Annie closed the door behind herself and checked it once, just to be sure. Zero will only return in a few hours, so there was no need to leave any chance for curious cubs to sneak into her den. Annie turned away from the large and tall tower and walked toward the road to the village. Her new master often offered her to stay in the tower, but Annie always refused. Her home, however bad it was, was elsewhere.
Instead of walking down the curved road from the mountain, Annie jumped off the cliff, landing on the road six meters below her. Then she jumped off another cliff. Again. And again.
The village was now visible before her. Darkness ruled the streets of the village. Even the store, the only place where normies were selling various things, food and drinks included, was closed at this hour. The only source of light came from Dragena’s tent. Even from here, the cubs' laughter could be heard, along with the warlord's barking commands for the cubs to behave and play nicely. Dragena rarely showed up in the village, yet each time she did, she always brought various sweets for the cubs: juice, chocolate, even pizzas. All cubs, even those of the Crippled, were welcomed in her tent, and Annie visited her a few times as well. No fighting was allowed. Each cub received the same share of food.
The little ones were sitting around the massive TV when Dragena turned it on and allowed the rascals to watch cartoons. While the little ones were having fun, Dragena herself would loom over them, checking their bodies for cuts and bruises, which were always plentiful. Back in the day, Annie helped Dragena treat some of the wounded, and her reward was a tasty chocolate bar.
Most of the time, however, Dragena was spending time in the field, training her pack or doing missions for the state, never breaking her routine upon coming back. Shamans often grumbled that Dragena was spoiling cubs, but the warlord utterly ignored their complaints, inviting shamans to try and challenge her if they thought to change her opinion.
The stars shone brightly beyond the clouds above the village, and a strong breeze howled among the Wolf Tribe's tents. The Wastes were not as devoid of life as the Ravaged Lands; here and there, life was reclaiming its dominion. A small patch of grass. A tree that somehow withstands howling winds. Slowly, unsteadily, life was returning, spreading from the Core Lands. The Wastes were not as hot as Wolfkins preferred, and shamans of the Wolf Tribe complained frequently that Wyrm Lord was not allowing the entire Tribe to settle in an area near Fort Uglo, in the heat-scorched hell that was the Ravaged Lands. What was hell for normal people was heaven for new breeds like the Wolf Tribe. Yet Annie came to love her new home.
As Annie was coming closer to the village, she saw Hilda, the former shaman of her village. On the day of the attack, Hilda was summoned for a meeting with other shamans. Upon coming back, the massive black-furred Wolfkin stripped down her own rank, lowering herself into the same position as Crippled. She lost no limbs, she was not injured, and few could match this massive bulk of rage, but now this former shaman was cleaning streets and providing people in the village with tokens that she earned on various side jobs. She burned her tents and her belongings, punishing herself for her failure to protect her flock.
"Annie. For you." Hilda noticed a girl and produced some tokens, attempting to give them to her. The former shaman was dressed in torn pants and wore a rag on her upper body. Despite her current position, Hilda held herself with dignity, dutifully doing her chores around the village. She was not punished; she served self-imposed penance. Misery was unbecoming in the repentance of this Wolfkin. Her faith would never allow her to lie to herself.
"Thanks, but I am good. Give them to someone in need." Annie smiled warmly at Hilda. Despite everything that happened, she never hated Hilda. Her absence was not her fault. Both the military and civil rulers of the Tribe failed them; there was no single person to blame. It was Hilda who introduced Annie to the teachings of the Spirits, helping her to live through the darkest days of her life.
Spirit of Pride. He was the one responsible for the drive in every Wolfkin—the drive to be the very best. Even if you are at the top of the world, unless you constantly improve your skills, you will lose your position one day to someone who never stops learning. People worshiped him by cherishing their pride, not lying to themselves, and bettering themselves every day in any way they could. Weak or strong, as long as you stay true to yourself, Pride’s eyes are always on you, creating a bonfire of hope inside your soul.
Spirit of Spite. She was the one responsible for forcing Wolfkins to relive their moments of loss, for it was she who gave a burning desire for losers to become better and to defeat those who dared to beat or wrong them. She was worshipped by never forgetting any slight or defeat, allowing the pain of loss to burn clearly in your mind every single moment. Spite will always whisper to you wordlessly, assisting you in taking one more step forward, as long as you feel the pain of your defeat and the pain of lost loved ones.
Spirit of Endurance. She was the one responsible for unwillingness to give up. No matter the odds, no matter how far away your goal is, this spirit was the one who always gave you just a little bit of a nudge to move on one more step. She was worshiped by pursuing goals in spite of everything. Even if the entire world laughs at you, as long as you stay true to yourself and stubbornly move forward, Endurance will cherish you, giving you the power to endure one more day.
Spirit of Loss. She was the one responsible for adapting yourself, after suffering defeat. Because, no matter how strong or obstinate you are, the world is changing every day, little by little. Losing is the natural state of the world; not a single person could ever claim to live her or his life without a moment of weakness. Only a fool would insist on melee when ranged would suffice. And Spirit of Loss despised fools, following them and ensuring that their lives would be ones of misery until they finally listened to her and changed their approach. If a person was truly too stubborn to learn on their own, rumors say that Loss will send a vision at night, showing the proper way to improve yourself, for Spirit of Loss was not merciless, just intolerable of fools who refused to move on to a better life. This spirit was also responsible for letting things go, for after grudges were settled, after pride was sated, all members of the Tribe had to work together at the end of the day, each in their role. Allowing yourself to not wallow in grief over loss and instead learn from it, ensuring that you will not fall into the same trap or be defeated in the same way in the future, learning to forgive was the proper way to worship this spirit.
Spirit of Rage. For when everything else falls, when your life becomes insufferable, when the pain of loss is so great that you can’t even wake up in the morning… Rage is always waiting for you, hiding in the shadows, urging you to give up and to burn down everything in your path. Rage is something that can change the outcome of even the most certain combat, for when one fighter just refuses to surrender, he or she just may pull off a win thanks to rage. This was one of the least worshiped spirits, for the only true way to worship it was to pray for this being to direct you on a path of slaughter, a path leading to becoming a skinwalker. The Wolfkins did not worship this being so much as appease it, begging the Spirit of Rage to keep itself away from the Tribe. No one knew if Spirit of Rage was male or female, for when it gazed at Wolfkin, transformation would inevitably come. People never had to worship this Spirit, it was always the one who courted them. It was impossible to live without; Rage was natural to everyone, and skinwalkers saved the Tribe several times in the past. It was also too terrible to live with.
Ever since monsters destroyed Annie's home, survivors of the massacre were welcomed to live in other, more secure villages. This village was well protected; countless tents were spread across the place, serving as homes for the thousands of Wolfkins who lived here. Three warlords claimed this place as their home. One was Dragena, who owned the large tent at the edge of the village.
The second was the warlord Alpha, the walking horror of the wastes. She was ranked second among warlords, yet she commanded the most respect of all. It was she who directed the forces of Wolfkins around the Wastes, deciding who was going where. Right now was a time of peace, and horror was busy lurking in her den in a nearby mountain range, allowing her pack to train without her on a nearby military base for the time being, rarely emerging. Annie was often tasked with bringing various books and boxes that arrived from the Core Lands to the doorstep of Alpha. Each time she came to the massive steel door built into the stone mountain, she felt animal fear and an urge to run and never look back. It was strange because Alpha had trained her pack well and had never laid a claw on Annie or said a bad word to her. Yet Annie could have sworn that her heart was about to stop each time she approached the den of horror.
And the last was Warlord Zero, first among equals. She was living in the sole stone tower, built here way before the village was ever established. Made of material that resembled white marble, the tower was a truly beautiful sight; not even sandstorms could scratch or dirty the surface of the weird stone.
Hunger was unheard of ever since Wyrm Lord forced shamans to accept large caravans of food. Water, meat, bread, and even sweets for kids (the last part was strictly regulated by shamans) were brought to the village every day. Soldiers of the Reclamation Army, these ugly, horrible-looking monsters, were patrolling the edges of the village constantly, making defenders of the Wolf Tribe redundant. A lot of things have changed since the attack. Wyrm Lord made it clear that his patience was wearing thin. He demanded to know the locations of all the Wolfkins' villages and ordered the state's troops to protect them.
"I am home, dad!" Annie said bitterly, stepping into the dirty-looking tent that served as her home. Walls of once-brown fabric were now torn and covered with dried mud, and insects were feasting on food that had been carelessly thrown on the floor near the chest. Let’s start cleaning all over again. Taking a sigh, the girl called again in a nicer voice, "Dad? I brought food. And medicine." No answer. No doubt he was sleeping in his den again. Oh well, she will force feed him the pills if necessary.
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Bastard turned my home into a dumpster once again. Annie angrily thought, kicking an empty bottle of vodka out of her way and putting the bag with stuff on the floor.
Eight years have passed since the day when ordinary life was turned upside down in a massacre. Annie has grown up since then, standing taller than most of the blasted normies. This was to be expected, as Wolfkins were known for becoming adults far faster than other new breeds. Her thick spotted fur now fully covered her body; her once long hair was cut to the same size as her fur. Her claws had become true instruments of murder, gorgeous tools of carnage that made even some females in the village look at Annie with envy. She rarely let them out, however, always trying to keep them sealed in the fingers of her calloused paws.
A lot has changed in the past few years, and yet a lot has remained the same. Annie’s body was covered in scars from bites and scratches, the result of her being in the pits, fighting with other cubs for food and domination. Her father often traveled across the territory of the state, searching for Sveta in mad desperation, believing his second daughter to be alive, as her body was never found. Deep down, Annie knew what happened to her sister; she remembered well how the massive monster swallowed the Wolfkin whole. The remains of her mother were found in chewed-up and torn pieces of her body. Some bones were… Shat out by the behemoth when it fled the village.
During his travels, her father tasted alcohol for the first time. He was once a hard worker, but he has changed ever since then as poison took hold in his mind. He no longer helped people around the village. Instead, he begged for tokens like an addict, demanding them even from Annie. She always gave them to him; what else was she supposed to do with money? It's not like she could use them anyway. After getting booze from the shop, Gilho usually spends all day getting drunk and complaining about how Annie failed him and her sister. Quite often, in tiny moments of clarity, her father would later crawl on his belly to his daughter, crying and begging Annie for forgiveness for his earlier words. Former friends of Gilho turned back on him, unable to see the mess that he had become. Whatever the man he once was, that man no longer exists.
Even before he became an alcoholic, he never taught Annie everything, claiming that he would explain how to do things once they found Sveta. Gilho became fixated on the idea of finding a dead person, ignoring all pleas from his still-living daughter. Annie watched other families work, how they educated their children, how parents read to cubs, and how they taught cubs about rituals. Annie's chest was burning with jealousy—the desire to be noticed, to be taught, to be... Someone of need to someone. Not the empty spot she was in right now. She begged the Spirits for help each evening, pleading with them to give her a worthy life or at least take her life and give Sveta back.
And in some ways, spirits answered her prayers. Zero, the warlord of legends, had chosen Annie out of all people. Zero, who never led any packs, who was always a solitary figure, a person shrouded in mystery, once came to the pits, just as cubs were graduating. She picked Annie, naming her a wolf hag, and gave orders to follow her to the warlord's den, the stone tower.
Annie was thrilled at this appointment. She, who was no one, who was far from the best fighter in the pits, who was not a quick learner, who barely knew how to write and read… She was taken in by the greatest of the greatest, first among equals, the one who stands behind the blessed mother Ravager herself! She!
She should have known better. Zero led Annie to a "workstation", a massive terminal with a keyboard before it. A camera and a large speaker were standing nearby. A soft and comfortable armchair was placed before the terminal. A pair of normies, disgusted-looking creatures, stood nearby, smiling in welcome.
Annie could not believe that she once liked to talk with normies. That she ever trusted them. She and Sveta often spend hours speaking with travelers and listening to stories of the outside world. Now she knew better; the attack on her village taught her better. You can’t trust anyone but Wolfkins. Normies lacked fur, had no snout, were barely the same size as Annie herself, and had no claws. They survived outside only thanks to anti-heat suits. And worst of all, they look like some of the malformed creatures who attacked the village.
Annie was forced to work with this duo, forcing herself to smile at them as they explained how the terminal and global Net work. With their help, Annie created a site on the Net about the history of Wolfkins, one that she was supposed to update and maintain. Zero, meanwhile, was busy tinkering with her weapon, training outside, watching the news, and responding to calls from Alpha and wyrms. Zero explained to Annie how to enter this tower and even gave her the keys. At that moment, Annie still had no idea what awaited her.
She was made a "community manager," as Zero called it. The person who was forced to take messages from normies, speak with them, explain about the life of the Tribe, and take and post various pictures of the village on the Net. Annie dreamed of being a fighter but was made into a worker instead. Her dreams of revenge were crushed.
Zero never taught Annie anything, often leaving her for whole days, while she was busy scouting and hunting raiding parties across the lands of the Third Army. Normies, blasted normies, were the ones who became teachers to Annie, showing her how to work, how to train, and even how to fight. Zero often came back covered in wounds, whole slabs of her armor were torn away, revealing thick, gorgeous black fur covered by blood underneath. Yet, despite her grievous wounds, the warlord refused to accept any help from Annie. Zero always treated her wounds herself, she never took off her helmet in Annie’s presence either. The wolf hag once asked the warlord just who was strong enough to wound someone as mighty as Zero. Zero, busy stitching her wounds, briefly looked at Annie and briefly responded that she was wounded by skinwalkers. The rumors were correct. Zero was hunting down and killing skinwalkers, liberating her kin from the existence of madness and rage.
The body of the warlord was a miracle; her long arms could seemingly reach any part of her body. Her nimble fingers were clearing wounds and stitching the edges of the wounds together with incredible care, so strange for someone so massive. Her fur was pitch black and well cleaned. Zero often demanded that Annie take great care of her own fur and hair as well, even going so far as to allow Annie to use Zero's personal bathroom. Annie once saw how Zero was cleaning the bathroom after one of her hunts against skinwalkers. The walls of the bathtub were covered with crimson blood; even the floor was soaked with it. It made the wolf hag afraid for Zero’s life enough to call headquarters and report it to them. The medics showed up, led by Alpha herself. Zero herself grumbled at this but allowed inspection of her body. Later, Zero sent Annie home early as the warlords spent the evening arguing about something. On the next day, Zero brought pizza to the scared Annie in order to show that she wasn't angered at the wolf hag’s care. The warlord still asked Annie to worry less about her.
Annie’s life was… weird. Denied even a chance of revenge, she was forced to toil at a well-paid but hated job. Zero, despite her flaws, was a good warlord. If Annie asked for assistance with her studies, Zero would always find either online courses or bring in normies to teach her. The warlord always cheered up Annie, calling her from time to time and ordering her to take a break from work. When Annie was falling behind schedule, Zero herself was working alongside her, doing large parts of the job. It was weird, sitting side by side with a literal giant encased in a seemingly solid suit of armor, armor painted in the color of the darkest void. Even stranger was hearing Zero chuckle softly as she typed answers to various questions from normies about life in Tribe or seeing machine bread for killing cheerfully posting cute pictures of Wolfkin villages.
The Wolfkins were the sword and shield of the Dynast, soldiers of the Reclamation Army. They were born to fight for the state and to die for it. Yet Annie was too much of a coward to admit her true desire for Zero. She was just happy that someone needed her.
"You promised not to touch the generator!" Annie screamed at her father in anger as she saw several dents in the broken metal structure near the wall of a tent and scattered bottles around it. She bought it at a cheap price on the Net and intended to fix it in her spare time. Spirits know, the village could use some more lights. If the shamans refused to let Wyrm Lord build and maintain lampposts, Annie planned to do it herself. It was common for Wolfkins to contribute to the village.
"You are a stupid, selfish, useless piece of meat!" She tore the makeshift door made of cloth aside, charging to the area of the tent in which her father made his den. The tent was separated into three parts: Annie’s den, Gilho’s den, and the living area. When Annie crashed into the den of her father, a stinking smell hit her nostrils as she understood that her father had shat himself once more in his sleep. He was half sitting and half sleeping in a dusty-looking armchair; bottles lay at his feet; his mouth was open; and his tongue hung at the side of his jaw. You look ridiculous, you stupid, ingrate moron. Come on, wake up already; I have to clea…"
She touched him and felt cold skin underneath his fur. It took her a moment to understand that he was not breathing.
Annie did not remember well what happened next. She remembered calling the headquarters and informing them about the death of her father in a trembling voice. Then she sat on the floor, grabbing her knees, swaying back and forth slightly, and looking with bland eyes at her father. Just yesterday, he was screaming at her, blaming her for losing Sveta, after she nagged him about missing tokens. And now he was gone.
"Dad... Dad... Dad..."Annie managed to say, confused about what she was supposed to do now. Part of her world just died again. How… how does one do a funeral? What was she supposed to say now? Whom to call? How to live further? What if headquarters decides that she was the one who killed her father?
"Who cares about any of this right now?!" Annie howled, falling to her knees in front of her dead father, mourning him not as the parent he became but as the person he was. The wolf hag howled and howled, allowing tears to run down her cheeks as she hugged Gilho's knees. Her entire family was gone.
"Dad… Please come back. Scream at me all you want, just don’t leave me… Please, Spirits, take my life; just give his life back!" Neighbors came, alerted by her howling. Someone tried to calm her down; one person put a blanket over her shoulders as she howled, mad with grief.
Zero arrived along with military police, gently taking Annie away and unclenching the arms of the wolf hag from Gilho's knees. Annie cried and whined in the gigantic arms of the confused warlord. Another giant came in, Warlord Dragena. She quickly checked the pulse of a body and allowed soldiers to carry him away. Annie was detained for a few days while an investigation was going on.
Gilho was a famous troublemaker in the village, and Wolfkins nearby reported that he was screaming at his daughter quite often. As a result, some officers among the normies suspected that the wolf hag had murdered her father in a fit of rage. Annie felt herself in constant worry because of the presence of normies around her. She was locked behind iron bars in a place where she could neither run away nor protect herself from normies. Zero was the only one who was coming to visit her, spending hours trying to cheer up the wolf hag. Eventually, Annie was cleared of all charges as medics finished their examination of the dead body. Gilho died of liver failure.