Way of the Beast, part 3
"C'mon, it's time to get up!"
Llifen's chipper voice reverberated in Rusan's head like a gong. He stared out the air vents in the wall and to his utter disappointment, found that it was still partially dark outside. He wondered to himself how it was possible for someone to have this much energy so early in the morning. Not only that, but Llifen was also carrying a tray with two steaming bowls of the same broth that he had drunk yesterday. When had he gone out to fetch them? Rusan let out a deep groan of exasperation. He knew it was going to be a long day and it had barely even started.
"You know, I could always pour this over you," Llifen said with a glint in his eye as he tipped the tray slightly.
That made Rusan bolt up straight away. This was the first time that Llifen had made a joke at his expense...at least he was hoping it was a joke.
Llifen placed the tray on the nightstand and moved it between himself and Rusan. As opposed to yesterday, Rusan decided to show manners to his host by using a spoon with his meal. This was the first time in his life he had decided to eat this way, as far as he could remember. But as spoonful by meager spoonful passed through his lips, a feeling of frustration came over him. How was he supposed to finish off an entire bowl with such a tiny implement? It was not long before he gave up on his ill-conceived attempt at decorum and once again picked up the bowl to drink from. To his surprise, Llifen put down his own spoon and joined him. After a few gulps, Rusan stared at his companion. The fur around Llifen's mouth was wet with broth and a few drops were dribbling down his chin. Rusan tried to stifle a laugh, but it was no use as he broke out into a small snicker. It was returned in kind and suddenly a burst of hearty laughter rushed forth between them. A warm feeling spread throughout Rusan's body, and there was no doubt that Llifen was experiencing the same.
As they both drank their meal, Llifen talked about the schedule for the day and what to expect. Morning meditations where they would hear Zaulii's sermons on the nature of the Beast would be followed by group training involving the entire monastery. After that, they would break off into smaller groups for individual training. "So do you understand all that?" Llifen asked as he sipped the last of his broth.
"I think so," Rusan replied, finishing off his own meal and wiping his mouth with the fur on the back of his arm, "Morning meditations, group training, individual training. But what is this 'individual training' anyway? I don't know what I could do on my own."
"Oh, don't you worry about that. I have exercises in mind that we can do together to get you up to speed."
"That's great..." Rusan said with feigned enthusiasm. This really was going to be a long day, wasn't it? "So how long until we have to leave for meditations?"
"Well, we have..." Llifen looked at the pattern the sun made through the air vents. "Oh no! We have to leave right now!" Llifen abruptly yanked Rusan to his feet and shoved him out the door. For the second time in two days, Rusan found himself being pulled by the arm through the alleys of the monastery. A long day indeed...
***
"You must remember."
Zaulii had said that several times now during his sermon, almost like some sort of mantra. Rusan was sitting on the cold, hard floor of the main temple, listening to Zaulii's sermon with his eyes closed as Llifen had instructed. As Zaulii spoke, Rusan's wolf ears could tell that he was slowly walking among the other initiates who had all arranged themselves in perfect rank and file.
"You must remember, back to a time before any of us were born. Back to the days before civilization. Back to the days when hunting was of the utmost importance to our survival, a matter of life and death. Ask yourself: how were any of us able to take down the prey we need to survive? The answer lies within all of us. The power to track our prey, the power to fight with tooth and claw, the power to overwhelm with raw strength, the power to unite our minds in a single pack mentality. These were not learned behaviors. These were innate abilities that have sadly gone neglected, that our society has deemed useless in this day and age. But are they truly useless? Why not have scouts able to track new resources? Why not have defenders able to fight? Why not have stronger laborers? Why not have our leaders united in mind and opinion? These abilities are not useless, far from it. And that is why you must remember."
Rusan opened one eye and gave Llifen a look that said, "Are you really taking this all seriously?" But Llifen had his eyes shut tight with the most serene expression imaginable. As Zaulii continued to speak, Rusan noticed that he had stopped moving right next to him. Rusan moved his eye just enough to catch a disappointed look from the elderly wolf before rapidly closing it again. He let out a sigh of relief as Zaulii continued on his way.
"But you must also remember that the Beast is as dangerous as it is powerful. A power such as this is not meant to be taken lightly. An untrained mind has the potential to be destroyed by the Beast, and it is only through the strictest of discipline that we prevent this from happening. This is why the Way of the Beast is a strengthening of the mind, as well as the body. In this way, we ready ourselves when we are able to accept the Beast as part of us.
Rusan shut his already-closed eyes even tighter. Destroyed? What does he mean by that? He thought about Llifen. Has he ever seen anybody destroyed by the Beast? Is he at risk? Am I? At that moment, he felt like he wanted to interrupt Zaulii's sermon in the hopes that he or Llifen would clarify what he meant, but Zaulii's intimidating demeanor made him too fearful to do so. From that point onward, Zaulii's sermon gradually faded into inaudibility as Rusan's anxiety caused him to lose the will to listen. It seemed like every time Zaulii spoke to him, he was destined to leave with more unease than when he started. He hoped that perhaps at the next opportunity, he could ask Llifen to put his mind at ease.
That opportunity never came, however. The moment that Zaulii's sermon finished, he immediately transitioned into teaching the wolves the exercise routine for the day. He demonstrated a lunging attack, the type that might be used to subdue prey, followed by a vicious slashing attack. After only a minimum of explanation from the old yet surprisingly spry wolf, the entire congregation then proceeded to imitate his moves. Within minutes, the group appeared to have the routine mastered.
"Again!"
In almost perfect unison, all the wolves gathered lunged forward in attack, each of them letting out a mighty growl that collectively shook the temple.
"Again!"
This process repeated over and over. All the initiates handled the exercise routine with exceptional grace and strength, never once letting their poise falter from start to finish. All the initiates, that is, except for one.
Rusan panted heavily as he made a futile effort to keep up the pace. "Fuck! I'm gonna die here, aren't I?" he said as he used all his remaining strength to avoid stumbling over his own feet.
"Don't be so dramatic; you can handle this" Llifen replied, coolly indifferent to Rusan's growing exhaustion.
Easy for him to say, Rusan thought to himself. As he flailed about clumsily, he could not help but admire the way that Llifen moved. With every strike, every leap, undulations of pure muscle would ripple across his perfectly toned body. Bulges of sinew would expand and contract with every flex of his limbs. Even though Rusan had no idea how these moves were supposed to look, he could still tell that Llifen could execute them with the highest degree of expertise, unparalleled by anyone else in the monastery.
"All right, that's enough for today," Zaulii finally barked out after what seemed like an eternity. Gradually, the activity in the temple died down as the wolves ceased their routine and slowly shuffled out of the temple. Rusan wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the floor and rest, but his desire not to make an utter fool of himself in front of the entire monastery just barely won out.
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Llifen said without a hint of exhaustion. Either he was completely oblivious to or outright ignoring the state of fatigue that Rusan was in.
"Yes...yes it was," Rusan shot back rudely. At the moment, he was not in the mood to make even the slightest effort at being tactful.
"Come on, this is nothing. Especially compared to what I have planned for the rest of the day."
"Give me a break!" Rusan exclaimed in annoyance, "It's my first day here! Can't we take it easy, just for today?"
Llifen sighed deeply in exasperation while rubbing between his eyes. "Okay, fine. Just...go and take a nap or something. I'll meet you back here when you're done."
Rusan made his way back to the living quarters. The muscles in his legs ached, forcing him to move at a slow pace. That Llifen, he certainly is a taskmaster, isn't he? I bet he must have gotten all that from Zaulii, he thought to himself. Still, he had to admire Llifen's dedication to his craft, and it was plainly obvious that all the effort he had put in had paid off. He wondered if in time he too would develop the same level of ability.
As Rusan entered the room that he and Llifen shared, he immediately lay down onto his cot. Lying on his side, he looked across the space to Llifen's side of the room. The clean, pristine sheets that were draped over Llifen's bed looked far more inviting than the cot he was currently lying on, or anything else he had slept on in recent memory. Curiosity got the better of him as he walked across the room and flopped facedown onto the bed. With his snout buried in a pillow, he inhaled deeply, hoping to imprint Llifen's scent in his mind. He could detect a faint smell of sweat; that was not surprising given how active Llifen seemed to be. But it was not as strong as he anticipated; he could only imagine that Llifen went to great lengths to keep his fur clean. Perhaps this was typical monastery practice. Instead, the dominant smell was that of Llifen's unique wolf musk. It was woodsy, almost forest-like and managed to impart a deep sense of masculinity.
As Llifen's scent wafted through Rusan's nose, he gradually became aware of a certain sensation in his crotch. Part of him felt confused as to what he was currently feeling. He had only known the wolf for a day, but he could not deny that there was a raw physical attractiveness about him. As he thought about Llifen's appearance, he became aware of the deep sense of restlessness was slowly taking over his body. He felt embarrassment as he wondered how to best take care of it. There was indeed one obvious solution; normally he would not give second thought to relieving his urges so long as nobody else was around, but as far as he was concerned, he still felt like a guest of Llifen's and he wondered whether this would be taking advantage of his hospitality. Instead, he rolled over onto his back and nervously drummed his fingers on his stomach, hoping that his pent-up feelings of lust would subside on their own.
Several tense minutes of waiting ensued, during which time he attempted to think about something--anything--to steer his thoughts away from Llifen.
"...Ah, fuck it," he finally blurted out after his efforts proved to be in vain.
Rusan rolled back over onto his stomach and took a deep whiff. Lewd thoughts ran through his mind of what it would be like to bury his snout into the fur of Llifen's muscular chest as the stronger male's arms wrapped around him. His daydream was so vivid that he could practically feel Llifen's arms around his torso at the very moment. As if under the effect of a powerful intoxicant, Rusan felt himself losing control of his body as he continued to take in Llifen's scent. He let his lust-addled mind take over and his body responded by thrusting his hips against the bed. Soft sheets rubbed back and forth beneath his crotch, feeling so good against his sheath that he was forced to press his snout into the pillow to stifle a moan. But as he did so, more of Llifen's scent invaded Rusan's nostrils, drawing him to even greater euphoria.
Rusan flipped over onto his back and looked down at his cock. It was already fully erect, almost painfully so. He wrapped his fingers around his shaft and felt the throbbing sensation as blood pulsed through his member. His grip tightened as he began to stroke himself, slowly at first before gradually working up speed. Images of Llifen and his perfectly chiseled physique flooded his mind as he imagined running his own fingers around the outlines of every one of the wolf's muscles. As one hand worked his shaft, his other hand rubbed around the base of his cock, simultaneously squeezing his knot and playing with his balls. Tingling sensations coursed through his body as he felt himself approaching climax.
Finally, with a low, almost animalistic growl, his orgasm hit. His legs tensed as his semen shot all over his stomach and chest. He panted heavily as he rapidly pumped his shaft, milking every last drop out of his dick. He sighed to himself in deep contentment. When was the last time he had a jackoff session that felt that good? He must have been really pent up--either that or he never had anybody who could stoke his libido like that before. He thought about that as he quickly made his way to the washing facilities, hoping that nobody would notice the mess he had made in his fur.
***
After he had cleaned himself off, Rusan made his way back to the main temple, where Llifen would be waiting for him. However, when he arrived, he was surprised to find Llifen talking--or rather, arguing--with another wolf. His intuition told him that it was probably best not to approach them. Instead, he hid near the doorway and made himself inconspicuous in a way that only someone who has lived his whole life on the street can.
"You will tell me, and you will tell me now!" the wolf snarled menacingly, his face dangerously close to Llifen's. "You owe me that, or have you forgotten what you did?"
"I owe you nothing, Jilong. What happened was not my fault!"
"Keep denying responsibility all you want. When are you going to realize that you're unfit to teach anybody, that this whole monastery would be better off without a crazed savage like you in it? Whoever he is, I am trying to save him from the likes of you!"
Whoever he is? Are they talking about me? Rusan thought to himself.
For a moment, Llifen looked as if he was about to throw a punch at this other wolf, who was apparently named Jilong. But he managed to restrain himself and instead merely crossed his arms, glaring at his adversary in a way that said, "Are you finished?"
Apparently, Jilong had sensed that his goading would not be effective. "Believe me when I say that this isn't over, Llifen. Unlike you, I act with the best interests of the monastery at heart." He turned and stomped angrily out of the building, his paws making a racket on the temple floor.
A short while after Jilong had left, Rusan decided to make his presence known. "All right, I'm back, and I'm ready for our training," he said. He hoped that his tone of voice would suggest that he had not heard any of the preceding altercation. Given that the argument seemed to have involved him, he felt it was best not to bring it up.
"It took you long enough," Llifen replied in a curt manner, refusing to even look in Rusan's general direction.
Rusan was taken aback. He surmised that Llifen was upset about the argument he just had, but did he have to take it out on him? "I'm sorry, Llifen. I swear, I'll take training more ser--"
"Stop talking and follow my lead!" Llifen growled. Without even a moment's pause, he then proceeded to put Rusan through the paces of a grueling set of exercises. True to Llifen's word, it was indeed far tougher than the routine that Zaulii had demonstrated earlier that day. Llifen jumped and slashed at imaginary opponents in ways that were impossible for Rusan to follow. The worst part, however, was that every mistake, every false step that Rusan made was met with a harsh rebuke from his teacher.
"No, that's wrong! Do it again and pay closer attention!" Llifen barked. A terrifying look of fury was in his eyes. Was this the same wolf that he had made friends with only the day before?
Rusan was only one stumble away from collapsing on the ground and begging for mercy. His mouth was dry and every one of his muscles burned fiercely. "Please...no more..." he sputtered between gasps for air.
"I don't want to hear it!" Llifen yelled back, "I won't accept this current level of weakness from you! How are you going to expect to get any better if you don't challenge yourself?" he said as he forcefully yanked Rusan's limbs into the proper fighting stance.
Using his last remaining bit of strength, Rusan wrestled free from Llifen's grasp and pushed him away. "That's enough, Llifen!" he cried out, finally reaching his breaking point. "I don't know why it should be so hard to convince you that not everyone is up to your own freakish level of skill!"
Llifen's eyes widened momentarily before a snarl crossed his face. "Freakish?" he asked, his voice quiet yet menacing.
It was at that moment that Rusan realized that he had gone too far with his words. "I-I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that--"
A hushed growl escaped through Llifen's teeth. "We're done here," he said. Without another word exchanged between the two of them, they both proceeded to make a long, awkward trek back to their living quarters.
The walk back was spent in utter silence. Occasionally, Rusan would sneak glimpses at Llifen, who refused to even look in his general direction. At one point, he decided to attempt an apology. "Hey, Llifen?" he said meekly, "I'm sorry that I said that--" But he was only met with a snarl in return, indicating that it was probably best if he did not say anything more. He wondered to himself whether this day could possibly get any worse.
He would soon get his answer as they both arrived at their living quarters. Llifen was first to notice that something was amiss as he stopped dead in his tracks. It was then that Rusan saw that their door had been ripped wide open and was now creaking softly as it swung in the light breeze. At first, Rusan thought that maybe he had forgotten to close it when he left to meet Llifen, but a look at the bent, flimsy hinges showed that this was not the case. This was clearly a break-in.
They both rushed into the room to survey the damage. All the furniture had been left askew, if not completely flipped over. Every corner of the room showed obvious signs of rummaging, as if the intruder was in so much of a rush that they did not make even the slightest effort to be subtle. Rusan looked around the tiny room, hoping to come across anything that the intruder may have left behind, but found nothing. He turned to Llifen, who had retreated into a corner and was now facing the wall, his muscles tensed up in rage. Rusan already knew that he was in a bad mood, but now he looked liable to explode at any moment.
Without warning, Llifen unleashed a terrifying growl and let a punch fly toward the wall, hard enough to leave behind a spiderweb-like network of cracks in the plaster. Rusan recoiled at Llifen's sudden display of anger. He briefly wondered what might happen if he were on the receiving end of Llifen's full rage, but he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. His friend clearly needed help. He took a few tentative steps toward Llifen, hoping to console him, but was instead rebuffed.
"Please...leave me. I want to be alone right now," Llifen said, his voice barely above a whisper. Rusan decided it was best to honor his wishes and silently left the room.
He had to take a walk to get away from this all. He did not care where he went--anywhere would do. Without any specific destination, he let his mind go blank and let his feet lead him where they may. After several minutes of wandering in this fashion, he looked around himself and to his shock realized that he was in an all-too-familiar location. Here in this remote corner of the monastery was the wall from which he had fallen several nights ago. In the clear light of day, he could see that there was a small hill of dirt and grass piled up next to the wall, high enough that someone of adequate fitness could mount onto the edge of the wall in order to climb up and over. He shuddered as he thought about the events of that night.
"Thinking of leaving, are you?" Rusan was abruptly caught off guard by a voice that came from seemingly out of nowhere. He turned toward the voice and found himself face to face with another wolf. He slowly recalled that this was the same wolf he had seen arguing with Llifen only hours before--Jilong if his memory served him correctly. "I don't remember seeing you around before. Are you new here?" Rusan did not bother saying anything in response. There was something about the sound of this wolf's voice that raised the fur on the back of his neck for reasons he could not immediately place.
The other wolf continued, "I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to make a run for it. This kind of life isn't for everyone. Especially not for someone of your..." He looked Rusan over from head to toe, "...complete lack of physicality."
This wolf's voice was abrasive, to be sure, but somehow there was another quality to it that bothered Rusan. As the other wolf talked, he gradually stopped listening and instead stared around him at his surroundings. Suddenly, it dawned on him where he had heard this voice before.
"Wait a minute--I know you!" Rusan snarled menacingly as a rush of memories flooded his mind. "You were there after I fell from the wall. You were..." he stammered, "...were going to kill me, weren't you?" Jilong did not answer his accusation but instead merely narrowed his eyes at him. Rusan responded by letting out a growl at the top of his lungs as he took a swing at Jilong. But the other wolf clearly had a great deal more skill than he did, as he adeptly deflected Rusan's clumsy attack. He then grabbed hold of Rusan's arm and used it to pull his opponent into a painful clinch hold.
"I dare you to try that again, pup," Jilong taunted, haughtily asserting his dominance. He tightened his hold on Rusan, eliciting a whimper from the helpless wolf.
With his own limbs locked against his body, Rusan became uncomfortably aware of the fact that Jilong was close enough to him to smell his fur. He could tell that Jilong was attempting to be subtle about it, but somehow, he figured that subtlety was not this wolf's area of expertise. With a struggle, he managed to work himself free from Jilong's grasp as he forcefully pushed him away. "D-did you just..."
Jilong cut him off before he could complete his sentence. "You're a hard one to track down, you know that? Most initiates come here with a few possessions, but you? You didn't have a single thing to your name that I could find. If I did, I wouldn't have had to resort to such crude methods to identify you. Believe me when I say that I did not appreciate it."
How did he know I didn't have any possessions? It was then that Rusan suddenly came to a realization. "So that's why you broke into my living quarters? You were trying to find something of mine, weren't you? And when you couldn't find anything, you imprinted my scent?" He felt completely violated by this wolf. He growled as he felt the urge to once again attack Jilong, but this time he restrained himself, knowing full well that it would end badly.
Jilong responded with an almost condescending coolness. "Listen to me, I am only trying to help you." He had to be either arrogant or stupid if he thought Rusan would believe that. "You can't tell me you buy into this Way of the Beast crap. Do you really think that Zaulii cares about you or anyone else in this monastery? Or that he's really trying to 'improve society' or whatever he tells people so they go along with his plan? We're all just subjects for his sick little experiment."
"Well if it's so bad, then why do you stay here?"
Jilong's expression darkened, "Let's just say I have business here. Not least of which is keeping idiots like you from becoming the next victims of this place."
"You know, if you're trying to win me over, you're doing a piss-poor job of it," Rusan shot back. By this point, he had had enough of Jilong. He attempted to muscle past the other wolf. "Keep rambling, for all I care. I'm leaving."
"What, you're still staying? Don't tell me...is it for the sake of that fool Llifen?"
This statement caught Rusan totally off guard. He faltered as he attempted to come up with a response, "N-no...?"
"That brainwashed idiot is the worst of the lot. Trust me when I say that the sooner you get away from him, the better. He is nothing but a savage!" There was a particular venom in the way that Jilong spit out those last few words.
"He's treated me with nothing but kindness these past few days, which is more than I can say for you!" Rusan wished that he could have said those words and meant them, but he knew they were not entirely true. He could only hope that his lie did not come through in his tone of voice, as he did not want to give Jilong any reason for satisfaction. He turned again to leave, making sure that it would be for real this time.
"Fine, fine. Go if you must. I'm not in the business of convincing people of things they're bound to figure out on their own." Jilong's voice echoed down the alleyway even as Rusan traveled farther and farther away from him, "But you mark my words, you will see what kind of sick place this is, and when you do, you'll wish that you had come to me sooner!" Rusan hoped with all his might that this would not prove to be the case.
Nothing but a savage. Those four words repeated in Rusan's head as he walked back to his living quarters. What could Llifen have possibly done to make Jilong think that way about him? Llifen's training methods might be overly harsh, and sometimes he would lose his temper, but that did not make him a savage, right?
Rusan returned to his living quarters and found Llifen sitting in the busted doorway, knees clutched up to his chest. He raised his head upon Rusan's approach, but then quickly turned away with a shameful look on his face. That momentary glance was enough for Rusan to notice Llifen's bloodshot eyes and matted fur around his face. It was clear that Llifen had been crying, and quite heavily.
"Hey c'mon, what's wrong?" Rusan sat beside the crying wolf and rubbed his back, just as he had done the night before. He could tell this at least partially eased some of Llifen's tensions.
"It's all too much," Llifen replied. "First that guard gets attacked, and now our place gets broken into. I've lived my whole life here and I've never heard of anything like this happening. And then both of these things happen? I've always thought this place was safe, and now...I just don't know anymore."
Rusan wanted to tell Llifen that these were not isolated incidents, but rather due to the same person. But he felt that if he revealed that he knew this and the person who committed both actions, it would only upset Llifen. Instead, he stayed silent and wrapped his arm around his companion, gently pulling Llifen's body close to his. He was glad to see that Llifen appeared receptive to this, as the other wolf leaned in to rest his head on Rusan's chest. He slowly stroked the fur on the back of Llifen's head.
"I'm sorry," Llifen said after some time. It appeared that he had calmed down, at least a little bit. "This monastery is supposed to teach strength, but here I am, whimpering like a little pup. You must think I'm weak, seeing me like this."
"No, no, of course not," Rusan replied in as supportive a manner as possible. Suddenly, he was hit with a revelation. All of Llifen's emotional outbursts, his displays of anger, of frustration, of sadness, they all stemmed from the same source. Growing up cloistered in this monastery and having to learn such a fierce fighting style, he probably never learned how to deal with his emotions in a normal manner. Instead, he must have been trained to keep all of his emotions on the surface. Perhaps that did not excuse his poor behavior during training, but at least it made sense in this light.
Rusan thought back to his childhood, or at least what he could remember of it. His own life of hardship ultimately left him resilient to any emotional setback he might encounter, a lesson that Llifen had apparently failed to learn. He suddenly felt as if he related more to Llifen--two products of less-than-ideal upbringings. He gingerly raised up Llifen's snout and looked deeply into his eyes. Beneath the strong exterior, Rusan could see the sheltered little child within Llifen. "You're not weak. Far from it. Don't tell yourself any differently." He hugged him tightly.
Llifen let out a soft murr in appreciation. "Thanks. And...I'm sorry for the way I acted during training. I promise that I'll be a better teacher to you from now on."
Internally, Rusan was overjoyed to hear this, but he decided to let his exuberance remain hidden. "No, it's okay. Neither of us were on our best behavior back there. The best we can do now is to just put it all behind us and move on." He stood up to move inside the living quarters, but was surprised to feel Llifen tugging lightly on his arm.
"Wait..." Llifen said in a slightly embarrassed tone, "I don't want to go inside, not just yet. Do you think we can sit out here for a little while longer, just in case someone comes back?"
"Of course, I completely understand." Rusan once again sat beside Llifen. By this time, the sky had grown dark and the familiar chill of night was in the air. Rusan was accustomed to these conditions, but he could feel a slight shiver coming from Llifen. He wrapped his arms around Llifen, transferring his own body heat to his companion. They sat like that together until they had completely lost track of time. The last thing that Rusan remembered was the feeling and smell of Llifen's fur before sleep finally claimed them both.
***
The next day, morning meditations and group training went far better, especially due to Llifen's change in attitude.
"Try bending your knees like this," said Llifen. "That way, your strikes will have more springing power." He bounced lightly on his pawpads, showing the proper technique to Rusan. "Can you feel the difference?"
Rusan did as he was instructed. "Yeah, I think I can. Thanks, I really think I'm starting to get the hang of this!"
"I knew you had it in you!" Llifen replied joyfully. "And if you get tired, you can always change up the routine like this." He demonstrated a less vigorous, but still intricate combination of moves to Rusan. "It may not be as powerful, but we can always work on improving your endurance later." Rusan could barely believe the difference in Llifen's demeanor compared to yesterday. The distinction was almost like night and day.
"Okay, that's enough. Good job for today," Zaulii finally said. Despite the size of the congregation, Rusan wanted to believe that this last sentence was directed solely at him. His entire body ached, just like yesterday, but this time it felt different. It was a good feeling, one that filled him with a sense of accomplishment. "Now everybody gather around," Zaulii said to the entire congregation. He slowly walked around to each of the wolves, inspecting them with a critical eye. "Let's see...Llifen, are you up to the task?" Without saying a word, Llifen nodded in response.
"Huh? What's going on?" Rusan asked to Llifen.
"Well, every once in a while, Zaulii chooses two of us to face off against each other in a sparring match. He says it helps us learn by pairing us with an opponent whose combat style may contrast with ours. And it's a great way to demonstrate our techniques to the rest of the monastery."
"I see. I take it that you've fought many of these sparring matches yourself then?"
"I have indeed--several, in fact. And I'm not one to brag, but there is probably nobody in this monastery who can best me." Llifen shifted his posture into a cocky, self-assured stance. Rusan wanted to interject that Llifen was, in fact, one to brag, but he let it slide. After all, he felt like if anybody had the right to be confident about their fighting skills, it was Llifen.
Zaulii finally stopped in front of another wolf. Rusan's face immediately fell when he realized who it was.
"And...Jilong."
Rusan was not sure if it was his imagination, but it felt as if a harsh silence had swept through the entire temple. Next to him, Llifen looked as if he had suddenly fallen ill. He looked across the temple to Jilong, who was staring at them both with a sinister, almost murderous look in his eye.