Chapter 29- Fire

I can feel the fire blazing with in me once more. Every part of my body is heated with energy. The familiar red flames within my soul can now freely be used once more. It feels as though this life and all my past lives fully combine into one entity. The only strange and unfamiliar part of this transformation is the black flames. They are so small and diligently spread across my body that they almost look grey as they mix with my white fur. The energy that comes off of them eats away at the chain around my neck. They are not hot, yet they burn.

The energy in my body more than doubles from anything I had in this world or any other. My injuries begin to fade away. They do not heal. They simply stop existing as if they never actually happened. The chain slides off my neck and with a thud hits the ground.

The black flames automatically cover my paw as I reach out to slice up the man who was once holding me down. They move without my command and almost read my movements before I even move. My blackened claw digs into his flesh like tofu. I rip open his stomach in a single strike. His squeals of pain gather the attention of the people torturing Alice.

Their boss doesn’t even look back as his subordinate’s cries for help “Ignore that idiot.” This guy is too heartless. He doesn’t care about his own men. I will have no regret killing this scum.

One of the men holding Alice down points in my direction “Bu.. Boss the wolf broke his chain!”

The leader turns to look in my direction and begins to speak. “That’s impo…” However it was already too late for him.

While they were talking I was building up the power in the back of my throat for an explosive ball of fire. A watermelon sized ball of compacted red and orange flame erupts from my mouth. It smashes into the Leaders face as he is in the middle of the speaking. As it partially engulfs his head I release the energy forcing it to blow him further into the alley and hit his two subordinates into the walls.

 I shoot forward at speeds faster than I have ever done before. As I fly down the dark alley way I jump over Alice. In midair I spread my claws out in both directions scratching at both walls at my sides. Sparks fly out from my claws as I scratch the metallic walls of the buildings. As I glide over Alice my paws impact the two people who had been forced against the wall from the previous explosion. One Paw slams into the head of the man on my left smashing his skull open. The other paw rams into the neck decapitating the man on my right in a single slice.

I land between Alice and the man I blew away with my fire bomb. I can hear him groaning as he prepares to sit up. I can still see the gloss of disorientation in his eyes. I can visualize the stars circling his head. Dam he is way too strong if he can survive an explosion to the face. However I am much stronger than him with these black flames.

Not wasting a single moment of this miraculous transformation I shoot out toward him the instant I notice he is alive. I slam a paw down on each of his shoulders and dig my claws into him. The black flames do not move away from my body or interact with him in any way other than devouring any part of him that touches the darkness. Dei builds up in my teeth and jaw as red and yellow flames burst from my mouth like foam from a rabid dog. I clutch down on his trachea and jerk my head to side. A snapping sound signifies his broken neck. The burning smell tells me the flesh on his neck is melting.

Since the flames on my body appeared it had been less then fifteen seconds. My speed and strength were so terrifying!

The black flames on my body dissipate without warning and the strength in my body drops to a pitiful amount. My muscles ache and my mind goes numb. I want to drop right here and now and sleep for days. Sadly I don’t have that luxury. I need to clean this mess up and bring Alice back to the hotel.

I spit a flame out over the leader disposing of his body. I use the bare minimum amount of flames to disfigure his body and hide his injuries. As I do this I hear Alice spit out the gag as she sits up. She stays silent for a few moments while covering her half exposed body with her arms. She looks at me with her body shaking.

Is she afraid of me? No. Her eyes show something else. They hold an emotion that I can’t read. The only thing I can tell is that it is not fear.

I slowly walk up to her. She doesn’t attempt to stop my motion or impede me in any way. When I get within arm’s length of her she reaches her hand out to touch my ear. She scratches it softly and mutters. “So this is your secret.” She stays silent for a few more seconds before removing her hand.

I finally nod my head once in confirmation. This is one of my secrets. A secret I didn’t even know about.

“Ehem, Well anyways why don’t you finish cleaning up so we can go home. It has been a long day.” She slowly gets up keeping one arm around her stomach holding her shirt closed. The tone of her voice is mysterious and fluctuating with a dozen different emotions.

She walks out of the alley slowly as I do my best to burn the last three bodies. As I burn the three men I noticed they all have the same tattoo on their right hands. It is a spiral of one red snake and one black snake rising into the sky. Their heads rest on a white cloud and their eyes have red and black x’s covering them. Thinking back their leader had a similar tattoo. After finishing the last body off I exit the alley way.

Using a mix of all my senses I scan the area to see if any one saw us. I doubt any one did. Most people were asleep by now. The only reason Alice and I are here now is because she had to close up.

We walk back to the hotel room in silence. I follow Alice inside and we climb up the wooden stairs to the second floor. Our room is at the end of the hall on the left. The room is small and the only thing in it is a bed, a night stand and a small closet. A circular carpet woven from wool is in the middle of the room. Alice falls into the bed with her torn up clothes and blood splattered body. I curl up in a ball on the carpet and quickly drift into a deep slumber.

That night I have dreams of the good times with Aarushi and the others from my past life. The good dreams bring me happiness for a while before they turn into more graphic nightmares. I witness Aarushi’s death, the man with the two scythes continuously attacks me over and over again killing me each time just for me to be brought back and killed again. I try to use fire and even Dei but nothing comes out. I fight back with all my strength but am to powerless to do anything. In the end I am killed again and end up in a dream version of purgatory. This time however I am not alone in Purgatory.

 A disembodied voice whispers in the back of my mind. It repeats the word death over and over again and mumbles other things I don’t understand. Somehow he speaks a combination of the languages I have learned from each world thus far and a few I don’t recognize. The voice sounds familiar somehow. It sounds similar to the time when I became enveloped in black flames. It is like a million people whispering in my ear simultaneously. When the voice stops I feel my self being reborn as I wake up from the dream.

…

I wake up with Alice on top of me hugging my head. I look up at her to see she has cleaned herself up and acquired new clothes. Half her face is still swollen from being punched, but her beautiful smile still shines through being exemplified by her sky blue eyes and golden hair.

“Fenrir, thank you so much for saving me!” She kisses the tip of my cold wet nose. “You revealed you’re secret to save me didn’t you?” I simply stare reactionless at her continuing to exam her injuries. I can still smell blood on her, most likely from her abdomen and chest being cut open. She slides off me and walks over to the bed.

Alice bends over and pulls a silver bucket out from under the bed along with a small box. The bucket is filled with water and has a grey wash cloth hanging on the side. She dips the wash claw into the water and rings it out once. Grabbing my paw with her delicate hands she cleans the blood off my fur and claws. In silence she cleans my blood stained fur.

After she finishes cleaning me she goes back onto the bed. Rubbing her chin with her hand she finally speaks. “Strange. Your wounds are gone. Sometimes I really wish you could speak.”

I let out a single bark.

“No I mean really speak! Like talk my language! Ugh whatever. You revealed some of your secret so I guess it’s time for me to reveal my own. A deal is a deal.”

 I shake my head telling her she owes me nothing.

“No Fenrir, let me at least tell you more about myself.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “First off, you may have noticed that I am an extremely quick learner, and I know some skills that are abnormal for my age or that I never should have gotten a chance to learn. That’s because I learned them before you ever met me.” Alice looks up toward the ceiling for a moment, then back at me. She shakes her head vigorously. “No this isn’t how I want to start the story!”

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Alice jumps off the bed and lays her head on my shoulder while stroking my front leg. “Before you met me I was in love with a man. He was kind, strong, and also kind of rich hehe. He loved me too! After knowing each other for some time and well doing adult things we got married!” Alice rolls off me onto the floor with her arms wrapped around herself. A devilish smile forms around her face. This is ruined by a sad face moments later. “But shortly thereafter he came down with a sickness and died. Without him I know longer had any one or knew what to do with my life and resorted to… well the next thing that happened is Beowulf came into my life.”

Married! I met her when she was less than ten years old! And what on her would she know about adult stuff! She is only now sixteen!

“Hehe you look so confused! Just wait a little more.” She pats the top of my head. “I have lived for far longer than just sixteen years. In reality I would be about thirty seven years old right now… or at least mentally. This is not the first life I lived.”

I release a short gasp and shoot my head closer to her. She is exactly like me! Or I think she is… I need her to continue her story.

“hehe are you interested now?” I nod my head excitedly. “Ok! I was actually born in another world, a world with magic! One where people could bend fire, water, wind, and several other elements such as electricity. There were people who were also immune to magic and were extremely hardy against other attacks as well called the dark clan.”

This place sounds a lot like the world of Pyromancy. Was she born from that world?

“However I was not born from these wondrous clans, I was born in the skyless tribe. A tribe of completely normal humans. We had no special powers or really any great strength. We were often taken as slaves or simply killed for peoples’ entertainment. Shortly after my husband died our village was attacked and I was enslaved by the prince of a certain village called Twin Trees.”

Twin Trees! She was one of the slaves I freed! Or failed to free due to that maniac with the scythes… just thinking of him and his power brings chills to my spine. It also reminds me of my love for Aarushi… it took me many years in this world before I stopped thinking of her constantly, and even to this day her memory still saddens me.

“No don’t be so sad for me Fenrir… I am very happy in this world! You have been my best friend both in this world and the last. I love you very much!” She cradles my head in her arms. “I love you boy.”

I nuzzle my head into her shoulder and give her a sorrowful moan.

“Don’t worry, the story has a hero! One day a strange yet powerful boy was captured for killing the prince. He was put up for execution, but somehow survived and a little over a month later he set me and all my family and friends free!” A small tear rushes down her cheek. “The hero Deadra did everything in his power to save us with his band of heroes, but some horrible accident happened and an evil man came from nowhere killing most of the people I was enslaved with.”

I lick away the tear that falls down her face.

“That’s when everything went black. I woke up in an unfamiliar and dark place…”

She must be talking about purgatory. That place is almost impossible to describe.

“It happened to be a cave out in the forest. Deadra’s friends Lucarus and Rhea had brought us to safety!” She gives an awkward half smile before continuing. “But Deadra and his love died in the battle against the monster of a man.”

She survived? I thought all the slaves would have been killed in that battle. Was she lucky or did Mica find some way to protect or heal them in the end? No wait, do I like or hate Mica?

“After that I lived my life as a free girl for a few months before dying from a disease I had gotten from being enslaved. The next thing I knew I was being reborn as the girl named Alice. I decided to throw away my first name and my new identity in both this world and the ones to come will be Alice!” She thumps her chest in excitement.

I give her a few small barks as a make shift applause. After that we talked for some time before it became late and she had to get ready for work.

Alice gets off me and stretches her arms in the air. “Ugh time to get dressed for work.” As she reaches for the bottom of her shirt I turn away and start walking for the door. “Wait Fenrir where are you going?”

I make a slight moan. I am leaving you to change. Don’t you want privacy? I turn my head to try to convey my meaning but a fabric lands on top of my head. It smells like Lilies. It smells like Alice. I shake my head dropping the fabric to see a topless Alice. Bandages cover her stomach up to directly below her exposed breasts. I immediately make a yelping noise as I drop to the ground and cover my eyes with my paws.

“hehe are you shy Fenrir? Why on earth would a wolf be embarrassed to see a person naked? Aren’t you ALWAYS naked?”

I simply moan out in confusion not removing my paws. Don’t you have some modesty women? I mean I am a wolf but still... Well I guess she doesn’t know I used to be a man. I guess changing in front of an animal isn’t that weird is it? Well whatever I still want to give her privacy. Any ways I already got enough eye candy today with that short display. No don’t think like that! She is like my little sister! I will simply never remove my paws form my eyes again.

I feel a tugging on my front paws as Alice’s voice fills my ears. “Oh don’t be so silly Fenrir. Come one now I am already dress. Just give me a good bye kiss!”

At that instant a knocking comes from the door.

“Ugh who is it?”

A young boy’s voice comes from the other side of the door. “I am a messenger. Mr. Ruthford, the owner of tavern Blood Moon sent me.”

Alice stops tugging my paws. She shouts to the boy. “Hold on a moment I am getting changed.” I hear rustling in the room as Alice speaks to herself in a quitter tone. “I wonder what the boss wants.”

Alice you lied to me! You said you were dressed already! I fear she loves to mess with me too much. Is this what my friends felt like when I messed with them? No I was sly, she is just unorthodox! I’ll just keep telling myself this as I keep my eyes closed.

I hear the door creak open and Alice’s cute voice from behind me. “Ok I’m dressed. Boy what is it the boss needs?”

“He says that work is canceled today because of a recent attack from what the guards believe is a Wyvern. The attack happened in the alley way next to his tavern. The Blood Moon will be closed until it is all cleaned up. Most likely it will reopen tomorrow and you should plan for work. If it is still not opened by then I will inform you again at this time.”

“Very well if there is nothing else then you may leave.”

I hear the door close once more and Alice walk to the other side of the room. “Ok Fenrir I promise I have all my clothes on this time! So open your eyes and let’s keep talking. I don’t have to go to work anymore!”

Not wanting to fall for any unusual ploys I keep my eyes closed and my paws clenched on my face.

“Oh do you find me ugly? You don’t want to even look at me anymore?” With a sigh I open my eyes and look at her. Alice is fully dressed, but for some reason I accidently release a small breath of disappointment. With that small grunt Alice’s ears perk up and a devilish smile crosses her face “haha you’re such a pervert. What was that disappointed grunt?” Alice gives me a cute wink before running up and giving me a big hug. “I never knew Mr. Wolf was such a pervert.” The devilish look on her face reminds of one that Aarushi would often make when she was teasing me, only Alice wore it in a more mature way.

After that she continues to talk to me normally into the night. The only difference is she continually reminds me that I am a perverted wolf. I didn’t mean to make that noise! Since when is she so focused on messing with me? Does this have something to do with last night? I must note that never once has she mentioned anything that happened except when she used it to lead into her own past. I really can’t read her emotionally any more like I used to be able to. After the death of Beowulf she would often talk about it and sometimes even cry on my shoulders as I continued down the mountain. This time something is different with her. It feels as though she is masking her emotions.