Ba-dumb.....Ba-dumb.....Ba-dumb.....Ba-dumb.....
As Ryder felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness, he could feel his heart slowing down with every beat and he knew that it won't be long before it stopped completely, which made him wonder, what will happen after that, will he keep sinking in this dark space forever or would he go to a better place like the adults always claimed, well he is gonna find out soon enough.
Ba-dumb...Ba-dumb....Ba-dumb...
he did feel regret though, after all he was just a 12 year old kid so far he only experienced hunger, pain, humiliation and coldness and when things were finally looking up, reality came knocking and his life was fading because of some petty wannabe gangsters, he honestly wondered was this a life worth living in the first place, was this pain worth fighting for, some would say yes but those probably the minority who managed to claw their way toward the peak, what about the millions of those who fail, is it worth it for them?
Ba-dumb...Ba-dumb.....
"haha, did death turn me into a scholar? i don't even understand what i am saying."
chuckling to himself, Ryder closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink deeper and the darkness to wash over him like a tide and he felt something calling to him, urging him to relax and pulling at him in one direction, he could feel something akin to sunlight washing over his body and a warm feeling to engulf him and he though to himself that this didn't feel so bad.
Badum-WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
Suddenly a howl cut through the darkness and whatever calling him scrambled away like a frightened rabbit. Ryder's closed eyes snapped open in fright and he started looking around him for the source of the howl but he couldn't find anything, the same dark space and the same emptiness except the cold he felt was different, this cold he felt was more primitive more ancient unlike anything he felt before, one second he was ready to embrace death and now he could feel that his heart has frozen in it's place, it was like it wasn't alive and at the same time it wasn't dead.
he didn't understand what happened, but he knew one thing for sure.
'I am not alone here.' not a second too soon, he felt a sharp gaze behind him, freezing him in his place.
forcing himself to turn around and there he saw it, a pair of gigantic blue almond shaped eyes, with vertical slit pupils, that shone with intelligence, were staring at him with disdain and disgust.
"PATHETIC." came the growling voice from the eyes.
"Has my bloodline fallen to this low to be granted to a cub who screams about fairness and equality?!" The roar shook Ryder to his core and he felt a pressure like he was being crushed under a house.
"..Who.....are ...you?" Even grunting these words felt impossible under the intense gaze of the owner of these eyes.
"Me? I am the owner of the strength that runs through your veins, the strength you disgraced!!" Witn each word the voice spoke, the pressure on Ryder become greater.
"....I...did...my.....best.." every word consumed tremendous effort as he forced himself to look directly into the stranger eyes.
"Your best? Is this what you gonna tell your little siblings when they are branded to be sold off or are you gonna tell your aunt that there is nothing more you could have done while she is stabbed to death?" The voice continued to mock him paying no heed to the increasing pressure it was causing.
".... it's...not....my family...not.....my... responsibility."
"The pack was never about familial ties nor blood, the moment you accepted them into your heart, is the moment they become YOUR responsibility, YOUR duty."
" .....why....me?...I am...tired.." Ryder's voice was cracking and it wasn't because of the pressure, tears were filling his eyes and his lips were quivering.
".....why must ....i stand for them....when no one ....was there for...me? Why must....stand up.....when everything...is forcing me... down.." tears were falling freely from his bowed head before turning into flakes of ice.
"Haaaa..... because whether we like it or not, the blood of a king flows through your veins, that sense of duty, that sense of responsibility that you have been avoiding will always be there and it's the same thing that's keeping you alive right now." Sighed the voice before the pressure surrounding Ryder vanished like smoke.
"Haaa...haaaa..what do you mean by 'the blood of a king'?". Relief flooded Ryder's body as the pressure got lifted of his shoulder, but it was soon replaced by confusion.
Thousands of years ago, this land used to belong to the beasts who fought and hunted each other to survive, humans were forced to live in the shadows and the cracks otherwise they would become some random beast meal.
But one day a dark pit emerged in the middle of the dead forest, turning everything that came in contact with it, into a corrupted being whose only purpose is death and slaughter, wether it was human, beast or plant nothing stayed the same after being tainted by it.
War among the beasts erupted after the emergence of the dark pit and chaos egulfed the lands. But in chaos there was opportunities and to humans who were like scavengers this was the best thing they could ask for, the beasts between defending themselves and their kin or fighting among themselves to feed themselves and their young ones, they didn't have enough energy to chase after the humans.
So the humans took full advantage of that, collecting herbs, fruits and food as much as they could even scavenging meat of the fallen beast but a bunch of humans were more ambitious than others, they decided to help the magical beasts, whether by saving their young ones or bringing them some rare herbs or healing them.
Some of those humans were eaten as soon as they showed up, others were taken advantage off by making them search for rare herbs before turning them into a snack, but there were a bunch of them who managed to gain the favor of the magical beasts.
Maybe because they were grateful, maybe because they saw potential in these creatures who was desperately clinging to life, or maybe they were simply bored but these beast bestowed some of the blood essence to the humans.
Said blood essence allowed the humans to gain some of the beasts abilities and characteristics to a certain extent, enhanced eyesight, sharp nose, augmented strength, increased speed,etc,etc...
But there was a special case, some of the humans managed to gain the favor of the kings of the beasts, no one know how they did, they just knew that a four people managed to gain the blood essence of the Dragon, the pheonix, the lion and the leviathan.
The king of the beasts, was a special existence, it didn't only control those of the same species but also any beast that lived in it's territory. There wasn't much information known about this kind of existence, most were just theories, speculations and guesses.
But one thing was known for sure, unlike other beasts' blood essence, the king of the beast's blood didn't just offer some physical enhancements, it also allowed the person to gain the ability to harness the element that the king was most proficient at.
But if that's the case, who was the owner of the voice, the dragon and the pheonix both controlled the fire, the lion had authority over the earth and the water was the domain of the leviathan, there was no tales about a king who controlled the ice.
"Who are you? As far as i know there was no king who controlled the ice." Uncertainty and anxiety were apparent in Ryder's voice, nothing was more worrisome than the unknown.
"How much knowledge would a cub like you actually know ? But you look like a smart one, can you guess my race?" The eyes narrowed in amusement and the vertical slit started to widen slightly, while Ryder could hear the amusement lacing the voice.
Ryder gulped as he could guess the race of the voice, but he didn't know whether he should answer truthfully or feign stupidity, the voice may has lost the edge and the rage that he felt earlier but Ryder knew that a wrong step and a fate worse than awaits him.
"....A wolf." Finally deciding that honesty was the best policy, Ryder answered after a brief moment of hesitation.
There was a pause of pregnant silence before a mouth full of sharp teeth and gleaming canines appeared under the eyes and Ryder could almost swear that it was grinning at him and taking pleasure at his anxiety.
Slowly a gigantic grey wolf stepped out of the shadows, the grey fur looked soft but the scattered scars that filled it's body were imposing, blue mist was emiting from his mouth and his eyes gave a soft glow as it fixed on the trembling shape of Ryder Infront of him.
"I AM FENRIR,THE PREDATOR OF KINGS AND YOU LITTLE ONE ARE MY NEW SUCCESSOR...WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO." Fenrir's howl seemed to echo inside Ryder's head as he stood there in silence unable to comprehend what just happened.
*****
On a cliff in the middle of the forest of death, a statue made of ice of a wolf stood there unmoving while his eyes fixed at the moon, the statue looked like an exact copy of Fenrir.
Suddenly those eyes shone brightly and the statue raised it's head an-
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....
And it let out a howl that seemed to echo to transverse through space and spread across the lands.
*****
Pairs of glowing eyes hidden across the lands snapped open and massive shadows started moving, they were of all shape and sizes and hidden in different parts of the continent but they all had the same look of anxiety when they confirmed that the howl they heard wasn't there imagination.
To them this wasn't just any normal wolf howling at the moon, to them this was a prelude to a bloody battlefield of slaughter and death that they wished they died before having to witness it once again.
All the beasts, no matter whether they were magical or demonic had the same thought right now.
THE WOLF OF TUNDRA, FENRIR IS BACK.
*******
Behind the howling statue of Fenrir, across the cliff hidden beneath the snow, the frozen corpses of hundreds of different beasts laid there in an icy tomb,there was dragons, pheonixes, giant turtles, lions and tigers frozen in there, their expression frozen in mixture of fear and terror.
"SHALL WE CONTINUE THIS HUNT, DEMON GOD?".
A grin streched across the statue face as he sent his gaze toward the heart of the dead forest were a huge pit of viscous black ink was churning.