16

*Here is yet another instalment in the series, I've been trying to edit/rewrite more chapters at once to make the posts longer as well as dealing with real life. I've also noticed that some people have been unfavoriting me or my stories recently, if you're one of those people I am and always will be open to feedback. Without further ado, enjoy the story.*

Chapter 13

Your mind kicks into gear, and you feel panic crash against your mental barriers, threatening to break through and drown you. You grit your teeth and push it back, attempting to keep calm, to fight the level of fear which rises as the mountain next to you. Your eyes close and you force yourself to concentrate on your new limbs instead of the innumerable metric tons of rock and basalt hurtling up towards you.

Tail... Wings... Move!

The two leathery appendages twitch as the nerves seem to awaken deep inside the tough flesh. The bones, muscles and ligaments begin to feed feeling back to your brain, and you try again.

Move! Spread!

One of the two wings pushes outwards, but it finds itself alone in its struggle; the movement sending you into a mid-air tumble.

"Shhhhhiiiiiiii-"

MOVE!

Both of your wings finally respond simultaneously, and the wind billows up into the thick membranes. You feel an upward jerk course through your body as they immediately slow your descent. A small pop sounds in each of the joints when they pull upward; the rushing air yanking at your newly formed wings. You finally open your eyes and look to your sides, realising just how large these limbs are; your wingspan is close to four metres in length, possibly more if you stretch. You relax the wings gently to make the skin looser. This allows you to slow down even further and rotate them to move forwards, as opposed to solely downwards. You try to turn right and succeed. More or less. You realise that your tail, although made of tough bone, scales, and flesh actually has a sort of fin on the tip.

You explore the muscles with your mind, and slowly flex a few of them. The fin begins to unfold from the egg-shaped sphere of bone, located at the tip of your newly formed spinal extension. Once finally and fully unfolded you experiment with it; finding it much easier to turn with the fin slicing through the air as your wings keep you gliding at a more reasonable speed.

As you shift your attention away from your body and take in your surroundings, you find you've fallen slightly more than half of your initial altitude. You excitedly try to twist your wings backwards, and squeal in excitement as the air currents push you back towards the sky in a tight curve. A burst of joy suddenly bubbles up inside you; a sense of belonging making itself known, as energetic and uncontrollable as a small child's excitement.

The sky is your territory. The elements your servants. Your roars will spear fear into the hearts of animal and man alike.

You breathe in deeply before shrieking in excitement, plunging downwards towards the ground at an ever increasing speed. You imagine this is what a bird of prey must feel like as it dive bombs its would-be victim. Along with the irresistible giddiness you feel, another forces its way from deep within your subconscious. Primal, wild and ferocious, it rears its head and pushes you to obey. As you face the ever approaching ground head on you let it take over and roar.

This is nothing like the cry of excitement from before. You feel as though your lungs have doubled in volume and your throat widened considerably as a deep, cavernous bellow resounds across the mountain and forest below you. Your mind goes blank, a pure and searing flash of light devouring all thoughts you may have as a column of fire rushes from your gaping maw. Your teeth and tongue feel the warmth, but once again no amount of heat seems capable of hurting you. The fiery blast erupts from your lips and bursts forth towards the very flammable greenery you'd been rushing towards. You close your mouth in a strangled hiccup of surprise, just in time for the flames to dissipate a hair's breadth from the forest's canopy. Your sharp eyesight notices the now slightly darker leaves and their smoking tips, a wave of guilt washing over you as you imagine the forest fire you could have caused. You twist your wings and bend your tail to turn around, climbing upwards through the air once more.

With every beat of your wings, the muscles around your shoulder blades feel stronger and steadier in their movements. As you slow down you eventually come to a standstill and keep yourself upright mid-air. You strain your neck to find Terenim. When you spot him, his gigantic wings move expertly, letting him glide towards you. You can see him smile, and your heart skips a beat at the sight.

Behind him, there seems to be a shimmer. You concentrate on it for a second, and shapes slowly begin to form. They don't seem physical, more akin to an aura of magic than anything else, which your eyes can just about discern. Once Terenim closes the distance between the two of you the image becomes clearer, and you see an innumerable amount of fibrous tendrils emanate from him. Another name surfaces from the knowledge-banks of your mind.

Dominatus.

You blink rapidly as he finally pulls up in front of you, focusing back on him. His wings beat forward as well as downwards to slow him down and keep the clutches of gravity at bay.

"Well I see you're a fast learning little bird."

"Bird?" You smirk as you look deep into his eyes. "I think I'm something a little bit bigger than a bird."

"That you are, my dear. I suppose you've figured it out?"

"Not all of it, but I can tell that somehow when I was created, it wasn't from scratch? Leathery wings, scales... Breathing fire... " You raise an eyebrow at him, desperate to say the word but not qute daring to.

"Perceptive. You're quite the intelligent creature, so it seems I've done a good job. I'll explain everything, but I think now you might want to make the most of the limited daylight and test your limits?"

You slowly nod, knowing that night time is far from an ideal time to go outside, despite the prospect of seeing this 'moon' and 'stars' your mind brings up. You keep beating your wings before turning and heading towards the forest. You take great pride and pleasure in the agility you've already begun to exhibit, and you rather cockily compare yourself to a sleet, a slim avian creature whose enormous frames dominate the northern skies.

You're tempted to weave through the trees, but decide that staying above the canopy would not serve in finding out just how powerful you are. As fun as flying is, you decide to continue on foot and test the limits of your anatomy. You find a clearing in the middle of the woods and climb to about a hundred meters. When you reach the peak of your movement, you cease your wings' beating. Gravity reclaims its right over your body and you grin, readying your legs for a potentially risky trial.

When your feet impact the ground moments later, the sound is not as deafening as you would have expected, but the impact is much more destructive. Shockwaves warp the surface of the clearing, clumps of dirt flying up in an impressive display. The small stone one of your soles landed on crackles then explodes in a small cloud of dust and shrapnel as the energy you accumulated rushes back to mother earth.

Your legs barely feel the impact, and you pull your feet out of the ground where they had embedded themselves. Now that you know what your body can do when it comes to landing you decide that next time you'll try out a gentler technique.

No need to murder any subterranean creatures every time I land...

You grin as you look around, the ground in one spot having been warped so violently that you can see the roots of a nearby tree. In fact, you're not sure if it was like that originally, but it seems to be leaning to the side.

It feels good to know just how much power and control you have over the world you live in, and your eyes burn with an impatient fire as you imagine just how much fun the next trials you put yourself through will be.

Off in the distance you hear the impact of paws, the click of claws on stone, and a long howl. You hear your lord make his descent towards you.

Chapter 14

As he lands, his feet disappearing in the long grass, Terenim looks at you with a smile before checking out the damage to the landscape you just caused. He looks to the tree and the remnants of the stone you pulverised.

"Impressive strength. Truly worthy of your origins."

You smile and nod at him, your attention slowly drifting to the approaching animals. You can hear them more clearly now, a pack of at least ten. Their claws are long, and sharp enough to slice through stone, their ragged breathing echoes among the trees. From the amount of noise they're making you can tell they're large. Very large. The howl you just heard tells you all you need to know about the species coming your way.

The western plain wolves of this area are smaller than their northern counterparts, but the size of their packs make up for this difference. They have no specific advantage like poison or elemental affinities like many other creatures do, but are still considered one of the most dangerous species in the low to mid-levels of adventurers.

Against a rookie adventurer, also referred to as 'bronzers' due to their medallions, one Plain Wolf is near unbeatable. With a well-balanced team of three it becomes possible to defeat. Two 'silvers' are capable of fighting one, maybe two if they are prepared. A 'golder' can take on between two and four. The higher levels of adventurers, classified as 'heroes', can barely be threatened by these creatures in most situations.

Your heart begins to pound as you wonder just how many you'll be able to hold your own against. Adrenalin rushes through your system as you jump up and down. Your heels don't touch the ground as you bounce on the balls of your feet; muscles tense and relax and you move in small, sharp movements to get used to them. You do feel a slight tinge of fear, but it is completely overshadowed by your eagerness to fight.

As the paw-steps get closer and closer, they're accompanied by the rustling of bushes right before a hulking, snarling mass of muscle, teeth, and claws bursts through the treeline. The wolf is larger than you expected, big enough that you can easily imagine a troll riding it like a human might mount a pony.

As it lands and skids to the side, the rest of its pack follows. They're only slightly smaller, their brown and grey fur bristling as they bare their teeth at you. The biggest one, presumably the alpha, squares off against you as the rest of them move to surround their prey. Your body is tense, and your heart beats faster than ever before. Your eyes dart back and forth, your tail swings heavily with the fin tucked back in. You stretch your wings one last time, and the wolves on either side flinch. You wonder if they're simply nervous due to unknown prey, but one quick look at your right wing explains it. At the joint between the two major bones begins a long, curved blade of bone sprouting from the scales. It continues down the wing and juts out another few centimetres after your wingspan ends, the sharp side facing outwards and upwards.

A useful weapon if used correctly, you imagine, but you decide to stick to your usual limbs; you're not used to these new appendages yet, and you're unsure of the threat these canines pose.

The first one leaps towards you. He was in front of you, and is obviously the bulkiest of the pack. His muscles are dense, and bulge when he moves; you imagine he might be the toughest of them, and went first to test your strength. You decide not to disappoint them, and your back foot leaves a deep imprint in the ground as it kicks off. Faster than the wolf can reach you, your leg swings round and impacts his shoulder. You could have aimed for his head or neck, but feel you are similar to Terenim: You do not wish death upon weaker opponents. You feel the bone of its shoulder strain from the blow, but simply dislocates itself rather than shatter.

The creature ought to thank its muscle mass, although at the moment pain must be the only thing on its mind. The large wolf tumbles to the ground half a dozen metres away, and growls in pain and confusion, unable to get up.

The alpha looks at his pack member in shock, and snarls out an order. A number of his pack, mostly males, stretch their hind legs with a burst of power. They launch themselves towards you with their curved pale teeth bared. Having recovered from your kick, you're ready for them. You send your fist between the eyes of the first, stopping him in his tracks and knocking him out. He falls to the floor with a dull thud right after your elbow sends another's teeth flying. Three large bits of bone fly from its mouth before it backs off, whining in shock.

Three down... The alpha and eight more to go

.

Your elbow did not halt its momentum after the impromptu dental appointment, and keeps moving to slam into the next wolf's head. You can feel part of its skull fracture, and it emulates its companion, backing off in pain. The other two attackers manage to latch onto your other arm and one of your legs. The other five members of the pack, used to hunting together, know this is the moment to strike whilst you are immobilised.

Your instincts have taken over completely now, and you turn your head towards the two closest wolves. Your mouth opens and you roar. You immediately fear that the flames will kill one of them, but the only thing to burst out of your maw is sound. The roar is immense, unbefitting your average humanoid size. It is so powerful that the two rear back, the wave blowing them away and the sound piercing through their eardrums, shaking their skulls and bones even through their flesh.

Right before the leaping hunters land on you, you concentrate on your arm and leg and send magic coursing through them. You're pleasantly surprised when the two sets of teeth feel a nasty electrical shock course through the bodies they are attached to, before they fall limply to the ground. Your wings fold across and over your body as the wolves finally reach you, their teeth and claws scratching against them uselessly. You can feel their claws on the leathery membranes of your wings, and find yourself surprisingly ticklish in that area.

Their heavy bodies knock you backwards, but the force of your wings bursting back in the opposite direction sends another onto his side. You stretch them out as wide as they can and snarl. The last two attackers hesitate before separating and coming at you from two sides. A swift kick to the jaw drops one, and a hand sent deep down the other's throat quickly chokes him into unconsciousness.

The only one left is the pack leader, and he looks at you with a mixture of emotions as you slowly, deliberately walk towards him. His head, when held high, comes up to your eye level, but he lowers it to you as you approach. He is angry at having to surrender, but also respects your strength. As you gently land your palm on his forehead and scratch his ear, you hear Terenim begin to clap.

"Congratulations... I wouldn't expect any less from you my dear. "

You smile at his words, but you keep your attention on gently stroking and reassuring the large wolf that you mean no harm. You realise that the barks and snarls he'd let out before his pack's assault did not match his behaviour. After seeing you dispatch the first wolf so easily, the alpha had started backing away, but the others did not follow suit.

Did they disobey him...?

"You could take him back to the dungeon at some point. Of course he won't leave his pack so it's out of the question now, but once they've recovered you could lead them to it, much like pets. It would take a bit of effort, but taming these creatures isn't unheard of."

You like the idea of having a pack, and once the alpha licks your palm you decide to consider Terenim's suggestion.

A pack of my own... And this is just the first day...

You're ecstatic at the idea, but deep down in the ocean that is your mind, doubt and suspicion begin to bubble up towards the surface. You start to feel that all this is a little too easy.

Chapter 15

As the sun begins to set a few hours later, you both head home. You play back the events following your fight that day. You took it easy after the altercation, Terenim warning you that your natural strength put you leagues above any creature in this area. He promised you a more challenging fight in the days to come, and in the meantime led you around the plains and forest to get you acquainted with the landscape.

You encountered a trio of foxes which stayed out of your way but stalked you all day, and your lord laughed at the surprise on your face when you first witnessed a swarm of rabbants. The furry little creatures, with their long ears and prominent front teeth lived in colonies underground, and would periodically pile out of their den to shred through anything that stood in the plains at the time. If no food was available there, they would head into the trees and if still unable to feed would gorge on small plants, nuts and berries.

Hundreds if not thousands of them would push through the plains and forest until the pack was satisfied. They would take back as much food as they could and return to their underground city. Some say these creatures actually share a common ancestor with the dwarves, and you easily see why one would think that. Small, furry, large numbers and underground colonies. The comparison brought a smile to your lips and sent your imagination off on a quest to compare the two species.

You stayed out of the colony's way using your wings, and made sure your newly acquainted wolves were gone from the area by the time the critters spread out too far. After the swarm had retreated you both explored the forest a bit more before your lord led you to a stream, and now you are just entering a small cleared out area around the river.

As you take in a few deep breaths of fresh air, you can smell a particular aroma coming from Fiol. You wonder if he too is thinking about jumping into the clear water. You imagine stripping in front of him under the pretext of taking a dip, and feel your thighs slowly become wet at the thought of being so brazen and exposing yourself. You force yourself not to look down at his crotch, fearing you might lose control. Instead you move to sit barefoot on the riverbank with your toes in the water, along with your calves.

Smiling happily you close your eyes and appreciate the feeling of the cool water lapping and rushing against your skin. Hearing the brush and bristle of clothes, you can only assume Terenim is shedding his cloak. When you finally open one eye and look over your shoulder your throat tightens along with your thighs. He has taken off not only his coat, but everything except his pants. You can't help but admire his chest, scarred but lean, powerful muscles coiling under his skin.

You are once again reminded of why you've fallen for him.

Falling in love?

Your eyes widen for a moment as the thought crosses your mind.

Love... Do I even know what love is? Am I capable of it?

You question yourself, but find no answer inside your heart or mind. You brush the thoughts away, finding them useless, and focus on your lord as he seems to be setting up camp. He snaps his fingers once a campfire has been set up using various sticks and some magic, and a small cloud of sparkling dust flows from one of the rings he wears. The cloud grows larger, the sparkling shifting to form a tiny backpack that grows before your very eyes only to fall heavily to the ground.