Jet black paws burst out of the boundaries of the trees. It didnt take long for the rest of it to follow suit.

Its body shifted like a living shadow, stretching and bending in the light. It was creatures that shouldn't exist and yet more of them broke out of the tree line.

I saw a man kneel and barely heard whispers of a prayer leave his lips. His body began to glow with a faint white light.

It surprised the old man, but a confident smile filled his face as he flexed his arms.

I was in shock. My faith could actually be of use here.

I was eager to do the same, because any advantage I could get would increase my chances of getting out of there.

I knelt down on one knee and prayed.

"Lord, I know I've been unfaithful and unsure. Please forgive me. Please protect me in this dark hour and lead me out. I promise to serve you and change my ways. Please" I prayed even more as the monsters approached but I didnt feel any different.

I watched my body carefuly, there was no change.

No white glow, nothing.

I watched the old man grab a sword and saw the light from his body flow, and envelope it. He stepped forward with conviction and stood ahead of us.

We were surrounded.

It was utterly foolish of him to do so, but he didnt care. Something in him was special for sure and I was determined to stick with him.

I walked up to his side, but I hung back a little. Others had gathered around him as well, because they noticed the faint white glow flowing out of him, just like the classic description of aura.

Some still hadn't picked a weapon from the rack. They were fucking cowards. I was abandoned yet I still wanted to fight.

If I survived this, I'd most likely turn aethist.

The first of the wolves reached the old man at the front, and he cut it down in one swing. I saw the light around him dim a little, but he remained steadfast.

Was it really that easy to neutralize them? Either way, I'd find out soon enough.

The wolves ahead parted to avoid the old and two came towards me while the others attempted to join the wolves on our right.

My face paled.... Fuck it.

The first wolf lunged at me, and I took it head on in my hubris. My sword struck it across its snout and it got stuck...... I remembered my physics lessons well, and I for sure did not apply an equall enough force to stop the wolfs momentum. My wrists bent back awkwardly and the sword was ripped out of my hand as the damned thing crashed into me.

"Fuckkk!!!!!!!" It hurt like hell.

The wolf was surprisingly light, but it still knocked the wind out of me.

It tried to open its mouth in an attempt to bite a chunk out of me, but my sword thankfully impeded it. I pushed it off hurriedly, before it got out of its daze and remembered it could very well use it's claws to shred me into ribbons.

Unfortunately those very claws had dug into me as we colided with worrying ease, and I was not eager to find out what it could do to me with intent behind it.

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I ambandoned my sword, still stuck in its snout, and now I had 8 puncture wounds on my chest.

A worthless trade.

Thankfully there were other swords in the rack, so I didn't miss mine much. I doubted I even had the ability to get it back without another weapon.

I backed away from the creature, my eyes locked on it.

It was trying, and failing horribly, to shake the sword off. I was never as grateful as I was for something being so sharp before.

I thanked God, then remembered He abandoned me. Fuck.

I heard a scream and saw one of the wolves atop someone, a much older man trying to protect his kids.

I looked away before the creature started tearing into him.

His screams, drowned by the fog of battle.

I felt my foot scrape over something and I looked down.

It was another sword.

I tried to grab it, but noticed it came with an unwanted package, a severed hand still gripping it tightly.

My stomach lurched and I threw up all over it.

I was disgusted and wary. My legs shook in spite of my will and I was rooted in place just staring at the carnage.

Three of us lay dead with only 8 of the wolves struck down.

I slapped myself back into action and picked up the sword at my feet with great effort and disgust. Its handle was slippery with blood and bile, but it was all I had.

The wolf that tackled me earlier had given up on the sword stuck in its snout and looked my way with what I identified as anger.

Well, it wasnt the only one pissed off at this situation.

We charged at the same time. I was already struggling and out of breadth, but I pushed everything I had into my charge...... and tripped.......on a fucking pebble.

My life flashed before my eyes as a dazzling display of incompetence and luck played out before me.

My unexpected bout of speed, from literally falling, caught it right as its feet left the ground, and my sword impaled it through the roof of its mouth right into its brain.

I let myself fall on its body to rest. I felt a sudden sharp pain in my head and random texts flashed before my weary eyes.

I felt drawn to it.

The text was in a language I never knew, yet I understood what it said clearly. It was teaching me a skill the wolf possesed. It was teaching me the concept of sharpness.

I felt a fire burn in my chest as the knowledge and method on how to apply that concept was ingrained into my head and heart.

A current of power flowed from my heart to my hands that still clasped the sword. I tried to yank it out from the corpse of the wolf, and met no resistance. It just discected its head into two neat halves with no effort.

That was freaking awesome!!!

Now that I could do some actual damage, I rushed in to help the older man I saw earlier. Unfortunately he was long dead by the time I arrived.

That's four dead now.

The older mans kids were fending off the wolf admist rivers of tears. I would thank God, but I was sure He wasn't listening....well not listening to me at the very least.

I felt a pang of guilt.

If was just a little more competent, more in shape. Maybe. Just maybe I could have done something earlier.

I rushed at it and caught the damned monster unawaress. I lopped off its hind legs and it let out a pained yelp.

I gave it no time to recover and plunged my sword into its back and flicked it upward, spraying the kids, i now recognized as twins, with its blood.

I could have been more tactful, but desperation is a vibe killer.

The kids looked no older than 16. One a boy, the other a girl.

This world was cruel, even more so than ours was.

A sudden bout of weakness brought me out of my thoughts.

I noticed a faint grey light on my sword quickly fading away. I knew there would be a significant backlash if I just let it sputter out on it's own, so I willed the connection from my heart to my hand to break.

It caused a fair amount of pain, but it stopped my energy from being drained.

I expected something like that would need to draw energy from somewhere, but it was a lot more tiring than I expected.

I had been staring at the kids the entire time and coughed into my palms, opting to observe the situation rather than strike up a conversation.

It was beyond my abilities to console someone, much less a stranger.

The battle was dying down and I noticed a few more people with the same grey glow I had on my blade.

They grouped up and were better organized. They quickly took down the rest of the monsters, the man with the white glow taking the lead.

In a few minutes all the monsters were taken care of.

We had 5 more deaths, none amongst those that had awakened that new power.

They huddled up for a quick discussion and called the rest of us.

"My name is Mark." A nice cheery voice, with a thick accent rang out. "We have discovered that those of us that gained this......ability" he demonstrated and we all saw the grey glow on his sword "all have one thing in common. We all made contact with the bodies of the slain beasts." He paused once more, gathering himself. "I suggest, those of you who haven't, should. We will need to work together, and taking every single advantage we can get is only wise"