“Damn,” said the mass of furs in front of Stephan, “you REALLY can't handle it. Not that I blame ya; it took me a while to get used to it too.” Inside the mass of furs was a tall, thin man, that had the gleam of insanity in his eyes.

Stephan looked back and forth between the wolves behind and the man and wolves in front. The encirclement seemed absolute.

“Thinking for a way out? huh?” Asked the man, “You're not gonna find one. All these wolves are mine. And they're each stronger than a bear”

“Bear?” Asked Stephan through a dry mouth. He might be able to talk his way out of this one. Even if the guy had just killed a dozen-odd people, he seemed to be at least lucid enough to talk to.

“Damn!” exclaimed the man in surprise.” you don't have those things here? Hm. They're about twice the size of a full-grown man.” He began To explain a terrifying creature that was neigh unkillable with traditional weapons.

“Th-that sounds terrible,” replied Stephan, only half listening. He was still looking for any way out. But the wolves that were eating had stopped and surrounded him even more.

“Yeah, they're beasts; too bad that this world doesn't have them,” the man sighed. This world? The man must have been a Traveler. This was horrible news, Travelers, those from other worlds, generally had strong abilities gained when they migrated from their host world. The man in front of him could be neigh impossible to defeat or run from.

“I hoped to add them to my army,” he continued while petting one of the wolves. “If these guys can level up and become this strong, what could I do with a grizzly.” The man walked up to Stephan and squatted down to his level.

The man peered into his eyes for a second before speaking again. “I'm not gonna kill you,” the tension in Stephans body drained away. “ya did good with those kids; they're safely out of the wood, so don't worry about them. And you deserve a good thing in turn.”

“You're going to let me go?” Asked Stephan hopefully.

“Not exactly.” Not the reply Stephan wanted to hear. “Let's talk for a bit.” The man stood up and fell against the side of one of the wolves. Another brought him a hunk of raw meat; Stephan couldn't figure out of what.

“Do you want some?” Asked the man, seeing him eye the meat. Stephan quickly shook his head. “your loss, I guess; feel free to eat from your bag, your last meals on the floor, and I can't have you just starve.”

Stephan, still quiet but now a bit less terrified, grabbed some rations from his satchel. He chewed on it pensively while the Wolfman began to talk.

“Man, it's been forever since I talked with anyone. I've been on the run so long from people who look at me like dirt or attack me and mine that I can't even remember the last time.”

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The man stopped to eat a chunk of the mystery meat.

He continued through a full mouth. “First of all, my name is Maxmilion. I used to be a soldier in the Australian military. Man that feels almost like that was the fantasy. Of course,e you wouldn't know anything about that, not being from my world.”

Stephan listened intently. So the man was a Traveler, and He didn't seem too mad. He'd listen to the rest of the Travelers tale and then ask what was in store for him.

Maxmilion continued after taking yet another bite of his meat. “One thing I know, I'm in Afghanistan; next thing, I'm in fantasyland with a goddamn screen at the edge of my vision like I'm in a fucking video game. Can you believe that?” Stephan enthusiastically shook his head; he desperately needed to get on this man's good side so he could leave as soon as possible.

“Long story short, with enough experience, I can recruit creatures I can see and manage their stats and other stuff. Took me a long ass time and effort to get these wolves.” Maxmilion lovingly petted the one he was using as a makeshift couch.

“So what do you want from me?” Asked Stephan hesitantly in the silence that followed.

“Well, I've been here for fucking months and haven't been able to sit down with anyone and have a proper discussion. The first thing people did when they found out about my ability was imprison me. Of course, rats and bugs can do a hell of a lot.” he sat up and stared intensely at Stephan. “I need information, I haven't tortured anyone for it, and I won't. I was tempted many times” he added darkly. “But now you're here!” He said all smiles. “And you even know how to write!”

After that, Maxmilion asked dozens and dozens of questions. Stephan was able to answer most of them. When he couldn't answer several at a time Maxmilion became visibly distressed and started to multilateral the pile of bodies for a good couple minutes.. Stephan lied about those he didn't know after that.

After several hours of this, Maxmillion seemed satisfied. “So I'm in the Platau empire, huh? Now I know the sons of bitches that imprisoned me.” His face twisted into a demented smile.

“Can I go now?” Asked Stephan, exasperated; he'd lost most of his wariness of the manner after He asked almost ten questions about pictures of naked women. Very strange. “It's almost nightfall, and I need to get to Cliffgate in four days. I lost two already.”

“Oh, you're not going anywhere, kid”. The danger that Stephan had forgotten about came back immediately. “I can't let you loose and blab about me to any feds or shit.”

“But you said you were going to let me go!” Shouted Stephan. Maxmillion turned to him, eyes hard and glistening with malice. “I said I'd let you live. I am going to let you go, but not now. You can go when I'm nice and ready to move on from here.”

“And when would that be?” Stephan choked out.

“Not for a couple of months. Is that gonna be a problem?” Maxmillion snarled. Stephan shook his head weakly, there was no way out for him right now.

He just had to lie in wait until there was a chance; he was sure there would be. He had some of the stuff he planned for a wolf attack in his pack. But he didn't expect there to be a person with them.

As Stephan was lost in his thoughts Maxmillion went over to his wolves that were still eating, even hours after the carnage. Sometime during the interrogation they had gotten back to the pile. Stephans thoughts were interrupted when Maxmillion whooped with joy.

“Hell yeah! Looks like you can go sooner Than later, kid!” Stephan got his hopes up a little, but those were quickly dashed as Maxmillion continued. “One of these bitches can finally evolve into a direwolf. I think we'll only need a month instead of several!”

Stephan looked at the man with despair. He was still going to need to escape. He was confused as to what Maxmillion was currently doing. He was busy moving his fingers as if he were turning invisible pages and pressing invisible buttons. Stephan felt like now was a time to leave.

Suddenly, the big white wolf got up from eating. It froze in place as if in shock then began to slowly rise into the air. There was a bright flash of light. And where the big white wolf was there was now a significantly smaller white wolf in its place.

This new wolf drifted slowly to the ground. Its fur looked different, harder, and thicker than before. Its body was shaped very differently. Before the corded muscles weren't visible, but now they stood prominently even through its fur. The face was about twice as wide as before, and its eyes, now red, carried a gleam of intelligence that wasn't there before. And Stephans chance to exit was gone

“Nice! Let's go back to camp. I could use a rest, and you could write down all you told me!” Maxmillion said happily as he ruffled the fur of the now direwolf. The creature never took its eyes off of Stephan, as if it knew he was planning on running. Seeing no way out as long as the direwolf was there, he replied with a defeated “Yes.”

Maxmillion and the wolves surrounded him. Maxmillion began to walk into the trees. He felt a push at the back as one of the wolves nudged him to move. He began to formulate plan after plan on how he was going to get out of this as the clearing disappeared behind him.