It was still night when the Wolf stirred from her much-needed rest, moonlight drifting through the boughs above her. The voices offer was still seared into her mind, her trial 'incomplete', so she couldn't have slept through the day, assuming the voice could be trusted to make good on its promise when she fulfilled its requirements.
The wound on her muzzle itched, and she went to scratch it with her front leg, but the act sent waves of sharp, burning pain through her side where the man-things second claw had struck her, forcing her to itch the scabbed injury by rubbing her face on the rock-hide it wore, instead.
She needed to wash herself, so the scent of her prey didn't draw other predators to her, and she needed water, besides. But first...
Rot hadn't set in yet on her packs bodies, though they were stiff, and her injuries made it different to drag them, but she gathered them together as gently as she could, slowly, and laid down with them.
She couldn't stay long. The stream wasn't far; she knew these woods, and her pack den was near the stream anyway. Even so, unless she left soon, she wouldn't reach it before nightfall, not alone, wounded, and exhausted.
Still... Just a little while. It would be the last time she'd be able to smell her family, after all. The last time she'd be able to see them even mostly intact, and she couldn't carry them with her. She didn't have hands like the man-thing, and even if she did, she needed all of her limbs to walk.
Maybe the voice would change that, if it gave her another trial.
Hands...
The Wolf struggled to her feet and padded over to her fallen adversary, staring at it while the gears slowly turned in her mind.
She couldn't carry much, but she could take something. A trophy, or a memento. What if she took one of its claws?
It would have to be the smaller one. It would be much lighter, and short enough it wouldn't catch on too many branches or saplings.
Before that, though, she needed to check if the man-thing had brought food. She'd seen plenty of them before, from afar, and knew they would travel with food and water in bundles of hides somehow, along with the tools that let them create and carry fire.
Her adversary had brought a bundle like that. It had dropped it when her pack surrounded it, but it was nearby, unless another animal had found it and dragged it off.
It didn't take the Wolf long to find it, another reason she believed she hadn't slept long. If she had, something would've gotten into the bundle or taken it. A young bear, most likely, they were smart, like she and her pack was.
The bundle lay nestled in the roots of a tree just a few paces away, undisturbed, as far as she could tell, and she pawed it open, tearing at it with her claws and teeth until it yielded to her, its contents spilling out onto the forest floor.
She couldn't identify most of it, nor use it, even if she could, but following her nose led her to smaller bundles with dried fruits inside, even a fresh one, which she ate greedily. Another bundle of hide, like the ones the man-things would drink from, was in it, too.
It was light, but when she picked it up and moved it with her teeth, she could hear sloshing inside. Not much, but a little. The man-thing must have been on the way to the river to refill it when her pack attacked it.
Her sharp teeth easily punctured the skin, and what little it had inside poured into her mouth.
Whatever it was, it wasn't water. It was sweet and a little sharp, like the old fruits her pack sometimes ate when they could find them. Those fruits always numbed her a little, so she drank everything she could of the not-water, hoping it would ease her hurts.
The not-water bundle empty, she let it drop to the ground, and continued rooting through the contents of the larger set of hides, finding more and more, but much smaller and thinner, hides, these with strange markings on them that she couldn't understand. A larger, rolled up hide had different markings than the smaller, folded ones, but she didn't even know enough to understand which, if any, were important.
The Wolf batted them away with a frustrated huff, and padded back over to the fallen claws to take the smaller one.
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The sun dipped low when she made it to the stream, just barely brightening the forest with its light. Fortunately, nothing had attacked her on the way, though there were a few close calls with a few man-things, and, once, a snake she hadn't noticed in her exhaustion.
She hadn't truly expected anything to attack her, despite being a lone, injured wolf. There simply weren't enough large predators in the forest for that. In fact, the wolves and the bears were about the only ones around that could reasonably be called large predators.
Plenty of owls, snakes, lizards, and various other critters, of course, but nothing that posed a real threat to her in terms of aggression. They would all savagely defend their homes, however, and she'd nearly stuck her paw in the burrow of a snake earlier that day and proved it.
The Wolf didn't know the entire forest, though, and couldn't help but worry about a sudden attack on the way.
Now, she just needed to clean herself and make it to her pack-den. She couldn't defend it, not really, but the smell of her pack lingering around the place would keep at least some things at bay for a little while, hopefully long enough for her to recover.
After slaking her thirst with the clear water, she dropped her trophy, the short claw, into the water to clean it, and waded into the stream after it. It only came up to her ankles, but if she lay down in it, it would clean her well enough.
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The cool water eased her aches as she did, and the Wolf grumbled a little as her muscles relaxed. Normally, her brother and sister would be playing in the water together by now, sometimes her mother or father joining in on the fun.
But now...
It was almost time for the pack to split up, go their separate ways and form their own, new packs. She and her litter had been born several seasons ago, and it was expected for them to leave soon, and her mother and father would have a new litter a season or so before.
They'd linger around awhile, but would go and court wolves from other packs. Or, at least, that was what her older sisters and brothers had done when she was a pup.
She shook the thought away, plunging her head under the water to retrieve her trophy, and climbed out of the stream.
There were more important things to worry about right now than how much she missed her family already.
The den wasn't far, just a little while along the stream, and off to the side, under a large, fallen tree. The hollow dug into the ground was exactly how they'd left it, and the Wolf offered little more than a cursory glance and sniff around the place before she dropped her trophy to the side, and settled in for the night.
She was just starting to doze off when the voice returned, startling her awake as its whispers delivered its reward.
Trial Complete!
Personal Akashic Records access granted!
Sapience achieved!
Insight earned!
The Wolf growled a little, and narrowed her eyes. What did any of that even mean? Why did she think this would solve everything?
Then the realization hit her. She doubted. She understood. The difference was minimal, but noticeable, and she began to comprehend how much she didn't know. Questions raged in her mind as her awareness continued to expand, until they landed on the other reward, and more whispers assaulted her, these a different voice than the first.
These voices were all wolves, and they told her what she was, everything that she was, and everything she had achieved.
Feat Attained!
Heroes Fall: Slay a sapient with a reputation effect without one of your own.
Grants a small bonus to all combat skills when facing sapients with traits tagged as Hero or Champion, and grants a small bonus to resist hostile reputation effects.
Heroes are legends found only in song, little wolf. Keep them that way.
Feat Attained!
Strength of the Weak: Slay an opponent three or more Tiers higher than you.
Grants a small bonus to learning speed for combat skills, and increases Destroyer Affinity by one step.
You are younger than I thought, little wolf. I didn't expect you to earn that.
General Skills Name None Agility Race Wolf (Awakened) Athletics Competent (Growing) Gender Female Stealth Proficient (Growing) Age Adolescent Evasion Proficient (Growing) Insight Some Melee Competent (Apex) Health At Death's Door, Malnourished Intellect Stamina Exhausted, Fatigued Survival Proficient (Nascent) Attributes Willpower Strength Above Average (Nascent) Discipline Untrained (Growing) Agility Above Average (Growing) Fortitude Average (Apex) Intellect Average (Nascent) Willpower Average (Growing) Charisma Low (Nascent)
Traits Racial Wolf Base Health is set to Average, Base Stamina is set to Average, and Base ■■■■ is set to Low Pack Tactics Increases flanking bonuses against opponents, increases morale for each ally Quadruped Increases Agility for the purposes of movement Tough Hide Increases Damage Reduction by a moderate amount per Rank Wolf Claws Increases unarmed damage and changes type to cutting Crushing Jaw Bites deal increased damage, allows bites to count as a grapple Carnivore Does not require vegetables to avoid malnourishment, may eat raw meat Night Vision Rank 3, reduces low-light penalties by a small amount per Rank Partial Colorblindness Substantially lowers ability to distinguish color Awakened Increases Intellect and Intellect cap Feats Heroes Fall Increases combat skills against Hero or Champion-tagged foes, increases resistance to hostile reputation effects Strength of the Weak Grants a small bonus to learning speed for combat skills, and increases Destroyer Affinity by one step General Terrain Adaptation Forest, removes penalties for poor footing in chosen environment