"Thanks for the offer." Aranea carefully responded to her, thinking about how to escape from this… force of nature. "But I hardly know you. No offence, but I really need to see my pack and check up on them."

"Well, we will hopefully fix that in the coming days. You piqued my interest with the changing now-once-again-former-wolf hag Sonya, and thus I am curious to learn more about you," Leila said eagerly. "You dislike physical punishment because of something specific, or..." The woman laughed, seeing the surprised look of Aranea. The half wyrm led Aranea to doors made of red wood, "I should not spoil the surprise," She said, and flung the doors open.

The room, colored in bright yellow light, was inside. The walls were adorned with amber and gold, and a massive gold throne stood against the north wall. Paintings, depicting scenes from the old world, were hanging from the walls, arranged in strict order. To the south were massive steel gates. To the left of the gates were paintings from most of the ancient world, made by long extinct countries. Crude paintings of cavemen, locked in steel glass. As the rows of paintings progressed northward, they became more modern, with paintings depicting medieval castles and knights in armor. The other paintings were hidden behind the massive throne. Paintings were positioned on the walls all the way across to the right of the gates, paintings on this side were far more modern, depicting giant flying machines, happy families who looked at how flying vehicles were taking off, one weird picture caught the eye of Aranea. On one half of the image, a dying young man with yellowish skin was shown lying in a hut. In the next half of the painting, the same man was in a brightly lit room, his skin no longer yellow, as machines around him apparently healed him. No one left behind the words "Dedicated to "No one left behind" act" and a set of years, indicating that it happened long before Extinction.

Tiny was sitting in front of one of the paintings. She was behind a simple-looking table, sitting on a wooden chair. These things looked wildly out of place in this place of luxury. Tiny was busy making sketches of the painting before her. When she heard the doors open behind her, she jumped from the table and bowed.

"Wolf hag Aranea, I am relieved that you have finally recovered from your wounds. I will immediately go and report to temporary wolf hag Sonya about it…" Aranea stopped her with a wave of her paw, noticing scars from fangs on the left side of Tiny’s neck.

"Who dared do this to you?" The wolf hag demanded to know, "I strictly forbid all physical punishments. If Sonya dared to…"

"No, wolf hag, this is a simple misunderstanding that happened because of my mistake. Wolf hag, I mean scout Sonya actually forced me to spend time eating, because of my size, she never touched me or others," Tiny started to explain in an embarrassed voice, pointing at her small frame, "Scout Sonya took charge of the pack in your absence and kept your rules in place, believing that you would come back. Then I made a mistake and had to be separated from the pack by the orders of lady Murzal…"

"Leila. Just call me Leila, Tiny. I am getting tired of having to remind you of this. " The half wyrm flapped her wings casually, "We had to separate this girl from her pack after one of the males ruined her pretty neck in a brawl over food. I took her under my wing, so to speak, for the time being…"

"Who was?" The wolf hag asked in a deadly calm voice, "Who was it that dared to ignore my orders?"

"Wolf hag, it was a misunderstanding! Please, this was my fault," Tiny bowed and bared her neck for daring to interrupt her superior. Her paws tremble in fear, "It's not Gin's fault he's sick. He always helped me before, it's just this this time I forgot about his warning not to come close to him when he is eating. He already apologized, please don’t punish him anymore, wolf hag."

"Ill?" asked Aranea, in a surprise.

"The boy was a wreck," Leila came to the table, checking sketches, "Wyrm Lord asked me to become "patron" of your pack, why I don’t know, but I was bored of my mind and agreed. When I found out Tiny had been seriously injured, I summoned him to me, thinking it was just a simple boys and girls thing. Ivar has very strict rules regarding such things, and I wanted to make sure that boy wouldn’t hurt anyone else ever by using my…" Leila's eyes shone with light for a moment, "… magic on him." She chuckled, "I do admit that I wanted to simply beat him up and put some permanent rule on him at first, but after making him talk, I understood that this wouldn’t do him any good. Instead, I tricked him into talking with me, without using my power this time. We also try to work on his problem by making him eat in our presence" The half wyrm giggled like a girl pointing at Tiny, "The boy was violent at first, but I ain’t someone he can chew. Now the poor boy can at least eat without trying to bite others," She put the sketches back, "Not to get on your bad side, wolf hag, but the way your tribe treats their own males is horrible. Half of the ones that I met have some sort of mental problem. But as for him, don’t worry, he feels better now, guilt aside," She threw her hands up and smiled, "All in all, everything ended up well and I made two new friends."

"Can I go back to my pack then, lady…" Tiny stopped as the woman turned to her, lowering herself to look right in the eyes of the small wolfkin. She gestured with the massive claw, prompting Tiny to say her name, but the small woman went silent.

"No, I still have a need for you." Leila sighed, "We still have three goals that we must achieve. First, I must teach you how to call me by my name. Second, we finally got a chance to make sketches of paintings in this room. I can’t paint with these…" she showed massive claws on her hands. "And his excellency forbade me to take any photos. I waited years to reveal to the world what my uncle had in his hideout, I am not backing down now when he finally left his fortress. Finally, we had to fatten you up, so Sonya entrusted you to my care in exchange for my ensuring that you eat properly."

"But food just won’t do me any good," Tiny looked pleadingly at Aranea, "Please, wolf hag, tell her. I am not like others, food does not help me."

"Why is that?" Aranea asked her, "We eat and grow bigger. We fight and grow bigger. Why is this any different with you? Tiny, you are smaller than Kaleb, just what is wrong with you?" The warrior looked down, ashamed, "If someone takes food away from you, you can always…"

"It’s not like this, wolf hag." The Tiny one shook her head. "It… this is a secret, my secret. But please trust me, I can’t grow any larger without fighting."

"Secret?! Tell me and I'll give you..." Leila stopped talking and tipped her massive head to the side, "I will tell you about the person I love in exchange."

"Everyone knows that you have hots for captain Scorpio." Tiny muttered defiantly, looking down in fear of being hit. Leila looked at her in half shock, before starting to laugh.

"Fine! Fine!" The half-wyrm raised her claws in a sign of peace. "I have other secrets. Tell me your secrets…" The eyes of Leila suddenly began to glow with light.

Aranea felt something was twisting her will. It was as if someone moved into her head, rummaging through her thoughts, forcing her to confess her deepest secrets. This feeling was intoxicating, she wanted to share her deepest dreams, her darkest secrets, her entire life with this woman, she wanted… Nay, she needed it! The jaws of Aranea start to open along with Tiny's mouth. And then Leila moved with her hands, grabbing the snouts of both Aranea and Tiny, forcing them to be silent. The light in the eyes of the woman dimmed and disappeared, stepping aside for genuine concern and worry. The intoxicating feeling was gone, Aranea gained control over her mind and thoughts. Leila let them go and stepped back.

"I am sorry." The half-wyrm pressed her hands together and bowed low to Tiny and Aranea. "I am really, really sorry for this event."

"What… what the hell was that?" Aranea asked in confusion and mild fear, "Is this how you treat Tiny when she is…"

"NO!" The half wyrm shouted in genuine horror, "No, I would never dare to invade other people's minds for no reason. I am not my…" She looked miserable as she tried to find words to explain herself, "It just… I am way older than you, but compared to the other wyrms I am still just a child. My power is still booming, it's hard to control at times," She bowed again, "I am sorry, so sorry for allowing myself to slip. Tiny, if you are afraid of me now and want to return to your pack, I will understand."

"It’s fine, lady!" Tiny raised her paws, trying her best to make everyone forget about what just happened, "Nothing bad has happened, we are still alive and well. Let’s just forget this all. I will stay for a while, if the wolf hag allows."

"I will think about it. Leila, please take me to the hospital. I need to see my friends. Tiny, make sure to report me if anything strange happens. I will reassign you immediately." Aranea commanded, calming herself.

Leila quickly walked forward, her former cheerfulness gone as she struggled to find a way to make amends. She opened doors for Aranea, leading her across the halls, then to the underground floor. They go through a series of corridors before coming to elevators. Several soldiers in power armor saluted Leila as she used her card to open one of the elevators. The machine moved after the half-wyrm pressed the number three.

"This will take us directly to the hospital." Leila said in a serious tone, brushing her hair with one claw nervously, "Once again, I am really sorry for what happened, I never intended to…"

"It’s fine." Aranea decided to let it slide. After all, she knew full well how dangerous power could be. "At least you apologized for messing with my head, unlike everyone else." Joked the wolf hag.

The woman lifted her brow in question but kept her curiosity in check this time. The doors of the elevator opened, and they came into a hall-colored green. People in white coats were working on injured people in rooms, healing or replacing lost limbs with mechanical augmetics. As the pair turned into one of the corridors, they came face to face with sergeant Alek, who was coming out of one of the rooms. The left side of the man’s face was missing, steel now covered it, his eye was replaced with a red lens, his left nostril was replaced with a breathing tube. The skin was still red at the place where the metal came into contact with the skin, this indicated a recent operation. Despite this, he smiled warmly, his lips half flesh, half metal.

"And look who's still alive!" He reached for a handshake, and Aranea shook his hand. "When that damned fog devoured half of my face and melted my lungs, I assumed you ended up dead."

"Nah, still alive and kicking. I intend to live long enough to feast on the Regulators for what they've done to us," Aranea joked, "How about you? Is Ursico still alive?"

"Nothing will kill that man, I tell you. When he and his troops wiped out one of the forward camps of the Resistance, the enemy answered with artillery. And yet, this man not only survived the heavenly wrath without a scratch but also managed to bring most of his troops to safety." Alek shook his head, his once thick red hair had now become a lighter color.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"As for myself, I'm a bit weird, but the docs promised they would fix me right up after the war is over. Not sure I want to; I like my new eye; it's a real lady killer. Also check out these goodies!" He turned around, moving his clothes up. His spine was replaced with a metal implant, and the metal circles that ran along the metal spine released air each time the sergeant exhaled. "Brand new lungs! Now I can smoke for as long as I want. Anyway, I am healed and will be back in action soon. There's going to be a big fight coming up, so stay safe, girl!" He slammed Aranea in the shoulder.

"Stay safe as well, boy." Aranea jokingly hit him on the shoulder, and the big man began to laugh.

"Your friend?" Leila asked, leading the wolf hag ahead.

"I barely know him," Aranea whispered back, "But I am glad that he is alive."

A familiar form flanked by two doctors and several nurses appeared. Warlord Martyshkina was coming into a nearby room, anger was on her face as she took off her coat. She angrily growled at the doctors, but they ignored her, taking away her coat. The warlord's eyes noticed Aranea.

"Ah! It’s you. I am glad that you are alive," The warlord came into the room and sat on the table, her back to the wall, while doctors were busy removing her armor. "But know this!" Martyshkina lifted her paw, pointing at Aranea with barely contained rage, "I hate you for what you have done!"

"I understand," The wolf hag responded simply, unwilling to dodge the blame. "I allowed Olesya to be hurt, allowed your warriors to be killed… You have every right..." She had to dodge when the warlord threw a metal gauntlet at her.

"Stop sulking! You saved my wolf hag and one of my packs. Show some pride, you idiot!" The warlord growled, as doctors were busy removing the armor from her back.

"But then what?" Aranea blinked, and Leila gasped as she saw the naked shoulder of the warlord as the armor was removed from it. Large creatures ran through the fur, and enormous ticks were stuck in the body, their pale flesh swollen from consumed blood. More insects appeared when the rest of the armor was removed.

"Because of you and your stupid doctor, we are now forced to go through these idiotic checkups! I could have been in the field now, killing and pillaging instead of…" The warlord pointed around her. "… sitting here."

"Doctor, how is she still able to walk? No, how is she still alive?" The pale looking nurse asked.

"I do believe this can be counted as a closed ecosystem by now," The old and tired looking doctor joked, "Prepare a circular saw. And a flamer. And call the extermination team. Also call the guards. If her ticks are like those of miss Valerye, this will be dangerous for us. Last time, four people were injured before we cleaned up the warlord fully."

"How is Olesya?" Aranea asked with fear, while Leila looked like she was about to vomit at any minute.

"Ask her yourself, she will be back tomorrow. I could have been with her, but noooo. This blasted Marco whispered poison into the ears of superiors, and now we must keep our bodies clean," The doctor tried to offer her some painkillers, but the warlord waved him away, "Just give me some booze. This barely counts as scratches. Be careful, though. If you disturb insects, they will bite you."

The guards arrived, taking aim at the warlord, along with an extermination team that brought bright yellow suits for doctors. Once the elderly doctor took the oversized saw in his hands and activated it, Leila dragged Aranea away from the room while guards closed the door. While the pair walked along the corridor, the sounds of energy weapons firing and the nurses’ screams could be heard behind them, accompanied by the warlord's mocking laughter.

"We will return by another route. I am interested in stories that the warlord could tell, but right now…" The half-wyrm decided, visibly trembling and checking her body for any insects that might have crept on her. "How can you live with… with these parasites?"

"Most warlords are truly ancient. It’s hard for them to change, so they continue in the old ways. The younger generation cleans itself from time to time," Aranea said. She paused for a moment before admitting. "Yeah, I have no idea how warlords can tolerate these things in their fur. I always eat mine before they can spread."

Leila shook her head with disgust and led the wolf hag toward one of the rooms. The half-wyrm sat on two seats outside the room, gesticulating that she would wait for the wolf hag as long as she needed to. Aranea took a deep breath and opened the door.

Kate was lying on a bed that was too big for her. Spheres made of metal were on her lost limbs, each sphere fully covered one lost limb. She tried to sit on the pillows, but each time her body slid back onto the bed. Kaleb, who had a metal sphere on his lost leg, was sitting on a chair nearby, feeding soup to an annoyed scout. Kate's eyes widened, as if in fear, once she saw Aranea.

"Wolf hag," She licked her lips, "I am glad that you are alive and well."

"Kate, Kaleb, how are you?" Aranea closed the door behind herself.

"Mostly fine," Kaleb said, slapping the sphere on his leg, "But the lost leg makes it really difficult to move around. They say new limbs will be ready for us in a month." He added, smiling.

"Month!" Kate almost shouted, trying to slam the back of her head into the wall behind her bed. Kaleb caught her before she could hurt herself. "A whole month of people feeding me, cleaning me…"

"Imagine that you are on vacation." Aranea suggested to her.

The scout looked at her wildly: "Can you even imagine how it feels when you... wet yourself at night?" Kate demanded to know, "They put a diaper on me for the night. And this idiot right here helps them clean me." She looked up, grinding her fangs. "It’s unbearable. Not right. They could have given us mechanical limbs, and everything would have been fine."

"She is still recovering." The male nodded at the body of the scout, and Aranea was shocked to see how thin her friend was. Skin hung on her bones, the wolf hag could see the scout's ribs clearly. "Kate’s stomach can’t handle even meat right now, so we feed her with soup, and the doctors inject something into her to help her recover. In a week or so, it will be safe for her to eat ‘hard’ food, but right now her body is still too weak. The doctors say that by now her body is slowly overcoming the disease that she got back in that place, but from time to time her temperature still rises. She still has nightmares and can hardly speak. Lady Leila offered to use her power to help Kate sleep, but..."

"I can speak for myself!" The wolfkin shouted angrily before falling silent, muttering, "Forced to eat water, forced to lie here like a corpse…" A rising panic can be heard in the scout's voice. She shook her head, returning some focus to her thoughts. "I won’t let them play with my head! Wolf hag, they give me something, and I fall into sleep without dreams. And then there was this weird wyrm woman who wanted to get into my head! I need my limbs, I need to get out of here!" Horror crept into Kate's eyes as she looked at the remains of her legs and hands.

"Kate, growing an exact copy of our limbs takes time. You will see, everything will be fine again in a month." Kaleb spoke to the scout with a soothing voice, trying to calm her down.

"I am freaking out. I want to burn from shame and fear. Everyone sees me so weak, wolf hag Olesya recently came to ‘cheer me up’, Sly showed up, Tiny also, Janine was here, this normie human, and even this weird wyrm woman! They come and try to talk, while I want nothing else but to hide, and yet I can’t! I can’t move. I am weak, useless, good for nothing." The scout started to breathe quickly due to panic, her eyes widened even more, "I've never been this frail! I have not always won in fights, I have lost more times than I can count. But…" She looked at a glass of water near the table. "…To be able to see things but not be able to touch them... It’s insanity!" Aranea held the glass of water in her paw and assisted Kate in drinking it. Kate was breathing rapidly, but she calmed herself a bit after drinking the water.

"Do you regret saving me?" Kaleb asked quietly. Kate looked at him with mad eyes, unsure of his question. "When they hooked us up to machines and said that whoever broke the silence first would lose a limb," He put away food as Kate was in too much distress and panic right now, "I saw how you looked at me when they hacked away my leg. I know that you deliberately lost in every next round."

"Idiot. I lost fair and square. You were just tougher than me, that’s all." The scout refused to admit Kaleb's words. And yet Aranea could see that she was lying. Kaleb could see this as well. Finally, Kate snapped with her teeth, "No, I do not regret it. Glad to hear it?! Bastards, you all make me say the stupidest things … But since we are admitting things. I hate being weak! Every night, I fear they will return, take me away, put me back into the machine, and I will drown and drown, gasping for air that will never come. I can still feel it, my lungs are filled with water, my stomach hurts, and then it all explodes, choking me out and filling my insides with water. And then it happens over and over again…" Kate’s body trembled as tears flowed from her eyes. Kaleb hugged her as she cried, "I am afraid! Laugh if you want to, but what if they come for us again and I don’t even have arms and legs? What will happen to me? So, what else can I give them to keep Kaleb and me safe? Forgive me, wolf hag, I am afraid, so afraid! I don’t have anything left to give to them." Kate whimpered in fear.

"Call me Aranea, and speak freely, both of you," The halfbreed lowered her knees near the scout's bed, "No one will harm you here. You are in one place where the enemy will never lay a finger on you. You are safe. Kaleb is safe. All will be well, I swear."

"I…" Kate licked her lips. "I must confess. I am cursed."

"Kate, there is no such thing as a curse." Aranea smiled assuredly.

"But there is! I know that something is wrong with me," Kate argued with passion, "When I was a cub, I was all alone in the pits." Everyone else ignored me, no one wanted to talk to me. All I ever dreamed of was someone to speak with. Just a word," She looked at Kaleb. "And then one day he was thrown into my group. My curse ripped him away from normal life and threw him into my hell. Can you even imagine how he suffered?"

"Kate," Kaleb said calmly, releasing her, "Stop blaming yourself. Do you remember what the teachers told us about me? How was I so small that they considered me to be defective for a while, and yet shamans allowed me to live? Shamans always follow strict rules, how is it then that I am alive? How did I survive in a female pack when I was the weakest? You shared food with me, how come we are both still bigger than some wolfkins? Could it be that you saved us both with this "curse" power of yours? Could it be that I was supposed to be disposed of?"

"I have noticed ever since," Kate stubbornly continued, ignoring his suggestion, "That something bad happens to someone and I get something good in exchange. Wolf hag, do you remember how during training Kaleb was injured? This saved me from the blade later. Do you remember how the steel woman killed our kin? Then the car exploded, and I was mysteriously alive, while she was killed by our pack," Aranea tried to argue, but the scout stopped her by speaking faster, "You know that she was better than any of us! How come she ended up dying and not me?"

The scout swallowed: "You asked about my beads. I got them from the shamans, a parting gift from my mom. She said I was a cursed child and threw them at me. When I feel that something bad is about to happen, I touch them, and the curse steps away. That's why I was so scared when they broke. What if the curse consumes you? Or Kaleb?" She whispered in terror, "The curse always takes someone of value from me, so I tried to shut you off. It did not work, so I started to hurt myself to pay for my bad luck. "You saw what happened when Blaguna attacked us—the curse accepted my pain and helped me," Kate's lips trembled as more tears streamed down her cheeks. "And then… then the curse forced Kostya to make a foolish move, to insult Blaguna so much that she forgot about us. Aranea, I killed him. To save me, the curse took him away!" The scout looked at the halfbreed. "Feel free to throw me out of the pack or to kill me. It’s the least I deserve."

"You idiot," Aranea hugged her, sensing how hot Kate's body was. No matter what happened to her, no matter what illness she had due to her open wounds being exposed to dirt and rust in the fortress of the Regulators, Kate was still seriously ill even now. "Calm down," Aranea whispered in her ear. "It was not your curse that took Kostya away. He always wanted to give his life for the group," She quickly told her friends about Kostya's fears. "It was his choice. And don't you dare denigrate his sacrifice by thinking that you killed him. He made the decision to save you and us."

"But the curse…"

"If it's real, then it saved us, you idiot. You saved us, you moron," Aranea hugged her more tightly. "Think about it! The strange people who forced Blaguna to send us back suddenly appeared. Almost as if it were a miracle. You are not cursed, stupid," Aranea started recalling every time Kate was supposed to get hurt but came out of danger with minor injuries. It all started to make sense to Aranea. There were times when people possessed multiple powers, "I swear to you one thing. You are not cursed. No, I believe that you have another power inside of you—something really weird, scary even," Aranea released Kate and took her head in her paws, forcing the scout to look into her eyes. "This is not your fault. I will not throw you out. And we will find out just what this weird power of yours does in time, and we will find out how you can live with it. Relax and rest, let others take care of you. I need you. The pack needs you. Kaleb needs you. Please, don’t push us away, okay? We are your friends, and friends support each other."

"I’ll… try," Kate finally forced herself to say, trying to look away, "I am tired. Can I sleep now?"

"Finish eating, and then you can sleep." The wolf hag let go of her, standing up, "And this time it's an order. Take as much time as you need to heal, but come back to us. There is still a lot of work ahead. Kaleb, you get healthy as well. I will check on you two during the evening."

Aranea opened the door and walked outside of the room. Leila was sitting on the chair nearby, hands behind her back.