A Place to Belong - Chapter 25

Story by Malakye on SoFurry

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#26 of Malakye's Story - Part 1 (A Place to Belong)

There may be some words marked with a (*), these mean that the word appears in the Encyclopedia and you can get a detailed description about it. There is quite a bit in the Encyclopedia and soon I will be updating it with even more!

Also remember that I've also posted a Character Summary, where you can find details on various characters that appear through they story. I will be updating this as well in the future.

I also want to give a big thanks to cheezburger (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/cheezburger) for proof reading this story for me.

Anyway, you didn't come here to listen to me, you came here to read the story so enjoy!


The morning sun streamed in through the curtain, illuminating the room with its glow. My eyes fluttered open and for a moment I felt nothing but a feeling of content. It took a few moments for me to realise that I was by myself, Cody was nowhere in the room, but it was the first night for a long time that I hadn't woken up with nightmares at all. I pulled myself from the warmth of the bed and groaned as my head throbbed in pain and my maw went dry, I tried to ignore it and pushed on and readied myself for the day. I sauntered downstairs and found everyone round a table eating breakfast. The tavern was quiet, only the sound of those eating breakfast could be heard unlike the night before when the place was filled with the sounds of merriment. I took a seat at the only empty seat left at the table at the end across from Jason and next to Eric. Jason looked up and gave me his usual know it all smirk.

"Morning stud." Jason chuckled and I felt myself flush with embarrassment. Had Cody told them all about my... lack of performance last night? I expected some sort of quip or fun made at my expense but none came, after a few long moments I decided it was only polite to respond.

"Morning." I said quietly, still not feeling at a hundred percent. I heard Jason snicker at my response.

"Feeling a little delicate this morning are we?" He chuckled. "Well you can't be any more delicate than that raccoons tail-hole after I ploughed it last night. Even my own is a little tender after Michael was done with mine."

"Jason! Shush!" Michael scolded him, before turning and taking a big bite out of a piece of bread he was holding.

"Aww, come on now!" Jason pleaded. "What harm is it in telling the boy what a stud you are?" He winked at his partner and gave another chuckle which only made Michael roll his eyes. I felt myself blush a little at how open Jason was being but I was now beginning to get used to his 'stories'. Eric turned to join the conversation.

"Jason, talk of the bedroom is hardly suitable for the breakfast table." Eric said in a calm yet stern manner like a parent telling off a child, popping his pipe back between his beak when he was finished and giving it a few puffs, letting off several small clouds of that sweet smelling smoke. Jason just let out a disgruntled snort before continuing his meal in silence. "How was your night Malakye?"

"Fine..." I responded, not feeling like saying much more.

"A little rough round the edges I see." He said sympathetically. "Once you get some breakfast in you you'll feel a lot better." He turned away to continue his own breakfast after that. I looked at the food on the table, there was a bowl of crusty rolls and some boiled meat of some sort that had been ripped off the bone as everyone had helped themselves to it; and a pan of broth, obviously the pan the meat had been boiled in and then made into a simple soup. I grabbed a plate and several pieces of the meat that had already been cut and then ladled out a bowl of the broth as well. I began eating and found the meat to be tasty but not what I wanted, ignoring the meat for now I began dunking my bread into the broth and took a large bite of the sodden bread. This went down much better and I began to eat with gusto, and was quietly thankful when a raccoon, the same barmaid who served me last night, came and delivered more rolls to the table. I quickly polished off my first bowl and had a second and third bowl of the broth, by that point I felt revitalised and satisfied. I let out a contented sigh as I leant back having now finished my breakfast.

Aceh stood up and looked at me, "We train now." His tone carried with it a finality, there was no debate or argument over it; he turned and began to head for the exit and I quickly followed him. We walked to the garden of the Inn, we walked as far back as we could, you could barely see the roof of the Inn over the top of the bushes and trees that inhabited this incredible garden. Aceh had me begin with some warm up exercises; push ups, squats and sit ups. By the end of them I was already feeling a little out of breath but Aceh was relentless in his training, obviously we were making up for lost time yesterday when he let me go off with Cody for the day. He ran me through the moves he had already taught me and even sparred with me. Well... I say sparred but he was simply throwing a few attacks my way and expected me to block and counter them. Needless to say he kicked my ass, I managed to block the first few but when he threw a combination of blows my way I struggled to keep up with his speed or I'd leave myself open and he would knock me on my ass. He did nothing to seriously hurt me but he made his point quite clear, I need to be faster with my moves. I needed to learn to predict my opponent as well, speed and reflexes would only get me so far, unless I was able to predict an attack I could not properly defend against it, let alone plan a counter strike.

We stopped for a brief lunch that Cody had brought out to us consisting of some bread, cheese and a couple of slices of meat and a large jug of water. Cody sat out with us for the rest of the day watching me train. After lunch Aceh began to teach me an offensive technique called Striking Tiger, I had one arm out stretched in front of me, my hand open and the palm facing to the side, the other arm was level with my chin, palm facing the ground, my legs bent so that I was low to the ground, my feet apart and positioned so I felt like I was ready to start sprinting at a moments notice.

"Striking Tiger very different from Tiger palm." Aceh explained as he slowly walked round me, examining my stance as I stood there. "Tiger palm defensive, Striking Tiger offensive." He said matter-of-factly pausing a moment before continuing his explanation. "Striking Tiger dangerous to both you and your opponent, all energy focused on attack, defence not possible."

Wait, what? He was telling me I wouldn't be able to defend myself? Even the wolves who were offence orientated in their attacks were able to defend themselves, how was I not able to? I didn't say this out loud, it would be disrespectful to Aceh, my Master, as he was still explaining.

"This technique is different in how there is no real moves to it, it is more a philosophy." Aceh continued. "Strike down your opponent no matter the cost! This technique is rarely used and was used to overwhelm defensive techniques like Tiger palm and end a fight quickly. You must be ready to accept death to land a finishing blow to use this technique!"

"What?" I questioned a bit shocked at his last statement.

"Silence!" He roared and I immediately closed my maw and resumed my stance. "There are various kill and crippling spots in every species and gender, but only eight are always present regardless of species and gender. Jugular, heart, liver, kidneys, spine, temple, armpit, between the shoulder blades and finally the throat." Aceh punctuated each one he mentioned by touching each place on my body. "Some locations are effective in hand to hand, others are only effective when using weapons... such as a knife. Striking Tiger is effectively able to integrate weapons into its attacks." Finally it made sense, Aceh was teaching me a technique to effectively integrate my weapon in my hand to hand training. A sword or a spear is not convenient when you are specially trained in hand-to-hand combat as they are a completely different skill set, a knife was small enough to be integrated into most hand-to-hand techniques.

"When using Striking Tiger you must take down you're opponent or your opponent will take you down." He took a few long strides away from me and entered the Tiger Palm stance. "Attack!"

I did as he ordered, attempting to strike one of the locations he had shown me. My stance made me throw myself forward at him like I was a bolt in a cross bow, but before I even got close to landing the blow he did a simple counter and I stumbled backwards, but managed to remain standing. My entire head felt fuzzy and my snout was particularly sore where he had struck me. I raised my paw and wiped my snout and found myself bleeding, quite a lot. I could tell that his counter hadn't been particularly strong but it had felt like he had smashed a rock into my muzzle.

"You hesitated, fearful of being struck, no good for Striking Tiger!" Aceh criticised with a stern tone. "You need to be faster, treat your attack like it is life or death, because it will be. Your own momentum works against you, you either overpower your opponent or your opponent uses your own strength against you." What he said made sense, my bloodied snout especially drove it home. If Aceh had put any amount of force into his last counter I would have easily been knocked out, possibly have a broken snout as well. What a dangerous technique to use, you may as well be throwing yourself off a cliff when you throw yourself at your opponent, either you grab something to stop your fall or you plummet to your death.

Aceh came up to me and offered me a piece of cloth which I used to wipe away the blood that was still leaking from my snout. "Meditate on Striking Tiger, you need to learn it in here and here before you can use it out here." He said pointing to my chest and my head. I nodded and he began to walk back to the Inn. As Aceh walked away Cody approached with a worried look.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "That's a ridiculous thing Aceh is teaching you, if I didn't know better I'd have said he's trying to kill you! And what did he mean when you had to learn it in here and here before you can use it out here?"

"I think... basically he means if I'm not ready to use it and accept the possible consequences then I won't be able to use it." I tried to explain.

"That makes no sense." Cody snorted. "I thought he was meant to teach you how to use it."

"I think this is one of these things that you have to learn yourself." I said walking away into the shade of a nearby tree and sitting down cross-legged. Aceh had told me to meditate on it, he had explained how to do it a week ago, but I hadn't used it, but he said that it took time to learn to use it effectively. Essentially you sit with your eyes shut and put everything out of your head, except that which you want to reflect on. Aceh said that sometimes answers came easily other times you would have to meditate on the matter many times before you would come up with an answer. Well... here goes.

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After an unknown amount of meditation I was disturbed by the presence of someone standing over me. Opening my eyes I saw that it was Aceh and he looked down at me with a curious expression, standing with his arms crossed and his head tilted slightly.

"How meditation go?" He asked with his deep rumbling voice.

"Fine... I guess." I replied standing up, feeling revitalised and a little stiff at the same time. "I don't think I've really worked anything out though."

"It no matter."

"Huh? I thought it did matter, that's why I thought you told me to meditate on it!" I replied slightly annoyed at my Master's dismissive tone.

"The answer comes when the answer comes, you cannot force it and no one can teach you it. You must find your own answer." Aceh countered, completely calm despite my outburst. "It nearly dinner time. Run three laps round village then come for food." Aceh ordered turning away and walking back to the Inn. Well... I guess I had no choice in the matter, the sooner I start the sooner I can eat.

I began my laps and kept a steady pace, Aceh never set a time so obviously the time was however long I could go without eating and despite my inactive afternoon of meditation my stomach was making noises as I ran. Despite the few buildings in the village it took a while to run round it due to the size of the buildings and large gardens with open spaces of nature between the buildings, but keeping to my steady pace I soon found myself halfway through my third lap, I was on the far side of the village from the Inn and soon I was going to satisfy my stomach with some delicious mouth watering food; the thought encouraged me to run a little harder. I was pulled from my thoughts of food and came to an abrupt halt as I heard a fear filled shriek pierce the air. I spun round to face the direction it came from and saw a little rabbit kit appear from around a corner running for her life, at first I dismissed it as her being chased by a group of cubs that had jumped out on her, but seconds later a group of a dozen grey pelted wolves appeared, all of them wielding weapons and torches; the village was under attack.

"Kill that little cunt quickly before someone notices we're here!" I heard one of the wolves say in a loud whisper, obviously trying not to get them any more attention. The village had very little in the way of security and since most folk were at the taverns the remaining locals who stayed at home were in extreme danger. Knowing the wolves, there were likely several more packs attacking the village as well, I couldn't let them slaughter this village or harm my friends! I immediately grabbed my knife and ran straight at them. Only when I was a couple of strides away did the first wolf see me, he didn't even have time to raise his spear before I raised my foot paw and smashed it dead onto his muzzle. He yelped and knocked over two of his brethren as I skidded to a stop. I lashed out at the nearest wolf, slashing my blade across his throat before turning to the next. I grabbed the spear of a wolf who was still confused due to my surprised assault and with all my strength I yanked the spear towards me, pulling the wolf along with it and at the same time lashed out with a kick wolf in the gut, knocking him down. I spun round swinging the spear as I did and caught another wolf in the head. I quickly sheathed my knife and grabbed the spear in both paws, two of the remaining wolves attacked simultaneously, I quickly back stepped using my stolen spear to parry their attacks as they pushed me back until I held my ground and lunged at the attacking wolves, forcing them back.

"Fucking dragon!" One of them snarled. "I'm going to mount your head on a pike!"

"Try it dog breath!" I jeered, making him snarl and attack. I parried his thrust with my spear, quickly parrying the other wolf's attack afterwards. I stepped forwards swinging my entire body to bring the tail end of the spear across the muzzle of Dog-breath, letting it go and spinning round to grab his partner's spear, pulling it downwards and head butting him, making him yelp and stagger backwards. I staggered backwards as well but shook off the effects of the head butt quicker than him and quickly closed the distance and delivered a jaw breaking right hook, making him crumple to the ground. I heard movement behind me and looked to see Dog-breath back on his foot paws and scrambling to grab his spear. I grabbed the spear dropped by his partner and charged at him, he had reached the spear and thrust it at me, I jumped to the side just in time to dodge his attack. He attacked furiously, swinging his spear in an overhead attack that I blocked with my own spear. I pushed his spear to the side and prepared to attack when I saw the wolf use the momentum that I gave his spear to spin on the spot and bring it full circle, I had no time to block or counter the attack, so I jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the spear tip. The wolf snarled as he lunged at me again, he was a seasoned fighter, not like the warrior wannabes that would pick fights with me when I was a cub. His attacks were fast, accurate and deadly.

"Prepare to go to the Underworld*!" Dog-breath snarled, lunging at me once again with his spear.

"Not today!" I retorted, narrowly parrying his attack and stepping close to him to limit his use of his spear, quickly grabbing my knife and attempting to stab him in the neck, he dropped his spear and caught me by the wrist, stopping my attack and we began to wrestle over the knife.

I had the advantage in height and strength and slowly began to overpower him. Once he realised he was losing he used his foot paw to sweep one of my legs from under me causing us to land heavily on the ground, the wolf atop me and quickly turning the tide of our battle. He gripped my paw tightly so I could not release the knife, he had turned my wrist so the blade now pointed at me and was bringing his full weight to bear to push it down towards my neck. I pushed back as hard as I could but the wolf had too much leverage for me to overpower him from this position, I felt fear grip me as I realised that in a matter of seconds this wolf was going to kill me. I couldn't let that happen, I wasn't going to let a wolf kill me, I had survived too much to let that happen! With a grunt I gathered all my remaining strength and pushed, slowly the knife was being pushed back, I saw a look of disbelief briefly cross Dog-breath's muzzle before he increased his efforts. His efforts paid off and I felt him push my paw lower, the blade once again crept closer to my neck. I kicked my legs desperately trying to get some extra leverage or to kick him off but it was no use. He began to chuckle, proud that he was going to rid another dragon from this world; his laughter fuelled my efforts for survival. I rolled as far as I could to my right, the blade creeping ever closer I could feel the tip touch my scales, I threw myself to the left and once I was as far as I could roll I stopped pushing back and I felt my arm pushed right into my chest, the tip of the blade digging into the earth a mere inch from my throat.

Dog-breath was confused for a second, and I used that second to free my arm to punch him in the nose. He reeled back allowing me to push him off and roll to my foot paws. I looked up and saw him pulling himself to his foot paws, having drawn his own blade as well.

"Tough son-of-a-bitch!" He spat, blood leaking from his nose. "I'm going to carve you up good!" He launched forward once again, swinging his knife at me, I jumped back a step each time, trying to maintain the distance. This continued until I backed into a wall and realised that I had been played, his attacks weren't as fast or as deadly as they should have been, I knew from when he wielded his spear that he was not one to make poor attacks. He had been manoeuvring me, leaving me no way to escape, and he had done it. I saw a smile creep across his bloodied muzzle, he had me right where he wanted me. I could see him ready for it, the final attack, he was poised and ready... a metal pot hit him in the head, he winced and staggered from the blow. I rushed forward grabbing the wrist of his arm that held his knife and in a swift movement plunged my knife into his throat. I looked him in the eyes, they were wide and full of fear, he let out a gargle as blood flowed into his maw. I felt his hot blood flow over my paw and felt him begin to fall, I lowered his body to the ground, not able to tear my eyes away from his, watching as the life slowly drained from them until he was dead. I felt a wave of nausea wash over me and I turned to the side and spewed up my dinner. That was the first time I had watched someone I had killed die, I couldn't get his eyes out of my head, those fear filled eyes.

"You alright?" I heard someone call above me. I looked up and saw a tigress looking down at me from a window, she had thrown that pot and saved my life.

"Yeah." I muttered as I pulled myself to my feet, I looked back up to her. "Thanks."

"No problem, now do me a favour and go kill those bastard wolves!" She ordered. I smiled and nodded my head, I looked around and saw that I was alone, the rest of the wolves that had been with the two I fought must have went on to attack the rest of the village, they must have been sure that Dog-breath and his partner would beat me; they nearly did. I grabbed two of the spears that lay on the ground before turning in the direction of the fighting. As I ran I tried to push the image of Dog-breath's eyes out of my head, once I rounded the corner however that horrible image was replaced by another.

Several buildings were ablaze, furs trying to pull others to safety from the burning buildings while others attempted to keep the wolves at bay. Numerous furs lay either dead or severely wounded on the streets, spears and arrows jutting out of their bodies. I hurried past the dead and dying to try and at least save some other poor soul that would cross the paths of those wolves. I reached the main street, the fighting was even worse here and I could see several packs of wolves at work, they slaughtered everyone that crossed their path. A couple of large groups of furs had gathered together to try and force them back, but even while out numbered the wolves still had the upper hand, the people of this village were not trained fighters but they would put everything on the line to protect their homes. A cub's shriek to my left caught my attention and I saw a wolf chasing down a couple of cub and a kit, the rabbit from earlier and a tiger, they ran to an adult rabbit who wrapped herself round the cubs to use herself as a shield. The wolf raised his spear preparing to strike as he closed the distance; eager to make his kill. I dropped one of the spears I was holding and raised the other to throw, I didn't know if I would make it. I hurled the spear and watched as it closed the distance, the wolf running unaware into it's path, the wolf leapt from the ground as he prepared to impale the rabbit and cubs in one blow. It was as if the world was in slow motion, I was helpless to do anything but watch and pray, a mere second before the wolf's spear struck, the one I threw struck him, striking him in the side and embedding itself deep into his torso. His body fell limp to the ground, his spear flying loose from his paws and clattering onto earth as his body landed with an audible thump. He wasn't moving, I had at least pierced a lung and that would prove fatal in a matter of minutes. The rabbit looked at the body and then over to me, she gave me a nod of gratitude before grabbing the two kits and running to safety.

I grabbed the other spear and headed towards the tavern where Eric and the others were likely to be, I had to make sure they were okay. Everywhere I looked there was fighting, wounded furs littered the streets and little cubs cried. I stopped to catch my breath, the smoke in the air was making it a little difficult to breath, the smoke was sweet, sweeter than smoke should have been. It smelt like... Eric's pipe, the one he was smoking at breakfast. I heard someone crying, I looked round the next corner to see a female horse crying as she clutched at a foal, lifeless in her arms. He couldn't have been older than eight winters. I felt a wave of sadness wash over me and looked about, I could see many other furs crying over the dead and wounded, their family, lovers and children taken from them. I felt my sadness washed away and rage took its place, I had never felt rage like this before, I wanted to hurt those responsible for this atrocity, those that caused this pain and sadness to all these innocent furs. I felt the rage surge through my body making me feel stronger, driving me to kill. I set my eyes on a group of three brown pelted wolves that were just finishing off their latest victim and laughing.

There was an ear shattering roar, I couldn't tell where it came from, whatever it was it was angry and was out for blood; the savage roar of a predator. The wolves and every fur in earshot all looked in my direction, it was only then that I realised; I was the one that had roared. The three wolves were momentarily startled but quickly recovered and readied their weapons, two of them had spears and the other held an axe and torch. I had lost control of myself, at first I thought the wolves were approaching me but it was me moving towards them, my body was moving on it's own accord.

I stalked towards the trio of wolves slowly, I could hear the guttural snarls and growls coming from my maw, the trio of wolves were visibly intimidated and I couldn't blame them because I was scared of the noises I was making. After I stopped focusing on trying to control my body, which had proved futile, I began to feel... powerful. As I submitted control of my body to whatever force that was controlling it I could feel the raw power flowing through my body, the thirst for blood and violence. I could see clearer than ever before, I could sense the fear from all those around me, not just the wolves, I could feel the presence of every living being nearby, could feel them looking in my direction, could feel the fear that they were experiencing. I turned my attention back to the wolves that my body was stalking, I could sense that the wolf in the middle was about to attack, how I knew I had no idea but moments later he launched forward trying to impale me with his spear. I caught the end of the spear with my left paw and wrenched it to the side and brought my right paw crashing down at the midpoint of the spear and watched it, felt it, snap like a twig, the attacking wolf was frozen in shock. I stepped forward and raised the end of the spear I still had grasped in my paw above my head and quickly, and without hesitation, impaled the spearhead into the neck of wolf. He tried to grab the spear before he staggered backward, his blood flowing down his pelt, staining red with his life essence. He collapsed to the ground, his body still flailing about in its death throws. I could sense the life slowly fade from his body, I could almost see it burn out like a candle that had reached the end of it's wick. I could feel a sense of satisfaction course through my body as the wolf's life ended, like a thirst was being satisfied; but that wolf's death was not enough to satisfy it.

The other wolf armed with a spear attacked, I could sense no fear from him, he had been spurred to avenge his comrade's death. I back stepped, dodging his thrust and let out a savage snarl. He attacked again and I grabbed the spear like I had before, yanking it forcefully out of the wolf's grasp with ease before swinging it and hitting him in the head with it in one quick move, the end of the spear breaking with an audible crack, he staggered and was sent sprawling across the ground. Before I could finish him off his companion came to his aid, swinging his axe at me in a practised and experienced manner. I avoided his attacks, trying to find an opportunity to strike him down but was unable to. The other wolf had managed to recover and had grabbed what remained of his spear from the ground and came to help his axe wielding brethren to kill me. I was forced further and further back unable to find an opening, the wolves' prowess for teamwork was showing, they moved as one, each other's moves complimenting the other. I heard myself let out a loud roar causing the two wolves to step back in shock. I glared at them, I felt intense hatred... was this my hatred? It didn't feel like mine, at first it did but now it was... savage... bestial... evil... this wasn't me; what the hell was happening to me?

I felt a surge of power flow through my body, this was different from before, it wasn't surging through my body... it was flowing outwards. Moments later the torch that the axe wielding wolf was holding flared, exploding in a large ball of fire engulfing him. Suddenly the wolf was ablaze, his fur alight and he was screaming in extreme agony as his flesh began to cook, I felt like I was drinking in his pain, his anguish like I a mighty mug of water; I felt the satisfaction of it before I began to feel sick. The remaining wolf had completely lost his focus on me and was staring at his comrade in abject fear, unable to react, think or defend himself as my body launched itself at him. My paw clasped around his throat and I lifted him off the ground, his foot paws a clear foot off the ground. He kicked and thrashed at me, I felt each and every blow land but none of them hurt. I felt my hand clench harder round his throat and once again I felt his life begin to slip away and I felt my body feed on it, I watched in abject horror at the scene unfolding before my eyes. I watched as the wolf's body begin to stop thrashing and began to twitch, when I finally felt the wolf's life extinguish I tossed his body to the side like you might a soaking wet towel. I heard myself laugh, why was I laughing? Soon though I began to move again, stalking through the shadows like a hunter looking for its next prey.

I moved quickly, silently, with purpose. My body hungered for blood but I was thankful that it ignored the inhabitants of the village entirely, it hungered for more challenging game. I rounded a corner and felt a surge of excitement from whatever force was driving my body and I felt a moment of relief followed by one of dread. Across the street I could see them; Aceh, Eric, Cody, Michael and Jason were blocking the entrance of the Inn along with a couple of other furs from a pack of wolves.

Eric and Cody stood by the doorway, Cody was using his slingshot to great effect by creating openings for Michael and Jason by hitting the wolves with his pellets. Eric had a crossbow and seemed to be a crack-shot with it, there were several wolves either dead or wounded littering the area with crossbow bolts jutting from their bodies. Michael and Jason were doing what they did best, using their brawn to smack-down any wolves that got close, using large chunks of furniture as clubs. Aceh was a force to be reckoned with, he stood a good few strides from the rest of the group holding off six wolves single handedly, using his large scimitar swords. At least half a dozen wolves lay upon the ground with wounds caused by those swords. I felt the blood lust surge and I knew what my body's next prey was going to be... it was going after the strongest... it was going after Aceh. I stalked forwards, no one was aware of my presence, as I approached I felt a surge of annoyance and anger; the wolves were in the way. Like before I felt an energy flow from my body, invisible to the naked eye but I could feel it, feel it wrap itself round the wolves, snaking round their bodies and slowly towards the lit torches above the doorway of the tavern. When the energy reached the lit torch it blazed brightly, tendrils of fire shooting out, following the flow of energy, fire engulfed the wolves setting them ablaze. They all shrieked in pain and confusion, some began rolling on the ground and eventually fell still. The few surviving wolves who had not been affected by the fire began to retreat, running in every direction. One wolf ran straight at me, not able to see me lurking in the shadows and when was close enough my body pounced. I grabbed him by the throat and used my other arm to wrench his head, snapping his neck like a twig. I threw his body onto the pile of burning wolves catching everyone's attention, they all readied their weapons and peered into the darkness. I stepped into the light and I saw everyone's face relax and a look of relief appear, except Aceh's, he looked at me like he knew something was wrong.

"Malakye!" Cody yelled jogging towards me. "You're all right!" he cheered. Aceh blocked Cody's path, confusing the fox. "Aceh?" Cody questioned the large feline but Aceh only let out a low growl. I felt my pulse rise, excitement running through my body. I couldn't let this happen, I wasn't going to hurt my friends!

"Not Malakye!" Aceh announced, hiding the fear from his voice but I could sense it, taste it.

"What the fuck you talking about?!" Jason yelled, "That's Malakye!"

"No! Not Malakye!" Aceh yelled and began to slowly step back, pushing Cody back with him. I stepped forward, slowly closing the distance between myself and Aceh. I was desperately trying to gain control of my body again but was still a helpless spectator as my body stalked my friends. I could feel the thrill, the blood lust and the anticipation of whatever had taken control of my body, it was eager to fight... no not fight... destroy; it wanted to destroy Aceh. I crouched low to the ground, as if ready to pounce and let out a throaty growl and felt the familiar energy release from my body and the flames around me grew considerably bigger, the flames licking at my ankles and legs but I could feel no pain, no heat like I expected. The others seemed to realise that something was a miss now, I could feel the fear flowing from all of them, especially Cody, I felt the force controlling me revel in their fear. What was the reason I had asked Aceh to train me? To protect those that I cared about, and now I was going to kill the only real family I have ever had? NO!

"NO!" I yelled, I could no longer feel the blood lust, the hunger, the thrill of the hunt... I had taken back control. I had a brief moment where I revelled in my victory in taking back control before intense pain crippled my body and I found myself collapsing to the ground like a rag-doll. My muscles felt like they were on fire, I could feel my heart pounding hard in my chest. I couldn't breath, it felt like someone was squeezing the very air out of my lungs.

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