Chapter 11: The Wolf Part 2

“Yeah,” Mun says, “I am going to take my leave now see you wolves some other time.” Mun begins to walk away, trying to slip away from the pack of wolves. In the corner of Mun’s eye, he could see Aura running as fast as her little legs could carry her; If I am fast enough we can both safely escape, their leader has already given us our chance.

Mun condenses his tendrils back into his body, reforming his human-esce appearance. Both his hands return to their original appearance, one might say that perhaps an artist can make his hands seem real. Mun’s ability to recreate the human anatomy nearly unmatched in this world, the hands he has created could be mistaken for flesh and blood hands if the land is only lit with moonlight.

Mun made haste and moved as fast as he could, to reach Aura. The body of a mimic does not have lungs, because of that they can run seemingly indefinitely, but if they over strain their body, their health will start to fall little by little. This is because at the center of every mimic is a beating heart. The more energy a mimic uses the harder the heart pulses. The best way to end a mimics life is to crush this heart, that was the actual reason he nearly died when he fought the golem, his heart had been crushed under the golems weight. Mun had subconsciously been protecting his heart, it was not until he remodeled his body, that he realized its existence.

Wolves are intelligent and cunning, they know the weakness of many monsters.

“Kill, them! The creature is a living wood” the great black wolf howled. The wolf knew that Mun could understand them, if he can speak their language, he can certainly understand it. That was why he created a façade of letting them go, the living wood, would act more calmly, it would turn its back, like it has just now.

The entire pack of fifty or so wolves chased after them, without mercy. The younger wolves howled with excitement, enjoying the hunt, in contrast the older wolves only calmly looked on, making sure the could fulfill their order. The younger ones run freely and excited, but the older ones know. Their food is running low, that is why they have been hunting outside their territory as of late. The wolves had over hunted and now very little animals remained, only large monster still lived. The wolves can take the monster down as well, but monster meat taste awful to the wolves and casualties will certainly happen. Their leader has asked them to hunt the girl for the day’s meal, they have been able to find anything the entire day, this girl is a godsend to them.

Mun finally reaches Aura, he quickly takes her in his arms and lifts her up. He carried her as if he was about to run into the beach and she is his surfboard. She tangled on the side of his arms, confused at what was happing, the world kept going up and down from her point of view. As soon as she noticed the wooden arms that carried her she relaxed a bit but, her tension rose higher as soon as she noticed dozens of wolves chasing after them.

“Wolves!!” She yelled, not knowing any other thing to do in her predicament. Mun already knows the wolves are chasing after them, he heard their steps as they ran behind him This is a testament to a mimics hearing, wolves are not creatures that run loudly. The wolves think that the girls guardian is unaware of them, but mimics hear with magic, if you are within the range, a mimic can feel it. The wolves are caching up and Mun can’t stop all of them like he did before. A normal pack in mun’s world is about 4 maybe 8 but a pack if Fifty is unprecedented to Mun who came from another world.

“What the hell!!!” is all that mun can say about his situation, he is befuddled and slightly afraid for the girl in his arms. He promised to protect her, to get her home. Mun hates people who break promises, he will not be a person he hates to be.

The wolves stop hiding their presence, several wolves try to run ahead of Mun, so they can surround the two. Aura’s heart starts to beat faster as she see tens of wolves run ahead of them, she now understand why her father had always warned her about wolves. Her father always talked about them as if they were monsters, Certainly, in this moment, Aura thought the same. She screamed no longer capable of containing the fear welling up inside her.

“AHHH!!!” Her scream so loud and sharp, that the wolves ears twitched for a moment. Wolves have sharper hearing than ordinary creatures of course a loud, out of nowhere, scream would startle them; but these wolves have trained ever since their first month alive, a simple scream is not enough to ruin their formation. Mun stops, Aura flinches at the force of it , the wolves have completely surrounded them.

“this is bad” Mun murmurs under his breath; unbeknownst to him, in English. Aura for a moment forgets her surroundings and listens to the forging language she has never heard of before. In her mind this confirmed that Mun is from another world. Her fear began to dull at this, after Heros are strong, they are powerful, that is what her father would tell her. Her mother would always scold her father, stop telling her such stories, what if she wants to become and adventurer!! Her mother would yell and her father would only respond with a bright smile.

Adventuring is dangerous, death awaits around every corner. This situation is a testament to that fact.

What can I do in this situation, Mun thinks to himself, as the wolves complete their encirclement. Then for a, brief, moment in the corner of his eye he could see the black wolf and the grey wolf continuing their fight. Mun cannot even think of why those two wolves are fighting, dominance perhaps; but right now, he needs to deal with wolves who are closing in. The wolves moved slowly, painfully so, they looked like cats playing with their prey, taunting them.

Mun starts to wrap Aura in his arms, Aura’s trembling stopped and so did her screams, despite their situation she has blind faith in Mun. He is a hero, she thinks to herself, he will find a way.

Right then the black wolf attacks the terribly maimed grey wolf. The black wolf howls.

“Bow, or you will die” The black wolf howled. The maimed grey wolf, despite his injuries, did not back down, his will shinnied brightly like the sun, unrelenting; even the black is beginning to become unsettled by his sons tenacity. Why had this fight begun? The father did not know anymore, but he was the leader he needs to make sure that his pack will obey him.

“Then I choose death” The grey wolf howled. The grey wolf has been looked down upon his whole life, the other wolfs comparing him to his father. They beat him, stole his food, and shamed him. The grey wolf no longer wanted to deal with it, he wanted to leave the pack, so he did, he tried. Some of the wolves hunted him down, as he escaped, and brought in him back to his father. They called him a traitor, they said that he had stolen food, it was all a lie, but the wolf’s father, believed his subordinates. His father had always been like that, never believing his word. Only the strong have a right to speak, were his father’s words. The grey wolf does not know who stole the food, he didn’t really care. All the wolf knows is that today; he escapes this hell, whether it be through death or liberty. The wolf has made his decision.

The two stood on opposite sides, the grey wolf stood at the side of a steep slope, the black wolf stood on a solid ground. They run, faster than any human can naturally run; the grey wolf aims for his father’s jugular, just as he was taught; the black wolf backs his neck away, choosing instead to use his claws. Only a wolf who has many years under his belt could make such a split thinking decision. The son is pushed so far the he reaches the edge of the slope, only barely holding on.

“Do you understand son.” The father looked to his son, as he watched him pathetically dangle on the edge of the slope.

“I understand father” The grey wolf releases his grip, and lets himself tumble down the slope. The grey wolf hits thorns and bushes along the way, Certainty this spells death for the him, the black wolf thought.

The father watches, as his son tumbles down to his death. He has to watch, his son fought him and never backed down. His son knew that he wouldn’t be a match but did so anyways. The fathers heart ached, despite his stoic attitude, he loves, loved his son. He hoped that one say he would grow strong, surpass even him. Where had he gone wrong? Why did this have to happen, all these thoughts swirled around his mind as his son disappeared into the foliage.

“Forgive me son.” The wolf whimpered, if only he wasn’t the pack leader, then perhaps he would have defended his son, he would fight the gods themselves if he must; but the black wolf is a leader, he must look after his pack first, and his son second.

The black wolf, hardened his heart and turned to the girl and her guardian, today we will eat, he thought.

The wolves were closing in and the leader has finished his fight. Mun is in a tight spot, but a brilliant plan comes to him at the last moment; perhaps there is a truth to Aura’s beliefs, heroes can’t die so quickly.

“Aura listen to me.” He spoke to aura, as he began to release her from his grip. She listened intently, making sure not to miss a single word, like a teacher and disciple.

Soon after the their secret meeting ended. An enormous fire ball emerged from the nether, much large than the one William had used, and it speedily left and chased after the wolves closest to the slope. The 6 wolves that guarded that side quickly fled, but the one in the center had no time and is hit. The wolf howls in pain, shaking itself all about. The wolf wouldn’t die but it is certainly close to its death.

Using the moment, Mun runs towards the slope and jumps off it. Aura, ordinarily, would scream but after using all her power in the fireball, she fainted, leaving herself to Mun. In fact Mun didn’t need such a large attack, but Aura wanted to make sure the plan would work, she has complete faith that Mun will protect her. He, does not dislike her trusting attitude, but wishes she wouldn’t come to regret her way when she grows older.

While in midair, the wolves stay where they are in befuddlement. In the same moment, Mun shifts all his around and changings into a large round ball. With this he can roll down the cliff faster than the wolves can slip down. Inside the wooden ball, of course, lay a young demon girl, branches grabbing her from all sides to assure that she will not hit the inner walls of this strange Mimic. The way down is bumpy and uncomfortable, along the way Mun loses tens of health points, but mun knows that he successfully escaped and the wolves did not chase after him. As to why they did not, that is do to a twist of luck. The wolves are out of food and many were ready to chase after Mun, but then the smell of a herd of dear hit their nostrils. All but the black wolf ran after the scent, the black wolf looked back once to the location were his son was only moments before.

“Guh!!” Mun’s body makes a strange sound as it hits the bottom of the slope. Mun unwrapped himself and lay down, his appearance looked strongly like a table without legs, with two eyes and heart. Aura lay at the center of the flattened table, sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. Mun lay there for several minutes, waiting for the adrenaline to die down.

He rested his eyes, thinking about the promise he made with Aura. He wants to complete it. He wants to help her. When he was alive this was a part of his job, to help damaged children, to help ones who had been abused by their parents, physically or otherwise. In all his years he had never been successful in seeing those kids smile, they were to hurt, to broken to ever smile again. Deep down Mun wants to see Aura’s smiling face when she reunited with her family. Mun doesn’t have high hopes for her family, but nonetheless he will take her to them. Maybe their does exist such a thing as a loving family, he thinks to himself. Perhaps… The whimper from somewhere in the forest disrupts his thoughts.

“The wolf.”