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The idea of running into a battle with fierce monsters hadn't been something that Elest had been particularly looking forward to. Yet, here he was, leading the charge into the heart of Tempest. His ears could hear the snarls and barks of the creatures as they communicated with one another to take on the new Human army. This was the stuff of nightmares and yet the only thing Elest found himself thinking about was Luna. The small sliver of hope that she was still alive kept a fire burning in his feet, forcing him to run as fast as he could down the incline to the hazy city.

The hilt of his sword still felt alien to him and the roar of the Humans sounded just as feral as the talk of the Lycans. He certainly felt out of place but Luna was somewhere in there. As the ground moved in front of him, Elest found himself unable to control his decent down the steep hill. As he ran his legs couldn't keep up and they tangled with each other sending him straight into the ground. The Humans moved around him, avoiding killing him in a trample but they all seemed to be in a trance.

Nothing could stop their rage.

Elest covered his head and curled up waiting for the others to move around him. Their feet stamped the ground creating a dull roar that matched the howling from the Lycans. To Elest, it was just as terrifying.

The few stragglers followed the mass, leaving Elest alone in the dirt to watch the force engage the Lycans. But before they met the monsters more than half of the Human force split away to the west side of town to grab their weapons. It did seem to leave a huge hole in the Human line. Elest stood up and watched his brethren engage the so-called demons. He took a couple steps forward and watched as the line hit the newly formed Lycan defense. Howls and screams of pain alike echoed off the Ile foothills as swords and claws ripped skin and fur. The sound was defining and horrible. Pure savagery.

"Are we not just as the Lycans?" Elest couldn't help but whisper. But once again he thought of his sister and seeing her alive. A thought that he had abandoned until Percival had told him he had just seen a young girl. With a new resolve in him he stood up and picked his sword off the ground. When he looked back to the battle he saw that the Humans had made progress into the city even with the large holes. He could see the Humans fighting with vigor and strength. Showing their dominance over nature; showing that they can do anything. Even fight nature's supposedly fiercest foe, and win.

Elest tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and took in several deep breaths. He forced his legs to move out of their stasis. His stomach felt as though he had eaten some bad meat, uneasy, which grew as he got closer and closer to the battlefield. Now on a closer level he could see the full savagery. As the Humans charged into Tempest they moved the line forward leaving the dead where they drop. Most clutching the wounds they were killed by. The streets were filled Lycans and Humans alike, blood ran red and the same. He moved carefully over them when the smell hit his nose. A pungent odor of death and blood hung in the air, death with its hellish smell and blood with its morbid sweetness. All Elest could do was force himself to breathe through his mouth and hopefully come acquainted with the horrible odor.

Part of him desperately wanted not too.

The sounds filled his ears now as he came upon the fighting. Yells of incoherent babble and barks of which he assumed were the same thing rang against the walls of the city. Right in front of him was the line. Figures dropped dead before his eyes as the Humans still pushed forward even with most of the Human force gone. Luna is in there somewhere, he thought to himself. It was the only thing pushing his body, that one phrase.

"Luna." He whispered once again. "I'm coming Luna.

Elest ran forth, holding his sword out in front of him, expecting the embrace of death to happen in an instant. Yet it didn't come. The young Human surprised himself as he dodged blades and huge claws by ducking and side stepping. He kept an eye out for any sort of young girl, hoping to find Luna in the midst of all this. Doubt still somehow echoed in his mind. How could a young girl survive this? Why would the Lycans bring her here? Either way, he knew that Fulien had lied at some point, maybe the entire story was a lie. Either way, he wanted to know what happened. After all, it was his fault that she went in to the Lycan territory.

With his mind distracted Elest didn't see the huge Lycan target and race toward him. Only the snarl snapped him out of the trance giving Elest a chance at moving out of the way before a flash of claws ripped through the air where he had just stood. Sweat beads dropped down his face as the Lycan turned around and dashed at him again, this time hoping to tear his prey apart. Elest grasped his sword in both his hands and stuck it out in front of him, giving it a bit of a lunge as he stepped forward. Right when he lunged forward he felt what seemed like warm, heavy rain splattering against his face and when his eyes finally saw what he had done he was mortified. He had stabbed the creature right in the stomach. The Lycan had a look of disbelief on his face as his muzzle opened and let out a soft growling noise. Elest didn't know what to do, his pupils kept glancing between his sword a full foot into the Lycan and his dying face. He hurriedly tugged at it but the sword had imbedded itself into the body of the Lycan. With no other choices Elest pushed him off with his foot, freeing his sword which was doused in blood.

The Lycan clutched his wound and fell to the ground, his breathing labored. Elest looked all around him and found everyone else locked in combat. No one cared, in fact, others were dropping too and then they moved right on to the next one. He looked back at the Lycan, a pool of blood formed around his body. He feels a pat on his back and a congratulations. Elest looks back to see the man had already moved on to his next kill. He didn't feel happy or accomplished. Just sick.

Right as he moved around the body to try and get away from it a long howl hit his ears, as well as everyone else in the battlefield. Every one of the Lycan's ears twitched and within seconds every single one disengaged and started retreating back to the open field out of the city. All the Humans looked confused at one another before raising their weapons in the air. Cheers of victory raced through the streets of the city like a plague and soon everyone is celebrating.

Fulien climbed the wall that the first Lycans breeched in the assault and along with the rest of the Humans points his sword to the sky.

"We have taken back Tempest! But it doesn't stop there!" He pointed back to the retreating Lycans. "Just because we have them on the run doesn't me they will go away! We must follow and kill every breathing monstrosity!" Calls of agreement rolled off everyone's tongue as the adrenaline coursed through their veins.

"Onward!"

The humans followed the Lycans retreat, falling into a cleverly placed trap.

Kalah lowered her muzzle from the howl and retreaded back to the field after calling for it. Before they engaged the Humans she noticed that most of them had broken off the group and headed for another part of the city. She didn't know why but they started returning with weapons and it would have eventually overtaken them by just the sheer numbers. She raced back toward the field to report back to the elder on the battle. He stands with Luna at his side surveying the battle.

"Elder, the Humans had reinforcements. We would have most certainly lost if we had stayed in the Human town." He gives several nods of agreement and looks at the rest of the Lycans returning and grouping in front of him. He looks up at Tempest and sees one human standing on the top of the wall motivating his force to chase. A smirk forms on his graying muzzle.

"Kalah form a bait and trap. I trust you learned this while hunting?"

She nodded. "As did the rest of the Lycans."

"Good, the Humans may be more intellectual but they can still fall into a trap."

Kalah called once more, only this time the call was echoed amongst the Lycans. They began to move as a group making a long line directly in front of the charging Humans. There were fewer at the middle then at the sides but this was part of the plan. Most of the Lycans knew what was happening; this was an old hunting technique. You would bait the creature you are hunting, aggravating it until it comes out to attack. Then, once it revealed itself the other Lycans in the hunting party would circle around and trap the creature in a circle. This was just on a much larger scale.

The Lycans stood in the form, waiting for the Humans to get close enough for the trap to work. Each one held apprehension that the Humans would see right through it, after all, they were extremely smart, or so they've been told. Each one bared their sharp fangs and let out a blood curdling growl in hopes of the Humans to race faster. Much to their surprise it worked.

The front line roared and drew out their claws. They were the freshest of the Lycans, most at the back of the force when the first assault began. Some hadn't even been stained with blood yet. It was to deepen the illusion that the Lycans were planning a full defense rather than an attack. The Humans took the bait like a fish on a line and jumped into the opportunity to be the attacker.

Once again, Humans and Lycans clashed. Only this time the Lycans gave a bit of ground giving the Humans a false sense of security. They pushed harder and further not realizing that each of the ends of the line were not moving and in fact, they were circling around the them. With a final mighty roar from the Lycans now behind the Humans they pushed in on the attack.

It happened in an instant. The Lycans were too busy figuring out their own attack that they failed to realize most of the troops who had gone off to grab their weapons and gear were only now entering the battlefield. Leith himself turned to find a fresh group of Humans charging at him with newly sharpened weapons. A small whine left his muzzle; there was no way he would be able to take on fresh troops in the condition he was in. He had to run.

Kalah, who had decided to be a part of the front rather than the flanking groups, snarled and bit at her attackers. All the while they broke apart the cleverly placed plan with numbers and the whole battlefield was once again a disorganized mess; what all war falls too. Luna, now with her small dagger in her hand, was engulfed in the mess. She kept low seeing people and Lycans fall to both her left and right. Even the Elder was fighting proving that he was more agile then one might first think. But he didn't last long. The sword of a Human sliced his stomach and he fell backward. The Human went right on to the next one, not understand who he just had killed.

Luna moved away from the back and more towards the middle covering her ears to try and hide the sound of war. But they kept seeping though causing her head to stir. She ducked low and scanned around trying to find an empty spot or a path. No such luck but her eyes found a different salvation. In the sea of blood and a forest of falling bodies, he was a light at the end of a tunnel.

"Leith!" Her voice rang without her telling it too. The large Lycan didn't hear.

"Leith!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping her small voice would carry. Sure enough, she saw his ears twitch and his eyes turned to meet hers. A surge of hope lifts her heart as he nods signifying that he'll make his way toward her. Luna watches as Leith kicked and slashed at attackers although it seemed, from her point of view, that he wasn't killing anyone. Everyone who tries to get an opening is either punched to the ground or given a non-lethal wound.

He finally turns to Luna and with a half smile on his muzzle he makes his way toward her. She starts to move to meet him but someone grabs her shoulder. She tries to look back but a searing pain rushes through her.

"Ah!" Leith's smile drops and Luna twitches. Suddenly all her air had left her and could couldn't take the breaths to regain it. She could taste an alien liquid in her mouth a thick, salty liquid. A cough forced its way up spewing blood along the ground. She tried with all her might to take in the deep breaths she desperately needed but she couldn't and her vision started to haze around the edges.

"You were a great motivator." A voice said in her ear. "But I'm afraid you'll do much better if you're dead, do you think?"

Luna flexed what she could and looked down; protruding from her chest was a single sword. She brought her arms up in a futile attempt to push it out. Another bloody cough came up as the world around her slowed to a crawl. The haze started to turn to blackness, and just barely through her eyes she could see Leith trying with all his might to reach her. Suddenly, another round of pain rippled through her body as her attacker pushed the sword deeper within her chest.

"L...L...Leith..."

Fulien withdrew his sword from Luna with a swift motion. Her body tumbled to the ground, broken and shattered like so many had already done that day. She was just another casualty, another human death, one no one would question. He turned her over with the heel of his boot and chuckled to himself.

"Good bye."

"Luna!" Leith howled at the top of his lungs. Fulien glanced up from Luna to see a huge Lycan bearing down upon him. Instincts forced him to take a step back from the charging animal before he smirked and readied his sword to lop off another Lycan head. He narrowed his stance and put his sword in front ready to parry the Lycan and give a quick counter so he could plunge his sword into its chest.

Leith narrowed his vision on the man before him. He snarled and barked, echoing the battle around him. Ready to kill the man, the first time he had really a desire too. But, as he moved closer he felt his hind paw catch a dead body and Leith fell face first into the blood soaked earth, making himself an easy kill for the man. But there was still time to get up! But his paws wouldn't work! He didn't know if it was fear or something else but his whole body went numb and he lost all control. His vision blacked and he felt a surge of power. He could feel the same power he held in the dream. Suddenly he knew. He could see everything, feel everything, touch everything and even though he lay there in the dirt, the world became small.

Fulien could not believe his luck. The large creature tripped and fell right before him. He stepped over Luna's body and stood over Leith shaking his head and laughing. His grip tightening on his sword.

"Weak." He uttered, feeling the need to gloat. "Frail and weak! You trip over your own feet. There is no room for your kind here. You all must die so we Humans can rise and take over this land." Another snicker escapes his proud mouth.

"I know you can't understand me, but that's because you and you're entire species are dumb beasts that deserve to die!"

Fulien raised his sword, still dripping with Luna's blood, to cast down on Leith and end his life. But much to his surprise the creature spoke back, in his language.

"Be wary who you speak those words to."

Fulien hesitated but not for long. "So you understand. I wouldn't be speaking those words! Die!" With a war cry Fulien dropped his sword on the Lycan, hoping to make one clean cut through his neck. Leith did not move and Fulien snarls and sounds a triumphant laugh. The sword bears down on Leith and Fulien expects to feel little resistance as he cuts through the flesh. A feeling he has come to be all too familiar with. But right before the sword touches him an invisible barrier stops it short. A shockwave ripples through his sword and up his arm, spreading throughout his body forcing Fulien to drop the sword.

"I said, be careful to whom you are talking, Fulien."

For the first time, fear shot up his spine. Questions ran though his head and he had barely any time to think of any reasonable answers before the creature started get up. But he wasn't the same. A golden aurora emanated around him and his eyes glowed deep amber. Leith opened his arms and threw his muzzle in the air sending out a howl. That chilling sound echoed of the Ile Foothills and buried itself in the ground. Its mournful call fell on the ears of each of the warring species. The clang of swords and snarls of beasts fell silent as they looked upon the glowing Lycan. Swords clattered to the dirt in fear and several Lycans fell to their knees knowing what this was.

The glow around Leith grew brighter and it started to grow out of him. Suddenly, Leith fell to the ground but the glow stood still, in the form of a Lycan. He raised a paw and a golden beam of light fell from the heavens to his paw. Human and Lycan alike shielded their eyes and once they looked back, a grand spear sat in his paw. Humans cowered around Fulien at the appearance of him. This thing, whatever it was, stood twice as tall as the largest Lycan and his paw held power to control the Heavens. Whatever it was, it turned its head to survey the battlefield, which was stuck in time.

"I am one of the three." His voice boomed and tunneled its way into everyone's soul. "One of the three that created this land. I am Sumitar." He took a couple steps back and glanced down at Leith.

"This Lycan was born to a Human mother; he had both Human and Lycan blood running through his veins. He felt the same urges Lycans have and carried some of the intellect of Humans. That is why I incased myself within his soul."

Kalah's muzzle dropped and her arms fell to her side, she quietly mouthed Leiths name.

"I wanted to understand why the two species fight. I wanted to fix it. I influenced his decisions, favoring diplomacy over fighting."

Fulien felt rage swelling within him, a rage that narrowed his mind to one goal. Human domination. As Sumitar spoke he knelt down to pick up his sword.

"I can kill a God." He repeated to himself. "Because I am a God." The Human stood up, sword in hand and raised it to confront the God.

"I am a God!"

Fulien dashed forward, just as Leith had done, only with his sword leading the way.

"I AM A GO..."

Fulien coughed. Blood seeped from his mouth, he looked down. All he saw in his blurring vision was the golden spear that Sumitar had been carrying. It was halfway through his body, his very blood rolling down the staff and dripping to the ground, joining the rest of the spilt blood.

"You are nothing but a mortal, Human." Even though the voice was just inches from his ears, it went unheard.

"G...G...God." Fulien whispered before he lost all strength and dropped his sword, letting his last breath escape through his teeth.

Sumitar withdrew his spear from the Humans body, flicking it clean. His laser like gaze turned to Luna's body, crumpled on the ground, her eyes still staring forward with their dull grey glow.

"Leith loved this Human." He said abruptly, pacing towards her and kneeling. "She was the Light that all Humans should have followed."

He put his spear on the ground and lifted Luna up in his arms.

"She will be a beacon for all to follow, but she will always watch."

He drew in a deep breath and exhaled it into her mouth. Her body started to glow the same color as her eyes, a dull grey.

"Every night she will watch over this land, giving light to those who are lost."

Suddenly, the God grew in stature, so much so that Luna fit in his paws. He closed his large paws and raised them to the sky. His eyes closed and he whispered a phrase the Earth had not heard since time began. When his eyes opened a bright flash struck the sky causing the on lookers to shield their eyes. But once Sumitar brought his paws down a bright orb stood where they had been.

He knelt back down to pick up his staff, suddenly shrinking back down. But he still towered over the Humans and Lycans.

"Lycans!" He shouted, slamming the butt of his spear to the ground. "This is not what you were created for! Fighting is inevitable yes, but not in this way." His gaze moved across the battlefield, looking at each of the Lycans. "You were created to live and breathe, not claw and kill."

Sumitar closed his paws once more and whispered another incantation making them radiate with a white glow, similar to Luna.

"I will take away your ability to speak and walk on two legs. These gifts have tainted you with humanities ambitions." He drew in a strangely mortal breath. "There may be one day that I shall return this gift, look to the future with wide eyes and the wind at your back and never forget this day."

He opened his paws wide and a small white light shot into the ground. It broke apart and shot through the earth like lightning, a single beam for each Lycan. The beams stopped before each Lycan and rose out of the ground revealing a parasite like creature.

The first Lycans stood in fear not knowing what to do, but the parasite shot forth and buried its way into the chest sending screams of pain in the air.

Kalah snarled and took her stance to try and fight against the parasite. She charged at it swiping with hopes of ripping it to shreds. But her claws went straight through, like there was nothing there. It dove into her chest and she took a step back trying to grab it out of her. Elest watched her in horror as Kalah fell to her knees and then to the ground. Her cries and calls grew more primitive until they were all but whines and whimpers. Her legs shrank and her torso started to change revealing their new form. The large paws she once had shrank to match her legs. Elest dropped his sword and stepped back. She was no more than a large dog.

"Humans!" The God shouted once the whines had subsided. Every one of them cowered in fear and sank to their knees. Calls of forgiveness swept over them but Sumitar was unwavered.

"War was your ambition, death was what you seek. Extinction was your goal." He snarled and bared his teeth at them. "You tout your intellect more than anything, but you shall lose it." The God looked up to the sky. "I did not create you so I cannot change your stature, but I can cause you to forget."

Sumitar roared and stomped his foot. The entire ground shook creating a massive earthquake, larger than anything the earth had experienced before. Some Humans ran for their lives, trying to escape across the great Tempest Bridge. But the stone shook, the mortar came apart and the great structure fell to pieces, sending those who tried to escape to their doom in the canyon.

Tempest itself crumbled under the might of the earthquake. Buildings crashed to the ground and the walls crumbled, leveling the once great city. Fires broke out and charred the remains, making any trace disappear.

"Spare us oh God!" The Humans yelled. "We will worship you as our God. We will offer sacrifices, just don't kill us!"

"I am not after menial trivialities as sacrifices." He shouted an incantation in the language of the Gods and a similar parasite to the one that infected the Lycans grew from the ground, only these were a night black.

Elest tripped and fell as one of the worm like creatures found him. He scooted back trying to out run whatever it was but the parasite rushed at him. Embedding itself in Elests forehead. A splitting headache rushed over him and he grabbed his head before everything diminished to black and Elest slumped over.

Sumitar surveyed his work and sighed. He had wished his plan had worked, that his host could have urged both species into agreement. But both of them were too focus driven, to blind from their own ambitions to see the whole world around them.

His eyes moved up to the new body that would inhabit the night sky, it slowly growing brighter as the sun set on the bloody day. Finally he knelt down to Leith, the one who started it all. He too had morphed into the new form, but he was spared the pain.

"You shall start a new life. A life of simplicity. Of family, bonds with one another, holding each other over everything else." He whispered in Leiths ear. "I will return to you once again; give you the gifts of speech and intelligence. But only when Humans have forgotten this day, and when their reckoning has come."

He moved his paw along Leiths course fur. "You shall now be called Lupine. The Gods' word for Redemption."

Sumitar stood up and closed his eyes, drawing in some calming breaths before placing both of his paws together. The wind from the west started to blow toward the Ile mountains once again clearing the haze the human industrial machine had created. As the sun dipped over the horizon Sumitar carried his precious creations into the forest one by one, taking them away from the battlefield and bloodshed. Some go far north, and he puts some to the west and finally to the south. Before he himself disappeared with the wind, leaving the earth behind him. Hoping this new start will make peace.

Elest slowly opened his eyes; darkness surrounding him once again, night had descended. He sat up and glanced around. Other Humans littered the field around him as he was plagued by a throbbing headache. Rubbing his temples he drew in a breath of the crisp evening air, savoring its freshness. Before long, however, his eyes drifted to the sky where Luna now is, watching over the night. Elest cocked his head, first to one side and then to the other; for some reason the color is strangely familiar to him. He can't put his thoughts in order though.

"Where am I?" Sputters from his mouth without him even knowing it. Suddenly, from the east he hears a long, mournful sound, sending his body to duck and shiver.

"What was that?" He asked himself looking nervously toward the mountains. Hoping whatever it was didn't come out.

The crunch of dry, fallen leaves and the soft sound of several light foot falls echoed off the trees as a family of Wolves trotted into a small clearing, two adults and three pups. It had taken Leith a little bit to get used to his new way of life, but once he had, life before seemed trivial. He nuzzled Kalah, who returned the favor, as their cubs danced and played between their legs.

Now there was just family, their family and the forest. A combination Leith couldn't be happier about. He no longer felt any attachment to Humans, all of whom had left the area and crossed the water to the west. He didn't know why they left but he wasn't about to argue about it.

Leith trotted to the center of the small clearing and sat waiting for the rest of his family to catch up. Once they all padded into the clearing and dropping to their haunches, he looks up to the moon. Its bright eye shone back at not only him but over the entire world. Watching over it and protecting it.

Leith glanced down at his family, drawing in a deep breath. Throwing his head back, he erupts into a wolf song. Hoping that Luna can hear him. As his howl grows and strengthens, Kalah joins in and then the cubs too creating a harmony that echoes through the Augret forest and off the moon itself.

End

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I have planned a second one entitled Return of the Lycans. Eventhough I don't have any concrete plans for it right now I would like to know if anyone is intrested. Leave a comment with what you would like to see happen. If it does happen I want it to take place in modern day. So any and all ideas are welcome.