Miles and miles away on the other side of the mountain
The old wolf, Rael, knew he was not alone anymore. His nose didn't work like it used to, neither his eyes but his senses did, and he could feel it in the air. The electricity, the stillness of it.
His human, Varian, is almost too weak to think from starvation.
At the edge of a desolate clearing stood a crooked figure draped in tattered robes, the wizard of dubious repute known as Malakar. Of course, they did not know he was a wizard, but they could tell he was some sort of powerful.
They'd only met the creature NEVER before. But the skinny frail-looking man with the thin long black and white somewhat lengthy beard was familiar to them, and though Rael was startled to come across the tatted cloak-wearing man, the wolf did not show it. At least he thinks he hid his emotions well. See, Rael and his human had been dreaming of the wizard weeks before. And he'd always pointed towards the waterfall- which is where they were right now.
Of course, Rael and his human had been hunting and not conscious of where they'd been heading, until the old wolf felt the chill in the air.
Malakar's appearance was as twisted as his mind. His back hunched unnaturally, and a wicked smile curled at his cracked lips as his eyes, glinting with a mix of cunning and malevolence, met the old alpha's gaze.
"You're punctual, Varian," Malakar croaked, his voice dripping with a false cordiality that belied the calculating mind behind it. He was near the last of his arcane ability and this old man was his last option. "Call me Malakar."
Rael and Varian were almost lost for words. The man knew who they were.
Varian spoke to him inside his head. Though Rael could tell something else was on Varian's mind, other than hunger. He seemed excited to chase after the rabbit and not the usual sense of urgency that he should feel at the sight of food.
Rael told him to hold on a bit. He wanted to get a better sense of the man to see if he really knew what they were. As far as he could tell, the man simply must have overheard a conversation where someone called a wolf Varian. He was Varian, his human was. He was Rael, the wolf.
Then the man with the wicked smile went on to talk about the forest. The plants he adored and the power the earth had. The old wolf, Rael, seemed bored after a while and his eyes darted towards the back of Malakar where a rabbit appeared, and the old man began to chase behind it.
Malakar figured it was the wolf sense in him. Besides, he knows they were half-starved.
Rael's mind was focused on food. Varian was starving. It's been nearly two days since they'd eaten anything, and they knew their end was near. They'd lived a full life- though they had regrets, they wouldn't change anything other than if they could redo the past and not give up on his people.
Technically they didn't, but yet they did.
Irritated when the black wolf seemed to be fragile-brained to the wizard, Malakar snapped the swift small brown creature's neck without even moving a centimetre. He then twisted his long-boned fingers, turning his palm over as if he was bored. Even added a fake yawn. "For a werewolf, known to be so swift that even the wind dares to not mess with your speed, you sure make it seem hard, huh."
Okay, so he does know who and what they are. But what is this about the wind thing? Rael wasted no time in gobbling the meat down and squinted his eyes at the cloak-covered one. While he was embarrassed, he did feel the need to prove he wasn't as useless as the wizard made him feel and shifted to his werewolf self.
Not a wolf, not a man but a creature in-between.
"Ugh, the horror," the man known as Malakar, did a fake horrified look when he changed into his true self and tsk-ed. He mocked the beast that stood over him by nearly a foot taller and broader and more feral than the wolf.
It confused Rael. As a werewolf, he no longer had a backseat here. It was just him thinking now and-
The man closed his eyes for a few seconds and Rael counted six more rabbits coming towards them and then the man raised his chin- boom- all the rabbits lay on the moist moss-covered dirt floor, d*ad.
"I don't waste time," the old man replied, his voice deep and guttural, reverberating with the power of his former alpha self. "See you, when you er, have yourself in check, Varian. I have a grand plan."
They didn't see him for another week.
"You said you had a plan." Varian in his human form, sat exactly where the man met him the last time. The man hadn't come into his line of vision yet but the air told him, he was there.
Rael remained quiet inside him.
Malakar's eyes sparkled with mischief when he came out from behind the green trees. "Indeed, I do. But plans require cooperation, and, of course, a suitable reward." He needed a body. Preferably a young one.
"Speak plainly, wizard. What do you want?" The old man did not want to be here, but his dreams came every single night this week of the man bidding him to come here again. Rael felt it needed to be looked into- at least to see if they could solve the hunger part. He kept thinking about how the man had given them the rabbits.
Right now, his people were suffering, living like paupers near the end of the forest- miles away from any sort of civilization.
Rain began drizzling then but both men didn't take much notice.
"Only a small boon," Malakar said, his fingers twitching as if he were already grasping at his prize. "Once we bring down your rival pack and its alpha, you will grant me access to the ancient ruins within your territory... the ones buried beneath the Blackstone Mountains."
"The ruins are forbidden," Varian growled. "No one enters them."
Malakar chuckled softly, the old man's words telling him that the fool had no idea he knew they dwelled within the caves. "Come now, old man. Surely you must see the benefit. With your pack as the undisputed rulers of the region, I will merely take what is of no use to you. Power that would be wasted on a pack of wolves."
The wizard circled the man, watching his wrinkled feeble form. "I could give you your desire and much-"
"I desire to restore my pack to its glory days." His end is near. Well, nearer now, with this injury, than before he had gotten it. He could have felt it which is why he supposed he'd been getting these dreams. At the start, he'd thought he had been losing his mind as one usually does when death is near, and that death wanted him to come at the waterfall... even when he'd seen him the first time. Varian had been under the impression that was the person that led to the afterlife.
He'd figured he'd had one last chase- the rabbit- though he was already starving, he figured death could have taken him then and he would not have minded.
This Malakar man, he did have that typical death appearance, after all.
"Yes-yes-yes, I'm certain you can achieve it with your brittle bones." Malakar took on a bored tone and rolled his eyes, examining his slender fingers mockingly. And just as he anticipated the man at once changed into a wolf. These creatures and their tempers, tsk, tsk, tsk, so easily manipulated.
With agility only a young person could move with- no he wasn't disguised as an old man, he really is old but he had magical powers- the wizard used his cane and tripped the old wolf who howled with the blow. Only it wasn't a simple trip, the old man was now lying bleeding on the ground.
He's intentionally made him bleed to get his meaning across.
"How about better agility, hmm? I can make you powerful again. You're an alpha without any strength to lead yet command. What can you do with this incapable weak body? Hmm?"
It was rhetorical.
Varian, the man within the beast, mulled over the wizard's words. He knew of the ruins Malakar spoke of, an ancient site whispered to hold great power, but also great danger. Yet, the wizard's offer was tempting. The rival pack, led by cunning and ruthless alpha after alpha, had long been a thorn in his side. Though he and his pack had come to terms with it now and so the old wolf didn't consider anyone his rival now.
Seeing that he was making no forward movements with the old man, Malakar decided to use his family instead. Malakar despises selfless people- they only proved difficult to work with. But they always had a weakness. "I'm sure the disease is doing your pack well, hmm. Very well."
This old one would be easier than most.