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Adventures In Living With The Mythical |
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A military veteran is adopted by a werewolf and brought into his pack. Insanity ensues. About "Life With A Werewolf" Life with a werewolf is a dramatic blog. As such the characters in this blog are not real but maybe loosely based on real people. The situations represented are not real but maybe loosely based on real things that have happened in my life. There are a multitude of ways to view life, this is simply one of the ways I have chosen to view mine. Updated Every Friday unless I can't or don't want to. If this is your first time reading this...start here: https://www.writing.com/main/books/entry_id/1040400-Welcome-To-The-Pack The first year is available as a compilation in print and on Amazon Kindle: https://a.co/d/gBLLL7E The first year is currently available on audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B0G3SMJGFN/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-482... My book, "Dreamers of The Sea" is available now on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0uz7xa3 |
| Valyur didn't hear the battle between Crash and the other werewolves. The interlopers who seemed to want his territory, to want Crash himself and his clan dead. But he could sense it. When the explosion went off, it was far enough that they couldn't hear it at their property. But it certainly was felt. The entire energy of the house and the meaties inside it had turned. Energy just wasn't something that the meaties understood much. To them, it was so one dimensional. They could use the energy that flowed through their walls from the giant buildings and things they made far away. But they couldn't see or manipulate the energy around them. All living things contained it and in truth, was made up of it. Using it, communicating it, manipulating it was how a lawn gnome got his power. It was how they protected their chosen clan of meaties. It was how Valyur was going to redeem his own clan and repay the debt owed. The dark energy inside the home made Valyur take his eyes off the skies that evening as he pushed downward with his own energy, toward the flow, deep into the Earth. It usually thrummed, pulsing with its own power. But that night, the energy was different. Someone was lost there, locked out of the energy, stuck in a void between light and darkness. He pulled back from the power. There was something wrong. Something powerfully wrong. He looked upon his wife's face, gently touching her chin. Then the soft crack at the top of her head. The spot where the old meaties in her old home had done so much harm to her. Had been so wrong. "This may be the night, dearie. Something is a foot. The energies, they don't feel right." Auburn grabbed his hands, and pulled them down. She could hear the fear in his voice. Valyur had never been afraid of anything as long as she had known him. "Please, don't do anything crazy," Auburn whispered back. "I..." The tears in her eyes burned Valyur to his soul. "I will try to be careful dearie," Valyur said. "But I made a solemn vow to those folks. I'll fulfill it. To the death if need be. You know why." She nodded. "I know. Falkirk's debt." She tried to hide it, but a tear fell from her face. Neither gnome could see the golden eyes watching them from the tree tops. As if stalking them. He touched her chin gently. "I won't ask you to make any such sacrifices. If things begin to go badly, make for the woods like we planned." He didn't look at the crack in her head. She was still self-conscious of it, even though to him it made her more beautiful. It had been healing nicely, but it would always be there. Humans got scars, lawn gnomes got cracks. It was a visible reminder of how cruel humanity can be to creatures and things who don't fight back. He needed to see more of the wrongness in the energy. To read it clearly. There was nothing in the road. And the lawn itself seemed safe. The sky above them had been clear all night, no sign of the deadly dragons that was so vicious to lawn gnomes. Perhaps it was safe. Auburn turned to look into the woods as Val scanned the highways. Her eyes locked with the golden ones in the trees. Her breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she couldn't move as she stared at the creature. Was it a dragon? It was so high up, it had to be. But no stone dragon ever came that close, did they? "Valyur?" Valyur reached out into the energies of the Earth, energies that humans forgott were even there. As he did so, the golden eyes behind them looked skyward, and the creature in the trees jumped, flapping great wings once to gain quick altitude as quietly as possible. "Val?" "Yes," He looked towards Auburn who pointed nervously towards the woods. "There's eyes of...." there was nothing there. Only trees, leaves and darkness. And the distant sound of a slowly chattering brook. "What did you see," Valyur asked, as he stepped cautiously towards the tree line. He disconnected from the ancient deep power as he did. Auburn was no liar. If she said she saw something, then she saw it. His tiny feet moved swiftly and silently through the grass, stalking towards the tall trees. A grim determination in his eyes. He never saw Auburn turn away and looked upward, as if scanning for something. He never saw the glint in the air that almost twinkled like a star before it dove down in an attack. Valyur peered into the dark, pushing gently with energy, trying to get a sense of the forms out there. Trees. Leaves. And then fur and fangs and... Auburn's panicked scream made him stop. "Dragon!" "What?!" He turned towards her, eyes wide, mouth open. Not a dragon, not now! Two large furry forms exploded out of the woods and blew past Valyur as they sprinted impossibly fast towards the door. His command to his wife was given in a single glance. Get to the trees. Follow the plan. His hands glowed as he stuck them into the ground. They were within two paces of the back door. The creatures leaped into the air, claws out, fangs dripping with saliva as if in preparation to drip with blood. With a low grunt of effort, Valyur pushed energy into the Earth. Grabbing it, controlling it as best as he could. That energy slammed back into him powerfully, pulsing inside of his form, pushing outwards on it, threatening to crack him. Thick roots exploded out of the ground. The two wolves had come close enough to the door to leave scratch marks on it before the roots wrapped around them, and slammed them down hard onto the yard. The werewolves writhed and bit, surprised at the roots grabbing them. Their claws ripped into the thick limbs from the Earth, trying to drag them down. Valyur pushed harder than pulled, the energy crackling in his ears. He could feel the tendrils of power pulsing inside him, pushing outwards harder, causing his very body to swell in pain. A lawn gnome could only manipulate so much energy. The power twisted within him as he felt someone join their energy to his to help him control it. The form felt familiar. He could feel their hands on his shoulders. Human hands. It was the being trapped between light and dark, the one torn between worlds. He knew him. "Jason?" Valyur whispered. The roots almost faltered. Werewolves scrambled, almost getting out of the roots, claws digging into the ground, snarls and growls of effort and anger rising up. The lawn gnome shook his head and pulled as much power as he could. He gritted his teeth hard enough to crack them. His arms hurt. His legs hurt. He felt the hands on his shoulder as if they were actually there, giving them their own power. Their own control. "You'll not get through, meaties," he grunted. More roots exploded from the Earth, and shot towards the werewolves. While Valyur was fighting off the werewolves, Auburn was watching the dragon. It had dove over the lawn, forcing her to duck. Then the creature swooped upwards, in preparation for an attack. It seemed to smirk as it paused in mid air. Then it dived downward, claws out, mouth open in a snarl. To her, it looked like an eagle trying to snatch a fish out of a pound. Only that fish was her husband. "No," she moaned, trying to pull energy to give him some protection, but it was no use. The dragon was just too quick. She could only watch in horror as the dragon swooped down. Soon, there would be the sound of shattered ceramic. The horrible sound of a dragon gorging on gnome. And then she'd be alone again. Or she'd be next. She held her breath, pulling as much as fast as she could. A black and blue blur slammed into the gold and green blur, knocking it off course. The dragon slammed into the ground next to Valyur. The black and blue dragon stopped for a moment and winked at Auburn, then commenced the attack on the first dragon. Darting this way and that in the air. They occasionally belched fire and roared threats. It was the strangest thing a lawn gnome had ever seen. No lawn gnome she had ever known or heard of had ever been saved by a stone dragon. Valyur paid the dragon no attention. His energy was pouring into the attack, and most of that energy had pushed past hurt and traveled well into agony. He cried out in pain and rage. Cracks formed in his legs. The energy wanted to force it's way outward, to push his very atoms apart and throw them in a million directions. The only thing holding him together was the hands gripping his shoulders. He was giving it everything he had and the werewolves were still getting free. They slashed and clawed at the roots, ripping and gnawing at them. Green sap splattered over them like blood. For every root they had ripped apart a second and third appeared. But those roots that appeared were weaker. Thinner. "I said, no." Valyur gasped, pushing his arms further into the dirt. Lines of energy traced up his arms and legs like cracks. Paint cracked and peeled off of his ceramic body. His eyes glowed bluish white with power. "You'll. Not. Get. Through!" A thicker root sprouted. It was the thickest one that Valyur could conjure up. His vision swam as the root punched through a werewolf. With as much strength as he could muster, he forced the roots to sprout and grow into the creatures body. It growled at first, ears pinned, muzzle curled up in vicious pain, but soon it began a strange keening whining sound. Valyur was almost there. He had almost killed the first one. The second werewolf wrenched free from the roots and hobbled towards the lawn gnome. Blood trailing behind him from the holes the roots had punched through its torso, it's leg, one arm. "We must kill them," he whimpered. "We got to kill them. No survivors. No survivors." *** Auburn raced towards the trees. She had watched the first werewolf break free and didn't stick around to see the rest. She had to get to the creek. The plan was always for her to slip back into the trees, go to Crash's work and get help. To do that, she had to follow the creek into the larger city, and slip up towards his office. She was never to attack, never to risk her own neck. But Auburn always had a different plan. She had been forced to watch as those cruel humans cracked her and smashed her clan. I'll be damned if I stand by and watch that happen again. Taking the accumulated energy she stored, she fired a single bolt into the woods. Three forms made from mud, twigs and sticks rose from the ground with a thick, deep growl. She looked up in time to see the werewolf kick Valyur. A loud crack could be heard ringing through the rural neighborhood. The sound of someone breaking a most precious and valuable ceramic pot. A vase that was worth more than the miserable soul who had smashed it. The energy pouring forth from his body stopped all at once. Valyur, armless, legless, flew through the air and landed on a bed of leaves by the tree line in front of Auburn. Thick roots collapsed to the ground. The werewolf that had kicked Valyur panted, staring at the ground. "Never trust a dragon," it muttered. It wasn't limping anymore. It's dark fur was streaked with blood. The first werewolf was still pulling roots out of it's body, whimpering and whining with each one. "When you're ready," growled the other werewolf as the first one pulled the last of the root out of it's abdomen. "We're supposed to be quick." "Yeah," his associate grumbled, panting in pain. "But Generale Alexandre had said the lawn gnome would be taken care of." His muzzle wrinkled back in disgust. He hated killing humans. It always felt wrong. But orders were orders. In The Nobility, you didn't argue your orders, you just followed them. He turned towards the door, and prepared to kick it in. He paid no attention to what was rising up behind them. The first werewolf turned to see what was casting a shadow over their forms. He gave a single whine of terror, and grabbed his associate with one paw. His ears folded back, he pointed a single, shaky claw at the shape with the other. "What is it," the second grunted and turned to look up into the enraged eyes of Auburn. Behind them stood the three largest golems they had ever seen. Auburn stood on the shoulder of one, her eyes glowing with malice and power. The wall of mud collapsed upon them before either had a chance to move. Using the golems, she dragged them both towards the woods filling in the torn ground and forcing up grass growing back in their wake. No evidence of their fight would be seen. As they neared the creek, she pulled the two werewolves down into the dirt, burying them deep inside. A single loud, pained whine rose up from the crack in the Earth before it filled in. They would be seen no more. Auburn walked slowly out of the tree line as the human named Zack ran out the back door, holding a pistol. "Crash?!" He called out. "Crash! You okay?" There was nothing. No response from Crash, no growl or bark or whatever of triumph from something else. Zack walked around, as if scanning for threats. Then he saw her. She didn't care. The woods felt colder. The yard felt darker. She watched as he stalked around the yard, the weapon held downward in the manner that Jason and Crash had been teaching him. "Crash?" "Down here," Valyur groaned. Auburn knelt to him, and pulled his head into her lap. She touched and held him close. He was cracking from the inside. She could feel it. It was too much energy, just too much. Her eyes teared up as she held him close. Zack knelt down and gasped at his shape. "Val!" He laughed. "You should see the other guy, meatie." Dust trickled out of the holes that were his arms and legs. Paint had peeled off of most of his form. "I guess I fulfilled my mission." Zack wiped his eyes. "You can't die. You can't. Jason will be here this morning! You're supposed to die for him, not us! That's the deal, you're supposed to," "Jason ain't coming," Valyur whispered. Auburn's jaw dropped open for a moment. Zack's breath caught. It was as if his lungs has forgotten their purpose for a moment. Then with strained breath he said "What do you mean?" Valyur could read the accusation on Zack's face. He shook his head. "No. They tried. They tried their best, meatie. But your friend is too damn stubborn to die. But that means he's stuck. I'll get him unstuck." Auburn watched as Zack stood. He wiped his eyes and walked towards the house, cell phone in his hand. With a shaky hand he found a single contact and dialed. Auburn leaned down and gently kissed her husband on the head. "You can't even go into the after life quietly can you?" She gave him a pained smile. "My family has done so much to his," Valyur said to her. She nodded. "I understand." She held him close as cracks began to form all over his body. "Go to your family. Say hello to Falkirk for me." It wasn't long before she was holding nothing but sand. Auburn's cries started soft, but soon grew louder and more gentle as the night went on. A single dragon swooped down. The one that had saved her earlier. She looked up at it, no longer afraid. She was prepared to join her husband if that was its plan. Instead, the stone creature knelt in front of her, bowed it's head a single time. "A sign of respect from my kind to yours." It said. "I had watched Valyur for a long time. He was an honorable gnome." It stood, then leaped into the air. With two great beat of its wings, the dragon was gone. Zack stood on the back step, cellphone clutched in his hand. "I don't give a damn what Crash told you," he said. "Get your asses down here." |
un: 
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