Wolf jumped, startled by the person that had appeared behind him.

Listening to his father’s advice, the boy had already started dampening his senses most of the time. But, that wasn’t the case now. This was a state of emergency. Wolf had pushed his perception to its limit, yet this person managed to sneak up behind him without alerting him until they spoke.

After steadying himself for a moment Wolf gingerly turned around to face the unknown speaker.

If he meant me any harm I’d already be dead. Wolf tried to reassure himself and calm down. His attempt failed utterly.

For the first time in his life Wolf was faced with true terror. What loomed behind him was a huge lupine creature.

Blood drained from the boy’s face and his mind froze. He had completely lost control of his body. This was a primordial horror no creature could shake. Even Wolf’s powerful soul buckled under the pressure.

Surprisingly, the monster’s appearance wasn’t all that alien. If not for two distinctive features, Wolf could have confused the entity for a regular wolf. The monster stood more than five meters tall, bigger than a house. The other irregularity was that the creature had three sets of blood-red eyes.

Disturbingly, the largest pair was embedded in the middle of the monster’s chest, right below the neckline. If those eyes weren’t locked on him, Wolf could have mistaken them for nothing more than an odd fur pattern.

A bloody mess hung from the maw of the giant, absolutely white wolf. The mangled carcass wasn’t small either. It belonged to a rainbow colored serpent as thick as a log. The snake’s length was unknown, as the majority of its bulk remained hidden in the flickering forest shrubs. Despite its obviously giant bulk, the snake looked like nothing more than a noodle, hanging from the hulking wolf’s maw.

Wolf was unaware of it, but the remains belonged to a rare seventeenth Order Monster Beast known as the Prismatic Python. These creatures were lazy hunters. They lived in colonies and used illusions to make their prey come to them. Once the prey was close enough, the serpent would snatch it, crush it to death and swallow it whole.

The six-eyed wolf spat out the python’s corpse. The Monster Beast smashed down onto the ground, snapping Wolf out of his daze.

The serpent was swallowed by the shimmering bushes. The bushes rippled and faded to reveal the surrounding area. Wolf was actually standing at the edge of a rocky clearing. The giant python’s body lay motionless on the yellowish-red rock.

The pristine white giant shook its head in a regal fashion, sending blood to pitter-patter on the surrounding rocks.

Once clean, the creature looked down at Wolf. All of its eyes showed unnerving interest, while the monster’s snarling mouth could pass for a smirk. A very ugly smirk, just like its owner. Yet, the two pairs of bloody eyes on the creature’s head were even more disturbing than that smile.

The bigger pair was set like the eyes of a horse, giving the monster a wide field of vision, while its second pair of eyes was at the front, giving it the binocular vision similar to that of humans. Wolf couldn’t even begin to fathom what the biggest eyes in the middle of its chest were for.

“W-w-w-who are you?” Wolf stuttered stupidly while shivering.

This is a Monster Beast! I… It… Why… Why didn’t it kill me?

“What kind of manners are those? I asked a simple question, yet you completely ignored it. You even went so far as to ask one of your own. Now tell me, little one, why did you send someone with a crippled soul to go around, stumbling blindly through a field of illusions? I’ve been watching you. You were at least able to tell where the danger was...” As the creature spoke some of its saliva mixed with blood dribbled down to the ground.

Most of it however, showered Wolf, since the monstrosity was speaking with the little boy from mere steps away.

Based on its words it was easy to figure out that it was annoyed with the way Wolf acted. As for its tone… it was impossible to divine the mood behind those inhuman growls. They only made it obvious that the monster wasn’t used to speaking the language of man.

Working up his courage, Wolf tried to calm down. He failed miserably, but still somehow managed to answer the question.

“Father sensed magic and went to check it out. What do you mean cripple? His soul is damaged, but he said it wasn’t bad.”

The creature snorted, causing a gust that nearly knocked Wolf over.

“He’s so weak that all he can sense is magic? He can’t even tell that someone is manipulating the light? The wind and the sounds here don’t match the illusion one bit. It’s a wonder the two of you are still alive… Him being as weak as he is and you not carrying your own weight. Then again, it’s not like you can expect much from damn parasites…”

Hearing those offensive words, Wolf couldn’t just take it without saying anything.

“I’m not even seven years old. Father won’t let me do things.”

Wolf tried justifying what was going on, but to some extent he agreed with this white wolf that looked like an odd rift in reality. Wolf also thought that he should have been the one trying to resolve the issue, while his father hid. He couldn’t understand that no matter how logic driven a person was, no parent would suffer such a humiliation and risk sending their child out front.

“That excuse is as lame as your father. Pun intended. What does your age have to do when it comes to power? Back when I was six, just the mention of my name was enough to send grown dragon-spawn fleeing in terror!”

“Damn! I smelled someone as interesting as you and covered such a distance, but all I got to see is a disappointing little brat. Are you sure that you’re the one that was born with all his teeth?” The giant creature loomed over Wolf and examined him with all six of its eyes, while sniffing with its giant snout.

“I wasn’t born with my teeth. They grew out one by one and it was very uncomfortable.” Wolf scrunched his eyebrows as he remembered one of the most annoying experiences in his life.

While speaking Wolf was eyeing this surreal white giant. Now that fear had loosened its grip on him and he was paying closer attention to this creature, Wolf noticed a thing or two.

Even though the white fur, that looked like it was out of this world, gave off a majestic feel, in reality it was quite shaggy. The monster, despite being gigantic, actually had a gaunt figure. Its paws were also weird, but Wolf couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with them. Just focusing on them made his head hurt.

By the time Wolf finished answering the creature’s question, he had long finished his inspection of the monster.

“Bwahahahahaha!”

Hearing the boy’s words the giant laughed loudly in a gruff manner that was very much in tone with the savage aura it radiated.

“You’re a complete idiot!” The creature then shot a glance towards Archibald before continuing. “I guess it runs in the family. Your father seems to be a complete idiot as well. Look at him, walking towards that snake’s wide open mouth. Like a moth to the flame. Hahahaha! Idiots, the lot of you!”

Wolf turned around in a sudden burst of panic, but he could neither see nor hear anything suspicious. Archibald was slowly making his way forward. The man was taking extreme care with each step he took, avoiding leaves and branches as much as possible.

The only thing that was off was the fact that he didn’t seem to hear the conversation taking place less than twenty meters behind him… And this wolf monster was really loud.

“You can’t even see it. How entertaining!” The white wolf barked another laugh.

“Save him!” Wolf shouted in agitation. He had a bad feeling that the monster’s words were true and that his father really was in mortal danger.

“Why should I?” The creature sneered while coldly looking down on Wolf. However, the eyes on its chest looked up for some reason.

“I’ll do anything you ask, just save him!” Wolf was now panicking. He felt like time was running short.

“Swear by Earthmother and on your soul.” Without apparent reason the white wolf changed its mind.

What good is a kid’s oath? Wolf thought for a moment, but complied urgently.

“I swear by Earthmother!” The boy blurted out, not even aware that he didn’t swear the second part of the oath.

Both sets of eyes on the creature’s head looked at Wolf sharply. It had noticed the omission, but there was nothing it could do about it. Some things in this world could not happen, no matter how much you wanted them.

Still, this oath was good enough if the boy had any semblance of conscience. The sharp gaze relented and the lupine face twisted in a wide grin.

"Like taking a bone from a cub." The creature’s vile smile was gone in an instant. It threw its head back and let out a blood chilling howl.

The sharp sound pierced the air. As it did, Wolf watched as the forest scenery through which his father was wading popped like a soap bubble.

The dimly lit dense forest that looked like a paradise suddenly became a rocky patch filled with sunshine. Wolf could see a dozen or so giant snakes with rainbow patterned scales sprawled about, sunbathing without a care in the world.

Then, as if in slow motion, the serpents enjoying their sun on large rocks had their expressions change from contentment to terror. When the sound wave struck, some jerked trying to escape, while others just stood paralyzed. One after another the pythons had their eyes explode in a horrible shower of gore. Some of them tried squirming and fleeing for a moment before they stopped moving as their entire heads burst.

Taking in this disgusting sight, Wolf realized that Archibald was only a couple of meters away from the largest snake. Thankfully, the monster lay just as dead as the rest of them, its head turned to a mush.

Archibald was wobbling unsteadily, completely disoriented. The lupine monstrosity standing next to Wolf didn’t even spare the tiny creature a glance. Pathetic manlings were no different from ants to it.

“What are you looking at?” The white wolf snorted, but Wolf didn’t know how to respond. After a moment it continued talking.

“The deed is done and the pact is made. I won’t be too greedy. The only things I want are the silver tongue of the Great Speaker, the golden eyes of the Great Seer and the mushed brains of the Great Thinker. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand what I’m talking about. I’m willing to wait a century or ten, or a hundred. As long as I can mark their corpses I can wait a long, long time indeed…” The creature laughed maniacally as it spoke, but Wolf ignored it. He was too busy running towards his father.

By the time he reached the big man, Archibald had already fainted. Wolf barely managed to grab hold of his father before the man hit the ground. The boy grunted, but firmly held onto the man. Then he laid him down on the rocky ground as gently as possible.

Wolf didn’t know whether it was the howl, or something that snakes did, but his dad was out cold. The boy found himself in a state of wild panic.

“Can’t you help him?!”

“Look at you. Haven’t paid off your first debt, yet already looking for a new favor. Just let him sleep it off for a couple of hours and he will be fine. Well, as fine as a cripple can be...” The sneering face leaned over. Wolf could now see that there were rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth filling the monster’s mouth.

Wolf took a step back, even though he did his best to fight the fear.

“What? Scared?” The monster said with an inborn sneer.

“Come closer man-cub. I want to see the latest one born with a full set of teeth. Maybe you were worth me coming all the way over here after all.”

Wolf was completely at a loss. Somehow, before he had even noticed it, he was standing right in front of the looming behemoth. He was unsure which one of them had moved.

“What are you?” Wolf stammered, before confirming that it was in fact his body that moved on its own to comply with the creature’s wish. He even let go of his father, leaving him prone on the solid rock.

“What am I? I’m a higher being, unlike your lowly kind. One of the few real creatures here, surrounded by your parasitic lot. I’m as close to being eternal as mortals can hope to be.” The white wolf spoke smugly.

“If you want a name to go with my handsome self... I guess you can call me the Beastmen Ancestor, or First, or Eldest, or Prime. You can call me however you want. I don’t really care, so long as you make good on your promise.”

Archibald's lessons:

The first True name a True-Namer comes to understand becomes their moniker. For instance I am Lord of Thunder, but there are all kinds of True names out there. You can find people like Lord of Grass, Lord of Wind, Lord of Steel... Anything that gives a man significant inspiration can become a True name that they know.