The day and night went swiftly by while I worked and eventually slept in the intertwining tree branches above the forest floor before getting up again the next morning, ready to start my adventure with a good breakfast.

“Ugh… This is disgusting.” I groan to myself as I take a bite of my freshly… well, I can't say cooked wolf meat. I was out in the forest with nothing around but the occasional branch that I couldn't seem to light a fire with and the dehydration I was starting to feel didn't help much with the physical activity either, so I had to make do without a fire. That meant that I was eating raw meat. And it sucked.

It wasn't all bad though as yesterday’s work after the fight was worth the time it took. A large hunters knife made of half of one of Alpha’s leg bones sat in my pocket, while the other half sat at my side attached to my spear in the shape of a leaf bladed spear head, ready to be used against the monsters of this forest at any time. Four fur bundles of meat and bone sat in a pile all tied together by rope made from the wolf sinew, ready to be attached onto my back like a disgusting, bloody and badly made backpack. It wasn't pretty but it got the job done.

I needed to do some exploring, sooner rather than later. I might die of thirst before I actually find any source of water if I am unlucky enough, though the fact that there were animals like the wolves here makes me think there must be a source of water close by me. Though for all I know these wolves didn't need to drink water to survive. I have no real idea how this planet works…

After my ‘breakfast’ of raw meat, I sighed to myself before stumbling to my feet and grabbing my small supplies I had put together, slinging the pack onto my back and taking my spear into my hand, I started to walk. I didn't really know where I needed to go, but I walked anyway. Through the dark shadows between trees, avoiding the small clearings where rabid animals might be, I made my way through the forest. Hours and hours I went through the same thing, passing tree after tree and rock after rock.

The repetitiveness was almost soothing, the holes in the canopy where the light from the sun beamed down a relief from the chill of the trees and what I was suspecting to be unnatural shadows.

This forest was unlike any I had ever seen or set foot in. There were small plants, large trees and rocks all over the place, but there was not a single sound other then my breaths and feet crunching the dead leaves and branches beneath me. This forest seemed… Dead. Devoid of life and so dark one would think that the very sunlight was afraid of what was in its trees. I felt the forest around me like a presence in my mind, watching me carefully, amused almost.

But through all my misgivings of the forest, I kept soldiering on. Marching through the darkness, looking, hearing and smelling my surroundings for life saving water. I could almost feel my drive and determination in my chest, like a fire deep in my soul. Like the weird blue fire of the spirit of Alpha inside my soul.

As I went through the forest slowly, my mind couldn't help to wander onto that very subject. The wolves souls in my Soul Space. What did they want? How could the very souls of animals come out of their dead bodies just to enter my Soul Space? What was the Soul Space?

Those questions were thrown through my head over and over, like a bouncy ball that never loses its momentum. Theories started coming to me, linking little details together in my mind. Could these spirits in my Soul Space be some kind of guardian spirit? Do all the animals on this planet have some kind of natural ability to attach themselves to its killer to be used like some sort of… Source of energy? Or maybe the wolves are just like a sort of parasite species that can only attach to a host when killed or something… Draining my life away slowly until I die.

I shiver at that particular idea and I try to forget it, but it stays in my head like an annoying mosquito. But how would that even be possible? How could a ball of light just fly around and enter my body in the first place? Casting my mind back, adding to my confusion, there were several other unexplainable events like that. Alpha’s blue flame, the rush of power I felt after the wolves went into my Soul Space, when I felt Alpha communicating to me in my mind and when Alpha’s flame healed me after the fight.

Magic was real. I concluded to myself, seeing all the evidence build up in my mind. I probably could have figured it out earlier too. The portal that seemed to have some sort of vendetta against me staying in a single universe for too long. The cultists that definitely have something to do with the portal. All the impossible creatures and people I met in that damned facility. All of it pointing to something I couldn't understand. Magic was real. And it seemed to want me dead.

It was like some sort of story, souls of what is killed going into the soul of the killer. Said animals having the power to heal wounds and make me stronger when I fight. It's like some sort of spirit summon system… ‘Wait, surely that's not possible.’ I thought to myself as that thought occurred to me, stopping dead and wondering if it could be possible what I was thinking was true.

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I started reflecting into my soul, feeling its power and the emotions of my wolves. When I focused on the souls taking residence in me, I could feel something happening, softly at first, but stronger when I focused on it. They wanted to come out and I could feel it. I was scared at first, but I was quickly calmed down by the spirits of the wolves. They were mine and I could control them. Wait, that was wrong. I couldn't control them. They were like extensions of myself but they would act how they wanted. There was a relationship between us. A bond.

They would do what I asked of them without hesitation, not because I controlled them, but because there was respect there. They respected me and would answer my call and in turn they expected… something. Power. They wanted to be stronger, better.

I chuckled at that feeling, not because I was being rude, but because I realized what they felt like. They were like me. They wanted to be at the top. To be the best. Well, I would oblige as well as I could.

As I thought that, I felt something inside me click. The connection sharpened. A deal was struck and they were now part of me and I was part of them. I felt the joy of the beasts in my soul, wanting to be released if only for a moment. Greet me as equals.

“But how?” I asked them, searching for an answer in myself while looking to them for guidance on my new situation. “Call and we will answer.” Was their reply, of course not in words, but the meaning was clear as day from the thoughts of my summons. “Come out.” I invited them and I felt my soul shift slightly with my intention.

They came out. Slipping from my Soul Space into the world at last, they bounded to the forest with joy. When they emerged, I watched them with wonder. They still looked like wolves, but there was a clear difference in them. They were still spirits, but now they were spirits given a body of energy. These new bodies were tinged with a glowing blue, like the color of the soul balls when they had died. The fur of the wolves drifted on the faint breeze, light and airy as well as clean. The original color and purity of these bodies was plain to see through the layer of blue energy, showing me the beauty of their layered gray and black fur and piercingly joyful eyes.

But the first thing that I saw was not this, but the glowing detail in the largest wolf in the pack. Alpha. His fur was covered with the blue fire I have seen before but now they looked… almost more surreal. Like they were more pure, cleaner and more defined and they interacted with the layer of energy over their new body.

The wolves padded closer to me, standing still they looked to me with joy at their new form. They were beautiful. I might have teared up a little as they nuzzled me, letting me feel their emotions and communicating to me with such purity that I have never felt. Language felt unnecessary, weak and so flawed it wasn't even funny in the face of that.

I was part of the pack.

I just stood there, basking in the feeling of my summons for a good while before my thoughts turned back to my goal with a pang of thirst. As one, we prepared to head off into the forest. I caught the eyes of Alpha as I prepared to start walking alongside the rest of the pack and I could feel his intent as he looked at me with his prideful eyes. “Are you sure?” I asked him hesitantly at his unspoken offer, but that hesitation was wiped away by Alpha as he lay down beside me, waiting for me to climb on.

I smiled at Alpha before approaching him and putting my hand into his flaming fur and petting him appreciatively despite my misgivings about the blue flame and if his new body could hold me. Surprisingly, the heat of Alpha’s fire wasn't very hot for me, it felt almost like the heat of a small campfire from a foot away.

With that realization it didn't take long for me to get on his back and let him stand up before he turned with intent and together the pack started running. I laughed as I felt the wind in my hair, feeling Alpha’s bones and steel like mussels through the comfortable fur beneath me as he bounded through the trees with the speed of a car, the pack around us never falling behind as we went. It felt like a dream.

I lay down on Alpha’s back, holding on tight with my legs while we rushed through the trees at speed. ‘This was the best thing I have ever felt.’ I thought as we went, the feeling of the speed making my blood pump and my grin to never falter even on the little bumps Alpha made as he ran.

I wasn't sure how long the journey for water went on for, but as always night came quickly in the forest and we decided to stop for the night, no water in hearing range or sight. I could feel the wolves asking for me to sleep with them, but this time I had to tell them no. Even with the wolves around me for the night, I had a bad feeling about sleeping on the forest ground at night. Almost as if a voice was whispering to me not to do it.

With some hesitation and a little sadness on both our parts, I summoned them with a quick thought before examining the closest trees and seeing a tangle of branches that seemed like it would be half decent to sleep on and would hold my weight just a few dozen or so feet away, barely visible through the trees.

I approached and climbed up the tree quickly, not wasting a second before getting to the little natural platform and getting ready to sleep after today’s excitement. Letting the exhaustion quickly overcome me and sinking into sleep.