A yellowed forest stood motionless. Not a single chirp of a bird or cricket could be heard.

Amidst the trees, a single person stood on a silent clearing. His appearance radiated an ice-cold aura. His face may be considered handsome, if not for his fearsome eyes.

But if one looked closely, he would notice an unfitting tiredness marking his smooth face.

Gazing at the lifeless forest in front of him, the iciness in his eyes slowly gave way to a tinge of warmth. Maybe a tinge was even too exaggerated. A hint of a tinge maybe.

And if one looked even closer, he would notice the tiniest tinge of... sorrow? and regret?

Those emotions, how foreign they felt to him. He couldn't even remember when the last time was when he felt those old companions. Pain filled his heart when he looked again at the lifeless bodies of creatures and dry sucked trees.

Suddenly, a chill ran through his mind. Even the last bit of a maybe never existent warmth vanished before a familiar cold. His shadow started to crawl on its own. It grew darker and darker and the more it grew so, the more frosty and dark the clearing became.

When it seemed impossible to get any darker, an unshapely figure slowly rose from his shadow, until it towered silently in front of him.

A big pair of blood red eyes popped out of the darkness, looking at him.

Hate, Rage, Terror, Cold, Void and all other existent dark emotions gathered around its presence, like moths found themselves inevitably drawn by light.

'ReGRet, my FrIenD? It'ssSs TO LaTe to fEel ReGRet.' it hissed horrifyingly before it pounced on him.

But it instead of pushing against him, the shadow merged into him.

Once again a familiar presence occupied his mind.

He shook off the last remnants of warmth before he felt a hunger awaken in him.

Unstillable, unrelenting hunger drove his mind. Only more life could satisfy his craving.

And nothing could hinder him from taking it.

'ThAt'ssSs rIghT, my friEnD. AnD WE wilL dEssSstroy thOssSse who ssSstandssSs on oUr waY.' the hissing voice spoke into his mind.

The man, now covered in an obscuring cloak of darkness, took off, moving northwest.

---Xanten---

Although as a human, Renn had lacking physique in certain regards compared to the wolves, like jumping power or raw strength, he certainly was more agile and deft with his hands. Showing off his trained and sharpened movements, he moved seemingly effortlessly through the parkour with an elegance, which was naturally radiated by his efficient movement.

Nearby wolves stopped their training to watch how he surpassed the various parkour levels in quick succession, impressing them.

One of the wolves, a rather young wolf with brown fur sneered at Renn.

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'What's the point of him being agile if he can't win a real fight.' he mocked, not loud, but loud enough to be heard from everyone present.

Renn stopped in his track and turned around. 'What was that?'

Phileo wanted to step in when Joanna stopped him. 'Why did you stop me? Renn has no experience or affinity he could use now.'

Joanna looked at him 'He has to learn to fight on his own. Protect him or he will stay a cub forever. You know that.'

Phileo indeed knew she was right and decided to back off.

'Didn't you hear me? Maybe humans can't hear properly. Or is it just you who is deaf?' the wolf mocked. He knew that he had caught everyone's attention and provoked Renn.

Renn couldn't hold his rage. 'Take that back!'

'You dare to fight me?'

'You bet!'

Before the two could actually brawl, Joanna stepped in. 'Calm down you two. I get that you're hotheads and I certainly won't hinder your fight, but we will fight with set rules, you understand?'

They both halted before they blinked in agreement.

Joanna looked at an old looking ground wolf, who stomped twice on the ground and a circle with a diameter of 10 meters elevated out of the ground, marking a sparring ring.

'The rules are just like normal sparring rules. Whoever lands the first direct hit onto the body wins. The moment you step out of the ring, you lose. Needless brutality will be punished. That's all. You understand?' Joanna explained.

Both opponents blinked, still staring at each other.

'Alright get in, the fight starts with my signal.'

They walking onto the stage and waited silently.

'Fight!'

The brown wolfed darted towards him. Renn had plenty of sparring experience and compared to his brother Asik, the brown wolf was slower by a margin.

He already had planned out how to dodge to the right in the last possible moment and kick the wolf flank.

The wolf came close and time seemed to slow down for Renn. He felt the adrenaline and focused on the right timing.

He tensed up his muscles and right at the last possible moment, he moved aside or at least he tried to when he realised his feet were stuck. Shock and disbelief filled his face when he looked down and he saw how his feet had sunken deeply without him noticing at all. He had been too focused on the wrong things.

He could only raise his hands to guard himself when the wolf suddenly stopped and circled around him. He then lightly touched Renns back of the head with his paw.

'Pathetic' the wolf murmured for himself before he turned and simply left without saying another word.

Silence filled the place.

Still shocked a sudden realisation struck him. He had overestimated himself and underestimated his opponent. His mind was filled by his hurt pride and he lost his calm, resulting in him missing the fact that he was shackled. He was truly pathetic.

Ashamed he turned around and ran away.