His other was sleeping. It was like a knot of pain or discomfort in the back of his mind. It was hard and unyielding. He tried to concentrate on it but every time he tried to get inside of that space with his mind, he was shocked. A mental shock like he had touched a live wire. That sleeping part of him was a part of him but separate. He guessed that he wouldn’t ever be able to make peace with that part of himself. We could at least try to learn to get along. If his other heard him it didn’t respond at all. His other was nothing but a collection of emotions and instincts. Ares was probably right. Trying to reason with that part of himself was going to be a fruitless endeavor. William dropped his internal investigations and turned his attention to where Ares was leading him.
Ares had walked around the lake, past the waterfall and back around to the other side of the cavern. On this side of the lake there was a cave. Ares led William inside and the floor of the cave dove sharply downward. William had no idea where they were going. The floor was smooth, and his hind claws clicked quietly on the smooth surface. Ares turned into an alcove to the left. The alcove was well hidden in the natural folds of the earth. They walked down ward and the path curved around to what seemed like, to William back along the curvature of the lake that was now separated from them by solid rock. They walked for a long time in almost absolute darkness, the path was smooth and Ares footsteps never faltered.
A light grew in the distance and William had become aware of the rising temperature around them. It was now unbearably hot, or at least it would have been if he was still in his human form. Areas walked William towards the heat and steam and William became aware of a rhythmic sound, something that sounded like a ceiling fan, only much bigger and faster. The narrow pathway opened up to a humid, hot, but also a sizable cavern with giant propellors over pits that hot stem shot out of. The props caught the steam jet and were turned. William didn’t quite know what he was looking at.
Ares side stepped out of William’s view. “This is our geothermal powerplant. This is what is responsible for most of the power we use in the city. We do tap into the power grid from the outside but only use a small amount and usually only in emergencies. Everything that uses power in the city runs from these steam jets.”
William watched the turbine turn. “Are those things made of… what is that copper?”
Ares shook his head. “No, those turbines are almost solid gold, it’s the only metal that isn’t corrosive and can withstand the immense heat from the steam jets.”
William looked at the place. “I had no idea that something like this was even a thing.”
“We are not beasts, William, and technology does require electricity. This is our home, I bought you here to show you some of the work that has gone into creating this place, and the pride that each and every one of us has in protecting our home.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Ares didn’t say more and led William around the cavern and out through another walkway that was cut into the stone walls.
Once inside the narrow passageway, Ares led him up a steep incline. The passageway was narrow enough so that there was never a time when he could not touch both sides of the wall. The passageway twisted and cut up through the rock of the earth. He looked up and the ceiling of this passageway was covered with white stalactites. It didn’t surprise William at all. With an underground lake nearby, and the steam from the geothermal plant, there would be some condensation. He almost asked Ares why there were no matching stalagmites. The passage was so narrow, if there had ever been stalagmites, they would have been removed to keep the passageway to the lake clear.
The walk up was long. The narrow passage winded its way up through the earth. The path finally leveled off and widened to the point where it looked like he was in a manmade tunnel instead of a natural cave. This new cave continued on an incline. With his werewolf eyes he was able to see everything, even if it had been pitch-black. The cave was lit with those shining imperfections that were used to light his room in the werewolf city.
The tunnel leveled off. William was grateful; maybe this meant that they were close to wherever it was they were going. Again, Ares turned to the left into a well-hidden alcove. This passage was much narrower than all the others had been. The winding twisting passage was so narrow that even moving sideways he was afraid that he might get stuck. He had to force himself through a particularly narrow squeeze in the rock and he ran right into Ares’ back.
“Sorry.” Ares didn’t acknowledge the bump or the apology. “Ares? What’s wrong?” The werewolf was standing there looking up at the ceiling. William looked up as well and saw that the ceiling was very low here. He also saw that directly in front of his teacher was a solid rock wall.
A loud piercing howl broke the silence. The close proximity of the walls made the howl that much louder as the echoes bounced off the walls. In less than a second it was as if he was surrounded by hundreds of werewolves howling at the same high pitch. William fought the urge to cover his ears. The terrible sound eventually faded away and left William with a ringing in his ears that just didn’t want to stop.
The solid rock wall that Ares was standing in front of shifted from its place in the earth and moved to the side burying itself in the rock. Ares walked through the now open passageway as if nothing extraordinary had happened. There must be something in the stone that recognizes the pitch of the howl and moves the false wall. No one had volunteered that information. It was something he would have to ask about later. Ares had stopped several feet past the opening and turned around to look at William. He looked at him, asking him the silent question, Are you coming? William hurried through the passage.
Ares turned around and continued to follow the tunnel. William heard a muted scraping and turned around just as the passageway closed behind them. The rock wall stopped moving with a thud and then there was silence. William turned and saw that they were in some kind of dense forest.
They had emerged from the tunnel into a lush green world of trees and rocks. William was surprised at how fragrant this place was. He looked at the nearby trees and followed their trunks all the way up to…a ceiling? He looked around and noticed that there was no sunlight. The light was the same artificial light of the werewolf city.