The Next Morning

Her blade whistled through the air, slashing aside leaf after leaf before landing itself into the thick log sitting sturdily half buried in the ground. Having eaten away at it over the years, and albeit it being thicker than herself, after Erika retrieved her weapon she slashed at it one more time and the log was felled.

Breathing out in exasperation, she clenched her sword’s grip.

All around her, Kei managed her comrades, helping them nurture their lycanthropy powers.

But Erika was unlike them, her power was unknown even to her parents, a mixture of Draconic and something far different…No matter how much she watched her mother, even her power was unlike what Erika had inherited.

Erika didn’t know if her father knew more than he gave off, or if he was simply afraid of looking deeper, but he refused to train her.

He had refused to nurture her magic.

Erika was stuck, for longer than before she came to this world of wolves, she had no clue how to progress with her magic.

So instead of wasting time pondering on it all, Erika focused on what she could improve, over these past two years.

As she wiped the sweat off her face with an already sweaty piece of cloth, she took in a breath of the passing breeze. A drenched shirt covering her chest, it did nothing to hide her changed body.

The tail she grew two years ago didn’t bother her at all anymore, in the contrary, it was part of her now.

So were the patches of white-blue scales scattered across her muscular body.

Gone was the dainty princess, sheathing her blade, was a warrior.

“Yo, that sword must have gotten dented with all the damn bark you’ve chopped off with-Shit you’ve actually gone through the whole log!?” Gray exclaimed with great surprise as he approached her.

Turning to him, she looked him up and down with a raised brow, as usual another set of his strange creations lay hanging about his now three belts.

Clarence Silverhide, or Gray as he prefers, Seventeen Lycan male, alongside the commonplace full body physical enhancement, his hairs have the ability to alter the chemical and magical reactions of most anything when put together. Even things that normally don’t react at all when combined.

Erika had made it her duty to learn all she could about her comrades, for where she lacked in magical prowess she would make it up with her sharp mind. Although…some still remained a bit of a mystery even to her.

As she glanced over at a certain elite amongst them.

Lizbeth Darkmane, Liz as everyone her generation calls her, Sixteen Lycan female, with a full body enhancement beyond most others’, she has surpassed everyone with her natural talent at wielding most weapons. Along that…is a strange passive ability within her sight, that lays within her entire bloodline, or at least that is what I was told. A Shaman, one that sees the ancestors.

“Yo, what moon you lost in?” Gray mused, giving Erika a nudge and snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, nowhere.” She replied, glancing down at her sword as she slightly unsheathed it, it indeed was getting a bit beaten-up.

“Ah shit, yeah the garrison’s weapons aren’t meant to last several years of training usage.” Gray grumbled, glancing in-between her and her hand-me-down weapon. “And you don’t have anyone supporting you financially, unlike the rest of us, so getting yourself a replacement I’m guessing is a big question for you huh?”

“I’ll make do with what I can.” Erika replied.

“Ya can just pick up one from the storage room,” Kei waved them off as she walked about, “Not that they’ll last you much more.”

Erika sighed, when suddenly Gray took hold of the sword and sheath.

“This is your preferred weapon and lengths for a sword?” He asked plainly.

“Err, I guess I’d prefer a longer blade with a bit heavier a metal?” Erika replied, “I have been trying to follow my mother’s training regiment, and she wields a quite massive sword.”

“But are you sure that is your preferred weapon?” Gray then asked, gaining himself a blank look from Erika. “Hah, you’ve been training your body and usage of a generic weapon, because you really don’t know do you?”

Erika shook her head.

“Sargent Kei, Sir.” Gray suddenly spun around at attention, “I request a temporary status of leave alongside recruit Erika here.”

“Huh?” Glancing back over to them with an annoyed glare, “And where you think you’re going?” Kei asked.

“Well…”

Erika walked closely to Gray, this being her first time traversing the town proper without Kei taking them directly from the training grounds to a warehouse for carrying supplies. Anxious to see more of the town, her gaze devoured every new sight with great intrigue, just now realizing how starved for something other than the barracks or forest her eyes were.

Feeling as if she had been locked away from society for two whole years, taking this town of Lycans in was a breath of fresh air she sorely had longed for.

“Looks like the elders have gotten to trust you finally, was half thinking they wouldn’t let you walk about unsupervised on the battlefield itself!” Gray mused with a chuckle.

“I guess I don’t blame them,” Erika added, “So…this is Willow Front.”

“In all its dreary glory, we are functionally a frontline supply point where resources come in, and equipment goes out. So we get our own fort, while most other towns get a garrison and villages simply a guardhouse.” Gray explained, “In worst-case scenario, the front would fall back to here and use Willow as a staging grounds to push back. We’re not exactly equipped to man a military defense, but we can handle supplying a place that is. Which we do, we supply Bleak Moon on the deeper end of the forest towards the front.”

“I guess…it’s a good thing I landed in the vicinity here huh?” Erika mused.

“I don’t think it was a coincidence.” Gray then said.

“What do you mean?” Erika asked.

“Demons kidnapped you right?” Gray asked back.

“Y-Yeah, they did.” Erika nodded.

“While, the demonic do seem to have an alliance with the vamps, they don’t exactly have a thriving presence here. Twelve years ago, whatever foothold they had, our new alpha crushed it absolutely.” Gray told, “We knew they came from such a place called hell, that has no physical connection to our world…we never thought there were more than that though.” He chuckled, glancing over to her.

“And while we are magically limited to rune scribing and alchemy, we’re not ignorant of magic as whole either.” He continued, “Magic, is all around us after all. The elements we walk on, the creatures we hunt and the sky above. We know not of the intricacies of what makes them, but we know of their works, and what connects them all.”

“You mean…” Erika followed now.

“Leylines, deep beneath the earth, our world’s magic runs there like rivers that at times meet. Nearby Willow, is such a place, where leylines intersect.” Gray revealed with a knowing smirk, “Limited on manpower, I’m guessing they only knew a few places to use to gather up enough power to make their kidnapping work. They underestimated us, as do the vamps. That underestimation of my people, is what saved you.”

Before then sighing, “What I don’t understand, is if you’re so important to Hell, then why haven’t they made a move to retrieve you?” He asked.

“I think…I might know why.” Erika mused then, “It has to be my family, my father alone must have been inconsolable…Ah I hope he didn’t break any more mountains…”

Mountains…Anymore…Break~

Gray took in a deep breath, “Your father…is very powerful, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I’ve heard from him that he knew of some much stronger than him.” Erika reminisced.

“Other Dragons?” Gray guessed.

“That and…he’d sometimes muse of a fox, although he never told me of that one.” She replied.

“A fox huh? Maybe it’s a long ancestor of ours! I’ve heard tales of our people achieving a state beyond body and mind.” Gray joked, “But still…to destroy a whole mountain…”

Gray then suddenly stopped, his gaze rising to the sky. “To unite a whole world against one unsure threat, to bring all his enemies down to their knees and create a strong peace…Your father, do you think he…could be able to do the same to my world?”

Surprised by his question, still Erika was sure of her answer. “Yes, I believe he could, and would.”

“Why? And how can you be so sure? Maybe he’d crush us, see us as inferior just like the vampires do.” Gray added with melancholy in his tone.

“No, he wouldn’t. Because of how you live, how your people grow alongside the land around them.” Erika shook her head, a wide smile across her face as her gaze left to elsewhere. “You don’t hunt for joy, only to survive. You replant the trees you cut down, and only do so with the ones having grown old, even if it means making use of weaker material. And while it halts your progress as a species, you avoid mass usage of certain fuels, knowing it would damage your surroundings. So I’ll ask you the same question back. Why? Why do all this?”

Gray chuckled, “Just how my gran used to say, once we die, we become the earth. So to disrespect the dirt, the trees, the wildlife around us…it is to disrespect our ancestors.”

“If my father heard those words,” Erika nudged Gray with her fist, “He’d bring the vampire’s entire race to extinction, just in your people’s honour.”

“Ah…” Gray stifled himself, Erika noticing a tear glistening at the edge of his eyes, quickly he turned and wiped them away. “Haha, some dust got in my eyes, guess that’s what I get for staring at the clouds!” He exclaimed with a loud laugh, turning back to her, Gray urged her forward.

I’ll bet on you, Erika Draconia, my people’s future I’ll bet it on you.

Gray thought as he brought her over to a large storefront. “Here we are, my family’s craft shop.” He announced, as Erika’s gaze slowly followed the looming building’s wall up to the third floor.

Rising a whole floor over any other building in the vicinity, you couldn’t miss the large ‘Silvercraft’s creations’ sign.

“Huh, that’s…a big store.” Erika mused.

“And that’s coming from someone who lived in a castle! I feel honored!” Gray chuckled, pushing open the door to the sound of a bell, then pushing her inside with him following.

Erika’s eyes glistened at the sight of the loaded shelves, a preview of the hundreds of items on sale, from weapons, armor and tools to oddities she could not fathom the usage of. “This…is indeed amazing but, Gray why are we he-”

“Ohohoho! Looksie what cuz brought on in!” One of what looked to be worker shouted, each customer there alongside the strangely similar looking employees turning to the entrance then.

“Ahh, pipe down Chester!” Gray snarled.

“What? Why’s that runt back so soon?” A rough voice exclaimed as a giant of a man walked out of a curtained doorway to the side, his hardened eyes turning to glare straight at them. “What? Don’t you damned moon tell me you came asking for supplies you shit! I’ll have you smelting iron bars all damn night-” The man exclaimed with terrifying eyes, until he glanced at Erika, his angered expression turning to confusion then.

“Nah pops, ya know I wouldn’t dare waste funds like that! The forest had all I need!” Gray exclaimed.

Pops glanced between him and Erika, “Who this? Your girlfriend? Shit did you-”

“NO!” Gray exclaimed agitatedly, suddenly punching Pops in the gut, albeit the man seeming to not have felt it one bit. “This is my friend, recruit Erika Draconia.”

“Dra…Oh, you’re that one.” Pops mused, “The outsider.”

Once again Gray punched his gut, “Ms.Draconia.”

“Right, well, what can I do for ya?” Pops asked.

“I’d like to know that myself…” Erika mused, glancing over at Gray with her remaining confusion.

“We’re here to make a purchase.” Gray said.

“A purchase?” Pops mused with a raised brow, “And pray tell nephew, what the hell ye trying to buy off me?”

“A specialized sword, custom made to fit my friend here.” Gray added.

“Wha-” Erika tried to enter the conversation.

“Hm, and you’re going to fund that?” Pops said with a smirk.

“Wai-”

Gray nodded, “She’s gone through basic training without a financial backer, so her equipment is lacklustre to say the least, she won’t survive long no matter the regiment she’s sent to.”

“Ah-”

“Hm, show me.” Pops said, gesturing at the sword sheathed at Erika’s side.

“O-Okay…” Erika unattached her sword and handed it over, sheath and all.

Pops took hold of the sheath and looked over the pommel and grip, “Garison equipment eh?” He mused as he began to unsheathe it.

“Part of a fresh batch,” Gray said, Pop’s eyes narrowing further, “From two years ago.”

“This…you’ve trained with this for just two years?” Pops said, his eyes now wide as they tracked down the dents, bends and sharpening marks. His eyes refocusing on Erika, he then picked up another sword nearby, letting her sword’s sheath fall to the ground. Raising both weapons opposite of one another, Pops suddenly struck them together.

A gut-wrenching sound filled the shop as blade met blade, both withstanding the clash.

“Woah…it didn’t break.” Gray mused with wide eyes, as Pops stared at the over-used sword with a narrowed gaze.

Turning to Erika, “From your gaze, I’m guessin you don’t get it.” Pops said with an astonished smirk. “The special way we smelt the metal our weapons are made from, infuses them with the world’s energy. You could say, the metal itself becomes conscious, this is to allow the weapon to bond with their user.” He then raised her sword’s blade towards her, “If either of these had been commonly made swords, yours would have shattered to a million shards whilst my fresh one would have barely been scraped.”

He then raised his sword to reveal a tiny crack, “I can see your resolution in this sword. Straining itself to withstand, just for you.” Turning then to his nephew, “And you tell me she needs a new sword? Then I, Jared Silverhide, will provide a new sword.”

Putting both weapons onto the wooden counter, Jared began sending his family around, “Chester, tools. Rica, bellow the fire. Trist, fetch me our youngest batch of core wood. Duncan, iron, silver, blackite and…” He briefly glanced back at Erika, “A Sapphire.”

Each rushing off to their individual tasks, Gray and Erika followed Jared through the doorway he had come from.

Taking them into the back of the store, where a lone smith station lay.

“Uhh, uncle, I don’t think I can…” Gray began to say, paling at each material Jared listed off.

“Fuck your pennies son.” Jared said bluntly, picking up a hammer off the nearby anvil, running his rough fingers along its intricate design whilst Rica lit the fires and bellowed them nearby.

“Hah, someone’s on fire.” Gray chuckled with relief.

“Why…” Erika said in confusion, “I don’t-”

Jared slammed his hammer down into the anvil, cutting her off entirely. Waiting for the sound to deafen out, he then glanced back at them. “When I heard of ye, I figured you be a spy here to scout us out from the inside. Most thought something similar I suppose. I apologize, my folly brings dishonor to my family. I saw it in your blade, as I see it in my nephew now. You truly fight for my people, and any warrior willing to give it their all for my people… most of all one who doesn’t have to! Truly, this demands my utmost attention. A sword worthy of a warrior. I’ll make that for you.”

Erika then sensed it, a rise in the temperature around them, as an aura of heat radiated all about Jared’s body.

“A sword worthy of my title, as masterwork weaponsmith.” Jared grinned so wide, his fangs looked bared as he transformed. “I’m all fired up, nephew, so let’s get to fucking crafting!”