Werewolves

Karina noticed that something was wrong and looked behind him only to see that the other four remnants aside from her and Arthur are becoming a little bit dazed. "Snap out of it!" she spoke in a loud voice to get their attention but nothing happened.

She looked at Arthur and signaled for him to shake them awake. She thought that with her water barrier they would be safe but it seems that she underestimated the aura inside the forest.

Arthur unceremoniously slapped the four remnants on the face to wake them up. Exclamations of pain were heard one by one the moment that his hand landed on their faces.

"Did you really need to slap them too hard?" Karina crossed her hands on her chest as she raised her eyebrows at Arthur.

"I did that for the effectiveness," he answered with a smug look which only earned him a glare from the other four.

Karina looked at them and spoke in a serious voice, "Be careful, it seems that I underestimated the power hidden in this place. I did not expect that you will still be affected by the hallucination effect of the energy in here. I've already tripled the barrier around us so be sure not to stray from us."

Dreigh and the others nodded, they could feel that the heavy feeling they felt at that moment slowly eased. From that time on, they did not let their guard down. They've walked for hours and did not have the time to rest. Their attention was focused on finding the source of the mysterious power in that area.

The woman leading them stopped and the others followed. She scanned the area with squinted eyes and so did Arthur. "What's the problem?" Vira asked a little bit nervous. His eyes were darting all around.

"Someone's here," Karina answered while gesturing for them to stop talking. The group formed a tighter circle and readied themselves for an incoming battle.

The rustling of leaves and branches being broken alerted them that someone or something was on its way towards where they were. More rustling were heard and they could already hear heavy footsteps. Behind the dense foliage a hand with sharp nails immerged followed by a body slightly covered with fur. The creature had long hair and golden eyes. Behind him were other creatures with the same features.

"Humans," a gruff voice came from the first creature that appeared. His sharp teeth were exposed as he spoke. He seems to be the leader as the others did not move. The creature moved forward and approached them. "What brings you here?"

"We are looking for something and we mean no harm to anything in this place," Karina spoke with a steady voice. The creature saw that the woman was not frightened at their appearance but he cannot speak for the other four who was as stiff as a tree but the other man was also calmly looking at them. The leader instantly knew that they were not ordinary.

"Are you looking for the keeper?" the leader asked to test what they were actually looking for.

Karina observed the other and concluded that they might be the protector of this forest. This half human, half wolf form can only be achieved by the purest bloodline of a werewolf clan. It only means that these werewolves must have belonged to one of the original clans of werewolves that managed to survive in the Prism Continent.

She thought for a moment before she carefully answered. "We heard from a local legend that a light spirit resides in this area and wanted to come and see if it is true."

"And what do you intend to do if the existence of this light spirit was real?" the werewolf leader once again asked without any fluctuations on his voice nor on his face so Karina can't guess if the werewolf knew about the light spirit.

"Nothing, we only came to explore and leave after we prove if this legend is true or not," she answered without wavering. The leader felt no signs of deceit from the woman's answer. He squinted his eyes in thought before he gestured for his subordinates to make a path for them.

With this action, they knew that these werewolves indeed know about the light spirit and are seemingly willing to show them the way. They were a little bit unsure at first but still followed the now leaving werewolf leader. Karina did not take down the water barrier for assurance and the werewolf did not say anything about it.

After many twists and turns, they finally reached a small village. The village was simply built with small huts made of bamboo and leaves that are not familiar to them, distributed around. The small houses were also surrounded with a plant with leaves very similar to the material used to cover their houses and curiously enough they have seen this plant many times on their way to this village. It has slender solitary trunk that bears prominent leaf scars and clothed with beautiful grayish woven fibers in the upper part below the crown. There were also spiny stalks that support the rounded, dark, glossy green leaf blades that spread out grandly from the center of the shaft and opens to a full crest divided shallowly at the ends forming its round fan-like shape.

It was their first time seeing this kind of plant and was amazed at how beautiful it had grown in a place with messed up energy fluctuations. So far, most of the plants or trees they have seen have black spots on them or just plainly dead. So to see something thriving in this place was simply astonishing.

Curious eyes were directed at them as they were led to a much larger house which was still built with the same materials as the other houses and ushered to table of food. The leader of the werewolves also returned to his human form which was a man with sharp features and deep-set eyes that looked at them with mixed emotions.

"Is there something wrong?" after some hesitation, Dreigh spoke which caught the man's attention. He looked at him for a little bit longer before he shook his head.

"You should eat first. I'd assume that you did not have the time to rest or eat on your way here." The man gestured at the table full of food and nodded at them before he left.

No one touched the food on the table in apprehension. They did not understand the attitude of these werewolves towards them, they appeared like fierce beasts but the moment they mentioned about wanting to see the light spirit on the legend, they suddenly changed their attitudes and lead them to their home.

"I suppose these foods aren't poisoned right?" Endo smiled as he looked up and faced the other people sitting with him.

Nobody answered but Dreigh picked a piece of meat and ate it. They looked at him with shocked eyes and waited for anything to happen but nothing happened. Without talking, they all placed food on the provided plates for them and certainly enjoyed the feast prepared for them. It was like the werewolves had already expected them to come that they had a decently sized hut prepared for them.

They wanted to ask the reason for this welcoming gesture but before they could ask, the werewolf that had led them to this resting area had already gone. Six pairs of different colored eyes looked at each other in confusion. Karina immediately sent her water spirits to roam the inside of the house to look for any traps or spells that might endanger them but found nothing. She deemed it safe and nodded to her subordinates.

On the table was a pile of mats for sleeping and folded blanket prepared for them. One by one they placed the mats on the ground and found their own places. A wave of fatigued suddenly struck them once they sat down and unconsciously lowered their guard. Karina and Arthur watched this seen and frowned but they did not stop the others from lying down and getting some rest.

This may not be ideal but they might as well as take this time to regain their strength since the werewolves had no intention of attacking them at the moment. Arthur and Karina chose not to lie down and instead they sat and leaned on the wall. They closed their eyes in a sleeping posture but their senses were still on high alert and even their spirits were still roaming inside the house they were currently in,

In a hut not far from where the remnants were resting, the leader of the werewolves was talking to two other werewolves regarding the matter of their guests. They had been talking for the past hour and had not come to a conclusion yet.

"Are you sure that we should let them meet the keeper?" one of the wolves asked for the tenth time now. He disagrees with the leader's decision and wanted to convince him not to let these people approach the keeper.

The leader nodded, "the keeper had instructed us to let him meet anyone who wanted to see him and not to stop them."

"I know but what if they are like those other people who only came to harm the keeper?" the same werewolf once again spoke with anger.

The leader shook his head and raised his hand to pat the werewolf's shoulder, "I know. This is the keeper's only wish and if they mean him harm we will protect him with our lives."

The werewolf who opposed stopped talking and accepted this argument. The other werewolf did not talk but nodded his head to show his agreement. "Tomorrow I will lead them to the keeper. Instruct our warriors to be prepared."