The dwarves have but one god, Enthrul, The Stone Father, Life Forger, Firstborn of the Earth. He is the embodiment of all that the dwarves people as he guides the to better both themselves and their nation. Yet, just as one man cannot personally direct all things he is aided by the greatest of the dwarfs’ ancestors.

Abagail

Another week has passed in this god forsaken world. The whole week we’ve been walking through the woods eastwards, mostly in silence aside from the werewolves talking to each other in their bestial tongue, Adrian talking with his prisoner about his delusions of dragonhood, or Bryan asking questions about the books Adrian gave him.

He only ever told me about the first, Introduction into the Grey Arts. I’ve told him several times that he should not mess with that sort of magic, but he keeps reading both it and the other book that he refuses to tell me what’s in it.

As the world dims and the sun sets in the west, I look at the moon. It’s not the full moon tonight, maybe I can still talk Bryan out of going through with his insanity of letting himself become a monster like Adrian has.

I look around as we stop, I didn’t notice anyone call for us to do so. They must have done it in one of their foreign languages. Why can’t they be sensible and use a language that everyone in the group understands?

I walk over to Bryan intent on trying to convince him to stop looking into evil powers and notice that once more Adrian is talking to the elven twins, causing one of them to blush right in front of the two girls he claims to be married to. I but my tongue, I should say something. Call him out on his sinful actions but that won’t change anything.

I really need to warn those poor young elves that Adrian is fooling them, that he should not be saying whatever it is that is causing one of them to blush. But every time I’m near them Kythia or Ria is there, and I know they want, actually want Adrian to pull more people into their promiscuity.

I ignore the glare from the werewolf boy that hurt Bryan as I pass him only to see Bryan begin walking towards Adrian after setting up my tent.

“Adrian, did you give me the second book because of the notes in it?” he asks.

“They were yours. Something you came up with” Adrian answers without mentioning what they are really talking about.

“Did it work?”

“Its missing a soul anchor.”

Soul anchor? What are they talking about?

“Can you do that part?”

Adrian nods and Bryan then asks, “will it cause problems with tomorrow.”

“I don’t know. Affect definitely, negative effects probably not much but it is possible.”

“Will you help me do it?”

“What are you planning on doing?” I ask interjecting before Adrian can finish setting Bryan up to lose his humanity.

“Don’t worry about it” Bryan says before pulling me into a hug and continuing “it’ll help me keep us alive.”

“No, don’t do this. You don’t have to throw away everything that really matters. We don’t need to throw away our sou. . .” I begin to plead before he cuts me off.

“Abagail, these are things I have to do. And don’t be ridiculous nothing I’ve done or am going to do will cost me my soul. Now I need to. . .” Bryan begins before I shout to cut him off.

“Bryan! Please don’t, you don’t have to do whatever it . . .” I yell at him pleading but he just turns away and while my mouth keeps moving the world goes silent.

I glare at the fox who corrupted Adrian just as sound returns to the world. I hear Bryan saying “. . . te me but it’s more important for me to be able to actually help.”

As I take a step forward to follow Bryan and Adrian, to try and talk him out of this, a hand stops me. A voice I recognize as Adrian’s werewolf bitch says, “you’re not interrupting them.”

“Can’t you see that they’re making a mistake?” I ask struggling to get out of her grip.

The much taller woman turns me around as she says “you have no idea what they are doing. Don’t act like you know what is best.”

I glare at her, I know that anything dark is a mistake. God would not have commanded the Jews to kill dark mages if it wasn’t, but I can’t say that. She would just laugh and ignore it just as she seems to be amused by my glares.

“Tell me tiny human is a magic that protects crops from being eaten by insects evil?” the older werewolf woman with silver hair asks.

“No” I answer.

“The best magics for that are variations of Plague, Disease, Contagion, Infection, Blight, Poison, Toxic and other such spells. Do you know what else such magic can do?”

“There are ways to do that without evil magic.”

“What? A ward that strike only a certain creature can just as easily be tuned to humans. A barrier that stops entry could be applied to stop the blood from entering the heart. Summoning an ally can as you know be used to kidnap. Anything beyond trivial cantrips can be used for both good and evil.”

“I won’t fall to temptation, give up. I’m not going to . . .” I am cut off as a hand covers my mouth.

“Thank you Kythia. Now you stupid midget of a human, I want you to listen. Actually, listen as I state this as clearly as possible. What you do with power is almost always more important that what the power is. I am tired of having to hear you go on and on about your flawed interpretation of how the world works.”

I glare at the monster woman, unable to understand how she truly seems to care for my benefit as she is tempting me to accept evil power. Can’t even she see that evil can only lead to more evil, that they should be trying to repent and become human again rather than reveling in their unnatural wolf monsterness?

“She isn’t going to get it if you keep using force” one of the elven girls says as she walks over to us.

“We are not a people of flowery words or subtlety. If you can do better than do so” the tall werewolf woman says to the elf.

“Abagail, your taking this all the wrong way. Am I evil?” the elf says and I am already skeptical to her intentions.

“I don’t know you well enough to decide that” I answer.

She pauses for a moment, upset, angry at me not agreeing but she hides it well. Then she continues, “they are not trying to convince you that evil is okay and needed. . .”

I snort, like I would ever accept such a thing.

“. . . they were trying to say that you made a mistake in labeling them as evil. Fire can burn down your house or cook your food preventing you from getting sick. So, is fire inning of itself evil? Or is it the person who uses it to kill innocents evil?”

I frown, not liking where this is going but answer “the person.”

The elf nods, “They were trying to say that most power is the same way. What it is used to do, with some exceptions, determines if it is evil or not. Magic itself is not good or evil, nor are lycanthropes. You don’t need to worry about your friend becoming an evil monster just because he is learning something that you don’t understand.”

My frown does not move, and the phrase Satan’s greatest tool is that he convinced the world he doesn’t exist runs through my mind. But this is also one of the very few times that I have been allowed to talk to either of the elves. . .

“So, the giant wolf-monster-man thing wasn’t evil?”

She pauses for a moment and the look on the werewolves’ faces is one of both anger and sadness.

“No, he was evil. He turned to magics that stole power from others and was consumed by it” Kylana says while gritting her teeth.

“The girl has already set her mind, until she’s willing to learn there is no teaching her” a voice says and we all turn to see an elf dressed in black and red.

The elven twins look at the man in fear? but don’t say anything, the werewolves however seem notably more readied for a fight; that is a except for Kylana who says something in their strange tongue, a single word. After which they appear confused before Kylana begins, “Giver of the Gift, Pack Bloodclaw welcomes you.”

The strange elf smiles, and a shiver goes down my spine. The man feels wrong in every way I can think of. My blood runs cold as his eyes pass over me, and I can see nothing but him judging me as if I were but a piece of meat. . .

“I see that you have yet to inform your new mate of my identity. No matter, I would speak to the two of you and . . . Alana, you as well.”

Damû Rámeri

The elven twins, no doubt royals that begged my werewolves for help, get out of the way with just the right amount of elven pride to make me smile in memory of my time with the people. Three of the werewolves follow me to a nearby clearing, likely outside of the hearing of the human that seems strangely familiar.

“Tell me of the two males” I say expecting the werewolves whose ancestors I created so long ago to begin a report immediately, but they do not, instead she asks a question.

“Do you plan on harming my daughter’s mate?”

I almost laugh, but both of us know that she can’t survive if I decide to kill her. Still, one of the boys is already truly considered a member of the pack in her mind.

“Unless he's an ally of demons or the Holy One then no” I answer her, somewhat impressed that one of them actually managed to get ahold of their canine loyalty.

The lycanthropes nod slowly and for a moment I wonder if they’re going to say something about the sentence smelling wrong rather than calling it a feeling like most others would but soon enough the current alpha male begins to speak, “the newer of the two males is Bryan Grace, though I have no knowledge of the supposed house, clan or family. His martial training is in its infancy as is his magical. He does however have a divine patron and is learning quickly, he has taken the bite and if the Gift judges his strong enough will soon be part of the pack as a yearling.”

The current alpha male pauses for a moment considering if there is more to be said as I go over the information myself. The name seems familiar, much like the girl's face. Still, he seems to have a decent amount of potential but is clearly not who I am here for.

After a moment the alpha male nods to one of his mates and she begins, “my daughter’s mate, Adrian Ravnos has been with the pack for a few moons, recovering from something I could not identity and amnesia, and has been accepted into the pack as a full adult regardless of his own yearling status and apparent immunity to lycanthropy.”

Ravnos? A Ravnos? I hadn’t even heard of one since they threw everyone here. Could he be an exile or an ill-conceived attack in response to the Althean method of stealing people from Terra? No, the name alone isn’t enough to jump that far. I need more information, but that they accept him even though he isn’t one of them means that he is significant.

“I need more information than just that” I state, and it is the other female that speaks back to me.

“He is no friend of fiends and hates the Church of the Holy One, swear you will do him no harm.”

“You are in no position to command me.”

“No but We defend our own even if we owe an unpayable debt” the male says and I truly do believe that they are willing to fight and die to me. . .

“Very well then, I, Damû Rámeri give my word that I will not harm the boy unless he is friend to demons or an ally of the Holy One.”

There is no binding chain or seal, I have long since been able to break or ignore such things, but I do keep my word; at least so long as it is not to demons or followers of the Holy One. And as feared as I am, I am also known for that and respected. The lycanthropes lower their stances, but I can tell they are still willing to try, and fail, to rip me to pieces should I be deemed hostile to the pack.

“Adrian Ravnos of Pack Bloodclaw is a dragon of some kind he calls space-between-spaces. The word itself does not exist in this tongue. He is incredibly talented at magic but excels even further in theory as his mana is weaker than it should be. We believe his claim to be a Ravnos as he is capable of magic without any source of energy any of us can sense” the alpha female says before waiting for a moment.

Space-between-spaces? What sort of dragon is that? It is no color, crystal or metal perhaps it is something from the planes? Or is it like the mana dragon, a being of rarity and power? I’ll have to bother the draconians for the needed lore. That he is a Ravnos is however very tempting, though it depends on how powerful of a Ravnos he is. They do after all have an entire spectrum of power level from something they call an Exemplar that can likely win a fight against gods to their apprentices with barely the skill and power to pull off their equivalent to the cantrip. But nowhere in my knowledge of the Ravnos were there any who were not fully human, and all of their half-breeds failed to inherit any of their powers.

I will have to think on what to do with this information, he could be very helpful in crippling or even destroying the Church of the Holy One. . .