White. Mist. Great mist.

Sound? Smell. Smell pack member.

That way. Safe. I go.

Trees. Forest. Prey? Pack member?

Not safe. Hunger. Must go.

Alert.

Mist hides. Mist muffles.

Catch prey. Avoid danger.

…

Stop. Smell pack member?

No.

Smell familiar.

What smell?

Rustle.

I lay down.

Rustle.

Danger?

Smell. Sound. See?

Only mist.

Rustle.

Smell mist. See mist. Hear mist.

I feel the mist.

There. Sound is prey.

Move. Hide in mist.

See prey.

Rabbit. Horn.

Horn rabbit.

Stalk. Leap.

Prey captured. Blood.

Return with prey.

Return?

Where?

…

Home.

No home?

Still blood.

Danger comes.

Must go.

I run. Muffled.

The mist hides.

Trees end.

Water. Pause. Drink.

Must go.

I run. Rustle.

Where?

The mist hides.

Smell pack member?

Yes. They howl.

Tåke.

Follow sound.

Danger comes closer.

Always water.

Howl on other side.

Danger, danger.

Must cross the water.

Unfamiliar place.

The mist hides.

More rustle.

Danger close.

I drop the prey.

Danger, take prey.

Cross water… there!

I run fast.

I run with the mist.

The mist hides again.

Hidden.

I cross the water.

The pack is close.

Encouraging. Worried.

Where is the pack?

The mist.

I feel the mist.

The pack is that way. I keep going.

No running, must endure. The pack is still too far.

Splashes, rustle. Is still in danger.

Can howl, call pack?

No, danger too close. But pack too far.

I hear it. I smell it.

It stalks. It leaps.

I run. blood.

Almost captured.

My side bleeds.

I still see danger.

What is it?

Unknown, must run.

Can not fight unknown.

I run.

…

I am tired. Still danger. Still hungry.

Danger is too close. Pack is too far.

Run away? Can’t run. Paws hurt.

Danger is coming. Danger is unknown.

Can not fight unknown.

No.

Can not fight unknown alone.

I howl. The pack howl back.

Tåke.

She guides. Good pack mate, soon adult.

The pack. They encourage.

Now, they are coming.

Getting closer, each howl is closer.

How far have I ran? Danger is still here.

I am almost finished, then I will return.

Return where? I will go home.

I can feel the pack, their Mist comes.

I see her, she guides me. The pack is also here.

Endure. The danger is close, but the pack is closer.

I stumble and fall. The danger comes, but the pack is faster.

Tåke.

She licks my paw, then face the danger. The unknown.

With great effort, I turn around. It is still there, but I know we will win.

I know I will win. So I can return.

The mist thickens around us, we hide now. We fight as a pack, while it is alone. Eventually, we will catch it. I am still bleeding. My vision is fading, but we will win.

The pack leaps onto it, biting, tearing and clawing. The danger is strong, but the pack is stronger. We whittle it down. I still do not know what it is. I cannot see any more.

But I feel the mist, and the mist guides. It lets out death throes. I will finish it. There, it’s exposed heart!

I leap, and bite down. Bloods fills my mouth as my senses explode in joy. This sates my hunger!

I howl for the pack, and they howl with me.

Then light returns.

I blink the light away. It doesn’t work, of course. I turn my head, look around. Trees? Forest?

Tåke.

She is happy. The pack leader triumphed. I scratch my head with my forelimb.

Then I realize what just happened.

“Holy mother of tripping balls!”

I look around. The pack feels happiness, and relief. Various humans are horrified, curious, panicked, angry, or any mix of those.

“Lars!” Eivind is here, his companion by his side. “What the hell was that?”

I shake my heads and do a shrugging motion at the same time. It seems my body is not well suited for that right now. Wait, what is my body right now?

“That was really weird from my side, I can’t imagine how it was for you.” As I look over myself, Eivind continues talking. “I got the feeling that you were running and hiding and something about a forest and a river…”

I managed that whole werewolf form, at least. I have digitigrade legs now - that is, I walk on my ‘toes’ like raptors and many other animals - and my entire body is covered by a light layer of silvery gray fur.

My hands are the same, thankfully, as is my entire upper body. At some point I must have thrown off my boots; they’re a few meters away from me. The shin guards are still on, and not overly uncomfortable.

Not more uncomfortable than my body in general feels, due to the differences. I stand up with a clumsy motion, and stagger a little before regaining my balance. I notice Eivind trails off, but I didn’t really pay attention to what he said anyway.

I take a couple awkward steps, then put a hand to my butt. Or tail, rather. Then, what’s left is… I put my hand to my face.

Either I spontaneously grew facial hair rivalling that of a lumberjack, or my face is furred as well. My mouth and nose area has elongated a bit as well, and with my tongue I find that my teeth are pointier, especially the canines.

My ears feel like they’d fit on some bastard dog breed, not quite pointy, but not quite round either. Furred, as one would expect, and not floppy. Good, that would be stupid.

In other words, I’m pretty sure I’m like ninety percent were-wolf now.

“Blood and ashes… Eivind! Did my eyes or anything else I can’t see or feel change as well?”

Instead of answering, he asks his own, slightly annoyed question. “Did you just ignore everything I said?”

“Basically, yes.” I say dryly. “I… dreamt? I was a wolf, and then I turned into a werewolf or something and you expect me to listen to how it was weird to you?”

He bobs his head side to side “Fair point. Your eyes are dark yellow-ish now, and aside from that I think you’re slightly taller.”

Oh, I guess. Didn’t really notice. Ahh. If I stand with my ‘heels’ on the ground I am about as tall as I should be. People are crowding a bit, but they seem to stay away from the wolves, who are mostly gathered around me now.

“But… Can you turn back?” and he points out something that would’ve been my first question were it not for all this weirdness.

Hmm, I get the general feeling that this change is permanent, but reversible. In other words, I could unequip the [Aspectian] ability and stay like this, then re-equip it and change back to human. Presumably the other way as well.

“Probably. I’m gonna check my stats first, though- Oh dear…”

[Aspectian] has grown two levels, making it my definite highest level ability, a couple other abilities also levelled up, and…

Title Gained: Wolf Runner One who runs with wolves. This individual has been truly accepted by wolves.

I turn to Eivind. “You know how I mentioned I was almost level fifty? Well, I’m level fifty-one now. I also gained a Title. And my physical stats are bumped a good bit in this form.”

His expression shifts between anger, confusion, resignation and some others I can’t even recognize in time.

And that’s how I turned into ‘baka-sensei’. I am not sure what to think when called that by an adult man. Or anyone, for that matter. All in good humor, of course.