresh or too important to be forgotten for a long time, you just had to reach out to find them.

Danil did not linger; he needed to get deeper. The threads of light around him began to part, allowing him to lean forward into the more distant corners of his mind.

Thoughts slowly began to speed up, becoming simpler and gradually turning into instantaneous impulses that immediately put commands into action. What exactly these commands were was not worth thinking about, because the human brain did much more than anyone could imagine.

The depths of the mind were a strange place not to be in for long. Here was the subconscious, that part of a living being that made decisions even before you could realize it. If superficial thoughts looked like an intricately woven web, then this place was more like a spider's lair. Confused and chaotic, full of little nuances that made people think the way they should.

Danil never went further than this point. The moon once warned him that he should not change anything in the work of his own consciousness if he did not want to lose himself.

So, he went around the spider's lair and headed further.

Only a minute later, he suddenly realized that he had found the place he needed. Around him lay a field full of lush green grass, and in the blue sky without a single cloud, the Sun and Moon shone brightly. The weather was whispering to lie down on the ground and rest, but the unnaturalness of this place stopped Danil.

For starters, he didn't feel the wind on his skin, nor did he feel the heat from the Sun. It was difficult to feel something when you didn't have a body, only a representation of it created by you. But Danil didn't care much about this.

He wasn't alone. Someone else was in the world of instincts, standing only ten meters from the teenager.

At first, Danil thought that it was the Drifter invading his mind again to see his progress, but this theory died as quickly as it was born. The Gone God didn't need to invade anyone's mind, just to talk, he could easily appear anywhere and anytime.

The final nail pierced the coffin lid as the creature spoke.

"The Free one... And so soon?" He sounded surprised.

Danil knew this voice. Only it didn't evoke any pleasant memories, at all.

"And you are a fucking exploiter who hung five hundred quests on my soul." The teenager muttered in response, but was sure that the old enderman would hear him.

In any case, he was not going to come closer; he was irritated by the presence of someone else's consciousness where it should not be at all. How many times could this old man influence his choices while he was here?

"Still as weak," said the enderman, ignoring Danil's words and starting to step forward. "But smart. Free, and this is important. Weakness can be corrected."

Danil blinked. Although, rather, the world around went dark for a moment and came to life again, only the enderman was now standing right in front of the teenager.

"Your questions." He said quietly. "Ask three."

For a long time, silence reigned between them. Three questions, three answers, this is exactly the deal the enderman offered. It was useless to ask for details; it seemed to Danil that it would be a waste of the chance to find out more. No restrictions were indicated, but what was worth asking?

"I don't believe that you are doing this for free..." He said doubtfully. "Why do you need me? To kill that strange creature that keeps you under control?"

"Only the Free One can set us free." The enderman answered monotonously. "Freedom for me and the others, that's my price, but you would have freed us without answers. Two."

Danil cursed quietly. Instead of a clear answer, he received even more questions.

"There are too many old people in my life who want something from me." He grumbled as he thought about his next question. "Who should I free you from? The Ender Dragon? I need to know who I'm facing."

The Enderman didn't answer immediately. He stretched out, towering over Danil, like a mountain above an ant. In his current form, Danil finally understood what it was like to look at a monster twice your height. By remaining himself in his mind, he lost the advantages of a monster, but retained his humanity.

"Two." As a result, the enderman repeated. Apparently, there were restrictions after all, the old man just decided not to talk about them. Danil didn't argue.

"If I meet your enslaver right now, how long can I hold out?" It might have been a stupid question, considering that even the enderman thought he was too weak, but he needed to know.

"Until they notice you. Then five seconds. One."

Danil frowned. He could teleport away from attacks, damn it! How could he only last five seconds? It didn't make any sense!

Taking a deep breath out of habit, he jerked his head. He still had one last question left, he had to choose it wisely. But there was a lot of choice.

Where did the endermen race come from in the world of Harry Potter? Who were they before their mysterious enslaver came? Where did he even need to go if he wanted to kill this 'great evil'? Was it worth killing him at all? What if, once freed, the endermen go to war against the human race? Maybe we should just give it all up, take the Lovegoods out of Britain and live somewhere on the shores of Australia?

But that's not what Danil asked. As a result, the answers to all his questions will be found themselves, sooner or later.

"Why would I free you? You say this with such confidence, as if this is my destiny. All I want is to regain my form and meet my family again. I don't need to get rid of tyrants for this."

This time the answer was immediate.

"That's why you'll free me, human." For the first time, mockery was heard in the enderman's voice. "If you want to return the body, you will kill the tyrant. If you want to return to your family, you will free my people. Only the Free One can do this."

The figure of the old enderman began to flicker like a mirage. It seemed that he could disappear at any moment, simply disappearing into thin air, and both understood it.

"Get ready." The enderman gave the order. "Gather your warriors. Become stronger. Meet the Beast. Kill the tyrant."

With the last words, the enderman finally disappeared, leaving not even a hint of his presence. Danil was left alone again. But not for long.

At first, it was an inaudible whisper of apprehension, so quiet that you had to strain to hear it. Then the second one joined him. And to him the third. And again, and again, until the whisper of dozens of voices grew into a cry of fear and rage directed at the teenager. Here he was clearly considered superfluous.

And following the voices, the Beast appeared.

He did not grow out of the ground, creating his body from dirt and grass. He did not fall from the sky, smoothly descending on white wings. The beast appeared over the horizon, as if returning home after a long walk.

Probably, when hearing the word Beast, and even with a capital B, people imagined an animal. Huge, dangerous, aggressive and cruel. A bear-sized monster with blood-red eyes, ready to tear any living creature in half.

Only the Beast was not a monster or an animal. It was a man. Completely naked, with the anatomy of a Ken doll, but human.

Danil looked at the Beast as if spellbound. In front of him stood his exact copy from the previous world. Short brown hair, a straight nose with a mole at the bridge of the nose, pale lips through which ran a thin, ragged scar from being hit by a stone... The only difference was his eyes.

The Beast's pupils were cold and empty, without a hint of color.

But even so, Danil could see fear in them. Fear of your instincts towards yourself; fear that he had become part of the Beast long ago, but he stubbornly refused to show it. Tens and hundreds of voices did not stop, they only became whispers again, as if watching what would happen next.

The beast bravely looked into Danil's face, refusing to back down. He was ready to die for his world if necessary.

"I recognize myself." Danil slowly extended his open palms to his chest, trying not to make sudden movements. "You know why I'm here. You're a part of me, no matter how much the Wanderer changes us. So why are you afraid of me? I don't wish harm on myself – and you."

The Beast was silent. Instincts could not speak at all, only give signals. Now, the voices have fallen silent one by one. Primal instincts and those that he had earned in his short life himself were waiting for his avatar to respond. There was no threat from the intruder yet, or it could have been avoided.

And then Danil took a risk. He extended his right hand to the Beast. Slowly, carefully, as if communicating with a barn cat.

The beast stared at her with empty eyes, and then turned and disappeared without uttering a word.

You couldn't earn someone's trust with just a few words, it was impossible. People and animals did not give their devotion to anyone just like that.

"That's to be expected..."