CHPT 446: Full Moon Gazes, The Inferno Blazes….

The Full Moon. A disastrous constant in the lives of the Lupines. In the lives of all Shifters. Well— not WereSharks. The point was, the madness was guaranteed once a month. A madness that could one day be fully harnessed for its power.

Their time had come.

And it was the usual. The moon rose. The aggressive transformation ran its course. Claude fully transformed in seconds. If you blinked, you missed it. Ursula took forty minutes to fully complete her shift and saying it was agonizing was putting it lightly. He would know, being connected to her mind and all.

The pain and trauma of it all left her raw, hard to reign in. But the training had to continue, and she had to know that.

Eventually they were on the move. Amidst their ranks was Cassidy, Diamondback and Loba. The new recruits. Claude didn't want Cassidy to come due to his human nature, but he changed his mind two hours before the moon rose. Call it preshift pack acclimation. More training on restraint. Whatever it was, Claude wanted it. Cassidy obliged.

And so they ran. It was always a good run. For Lupines especially. The running. It removed so much of the negative. Cleared the mind and leveled the instincts. Allowed you to take in the worlds scents without being frozen by them. A new one would emerge too quickly, leave you reasonably stimulated and quietly alive instead of stuck and forced to track.

Running alone was special. Claude remembered it as he blasted through valleys and forests. Nights after battle. After defeating the Raiders, escaping the Dark Ways, saving a village. The run was part of the payout.

And now being so opposite of solitude in his stride, it felt no different. Better, even. The world below vibrated with the stomps of his heavy weighted beastial brothers and sisters. Ursula came up fast on his flank, bashing into and shoving aside Diamondback who fed on Claude's Wild Magic as if it were treats. Loba ran right beside him. A weapon gone unseen.

And as they ran, a possibility that would never go unnoticed appeared.

Blue energy slashed into the earth. Even in the dark of night, Claude could see the spiders crawling through the grass around the Tangent like their home was somewhere inside.

Arachnoids.

But that wasn't what drew him. It was the heavy footprints in the grass. Hooves of massive horses, booted human feet.

Humans.

Claude led them into the Tangent without hesitation.

***

The worlds changed as fast as his shift. As fast as his mindset. In the grand scheme of things at least.

The others came in behind him immediately after, sniffing the air and watching the night.

A forest like the world outside stretched for miles. Bordered by canyons and caves teeming with things skittering along the solid floor. It echoed across the greenery for miles. As did the humans sounds. Grunts and yells. Elemental blasts. Commands.

Claude could smell their fear. The thicker portions of fur running down his shoulders and back stood on end.

"[More than one.]" Arne reminded him.

Claude shook and adjusted the Gnoll snout-guard. It blocked out the smells. Made it easier for him to give the others the focus they lacked.

"Hey partner, what are we doing here. I know you ain't foolish enough to take us into a Tangent full of desperate Night Runners on accident." Cassidy whispered.

"Practice. Practice with restraint." Claude was able to get the words out easier than usual.

Cassidy nodded, "Let's get to it then. Maybe we can find some throat lozenges while we're in here, huh?"

Claude grunted, "Maybe…"

Then he spoke to the pack through their mental linking, and everyone was on the move. Following the scents of something had never been so easy.

They moved through the Tangent, hugging the shadows like they missed them and killing straggling Arachnoids like they hated them. They did. Arachnoids filled the desert of Demons in bulk.

After an hour of travel, they reached the caves and canyons where the spider-folks webs connected the rock world at every corner. Tough as steel and stickier than molasses. Ursula got caught in more than an enough before remembering to use her Element.

It didn't take long to reach their first group. They traveled at the top of a Canyon split by a blood river. In that river the Night Runners went to war with their first horde of what had to be many. They wore low grade armor, much of it crafted from old Monster parts to save money. Their weapons were rune-written as well. Simple amplification and sharpness runes based on how they cleaved through them.

The smaller species of Arachnoid stood no chance.

"Web spinners tend to excel in stealth. Up close battle is the best thing they could've done." Cassidy whispered to Claude.

Claude grabbed Ursula by the back of her neck and pulled her away from the ledge as he nodded along.

All his brain could take in was, "big webs, weak bodies."

"So what exactly is the training exercise here? Being spectators?"

Claude shook his head, "Help. Fight one and defend the other….. don't get lost in the blood… control."

"And who will we be helping?"

"Night Runners. Because fuck spiders." Claude said in his gravely voice.

The others grunted in agreement.

Just as they finished speaking, the groups Tank activated her (Taunt) ability without taking note of the new wave of Arachnoids heading for them from the hole in the canyon behind her.

She didn't have Claude's hearing.

Claude pulled out one of his spears and threw it into the wall closer to them.

FWOO!

CHNK!

They couldn't hear the weapon split stone due to the new wave of monsters descending on the Tank. Claude then jumped off the ledge and threw out his Malevolence Tether. The flaming chain wrapped around the spear sticking out of the wall and allowed him to swoop down over the Tank. With a single swipe and activation of (Second Frenzy). He ripped through the horde like a tornado of claws and fur.

SHHLCK!

And then he was swinging back up to the Canyon tops on the other side.

[+30 EXP]

[+60 EXP]

[+30 EXP]

[+70 EXP]

The Night Runners were so busy fighting they didn't even notice.

Once he was back up top he closed his bloody hand into a fist. The seeds he placed into the dead Arachnoids below exploded into wooden spikes that skewered the ones he missed.

The Night Runners below cursed aloud thinking a new form of attack had met them with a vengeance.

Claude bounded back over to his group, stopping short to crouch down on one knee and face Loba. Under the Full Moon, her camo coat struggled to remain as such due to the way her fur stood on end and steamed with overflowing Lunar Magic.

Even so, he could feel her eyes on him. His follower from afar.

"Your turn."

Her paw prints in the dusty rock was all he saw as she headed for the Night Runners below.

Ursula took off after her only to be caught by Claude. He had to wrap both of his arms around the giant bear-woman's neck to stop her advance.

"Stop….focus. Watch."

Ursula growled and shook off the snow coating her.

But eventually, she gained some reason. The Moon wasn't fully exposed in the Tangent. She watched. Claude could only hope she learned.

This was their final exercise before returning to the human world.

***

Learning. Complex. More so than it seemed. Not everyone was a Potential.

They'd been inside the Tangent for three hours. And three of the Night Runners had almost lost their heads without knowing.

Ursula was struggling. Diamondback wasn't helping. Even so, they lightened the load for the Night Runners.

Following like hounds herding sheep. They stayed distant, focused. Anything that tried to get the Night Runners from outside met the cold touch of Ursula's claws or Cassidy's shot. It was when they got close to the Night Runners that things grew… dangerous.

Like the current moment.

"HEADS UP!" The Knight yelled back to his team from beside his Tank as their Aura's dissipated and they fled from the final horde of Arachnoids.

Their Archer fired flaming arrows like a madman. But the numbers outweighed his firing capacity.

They began running, working to create some space.

"Follow." Claude said to Ursula.

She nodded and they burst from the forest edge.

The Arachnoids didn't have enough time to react as Claude sliced through them with spear and claw.

The others were smashed by Ursula with her hulking frame. The blood that fell on her fur blended perfectly.

The move was to run across and remove the threat without being seen. That required a quickness.

Ursula was quick. But her bloodlust slowed her.

She smashed the remains beneath her fists like an enraged Stone Ape as the stragglers swatted at her massive back, finding that all they could do was remove the spiky ice chunks clinging to her fur.

Claude didn't notice the Archer watching until a bow was already drawn.

"WAIT!"

Ursula looked up at the Archer with his bow drawn. She stood up to her full height of eight feet. Muscles bulging beneath her fur as the winds ruffled her auburn hair.

Cassidy raised his bow as the other Night Runners turned around in confusion, albeit much further away.

Too stunned to speak.

The silence was deafening.

Claude put a hand on the hunters autobow.

"No."

Claude shut his eyes. Fighting off the memories of the time when he encountered a similar situation. He didn't want it to end the same way. With her forced to kill those viewed as Heroes. With her forced to question her own morality and control. It didn't have to end that way.

It was his responsibility that she didn't see it end that way.

Claude forced all the focus he could muster— every ounce of control in him, into Ursula.

"Remember why we're here. Remember where we're going."

Ursula growled as the Archers drawn bow lit ablaze.

In a flash, she grabbed the last Arachnoid behind her by the throat and held it in front of her.

TWIP!

The Archer fired, letting his flaming arrow crash into the Arachnoid she held.

DING!

[Tangent Complete! You have overcome the Cobweb Arachnoid Swarm with your team!]

[Collect your Loot and exit the Tangent!]

[Tangent Completion Reward: Passive Skill (Adhesion Resistance LV1)]

Still none of them had spoken as Ursula watched in the distance. The smell of their fear was drowning. But Ursula was fighting.

She dropped the flaming Arachnoid as loot magically rose from its corpse and dropped to all fours to join Claude and the others.

A collective sigh of relief entered the silence. Maybe it was all just Claude, maybe not. He bumped heads with her upon her entry.

"Mhm." He grunted before throwing out his Malevolence Tether behind him to wrap around Diamondbacks neck just as the Primal moved to follow the fleeing Night Runners.

Claude could've fainted then if he wasn't high off of three different forms of magic. The constant movement combined with the risk of senselessly killing Night Runners on a job was taxing. A wave of guilt ran over him at the possibilities of what would happen if everything went south.

He wasn't a fan of gambling. But it was a necessary evil.

"[Very much so.]" Arne answered. "[Believe it or not, this is how we used to track our own. But we used Raiders, and as a reward for showing control, we let them kill the thieving little pricks. We also did it with Vampires and WereWolves when we were put on guard detail…. but that was for the more advanced folk, like yourself.]"

All Claude got out of that was that Ursula deserved a hunt.

It was time to go.

He gave a nod to Cassidy and then they were heading for the exit.

They got their hours before the Night Runners and left without much more than a trace in the grass.

Once outside, they found the world hotter than usual. The moisture in the air clung to them with misty hands like they were in a forested hot spring.

Claudes fur fell from his skin and his body fat expelled with the rising of steam from his bare black skin.

Lupines of Romulus with their specific shifting strengths also adapted to temperatures quite well. The quicker your transformation was, the quicker you could adjust.

"God damn. You look like a mole rat dipped in Squid ink."

Claude bared as teeth at Cassidy before his eyes snapped ahead.

FWOOOOMM

In the distance, a massive torrent of fire flew towards the sky as if a dragon was walking the streets of SkyHaven.

Orange and as bright as the sun he could feel the heat even from where he stood. Even so, goosebumps ran along his skin.

He could hear a man yelling with the rise of the fire. A echo carrying over many many miles.

Ursula watched behind him, growling at her fathers expression of rage.

She too roared. Letting out a bearish howling sound as snowflakes and icy winds flew from her jaws.

"[I see some things never change.]" Arne commented.

"Yea. Let's get home." Claude thought.

And along the way, with each blast of fire, the reality of their return hit harder. Closer. More intensely. As if they were walking into an inferno…