As far back as I can remember, I began my journey awakened by the sound of thunder. It was the first sound I heard upon awakening in this mystical world I was about to wander in. When I looked around me, I saw not a single soul nor sign of life, but a ruined old bedroom with myself above the dirt-covered bed. A violent storm was brewing outside as trickles of water drops fell from the small holes that make up what used to be the roof of the abandoned building. The smashed wooden window covers creaked loudly as the heavy wind blew it around.

'tis was a raging storm outside.

The examination of the old room didn't gave me much answer to my current predicament, so I slowly raised from the bed which I was on, at least, I thought I did. It didn't take much time before I realised my situation, more specifically, I checked my body. There wasn't one.

Funny enough, I wasn't particularly confused about my current condition, like I knew somehow beforehand that this was what I am and was reassured. It was the first of the many mysteries that I encountered that I never solved throughout my travels.

However, as I was pondering about my new 'state', I heard someone below me, no, it's more correct to say I felt someone's presence. I felt... a girl, pretty young by the looks of it, underneath where I was. From what I could tell, she was feeling cold and exhausted and... I think I also felt a sense of deep sadness within her.

As the storm continued to rage on, something within me, either it be my instincts or personality, was urging me to go to her side and comfort her. Just as I felt those feelings of mime urging me to go, I moved blindly towards the presence of the girl, completely disregarding the fact that I was moving into the floor. However, my instincts told me to not to worry and as strange as it sounds at first, I was able to pass through the floor harmlessly.

As I passed through the floor, the scenery changed, but only physically. The same gloomy and abandoned feeling could still be felt from the ruined walls and soiled, leftover furniture. My vision wandered around what seems to be a grand hall for large gatherings, until I spotted movement among the corner of the room, hidden under one of the small tables.

It was the same presence I felt from the second floor, the girl.

From the angle I was looking at, she wouldn't be able to see me, but I could see just her legs shaking from what I assume to be the coldness of the place. I say assume, because I couldn't feel the temperature at the time. I float closer, slowly so to not scare her with sudden movements, but then I realised the idea was meaningless as I came face to face with her. She didn't notice me, no, she can't notice me.

Easily judging from my current condition and the fact that I could pass through the floor, I thought that I was currently what people would call a ghost or spirit. However, that fact didn't discourage me from trying to cheer up the little girl as I looked around for something, anything to at least interact with. I don't know why, but I wanted help her no matter what and I restlessly looked around the building.

I passed through walls with ease and checked every dusty corner of each room. After going through a couple similar yet different rooms, my instinct began to pull me towards a pile of rubble near the front of what by then I realised is an abandoned noble's mansion. Twin staircases were around the side of the entrance of the mansion, but a giant hole was stuck in the middle of the second floor. It seems the pile of rubble was once where the hole was, a part of the second floor. However, what my instincts were pulling towards to wasn't the pile of rubble itself, but something under it.

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It was a corpse.

Suddenly, an image of a book appeared in my mind and I was presented with a specific page. "The Shade Wolf" was written on top as the title and a illustration of what appears to be a fully ash black wolf was under the title. I looked at the image and at the half covered corpse in front of me and I immediately understood what I am looking at. The corpse compressed under the pile of rubble was exactly that, a wild Shade Wolf.

By now, my instincts was pulling me even harder towards the wolf's corpse. Unable to resist the invisible force pulling me, I gave up and followed the flow. A second later, I blacked-out.

...

I quickly woke up afterwards, again. I was at exactly where I blacked-out, if not a bit lower. I didn't know what happened nor what caused me to black-out, but the moment I woke up, I knew something was different but couldn't pin it to the source. I tried to move, but something was holding me down. Looking up, I only saw the rubble that was on top of the corpse of the Shade Wolf. At that moment, I realised what happened.

Somehow, I was 'inside' the corpse of the Shade Wolf as if it was my natural body. Though the body was under the rubble, it wasn't as damaged as it sounds as only the heart was pierced apart from the skin, so I was able to retain most of the original body's strength. I slowly pushed the ground with my new found claws and soon I was out of the pile.

Curious of my new found body and senses, I did a quick lap around the room. The legs of a wolf was amazing! I could run as fun as... I don't know, but I could run incredibly fast! The nose as well, I didn't even know that even the ground has a smell. The feeling of temperature was just as cold if not colder than what I thought it would be, yet for some reason, I didn't mind it. But as much as I like to do more tests with my new body, I still remember the trembling girl under the table. I strolled back into the deeper part of the mansion and began looking for the room she was in.

It wasn't hard as it was just a couple doors down the main corridor from the entrance hall. Maybe it was because the room was meant for large gatherings and parties that it was quite close to the entrance. Though the doors to the room were broken down long before I awoke as parts of the door was hanging with termites on the rusted hinges, my new body was still quite big for such a large doorway. Nevertheless, I entered the room, searching the corner of the room for the girl. By then, it was already too late for me to realise my mistake.

Before I reached the far corner of the room, I saw the girl trembling, but this time, she wasn't trembling of coldness. She was trembling on fear because of me, or should I say, the appearance I had.

I realised my mistake when I saw her and tried to think of an approach that won't frighten more even more. However, the only thing I could think of was to walk forward towards her. I couldn't speak nor do anything else with this body and it is quite clear that there is no other way to approach her.

And so, I slowly walked with careful movements towards her.

And she fainted...

I wasn't so sure what to think about at the time, but I was pretty sure that I was a bit disappointed. What did I expect? I've no idea. But the feeling of sadness also lingered within me for some reason.

However, once I came back to reality, I saw small signs of trembling from her even though she passed out. It must be the coldness, I thought, and I came to her side to keep her warm with the fur on my body. Though I don't know if the corpse could still produce heat, I wrapped her in my body as nicely as I could.

Such event was the first thing that happened when I came to consciousness.