Chapter 107: Chapter 99: Aranea meets Kalaisa

"Adequate. This is my verdict." Alpha glared down on Aranea.

"Does this mean Janine’s pack stays intact? And I am a warlord?" Aranea decided to ask.

"Yes, to the first. To the second," Alpha threw up her head and burst out into a gurgling laugh.

The warlord was leaning on the reinforced wall near the warehouse. Two workers in charge of delivering food to the kitchen saw the warlord laughing and ran, abandoning the crates with food. Aranea could hardly blame them. Alpha’s laughter sounded… wrong. The sides of her neck were overly expanded, the gurgling coming from her mouth resembled the screams of a drowning person dying below the quicksand, only magnified several times enough to make a glass of water in Aranea’s paw tremble.

"No, I refuse to accept a coward as my sister," Alpha lifted a claw to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye and sliced her own skin to the bone. It didn’t seem to bother her one bit, edges of the wound started closing before Aranea’s very eyes. "Yes, the pack stays. In time, a proper leader will appear—the one who will honor the memory of my sister. Leila perhaps? Maybe Yuki. I made no bet. The sooner you are off my eyes, the better," Alpha snorted angrily. "Don’t think me stupid. You knew that your pack had passed. There was no reason to call me over. Speak your mind."

The halfbreed took a breath and put the glass on a table. She stood at attention, unburdened by Alpha’s words. There was a far more important thing to talk about.

"Warlord Alpha…"

"I told you to call me Alpha."

"No, right now I need to speak with the warlord," Aranea ignored the fact that the warlord’s lips went up, showing fangs, and kept speaking, "The Wolf Tribe needs to change. Each year, dozens of our cubs die in the pits. Potential soldiers, all of them die in mindless fights over the food that is already plenty!" Seeing that no hit followed, Aranea kept up talking, encouraged by this fact, "Not only that, but outdated traditions keep us chained, denying the greatness that is ours by right. Warlord, you saw Sly. You are aware that he defeated warrior Lucendra with a weapon he created for himself. Nonetheless, our shamans denied him the opportunity to join the engineers corps. Imagine how great his talent could have blossomed by now if he had been studying instead of receiving beatings. Consider how much good he could have done for the Tribe and the state! And not only he! All members, female and male, of our Tribe, deserve a chance to shine! Forcing them to choose between exile and education or staying and being denied education or any other job other than that of a soldier is cruel! It is inefficient and…"

"And you are preaching to the wrong crowd, Aranea," Alpha spoke in a serious tone, abandoning all aggression. This sudden shift made the wolf hag to blink in surprise, "Yes, I am not stupid or zealous. For years, I had gathered outcasts and misfits, all of whom demonstrated talent in areas other than pure rage, and formed the Omega Team out of them. Males and females working together as equals, according to my design," Alpha looked aside. "I wonder if Ravager would have approved this change… No matter. I saw a way for the Tribe to grow stronger, and I took it. It was thanks to my training program that Dragena managed to turn her Branded into proper soldiers."

"If you can see the truth, then why are you silent?" Aranea clenched her fists. "Why do you always side with the shamans?"

"Because this is what Ravager ordered me to do before leaving. Keep the Tribe whole. As long as the majority supports the shamans, this is where I belong," Alpha’s eyes met Aranea's, and for a moment there was only weariness in them. "I can’t change. No matter how hard I tried, I was crea… born to be a soldier. Orders and unity are sacred to me. By weaving around the orders’ borders, I try to do what little good I can without stepping out of line. If the Tribe ever decides to make males equal to females, I will side with them and make the shamans bow. If the Tribe bans pits, I will be satisfied that no further waste will occur. But I will never lead the change myself. Dragena, Lacyone, Zero, I, our entire generation… We have done enough, have bled enough. Topple us and bring about this change. Stop expecting us to solve the problems of your generation. Now scram, and let me brood in peace, the trial is over."

Aranea bowed to the warlord before storming away, more sad than angry. Alpha has done far more for the Wolf Tribe's males than Aranea; she has saved their lives for years by drafting them into the Omega Team. For years, the warlord was planting the seeds of change, willingly or not, allowing others to see that some equality was possible. The shamans always grumbled about the Omega Team, however, they could not ban it, the state approved it, seeing the value that it brought. Alpha humiliated the entire value system far better than anyone could.

It was not enough. The tribe was changing; at the last gathering, honored Dragena forced the shamans to accept Branded as equals, giving hundreds of young kids and adults the same rights as everyone else in the tribe and a right to serve and earn money. The change was coming.

It was just that it wasn’t fast enough. After the war, several hundred wolfkins would have to die for the crime of being too old. Aranea opened and closed her fists, calming herself and thinking about what could be done. Olesya and Annie were at her side, this makes two warlords who can speak up against the culling rule. Two out of eighteen and the shamans. Not enough votes. Not yet. She needs to… She must find a way to persuade the shamans. They are her kin too, she shunned them away for too long. Scarred One was a loyal comrade. Perhaps others can be as well?

The wolf hag came into the main hall, standing on the second floor and looking at the people beneath. On her orders, the wolfkins were helping with the distribution of food among the locals and helping the workers of this safehouse. It may seem like a cruel mockery after they just captured this place, but Aranea wanted to do at least something to start calming down the hatred that the locals felt towards them. Tiny and Gin did a pretty good job of gathering a small crowd of people, mostly young ones, and now they are telling tales about the Reclamation Army.

Alpha’s massive power armor, standing like a giant made of iron, stood in the room’s corner, spreading fear even while depowered. A soultaker sat next to it, a relatively young woman with the markings of a soldier. She was biting her own hand from time to time, smiling strangely at the offers of help and excusing herself. The commandant explained that the woman’s psyche seemed to shatter after a recent battle when she had to carry a badly injured soldier to the town. The commandant pleaded for some measure of mercy for this woman, and Aranea agreed to leave her free instead of locking her up with the other soldiers. The woman looked harmless.

Aranea opened communications with Leila, asking if everything was fine in the safehouse that she was guarding. To her surprise, she saw the commandant and Leila sitting at the table, talking about the soultakers’ culture. Everything seemed to be fine there, and Aranea called Kate. Something went amiss in her safehouse. Several locals were laughing about a strained expression on Kaleb’s face. Kate was finishing some strange food with a satisfied smirk on her snout, while Sly and Yuki left to use a restroom. Aside from that, everything was in order.

"Aranea, we have some urgent news." Geldi called her before Aranea could contact Sonya and her group on the wall.

"Yes, what happened? You need someone to deliver some medicine again?" Aranea worriedly asked. For some reason, the locals moved most of the hospital's supplies to the hangars, resulting in a shortage after an influx of new injured. Thankfully, it was a simple task to bring the supplies back, sandstorm or no.

"No, something far worse. One of the soultakers just woke up and told us something…"

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An explosion silenced the rest of Geldi’s words. Aranea grabbed the railings, feeling the floor shake slightly. The wolf hag immediately sent the alarm to Leila, Kate, and Sonya. She jumped off the first floor and looked into the corridor before her. It was leading to one of the warehouses, and…

Seeing a red light in the distance and hearing the barking of the shardguns, Aranea charged forward, gesturing for Tiny to keep people safe. Her rail gun was destroyed, only a shardgun was currently on her back. This will have to suffice.

Making a turn, she almost slipped on a sliced-in-two body. One of her soldiers lay on the floor, two more were shot to death. It took a moment for Aranea to make sense of the situation. This group was patrolling the corridor when an underground explosion threw them to the side, allowing their foes to finish them off. Their killers, four figures in pitch-black power armors, turned to face her, aiming the laser rifles at her.

The halfbreed charged forward, appearing between the foes faster than they could react. Her elbow crashed into the helmet of one soultaker, sending the man flying into the wall. She made a low kick against the leg of the second foe, spinning him in the air with such force that he crushed concrete with his helmet. The third was greeted with a shot in the chest, painting the wall behind him red.

Aranea started to dodge the shot of the last foe when the downed foe beneath her grabbed her by the leg. He isn’t dead! Aranea reacted more on instinct based on fear than on some kind of plan, leaning to the side and allowing the crimson beam to melt her pauldron. The wolf hag shot the fourth attacker and crushed the head of the second soultaker beneath her feet. Turning around, she saw how the second attacker was trying to reach for his weapon.

Their power armor is good. My elbow didn't even make a crack. Aranea thought darkly, aiming to gun him down.

Someone crashed into her, carrying her all the way into the wall. Aranea gasped, feeling how her broken ribs sent her another surge of pain, and hit the assailant in the back of his head with an elbow. The man fell face down, leaving a faceprint in the ground, and Aranea took advantage of the opportunity to jump away, gaining distance and feeling blood on her lips.

She missed the moment to shoot at her foe because she was too consumed by the video feed that flowed on her HUD. Yuki and Sly were attacked. A figure in blue power armor appeared on the wall, walking leisurely toward fourteen wolfkins, tapping with the giant scythe with each step, and carrying Janine’s axe on one shoulder. Sonya barely had time to shout a warning for them to surrender when the figure charged and the wolfkins reflexively fired at the foe.

Or rather, they tried. All but one were dead before they managed to press the trigger. Their enemy was far too fast for them. Jekaterina Glawish, it could be no one else with this giant scythe, raced past them, her weapons weaving deadly arcs around her body. Muscles, bones, and armor had all been severed. The one wolfkin who managed to fire his shardgun was met with a blinding dome of slashes and cuts that deflected every armor-piercing shard with ease. Dropping the axe, Jekaterina grabbed the male by his throat, pulling him above the wall’s edge. The soultaker asked if the soldier surrendered and, upon receiving the positive answer from Sonya, pulled him back on the wall, letting him lie on the ground. Jekaterina then walked toward Sonya and her pack, never once speeding up, while soldiers slowly started retreating. So fast. The Soultaker killed thirteen wolfkins in the blink of an eye.

The man started to stand up, forcing Aranea to focus on him. He had a dirty beard and a long crimson horn coming from the left side of his skull. Seeing a flash of red across his horn, Aranea threw up a flash grenade and jumped to the left. A beam of crimson shot from the man’s horn, flashing red even through the blinding flash. The man grabbed his eyes, rubbing them, and Aranea shot him, point blank.

All her shots ricocheted against his face. The halfbreed's crimson eye allowed her to see that the shards' tips were melted and a strange cocoon of energy that cowered the man's face. The wolf hag aimed at his belly, noticing how the last soultaker was aiming at her.

A fist pierced him from behind. A lean, small, yet muscular hand speared him through the power armor. The man gasped, thrashing in his death throes, while his attacker unclenched the fist, showing Aranea and the man with the red horn the remains of the dead man’s heart.

"Ara…" The wolf hag was frozen, hearing a familiar voice that couldn't, shouldn't be here. No, it was impossible. She was… Her mother was…

The maddened soultaker came from behind the dead man, letting the body fall. Her smile reached all the way to her ears, opening her mouth unnaturally wide. Walking forward, she devoured the heart’s remains, and her body shifted, male and female features started to merge into one, creating an androgynous figure before Aranea.

"Aranea," The creature ignored the redhorn, coming straight to the wolf hag and lovingly caressing her helmet. The creature’s eyes changed to amber, with light burning behind them. These eyes. Aranea could recognize them anywhere. Even the smell that was coming from the being reminded her of… "You are bleeding, are you not? My poor girl, we need to see a doctor right away! You are grounded, young lady, until your injuries are healed, and this is final!"

"M… Mom?" Aranea asked in confusion. This voice, without a doubt, was hers! The warmth in her words, the look in these eyes… Aranea let her helmet slide from her head, taking the figure before her by the shoulders. "Mom, is this really you? Are you… okay?"

"My little furball," The being smiled lovingly, "The light of my eyes, the love of my heart… Ahhh… Ari, Ari, dear Ari… You are not at fault. Remember, it is very important, you… Arghhhh… Not… At… Fault… I love you so much… Your smell is so wonderful… That I want to take a bite!"

Kalaisa's mouth opened wide, pushing the flesh on her head all the way to the back of her head. The lower jaw touched the chest, while the upper jaw showed the palate to Aranea. Another row of fangs grew in this mouth, the being started increasing in mass. The elegant fingers morphed into thick clawed killing instruments, burrowing themselves in her armor's metal and shattering it like paper. Kalaisa's eyes became two orbs of light.

Before Kalaisa could bite off Aranea's head, a clawed hand struck her in the side, ripping the skinwalker from the wolf hag. The skinwalker, still increasing in size, turned to face the new opponent, and another hit speared her in the face, destroying the lower jaw.

Warlord Alpha came crushing down from the ceiling, wrestling with the skinwalker and sending Kalaisa’s body through the reinforced walls, forcing the creature out of the safehouse.

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