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Surrender yourself, and submit to my influence, else thousands more shall suffer for as long as you continue to resist my arising. Your spirit's light cannot keep me bound infinitely, and soon its glow will dim and die. You have six hours before I unleash my minions to slaughter you.

- Kamon Lord Krováku.

Seth stared, horrified, as he read the message. How could anyone...with their blood...? Suddenly Seth became livid, his fury rising. Oddly, the weather matched his mood, for it began to storm. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, the rain falling hard to earth from the cloudy skies.

"KROVÁKU!!!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs, shaking a fist at the sky. "I WILL FIND YOU, AND I WILL KILL YOU, I SWEAR IT!!! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!"

Silence...dead silence.... Then, without warning, the mansion detonated. For some mysterious reason, Seth had been spiritually forewarned, and so escaped before it happened. But as he looked back, Seth was upset to see the whole place in flames, including the bodies of those he had known and loved. Fresh tears welled up, and he sobbed silently to himself, a whimper only he could hear. But he couldn't look away, couldn't shut out the horrible vision. How could he, when there was nothing he could do? Seth must take it head on, must brace himself against the full tide of pain and misery. If he was ever to survive this, he must be strong at all times.

Yet as he watched, several monstrous figures came out of the flames. And Seth knew they were after him. He got up and ran, realizing why they were searching early: he had thrown away the Kamon Lord's so-called merciful offer, and therefore the six-hour limit was thus void. Now, Seth had lost his chance to properly prepare himself. But still he ran, and he ran as hard and as fast as he possibly could, harder and faster than he ever did in his entire life.

But little did he know how easily the Kamons had anticipated his move. As soon as he arrived, Seth discovered with utter dismay that his house, too, had been destroyed. Before a fresh wave of pain and grief could overwhelm him, he heard the Kamons thundering behind him, and knew he had to get out of here. He checked the garage, which luckily was a separate building, and was amazed to find everything still intact...mostly.

Seth got into the car that had once belonged to his big brother, before he was killed. It was a 98 Camaro that his brother liked to call his "cruise car" for during road trip dates with his girlfriend. His brother owned an old pickup truck which he used for more utilitarian reasons. Thankfully, the car keys were put in the consol compartment, and when Seth started the car, the gas tank was still close to full. Seth didn't even bother to open the garage door before he slammed his foot on the accelerator. He shifted the gears up and up until he was at top speed, barreling down the road, with the Kamons hot on his tail. Soon, he managed to outrun them.

Seth managed to drive for most of the day, using the emergency funds his family had set up for each member to use in case something happened to the rest of the family. For the next several days, he was on the run, and had to use up most of the emergency funds in the process. Eventually, his luck ran out, as he had just run out of gas and money. But he used up the last of the gas within a mile of a trailhead in the middle of the wilderness.

Seth got out of the car and ran the rest of the distance to the trailhead. He was perfectly fit during his life, and he was still fit due to the fact that he was on the run all the time now. As he reached the trailhead, Seth started hiking through the woods with what little food he had left with him in an emergency survival backpack placed in the trunk of the car for that very reason. After two days, he came to a point where a large cave in a cliff high above and to the side of the trail could be seen. So Seth left the trail and climbed up to the cave. There, he made refuge for the night. But he could not sleep, no matter how hard he tried. It had stormed again, and even the small fire Seth had worked hard to make was barely sufficient to keep him warm and dry.

Seth stared out of the cave mouth towards the world beyond, head tilted towards the sky, he remembered the first day where this all started. And he remembered anew, fresh as ever, the psychological and emotional wound he had suffered that day. The wound would never heal right again. There would always be a big ugly scar there, too painful to ignore, but too repulsive to look at. Yet it was there all the same, and nothing could be done about it.

Mom...Dad...everyone I ever loved and cared about...gone forever...._he thought, sobbing mutely while hugging his knees to his chest, feeling small and very much alone._Nothing would ever be the same without you. All of you mean so much to me, and each of you played a very important role in my life...and now I could never repay the debt for your contribution in my life. But I will avenge you, you can be sure of it! But I had lost everything, so much, I just don't even know how to begin.... Oh, if only there was a way. I would do anything, give anything, for a chance to have at least one satisfying blow at that Kamon Lord! And I will not give up until I find out how. And if there was no other way, if this life became so empty, so hopeless, then I'd be just as happy to rejoin my friends and family in the afterlife, whatever and wherever it is. But if there is a way, please tell me now and I promise I will believe, and take the hand you offer....

Just then, just as lightning flashed and crackled, followed by a loud boom of thunder, a figure appeared at the entrance to the cave. Yelping in surprise, Seth scrambled backward, but the figure spoke reassuringly, trying to calm Seth down.

"It's alright," the stranger repeated, while keeping his distance to ensure that he meant no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you. I am a friend, someone who can help you. A friend."

"W-who are you? What's going on? H-how the hell d-did you do that?" Seth stammered, already shaken, as the past week had already made him so tensed up that he felt he could never relax properly again. He was afraid the visitor was actually a Kamon

The figure stepped into the firelight. The moment he did, Seth relaxed, heaving a silent sigh of relief; the stranger was no Kamon. But then he did a double take: the stranger wasn't human either, so could be either friend or foe. Yet this creature said he was friendly, so there should be no reason to antagonize the newcomer until Seth was sure he was decent.

"My name is Farniadus, and I am a Twilight Wolf," The stranger answered. He was indeed a wolf, now that Seth knew what to look for. But not all wolf. Not like a real one. But the features were very similar. Farniadus had black fur, with blue, green, and gold pipeline patterns that reminded Seth of the movie Tron. He had clawed and padded paws in place of bareskinned human hands. His legs were, strangely, a mix between human and canine, for from the waist down to the ankles, the structure is humanoid, with the exception of the lower leg being shorter than average. But below the ankles, the feet took on the likeness of the classic canine digitigrade paws. The long, sleek muzzle dominated his face, with two large, triangular wolf ears. Through them, two gold canine eyes studied him. But one feature didn't quite fit the description: he had two enormous black-feathered wings sprouting from his shoulders.

"I am a warrior of the Fallen Angels Clan, Shadow Pack, Elite Squadron," Farniadus continued. "And if you join me, I will teach you everything I know about my kind."

Seth stared at him in awe and disbelief. Never before had he seen such a magnificent creature, one so noble as this, much less met one or even be invited by one.

"But how am I supposed to do that?" he managed to ask. "I am human, and you are..."

"There is a way. There is always a way. And through this, you will get the revenge you desire, if you only but believe." Farniadus replied calmly, his voice soft and gentle, his eyes knowing and sympathetic. "I am sorry about your loss, and had we Twilight Wolves come sooner, we would have been able to prevent that. We are strong in magic, but we cannot bring back the dead. We can turn back time itself, but we cannot change the past without paradox. But what we can do is learn from what was, and change what is, which will then change what will be. You asked for a way to fight back and avenge the lost of your friends and family, and we came to grant you that wish by inviting you among our number. You can become a Twilight Wolf, as every Twilight Wolf started life as humans no different than yourself. But I must warn you, the transformation is permanent and cannot be reversed. Are you sure you want to join?"

Seth thought about it, then laughed. "Considering what happened over the past weeks? There is no chance of me continuing life as a human, now is there? Anything's better than what I was going through before you came. And I think it's about time to declare my human life as over and move on to start anew, even if it means becoming a Twilight Wolf to do so. If you could make me one of you, I will be more than happy to join. I'm more than ready now."

Seth stood up and spread his arms out to either side. Now that he knew there is a chance, he realized that he really want this. And he was happy about it, for the first time in many days.

"Well then," Farniadus said, "since you accepted the fact that there is no turning back from this point on, let us begin. Also, I would like you to know something about our kind."

He dug in one of his bags to draw out a black sphere. "This is known as a Soul Gem. Long ago, the first Twilight Wolves knew that their numbers are in a steep decline, and no amount of mating or pup-bearing would compensate for it. Therefore, their ten strongest spellcasters, whose spirits happened to be blessed by the ten Great Sacred Spirits themselves, were chosen to weave a spell to cast upon human beings. The spell is designed to elect human beings who had favorable quality traits suitable for a Twilight Wolf, long before they were born, and then create a Soul Gem at the moment of the human's birth. The Soul Gem of each human candidate can then be used to transform the human being into a Twilight Wolf. But the Soul Gem can only do this once, and cannot be reversed, which is why it is considered a permanent transformation. In doing so, the Soul Gem merges completely to the new Twilight Wolf's entire essence, and becomes part of that wolf. This spell still functions today."

Farniadus stepped forward and placed the black orb in Seth's hand. "This is your Soul Gem. To activate the transformation magic, simply will it to rejoin you and turn yourself into a Twilight Wolf. The individual identity is, as you might say, preprogrammed into the Soul Gem. You are destined to be in my clan, pack, and squadron, because of the nature of your birth. Once you are transformed, you will claim that place among our numbers instantly."

Seth stared at the Soul Gem - his Soul Gem - and then realized that this was what he had been missing since birth. Yet here it was, his one and only chance to be able to kill the Kamon Lord, and Seth now had full access to it, and he was going to use it. And so he willed the transformation magic to activate, and so his transformation began....