CHPT 19: Fear

DING!

[Additional Quest Complete! You have reminded the wolves of your position in the pack!]

The wolves immediately moved out of Claude's way in a rush with their tails between their legs. "...About damn time." He thought while dragging the buck through the damp forest grass towards the injured wolf, feeling the light burn in his quads from the weight of the deceased animal.

He sat down next to the wolf, as he got closer he could hear how hard the wolf was panting. The sight caused him to reflect on the situation as a whole. "These are the effects of not having someone to lead? They would've let him die due to their starvation.....they were almost mindless..."

Now that he was close enough to see how hurt the wolf was he realized it wouldn't be able to get food itself, he reached for his tooth dagger at his waist and clutched nothing but air. "Awe shit!" He said as he remembered the buck knocked it off of him.

Panic quickened his breaths and slicked his palms as he scratched his head in a nervous gesture.

"OUCHHHH!"

He recoiled inwardly at the pain of cutting his head. As he brought his hands down to see what could have hurt him he remembered he had longer nails-- claws. "I'm not that stupid, am I?" He questioned as he felt his warm blood pool on his scalp.

"Alright buddy, I'm no butcher but I'll see what I can do." He said before beginning to aggressively rip at the bucks back legs to get the thick and meaty hindquarters.

After feeding the wolf multiple strips of meat he began to hear a crackling sound coming from the wolf's stab wound over the sound of the strong night winds blowing. He looked to where the sound was coming from and saw something incredible.

"W-what?"

Claude eyed the black smoke flowing from the injured wolf's stab wound. It's injury seemed to disappear with the last of the smoke dissipating from it. The wolf got up and licked Claude's face as if it was never hurt.

He beckoned the other wolves to come eat, they hesitantly trotted over and slowly began to tear pieces off of the buck in a rush to alleviate their intense starvation.

He walked away from the sounds of the wolves tearing flesh and bone from the buck, stopping only once reached the center of the clearing, out of the shadow of the forest trees and looked up at the night sky while he felt the cold night breeze against his bare skin, "Hmmmm, where the hell am I?" He wondered seriously as he bathed in the dark serenity of the night.

He opened his eyes after hearing the Wolves padding through the grass toward him. The wolf that tried to turn the others against him previously was now leading the other five with a long dripping red slab of meat in its jaws. Once the wolf reached Claude it dropped the meat by his feet and they all sat tongues lolling and tails wagging faintly.

Claude took a breath through his nose and immediately caught a whiff of the gamey meat, it set his senses on fire and before he knew it he was tearing at the meat with his teeth like an animal, the taste was.....amazing. Electrifying in it's variety of intense flavors and soft fleshy textures.

"Wait...this is wrong." Claude thought in absolute revulsion as he threw the rest of the meat back to the wolves who gobbled it down gladly while he urgently wiped the blood from his mouth and tried to ignore what he'd done.

DING!

[Quest Complete! You fed your injured pack-mate. In the process you reverted (The Starved) back to (The Phantom Wolves).]

"Phantom Wolves....that sounds pretty badass to be honest."

Claude looked at the wolves and saw that black smoke now billowed down from their muscled bodies in dark misty rivulets like a never ending shroud. "That's new." He said in surprise.

He stopped and looked in the direction behind him as he began to hear birds continuously flying up and out of the forest in flocks towards him, like something was startling them.

Claude was terrified, as if deep down some part of him knew what was speeding through the forest towards him, the wind stopped blowing so he wasn't even a little cold but his arms were riddled with goosebumps and his teeth chattered repeatedly, the clicking of his teeth and his own heartbeat was all he heard— aside from the birds, in the vast moonlit clearing as he waited for whatever was approaching to reach them.

CAWWCAWW!

CAWCAWW!

Birds burst from the trees in front of Claude that outlined the clearing him and the wolves were in. "It's here." He thought as he began to get cold sweats.

After a few agonizing seconds he wondered why nothing was happening. He looked over the forest in front of him trying to find bestial glowing eyes or gleaming white teeth but he didn't find either. "All I see are trees...so why am I so shaken?"

"ARRGGGH!"

Claude suddenly felt an immense blast of fear that sent him to his knees and held him there. He fought against his own body trying to stand and face whatever was doing this to him and the wolves who were now also laying down with their eyes shut and ears pinned back in submission. All he could do was lift his head slightly.

He kept fighting until he was able to get into a position so he was kneeling on one knee. He started to scan the forest in front of him with a newfound sense of urgency.

As he was beginning to tire from resisting the effects his immense fear had on his body, his head began to hang lower. He now scanned the bottom halves of the great thick forest trees in front of him, he noticed two looked rather odd.

"T-those are some weird looking...oh my god." He said as he saw that the bottom of two so called trees had large sickle clawed paws covered in thick wiry black and grey fur.

The incredibly long wolf-like legs emerged from the forest and into the clearing silently.

He couldn't see its face but he could feel its eyes scanning him entirely. Wherever the gigantic beasts eyes went he could feel the hair on his body stand erect like it wanted to emerge from his skin and escape the beasts burning gaze.

"Hehehehe..grrrrr....I like this onnnnnne....grr...they don't usually resist like thissssss."