The House of Wolves

When hunting a wolf in these woods, one must always bring an army. That is the creed of the hunters who dwell in Volicheuss western lands. But what can one do, when trying to hunt a pack? A pack of vicious, bloodthirsty wolves at least four times the size and the danger of any creature to walk the forests or prowl the mountains.

The answer is simple…you run. You run and you pray to every god there is to pray too and try to forget that you were ever there and perhaps even regret your own birth. You swear to give up your bow or your blade and perhaps even make an oath to never touch meat again as long as you live. And most importantly, you cling onto the desperate, slim hope that you are not hunted and fed to the crows.

Thankfully, there was not a single hunter forced into a situation like that on that day. They were far too intuitive to be so foolish as to walk into the woods that day. There are alway telltale signs to indicate the mood of the forest. When flowers are wilting and larks are quiet and rabbits are meek, the wisest thing to do is to play with your children and sleep with your wives and put aside the need to hunt if only for a day.

The anger that could be felt creeping through the woods that day was palpable. It was nauseating, discomforting, it was every negative adjective a man could think off. Larks fell from their trees, not a single rabbit could be seen bounding across the meadows, flowers lay dead in mass.

Because that day, was a gathering like no other. A gathering of scoundrels, of wolves so despicable that they seemed to exist outside of human reason. Wolves in general are creatures far removed from the values and justifications of human existence and identity. They exist solely for the hunt, for the darkness, for the edges of indulgence that can only be dreamed of by a man who has stripped himself of all reason.

They live for the pack and for the hunt. That endless, insatiable hunt which craves an endless supply of rabbits and deer to gorge oneself upon, that hunt which desires everything and anything a man could want simply for the sake of wanting it.

All fifteen souls who gathered in those ruins at the edge of the forest fit that criteria perfect. It had been three years since all of them had gathered in one spot. Everyone there practically oozed anticipation and excitement upon seeing one another again. There was some tension and argumentation however the general atmosphere was most certainly a positive one.

At face value, the people in that room did not look like wolves. They looked like normal people, perhaps a band of adventurers or merchants. But the moment an everyman locked eyes with the abnormal, depraved eyes of anyone in that room, they would know for certain that these were no ordinary individuals.

Every man and woman who entered the decrepit building had done something truly despicable. And not something as paltry as an arson or theft, such surface level conceptualizations couldn be further from the truth. The actions these individuals had committed would make even a hardened criminal unable to stand out of sheer disgust. Every soul who entered those ruins had hearts tainted so black that they hardly even seemed human.

”Helloooo my friends! How great it is to see you after so many years ” cried a voice, piercing through the disjointed mess of interactions which spread out amongst the ruins interior. Suddenly, everyone became silent. They all stared silently at the man who had so casually just strolled into the clearing where they had all gathered.

He had crystal blue irises, gorgeous blonde hair, and a pale, perfect little face which practically radiated innocence. But even more prominent than that was how perfect the face was. The edges of the mans face and nose were neither too soft nor too rigid, his eyebrows were long and enamoringly feminine, his cheeks were flushed with color and life, and his teeth were like shining white bricks laying underneath a pair of full, pink lips.

But yet despite his peculiar beauty he also had a sense of masculinity to him to compliment this gracefulness in his features. At first glance, his slim physique would indicate that he was quite frail, but upon closer inspection his structure and physical capabilities were rather impressive.

He currently wore a skin tight red tunic, which only further helped to showcase the definition in his chest and abdominal muscles, as well as the prominence in his upper arm and forearm muscles. Though the arms in particular could not be seen under the leather surcoat he was wearing.

This angelic seeming individual accompanied his red tunic and dark purple coat with beige leggings held up by a black belt, and complimented with pointed green ankle boots.

His mouth was spread into a beaming smile and his arms were thrown up in a warm and accepting way as he entered the ruins, but no one dared approach him. Instead they all froze as he walked by casually. He even slicked back his hair a little and hummed cheerily.

But trailing behind him was an unbelievable sense of cold which made every other individual in the room shiver. In the center of the clearing was a pile of stones collapsed on top of each other. Still humming, the blue eyed man made his way to the top of the pile and sat himself down in a rather relaxed position at the top.

He pulled his hand up to his chest and began fingering the cross shaped pendant which hung at the end of a gold necklace.

”Come on guys! Try to cheer up a little. Just because I arrived doesn mean you all need to be so gloomy! ” the room remained eerily silent. But the man didn become disheartened and continued to talk.

”Have any of you noticed that this room was once a library? Its nearly impossible to tell but if you look hard enough you can seen a few strewn books and the components of a shelf, ” noted the mysterious man.

Nobody seemed to respond to him, until a voice spoke out amongst the gathered crowd.

”What is wrong with all of you? Our master is attempting to engage us in conversation! Are we not some of the most powerful and souls this world has seen? So why do you cower when our lord attempts to speak to us? ”

Murmurs began to arise within the crowd and a few even got up on their feet in agreement.

”Treat him as an equal, those are the word he spoke to us the first time we gathered many years ago, so by cowering before him and failing to respond to his attempts for interaction we are doing nothing but failing our end of the bargain. ”

Voices arose in cheer after being roused by the mysterious figure from the crowd and began bombarding the man they all referred to as their master with questions and discussions.

The man who spurned forth the rest of the gathered individuals to discuss with their leader, was also a very imposing man.

He had an air of regality to him. He wore no top, and on his bottom were black hakama pants with a white sash wrapped around them. His hair was a silky, raven haired hue and went down to his waist. By his side was a katana held within an ornate dragon scabbard. His name was Fukushu Kumotta, and everything about him seemed to be stranded from an era long past. But nevertheless it gave him an air of wisdom and resoluteness.

”I apologize for my hesitation, Lord Julius Kastlös ”, Kumotta apologized with a deep bow. Julians grin receded to a far more natural looking smile, and his pressed lips indicated far more emotionality than the hollow smile he had strode into the room with.

”Nonsense, I applaud you for being able to rouse everyone else. And besides, its been such a long time since weve seen each other, a little bit of tension is to be expected. ”

”I appreciate the praise deeply my liege, ” Kumotta responded with what could only be called utter gratitude and appreciation for his master.

”However, forgive me for being rather blunt…but for what purpose did you call us here? ”

”Well why not Kumotta? We haven seen each other in many years, so what hurt could there be in gathering for a meeting. ”

”You
e doing a rather poor job of concealing your intentions lord Julius ”, remarked a female voice. She was a mature, seductive lady in both appearance and tone. She had silky black hair, as well as a tall but rather curved figure, which went well with the pecan brown tone of her skin. Additionally her eyes were an enchanting scarlet color…which only added to her air of mystery and enchantment.

”He has always been a very, shall I say, layered man…Kumotta. Ive spent so many years with him but yet he refuses to give me even a little bite! ” cried the woman. She emphasized that last line with a pout.

Julius swerved his head towards her and stared at her figure coldly. Nothing seemed to stir within those eyes no matter what circumstance, even if the rest of his face was perfectly animated.

”Perhaps I will offer you a taste Lili…on the condition that in exchange you offer me knowledge on the Tome of Wargesnacht and how to use it. ”

”You would have me exchange precious knowledge for a mere taste? ” She inquired with a laugh. ”Im afraid itll take more than that for such valuable information… ”

”I thought we agreed to no bargaining with this organization but here we are ” Julius said with a sigh. ”Its quite a wonder that Ive let this go unpunished. Perhaps that alone is indicative of how much I favor you Lili. ”

”Lord Julius, Lili, please restrain yourselves. It surprises me that you would stoop down to the level of this…woman ”, Kumotta said disdainfully.

”Oh shut up you stiff bastard! How dare you treat me with such disrespect! ”

”How troublesome you are woman. Tell me, why would I give any thought to a snake like yourself? All you can do is wrap yourself around those better than you and constrict them until they give you what they want. I shan let you do the same to Lord Julius. ”

”You
e like a rock you know that Kumotta? Well defined but yet so utterly lacking in personality its nauseating. ”

”Thats enough! ” boomed a fourth voice. All three eyes turned to lock upon a muscular mountain of a man with a bottle of red wine pressed to his lips. His cheeks were flushed red and his stormy grey eyes were hardly visible due to the lids fluttering in front of him. A shaggy brown beard hung from his sharp jawline, and seemed to be collecting the drops of beer that escaped the mans lips. He was Godo, the unlikely child of a mountain giant and a sorceress. His father had given him his immense size whilst his mother had instilled upon him gifts which manifested along the surface of his flesh in the form of marks.

”All you do is sleep and drink all day Godo…you have no right to be butting in this conversation ”, Lili retorted viciously.

”Now, now…calm down all of you ” Julius commanded loudly. The room fell silent, and even Lili and Godo dropped into a bow in the face of Juliuss authority. He immediately sat back down and contorted his face into a sweet smile.

”To answer your question Kumotta….I ring myself down to her level because she is a valuable member of our organization. Additionally she holds a piece of information I find very intriguing. ”

”Then why not simply coerce or even force her to give her the information? ”

”To do so would be to violate the code of our order. We mus