After my spell research and experiments, I started my journey to Stonehenge. Heading west I set off running when I was out of sight, it barely took me a few hours to reach close by as the sub was setting, I slowed down because of a smell I picked up, it was the fragrance of sage blowing in the wind towards me.
As I approached at a walking pace for a mile or so, I began to see a group of people, they were having a fire camped around the stone relic. I could feel an earthiness to the magic around the circular site, it had a calming and undisturbed atmosphere that felt natural and elegant, the beauty of the land around just amplified the uniqueness. Ratatoskr seemed to enjoy the energy, he sniffed the air around us and kept running back and forth between my shoulders.
Getting nearer to the stones I could see an elder teaching a flock of young women, how to make a potion I could smell a mixture of herbs and fresh milk, it was soothing on the senses and I wondered what it's purpose was. Activating my magic sight I glanced around at the group gathered and noticed their magic was small but powerful, an aura if browns and greens, like grassland and tree barks.
I knew this group were druids, is Stonehenge a Nemeton, Which is a Sacred meeting space druids use for rituals on the land or object? It was a tree usually but I guessed a Neolithic monument could work.
Druids studied the supernatural and mystic arts, practising rituals and the use of herbs. They keep the balance of nature, in different ways, just like in Beacon Hills Alan Deaton wouldn't kill Stiles when he was possessed by the Nogitsune, opting to exorcise it and even went to find a rare lichen to poison it, but his sister, Marin Morrell said she would kill him to prevent a future rampage if all other plans went awry.
If a druid loses sight of their mission they would become a Darach, who use sacrificial rituals to gain more power, using different types of people like virgins, healers and warriors gain different effects like strength from warriors, healing abilities from healers and so on. If they are sacrificed on telluric currents or ley lines they gain an additional boost of power just like Jennifer with her victims, she captured them on the currents and sacrificed them on a convergence point, holding them in between each point. She became able to manipulate the earth and weather but failed her last sacrifice of guardians, so I don't know what powers she would have gained.
Druids usually have some basic hand-to-hand combat training to defend themselves, but most notable is their mastery over mountain ash using willpower to manipulate it, possible use of telekinesis and to force someone to transition back to human, well from what teen wolf showed anyway.
They were emissaries for werewolf packs but not much else is shown, Deaton even escaped being bound and gagged but it was never explained.
After recalling everything I could about druids from the shows I merged in this world, I began to think that they were mainly mysterious.
'Maybe I can learn much more with these people, or maybe they are just the same a group of scholars who study the supernatural creatures, herbs, mythology and folklore. Even so, learning some mystic arts might help with my magic' I thought as I continue to get closer.
When I was a few meters away I noticed a ring of mountain ash around their campsite, Mountain ash was used as a barrier to ward off the supernatural but I knew it had no effect on me or the blessing of Gaia would be useless, what tree ash could affect a person blessed by nature itself?
I announced my arrival with a friendly wave and shouted calmly "hello, I was wondering if I could speak to your leaders?" This seemed to startle a lot of them as they hadn't noticed me until I was at the barrier layer of ash.
An old man dressed in a simple white robe wrapped in vines around his waist and shoulder moved towards me without fear, he had a bald head and was reasonably tanned, dark brown eyes and a welcoming smile on his face.
"Hello young one I am senior Uli and welcome to the stones, I noticed you stopped at our ward are you not able to enter?" He raised a question in a sing-song way with a pleasing smile. He was obviously open-minded or he was just good at covering his concern with confidence.
"Ah, greetings my name is Fenrisúlfr and I thought it would be rude to enter your sacred grounds without permission I didn't want to offend anyone, I am able to pass the ward if you'll allow me to enter" I replied with a smile being as positive as I could be in dim light.
"Ah then, please come forward young one I would like to hear your tale" Uli gestured towards a campfire just away from the rest of the Druids.
I started to walk past the ward under his scrutinised gaze but bypassed it easily, there wasn't even a fluctuation of the ward or any signs of a barrier it was just ash on the floor to me. As I walked to the fire and sat on the floor resting upon a log Uli joined me and I noticed his intrigue flash in his eyes. Ratatoskr soon jumped from my shoulder and laid down on the log behind me, I'm not sure if he was blending into the background cause Uli hasn't even looked his way yet.
"So young wolf how are you able to pass our ward? And why have you come to the sacred stones?" He asked as he took a seat across from me.
"Ah that would be by Gaia's blessing and I came because it is a place of power and wanted to learn more of the magic surrounding these places" I supplied not bothered by his blatant announcing of me being a wolf.
"Gaia! You're blessed by mother earth?!" He shouted in surprise that showed on his face and the gasps around went to show they valued nature above all else.
"Ah yes, the seer in my hometown told me I was her son," I explained raising my hand as the plants around bloomed in the darkness of night and grew without sunlight. His mouth was agape at the sight and looked like he worshipped me after a while, that was a little uncomfortable.
"Please forgive my rudeness from before! Any of Gaias children will always be welcome with us Druids" he let out in an appealing tone, I wasn't offended by his words earlier so I let it go, I did want to learn their craft after all.
"It's okay, you were bound to be wary of outsiders I understand, anyway can you please teach me some of your arts and knowledge?" I inquired in an easy tone as I looked around at the others, they were some talking about herbs and there uses and some were making natural clothes from plant fibres, a group were cooking a pig over a spit and seasoning it as it turned. The smell of nature and pork with garlic and thyme permeated around the camp causing my mouth to water slightly.
"It would be my pleasure to! But the mystic arts aren't usually available to learn by wolves like yourself" he sounded full of regret with a sad smile as he replied.
"No worries I can sense your magic is different to mine but also similar I was just hoping to expand my knowledge and hopefully glean from it to improve" I wasn't concerned about them knowing my skills, I could butcher them all in a minute or so, their poisons and potions would hardly affect me and I didn't even have to get close. I could blast them with a bolt of lightning and be done with it if I had to. But I wanted to learn their craft of poisons and potions not to mention the rituals they had, the ritual of 7 I had been creating for years felt like it was missing something, but I couldn't put my finger on it, it was like chasing the wind.
His face went from regret to astonished in a millisecond and I chuckled, he was going through a lot of emotions in the few minutes I'd known him, to say he was composed at the barrier and was now like a teenager going through the motions was hilarious to me.
"Wonderful! It's very rare for a wolf to posses magic apart from their unique abilities at all! If you would have me as a mentor I would gladly accept!" Uli was practically bouncing around in joy at that revelation.
"That's why I asked in the first place" I couldn't help but laugh at his antics.
It wasn't long until I got to know a lot of the elders of the stones as they called themselves. They were an extremely welcoming bunch of people and begun to teach me in earnest when I began growing the plants and seeds they'd acquired to further my studies. Their knowledge of the effects of plants on supernatural creatures went past all the knowledge I had on plants, my knowledge was only on humans. I learnt how some herbs affect the mind in both positive and negative ways, others the body nurturing or decaying it at different paces. How different times in the lunar cycle change the flow of energy from Ley lines and how it affects rituals. They also told me many myths and folklore of the lands around Britain and Ireland.
I asked Uli if he would become an emissary of my pack when I made it and he readily agreed. He even made a vow on his magic that his descendants would always be loyal to me and my pack. Which got me thinking of a name for my pack when I made it, and when I should begin adding members. A few names I had thought of were; Eclipse pack, Vargr pack but that could wait for now.
As for members I was starting to wonder what it would look like in the future, would my pack be like me? Having full wolf and Lycan forms? Would they branch off to make my pack bigger? I was a king after all, not an alpha, so it would be reasonable if I had many packs under my lead, some for scouting, fighters among other things they would each have a leader which would be a general or something and answer to me the king.
I thought about making a few Vikings I knew my pack members. Maybe Vali or even Ubbe and Astrid even Egil as well, but he was a bit young at the moment and it wasn't guaranteed that they would survive, So I wasn't too sure about my family. So there's Vali and some others id met with the Ravens and I hadn't seen them in a while so maybe I should go back north to ask him.
Even if he accepts or not I decided to go back to Norway and stop Dahlia from taking Freya, maybe she would become a witch vampire, cause Henrik will probably still be killed by the wolves in America, would they even go to America? Ah, the frustration of knowing something that might or might not happen annoys me.
Anyway, I had been staying with the druids for 2 months learning everything I could about their culture and history, the Gaelic druids we're interesting their magic was deeply tied to nature and their spells weren't that many if any at all, they mostly relied on potions and rituals but only used them as a last resort.
They were scholars, not witches or wizards, their potions we're even different to what was shown in Harry Potter, I had not seen a powdered dragon claw or a leaping toadstool, just regular herbs like thyme or sage, plants like mistletoe or lavender even some tree bark or sap and mainly milk as a base. It was basically a "muggle" potion but had many effects some calmed the mind, some caused chaotic thoughts even relieving hunger. They were many uses individually but a concoction ever negated some effectiveness or boasted it.
The Druidic culture wasn't much different to what is been living, they lived off the land and maintained it, keeping plants growing and only taking what was needed it reminded me of Astrid she hated wasting anything.