Bo was eating his soup with so much enthusiasm Erik could not focus on his own bowl, Spring didn’t seem to mind, the two of them had been closer than ever since he had recovered.

Ascel, the healer Erik had abducted, was sitting next to Summer, the woman had been getting better for a while now, her breaths going more evenly now and the sickly purple colour around the wound had changed to a lighter shade of pink.

The healer was confident she would make a full recovery, given time and rest, he however was more and more concerned about Erik. The fact that he wasn’t sleeping and barely spent time with them between hunts did nothing to calm the man down.

He watched Erik’s every move, which was about as straining as the fact that by now sleep was a distant memory. The howling spirits were restless pushing him to hunt for longer and longer periods.

Everytime he changed he could feel more and more of his control fade and the spirits to have a bigger influence over his actions, soon he wouldn’t be able to withstand their calling.

With every day that passed he felt like letting the healer do his work, but considering what happened last time he was not sure that was the correct way of dealing with it.

“So, what would you do to fix my condition?” Erik asked after the four of them had finished the bowl of soup. Summer and Bo were already curling up under the fur and blankets he had brought.

“I think I can flush out the power with my magic, Life is all around us after all and I have never seen whatever is leaking from your body. I suppose it would be more powerful when winter is past but this should work.”

Erik nodded, if there ever was a time it would be now that they could stay hidden until the pass cleared without any more need to go hunt.

“Let’s go outside, this might be painful. I really don’t know how you will react to the procedure.”

Ascel got up and lead to way to the sled outside, Erik followed the howling in his head increasing, panic rising among the spirits in his head. The healer began to glow as he closed his eyes, sweat appearing on his brow, warmth seemed to radiate from him and the bushes nearby began growing visibly.

Erik was getting uncomfortable the light seemingly etching into his skin, the howling increased and something began to change when Ascel reached out for him. Pain flared up when his hand touched his skin, a black patch of skin spread from his hand, the howling was getting more intense and Erik lost control over his shape, fur grew and was scorched by the light.

His power left him, trying to get his hand freed from Ascel's grip proofed to be beyond his ability, the man’s eyes glowed with a white light.

Fear spread in him, what if the man had just waited for this to kill him, Spring was sleeping inside, his throat tensed he couldn’t produce a sound as a smile appeared on Ascel's face.

A clawed hand ripped into the man’S throat as the howling exploded out of his own mouth. Blood sprayed in the air and the Healer tumbled back, his hand gripping his own throat. Erik had no longer control over his body, he crouched down and leapt at the man his teeth sinking into the man’s shoulder a scream tore from Ascel's throat the world blurred around him, the light subsided and the pain ebbed away.

He was done, the healer was lifeless in front of him, a silver shadow rising from the corpse. The urge to absorb it was so strong Erik barely managed to hold it back.

He needed something, something was missing his being seemed to ebb away, the screams in his mind lead him down the hill, towards the village. The sun was rising over the horizon.

The village was on high alert ever since he had managed to take out the five soldiers and kidnapped the priest of Life, the rage was boiling in him again.

He had no more options, losing control was only a matter of time and when he did he would rather be close to the enemy than his friends.

Snow was melting close to him as he walked down the slope from the mountain, his path was clearly visible but Erik was beyond the point of caring, the spirits screamed for blood. A man in a thick wool cloak saw him first and shouted for reinforcements, the boy increased his speed, steadily jogging through the snow.

The man paled when he got close enough to see him, he raised a bow, arrow shaking in his hand as he took aim, a smile appeared on Erik’s face. The howling in his head became louder, his vision seemed to slightly change as red colours framed the scene in front of him.

The arrow was let loose, he dodged to the side, the metal head grazing his back as it passed over him.

With a single leap the boy shot towards the man, the jump should have been impossible to make, at least ten meters yet within seconds he slammed into his enemy one arm tearing the sword from the soldiers fingers as the other grew claws and tore into his throat.

Blood spilled into the snow and a howl escaped Erik’s lips.

A spear struck his side, a terrified woman holding the weapon, paling when the boy hammered the wooden shaft out of the way, the tip slicing open his side.

The still sheathed sword slammed into the woman’s knee bending it the wrong way and sending her to the ground, screaming in pain.

Not bothering with using the sword Erik shot upwards landing on his enemy one heel slamming against the woman’s nose punching the nose bridge into her skull.

In front of him the village filled with the remaining soldiers that had nearly ended his life and the lives of his friends. The wounds he had received were closing faster than they ever had now, adrenalin coursing through his veins and the howling of wolves echoing in his skull Erik charged at the closest group of soldiers.

He hammered his fist into the first enemies face, his own bones snapping at the impact, leaving a ruined nose and bleeding eyes when he pulled it back, the sheathed sword clashed against the raised weapon of another soldier, the impact dislocating the man’s shoulder.

An axe nearly decapitated him as he was distracted watching the soldier stumbling back in agony, the faint glimmer in the corner of his eyes had him dodge to the side in time he kept his head and the blade only struck his cheekbone blinding him on one eye.

The pain shot through him and his blade circled around in time to hit the woman’s stretched out arm at the elbow, bending it into the wrong direction before a snapping sound reached his ear.

Stepping forward he dodged a spear thrust aimed at his feet, stepping on the wooden shaft and breaking it before he leapt forward unsheathing his sword and burying to the hilt in the still off balance woman.

Before she fell to the floor Erik tore the sword from her body, nearly cleaving her in half in the process and spraying blood on the snow around them.

The last soldier was moving slow, so slow Erik looked to the side, the first body had not yet struck the floor, time seemed to have slowed down.

Something struck his back, he tumbled forward using the momentum to hammer his weapon into the last soldier's neck, cleaving the head off the body. Blood shot from the open arteries as Erik turned to the soldiers still left.

What he saw was horror in their eyes, mouths opened, orders were barked and arrows set loose on him as he changed.

The first bolt struck his side, sending him tumbling to the ground the howling in his head increased, the shackles he had used to tame the spirits broke as they took over. His form exploded as he grew four times the size of his human form.

Thick fur spread and claws grew the size of small knifes, a howl escaped his throat as more arrows struck his chest, barely managing to pierce the skin. The remaining soldiers were on the retreat, most of them running away from the buildings and into the forest surrounding the village.

His vision began to fade as Erik was pushed away from his mind, spirits dragging him down fighting each other for control. Every now and then pictures emerged from the chaos, people, or parts of them fear and the smell of death.

For a felt eternity Erik struggled against the pull of the spirits, trying to regain control over his thoughts and actions.

In his panic he lashed out against the wolves surrounding him, they disintegrated taking with them most of the power he had gained through them. The pressure began to fade, his mind returning to normal.

He was sitting in the snow, his form that of a large wolf, blood dripping from his snout. To his paws were the remnants of a human being, a hand some fabric and a bit of blond hair. The face on the skull was unrecognisable, his teeth must have tried to bite into the skull and scrapped over it.

Erik leaned to the side and vomited, blood and flesh covered the snow, disgusted he vomited again until his stomach was without the last remnants of human flesh.

After he had regained his human form Erik walked back to the village, the ground was littered with wooden splinters, body parts and blood. The spirits had left nobody alive, not even the villagers, anger rose in him as he walked through the wreckage.

Several buildings were burnt down, Erik wondered what had truly happened here. No Animal could cause such destruction not even him as large as he was. Some corpses were burnt as well, the snow gone in an arc around the bodies.

He had never seen something quite like it.

The death of the animal spirits had left him weakened, but his head was free again, only the first wolf remained, somewhere in the back of his mind.

Erik sighed, he should not have tried to fix what was wrong with him, the magic of the healer must have changed something, weakened the barriers he kept putting up against the animals