Chapter 7

  I had been drifting between wakefulness and slumbering. I had no idea how long it’d been since i’d layed down, but I had seen the sun set at least 3 times. My body felt odd, as if it could not be the same one I had fallen asleep in. Lazily getting to my feet the cavern felt smaller, more cramped and confining than comfortable. Dragging myself out into the dazzling daylight, I felt refreshed from its rejuvenating rays.

  Shaking myself fully awake I noticed that all the pups were almost fully grown. They, along with our parents stood casting a semi circle around the entrance to the den. My gut murmured warnings to me. Our fathers elegant figure stood, his brilliant gold eyes piercing me. Uh-oh I thought, something was dreadfully wrong.

  He approached, leaving my mother who stood by his side behind. As he drew closer I noticed something interesting. I was larger than him. I had to lower my gaze to meet his when he was close, which would either mean I was going to grow arrogant, or I had to be stronger. His posture held a calm threat, daring me to make a move that would be swiftly punished. My choices seemed to be few, either fight for pack dominance, risk being torn down by all of them, or leaving.

  I did feel the urge to take his jugular in my jaws and crush his windpipes. But I never did get along with my siblings, so doing so would only lead to the pack being in a struggle for an alpha. If I turned tail and ran could my pride handle that, I wasn’t truly afraid, but arrogance had already taught me much in this world. Looking towards mother, I saw a deep sadness in her eyes. Though there was no protection there. My litter mates would not be on my side, that was already a given. Frustration flared inside of me, what choices did I really have here.

  Father took a step to the side, Mother and the others also moved to make a pathway. Ah so I was given a respectful exiling for the threat I held. I angrily released a breath, crunching the grass underfoot as I walked past. I would remember this place and I would be back. I swiped my claws at an offending sapling, forgetting that I was missing some nails. Surprisingly they had grown back, as I left deep grooves in its bark. How long had I slept for anyway.

  Leaving this area I had known, for to stay near was to invite conflict. I wandered between trees, I could hear rabbits fleeing away at my approach. I would have to find a safe place to stay, but first came getting far enough away to survive. Approaching a pool of water I decided to quench my thirst. Looking down as I went to drink, I froze in shock. The reflection was completely different from my expectations.

  The nubs I had on my head had grown. Extensively grown, as they had become a pair of full length horns reaching in a gentle curve over my skull. Looking closer to find any other changes, I noticed my eyes had become different as well. My eyes that had always been a light blue in my previous life, had golden stars shimmering inside of an almost glowing blue iris. The scar I received from my first hunt was a small line, Straight from behind my right eye to a few inches back. I thought it was rather distinguishing myself. The fur covering the area was pale white, almost bleached of color. What a shocking development I murmured to myself. No wonder they kicked me out, to them I probably was the wolf version of the devil.

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  Knocking some sense into myself, I left the watering hole. Looking up the sun still had a good amount of time left until it set. I had been heading west this entire time, so i figured I should just keep going that way. Lost in my thoughts, I started to think about this world. There were creatures that had never existed where I came from, yet they seemed common here. Going by that logic, and the hints I’ve picked up, there were probably real monsters, along with humans here. Well, if a human could hunt a lightning bolt and a rabbit that causes more damage than an arrow.

  I would have to be careful to avoid all of them. Humans always have been afraid of wolves, and adding in myself it would only be worse. If they easily hunted what I’ve risked my life to kill, then fighting would go poorly for me. And if there's ogres, trolls and a slew of other beasts i would have to pray I could hide. I was starting to get a headache from all these problems and dangers I was going to have to avoid.

  Abruptly I froze at the sound of footsteps. Speak of the devil and he shall come after all. Laying my rather soft tummy to the ground i focused on my sense of smell and hearing. It was light footsteps, to light for a human to make. Crawling close to the ground I moved in on the footsteps. Peering through the underbrush I caught sight of what was making the sounds. A short, thin creature was rummaging around. It was green and wore rags of cloth over its frame.

  It turned enough so i could see its face. It looked like a scrunched human face twisted into odd proportions. Its mouth was to large, and its eyes took up an uncomfortable amount of space on its face. Ah… it was a goblin. In games they were always pathetically weak, and were an infestation that had massive numbers. An idea struck me. If everything in this world had one of those stones that made me stronger, well atleast feel stronger, than a goblin would be perfect prey.

  But they were always in extreme numbers in the movies and games I had played. If it wasn’t alone, then there may be a problem. Searching I heard no other sounds nearby. Maybe it’s also an outcast then. Now do I wound it and hope it leads me to others, which may be dangerous. Or so I kill it now and check if it even has a stone in its heart. Pondering such matters the decision was made for me. I heard a strangle garbled sound from its mouth as it charged me.

  So be it then, I’ll feast upon your flesh and see if you’re even worth killing. Launching myself from my hiding spot the goblin looked surprised. The sound of a squirrel fleeing in terror could be heard from near where I had been hiding. Grinning at my luck I decided I would be more careful than how I had been with the lizard. As I got closer my legs hit the ground and I changed what I planned on tearing apart first on this goblin.