Annie woke up to the world of pulsating pain and looked around. She was in a simple hospital room, lying on a spacious bed. The bandages on her chest were already slightly marred with blood. The warlord felt a burning desire to tear them apart and scratch, scratch, scratch the flesh beneath, tearing through the healing flesh if necessary, to stop this vexing itching from beneath her bandages.

Annie ignored this urge, of course, and tried to move the fingers of her broken leg to distract herself. This brought another shot of pain, but at the same time she felt the fingers move.

Good. Annie attempted to stand up but felt a weight on her legs. Lifting her head, she saw Svetlana. Her little sis fell asleep on the chair and used Annie’s legs as a pillow. The warlord smiled, plucking a sheet of paper from Svetlana’s arms. Okkie-dokkie, less see what she wrote. A broken ankle, checked. Six broken bones, wow, not bad! Damage to costal cartilages. A broken bone in the side, this one from Bel, no doubt. Oh, the ear nearly got torn up, very good! Cuts, scratches, dislocated fingers… Upper breasts are nearly destroyed, and the exo-skeleton armor beneath the skin has cracked...A whole seven days confined to a bed and two weeks off-duty!

Annie put the sheet on a nearby bedside table and looked up in despair. Seven days! Seven days doing nothing because of these papercuts! Abyss, her bones weren’t even turned to dust like Aranea’s, she could feel them shifting beneath her skin, slowly moving back into place!

Fine. Annie decided, grabbing a terminal from the table and typing well-wishes to everyone involved in the Challenge. It was the strangest feeling. She was always pissed off after losing a fight and being forced to allow others to see her weak and care for her. Now? Annie didn’t give a single shit. She ended up being crushed by Virginia, her sister saw all this, and the warlord was still happy about going all out.

She reached out, patting Svetlana on the head slightly and gently running her fingers through the fur of the sleeping wolfkin. All things considered, Annie wasn’t a stellar older sister. Abyss, she was a stubborn fool, easily offended at anything, she had made life much harder for Svetlana! And still, her little sis always stood by her, always trying to keep her and others safe. It was… Kinda heroic, actually. Annie has decided that the moment the war ends, she will call Oaksters and apologize for her previous behavior, begging them on her knees if needed. Ronson and Jeysich were amazing parents and deserved every ounce of her respect.

Ultis, Lucendra, you are in charge of the pack until Carty gets better. Annie sent a quick message, planning to fall asleep. A buzz announced a new message. This one was from Angoro, the man had finally gotten the replacement limbs and sent her the image of a cool-looking metal limb painted black. He was also worried about her, and, with a smile, Annie typed back to him that everything was fine, she was having a blast in this new year. Technically, this wasn’t a total lie. They had decided on visiting the Wastes later in the year and test out that new restaurant in the capital.

It was time to live and to live fully. Dragena has expected nothing less of her, and Annie will no longer betray her memory.

Warlord, but I am just a warrior! Lucendra sent a message. What if the others won’t listen to my commands?

Then take a shardgun and make a few holes in their lower bodies. Annie thought for a second and deleted the message. Lucendra, stop panicking. Our pack is the prime example of discipline and dedication. None will dare to oppose this order. Until Carty or I are back in the field, you are the warlord. And should anyone feel funny, Annie will rearrange their snouts.

It wasn’t fair to pile everything on Lucendra, but Annie knew her well enough to know that the warrior would handle this load just fine. Lucendra’s low opinion of herself was in large part Annie’s fault, and this was something she has full intention of remedying in the closest future.

A knock on the door woke up Svetlana and distracted the warlord from her thoughts.

"Wha…" Svetlana yawned, rubbing her eyes, "Oh, Annie! Sorry for…"

"Relax, I don’t mind being used as a pillow. Come in!"

The door opened, and Virginia waltzed in, carrying four bottles between her fingers. Like Annie, the wolf hag was bandaged all across her torso, a hospital robe was carelessly thrown over her sunken shoulders.

"Why are you here?!" Svetlana jumped off her chair, "No, scratch that, how are you still standing! You are supposed to be in bed and recovering!"

"Eh, it was boring, so I sneaked out," Virginia said as she let the bottles collide, creating a ringing sound. "Drinks on me, ready to celebrate the new year proper, Annie?"

"Always, Virginia!" The warlord laughed through the pain, "Come on in, let’s celebrate the winner of our rivalry!"

"Nah, you aren’t getting off that easily," Ignoring the medic’s screams, Virginia corked one of the bottles open and handed it over to Annie. The next bottle went to Svetlana, "We will have a proper one V one someday, and then another, and one more to boot! But tonight, let’s party."

"That’s it, I am calling the MP," Svetlana jumped off her chair, hesitating for a moment at the pleading look of her sister, "Right after I finish this bottle, of course."

The women laughed and clinked their bottles, celebrating the coming of the new year in their own way.

****

"Sit and relax," The elder pushed Bel onto the examination slate. An arm made of steel lifted the woman’s jaw, forcing her to look into the bright light coming from one of the green lenses, "Most peculiar. Can all ice fangs do the same thing?"

"No, lady…" Keyl waited for the woman to introduce herself, but the elder simply kept examining Bel’s eyes, "Only the sword saints can slow down their perception of time to such level."

Olesya winced, feeling a small tingle of pain in her shoulder. She was strapped to a harness, hanging in the middle of the room, while Till Ingo was working on her damaged metal arm. The scientist was surprisingly quiet, he didn’t berate her for losing the arm, nor was he trying to goad her into doing anything. If anything, the man had a look full of wonder on his face.

To Olesya’s surprise, the next person present in this small compartment of Ingo’s flying ship was the captured bento’s elder. The woman’s brain was currently installed in the sturdy frame of an assembly bot. Its chest area was heavily modified to allow the braincase to be placed within, two crude-looking arms were treating Bel with a gentleness unbecoming of a three-meter-tall machine capable of lifting several tons with one finger.

Olesya could see the elder’s brain floating in nutrient solution behind the armored glass in the robot’s chest. Numerous wires exited the brain's heavily modified lobe portion, connecting to the robot's inner workings. Instead of natural eyes, two smaller crimson lenses float beneath the front lobe of the brain.

Two dynamics were installed in the brown metal of her body, each on one shoulder. When the elder spoke, they heard the elderly woman's monotone voice.

"What an interesting mutation. An eyesight to match some of the best optical zoom…" The elder soundlessly tilted the square-shaped head of her frame, "I would have liked to examine this quirk of nature further, but this would only prolong this. Such a shame."

She moved to a nearby table, picking up two syringes. Olesya and Keyl both frowned, seeing how the elder plunged both syringes into Bel’s head, allowing the needles to come all the way into the flesh. Bel blinked once, feeling how nanomachines were entering her bloodstream.

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"I…" She looked at her trembling paw, her pupils dilated a bit, "The world became normal again… I can see my fingers moving, I can see the trembling of my fur… My eyes are normal again!"

"What have you done?" Keyl asked, "Our doctors always have to perform a surgical procedure to lessen…"

"That’s because they are idiots who cut out eyes and operate on the nerves when the situation can be solved far more efficiently," Ingo spat out the words, installing the new arm into Olesya’s shoulder socket. "I will contact them later and sell them the nanomachine injections."

Bel tried to hug the robot’s body, but the elder pushed her back, forcing the wolf hag to sit on the steel slab. The elder carefully removed the syringes, inspecting the pierced areas, before hanging to Bel a small metal box about the size of a box of matches.

"Your eyes were always normal, you are simply an ungrateful and petulant child," The elder grumbled, "Inside are six pills. Should you ever need to return this ‘curse’ of yours, "A hint of humor slipped into the elder’s monotone tone. "Just swallow one, and for an hour it will come back," The woman stepped away, putting the metal hands into a vat with disinfectant. "What I would have given for having such eyes!"

Olesya smiled to Bel, nodding to her as the woman left, escorted by Keyl and Hekanta. Even if she wanted to, Olesya couldn't speak because Till Ingo disabled most of her body's systems, running diagnostic after diagnostic over her and repeatedly checking the augmented parts of her body.

The harness lifted her higher, and the elder moved behind Olesya. She felt the cold touch of metal against the wounds in her back. It was a bit of a weird feeling, the steel was rubbing against the bleeding meat, but no pain came back. No, instead, it was a calm and soothing feeling that banished away the maddening itching feeling of a healing body.

The warlord knew little about the elder. The strange woman had agreed to work with Till Ingo in exchange for being released eventually, and now both people worked side by side, learning from each other. The elder enjoyed a relative degree of freedom, performing maintenance on Olesya from time to time and visiting captured bentos. Try as she might, Olesya could not say anything bad about the woman.

They treated her for a while, taking parts of her body off, disassembling them before her eyes, and putting them back together. At one point the elder pushed a strange, fork-like device into her mouth, and Olesya felt a push. With a jerking motion, the woman tore off the metal from the warlord’s tongue, and, to her surprise, Olesya understood that her tongue no longer needed it. Yes, it was a bit smaller than she used to remember and slightly bled at the edges, but… It was flesh again.

They took out her artificial eye, and Olesya felt a small tingle when the elder pushed a needle into the opening. The woman stopped, turning to Ingo, and argued with him a little bit about the extensive strain on the brain. The man came closer, looking at the display data near Olesya, and nodded to the elder. Following that, they removed the upper part of her metal head, exposing the braincase, and everything went dark as Olesya plunged into comatose sleep.

She woke up to a soft click as her new arm moved. And following this, Olesya gasped, feeling how air was filling her lungs. The artificial eye came back online, allowing Olesya to see her surroundings and…

She was no longer clicking and clacking. She looked at the time on the display and saw that she had been out for half an hour.

"Sorry about the fuss in the arena, Ingo," Olesya felt the harness release her. She stepped out, clenching and unclenching her fists, "Guess I am not able to wield this body to its utmost limits yet."

The prediction engine sent a signal to her brain, welcoming Olesya’s return. Great to hear you too, buddy.

"Irrelevant," Till Ingo said, taking Olesya by the side of her head. He looked her over, sizing up the damage to her fur and seeing if the bandages weren’t too tight. "We both have a lot to think about. All your bodily functions are back."

"Wait, what exactly does this mean?"

Olesya felt genuinely surprised. She expected him to lash out at her for ruining his masterpiece and failing to persuade the tribe that augmetics isn't dangerous and scary. Deep down, she even agreed with him on this, the Spirits know there is no reason for any cub to even die because of some organ failure, especially not with the state’s augmetics being provided to the tribe for free. Whatever she felt about his methods, there was some good in him…

But seeing him like this was weird. Till Ingo never, not even once, looked down or disappointed. He turned everything he could into an opportunity. So what happened?

"Yes. You can sleep again. And get drunk, although I advise against drinking." Ingo turned around.

"Wait!" She cried to him, "I still have so much to learn! So many books to read, I can’t just… My pack is relying on me! Don’t just revert me back to…"

"Keep living and improving as a human, Olesya." Ingo told her, "I was… arrogant. I forced Svetlana to sign you up for the project, used you as a test subject, and pushed you around to further your evolution...." He picked up the remains of her previous broken arm, "And nature had slapped me for this, reminding me that I am just human at the end. My arrogance failed you. I am not yet skilled enough to create someone like a warlord from scratch."

"Are you giving up on…"

"On persuading the Wolf Tribe? For whom do you take me?" Till Ingo smiled and handed the elder the shattered remains, "Of course not. I will reflect on my failings and, through this, evolve as a person, polishing my skills in the process. One day the Wolf Tribe will accept my or someone else’s inventions, and the world will be better for it. Worry not, I am still, as always, at your side, Olesya. But right now…." He stretched his upper body, "I think that I’ll go and have a good, long nap."

Olesya left the ship confused and dumbfounded. She could sleep again? If nothing else, the prospect of finally curling up in a bed and snoring excited her. But at the same paw she was worried about going wild from nightmares—the Spirits know—she still occasionally thought about Huntsman’s jaws closing on her lower body during the battle for Chokepoint A.

I need help. The warlord decided and darted to find Aranea. The night was still young; surely her friend wouldn't mind if she spent the night in her room. If things go the way of the Old World, Aranea was tough enough to either knock Olesya out or survive the temporary outburst.

She had nearly reached the barracks when she heard Aranea’s voice coming from the roof of a warehouse on the other side of the square before the temporary barracks. Olesya stepped back into the shadows, hiding behind crates, and allowed her lens to zoom in on the image, curious what was going on.

Aranea was sitting on the roof, still in the warlord’s coat, and dangling her legs like an idiot. Knight captain Keyl stood next to her, gazing up at the moon's bright white disk.

"Thanks for coming, Keyl," Aranea leaned back slightly, throwing her head back to look at the moon. "It’s a bit embarrassing, but… I kind of feel safe with you."

"The feeling is mutual, Ari," Keyl reached out with a paw toward the moon. "You thought about..."

"I'm not coming back," Aranea grabbed the knees with her working paw. "The mere thought of seeing the keep again, of walking into my home and realizing it's abandoned, without either mom or dad around, sickens me. And knowing that the Ice Cave…" Her voice trembled. "No, I can’t. My home is here. Please tell the Order to leave me alone."

"That's fine," Keyl closed his eyes, nodding, "Would you mind dropping by to see me from time to time? There is a lot to see in the Core Lands."

"There's also a lot to see in the Wastes." Both wolfkins smiled, letting out a laugh. Aranea took a pair of wooden swords from the ground and jumped on her feet, "It’s a deal then! Bring your pack…"

"Unit." Keyl corrected her with a smile.

"Your friends from time to time, things should be safe as long as we are not in the village. And now, knight captain," Aranea threw one of the swords to him, grabbing the other with her left paw, "We seemed to have some unfinished business, Keyli-boy. Will you accept my challenge, sir knight?"

"Naturally," Keyl caught the blade with the left paw, putting the right paw behind his back, to match Aranea’s disability, "This time you won’t find me such an easy prey, barbarian girl." He spoke haughtily with a wide grin on his snout.

"Less talking, more knocking!" Aranea laughed, charging at him and filling the night with the sound of wooden hits.

Okay, I am not touching this. Have fun, lovebirds! Olesya left her hiding spot and went to the second most trusted person. On her way to find Velka, Olesya felt a splash against her shoulder. Looking up, she saw the massive form of captain Ivar flying toward the hospital, spraying blood rain on the city below. Weirdo. Everyone has their own ways to spend a night, I suppose.

She found Velka beyond the inner wall. The scout was doing push-ups, groaning from the strain of Alpha’s leg on her back. Olesya stopped a good distance away from them, letting her mechanic ear do its work.

"Three thousand and ninety-four. Three thousand and ninety-five. What’s wrong, Velka? I am barely applying the pressure!" Alpha snapped, and Velka’s paws sank into concrete, leaving prints in the stone, "Would you prefer me to rip off your limbs and pay Ingo to…"

"NO! Anything but that, warlord!" Straining from the effort, Velka made another push-up, breathing heavily. Blood started dripping from underneath her bandages. Olesya cracked her neck, preparing to step in.

"Then keep going! Get angry! Feel the emotions coursing through her veins and use them to push through the pain! First, get back at Bogumila! Then drop Olesya!"

"YES, ma’am! First, Bogumila!" Velka pushed up the massive leg repeatedly. "Next, Olesya!"

"And then you will become a warlord!"

"I don’t want to be a warlord or a wolf hag! My position serves me just fine, ma’am!"

"Not your choice to make, runt!"

Olesya shook her head, walking away. Everyone was acting weird tonight. Fine, she’ll just have to manage on her own.

The prediction engine offered to wake her up with an electric shock in the event of a sudden movement. You know what, buddy? Not a bad idea at all. Let’s roll with it!