The world looked different when I opened my eyes again. Colors were muted, more washed out, like someone had wrung them out of reality itself. Miasma roiled all around me, rocky terrains covering my entire sight.

Where am I?

The thought barely registered in my mind. Like a dream, my memories and my identity changed. I walked, not on two legs, but four. It was a strange feeling, but the strangeness of it passed soon. I’d walked on four legs since my birth in this dream world, after all.

Flames swirled around me, coating my body as I looked upwards. Giant pillars rose upwards, holding the sky above my head. I watched the twinkling night sky and stars, before the human half of my mind realized something.

That wasn’t the sky.

No, it was a cavern, one so tall and vast, with twinkling, glowing shimmers that I could call it nothing but the sky. For that was what it was, in this place beneath the earth, in the depths of where all the energy of death lingered.

I rustled, shaking my body once, before I glanced nearby. I wasn’t alone here. Next to me, other wolves like me stood. My family. My pack.

Some were larger than me, but most were smaller, and gave respect whenever I walked past them. Their flames were not as potent, and thus I was their senior. But my attention was not on the pups.

In the distance, a bright flare pierced the darkness of this place within the earth. Dark flames rose, followed by belching hot geysers of fire. But the fire, we knew. Fire was my fur, my breath, my existence. It wasn’t the flames I feared, but the men standing within.

I was a demonic beast. A creature that grew in death, with Gu and Miasma swirling in my body and whispering in my mind. But even I feared something here, something far worse than what a creature like me ever could be.

I growled, fur rising, and my pack joined me as a dark figure walked out of the lava. Its skin was pitch black, its face like a bull’s but morphed into a man’s shape. Antlers rose from its head, flesh hanging off of them like molten skin that had not quite died yet.

Yet it was the eyes that struck fear in me the most. The endless pits of death and madness that looked back into my very soul.

The demon walked, and looked in our direction. I expected the creature to smile, but it stood without any visible expression or emotion.

My pack howled to the skies, as fire blazed across their furs and mouths. I joined them, letting my own flames rise and mingle in theirs. Together, we growled, watching the demon from where we stood.

It looked at us, then glanced back. My pack watched, and then we growled, as another demon walked forth. Then one more, and one more yet. And soon, there were as many of them as there were of us.

I sensed the pups faltering. Their flames weakened as fear overtook them. It wasn’t easy to stay calm when the amalgamation of death itself stood in front of you.

I barked, glancing back. This was not the time to be weak. We would protect our home.

My pack agreed. We fought.

Fire rose, dark flames covering us as we rushed ahead. I moved with agility and speed, Gu bolstering each step I took as flames covered my entire body. Letting my fire overtake me, I rushed towards the demons.

One by one, they took out their weapons, watching us move closer. Axes, bows, spears. And then they attacked back.

I leapt, a demon swinging its Gu-covered bone axe at me. Using the change, I leapt, yet instead of the neck as I would with a prey, I aimed for the arm. My teeth sunk in, flames burning the flesh in my mouth to ash within moments as I tore through the muscles. Pulling back, I tugged at the demon, pulling it down. Its claws tore at my flesh but I ignored it. Letting its arm go, I aimed for its neck at last, biting through the bone and crushing it as it collapsed on the ground. An arrow shot at me, hitting my leg, and I howled in pain. Before my eyes met another demon, another arrow shot at me, and I dodged, jumping sideways before I rushed forth. Letting the fire in my spirit gather, I breathed out as dark flames flowed freely, eating through the battlefield as it ate through their weapons and I took the chance to sink my teeth in, killing the demon archer.

Briefly, I looked around and saw my family dying. Wounded, injured, we fought and fought. Yet no matter how hard we fought, more of them simply kept appearing from the fiery pits ahead. Their numbers grew, while ours continued to dwindle.

Flesh and blood flowed like rivers, as time seemed to pass by. Days passed, as my family died defending our home. The young had fled, and I did not begrudge them. It was the right choice. But I could not run. This was the place I had sworn to protect.

By now, my body was torn. Bones were broken as wounds soaked me. I glanced around, finding only three of us remaining. It would not be long before we too would die.

I did not fear death. Death was home. Death was where we all headed to eventually. It was not something to fear.

But I did not intend to die for as long as I could either. To protect this place ‘til my last breath', was my purpose.

I howled to the sky, breathing in the fire around me, as I leapt for one last charge.

The demons moved quickly, aware of our movements by now as they targeted us and predicted our maneuvers. But as they had learned, so had we. I weaved through the barrage of arrows before leaping for the demon in the front. Within a moment I tore through its neck as the miasma in its body healed my injuries and filled my spirit. I had grown, drinking the miasma had made me larger, larger than even the chief who had died as well.

If I survived, I would be chief.

But I knew that was merely a vain dream.

Having killed the demon, I lunged at the next one striking at me. I bit its blade, pulling back as before, grabbing the handle with my mouth. Rushing ahead, I let the weapon slice through the demon’s body, before I threw it. The blade swung, before slicing another demon’s head in half.

I howled, victorious, before I let my flames take over. Fire erupted all around me, pillars of dark flames that killed any in their path. The demons ran, but the flames were faster, eating through their bodies and souls as they turned to ash, returning to the earth they had come from.

I soaked in their miasma, growing stronger still as I charged ahead.

The last of my kin fell, their dying howls now quiet. I did not care. They had fulfilled their purpose, and soon I would too.

My claws slashed through a demon’s gut, and I did not spare another moment on it, rushing ahead. I knew it would die soon.

My teeth tore through another’s leg, before I bit at its gut, burning through its insides in moments. Arrows upon arrows were laden in my back, and I let them shower upon me. Drinking in the Gu of the creatures I slew, I felt enough energy gather. The Gu grew denser and I pushed through, standing at the verge of death, as I achieved my third awakening.

My body morphed as I grew larger and larger. The Miasma around me stirred, pleased with the death I had given it, as it rewarded me for my actions. My strength rose to another stage, as my fire blazed stronger than ever. A new power filled my body. I moved, strength now coursing through me. I was larger, faster, and despite my injuries, stronger than I had ever been.

The demons fell. They were not my foe any longer.

For the first time in this long battle, I saw the demons starting to be pushed back. They were afraid now.

I howled at the skies, as I continued to tear through the crowds. The demons fell faster and faster, as their numbers began to dwindle. Corpses littered the ground, dark smoke filling my vision as I ate demon after demon.

The battle continued until at last, the demons turned and began to flee. I stood watching them run, breathing hard.

We… won.

The sight did not look real to me. Yet it was nonetheless. We had won.

I glanced around me, to join in this victory with my pack, when my eyes met nothing but mauled flesh.

There was no one here but me.

The memory made me falter, but I hung on, watching the last of the demons return to the fiery pits. For a moment, I thought it was over.

Then a figure walked out.

Unlike the previous demons, this one… was odd. It smiled and laughed and cackled, like it was pleased about something. Its eyes met mine, and I felt an urge to bow and whimper in front of this man.

He looked at me, and smiled.

I growled, launching ahead as I rushed at the man. With a leap I lunged for his throat, as I tore through his neck, and in a moment, cut his head from his body.

I stood, letting the head drop as I watched the body collapse. Something made me feel strange. I had not expected this.

A laugh came, and I jumped back.

The head was laughing, looking at me in mockery.

With a rapid turn, I turned around, but I was too slow. The headless body struck me, and I flew across the cave, as my bones shattered.

Laying on the ground, I struggled to even get up, but the man did not give chase. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and saw the man, his head now back on his body, as he sat, eating through the flesh of his own brethren in joy.

A fear filled me that I could not describe watching the sight. A single word filling my mind.

Deathless.

Yet, something even worse lingered behind them. I could not see it, but even its smell alone made me wish to curl up. It sensed my fear and fed on it, before speaking in a rumble that shook my soul.

“They buried us here. The traitor. Cut us off, like a rotten limb. But we did not rest. And now, finally, we will rise again.”

My soul shook upon the words, a whimper escaping my mouth. That was no demon, it was a god of death looming over my spirit.

I had sworn to protect this place to the death. But… to die like that? To die to that creature? That would not be true death. The earth would not take my body, and my soul would forever be inside that creature.

With any strength I had left, I pushed up to my legs, and began to walk.

I had to run.

I moved, and moved, feeling my breath seep through the earth and strength fade from my body, before I heard a voice call to me.

It was different, not like me, or my pack, but it told me of a home.

And so I chased it.

***

The world shuddered as the memory faded from my mind. The wolf’s spirit and mine separated as I panted. Opening my eyes at last, I looked at the creature in front of me, meeting its eyes, and reliving the memories it had left me with.

Words failed to describe the sensations I experienced. Of the battle, the loss of my family, and then…that creature. The Deathless, and the voice that spoke from beyond it.

“Are you alright? You look spooked,” Su Lin asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m fine,” I replied in a half lie. “Just a bit unsettled from this guy’s memories.”

I brushed the wolf’s fur, now understanding where each wound I felt had come from.

“We flee. In winter. They rise,” the wolf said, and I nodded. To think the demon beasts we fought in winter were merely scared beasts escaping those things…

“You’ll be safe here my friend. I can’t bring you out, but I can give you a home. Stay here, and I’ll find a way,” I said, before standing up to my feet.

“Su Lin, Zhang, keep him a secret. We don’t want the villagers to panic,” I said, and the two boys nodded. I glanced back at the wolf, who had curled up comfortably on the ground.

My mind burned with emotions and thoughts.

If our enemies were the Deathless, and they were moving towards us…

If that was the thing we had to beat, then we needed a lot more firepower to survive this upcoming winter.