Arne sat in the fractured mind of another. Awake, afraid and enraged. And with all he'd witnessed. The current was what amazed him the most.
Under the moon.
In the midst of Claude Grey's very own Lunar Birth. When his instincts would be strongest as a new Lupine and he was supposed to revel in the hunt….
"[By the gods….. he's still resisting. It's been five hours. And he's still resisting….the moon has to be near its apex by now….. what kind of will is this?]"
Claude shook in the snow. He was down on his hands and knees. Jaws open— every inch of him slowly transforming. His own biology in a vicious skin rending and bone shattering war with his psyche. It was impossible to tell which aspect of him was winning.
It was a stalemate.
An immovable force of mind versus an absolutely unstoppable object of physical might.
His skin darkened, growing thick and leathery in splotches on his arms, back, face and legs. In those portions, thick black fur sprouted. His fingers grew to uneven lengths, cracking and spurting blood as his nail beds tore from the growth of uneven dark claws.
He salivated. His teeth sharpened. His gums blackened. His jaw lengthened into a proto-snout.
He salivated. Ravenously— like a chained beast over a fresh kill.
The kills he made hours before. They were far from fresh. But the pull— the desire he had to eat them whole. To crush the bones and suck the sweet marrow. To lick the morsels off the tendons and pop the eyes between his molars.
It was barbaric. Savage. It was everything he'd seen in his enemies. He didn't want it. He rejected it. He maimed himself, driving his claws into the frozen ground until they tore out of his fingers. He forced his eyes open until he found himself in a sort of dry blindness. He forcibly stopped his breathing in a hundred near death oxygen deprivations until his skull was hammering itself to pieces.
It was dark. Depraved. Desperate.
It was revenge. In a weird sort of way, he was harming the Lupines. He was tearing apart their claws and blacking out their brutal glowing eyes. By doing so to himself.
It kept him going.
It gave him something. Something tangible. The most tangible thing he'd ever felt it seemed like.
But it wasn't enough. He was healing through the self inflicted hell at inhuman speeds. His transformation was beginning to overpower his mind.
His muscles were literally so strong they were beginning to tear pieces of his bone off.
"[Claude….. listen— I don't know you, but I'm getting an idea—]"
Claude roared from an open drooling mouth. A ragged half man noise that echoed through the snowed in landscape.
Frosty whined but wouldn't go near Claude.
Everytime he tried—
"BAcK!" Claude spat.
Frosty yelped and snarled— seemingly caught between far too many emotions for one animal.
A tear rolled down Claude's face. He sniffled. "I can't….. Frost—…. I can't be…. This!"
"[But you aren't.]"
"….."
"[In all your brilliant willpower and combative ferocity, you're a dull bastard, arent ya?]"
"…."
"[Erhm…. Perhaps that was a bit harsh. I told you I wasn't good at this. Just— listen, please. Maybe it'll help you resist. You've been told four times already. You are not….. them. You are not a Lupine of Remus. You, Claude Grey, are something both old and new. Something to challenge the status quo of the world. Of mana itself. You are a Lupine of Romulus. The very last.]"
"Wh—"
"[Aht aht! I need you to understand. The Lupines of Romulus are diametrically opposed to the Lupines of Remus. They go red. We bleed blue. They favor the ultimate feral singularity, we are the savage-divine variety. If they are masters of war, we are bringers of peace. You're the final enemy, Claude.]"
Claude blinked for the first time in hours. His blurred vision cleared.
"[Claude. Before you wear yourself down to a gods dammed paste, try to realize, now more than ever, you have the power to kill them. All you have to do, is live.]"
Claude closed his mouth. He swallowed frosted saliva down his cracked and split throat.
Arne panicked— never having talked someone off a ledge, he continued down his word salad path of motivational quips and ideas. Giving the boy something to grab onto. Anything to pull his mind from where it was.
"[Live Claude. Live for your brother. Live for the fight you can bring to your enemies if nothing else. It's a good cause. A warriors cause. And warriors rise. They're allowed to fall, but what makes them is that they rise again….they endure. Much like the wolf.]"
Claude's fingers began to glow as they sunk into the frozen ground. Fiery green mana flows ripped through the cracks like geysers. Slowly, the ground warmed as fresh nature was born.
Vines and wooden tendrils sprouted from the ground in even bursts as he struggled to maintain focus.
He didn't have much time left. He moved rashly, pouring all his mana and mental imagery into the elemental idea of moving away. From the smells and the tastes and sights.
His body pulsed and the elements surged.
A wooden spike with a hand of arctic flowers burst from the ground and launched him into the air.
Frosty barked.
From there, Claude pulled more from the tree branches in the distance, manipulating them into a braided battering ram that smashed into him, sending him flying off into the distance.
It was all white.
He was all out of just about everything.
[10% Mana Remaining….]
[5% HP Remaining.]
Hit should've hit frozen ground but all he felt was warm fur.
Frosty huffed with irritation.
Claude weakly got to his feet and found Frosty's massive form laying back down in the snow beneath him.
Frosty caught him. He must've tracked him purely by sound and smell.
Frosty got up and shook himself off once before barking a slew of curses at Claude.
"…. sorry, man."
Frosty whined and pushed his head against Claude. As if he too was apologizing.
"I'm better now." Claude inhaled. The smell of blood and flesh was too far behind too many layers of thick ice.
His hands were swollen, bruised and near frost-bitten. His knees were torn apart. A massive bruise lit up his chest. But he felt better.
"Arne..?"
"[Yes?]"
"Tell me more about the Lupines of Romulus."
"[Sure, but first I'd like to congratulate you.]"
"For what?"
"[Your Lunar Birth. It's sacred among Lupines and determines the brand of beast you'll be.]"
DING!
Perfectly on que.
[Lunar Birth Recognized…]
[Youve been assigned the Hunter's Moon Lunar Birth. Also known as, a Huntsmen Lunar Birth.]
[Lunar Birth determines specifics of evolutionary potential and chimeric mana-mutation allocations. As a Huntsmen Lunar Birth Lupine, your stat evolutions will be focused on tracking and attack potency. You'll find that your senses are more honed than your packmates or even that your strength increase during full moons and moments of bloodlust are more exponential.]
"So…. Every Lupine has a different series of focused benefits based on which moon they're born again under." Claude said.
"[Yes. I was born-again under the Buck-Moon. I had increased instincts and aggression. Made me a bloody-terror on the battle field. It also made me an asshole. And unfit to wield a rapier. But I did it anyway…. Because I was an asshole.]"
"I don't get it." Claude said.
"[The Moon, Claude. Among many, it's the most important key to our power. Even more important to us than Remus. It literally pushes us into a state of evolution. Everytime the moon is full, we are evolving as a race. Becoming stronger. More pure. More profound as a lifeform. The moon is like us. A changing race. A race of many forms. And the form or phase of the light that shines on us dictates the way we grow.]" Arne explained.
"Is it like this for the Lupines of Remus?" Claude asked.
"[Claude. I understand you have questions and vengeance firm on your mind, but might I suggest a focus on a more present matter?]"
"No."
"[Bloody hel— you're dying. You'll die of frostbite. You're so deprived of everything that you can't even access your Lupine abilities. Please. Get on your wolf horse and sniff out a tavern or city or a fucking caribou. Let's take it one step at a time.]"
Claude looked down at himself again.
The monstrous form was gone. He was exhausted. His knees tingled. His eyes hurt. Arne was right.
Claude didn't say anything and whistled to Frosty.
The two took five steps before Claude passed out.
Frosty leaned downward and caught him. With a shrug, the massive hybrid flung him firmly onto his back and took off.
The waxing hunters moon watched them as they drifted through the white world, closing in on a city in the distance.
Just a half dead Lupine boy, his oversized god-eating hybrid brother and the spiritual guardian from a time ages before them all.