66 LESSONS IN LIES/LINEAGE IN LUPINES

Talking felt like such an unserious recommendation...

He needed a moment to be in awe. To cry and shout and question alone. But that wasn't possible. They were stuck in a Goblin-Tangent run by a Shamanic Necromancer. Who was still at large— plotting how he'd kill them this time knowing they just overwhelmed the boss's greatest undead creation.

He couldn't process. Not in his usual ways. He faced his problem in the flesh. In relation.

Part of his mind just wanted marvel at the spectacle of Gil Grey, the Lupine.

He was huge. At least one hundred and fifty pounds heavier and a foot and a half taller than his human form. Dark brown fur like that of a warhound covered him from head to toe. The grey streaks on the side of his head remained. He smelled like winter and wet dog. Despite being labeled as something wolf-like, there were elements of him that weren't.

His claws were at least semi-retractable. They shrunk and extended as he seemed to think on what to say nervously.

His eyes weren't slitted like a cat, but they too shrunk and expanded as he looked from shadowy pockets to valleys of light behind Claude.

It left Claude with more questions. Ones he couldn't ask due to Gil breaking the silence.

"I suppose I should start with an apology."

"Me too." Claude blurted out.

Gil turned his head— like a dog. Causing Frosty and the island dogs to do the same across from him. "Awe kid, what for? I've been lying to you for your whole life….. and you probably had to find out while you were in those island games. I can't imagine that was easy. Or fair. I hope you can understand, I thought I was protecting you. Myself as well. I worried you'd tell a friend or write something in your classes and that would be the end. I suppose that's a bit insulting to your intelligence—"

"Is this how I sound when I spiral?" Claude asked.

"Yes." Ms. Oracle replied.

Gil's jaw hung open as he looked between Claude and Ms. Oracle. Instead of looking like the terrifying monster he was, he looked like a oversized kind of humanoid dog.

"I just... I'm sorry." Gil said and then held out a hand, motioning for Claude to go.

Claude misunderstood the gesture and took Gil's pawed hand into a handshake, "I am too."

"What for?"

"I lied as well."

"About?"

"For the past few weeks, I've been being toyed with by a dark god….. or three."

Gil's eyes went wide. So did Ms. Oracle.

"I kept my secrets for the same reason. I also didn't want to stress you further. You look like you don't sleep anymore." Claude said.

Gil snarled and spat in the dirt, "Don't you hate it?"

"What?"

"Secrets?"

"I get their function. They've helped me. They can add up though…." Claude replied as he pet the adolescent gremlin-cat in his lap. Frosty stood up with his front paws on Claude's shoulders from behind to peer over him and watch the creature with incredibly wide eyes. At any other time it would've been funny.

Gil shook his head, "They rot you from inside. I've treated my own son as a sort of enemy. I'm done. Between me and you, there's no more secrets. You shouldn't have to hide a dark-god scouting you. That's... hell, that's a worse fate than becoming this."

"Is it a bad fate at all? You're strong. You're still….. you." Claude said, suprising even himself with the realization.

Gil shook his snout firmly, "I'm not me. I haven't been me since the day I was savagely bitten by your m—.....ERHM. No. No secrets, dammit. I haven't been me since I was bitten by your mother. I've had to work tirelessly and painfully to even manage this. It's hell, Claude. It's an endless personal hell that draws you into its flames with the promise of a haven of strength at your command."

Claude and Ms. Oracle held up a hand at the same time.

Gil looked between them and his ears flattened with affection, "In another life, you would be Claude's mother... things would be better. We would be happy."

Even with Ms. Oracle's incredibly long flowy dark hair hiding half her face, he could see her blush before quickly spinning around.

Claude wasn't so easily charmed, "You just…. My mom did what?!"

Gil sighed, "May I tell you a story?"

Claude paused, "I know you said no more secrets, but maybe we shouldn't pile on things you held from me for years. I don't know if I can handle that. I don't know if you can either. It might change our dynamic, you know?"

Gil thought on his words, "I'll let you know when something is too much. I'll save it for later. But you will know. I owe you the truth. Now I know it's safer this way."

"Ok."

"I obviously wasn't born as this." Gil explained, "I was born a noble in Arthuria. One of twenty four siblings. Right beside the founding family, the Pendragon's. The original holders of Excalibur before Ronin began his domination of the modern world."

"Twenty-four siblings? My grandma sounds like a sadist….or a victim." Claude said.

Gil laughed, "Your grandma was one of many. My father— The Duke, was an intelligent and monstrous man of unfathomable stature. He had many wives— for the purpose of fathering many sons and daughters. He was a scientist— a revolutionary of many concepts. We were made to be enhanced and divined for specific purposes in breeding pods. It was a controversial and immoral concept. Drove most of my half-mothers mad. But it made my siblings strong. He was the birther of kings and warrior queens."

"How do I not know about this?"

"He didn't want anyone to. They ruled from the shadows for a long time. Political warriors over Tangent-based."

"And you…." Claude didn't understand how they ended up elsewhere.

"I was never Reborn. I was disobedient. I was a typical mouthy teenager— despite my intelligence and love for the research left out in the open world. Within my family there are three houses. At the bottom are the GreyArch's. That's us. He labeled us as unruly, explorers and wanderers… fitting that we could be kept from the others if we were busy traveling the world— and dying. We had potential, but couldn't be with the best of them. Many GreyArch's become explorers—"

"And Tangent Biologists…." Claude realized.

Gil nodded, "Above me, were the GreyCrest's. Economists, brokers, land owners, most of the integrated noble bloodlines rest there. This is where the money was grown and maintained."

"Right….. I'm getting overstimulated."

Gil laughed, "Well, there's only one left. The GreyMane's. The first family. Made up of warriors, tacticians, political powerhouses, top of the line battle-scientists. This is where my father— your grandfather, rested. His name was Dirus GreyMane. Fuck him to shreds."

"Gil, he's only fifteen!" Ms. Oracle shouted. "Language!"

"Oh right. My bad, kid. Ugly memories. I lose sense of time in this form— sometimes it makes them feel like they happened yesterday."

"Really?"

"Side effect of my kind. Time isn't a graspable concept anymore."

"….. that's why we have all the clocks.." Claude realized in horror. "You constantly need the time or you'll lose it. Literally?"

"Anyway. That hellhole of a family dynamic chewed me up and spit me out by the time I was seventeen. I was homeless after schooling. I was a thief for a year or two. I was good. I knew how to charm people— how to win a woman's heart. It's easy. Men are awful romantic partners across the globe. And that only rings truer the richer they are."

Ms. Oracle crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm a witch, you know?"

"Sorry, love. Never said I was a good man." Gil's accent crept up to the surface.

"You didn't have to." Ms. Oracle winked as her scowl melted away.

"Even if I was good, every dog has its day. Remember that for me, kid."

Claude nodded. "You tried robbing my mom."

"Tried and succeeded. At least that's what I thought. Until I realized she let me think I won so she could track me down to my hideout. She crashed the place with a pack of her own. She was a low ranker. A dime-dozen beta. But I recognized her. We went to school together. Haha….. we dated. It was a bizzare twist of fate that held us together by few strands."

"She spared you." Claude said.

"In a way….. your mother was a violent, wild and forward moving woman. There wasn't much that wished to be spared in her path. But she remembered me. I knew how to stop her warpath long enough to get myself out of the way. She wanted progress. I offered it. With my knowledge of how to grow and run families, I implemented new strategies and ways of living for the previously wild Lupines. I gave them more structure and ascension beyond magic. I gave them intrigue and spectacle and culture. To many I was a sign of the end. Exactly against what the great Remus wished. But as we succeeded and our pack grew, fewer whispers of those things fell on fewer ears."

"Remus?"

Gil shook his head, "You remember you told me to spare you?"

Claude nodded.

"Sometime along the way, I found a love for it. Endless research. Studying a new way of life as I became part of it. Abandoned by one family and found by another. I was more than a monster. I was the next step in evolution. All species that have survived this long didn't do it by remaining stagnant. So why should man? The wolves became PitWolves, eagles became sky-screamers, lizards— followers of the dragon. And man? Shapeshifter. Able to Dawn the cloak of beast while maintaining the inner mind of one who's rational."

"I get it…. I think."

"Only there was a catch." Gil said. "In all my love for discovery and research, I missed the growing taint of facism— greed….. eradication of everything different. The more I integrated with my kin the more I realized they weren't turning thieves and warriors. They were giving this power to murderers…. Hitmen. Crimelords. Truly dark individuals. Not to mention, your mother became deathly ill."

"This story has more twists than a salted leech." Claude said.

"She was almost killed by her then beta. But I learned she was pregnant. With you. You saved her."

Claude fought off a shiver.

"She was sick because of the complications. You weren't a Lupine. You clung to the human dna within us. Lupine magic is unlike anything we've ever seen. It's got a mind of its own. It decides if you're fit for the curse. You weren't. In many, it's because they lack aggression or physical strength. Lupines despise cowardice and weakness. I think it was something entirely different in you. I've thought that for a long time."

Claude sat in silence for a moment, "And you're….. here now. Alone?"

Gil nodded, "After you were born, all the upward ascension me and will your mother had was gone. She was hunted— killed I think. I was too but I escaped. With you."

"How?"

"By definition and design, I'm a genius, retired thief and shapeshifter who was given eight months to devise an escape plan, the real question is how not?"

"Fair."

"This is also how I met, her." He pointed to Ms. Oracle."

"Your girlfriend." Claude said.

They both stammered.

"You were just talking about how you knew how terrible of romantic partners men could be. C'mon man." Claude said.

Gil blinked in astonishment. "Yes…. Yes I was." He turned to Ms. Oracle, "Well damn….. Perhaps I lacked self awareness with you."

"I'm sure you assumed you were protecting me." Ms. Oracle replied. "We'll talk, hm?"

Gil nodded.

Ms. Oracle looked to Claude. All his animal brethren positioned themselves to face her as they sat, seemingly giving the witch a salute.

Gil stared, "Where did all this maturity come from?"

"You're not the only one with a girlfriend."

Gil barked, causing Claude to jump.

"The buff girl?!"

"No. What?— she's not from here."

Gil side eyed him, "The ole' she goes to a different school strategy, huh? I expected better, kid. You're royalty. Banished royalty, but still."

"She's royalty too. She's related to The Lion."

Gil coughed up a goblin finger and tried to hide it by quickly throwing it to Frosty to be eaten. "Uhhh… you mean like, the Sunlands? That Lion?"

Claude nodded, "Distantly, yes."

Gil and Claude's facial expressions suddenly swapped.

"Well, aren't we just a couple ladies men?" Gil asked.

"You're alone on that one."

"Says the guy with two princess's on his belt." Gil snarled.

"They're strong women that I've learned a lot from." Claude said.

"Of course."

Ms. Oracle and Gil shared a teasing glance.

"Anyway, why did you go to a witch after escaping?"

"Simple. Two reasons, witches can unbind lupine minds. I was able to escape the connection to The Call. Lupine packs share one mind. The Lupine race shares a higher mind. Think like a conciousness in your conciousness that's involuntary and affects all your senses. Also, Lupines are terrified of witches because they can unbind the magic in their dna and make us malformed with the flick of their wrist."

"Malformed?"

"Deformed mindless monsters. You would've been born as this if you weren't….. you. And it would've killed your mother." Gil said.

"So. Just to be clear. You come from some secret Arthurian Aristocracy of scientists, warriors, realtors and explorers. You were banished for not being Reborn and lived as a thief after graduating from the academy. There you were found by my mother— an old girlfriend who had become a Lupine, and changed by her. From there you guys fell in love and had me. Around this time you began to learn how wrong the Lupines were in their ethics and my mother got sick. By the time I was born, all hell broke lose. You escaped with me and with the help of Ms. Oracle, stayed under the radar for all this time."

Gil nodded, "More or less."

"Family reunion of doom…" Claude joked.

"Not possible. They're all dead." Gil shrugged.

"Wait… what?"

"Lupines are immortal." Ms. Oracle said.

"Dad….. how old are you?"

Gil looked down at his hands, seemingly counting before getting frustrated and punching the earth. "….. Help."

"You are two-hundred and eight-teen." Ms. Oracle replied.

"They all fell out." Gil explained, "There was some big turf war last I heard."

"So you said all that— but it's still just us." Claude said. Something about it was anticlimactic in a weird way.

Gil nodded, "The best outcome. Just us." Gil and Ms. Oracle shared a look.

Gil turned back to Claude, "So….. I know it's almost criminal to ask, but how do you feel? About all this….. about… me?"

Claude sighed, "I'm not sure. It feels like I was being prepared for this. During the Island Gauntlet, every scenario— every interraction I had was like a prelude to this. The fishmen had gods— they had love. The Goblins had fear and family. The Elf begged to be killed…. To be stopped from killing children. Human children. Ursula said some heroes are bad…. some monsters are good. I don't know what the terms mean anymore. Hero and Monster. But I do know you're my dad. You lived a wild life. And you had a chance at peace, but you risked everything for me. You're what I want to be. Even if you turn into a giant dog-man with glowing veins."

Gil fell over and spread out on the ground with a loud sigh of relief, "Ohhhh thank the gods!"

Ms.Oracle leaned towards Claude, "He's feared this day for years."

"Makes sense."

Out of nowhere, Gil got to his feet and roared like a Lion. Claude's hounds were at the ready.

"What?"

"Shaman. He's coming. Alone."

"Not the best sign." Ms. Oracle armored up.

"Even so." Gil spared a glance back to Claude, "Are you ready, kid?"

Roots and vines spiraled up out of the ground, giving him forested armor as he grew claws, fangs and fur sprouted from his face.

This time he was sure.

"I'm ready, dad."