Here is a tid bit of what I was working on with this chapter, just cause it felt weird to leave it sitting around. anyway Animus Storm is up and I'm about to send out it's 3rd post!

Animus Storm

also good news, I'm in talks with an artist finally

a little something special im playing with!

walther

Akane, hers didnt go so well

Mora, sad day no wing options

Patra went better

sadly no other characters came even close

Ch 22 The bad wolf.

It’s still early in the afternoon by my guess as we get out of the wagon at the city docks. The storm over head is blocking the sun, preventing me from making an accurate guess. Despite the downpour the fishermen are still hard at work and the seagulls are doing the best to make it harder.

I chuckle as a brave bird snatches a small fish from the catch pile.

A boisterous man's voice, “Yo! This way my lord.”

The sturdy fellow looks to belong to the otter clan, He’s waving me over.

Reaching his pier I find Walt slumped on a crate looking rather pale, “Looking gloomy little brother.”

He shrugs and eyes a pale near his feet, I can’t tell its contents by the smell.

Otter man laughs, “Lord Walther has discovered the river disagrees with his stomach.”

Hmm no fun, “Well fortunately our time on the river will be short… I think.”

Walt shakes his head and holds up 3 fingers…

“Three days?”

He nods.

The otter fellow scratches his beard, “Three days ya say? That should put you in the Alban territory, word already reached this part of town that our crazy impostor king was to blame for the increase in banditry between here and there. Gonna sort it out?”

I wave my hand, “Not entirely, bandits have their uses, I'm more interested in what's keeping them in the area. I take care of that and the ruffians should disperse on their own.”

He Looks out over the water. The river is extremely vast, he especially where it splits in several directions it appears comparable to a lake. The chop of the waves seems a bit ruff and the cloud cover is keeping the water a murky grey. Easy to see how Walt got sick.

“I don't recommend you young lads depart today, the storm doesn't care about who you're born too.”

Mora gives him a stern look but he’s certainly not wrong.

Something must have caught her mind as her expression suddenly lightens, “Um, is it normal for a storm to linger nearly a week in this region?”

He shakes some of the light rain from his jacket, “We get them often enough sure, but they don’t normally hang around this long.”

She turns to me, “My Lord I believe this to be your fault.”

Huh, “You're saying this is the same storm I was playing with on our way here?”

She nods, “Yes you were experimenting with it right until we reached town and then controlled it during the fight with Janyu. It hasn’t left the city since, and you seem to have been enjoying it so I believe it has stayed by your will.”

Hmm.

Looking up at the clouds I think, ‘stop raining.’

Nothing.

“Stop raining please?”

A massive thunder echoes from the sky as if to reject my request.

Hey you're my clouds dammit, “Oy!”

I materialize Rost from the black fog of my tail and spike it against the dock. A massive white bolt fires from the top, snaking its way through the sky and into the clouds.

The rain stops, the clouds lighten and thin out.

The man looks at me with surprise, “Such power is that of the living gods my Lord!”

“It's just a fussy cloud, I don’t want the work that comes with being compared to god's. I don’t understand how power and responsibility have to come together.”

Mora responds, “People like your mother the Inari, and the Raijin, are the pillars under which societies can grow with a feeling of safety. With large numbers of people gathered around you, depending on you to protect their livelihood, can you so easily tell them no?”

Here the line I’ve been told since birth takes a new meaning, ‘The barghest bows to no one.’

I ask the man, “When a child repeatedly runs to their parents for everything, does the father baby it or teach it to fend for itself?”

He looks to the city, perhaps he has children, “A child must learn and grow to be independent. But when the world’s darkness comes, I will be there with my spear.”

Ah, that is a face I can respect, there isn’t a shadow of doubt in him. This man would fight even me to his last breath if his pups were at stake.

Fair enough.

Slowly the water on the river appears less threatening.

Kicking the crate under Walt with a thud, “Let’s go brother, we’ve still got the naughty kids to punish before we get to play with the angry fishes on the beach.”