Werewolf Form

Two days went by at a fast pace and Max used them to learn new things about himself and the new world he now was part of.

He used the first night to measure how many moonlight particles he was able to gather until his body couldn't take it anymore; numbering to 83 particles as his body felt being burned up. That night it was still Dylan's shift as he asked Bryce to let him keep a close eye on Max for the rest of this arrangement.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Dylan asked himself, feeling the room being filled with moonlight particles that migrated towards Max.

"I think it's reasonable, I haven't told anyone else but I think that you should know" Max considered up until now what he should do. Should he tell Dylan about his special affinity or should he not, the last sentence he spoke out loud being his answer.

"The darkness element and the moonlight element are in fact the same but no one noticed. Humans didn't know anything about this element as it was a rare one to awaken while the werewolves thought they couldn't be the same." He informed Dylan with a tint of hesitation, not knowing for certain the right decision.

Dylan's eyes widened, feeling a revelation hit him. It was true that moonlight and darkness might have similarities but just as the thunder and the lightning element he and everyone else just thought they were similar in the beginning but different at the end.

"What happened after you became a werewolf then? What were the effects of becoming a werewolf? I want to know." Dylan then began asking questions and Max answered them, expecting this to be the outcome of revealing such information.

The day after that was the same, Dylan kept an eye on Max while teaching him about different topics about the shapeshifters. Max felt strange as Dylan sometimes stopped mid-way through a lecture and began talking about another unrelated topic. This repeated a few times but Max already understood that he wasn't trusted yet and this meant that he wasn't allowed to know everything yet, just the bare minimum.

Night came by pretty quick and after meditating for a while, doubling the number of particles he gathered yesterday. It was time for him to sleep, his body was a fiery mess but he was still able to fall asleep even under such circumstances.

"Tomorrow you'll meet our leader and you will be judged by him and I think you already know that. I just want to make sure you know our true forms as they should not scare you. When meeting him everyone except new betas will be transformed and for you not to be surprised by them I think you should see one." Dylan offered, he knew that even if Max wouldn't be scared after seeing everyone in their forms he could still be judged wrongly by being unsettled.

"I am tempted to say yes, never saw one but first I have to ask something first" Max responded to Dylan who kept quiet, through which he gave his approval.

"Are you even uglier in that form?" Max snickered while his barely open eyes managed to catch Dylan facepalming himself.

Keeping his palm on his face he opened his eyes which glowed red. His muscles contracting and expanding at a speed visible to the clear eye, his face reshaping as a snout protruded through his skin while even the teeth aligned themselves in a proper position.

Brown fur grew rapidly around his body as the casual clothes he wore were ripped into shreds, not being able to contain the ever-growing individual inside them.

A creature stood on two feet, easily claiming over three meters in height, its body pulsating with power and vitality as all of its muscles were exposed and extremely defined. Dylan was tall before but now he exceeded the limits of being tall, even calling him humongous wasn't an exaggeration at this point.

'That is what they call a transformation!' Max looked at the amazing creature that stood in front of him. Inspecting the changes to Dylan's body that could sustain a fast transformation.

"This is my transformation and how werewolves look generally. A werewolf can be recognized by gender, gear, battle wounds, and fur color, these are the last things you noticed about them tough, the first being their smell. We ha- "Dylan explained as he knew that the difference between them was a bit tricky for a beginner so he tried to first establish an understanding of how to do it, being interrupted by Max wasn't in his plans though.

"Don't tell me you guys sniff butts?" Max felt like vomiting but he had to ask anything he wasn't certain of.

"Who do you think we are!? Some dogs?!" Dylan was truly angered by such a statement; it was true that you might get the wrong idea about things but why did it have to be precisely this.

"I don't know… Sorry for interrupting" Max apologized and Dylan gathered himself once more, starting all over again.

"As I wanted to say, we have a strong sense of smell, depending on your rank and other factors, one being the power of the smell, you would be able to know the general idea of things in an area around you." Dylan felt like boasting a little but even if he did; all he said was true, a strong alpha rank could easily recognize different animals, humans, or shapeshifters in an area of one kilometer around him. This was how they made every beast hunting quest difficulty go down in front of their eyes.

"When am I going to be able to transform as well?" Max was curious about it for various reasons. For one it didn't seem like using the transformation was a waste of time, there surely was some kind of benefit to it. It seemed to empower a werewolf as Max felt Dylan's aura condense itself around him, being twice as strong as before.

"You'll have to get through to your first full moon which is in… about two weeks?" Dylan looked through the open window, giving a raw estimate.

"Really?" Max felt excited, the world of shapeshifters intriguing him even more.

"What about the other races? Do they transform in different forms?" Max then quickly asked, he already knew the answer by a margin as the group was called shapeshifters and not something else.

"Every race has their form, information about how they look and about their race ability isn't available for you yet. I promise that I'll have a lot more information for you tomorrow." Dylan said, signifying this was the end of their conversation as he shifted back into his human form.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll use the bathroom," Dylan said to Max after grabbing some clothes from the floor which were prepared beforehand.

'This is something new' Max closed his eyes while remembering the way Dylan transformed, every change his body made looking like one that exuded incomprehensible pain.

***

Max woke up to see Dylan sleeping beside his bed in a fetus position, sometimes shivering to show that his body felt cold. He felt pity and as he got off from the bed, he took a quilt and covered Dylan with it who seemed to instantly get better.

He left Dylan alone before shifting his eyes to the bathroom. He thought of freshening up and so he did, walking into the bathroom; realizing that Mark was also in here with him. The latter had an expression of anger and fear combined, showing one of the ugliest faces Max ever saw so far.

"What is it?" Max asked, knowing that something was wrong.

"It's nothing, I just thought that it isn't your style to stay so much indoors," Mark told Max just one of the reasons for his worry.

"It isn't but I couldn't leave until today, I'll leave and check around today if it makes you feel better" Max then told Mark with a smile on his face, knowing full well that he might not be turning back after leaving the house later today.

"Oh, that is great! Maybe go and train a little? See how much you improved?" Mark felt more positive about it, it was just a small gesture but seeing that Max was going to leave his room he thought of ways to confronting him about lying, being more than sure that he was forced into something.

"This can't happen today though, I am sorry. I said that I'll go out of my room but that also meant that I'll be busy. We'll for sure spar tomorrow!" Max promised as he finished his morning routine.

"Why not, don't run from me tomorrow then. We'll go there straight from our hours" Mark said as he grabbed a towel, retreating in his own room.

'I'll be sure to see you tomorrow' Max thought while being suddenly scared of this meeting he was going to do.

He went inside his room and looked at Dylan who was still asleep on the floor. It gave Max a reason to crack a smile even though he felt a lot of anxiety pile up. He slowly moved over to the window which was left open since last night, closing it before hearing a voice.

"You shouldn't be so afraid of him. It will lower your chances of being successful" It was Ernie's voice; Max didn't even realize when he got inside the room.

"Don't frighten him even more Ernie, that isn't how you encourage someone" Bryce commented after he closed the door to Max's room with a creak.

They both came today as well and it seemed to be an unknown gathering as even Dylan woke up surprised by the presence of these two.

"We didn't come to bring trouble, it's just… we thought to make it an enjoyable day even if something unfortunate happens later on." Bryce smiled at Max on whose face was written worry all over.