A New Friend

Ian walked around the wolf territory for almost an hour, trying to find some wolf bodies. But it seemed to have been cleared of all the bodies. Within that hour, Ian had only found 7 bodies. He traveled deeper into the territory and only found a handful.

It took him almost three hours, but he eventually gathered 15 bodies. He still had plenty of room in his wagon left. He finally chose to go to the cave and collect the bodies there.

As he walked there, Ian thought of what happened in the cave. The memories of seeing his brother and best friend getting hurt. The memory of the black wolf standing over him. And the memories of killing the wolf pups.

However, there was a memory that flashed among the others. Ian could barely make out. All he could see was himself standing in an alleyway, looking down at something with a face of horror and despair.

Ian had a confused face as the images flashed through his head. He didn't know what they were or where they came from. He looked down at his hands and saw they were shaking. 

Ian paused for a few seconds. A ringing sound started to fill his ears and his heart started to pound harder. He tried to move forward but his legs also became shaky.

He had no idea why his body was reacting in such a way. He tried to figure it out but his mind was going blank. Only a few words popped into his head.

"You promised." Ian's mind was filled with those two words. He was on the verge of having a full-fledged panic attack and he didn't know why. Try as he might, he couldn't calm himself down.

Right as he was about to teeter over the edge, he heard something coming from a nearby bush. Its leaves were rustling, making Ian snap back to reality. He almost instantly went on high alert and silenced himself. He waited and watched to see what would jump out of the bushes.

After a moment, a squirrel jumped out from in between the leaves. Upon seeing it, Ian put down his guard and thought, "Oh, a copper back squirrel."

Ian stared at the squirrel for a moment before thinking, "It looks to be copper ranked…perfect! I can get a lifeforce point from it easily."

Afterwards, Ian dashed towards it with his dagger ready to attack. The squirrel tried to run away from Ian but it was too slow in its reaction. Ian quickly appeared next to it and cut its head off.

Ian picked up the squirrel's body and threw it onto his wagon. He then grabbed onto the wagon's rope and continued walking towards the cave.

It took him a few minutes to arrive at the cave. Once there he left his wagon outside and walked into the cave. He had his lantern in front of him lighting the way. He was scared to find something else in the cave. But the chance of that was unlikely.

It didn't take long for Ian to come across something. He found the body of the blue pup closest to the entrance of the cave. Walking a little bit forward, he found the white pup's body. He walked further into the cave and finally found the body of the large black wolf.

Ian took a moment to inspect the wolf's body and found out it was a female. Upon realizing that, Ian thought to himself, "She must have been their mother. That means the wolf leader was their father."

The realization sent a chill down his spine. If what he thought was true, then it was a good thing he killed them. That way none of them would try to seek out revenge.

Then suddenly, Ian remembered the black pup. He remembered not killing it. But then he thought about it. It had been almost two days since he was in the cave and with how weak the black pup was, how it would survive. Especially without food or water.

Ian grabbed his lantern and walked over to the nest to check on it. He expected it to be dead but deep down he hoped it was alive.

When he got close to the nest, Ian heard something. The sound of something chewing through flesh. It was hard to hear but he was able to notice it.

He stepped carefully, making sure not to alert whatever was eating. His lantern lit the way for him, allowing him to step around the cave gravel.

Once the lantern lit the surrounding area, Ian was able to spot something. It was the green pup. But something was off.

The green pup's body was moving like it was being nudged. What's more, the chewing sound was coming from it. But Ian couldn't see anything eating the green pup.

Ian was on edge. He wasn't sure about what to do next. If he could see the creature or even sense any danger, then there were two possibilities. 

Either it was a high-ranking creature that could turn invisible, or it was a small high-ranking creature. Regardless, the fact that he couldn't sense any danger put him on edge.

He kept walking slowly towards the body, hoping not to disturb the creature. After walking around the body, Ian finally saw what was making the noise. To his surprise, he was met with the sight of the tiny black pup ripping into the green pup's abdomen.

Seeing that it wasn't a high-ranking creature, Ian put down his guard. Once he calmed down, the realization of what he was seeing hit him. He never expected the black pup to eat its own sibling to survive.

He knew this black pup was a fighter but this was beyond anything he had imagined. But in a way, this seemed justified.

The black pup was badly injured and malnourished. The fact it had lasted this long was surprising. Even though Ian couldn't tell how old the pup was, he knew it had suffered a lifetime of abuse and this was its revenge, or so he thought.

Ian did not disturb the pup, instead, he sat near it and watched it eat. He wanted to observe the pup and learn how strong its will to live was. He did not plan to kill it, but he didn't plan on letting it go. He just waited.

After a couple of minutes, the black pup finished eating and was turning back to its nest. But as soon as it started turning, it stopped. The pup started to sniff the air around it. 

Ian didn't know what it was doing but he did not move. He kept watch as the pup sniffed around, almost like it was searching for something. Eventually, the pup stopped and turned to face Ian.

Its eyes were barely open and could hardly see. To the pup, Ian only looked like a blurry black figure next to a light source. It could not tell what it was looking at. But the scent it was smelling was familiar.

It took a moment to process the scent but once it did, the pup's tail started to wag. It began to crawl towards Ian with its tail wagging happily.

Ian was surprised by this. He was not expecting the pup to come towards him let alone wag its tail at the sight of him.

Ian stood up quickly and backed away. He didn't know how to respond to this. The sight of the pup happily crawling towards him was not something he was prepared for. It caught him completely off guard.

Ian took a moment to think. He needed to process what just happened. But as he did, the pup reached him and began to rub its head against Ian's shoe while letting out small whimpering sounds. It snapped Ian out of his thoughts.

The sight of the pup happily rubbing its head against Ian's shoe conflicted him. He originally planned on taking the pup with him if it survived. But he was stun-locked. He couldn't help but stare at the pup.

After a long pause, Ian crouched down and started to pet the pup. The pup seemed to enjoy the pets. Its tail wagged faster with joy.

Upon seeing this, Ian began to smile. The sight warmed his heart, and deep down he said to himself, "You've had a hard beginning to life, but don't worry, I'll take care of you from now on."

Afterwards, Ian picked up the pup and held it close to his chest. The pup seemed quite happy. But, the pup was using too much energy to show its happiness. After Ian picked it up, the pup calmed down and fell asleep in his arms.

Ian found this adorable. But he needed to finish his work before anything else happened. Ian placed the pup in its nest and went on to collect the bodies. However, he did not collect the green pup's body since half of it was eaten.

Once he placed all of the bodies in the wagon, Ian went back towards the nest. He wanted to take the black pup with him but he didn't know how. If he just had it in the open, many people would question him, especially Erik. He had to hide it.

Ian removed his bag and began to rummage through it. He pulled out clothing, food, daggers, and other items to make room in his bag. Thankfully the pup was small and would fit easily. But he also wanted to make it comfortable for the pup. He removed his daggers and placed them around his belt. He only had a few pieces of jerky left so he ate it. He placed everything else at the bottom of the bag and placed his extra pair of clothes on top to create a cushion. Afterwards, Ian walked to the nest, picked up the pup, and placed it in his bag carefully. The pup fit perfectly in the bag with enough room to toss and turn in.

With that taken care of, Ian grabbed a hold of his wagon and started heading back to the village. It took Ian 4 hours to return back to the village. He had to move a bit more carefully since he was alone and didn't want to wake up the pup. Thankfully he didn't encounter anything on the way back.

When he arrived at the village, Ian saw the mountain of bodies cut in half. It was no longer as big as before but it was still pretty large. 

Ian unloaded his bodies and returned his wagon to the farmers so it could be cleaned. Afterwards, Ian ran back into the forest to look for a safe place to leave the pup. He couldn't keep it in the house or in the village and risk it being killed.

However, as Ian ran, he was spotted by Kevin. Kevin wondered where Ian was going. He expected him to rejoin the group after he returned but seeing this made him curious. He sneakily tailed Ian, hoping to find out what he was doing.

In the forest, Ian was running around looking for a safe hiding spot to leave the pup. He had ventured into these woods many times and knew plenty of hiding spots. But most of them are too small to be a long-term home.

After running around for an hour, Ian finally found the perfect location for the pup. A bit deep into the forest, there was a massive tree that stood over 10 stories tall. Its trunk was 2 meters thick with a small opening at the bottom. The opening was large enough for one person to fit through.

The opening led into a small cave that was around the size of an average two-car garage. The walls of the cave were covered with roots and the floor was made of stone. It was almost like an average basement but instead of brick walls, it had root-covered dirt walls. And just like most caves, had small openings that let light in.

Ian had found this spot a while back and was planning to make it into a hideout. But since he'll be leaving for the academy soon, he never ends up going through with it.

Ian removed his bag and opened it up. Inside he saw the pup still asleep. He carefully removed the pup alongside his clothes and placed them on the floor. Then he pulled out a small wooden bowl and filled it with water, placing it near the pup.

After that, Ian climbed out of the cave and planned on bringing it food. But he suddenly got the feeling that something was watching him.