Soulforge Legacy Series

Until now, I thought that writers were making shit up when they talked about fur bristling. Yeah, no. My fur stuck up in every direction as the growl rolled over me. Ears flat to my head, tail tucked in, I dropped to the ground.

While I didn’t know if it was luck or something else, the bush I had stopped in hid my crouched form from sight as the largest wolf I had seen stepped into view. We are talking about a creature whose belly was twice my height off the ground.

My body froze, every muscle tense as I refused to move. My lungs refused to work even as my heart pounded out a fast rhythm. The thudding thump was so loud in my ears that I worried the wolf might hear it through the silence.

The whole scene reminded me of an action movie where the hero is hiding while the antagonist is searching for them. Throughout which the music is slowly starting to grow, building the suspense as everyone waits for the inevitable to happen.

His nose, and he is very clearly male given the equipment I can see from here, lowers his nose to the ground. Massive bursts of air erupt from him as he pulls in the scents. After a few pulls, his head swivels toward me. If not for his eyes meeting mine, I would have thought he had just guessed where I was.

“Come out,” the wolf’s voice was deep and resonated through the forest as he gave me a simple command. Not that I was going to listen to him. Fuck that. “I said, come out!” A pulse of mana wrapped around the words as they raced toward me.

As it washed over me, a part of me wanted to give myself up. To listen to him. As if in response, the orb on my collar let out a pulse of its own. Subtle and directed at me alone, it practically erased the command.

He stepped forward as a growl rumbled out of his chest and shake the plants for as far as I could see. Unfortunately for him, the rustling leaves gave me an idea as well as a way out.

I stayed low as I slunk my way backward until my hind foot found a tree stump. All the while making sure to keep the bush between us. A couple of quick steps put me on the opposite side of the thing. It also served to block any chance that he could see me.

With the chance of being watched dropped to nothing, I poured my mana into my body. Claws dug into the earth and wood as I pushed off. Going from a dead stop to full on sprinting without any time to accelerate.

Twigs dragged at my fur as I jumped over logs. Leaves and mud stuck to my pelt as I dove under various bushes. My paws stung as they smacked into various tree trunks. Each of which served as a sort of springboard, allowing me to change direction with little loss in speed.

I ignored all of this as I pushed my body faster. After all, I was free. While he could catch, me, it would take work. But unlike me, he would have to dodge the trees as I doubted they could withstand his bulk. And soon enough, the growling faded into the background, partially blocked out by the various sounds of the forest as they returned.

A few minutes later, I heard the growling ahead of me. Growing rapidly as I raced toward it. And it sounded annoyed. Likely at the fact that I had forced it to work its way through the underbrush. Sometimes being small paid off. After all, who else was going to bother taking advantage of the tight spaces others ignored?

I took a chance and activated one of the only abilities on my new collar. The one that had caught my eye but I had yet to use. A soft, almost ghostly, bell tolled through the forest. Echoing off the wood around me in ways that made no sense.

The sound of wood and plants being torn up reached me as he no doubt spun to face me. Or at least, to face where I had been. After all, it wasn’t like I was going to stick around to get caught. That would be asking for trouble. Then again…eh, an idea for another time.

I dodged to the side the moment the bell tolled a second time. Muscles protested as I pushed myself to go even faster. Burning through mana at a stupid rate as I raced around to the other side of the wolf. Without an ounce of hesitation, I activated the bell as I bounded off yet another tree. Doubling back upon my trail.

Behind me, the wolf let out a thunderous growl. “Come back here you foxy brat!”

Yeah, like I was going to do that. Instead, I took my time circling the wolf. Just to fuck with him even further, I popped into view long enough to double check where he was. And let me tell you, he looked pissed. Whoever this wolf was, he looked ready to tear me to shreds. Maybe he had expected me to be an easy target or something. Too bad. I didn’t give in to the demon so why would I ever give into this thing?

With a burst of mana, the world blurred as I cut across the space behind him. Close enough that I could have taken a bite out of his heel. He only noticed my presence after I was already gone. It probably didn’t help that I activated the bell while I raced by. The sound of which echoed through the forest as his growls of frustration became tinged with pure anger.

Unfortunately for me, there was only so much running I could do. Everything was starting to hurt. An issue that I would have to deal with eventually. But that wasn’t the worst part. No. That would be the fact that my mana pool was starting to bottom out.

While I could stop, to let him catch up, that wasn’t an option. I could even just run away, but then all this work would have been wasted. So I went with plan C. I tapped into my new collar and its reserves.

Why didn’t I use it earlier? It had a decent amount stored after all. That would be because its charge rate was practically nothing. Still, if I could deal with this wolf, it would be worth it.

But how? Sure, I could keep running around him, but that wouldn’t do much more than tire me out and piss him off a bit more. No, I needed something that would end this. A Coup de grâce as it were.

With a flash of inspiration, an idea hit me. Sure, it would rely on how much moisture was in the air and how fast I could move. But given that we were in a forest, there was no better time to try it. And depending on how it went, I could possibly use it in battle or as a way to get away from a fight.

My mana, already struggling due to their distance from me, strained to pull in water. But soon enough, razor thin disks of water formed in the air. Barely there at all really. Even if they shattered a fraction of a moment after I touched them, they lasted long enough for me to push off.

It was enough to support my race through the forest. Adding a third dimension to my game as I flew over the wolf’s head. A head that snapped up as the bell tolled out the moment I was between his ears.

The howl that chased after me was one of pure, undiluted, rage.

Now, I could have run as I had probably annoyed him enough. Though, if I did that, he would likely give chase. The only reason he wasn’t racing after me now probably had to do with me still being in the area. And while I could still use the underbrush and tight spaces to try and get away, something told me he might have a few tricks up his paws to make up the difference.

No, I needed to deal the finishing blow. It didn’t need to kill him, or even really hurt him. It only needed to last long enough for the pack to arrive. Of course, that was assuming that they were coming. It wasn’t like they knew me. Plus, it wasn’t like this guy was quiet. Something that pointed to the fact that he thought they wouldn’t interfere.

Choice made, I continued to run in circles as I looked for an opening. The moment it arrived, I took it.

Everything blurred once again as I raced under him. My target whipping from side to side. He didn’t even have a chance to react before I wrapped my legs around his tail. Teeth sinking into the fur as the bell let out the loudest chime yet.

He let out a deafening howl as he spun in place. Head twisting as he tried to reach me. All the while his tail whipped back and forth as it attempted to remove me.

I clung to him. Even as my body smacked into dirt and bushes, I refused to let go. Even as he tried to nip at me, I refused to budge.

Then, without a single warning, he stopped. His head turned away as he focused forward.

Before I could so much as try and see what was happening, he took off. He moved faster than I ever had as he barreled through the forest. Dodging trees before I even registered them. Almost like he knew where they were.

Less than a minute after he took off, he dove forward. That was the only warning had before I found myself drenched in water.

The fucker had raced to the river and dove right in. All so that he could try and get me to let go. That wasn’t going to happen. If anything, the icy cold water that soaked through my fur only spurred me to hold on tighter.

Maybe if I was still that weak human from when I first entered the world he might have won. But I wasn’t.

Heat pulsed out of my core as my mana flared to life. The fire in my blood blazed with power as my body fought the cold.

The wolf howled as its tail continued to fling me back and forth. As it pulled me through the water before lifting me into the air only to dive right back in.

Over and over, he repeated this painful attack even as he bounded through the shallow, for him, part of the river. Too bad his fur acted as a decent water break so while the attack was annoying, it wasn’t all that bad. Well, save for the rocks at the bottom. But it wasn’t often that I hit those.

Then, in yet another change in tactic, he turned and dove toward the middle of the river. His momentum was enough to drive us both to the bottom. Probably in an attempt to challenge me in the lung capacity department.

Sucks to be him because while my lung capacity was quite a bit smaller, so was my energy expenditure. After all, he had to keep us both at the bottom of the river while I just had to keep a hold of him.

With a massive heave, he launched us both off the bottom and toward the edge of the river where he promptly collapsed. While my ears were both stuffed with water, even I could make out the bellows that were his chest. Not that my lungs were in a better shape.

Finally, he managed to get out a couple of words. “Why. Are. You. So. Stubborn?”

Sucks to be him. Even if I could answer, I wouldn’t. Though, now that I thought about it, could I talk? I mean, there were many myths of foxes talking. Especially the fox forms of Kitsune. So maybe there was a chance that I could. Something to look into. Later though.

A sudden guffaw of a laugh startled the both of us. Other voices joined in as people trickled out of the forest. Apparently the pack had finally decided to show up. And while a few had shifted back, most of those in view were still in their beast forms.

Over the cacophony of creature’s laughing, came a single voice. “Father?! What did you do to her?” My arms relaxed their hold of the tail as I rolled just enough to see who was talking.

Standing there, in nothing but her birthday suit, was the Alpha’s daughter. Liam’s daughter. While the view was something to behold, it wasn’t what caught my attention. No, that was on her words and who she seemed to be directing them at.

My blood froze as I realized just who the giant wolf was. And honestly, it made a sort of sense. Why else would he not care about the pack? After all, who else would have such a massive beast? A beast that I had not only toyed with, but attacked, albeit not very successfully.

In a rush, I tried to stand up. To get away from the guy before he could kill me. But my legs refused to bear my weight. Even through the chilled numbness that had managed to beat its way in, I felt how sore everything was. I needed to rest before I even tried to walk.

The giant wolf’s eyes met mine for the first time since this whole thing started. Sure enough, they were the same amber eyes with golden striations as before. However, they did not look angry. They looked, of all things, happy. Which confused the living shit out of me.

Was he happy that he would get to kill something tonight? That was a thought that should have scared me, but now that I had stopped and my body had started to relax, I found I just didn’t have the energy to do anything, let alone care. Even as he licked his chops, I found myself giving into the inevitable.

Of course, his daughter chose that moment to slap him on the back of his head. “DAD! Can’t you see that she is dead tired? So enough with the games. Shift back already.”

His snort pushed hot, humid air across my face as his body moved. At first, I thought he was getting ready to stand, so it was a bit of a surprise to find myself surrounded by his body. By his warmth.

Nose pressed to mine, he spoke. “Rest. You deserve it for keeping up with me.”

At his words, the last of my tension left my body as the darkness beyond pulled at me. The last thought to flow through my head was about how it seemed like I wasn’t going to be eaten, at least not tonight.