Zaelen froze. “...What?”

Lyri stepped forward, bristling and hissing. “They are not dead!”

“Oh, are you sure about that, Lyri? Who could live after going into that death trap of a place?” Fenrir rolled his eyes. “Besides, it’s not like they’re part of my pack. Don’t you remember, Lyri? It’d be a pity if our only healer went senile at a young age.”

Lyri snarled but didn’t respond.

Zaelen narrowed his eyes at Fenrir, then looked back at the pack. Its size had yes, significantly decreased... as if the pack had split in half. Zaelen let out a harsh laugh.

“Was it so hard to keep control of the pack that it split in two? My, what a wonderful job you’re doing!” purred Zaelen. “Oh, and what was that you called me the last time we met? A tyrant? Well, at least a ‘tyrant’ could keep his pack intact, hmmm?”

“Shut up!” snapped Fenrir. “They chose to leave. I didn’t force them too! Besides, what do you expect me to do?! It’s not like there’s much food in the first place!”

Zaelen glanced at the startlingly gaunt wolves behind Fenrir and felt a small prick of guilt and having gorged on plentiful meat and fruit while the wolves had starved. He pushed it away. He wasn’t the alpha anymore – he wasn’t even part of the pack, why should he care about the pack’s ongoings?

Velwraith stepped forward and bowed his head. “Thank you for helping us.”

Fenrir turned his head away, then motioned for Lyri to join him. “It’s about time you came back,” he snapped. “You’re dead when we get back, thought you could run away, could you? You should be grateful that I’m accepting you back.”

Lyri glared back at Fenrir with eyes that could’ve burned a hole through the wolf’s head and rose to her full height. She stepped forward until she was inches from Fenrir. “Never,” she growled.

“What?” Fenrir’s voice was venomously low. “Do you think you can escape? I will DRAG you back if I have to.” Then Fenrir followed through on his words, hooking his claws into Lyri’s scruff and starting to pull her away. While it didn’t draw blood, Zaelen was sure that it was painful.

Servant Chicken glanced over at Zaelen, his eyes asking if he should interfere. Zaelen supposed that he owed Lyri a favor. He motioned for Servant Chicken to go ahead with whatever he was planning. The black kierin immediately somehow slide-tackled – yes, slide-tackled – Fenrir, sending the wolf sprawling across the ground. The rest of the pack snarled, and some started to step forward. But Fenrir rose up and turned eyes blazing with indignation and fury on Zaelen.

Hey, why me? I did nothing!

|||Servant Chicken wouldn’t have moved without your permission|||

How HELPFUL of you to point that out.

|||Thank you. I know I am very helpful|||

Zaelen stifled a snort of laughter, turning it into a cough. Lyri, free of Fenrir’s grip, darted back to Zaelen’s side. She was clearly on edge now, if she hadn’t been before.

“You don’t deserve such a position!” spat Lyri. “To force wolves to follow your every command – Zaelen was a much better leader than you!”

Fenrir ignored Lyri’s spiteful insults and stepped forward, eyes still focused on Zaelen. “You.”

“Yes, me,” agreed Zaelen.

Servant Chicken fell, rolling on the ground laughing. The elderin had to whack him several times to get him to quiet down and regain his composure... somewhat. Fyrn smirked at Fenrir.

“You’ve always been an obstacle in my way,” snapped Fenrir. “And you still are, even after you exiled yourself from the pack. I thought that nothing could’ve gone better, but no, I was wrong. You turn up yet again, causing more trouble. But I’m not a ruthless murderer like you. Like how you killed my parents.”

Zaelen blinked. “Hold up, Aurora and what’s his name are your parents? Was Lunaire your cousin then, or something?”

Fenrir gave a howl of fury. “She was my sister! We grew up together!”

“Oh. Well, you can’t exactly blame me. They’re the ones who accepted the challenge, ya know.”

Fenrir gave a snarl and lunged at Zaelen. He skittered back, before raising a paw and slamming it down on Fenrir’s head. He crashed into the ground but leaped back to his paws, teeth bared. He lunged again, and Servant Chicken stepped closer to Zaelen. But it wasn’t needed. A blur of fur crashed into Fenrir, knocking him away. The red wolf dodged a blow from Fenrir and sliced her claws across his underside. Then she darted back, out of range of Fenrir’s swipes.

[Aerofang] Name: Aeries

Hey, isn’t that the wolf from before? The one which practically flew, considering how high she leapt?

|||What do you think? I don’t see any other wolves with the same name|||

Servant Chicken cocked his head. “Ooo, betrayal. This is getting interesting.”

“What happened to your pack, huh?” jeered Lyri. “Not as loyal as you thought, hmmmm?”

Zaelen cast a surprised look at Lyri – he hadn’t thought there could be a side such as this to the seemingly gentle healer.

Fenrir gave something between a whimper and a snarl. “Aeries.”

Aeries lifted her head high. “I will not apologize. I am done with you, Fenrir. Done.”

“You cannot abandon us like this! You cannot abandon me! You’re my beta! I was going to make you alpha with me – you could’ve ruled beside me!”

“You mean ruled under you. I don’t have any feelings for you, Fenrir – I believe that I’ve already made that clear several times.” Aeries drew back as Fenrir reached pleadingly for her. “Don’t touch me. Lyri is right – you do not deserve this position. Things were so much better when Zaelen was the alpha.” Aeries ended with a wistful sort of tone as she glanced at Zaelen.

Fenrir shook his head before his eyes turned hard. “You will regret this. All of you.”

“Then let me join you.”

Zaelen swung around in shock as Fyrn slipped past him to stand in front of Fenrir. Velwraith gasped.

“Fyrn... no!”

Fyrn cast a careless glance back at Velwraith. She smiled at his distress. “Yes.” Then she bowed her head in an act of submission to Velwraith. “If you let me, I will prove... useful. I have allies. Powerful allies. And I will certainly join you in making them suffer.”

Fenrir slitted his eyes, considering, before giving a small and not at all comforting smile. “Then I shall appreciate you at my side. Come. All of you.”

As the pack turned to follow their alpha, Fenrir paused. “And don’t think you’ve seen the last of me, Zaelen.” Then he burst into a run, and the pack – along with Fyrn – disappeared into the snowing land.

Servant Chicken frowned. “Well, I wasn’t cheering for a betrayal from our side.”

Velwraith collapsed, his eyes glazed. “No. No. She couldn’t.”

It seemed that Velwraith cared about Fyrn more than she cared about him. The aquaerin nudged the wolf with its beak. Then nudged him again. It glanced up at the sky. The snow was falling faster now, in torrents. Zaelen flashed back to the time when the blizzard had spit literal icicles into the ground.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“We need to find shelter,” stated Lyri. She swung around. “Get up. She didn’t care for you, so why should you care for her?”

ang. Lyri does NOT mess around.

When Velwraith only looked up at her, Lyri raised her paw and cuffed him around the ear. Hard. Velwraith’s eyes flashed.

“Leave me alone!” he snapped.

Lyri narrowed her eyes. “So you can freeze here? I think not. Get up!”

Velwraith’s head drooped, the burst of energy gone. He slowly got up, every movement slow and tired. The aquaerin decided that the wolf was going too slow. It grabbed Velwraith’s scruff and dangled him from its beak. It gave a muffled squawk.

“Good chicken,” praised Zaelen.

The aquaerin puffed up its chest triumphantly. Zaelen turned to look at Lyri. “Do you know any sheltered spots near here? I don’t want to get caught in the middle of another icicle blizzard.”

“A what...?” asked Lyri.

“I’ll explain later. Do you know any?”

“I do,” responded Aeries. “Follow me.”

The red wolf slunk through the snow, Zaelen and the others on her heels. Zaelen sometimes used [Wind Surge] to decrease the amount of snow that was seemingly pouring down on them, but he had to stop it after a while each time – the skill took quite a bit of MP if he used it for a while. Luckily, they soon saw the outlines of a cluster of trees. Frostpines. Aeries visibly increased her pace, the chickens waddled like penguins though the snow to keep up, sometimes flapping their wings to keep their balance. Zaelen and Servant Chicken carried the mystirin, which was still unconscious, between them.

The elderin almost tripped and spread its wings wide to keep from falling when they were only a few feet from the trees. Aeries was already beneath the great trees, their thick boughs of needles protecting her from the heavily falling snow above. Then a ferocious gust of wind swept through the landscape, sending snow flying into Zaelen’s eyes. As he blinked furiously, he heard a terrified shriek. The elderin?! His heart gave a jolt. What if it’s the shadow monster again?! He paused, looking back.

To his relief, it wasn’t the shadow monster. However, the fierce wind had blown the elderin’s wings open, and it was struggling to close them. Its talons clawed at the snow, trying to keep its grip on the ground to not get blown away. Zaelen cursed, glancing at the mystirin which was still between him and Servant Chicken. The kierin, no, he was actually a cetalis sicarious, not a kierin anymore, glanced at the struggling elderin too. He pressed his midnight wings closer to his body before nodding at Zaelen.

“You go help; I’ll take care of the mystirin.” Servant Chicken moved to carry the mystirin on his own before Aeries darted out and took some of the mystirin’s weight as well.

“Go!” she called.

Zaelen didn’t wait, he bounded toward the elderin, which had already been blown a ways back. Its wings waved wildly in the wind. The elderin was obviously making an effort to close them, but every time that its wings got halfway closed, they were violently snapped open again. Zaelen reached the flailing chicken and reached for one of its wings, grabbed it in his claws. He pushed it down while using [Wind Surge] to minimize the pull of the wind.

The elderin struggled for a few more moments before pulling both of its wings tight against its body. It gave a relieved squawk.

“Why don’t you become a chicken for now, alright?”

The elderin obliged, squishing itself into its chicken form. Zaelen gently picked it up in its feathers, before stopping his use of [Wind Surge]. The wind immediately hit him again with its full force, but Zaelen managed to stay on his feet. With his jaws clamped tight around the elderin’s feathers – though he was careful not to hurt it – he started to make his way toward the trees. Just as he reached their safety, the first icicle fell, followed by several more. They peppered the ground, though not many made it through the thick canopy of the trees. Still, they hid under a large overhang of rock just in case. After all, nobody wanted to be kabobbed by an icicle or two.

Zaelen looked at the elderin, which was still in its chicken form. The aquaerin and aetherin soon popped into fluffy chickens and waddled to its side, where they pressed tightly against Zaelen’s chest.

Lyri lay down and stared adoringly at the chickens. “Awww, they’re like little fluffy bundles of feathers!” she cooed. Lyri reached out her paw and stroked the chickens’ feathers tenderly. Aeries joined in.

Aeries swung her head toward Zaelen, eyes blazing. “Tell me that you have given them names?! You’ve been putting that off for ages!”

“What if... I haven’t...?” Zaelen doubted he wanted the answer to that, but Aeries gave it anyway.

“Then I will make sure that you burn in the depths of hell.” Aeries paused. “Well, unless you name them right now. Come on, I’m watching.”

Zaelen thought this felt very much like an interrogation. An interrogation that he did not very much like, thank you. He opened his mouth. Then closed it again. He considered, looking at the aetherin.

“Chrrrrr?” it asked, eyes alight with excitement.

Zaelen frowned in thought. Then an idea lit up in his head.

|||PLEASE, NOT THAT. DO NOT|||

“Potato Tea.”

|||I-I'm sorry, aetherin. I couldn’t save you from your fate...|||

[Aetherin] Name set. Naming uses: 0

[Aetherin] Name: Potato Tea

The aetherin – no, Potato Tea – bobbed its head and fluffed up its feathers in excitement. “Potato Tea!” it parroted.

Servant Chicken smacked his forehead. “Well, at least now I know I’m not the only one with an idiotic name...” he muttered. “Welcome to the club.”

Aeries and Lyri gaped. Velwraith was still staring dazedly into the difference. Zaelen took this as a good sign – as long as they didn’t berate him anymore about names, he was happy. Zaelen turned to the elderin. He paused.

“Wait -” cried Aeries, but it was too late.

|||...Yet another lost...|||

“Chicken Nugget. You shall be Chicken Nugget from this day on,” announced Zaelen proudly.

[Elderin] Name set. Naming uses: 0

[Elderin] Name: Chicken Nugget

“Chrrrrr!” cried Chicken Nugget excitedly.

Zaelen turned to the aquaerin. But before he could make up a name for it, Lyri lunged forward and slapped a paw on his mouth, muffling his words.

Aeries stepped forward. “Maybe you should let us take over the naming,” she suggested, wincing as she looked over at the newly named Potato Tea and Chicken Nugget.

Zaelen shrugged and sat down. Lyri warily let him go. Servant Chicken burst into laughter, snorting.

“Wow, you two finally couldn’t take it anymore, eh?” he managed between laughs. Servant Chicken earned a whack on the head from Lyri. “What was that for?!” he cried, nursing his injured forehead.

Aeries was still deep in thought, staring fixedly at the aquaerin. It tilted its head questioningly, waiting for its new name. Aeries frowned, then scrunched up her face. “Lyri, do you remember that one healer from when Aurora and Nyx had just started their reign?”

Lyri tilted her head, as if trying to remember. Then she perked up. “Do you mean Niro?”

“Yes, that’s the one,” agreed Aeries. “He was brave, if not foolish.”

“You speak like an old woman,” sniped Servant Chicken. He earned another whack from Lyri for the comment.

Aeries sent an exasperated glare the cetalis’s way. “Well then, what does that say about you? Anyways, you don’t know who Niro is, right? You came after his death.”

Zaelen bobbed his head. He hadn’t even known some wolf named Niro existed till now.

“Basically, you remember how Aurora and Nyx decided: ‘you know what, we don’t need healers anymore?’ Niro was one of the only healers who stood up to that rule, which is what it eventually became. While the other healers eventually subsided, finding other things to do, Niro was the only one who continued to stand up to the rule, refusing to cast aside the skills he had honed for decades.” Aeries shook her head. “I think it would’ve been better if he hadn’t. Aurora and Nyx eventually grew so annoyed with him that one day, they executed him in cold blood in front of the entire pack, pups and all.”

Lyri gave a sad sigh and looked up at the sky. “I never really understood why they hated healers so much. But they had so many secrets that we will never know. Still, I’m glad you killed them. They were better than Fenrir – they seemed to actually care for the pack unlike that bastard – but... they just did things... wrong. I don’t really know how to put it. Anyhow, why did you bring Niro up, Aeries?”

“I was thinking of naming the aquaerin after Niro. He was a brave wolf, standing up when the rest of the pack didn’t. So, what do you think of Nirros, aquaerin?”

The aquaerin tilted its head, then looked at Zaelen for confirmation.

“Up to you,” said Zaelen. “It’s your name, not mine.”

“I think Niro was a bit... don’t want to be rude to the dead, but he was kinda stupid. Not gonna lie, from what you guys have said, Aurora and Nyx sound ruthless. So, like, he was kinda sentencing himself to death? You know?” Servant Chicken eyed Lyri warily. Clearly, he didn’t want another whack on the head from the healer.

Aeries glanced at the aquaerin. “The final choice is up to it, like Zaelen said.”

The aquaerin squawked again. Tilted its head. Looked toward Zaelen. Then tipped its head to the other side. It scuffed its talons through the dirt.

[Aquaerin] Name set. Naming uses: 0

[Aquaerin] Name: Nirros

Chicken Nugget and Potato Tea hopped around energetically. Nirros joined in, and they eventually turned the hopping into a game of tag around Zaelen. Aeries winced as an icicle suddenly stabbed into the ground mere inches from the overhang. Zaelen had forgotten about the raging blizzard around them.

Zaelen glanced up at the overhang and was relieved to see it was as solid as ever.

“When do you think the blizzard will stop?” asked Aeries.

“The weather in this place is way too unpredictable to tell,” snorted Lyri. “Cursed hellscape that it is.”

Nirros waddled over to the mystirin, which was the only one in its original form.

“Should we name the mystirin?” wondered Zaelen.

Aeries shook her head. “We should wait until it wakes up.”

Lyri looked at Velwraith, who still had a somewhat dazed expression. The wolf was simply staring off into the distance, not really seeing what was in front of him. She frowned and waved a paw in front of Velwraith. There was no reaction. Lyri turned to Zaelen.

“He’s in shock,” said Lyri. “Just give him some space and time.”

“Not like I was going to do anything anyway. And what was that about where Iceria and the rest of the pack went? Fenrir called it a ‘death trap’. Is it that bad?” Zaelen wouldn’t be surprised if it was that bad, to be honest. After all, this entire place could be called a death trap, and Zaelen would bet he hadn’t seen the worst of it yet.

Lyri grimaced. “Yes... it is.”