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Re: Bow
Chapter 2: Three choices

Chapter 2: Three choices

Hello we are finally after hours of work and distractions i just wanna say sorry to start with the poll didn't have everything i forgot a bit about what each does but i doubt it would really change the lead Direwolves had.

Anyway this is the chapter its a long one and i will always try to make at least one chapter a day btw

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Placed before me were the mounted heads of three different animals on the left was the larger than normal golden head of a Direwolf, in the middle there was a head of a Red furred saber tooth lion and in the right was the head of a sky blue stag with some oversized white antlers. Each head turned and followed me as I made my way to the wolf head, as soon as got within range I lost control of my limbs and watched as my hands moved against my will and placed themselves on top of the wolf, at which point I lost consciousness. 

Upon waking up I find myself lying in a shallow cave surrounded by wolves, this causes me to remeber to my death and I stumbled to the floor, quickly getting back up and moving to the back of the cave I get into a defensive position and attempt to use my arms as a shield, as I raise my arms I find myself off balance and yet again the floor is rapidly getting closer to my face. I recover quickly then look down to see that what I believed would be my hands are actually huge golden paws, looking at the rest of myself I discovered I’ve transformed into a wolf, a huge Golden furred Direwolf to be exact. As I started moving about I noticed there wasn't any problems operating my body it was like I’ve been a wolf my whole life I could control it so well as I’m playing around in this body I see all the other Direwolves get up and start leaving the cave deciding I’d rather stick with the pack rather than standing around chasing my tail I follow them. Along the way more and more Direwolves join the group as we head in the direction of a medium sized village. Nearing the village the rest of the wolves start to circle the village whilst staying under the cover of the forest. Instinctively I crouch down and start moving forward with others until the the howl of the pack leader signals and every Direwolf charges in. Surprisingly even I dart towards the direction of the village and rip through the lumber walls. Hundreds of us tear through what used to be a calm peaceful village that now is a battlefield with the howls of Direwolves and screams of villagers with the blood of both flowing down the barley cobbled streets and sinking into the mud. As I followed my fellow pack mates into the carnage I noticed I didn't feel what I expected to feel I always thought when I killed another human I’d feel disgusted or horrified but it’s just the same as killing any of the other animals but a lot closer and with less clothes.

As I was tearing into the throat of another victim I felt immense pain in my right side causing me to collapse turning my head I see a man dressed in metal armour holding the shaft of a pike that's lodged deep into my chest as it gets more difficult to breath and almost impossible to move I manage to keep my eyes open just long enough to see one of the Direwolves leap onto his back and close its jaws over his head.

Opening my eyes I find myself back in the white room with the three mounted animal heads except this time there is a plaque under the wolf head reading “If you can’t bring it down with one send another hundred. --- You will be able to form and fire arrows faster at the cost of some some damage.” As I try placing my hands on the wolf head again I find I can't put my hands closer than a foot away from the head and instead I lose control of my body again and it starts heading towards the Sabertooth Lion’s head I assume what’s going to happen is similar to the wolf, so I let it take me and place my hands on the Lion’s head I feel myself losing my conscience again.

Waking up this time I find myself alone on top of a mountain again with complete control of my body, as I breathe in I sense many different animals indicated by different colours but the only one in the direction i’m facing looks to be a large bear i’d guess the colours and animals are all representations of their scents believing I was facing this way for a purpose I start to follow the trail leading me to the bear. 

After a few days of travelling I finally find the cave where the bear resides, I let out a roar to indicate a challenge to the bear, it takes a minute or two but finally I hear a response, a roar much louder and deeper than mine blast out from the cave following shortly after by what I believe I saw in a book was called a ‘Gaia Bear’ it was at least  half a size larger than me, it has a thick looking hide and black grizzled fur, we both stare at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

After a while I decide to make the first move, I was the one who hunted it I shouldn’t let it control the situation. Bravely charging forward I aim to get either under the bear, to get its neck or behind it, so I can jump on its back. However the bear anticipated my moves and didn’t try to rear up to attack me. When I tried to get behind it moved quickly keeping its body facing me, seeing this strategy isn’t going to work i go head on and jump onto its head and aim for the nape of its neck, I manage to claw its back and tear a few chunks out of it before it reared up and grabbed me before slamming me back into the ground disorientating me but I managed to get my bearings just in time to see it falling back down trying to stomp on me. I swiftly rolled out of the way and shook myself a few times as i circled the bear trying to clear my head; it was not enough the bear took its chance and charged me managing to grab me with its paws while attempting to bite my midsection. Feeling it would end badly for me if I did nothing i started frantically biting and clawing at whatever I could. Eventually it let me go but not before mauling my lower right section and causing me to limp. The wound was not fatal however would most likely kill me off soon. As I look towards it I see from the frantic attacks I made they seemed to have worn out the bear and it seemed it hoped that it caused enough damage to stop me and was attempting to run away. Even though it caused huge damage to me that I could barely move I wanted to bring it down with me using all of the remaining strength I could muster. I charged and leapt up onto its back and used my fangs to tear through its windpipe and my jaws shattered its spine I clambered off it and layed down just out of its reach as we watched each other’s life fade away and the world fade to black.

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Sitting up again in the room I look towards the mounted lion which has a plaque reading “Sometimes you’re alone and that's fine as long as you have the strength to back yourself up. --- Increased force and damage at the cost of speed and range.“

Understanding what’s going on I head straight to the mounted stag head, place my hands on it and let fate take hold of me. 

Raising myself up and looking around I see I’m in a quiet forest with no real indicator on what to do yet. I hope it’s like the wolf and I just need to wait. With that in mind I start wandering around and eat some leaves this lasted a hour or two until I hear footsteps, they were not close but they were also not human but there were a lot of them and they are heading in my direction while I’d rather be safe I’d also not like to leave the current area so I slowly start walking in the opposite direction of the running while observing my surroundings this goes on until I hear a wolf’s howl coming from behind me which set me off sprinting away from them faster than a stag should be able to move.

After a little observation I find that I am infact going faster than an average stag can with each stride I cover multiple meters in an instant. Suddenly I realised I was about to ram into a tree, I couldn’t dodge in time so I braced myself for impact only to find my antlers blasted the tree apart on contact. It was a joyful and surprisingly pain free event but I didn’t have time to stop and party the wolves were starting to catch up it seems even at the speed I was running they are still a bit faster not only that but I am running out of land I see glimpses through the trees of a sheer drop down the gorge, the wolves are close I see them through the trees and they’re not normal wolves while they have brown fur at the front of their bodies, everything past the midway point are leaves the colour of autumn and they are constantly trying to catch my legs. 

Just before the last wolf’s attempted attack we burst out of the trees and are now heading up to the ledge. Enraged, the wolves have doubled their efforts to catch me it seems they understand what happens once we reach the edge and they don’t like it much. They don’t have enough ground or time needed to catch me. I reached the edge and leaped hoping to make it to the other side of the gorge which I estimate is one hundred and fifty to two hundred meters away some of the wolves attempt the jump as well hoping to grab me but they fall long before they reach me. I slowly descend to the other side of the gorge I see the terrain is rugged and will not be simple to land.

As I land I can’t get the necessary foothold, nor can I slow down and with that I trip, roll across the ground breaking my legs before slamming my back into a tree which sadly snapped my back instead of decimating the tree like I hoped. The worst part was I didn’t just die, I felt no pain and only had a small discomfort when breathing but I could tell I was going to die, the amount of blood pooling around me tells me so; unless it’s not my blood, but I know it is, I see it pouring out of my body and after what felt like hours the world blurred and faded away.

Opening my eyes for what I believe to be the last time in this room I look at the plaque of the stag “Grace is as powerful and sharp as any weapon. --- Increased range and accuracy at the cost of reload and fire speed, will also require those who wield you to have more strength in order to use you properly.”

Looking at the mounted heads I guess I have to make a choice which after consideration I go for the Direwolf while Lion and Stag are good I assume I and or whoever wields me or is bound to me will be fighting against numbers more often than a one on one. From the materials i used I already have good power and range anyway. With that I go place my hand on the Direwolf’s head a second time and after a sudden flash of light I find myself in what looks to be a temple to the gods lying on an altar with many other armour, weapons and other items in the centre.