After travelling for quite a while Ark started to hear more and more noise, at first it was a little bit annoying but as the sound got clearer it soon didn't bother him at all, this was because this was the sound of the people! This made him very excited since he had been yearning for some human contact ever since he had gotten into this world, because even though there was amazing things such as magic and a whole new world filled to the brim with various wonders of nature and animals, there was nothing that could replace interaction with ones own kin.
So no matter how much he loved magic and no matter how invested he got in this new world this thought would always be nagging at the back of his head. When the bustling noises was close enough to notice that it was coming from just outside of the carriage, it suddenly came to a stop, this was because of the check they made when someone wanted to enter the town, they couldn't just let anyone in, you also had to pay a small fee. But since this was a pretty backwater place the fee was almost non existent.
After having successfully entered the town Ark grew quite restless, just imagining all the different sights and various places and culture that he was missing out on made it feel like his heart was bleeding, but he was still very grateful that they had let him come with them at all, so he calmed down pretty quickly. After about 5 more minutes they rolled up to the Hughes estate, it was quite big from the perspective of a commoner but to someone like Annette this was barely a shed.
Stepping out of the carriage for the first time, the first thing Ark saw was the decent sized mansion that was currently in front of him, the garden was pretty big and was very well taken care of by the gardener who worked here. Even though the guards had just let their entourage in they didn't check the carriage since someone of a really high status was in there, so seeing a wolf suddenly walk out brought them quite the shock.
The wolf was carrying a majestic aura compared to theirs, since it was actually just a blue wolf they had already guessed that the aura came from the weird patterns that were covering it's body. They instantly went into battle stances though, all but one, who had run off to inform everyone else. The guards slowly encircled Ark, even though they knew they wouldn't be able to beat him they still decided that they would be able to buy some time for the rest of the household to come up with a plan to deal with this wolf.
When they came too close though Ark summoned up a wall fused from water and fire to keep them away, he didn't want to battle them at all so just forced them to keep their distance, since the princess would explain why he was there anyway. As soon as he thought that, Annette emerged from the carriage accompanied by a set of royal guards, seeing this made the manors guards very confused.
"The wolf is with us!"
The guards instantly backed away as they realized that this entourage had immense auras leaking from their bodies, which meant that there was probably something up, not that it really concerned them, as long as the wolf wasn't dangerous it didn't matter, it was probably the young lady's mount or something of the like.
"I'm sorry my lady, we failed to notice that this was your mount."
Hearing this made Ark a little displeased but he knew where the misunderstanding came from so he just chose to ignore it and let Annette explain.
"No problem"
Hearing this Ark curled his lips a little as he shot Annette a look which clearly showed that he was very displeased to be called someones mount just like that, as to which he received a radiant smile. Seeing it made Ark feel like he was just silly and question how he could ever give such a pure lady a look like that. As soon as this thought flashed through Ark's mind he suddenly gave her a fierce look and went into a defensive stance, he clearly felt that she had used some sort of magic there to affect his thinking, so he thought that she had intended to harm him.
"You really don't have a sense of humor!"
Chuckling a bit Annette made a gesture telling Ark to follow her as she proceeded to walk towards the mansion, what she had just used was a sort of magic called charm magic, this magic worked wonders when it came to influencing peoples thoughts and desires, this magic could only be used by women though since men weren't able to for some reason. This magic was often used to seduce people, but it only worked on people who didn't have a will and mind that was strong enough. Of course this was also relative to the mages power.
Realizing how Annette had only been playing with him Ark started to follow her, his head held a little bit lower than his usual bearing since he was quite embarrassed, he felt that he had overreacted a bit just then. But what was done was done, and he should probably just act like nothing ever happened, in hope that she would forget it, this was the best solution, at least that Ark could come up with.
When they had just arrived at the entrance of the mansion the doors suddenly burst open, and out came a little squadron of guards, in the center of the guards were a middle-aged man, a woman who seemed to be just as old, and two teenagers of opposite genders. The middle-aged man had emerald green eyes as well as bright blonde hair that went down all the way to his shoulders, he looked quite fierce as he had a well built body and sharp facial features, which made him look like a warrior.
The woman on the other hand looked very gentle and nice, her hair was a sleek black that would probably blend greatly into the darkness, her eyes were a crystal blue that looked as deep as the ocean, she looked like she was someone who had connections to the water spirits, just from her gentle bearing and ocean eyes.
Ark recognized the teenagers as the ones who he had saved, Grant and Lily. This made him think that the adults in the middle was Grant's parents. Before Ark had arrived in town Annette told him about the two teenagers he had saved as well as a little bit about the city itself. Apparently Grant was a nobles son and Lily was a commoner, this explained why their get-ups were so different in their quality.
When the couple saw the wolf in front of them they instantly turned serious and positioned themselves in front of the children, even though there was still a layer of guards in the way, it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful, especially not in these types of situations.
"Ahem"
Hearing someone cough they instantly noticed that there was people to the side of this wolf, it seemed like they had even come here together. Getting their acts together the couple told the guards to stand down and put on some brilliant smiles, this was mostly since they could feel the invisible pressure the group emitted. Grant's father hurried to invite the unexpected guests inside since he didn't really know what to do.
"I'm sorry that I didn't notice you earlier, please enter my humble abode."
"No worries, we shall take you up on that offer."
The kids didn't really know what was going on since it was really chaotic, one thing they both noticed however was that the wolf in front of them was the same one that they had been saved by in the forest earlier, they also noticed that the lady in white was with it. This made them suspect that the wolf was indeed some form of divine creature after all, their blood boiled at the thought of making such a major discovery as this.
After having stepped inside and sat down in the reception hall, the people from the Hughes family's mansion were all nervous, most of the nervousness could be attributed to the wolf who was eagerly looking around the place at almost all times, it seemed quite intrigued by almost anything that managed to catch it's eye. The tension and nervousness soon cleared up though as Annette explained clearly why they had brought a wolf with them and what it signified, she also naturally introduced herself, which scared the Hughes family a lot, they suddenly felt that their reception was way too bad.
This was natural as the princess identity wasn't something they could compete with, they would maybe be equivalent to her shoe servants. They also soon turned to the wolf to show their gratitude as they found out that it had saved their young master who had been out on an adventure in the forest. During all of this Ark was the biggest winner, he got to see what it looked like in this mansion, he also got a lot of praise and gratitude. Which was almost a first for him, back in his own world he usually just got contempt whenever he did good, or did something admirable. All they did was sneer behind his back and laugh at him, calling him names and making fun of him.
He had always toughed it out his entire life, choosing to ignore all the insults, all the pain, just to try and maintain what little happiness he had in his life. But now he just couldn't control himself anymore, he couldn't hide from the pain anymore, and so, he cried. Everyone was shocked upon seeing this, this majestic and domineering wolf had suddenly started crying when they had expressed their gratitude, afraid that they had done something stupid they instantly started apologizing due to fear.
Ark just kept on crying while trying to convey that he wanted to be left alone, it took a while for them to understand what he meant but when they did they all hastened out of the room, to give him space. Outside of the room Annette stood completely dumbfounded, this was beyond her understanding! Why would the wolf suddenly start to cry when they thanked it for what it had done earlier? She didn't know, but she did know one thing, this wolf wasn't just simply a divine creature!
Even though divine creatures were said to be intelligent and all that they still didn't really show much emotion, if any at all. While this blue wolf that she had met had started to cry right in front of her! Another thing that made her a little bit apprehensive was the aura the wolf had released whilst it was crying, the aura seemed incredibly desolate and lonely, it also seemed really depressing, but happy at the same time, like it had remembered something special. This aura made it seem like he was standing all alone, at the top of a majestic looking mountain peak, as the heavens sent out lightning all around him.
Annette wondered what the wolf had gone through to be able to release an aura like that, most auras represented how a person was, and also what element they were aligned to, or well it didn't always have an impact but in most cases it did. This meant that the wolf had probably suffered through immense hardships to get to where he was. She started to feel really bad, she really wanted to befriend the wolf now, she didn't want to see it all alone and suffering, she somehow felt that she was being slowly pulled in by this mysterious wolf.
Suddenly the crying stopped, their was some rustling noises coming from inside of the room for a while until it quieted down completely. Then they could hear slow thuds as Ark's paws landed on the floor to take him slowly to the door. As Ark got closer to the door the people that had been waiting outside could suddenly feel that the temperature seemed to be dropping, when he was finally at the door it was already freezing cold, which drew quite the contrast to before.
Then the thuds stopped. When they stopped the people could suddenly see that there was a thin layer of ice that had covered the door, then it slowly grew thicker and thicker...
BANG!!!
Then they heard a loud bang as the door completely turned into the finest of dust, and Ark slowly walked out from within the dust cloud...