Chapter 21: Bonus chapter part 1: Annie’s backstory.

"Weakness."

Annie hiccupped drunkenly in her sleep, slipping deeper into memories, memories she despised, memories in which sh...

The village was burning. A host of mismatched, malformed monstrosities descended upon the place that Annie called her home. The village was supposed to be protected, but earlier this morning thirty wolfkins, along with wolf hag, left after something snatched a few cubs from cusacks pastures. It was an unexpected situation, very few beings in the Wastes were so bold to attack during the day, and against the Wolf Tribe's village no less. Yet like a gigantic vulture, something swooped from the skies, spread massive leather wings and grabbed three cubs with clawed legs. Cusacks nearby had large torn wounds on their hides, wounds when the guards arrived, they saw that these wounds had become rotten. Nobody expected to find cubs alive, as mommy explained to Annie, when the wolf hag left to enact vengeance. Annie herself heard the terrible screams of cubs, an unknown attacker purposely flew over the village, slowly breaking the bones of young cubs one after another, screeching mocking laughter that could be heard in every tent.

The warriors left. And soon, mines that were laid across the edge of the village came to life, exploding as true horror charged in. Some of the attackers had elongated heads, their arms were replaced with numerous whip-like appendages. These weird arms easily tore through the skin of the remaining wolfkins, grabbing and strangling defenders. Others had drill like hands, hands that were made of pristine white bone. Even though these arms were organic in nature, they buzzed with a loud noise, turning around and tearing the flesh of anyone they hit. Other creatures bore signs of less mutation, their eyes were on different levels, or their mouths were missing. Some had bones that covered them from head to toes, serving as armor. And others looked like normies. Naked men and women, looking just like normies travelers on the road, safe for lack of clothes, charged at wolfkins with mad howls and with a desire to kill in their eyes.

Countless monsters perished in the explosion of mines, their bodies torn asunder when shards hidden in mines came free. Some lost limbs and bled out as they tried to reach the village in a maddening charge. The Wolf Tribe was never weak. They might have lived in crude tents, but that was because they had to travel a lot, finding new pasture sites for cusacks. No food, no life. No water, no life. Outside assistance to the villages is strictly forbidden by the shamans. The weak were meant to perish. And the strong were always wary, ready for any attack from the Wastes. Each time the village was relocated, all traps were carefully collected and taken with them, ready to be deployed in other places.

But today they were found lacking. The enemies simply pushed through minefields, oblivious to their deaths. Annie saw how one monster snared Old Johatan, one of the shepherds who was always willing to share stories at the campfire. Appendages wrapped around the male’s neck, forming a noose, biting deep into his fur and skin. The eyes of Johatan widened, and the creature laughed with a bleating voice, as it strangled life from the wolfkin. Annie tried to help her friend, but only received a kick in her stomach from Johatan, sending her aside and causing blood to appear in her mouth. Sveta ran to her sister, helping Annie to stand back.

"They are hurting us!" Sveta screamed in panic, seeing blood on the mouth of her sister, "Why are they hurting us? Why?! We just live here, we…"

With a twisted "crack" sound, the creature broke the neck of Johatan. Still laughing, the creature carried the dead body to its mouth. The mouth became a rounded hole, something looking like a grey tube slithered out of the open mouth, a slug of tongue, filled with countless fangs. The tongue wrapped around the dead carcass of an old wolfkin, tearing pieces of meat away from Johatan's body. In a burst of movement and with a horrible tearing wet sound, the tongue moved back into the mouth, carrying flesh with it. Such a weird movement splashed blood across the snouts of the sisters, and Sveta screamed again.

"They are eating us?! It makes no sense, we are not cusacks! People don’t eat people! Eat a hamburger, baddy, don’t eat peop…" Sveta bleated mindlessly, her eyes appearing to be about to fall out of their sockets from the terror that the cub was experiencing. Annie grabbed her sister, dragging her away from the murderer.

The creature smiled with twisted glee and made a step forward with malformed legs, one shorter than the other, It threw away the dead body and moved appendages toward the cubs.

"I live exquisite meals…" Creature said, its mouth was opening vertically with the wet sound of slapping lips.

"Сhoke on this cuisine." Said a stern voice, and the head of the creature exploded in a shower of flesh and brains as shards slashed across it. Gilho, dressed in but pants, stepped closer, a smoking shardgun was in his paws. He spat on the dead body, turning toward his children.

"Annie, take Svetlana and run! You are responsible for her!" He shouted as the tent behind him fell apart, a roaring bestial maw, accompanied by two long arms with bone claws, crashed through the tent. The head of a dead wolfkin was in the gaping maw.

"Daddy!" Sveta screamed, as Annie dragged her sisters away. Sveta was always the smartest of them all. But right now, she was just a scared cub, unable to act.

Not Annie, no. Annie was a quiet one, a survivor. She will take them away…

Scary, so scary. Mommy, daddy, I am scared. I can’t do it, I can’t, I…

… She will save them both. Annie growled, throwing thoughts of a coward out of her mind. She was a hero! A warrior! Leaving her father battling a horrible monster, she dragged half-mad Sveta to the village center. A single wooden bridge was leading out of the village, toward the only direction from which attackers had not come. It was hastily thrown over the ravine, on the other side of the ravine was a trade road. Sveta and Annie often ran there with other cubs, to gossip with passing travelers, to hear about the wonders of the outside world. Surely someone will help them there, right? People help people, mommy always says so. Anyway, it was the only possible safe route for retreat, and besides mines, there were still in place…

Both cubs screamed in terror as the dead body fell from the nearby tent, a gaping hole in its chest. Inside the tent was a small cub, sitting on his ass. He was younger than either Svetlana or Annie, less than a year old. One finger of his paw was in his maw, and with his curious amber eyes, he looked at the massive thin creature with bone claws that stood above him.

"Cub," Sveta said, shaking fear, "We have to help… it will hurt him!"

"Yeah, but…" Annie said in despair, looking around for anything of use. The creature took a step forward, claws outstretched toward the cub's body.

A warrior does not think, a warrior acts! These were the warriors that Annie heard about when one of the travelers showed her an old comic about some ancient hero. She charged inside, slashing the leg of the weird monster with her claws, spilling blood. Her tiny claws barely pierced skin, and the creature turned to her, more surprised than hurt. It turned strangely, elongated head to the right, looking at the cub with a round opaque black eye. The gaze of the murderer seemingly pierced the very soul of a girl, a long beak-like mouth was reaching almost to the creature’s shoulder. At the edge of the mouth of the creature, right through its lips, sharp bone shards were coming out. The creature’s skin was pale, filled with countless purple veins that ran underneath its skin, twisting with each moment like a fist of worms. The large sack of flesh was behind the shoulders of the monster, flapping with each nimble step that it took toward the girl.

The Creature extended his left arm toward the cub, deliberately slowly, as if tasting fear of Annie. Annie growled, the supposedly fearless noise came more like the whimper of a beaten dog, rather than a sign of stubborn indomitance as she intended. Against her will, she backed down, and the creature followed after her, keeping the exact same distance between them. One step separates a being's torso from Annie. And the left arm of the creature was coming out, something that looked like seeping pus was falling down the unmoved claws of the being. Annie darted to the right and the creature reappeared before her, at the same distance as before, the black eye was looking into her eyes as her hand was closing ever so slowly but surely. Annie charged to the left, jumping over the makeshift chair, and yet again, the creature was moving alongside her, not lifting its gaze away from her, not even for a second, still slowly moving hand toward her. She grabbed a chair and hurled it at the being, but the creature tore the chair apart with its right hand, shattering it into countless pieces. The left hand was approaching, now but a breath away from Annie’s body. Incapable of keeping her fear down, the cub screamed out loud, jumping toward the chest with various kitchenware in it. She grabbed a pair of knives and threw them at the monster with all her might. With a wicked smirk on its turned head, the creature caught both knives with its right hand and reinserted them into the chest as Annie backed down. As it closed the chest, the demon raised his right hand and shook his long, clawed finger in mocked reapproach at the girl’s efforts, all the while following her at exactly the same distance as before, while his left hand was creeping ever closer to Annie.

It toys with me! Annie understood with horror. It could kill her at any moment. But no, it was stretching the moment, beating down the sense of inevitability into her mind. And there was something else in the black eye of the beast, hiding behind malice. Excitement. Something fell on the floor from the claw, some liquid that burned through the cloth of the floor.

"Leave my sister alone!" Sveta screamed, throwing something at the being before Annie. The monster turned its beaked head and was greeted with blinding light as flashbang exploded into the black eyes of the monster, blinding it temporarily.

Without hesitating, Annie grabbed the cub in her paw and charged away from the tent, while the being screeched in pure rage behind her. It was a guttural sound, but it was deafening enough to make Annie's eardrums hurt as if a mine had exploded near her. The cub in her paw started crying, saying the word "Momma" over and over.

"You are the best, Svet!" Annie kissed her sister in the cheek, as they ran away, "Where did you find flashbang?"

"It was on the dead mister's belt." Sveta answered, and Annie shut up, afraid that it could have been the father of the cub in her arms.

They stopped as more and more malformed creatures charged from the tents, surrounding the kids. Blood was dripping from saw like hands, wicked mouths smiled, showing needle like teeth inside their mouths. Smiling like dolls, the creatures advanced upon the kids.

And then, they stopped, as another roar came from tent behind kids, terrible screeching that caused even monsters to back off.

The sound of tearing fabric caused her to look back. The walls of the tent were torn, as massive leather wings came free from the walls of the tent. With a massive flap, the being lifted itself into the air, the shadow of the creature made both girls scream in terror. The head turned to the left, allowing black eye to look at them with boredom, as if their lives were but a pair of candles to be extinguished. It shifted its gaze to other creatures, and they ran deeper into the village in search of other prey. Demon or monster, this being claimed Sveta and Annie for himself. Wings hit the air once more, as the being smiled.

Flying demon! One who kidnapped cubs! He was here! He was after them! Annie gave the cub to Sveta, standing her ground. A true hero gives his life for others. She was a hero… even if she was a hero who wet herself from horror. She had to kick Sveta to make her run, as the stubborn girl tried to stay with her.

"Think about the cub, you selfish prick!" Annie whinnied weakly, trying to escape the shadow that was closing in on her. Sveta, looking at her sister with despair, took a few steps before stopping.

Claws hit the ground before Annie, who dodged more by miracle than skill. She whined in fear once more and slashed, leaving a small cut under the eye of the demon. The demon swiped again, but then jumped in the air as shards hit him across the back.

"Cubs! Here!" Milera, the black-furred former wolf hag, called them. She gathered a few males, including her own sons, around her and built a makeshift barricade near the exit of the village, helping young and injured wolfkin escape to the bridge as others tried to fight back. Milera herself was sitting on the chair, holding a shardgun in one arm. She had lost one leg and an arm in wars, and half of her snout was missing, revealing yellow fangs. She refused mechanical limbs, becoming one of the Crippled, wolfkins who survived thanks to the charity of the villages and shamans.

Annie liked Milera, the old lady was always busy training cubs, preparing them for pits. Sveta disliked training too much, but Milera always pushed her, claiming that otherwise the pits would be hell for her. Annie often told her not to worry, she will protect her sister no matter what.

A female wolfkin took the cub from the arms of Sveta, crying in thanks. Milera snapped at her and the woman ran toward the bridge, covering several meters of distance with each jump.

"What are you two waiting for? Run for it! The former wolf hag snapped at the males and Annie with Sveta.

"But what about you?" One of the males asked.

"But mommy is…" Sveta started asking, but Annie grabbed her by the sleeve of her jacket, dragging her toward the bridge while others were arguing.

Dad gave the order! Dad knows it all! Survive, then all will be fine! Annie thought these words as they ran toward the bridge. Once they cross it, all will be fine. Mommy and Daddy will be alive. just a few steps until the bridge. They will play again and…

A wooden beam hit Annie across the side, and she fell, holding the sleeve of Sveta’s jacket in her paw. By impulse, Sveta ran to the bridge before turning. Her eyes became round as she saw blood on the left side of Annie. The cub made a few steps to race toward her sister, but a huge shadow slammed into the bridge, breaking wooden construction.

"No! We won! It’s not fair, we won! Don’t take her… Don’t you dare take her from me!" Annie screamed in rage and despair, trying to stand up in vain. The demon arose in the air above the ruins, spreading his leather wings and screeching with a guttural voice, turning his head to the left to look at the cub with his black eye. It took a moment for Annie to understand that the creature was laughing.

There will be no escape. Annie understood with horror as the wolfkins near the bridge wailed mournfully, holding their young ones close to their chests. A murky white substance hung near the barricade for the briefest of moments, before something truly big charged forward out of it. A figure whose head resembled that of an ancient alligator. Bone ridges ran across the back of the head of the monster, running all the way to a wide tail, which ended up with a grotesque, scorpion-like sting. Each hand, larger than a wolfkin male, had only four fingers, thick, mighty weapons of murder, grasping air in anticipation. Bones were growing on the chest of the creature, protecting it like second armor. Two green eyes, with no iris in them, gazed at the defenders. The figure smiled, showing fangs. There was no mere hunger in the eyes of the creature. There was malice in these huge eyes, malice mixed with barely held anticipation. The nostrils of the creature shifted inhaling air with the sound of a raging sandstorm. The creature was enjoying itself. The skin of the creature resembled unrefined iron more than the skin of a living, breathing creature. Numerous sores covered the mighty hide, and a murky, white mist seeped from them.

"Food." The beast said, licking his lips with a purple tongue. Drool fell from his mouth, stopping in midair. It splashed against the bone chest as the monster moved.

"To the abyss with you!" Milera shouted, throwing a grenade at the creature. Despite lacking an arm and a leg, Milera was strong. Annie saw her each morning, doing one thousand pushups with her single hand. Her throw was strong as well, there was no mistake in this. And yet… Her eyes widened in surprise as the grenade hung slowly within the mist that covered the creature like a shroud. The wicked smile widened and the behemoth stepped forward, no longer charging, but instead moving with regal pride, slowly as if a king had arrived at a feast. Its thunderous steps caused the wooden beam on Annie to jump up slightly. She groaned when the beam hit her again. And again. The pain was accompanied by the steps of the monster.

Behemoth smiled at the grenade before him. It was still moving, barely, slowly turning in the air. The monster pressed his left arm to his chest, laughing and backhanded the grenade away with his right hand. The grenade moved away as if throwing water, slowly turning around as it approached the mist's edge. Once it left the mist, however, it flew away at an incredible speed, exploding among tents.

Milera raised her shardgun, firing into the smiling snout of the being. Annie felt hope rising inside her. Nothing can survive the mighty shards! Nothing… She whimpered as she saw how shards were almost frozen upon entering the white mist that was seeping from pores in the monster’s hide. Still smiling, the monster walked around the shards, closing in on Milera. She tried to stand, but when the mist touched her, her movements also became slow and sluggish, as if she was sleeping. Behemoth opened his jaws wide, revealing a maw filled with teeth that ran all the way across his throat.

The creature bit the back of Milera. Annie felt tears running across her cheeks as the old woman who taught her so much was now crying like a baby as her spine was being chewed upon by the cruel jaws of the monsters. The sons of Milera tried to kill the monster, but a swing of the tail killed two of the males, and with another motion, the creature impaled the third wolfkin, raising his screaming form in the air. The behemoth stopped eating briefly, raising its snout to the sun as its tail moved a screaming man toward his open mouth. This whole gesture resembled a cub who broke away from dinner to eat a treat. Only this time, the treat was a living, breathing human.

The creature swallowed the man whole, breaking the male’s back in two as its giant maw was closed. Annie heard the horrible sound of snapped bones and saw the wolfkin's legs and arms jerk wildly one last time before the behemoth sucked him into its maw. She saw the gaping wound on the back of the slowly dying Milera. She witnessed the monster slowly devouring the former wolf hag.

Her gaze became murky as horror and blood loss made her slowly lose her vision, making her slip closer to the realms of unconsciousness. Two creatures moved to her, opening their mouths wide, and Annie pissed herself once more from fear.

An explosion hit the behemoth from behind, and he roared in anger as his mist failed to fully stop the explosion of a grenade underneath his tail. The monster stumbled aside, the bone armor underneath his tail was torn and purple blood was leaking from several cuts on his body.

Marva stepped forward, firing a shardgun twice, killing the malformed creatures that threatened her daughter. Annie gasped as she saw her mother fight. One after another, creatures charge at her in a seemingly endless wave of limbs, tentacles, bone blades, and sharp teeth. Despite this, she weaved her way around her attackers, killing one with a precise shot before moving on, dodging, and firing again. Marva, one of two remaining warriors in the village, was without her armor. Her soft paws, which had held Annie and Sveta in their embrace while dad read them stories at night, were now covered in scratches and blood. Mommy was fighting the entire time. And she was suffering.

The demon swooped behind her, and Annie tried to scream to warn her mother. Yet it was too late. The left hand of the demon pierced the back of Marva, the back that carried Sveta and Annie on it during their games. Marva gasped from pain, the wound on her back was fresh, yet a foul smell instantly came from the wound, black rot was spreading from all sides around the edges of the wound, and blood flow soon changed to sick pus. Marva fell on her knees while the behemoth walked towards her, enveloping her in the mist.

The last thing that Annie saw before losing her conscience were the jaws that closed on her mother’s head.

****

"If you could only kill the demon. Then your mother would still be alive. Then Sveta would never fall from the bridge. Weak."

****

Annie woke up in the back of the wagon, looking at the fabric roof of the cart.

"Hurry! We have to…"

"Where was the shaman? If she would just…"

"She was at the gathering… Worst time possible."

"Eighteen cubs… I saw them being ea…"

She heard worried voices outside, when her father looked inside the wagon. One of his eyes could barely be open because of a large slash across it, a finger on his right arm was missing. He tried to smile and asked:

"Small one. It’s okay, you are safe, everything will be okay," Annie looked down and saw that her side was tightly bandaged. She could barely feel the thing, but when she tried to stand, a searing pain hit her. Her father asked with worry, "Annie, what do you remember? Where is Svetlana?"

"Dad... she fell from the bridge," Annie forced herself to say, her eyes welling up with tears with each word, "The demon crashed into the bridge and she had... We have to find her, we…"

"But… I asked you to…" He stopped, leaving words unsaid, pressing one hand to his mouth in horror at what he was about to say.

But Annie knew. She knew what he was about to say. She knew that he was right.

She was at fault. She allowed her sister to be… To be...

Annie snapped out of her thoughts at the scream outside. Her dad turned around and tried to find his shardgun at his belt with tired and bloody paws.

The behemoth of bone and rage came into view. The arms of the creature were molded into two gigantic bone blades, not a single finger was in sight. The long, bone tail moved across the sand and stone behind the creature. All around its body, from its pink skin came bones, covering it like a second skin.

It leaped at the wagon, raising the blade. Gilho roared in a rage, standing before Annie. Never before had her father looked so beautiful as he was right now. His opponent was twice his size, yet Gilho took the swing meant for the wagon and Annie on his right hand. Despite the fact that the bone blade had almost reached the middle of his shoulder, he made the weapon come to a halt.

Something akin to a smile came onto the face of the creature, and it pulled the weapon back, slicing the arm of Gilho clean. He screamed as his right arm fell on the stone road. The male fell on his knees, trying to stand up and charge at the impossible monstrosity before him. The monster raised its blade yet again. From the dust of the road behind him came other malformed creatures, and Annie looked at them with hate. She was no longer afraid. Be what may be, she will never, ever be afraid of them. If she could, she will kill them all. If she can’t, she will at least deny her fear.

A round hole appeared in the head of the bone monstrosity as a beam of darkness hit him in the temple. His head was nearly emptied, his upper half was burned away immediately as the beam fully speared through his head, hitting the side of the road. Behind their fallen champion, the creatures stopped in uncertainty, looking into the direction of the shot.

It cost them their lives when a giant figure rose behind them, a blade in each hand and four more blades in a sheath behind her back. The blades and arms of the figure turned to blur, such was the speed at which the newcomer moved. The sound of her movement resembled a cry of thunder during the sandstorms. The creatures stood no chance, the blades pierced through their hides as if they were made of paper, their bones were sliced apart and life left the bodies of enemies, along with their blood and insides. Blood was once more spilled across the field of stone and sand, but this time it was creatures who were dying.

"We have wounded!" The gigantic figure yelled. She was wrapped in a cloak of darkness, with golden trimming around the edge of the cloak. In a hurry, the figure tore off her cloak, revealing expensive looking armor that covered the wolfkin from head to toes, a mirror-like helmet of utter darkness was on the head of the savior. Annie thought she saw energy running across the edge of the long rifle at the back of the figure in black armor. The length of this marvel was insane, even her dad looked tiny compared to it.

The figure used her own cloak as a bandage around the lost arm of Gilho, stopping the blood with the help of some ropes. A second giant came before the wagon, and smaller wolfkin in power armor were charging behind them. The figure in ancient looking blue armor hit the blades in the air, throwing blood off the edges and putting weapons in the sheaths. A simple move like this left two deep cuts on the stone ground, yet Annie was sure that the blades never reached the ground.

"Secure the survivors. We head back to the village. Retribution awaits." The figure in blue armor commanded, turning away from the wagon. Her helmet's blue lenses locked on Annie for a split second.

This was how Annie met warlords Zero and Dragena for the first time.

****

"Your father saved you. And what about you? Could you save your mother? Your sister, perhaps? Weakling."

****

Annie closed the door behind herself and checked it once just to be sure. Zero will only return in a few hours, so there is no need to leave any chance for curious cubs to sneak into her den. Annie turned away from the large and tall tower and walked toward the road to the village. Her new master often offered her to stay in the tower, yet Annie always refused. Her home, however bad it was, was elsewhere.

Instead of walking down the curved road from the mountain, Annie jumped off the cliff, landing on the road six meters below her. Then she jumped off another cliff. Again. And again.

The village was now visible before her. Darkness ruled among the streets of the village. Even the store, the only place where normies were selling various things, food and drinks included, was closed at this hour. The only source of light was coming from Dragena’s tent. Even from here, the cubs' laughter could be heard, along with the warlord's barking commands for the cubs to behave and play nicely. Dragena rarely showed up in the village, yet each time she did, she always brought various sweets for the cubs, juice, chocolate, even pizzas. All the cubs, even cubs of the Crippled, were welcomed in her tent, Annie visited her a few times as well. No fighting was allowed. Each cub received the same share of food. Small forms were sitting around the massive TV when Dragena turned it on and allowed the little rascals to watch cartoons. Most of the time, however, Dragena was spending time in the field, training her pack or doing missions for the state. Shamans often grumbled that Dragena was spoiling cubs, but the warlord utterly ignored their complaints, stating that they were welcome to challenge her.

The stars shone brightly beyond the clouds above the village, and a strong breeze howled among the Wolf Tribe's tents. The Wastes were not as devoid of life as the Ravaged Lands, here and there, life was reclaiming its dominion. A small patch of grass. A tree that somehow withstands howling winds. Slowly, unsteadily, life was returning, moving from the Core Lands. The Wastes were not as hot as wolfkins preferred, and shamans of the Wolf Tribe complained frequently that Wyrm Lord was not allowing the entire Tribe to settle in an area near Fort Uglo, in the heat-scorched hell that was the Ravaged Lands. What was hell for normal people was heaven for new breeds like the Wolf Tribe. Yet Annie came to love her new home.

As Annie was coming closer to the village, she saw Hilda, the former shaman of her village. On the day of the attack, Hilda was summoned for a meeting with other shamans. Upon coming back, the massive black-furred wolfkin stripped down her own rank, lowering herself into the same position as Crippled. She lost no limbs, she was not injured, few could match this massive bulk of rage, yet now this former shaman was cleaning streets and providing people in the village with tokens that she earned on various jobs. She burned her tents and her belongings, punishing herself for her failure to protect her flock.

"Annie. For you." Hilda noticed a girl and produced some tokens, attempting to give them to her. The former shaman was dressed in torn pants and wore a rag on her upper body. Despite her current position, Hilda held herself with dignity, dutifully doing her chores around the village. She was not punished, she served self-imposed punishment, misery was unbecoming in repentance of this wolfkin. Her faith would never allow her to lie to herself.

"Thanks, but I am good. Give it to someone who needs them." Annie smiled warmly at Hilda. Despite everything that happened, she never hated this shaman. Her absence was not her fault. Both the military and civil rulers of the Tribe failed them, there was no sole person to blame. It was Hilda who introduced Annie to the teachings of spirits, helping her to live through the darkest days of her life.

Spirit of Pride. He was the one responsible for the drive in every wolfkin, the drive to be the very best. Even if you are at the top of the world, unless you constantly improve your skills, you will lose your position one day to someone who never stops learning. People worship him by cherishing their pride, not lying to themselves, and bettering themselves every day in any way they can. Weak or strong, as long as you try, the eyes of the Pride are always on you, creating a bonfire of hope inside you.

Spirit of Spite. She was the one responsible for forcing wolfkins to relive their moments of loss, for it was she who gave a burning desire for losers to become better, to defeat those who dared to beat or wrong them. You worship her by never forgetting any slight or defeat, allowing the pain of loss to burn in your mind clearly every single moment. Spite will always whisper to you wordlessly, assisting you to take one more step forward, as long as you feel the pain of your defeat, the pain of lost loved ones.

Spirit of Endurance. She was the one responsible for the unwillingness to give up. No matter the odds, no matter how far away your goal is, this spirit was the one who always gave you just a little bit of a nudge to move on one more step. She was worshiped by pursuing goals in spite of everything. Even if the entire world laughs at you, as long as you stay true to yourself and stubbornly move forward, Endurance will cherish you, giving you the power to endure one more day.

Spirit of Loss. She was the one responsible for adapting yourself, after suffering defeat. Because, no matter how strong or obstinate you are, the world is changing every day, little by little. Losing is the natural state in the world, not a single person could ever claim to live her or his life without a moment of weakness. Only a fool would insist on melee when ranged would suffice. And the Spirit of Loss despised fools, following them and ensuring that their lives will be ones of misery until they finally listened to her and changed their approach. If a person was truly too stubborn to learn on their own, rumors say that Loss will send a vision at night, showing the proper way to improve yourself, for the Spirit of Loss was not merciless, just intolerable of fools who refuse to move on to a better life. This spirit was also responsible for letting things go, for after grudges were settled, after pride was sated, all members of the Tribe had to work together at the end of the day, each in their role. Allowing yourself to not wallow in grief over loss and instead learn from it, ensuring that you will not fall into the same trap or be defeated in the same way in the future, learning to forgive is the proper way to worship this spirit.

Spirit of Rage. For when everything else falls, when your life becomes insufferable, for when the pain of loss is so great that you can’t even wake up in the morning… Rage is always waiting for you, hiding in the shadows, urging you to give up and to burn down everything in your path. Rage is something that can change the outcome of even the most certain combat, for when one fighter just refuses to surrender, he or she just may pull off a win thanks to rage. This was one of the least worshiped spirits, for the only true way to worship it was to pray for this being to direct you on a path of slaughter, a path leading to becoming a skinwalker. The wolfkins did not worship this being so much as they appeased it, begging the Spirit of Rage to keep itself away from the Tribe. No one knew if the Spirit of Rage was male or female, for when it gazed at wolfkin, transformation will inevitably come. People never had to worship this Spirit, for it was always the one who courted you. It was impossible to live without, for Rage was natural to everyone and skinwalkers saved the Tribe several times in the past, it was also too terrible to live with.

Ever since monsters destroyed the home of Annie, survivors of the massacre were welcomed to live in other, more secure village. This village was well protected, over countless tents were spread across the place, serving as homes for thousands of wolfkins who lived here. Three warlords claimed this place as their home. One was Dragena, one who owned the large tent at the edge of the village. Second was the warlord Alpha, the walking horror of the wastes. She was ranked second among warlords yet commanded the most respect of all. It was she who directed the forces of wolfkins around the Wastes, deciding who was going where. Right now was a time of peace and horror was busy lurking in her den in a nearby mountain range, allowing her pack to train without her on a nearby military base for the time being, rarely emerging. Annie was often tasked with bringing various books and boxes that arrived from the Core Lands to the doorstep of Alpha. Each time she came to the massive steel door built into the stone mountain, she felt animal fear, an urge to run and never look back. It was strange, because Alpha had trained her pack well and had never laid a claw on Annie or said a bad word to her. Yet Annie could have sworn that her heart was about to stop each time she approached the den of horror. And last was the warlord Zero, the first of all, first among equals. She was living in the sole stone tower, built here way before the village was ever established. Made of material that resembled white marble, the tower was a truly beautiful sight, not even sandstorms could scratch or dirty the surface of the weird stone. 

Hunger was unheard of ever since Wyrm Lord forced shamans to accept large caravans of food. Water, meat, bread, and even sweets for kids (the last part was strictly regulated by shamans) were brought to the village every day. Soldiers of the Reclamation Army, these ugly, horrible-looking monsters, were patrolling the edges of the village constantly, making defenders of the Wolf Tribe redundant. A lot of things have changed since the attack of the past. Wyrm Lord made it clear that his patience was wearing thin. He demanded to know the locations of all the wolfkins' villages and ordered the state's troops to protect them.

"I am home, dad!" Annie said bitterly, stepping into the dirty looking tent that served as her home. Walls of once brown fabric were now torn and covered with dried mud, insects were feasting on food that had been carelessly thrown on the floor near the chest. Let’s start cleaning all over again. Taking a sigh, the girl called again in a nicer voice, "Dad? I brought food. And medicine." No answer. No doubt he was sleeping in his den again. Oh well, she will force him to take the pills if necessary.

Bastard turned my home into a dumpster once again. Annie angrily thought, kicking an empty bottle of vodka out of her way and putting the bag with stuff on the floor.

Eight years have passed since the day when ordinary life was turned upside down in a massacre. Annie has grown up since then, standing taller than most of the blasted normies. This was to be expected, as wolfkins were known for becoming adults far faster than other new breeds. Her thick spotted fur now fully covered her body, once long hair was cut to the same size as her fur. Her claws had become true instruments of murder, gorgeous tools of carnage that made even some females in the village look at Annie with envy. She rarely let them out, however, always trying to keep them sealed in the fingers of her calloused paws.

A lot has changed in the past few years, and yet a lot has remained the same. Annie’s body was covered by scars from bites and scratches, the results of her being in the pits, fighting with other cubs for food and domination. Her father often traveled across the territory of the state, searching for Sveta in mad desperation, believing his second daughter to be alive, as her body was never found. Deep down, Annie knew what happened to her sister, she remembered well how the massive monster swallowed wolfkin whole. Remains of her mother were found, chewed and torn pieces of her body. Some bones were… Shat out by the behemoth when it fled the village.

During his travels, her father tasted alcohol for the first time. He was once a hard worker, but he changed ever since then as poison took hold in his mind. He no longer helped people around the village. Instead, he begged for tokens like an addict, demanding them even from Annie. She always gave them to him, what else was she supposed to do with money? It's not like she could use them anyway. After getting booze from the shop, Gilho usually spends all day getting drunk and complaining about how Annie failed him and her sister. Quite often, in tiny moments of clarity, her father would later crawl on his belly to his daughter, crying and begging Annie for forgiveness for his earlier words. Former friends of Gilho turned back on him, unable to see the mess that he had become. Whatever the man he once was, that man no longer existed.

Even before he became an alcoholic, he never taught Annie everything, claiming that he would explain how to do things once they found Sveta. Gilho became fixated on the idea of finding a dead person, ignoring all pleas from his still living daughter. Annie watched other families work, how they educated their children, how parents read to cubs, and how they taught cubs about rituals. Annie's chest was burning with jealousy; the desire to be noticed, to be taught, to be... Someone of need to someone. Not the empty spot she was in right now. She begged the Spirits for help each evening, pleading with them to give her a worthy life or at least take her life and give Sveta back.

And in some ways, spirits answered her prayers. Zero, the warlord of legends, had chosen Annie, out of all people. Zero, who never led any packs, who was always a solitary figure, a person shrouded in mystery, once came to the pits, just as cubs were graduating. She picked Annie, naming her a wolf hag, and gave orders to follow her to the den of the warlord, the stone tower.

Annie was thrilled at this appointment. She, she who was no one, who was far from the best fighter in the pits, who was not a quick learner, who barely knew how to write and read… She was taken in by the greatest of the greatest, first among equals, the one who stands behind the blessed mother Ravager herself! She!

She should have known better. Zero led Annie to a "workstation", a massive terminal, with a keyboard before it. A camera and a large dynamic were standing nearby. A soft and comfortable armchair was placed before the terminal. A pair of normies, disgusted-looking creatures, stood nearby, smiling in welcome.

Annie could not believe that she once liked to talk with normies. That she ever trusted them. She and Sveta often spend hours speaking with travelers, listening to stories of the outside world. Now she knew better, the attack on her village taught her better. You can’t trust anyone but the wolfkins. Normies lacked fur, had no snout, were barely the same size as Annie herself, and had no claws. They survived outside only thanks to anti-heat suits. And worst of all, they look like some of the malformed creatures who attacked the village.

Annie was forced to work with this duo, forcing herself to smile at them as they explained how the terminal and global Net work. With their help, Annie created a site on the Net, a site about the history of wolfkins, one that she was supposed to update and maintain. Zero, meanwhile, was busy tinkering with her weapon, training outside, watching the news, and responding to calls from Alpha and wyrms. Zero explained to Annie how to enter this tower and even gave her keys. At that moment, Annie still had no idea what awaited her.

She was made a "community manager" as Zero called it. The person who was forced to take messages from normies, speak with them, explain about the life of the Tribe, take and post various pictures of the village on the Net. Annie dreamed of being a fighter but was made into a worker instead. Her dreams of revenge were crushed.

Zero never taught Annie anything, often leaving her for whole days scouting and hunting raiding parties across the lands of the Third Army. Normies, blasted normies, were the ones who became teachers to Annie, showing her how to work, how to train, and even how to fight. Zero often came back covered in wounds, whole slabs of her armor were torn away, revealing thick, gorgeous black fur covered by blood underneath. Yet, despite her grievous wounds, the warlord refused to accept any help from Annie. Zero always treated her wounds herself, she never took off her helmet in Annie’s presence either. The wolf hag once asked the warlord just who was strong enough to wound someone as mighty as Zero. Zero, busy stitching her wounds, briefly looked at Annie and briefly responded that she was wounded by skinwalkers. The rumors were correct. Zero was hunting down and killing skinwalkers, liberating her kin from the existence of madness and rage.

The body of the warlord was a miracle, her long arms could seemingly reach any part of her body. Her nimble fingers were clearing wounds and stitching the edges of the wounds together with incredible care, so strange looking for someone so massive. Her fur was pitch black and well cleaned, Zero often demanded that Annie take great care of her own fur and hair as well, even going so far as to allow Annie to use the personal bathroom of Zero for this. Annie once saw how Zero was cleaning the bathroom after one of her hunts against skinwalkers. The walls of the bathtub were covered with crimson blood, even the floor was soaked with it. It made the wolf hag afraid for Zero’s life enough to call headquarters and report it to them. The medics showed up, led by Alpha herself. Zero herself grumbled at this but allowed inspection of her body. Later, Zero sent Annie home early as the warlords spent the evening arguing about something. On the next day, Zero brought pizza to a scared Annie, in order to show that she was not angered at the wolf hag’s care. The warlord still asked Annie to worry less about her.

Annie’s life was… weird. Denied even a chance of revenge, she was forced to toil at a well-paid, but hated job. Zero, despite her flaws, was a good warlord. If Annie asked for assistance with her studies, Zero would always find either online courses or bring in normies to teach her. The warlord always cheered up Annie, calling her from time to time and ordering Annie to take a break from work. When Annie was falling behind schedule, Zero herself was working alongside her, doing large parts of the job. It was weird, sitting side by side with a literal giant encased in a seemingly solid suit of armor, armor painted in the color of the darkest void. Even stranger was hearing Zero chuckle softly as she typed answers to various questions from normies about life in Tribe or seeing machine bread for killing cheerfully posting cute pictures of wolfkin villages.

The wolfkins were the sword and shield of the Dynast, soldiers of the Reclamation Army. They were born to fight for the state and to die for the state. Yet Annie was too much of a coward to admit her true desire to Zero. She was just happy that someone needed her.

"You promised not to touch the generator!" Annie screamed at her father in anger as she saw several dents in the broken metal structure near the wall of a tent and scattered bottles around it. She bought it at a cheap price on the Net and intended to fix it in her spare time. Spirits know, the village could use some more lights. If the shamans refused to let Wyrm Lord build and maintain lampposts, Annie planned to do it herself. It was common for wolfkins to contribute to the village.

"You are a stupid, selfish, useless piece of meat!" She tore the makeshift door made of cloth aside, charging to the area of the tent in which her father made his den. The tent was separated into three parts, Annie’s den, Gilho’s den, and the living area. When Annie crashed into the den of her father, a stinking smell hit her nostrils as she understood that her father had shat himself once again in his sleep. He was half sitting, half sleeping in a dusty looking armchair, bottles lay at his feet, his mouth was open and his tongue hung at the side of his jaw, You look ridiculous, you stupid, ingrate moron. Come on, wake up already, I have to clea…"

She touched him and felt cold skin underneath his fur. It took her a moment to understand that he was not breathing.

Annie did not remember well what happened next. She remembered calling the headquarters and informing them about the death of her father with a trembling voice. Then she sat on the floor, grabbing her knees, swaying back and forth slightly, and looking with bland eyes at her father. Just yesterday, he was screaming at her, blaming her for losing Sveta, after she nagged him about missing tokens. And now he was gone.

"Dad... Dad... Dad..."Annie managed to say, confused about what she was supposed to do now. Part of her world just died again. How… how does one do a funeral? What was she supposed to say now? Whom to call? How to live further? What if headquarters decided that she was the one who killed her father?

"Who cares about any of this right now?!" Annie howled, falling to her knees in front of her dead father, mourning him not as the parent he became, but as the person he was. The wolf hag howled and howled, allowing tears to run down her cheeks as she hugged the knees of Gilho. Her entire family was lost.

"Dad… Please come back. Scream at me all you want, just don’t leave me… Please, Spirits, take my life, just give his life back!" Neighbors came, alerted by her howling. Someone tried to calm her down, one person put a blanket over her shoulder as she howled in the madness of grief.

Zero arrived along with military police, gently taking away Annie, unclenching the arms of the wolf hag from the knees of Gilho. Annie cried and whined in the gigantic arms of the confused warlord. Another giant came in, warlord Dragena. She quickly checked the pulse on a body and allowed soldiers to carry him away. Annie was detained for a few days while an investigation was going on. Gilho was a famous troublemaker in the village, and wolfkins nearby reported that he was screaming at his daughter quite often. As a result, some officers among the normies suspected that the wolf hag had murdered her father in a fit of rage. Annie felt herself in constant worry because of the presence of normies around her, because she was locked behind iron bars in a place where she could neither run away nor protect herself from normies. Zero was the only one who was coming to visit her, spending hours trying to cheer up the wolf hag. Eventually, Annie was cleared of all charges, as medics finished their examination of the dead body. Gilho died from failure of his liver.

****

"Had you taken better care of your father’s health, he would still be alive. You are the bad person."

****

"One thousand ninety-eight, one thousand ninety-nine, two thousand!" Annie shouted, feeling how sweat was running down her head. She was standing on two fingers of her left arm before the graves of her parents, doing pushups. Night had long since fallen on the ground, yet light was still visible across the main street of the village.

"I did it." Annie said smugly, jumping in the air and landing on her two feet. She did not expect that locals would like her innovation. And yet the shamans approved her construction, even allocated funds to expand and maintain her lighting system. It caused Annie’s life to become even busier, but she was glad for the new challenge. Anything to be distracted. Anything to move on.

Besides, there were some perks. Locals now often come to help her maintain her now lonely tent and help her with cleaning. Someone was even bringing pies, actual pies, to her "door" every Saturday. No matter how hard Annie tried to catch this good soul and thank him or her, she always failed. Pies, on the other hand, were so sweet and tasty that they always made her smile. And the taste of the pies also prompted her to learn how to cook. Although her results have been disappointing thus far, as she discovered after Zero tried her cooking.

"Practice makes everything better!" From the closed doors of the toilet to miserable Annie, Zero weakly said. Weak words of encouragement were accompanied by sounds of violent vomiting, "You have nothing to be sorry about, you made me lose my shit! A few poisons can do this! Keep it up and you will become a great hunt… Oh, Planet, here it goes again…" Annie wanted to cry from these words. All she wanted to do was to bake a perfect cake. Not to become a poisoner.

"Sorry for not coming during the day, mom, dad," Annie bowed to the makeshift crosses. The bodies of both her mother and father were burned to the ashes, along with all the pain and all the sin. Annie still buried the ashes of her father in the same place where her mom lay, resting from her harsh life. She hoped they were happy now, with Sveta in the sky above. One day, she will join them, and they will all laugh together. But for now, she has to live on. For no other reason than to find a reason to live, at the very least. The world was huge! Surely she can find some reason to move on, "Anyway, I am still here. And I am getting better, honest. Look how strong I have become. " She showed her arms to the graves, clenching her paws and pushing her muscles to the limit. Sveta would be so jealous of her.

She grabbed the stone the size of her head from the ground and collapsed it into dust between her paws with ease. The wolf hag smiled at this. Maybe Zero will never bother to train her, but she can at least follow online courses. Sure, they were made for normies, but all Annie had to do was to increase the number of repetitions in training moves several times in order for them to be effective for her as well. She will become strong, one way or another.

She grasped her paws together, quietly repeating her own prayer over and over:

"Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back. Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back." She was writing to the investigation bureau of Reclaimers, to the intelligence bureau of Iterna, and even to the Search and Destroy bureau of Oathtakers, pleading with them to share any information about the location of Sveta. She described her sister in great detail, sending letter after letter. It was a fool's errand and yet, to her surprise, all three bureaus answered, although Oathtakers answered her first. They were empty promises to try and look for a missing person, yet even such a hope was better than nothing.

"Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back. Spirits, take my life, give Sveta back." She continued to speak as the night went on. Sleeping was overrated anyway. Today she will have to show tourists around the village, the blasted normies arrive to look at life in the village. Gritting her teeth in desperation, Annie prepared to finish her task with excellence. It was a wish of Zero after all. But it will be later. For now, she can pray.

****

"I am bored with this pointless waste of time," Virginia, a wild-looking wolfkin with rust-colored fur, lazily yawned, stretching her arms above her. Scars covered her from head to toes, fresh marks of bites and slashes were visible even despite her fur. The tip of one ear was missing, her shoulders were covered by thick scar tissue as if someone had torn the chunk of flesh out of her, "She is dead. This means I am taking her place. What’s the bother?"

Forty-nine eyes looked at Virginia in indignation. Annie herself felt her blood boiling in her veins. Gathering of the wolf hags were rare, as few of them died during peace time. Yet when one of the wolf hags died during peace time, a gathering was called. The council of all nearby wolf hags was called for the sole purpose of adjusting the hierarchy. At today’s gathering, even wolf hags from Martyshkina and Janine packs arrived, despite the distance. The least Virginia could do is to respect the rules of gathering.

"We are here to state where you stand. The position is yours, no one will deny Alpha's will," Sonya, the wolf hag of Janine's pack, said with a barely held back threat, "Yet we must know how strong our new sister is. Power ranking is but a relative, but we must know whom to give the former number three that belonged to your dead mentor and what number we should assign to you."

"This is what it is about?" Virginia mocked in response, laughing without a hint of fear in her voice, "Come on then! Send your strongest and I will give you a show! " She looked at the one-eyed wolf hag with anticipation. The former warlord calmly glared back, not saying a single word.

Growls came from the throats of the assembled wolf hags. Anger was rising in their hearts at this blatant disregard of tradition. An upstart dares to call on the strongest of the strong? Instead of climbing from the bottom, like everyone else?

"Know your place," Annie stepped forward, releasing her claws, "If you want to be the prime, then you will have to earn this right by climbing from the bottom, the same way as everyone."

"We have a volunteer then. Time to dance." Virginia almost sang, turning toward Annie. Her smile widened as she took a step toward her fellow wolf hag.

This was the first real fight for Annie outside of the pits. And on this day, as she was crushed by her opponent, she learned just how hard real warriors can fight.

As soon as the fight was over, Annie pressed her paw to her snout, covering her bloody wounds. Her blood was flowing freely from her torn nostrils, her head was scarred with four long slashes. Virginia was also breathing heavily, but she was smiling, despite the small scratches that covered her body. That was all that Annie managed to do to her before she was stomped into the ground.

"Bitch. I will get you for this," Annie growled, running with her fingers across the edges of the slashes on her skull. Damn girl! She sliced Annie’s skull all the way to the bone. This will surely leave a mark, "I swear on my pride, I will…"

"You are so sweet, honey!" Annie opened her mouth in surprise as Virginia wrapped her paws around her body, licking wounds with her long tongue, "Who raised you into such a softie? You don't hold back hits, bites, and slashes in trial by combat, stupid! If you had told me we'd be playing by cubs rules, I would never have gone so hard on you!" Virginia paused, looking into Annie's eyes with a guilty expression.

Annie could only tremble helplessly in rage. She lost, fair and square, and the winner could do whatever she wanted with her. Never before had Annie expected such fury, such rage from losing a simple duel. Virginia laughed softly, gently licking the blood from Annie's snout. Drool of the wolfkins had some ability to help in the healing process, and most members of the Wolf Tribe were durable enough to recover from even the most grievous wounds. And yet it was so humiliating to be taken care of by an opponent!

"Wolf hag Annie, know your place." Sonya said with dead calm, stepping forward, "Your presence here is merely honorable, as you control no pack, and you have no victories to your name. We will overlook your intervention this time, but in the future, stay away from challenges. Now, it's time to show the greenhorn what a true wolf hag can do. Call medics in advance, both our sisters are in need of them."

Virginia allowed an embarrassed Annie to lurk back into the crowd and turned to face Sonya. A smile was playing on the lips of the rust-colored wolfkin.

She was still smiling, when Sonya sent her flying into a nearby wall. The wolf hag of Janine’s pack ended the fight in under a minute. As soon as the beatdown was over, Virginia was so badly wounded that medics had to take her away for almost a month. The ribs on her left side were visible as skin was torn away clear, the fingers on one hand were all crashed, the right foot was broken.

As per orders of Zero, Annie and Virginia were placed in the same room in a military hospital. While Virginia was unconscious during the first day, everything was fine. Annie was relaxing and answering calls on her portable communicator for Zero. She only felt anxious when nurses were coming to change bandages and give medicine. Then, during the morning of the second day, Virginia finally woke up. Right after the nurse finished feeding the stupid idiot, the wolf hag of Alpha’s pack ended up causing guards to be posted outside of the hospital room. At midday, the number of guards was doubled, after Virginia tried to escape for the first time.

The idiot simply stood up, ignoring her wounds and broken bones, and walked out of the hospital room. The guards tried to stop her by grabbing her. Virginia simply dragged them after her as she walked out… And then the guards in power armor knocked her out with electric shock batons.

"Hey, that brawl with Sonya and you was pretty awesome, huh!" Virginia said, looking at Annie, while she was laying strapped to her bed. Annie lay on a nearby bed, also strapped to it with a thick layer of ropes. It was all Virginia’s fault, really. She was the one who tried to run away twice. Well, maybe Annie did try to leave with Virginia during the second attempt, because both of them were bored… But it was not her fault, as she tried to explain to members of the military police as they were busy tying up both patients. It was all the bad influence of Virginia. Her fluke failed, and Annie ended up being tied up as well. It took all her control in order not to bite the guards as they touched her. Yes, they were part of the state as she was. But they were not of the Tribe, and she knew full well how wicked normies were.

"What do you mean? You beat me up and I got crushed afterwards. Also, look at us right now! There is zero "awesome" in any of this, you idiot!" Annie angrily snapped back.

"Moron," Virginia spread the word for as long as her lungs allowed her, "We lay on actual beds. Beds, you understand! With pillows and blankets and stuff! Like queens! And you also miss the whole other point. You saw how strong Sonya was? Imagine how strong we can become with training? Ain’t that cool?" Seeing as Annie was silent, Virginia asked, "Hey, how are you a wolf hag, yet have no victories or warriors?"

"I am just… I am just a toy of warlord Zero." Annie decided to be honest.

"Huh?" Virginia lifted her pointy ears in surprise, "But I heard that Zero has no warriors underneath her."

"That’s the point. She made me into a community manager, whatever this is. I just speak with people and post stuff online. I mostly train alone. She never even trains me. My rank is merely her hubris. Laugh, I know I am a joke." Annie was the loser in their fight. The loser had to be fair and obey the winner. It may hurt her, but she will speak honestly.

"Well, I think that you are cool." Virginia fell back on the pillows, smiling with pleasure at softness of her bed, "You get to speak with people and have self-trained yourself to such a level that you made me work out to beat ya. Sorry about your nose, by the way."

"Can I ask you something?" Annie decided to question something that was bothering her, "If I am allowed, of course…"

"Oh, just shoot it already. For the time being, we are both just token wolf hags, no one has won or lost." Virginia managed to pull her arm free and waved her paw dismissively. Seeing this, five members of the military police, all dressed in power armors, entered the room and put the wolf hag back to sleep. This time they used chains.

"You said that I should not have hold back against you… Why are you then suddenly started to hit weaker mid fight?" Annie asked, as normies left the room.

"I assumed that you were sick or something. It’s not fair to bully weak people, so I'm slowing myself down a bit. Okay, I am sick of this place, I wanna train. I have a score to settle and others to dominate." Virginia gnawed at the chains, trying to break free once again. The guard on the other side of the door pointed at the Virginia with disbelief, gesturing to his comrades. As the wolf hag bit at the titanium chain with no success, one of the guards grabbed his head in obvious desperation. Annie saw how they prepared electric shock batons once again.

"Just fucking kill me already, will ya? I am dying from cringe here." Annie mumbled to the nurse who was coming in to give Virginia a sedative before the wolf hag broke her fangs.

Eventually, Alpha was summoned by guards. The doctors loudly protested, but Alpha ignored them as she made a single movement with her paw, leaving three deep cuts on Virginia’s chest for daring to disobey guards and doctors. It was not a slash, Alpha merely touched the wolf hag with her claws as a punishment. Annie shuddered in primal fear as Alpha shook away blood from her claws, while Virginia simply smiled like an idiot as her superior chastised her with words. One of the doctors threw himself before the wolf hag, warning the warlord that she would have to kill him before he will ever allow her to hurt a patient again. As the warlord looked at the man, sweat ran down his collar, but he refused to back down, and Alpha nodded in agreement.

"Then I will accept your superiority here and bow to your rule here, good man. Please accept my sincere apologies," The walking monstrosity actually bowed to the tiny man before her, showing her own neck, which was one of the greatest signs of trust and respect that a warlord could show to an outsider of the Tribe, "I will use a civilized method to ensure order. Virginia, should the guards call me again, should you cause any trouble for them, the doctors or your roommate, I will recommend you for another pack. I have a little one to watch over and you distract me from raising her properly." The eyes of Alpha burrowed into the skull of the suddenly scared rust-colored wolfkin. Annie never thought anything could scare this idiot, but this simple threat banished the smile off the face of the wolf hag as she swallowed in fear, looking at her own shoulder all of the sudden.

Alpha was the chief trainer in the Tribe. Her pack was the largest, but she also often sent members of her pack into the packs of other warlords when she felt that they could no longer grow under her own leadership. To be recommended by Alpha was a sign of honor, it meant that a wolfkin still had the way to grow, only on her own now. Some of the former wolf hags of Alpha even rose to the ranks of warlords in other packs. Annie was unsure why the stupid idiot was suddenly afraid of it.

After that, Virginia finally agreed to lie in her bed and relax, allowing the doctors to do their work. The chains and ropes were soon removed and neither wolf hag tried to escape anymore. Unfortunately for Annie, Virginia was only shaken for barely an hour before she began babbling on about everything once again.

****

"Warlord? Can I…" Annie asked, knocking on the door to Zero’s room.

"Sure, come on in."

Annie opened the door and carefully stepped into the private den of Zero. This was a vast, spacious room lighted with multicolored lights that were coming from chandeliers on the ceiling. Stone walls were covered with soft looking wood, a fire was cracking softly inside the fireplace near a large bed, covered with soft looking blankets. Photos of Zero covered the walls. Zero was never photographed alone, she was always surrounded by others. In one photo, she was in a long skirt and a golden jacket from the Royal University of Iterna, a tie of Zero’s was carelessly thrown over her shoulder as she was towering over other people in the photo. The warlord had to bend herself in order for them all to hug each other and fit in the photo. According to the date, this photo was taken over two hundred and fifty years ago. Another photo was of her with Dragena, Alpha, Lacerated One, and Ygrite. A hood of a jacket covered Zero’s head, while she was sitting on the ground, cooking food. Annie could see the tip of Zero’s snout, smile was on her lips, two yellow dots shone brightly on the fabric of her hood, indicating the location of her eyes. At the feet of Alpha lay an impressive piece of meat, likely torn from a sand ripper. The bones and totems served as clothes for the second warlord. Lacerated One was sitting in the open, holding her paws in prayer over the fire, dressed only in ritual garb. Dragena was dressed in a strict military uniform, carrying a med kit behind her back, while she herself worked with her blades, slicing away the meat for Zero to cook. Warlord Ygrite, a horrible looking wolfkin, whose snout was pierced with countless fangs coming from inside her body, was standing guard, the only one present in power armor, her helmet hanging from her waist. This photo was titled "First Gen Forever". Aside from this photo, one thing connected all of the other photos. On each and every one of them, the face of Zero was removed, instead of her head, there was a black oval over her shoulders. Near one wall of the room lay a bass guitar, clearly forged and made for someone of Zero’s size. The sound of gentle piano music was filling the room.

Zero herself, still in her solid helmet, was sitting before a large terminal, laying back casually in an armchair. Zero was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and shorts. Her gorgeous black fur was shiny, as if it was absorbing light in the room, sealing light inside each strand of hair. Not a single scar was visible on her body. On a screen before her was the image of another warlord in a helmet.

"I will leave you alone. But Zero… If I am right and this will work, it will be a huge step forward. We can't make mistakes this time." The warlord on the screen said in a stern voice.

"Then we won't make mistakes! Thank you so much, Valerye! Scorpio and Dragena will have a field day with this challenge!" Zero sent an air kiss to the warlord on a screen, before turning off the terminal and turning toward Annie. With a snap of her fingers, Zero turned off the music in the room and returned the light to its normal white color. She almost jumped from the armchair, taking off papers from Annie’s paws, her black fur gleamed in the soft light of the room. Zero briefly checked the papers, "Great! You did really well by digging these stories out of the shamans, Annie!"

"Uhm… I kinda unsure," The wolf hag admitted, shifting from one foot to the other, unsure if this was ok for her to speak her mind. All she did was simply ask questions and write stories on paper. Finally, she decided to speak about her fears, "I mean, read them. Yes, these wolf hags saved a lot of people, but look how the shamans describe how ferocious and bloodthirsty they were! This is bound to only scare the normies. "

"They might or might not," Zero eagerly nodded, "You see, Annie, the first step to removing borders between people is to let both sides to learn about each other. Good and bad. Cool and nasty. Shamans shared their teachings with normies, but we must also share our stories and history. We aren’t perfect, but none really is perfect, so who cares! Make sure to add these to the list of the stories… Now tell me," Zero suddenly lowered herself on one knee before Annie, "What exactly has been bothering you so much recently?"

"I kinda lost and tarnished the honor of your pack." Annie mumbled angrily.

"Think nothing of it." Zero put her paw on the shoulder of Annie.

"Nothing?! The Spirit of Pride demands that we value our pride. The Spirit of Spite demands that we cherish our losses! Through acceptance of our loss, through hate of defeat, we grow stronger. Through the desire to take our pride back, we force ourselves through…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know all this stuff," Zero raised a finger in the air, stopping Annie from talking, "Yet, here is the kicker. Spite and pride aren’t worth shit. Let me tell you a story. At the dawn of our Tribe, when we all lived in an abandoned military base together, there were two girls. One was known as Z and the other as D. They were best friends ever, as much as anyone could be friends with D, D is one weird girl. They both played, hunted, and fought together. They both had each other's backs in all situations. Back then, the tribe was small, less than a hundred heads, and Z and D were quite young rascals, younger than even you. Z was always envious of D because no matter how hard she tried, she could never beat D, not even once. Z made countless mistakes and, because of her lack of supervision, some kids died while in her care." For a brief moment, Annie felt Zero's grip on her shoulder tremble, but the warlord continued casually telling her story, "Meanwhile D was always perfect, always completing any task to perfection. Resentment and envy grew deep inside the soul of Z. Each time in hand-to-hand combat, Z lost. Filled with spite, Z called D for a proper rematch in actual combat. Z prepared three pitfalls, laid down sixty landmines and used two sniper rifles against D. After a whole day of struggle and loud explosions, D lost. Z mocked her helpless opponent and put two armor-piercing bullets in her opponent's kneecaps."

"This seems to be exceedingly brutal. If you win, you win… No need to go so far. Z is a real bastard." Annie said in horror.

"You have no idea. Z was a real scumbag back then. Kids are sometimes cruel, and kids left without a proper guidance are sometimes the cruelest beings alive," Zero eagerly nodded her head, "Back to the story. Z brought D, who was tied up and bleeding, back to camp. She let D hang off from the entrance to the military base, for everyone to see and mock her rival. When Ravager came back, she took Z aside and asked if this made Z feel any better."

"That… doesn’t sound like anything that the blessed mother would do." Annie carefully said. Ravager was known for her violate temper. Back when she was with the Tribe and the forces of state, Ravager was always on the front lines of combat. The shamans told how the blessed mother, covered in gore from head to toe, broke line after line of enemy resistance, killing their leaders and bringing the rest to their knees before the Dynast."

Back when Ravager arrived to reclaim the area where the current fort Uglo stood, it was under the control of a person known as Mincemeat, one of the strongest known new breeds in the region. With his vast power over the mind, this wicked being controlled over half a million people, using their bodies as dolls. The unique body of Mincemeat had no need for sleep, and his twisted will demanded total obedience from everyone around him. Stripping people of their will, using them as extensions of his own body, he built valleys of statues in his name. Like rats, people were toiling to death in ginormous mines underneath the castle of the new breed, dying by the hundreds each day. Forcibly making people breed to produce new slaves for himself, Mincemeat also liked to capture various traders who dared tread around the edges of his empire. When ambassadors of the Reclaimers arrived for negotiations of his surrender, their will was also stripped from their bodies, forcing the ambassadors to join the ranks of wordless slaves of Mincemeat. With a smile on his face, Mincemeat made one of the ambassadors skin himself during a video call with the Dynast. The Dynast watched his servant die with a calm face, completely ignoring Mincemeat's boasts, his gaze was only on his man. As the life of an ambassador was over, so too was the call. Peace failed, strength was needed to reclaim the land.

This was when Ravager stepped in. She was always giving new breeds only one chance to give up and surrender, upon refusal she always personally killed the enemy leadership. The shamans still told stories about that battle. Hordes of enslaved people, as far as the eye could see, living waves spreading from horizon to horizon, moved upon armies of Reclaimers. Mincemeat laughed in the seat of his power, assured that in any turn of events he would obtain new slaves. Screams of rage, unleashed by his minions, hit the ranks of Reclaimers like a fury of nature. The Dynast stepped forward, ignoring the urges of his bodyguards and advisers. The ruler walked within the territory of Mincemeat’s power and the terrible mind of his foe brought the Dynast to his knees as Mincemeat noticed the presence of a free mind in his lands. Yet, just a moment later, Dynast stood up, shaking off the enslaving mind power of Mincemeat as easily as a man would shake off dust from his shoulders. The liege of the state walked back to his forces, gesturing for his chosen champion to step forward for this battle.

Only one warrior moved forward. Like a falling star, she crashed into ranks of foes before her, cleaving her way through a living sea, coloring the sand with the red blood of foes. She needed no weapons, save for the power that she had in her own paws. No armor covered her form, for fear unleashed had no need to be concerned about her own life. The howl of rage, produced by the throats of unwilling slaves, was answered by the roar produced by the throat of the living death, rendering thousands of people close to her deaf as blood flowed from their ears as their eardrums were popped by the sound. The roar of Ravager temporarily broke the mind control of Mincemeat over his minions, and screams of horror, heard for miles, filled the day, as people gained control over their own bodies for the first time in their lives. Leaving weeping people, Ravager moved forward as Mincemeat hastily assumed control over his forces, whipping them into an even greater frenzy with his mind. His attempts to control the mind of Ravager failed in vain.

Only one form, that of the color of the darkest night, goodness of rage and fury, reached the tall fortress of Mincemeat, and the new breed knew fear for the first time in his long life. He contacted the Reclaimers via communicator, begging for truce as the wall of his fortress fell from a single punch of Ravager, stones fell down in an avalanche of death, killing foes that tried to swarm Ravager as the blessed mother stepped inside the fortress of the tyrant. Silence was the only answer to the pleas of the tyrant, the Dynast wasted no words for dead people. Screaming in horror and pleading for mercy, Mincemeat was torn from his cradle of power, dragged outside into the courtyard and lifted high in the air for everyone to see, while drones of the Reclaimers recorded the last moments of his dread empire. The pleas of Mincemeat were left unheard, for his crimes far outweighed his value to the state. In vain, the bodyguards of the tyrant hacked and slashed the fur of Ravager in vain, trying to save their cruel master. The hide of Ravager could withstand almost anything, and any exotic weapon that managed to leave tiny scratches upon the majestic skin of the blessed mother was simply not enough to kill her. The wounds of the blessed mother healed as quickly as they appeared. Mincemeat was given the mercy that he never gave to his victims, a quick death. Like a balloon, the form of Mincemeat popped between the paws of Ravager and his hold over his minions fell. His dominion lasted for nearly a century, and it was over in a day. Such was the wrath of Ravager, wrath that left forty thousand corpses in her wake as she walked toward the fortress of Mincemeat. The tyranny, upheld by thousands of unwilling slaves, was overthrown by just one person.

Half a million people, who remembered how they were enslaved every day, people, who remembered how they were controlled like marionettes, were now before Ravager. The blessed mother did not know what to do with them, as many slaves never even learned how to speak. Many of them were on the verge of death, exhausted by countless years of toiling for the sake of the mind tyrant. Devourer himself took custody over them, convincing Dynast to enlist the help of both Oathtakers and Iterna to help rehabilitate the victims. It took years, enormous efforts that strained the state to its breaking point, and assistance from both allies and foes. This slowed the Reclamation Army greatly, yet at the end, many of the prisoners were able to start normal lives, further empowering the state. The day Mincemeat and his empire fell was dubbed the "Day of Liberation" and became a holiday in the Wastes and Ravaged Lands. The ten-meter-tall Ravager statue was built by grateful former prisoners and stood in Fort Uglo for a year before Ravager broke it in one of her rages, claiming that the mysterious "she" would have found a way to save everyone, and thus Ravager deserves no credit for the mindless slaughter that occurred under her command during the "Day of Liberation".  Yet to this day, some people in the Wastes still worship the blessed mother in thanks for liberation, viewing her as a hero, ignoring the desires of Ravager. Wanting to know more about Ravager of the Dunes, people asked shamans and warlords about her and the faith of the Tribe. Surprisingly, faith in spirits quickly spread throughout the Wastes, Core Lands, and even Ravaged Lands. The Church of Spirits was formed in the lands of the Reclamation Army, led by normies and new breeds of the state. Although they followed the same creed as the Wolf Tribe, shamans always rejected their offering to unite faiths into one. The Church of Spirits within the Core Lands was under strict regulation from the Dynast, who viewed it simply as another instrument for the unity of the nation.

"I know, right!? I was… I mean, Z was so afraid that Ravager will kill her. The original always just beat the knowledge into ya, instead of speaking. Seeing blessed mother so calm and sad even freaked out Z, who expected the beating to begin at any moment. And yet this time, Z and Ravager simply sat side by side, speaking for a long time with each other, something that they had never done before. At the end, Z understood. She humiliated and hurt her friend, and for what? Meager satisfaction? Piss poor reward. Z tended to the wounds of D, not daring to ask for forgiveness. Ever since then, Z tries to be a better person, but the rift between her and D remains to this very day. And yet these two work together even now, in some faraway place, learning from each other and helping the Tribe grow. The moral of the story is, who cares if someone is stronger than you? We all must work together, instead of maiming each other. That and also, everyone can change in the end, you, me everyone."

"Point A, you said that Z and D were friends. Yet I just met Virginia recently and she took me apart like I was nothing. I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know me. Frankly speaking, I don’t care to know her. Point B, I don’t hate her this much to cheat in a fight against her, so your story doesn’t really work here. Point C, you said that pride and spite do not matter, yet they pushed Z hard enough for her to prevail against D. I just want to beat Virginia fair and square, like a true warrior, and restore my honor!" Annie hit herself in the chest defiantly.

"There are other things in the world, Annie!" Zero stood up and led Annie by the shoulders to the wall, showing her photos, "Look! Look, you can go to university, find friends, like I did. You can find some sports to play, join an official team… Then be kicked out due to being "abnormal"… I am still bitter about this still… Anyway, you can even start a farm, or maybe go work at a factory! All professions are important, all people are valuable to the state. Hell, you can become a singer if you want. Look here!" Zero almost dragged Annie to the terminal and pressed buttons on the keyboard, showing an image of tropical jungles, "You ever been here? Or here?" A new image of a gigantic sprawling city appeared on the screen. Flying vehicles lazily moved above crowded streets, massive parks, filled with countless trees, were placed around the city. Normie couples were walking on the small stone roads or were sitting relaxing beside pools of water. Skyscrapers were so tall that it looked as if they were supporting the skies like pillars. The eyes of Annie widened as she never imagined that so many people could even live in the world, "Or maybe something like this will be more to your liking?" Once again, the image shifted, showing countless fields covered with snow. Cities, massive hubs, surrounded by spherical domes, were standing proud against nature’s wrath. The camera that showed the place changed, showing what was inside gigantic domes. Inside were people, gathered together during some celebration, laughing as a massive concert was happening in the middle of the city, others played on the street with snowballs. The message "Celebration of New Year in the Northern Regions" was running below the video on the screen. Fireworks erupted from the steel dome's very ceiling, exploding in purple, red, green, and other colors, "The world is big, so big that you would never believe it, Annie. I know why I am here, why I must stand by the side of my Tribe. But you, you! What could possibly be the reason for you to stay here? Go on, live, see the world! This is what young people should do, and not spend their lives fighting all the time. I can’t send all the cubs out there, but I can pay for your travels at the very least. Go on, make mistakes, make friends, have fun and learn. You will honor the fallen by living a full life, rather than living in their shadow."

"With all due respect, warlord, my mother died protecting me and Tribe. My father fought for the Tribe. My sister died because I was too weak to save her," Annie forced herself to speak calmly, "Your words make sense and are true. But I want to be a true soldier, someone who will protect weak people. Someone who will become the shield and sword of the state, just like my mother was. Spirits saved me for a reason. For this reason, I must learn to fight. I must learn how to exceed as a member of the Tribe."

"Soldier, huh…" Zero thought for a moment, "If that is your wish, so be it. I will think about what I can do to help you with this. In the meantime, I have a new task for you. Since you have done such a great job with your current assignment, I have a new one for you. You and Virginia will work together for a while."

It took all the composure of Annie in order not to scream in anger at this order.

****

Annie stretched out her legs and arms, enjoying the absence of pain in her bones. Ugly scars still covered her skull, yet cracks in her bones had finally healed. Torn muscles were reconnected and healed, once more, she could continue her usual routine of training before the graves of her parents. She asked Zero for some iron weights and received two ginormous ruined iron slabs. Formerly, this black iron adorned the armor of the Zero, serving as part of her chest plate, but the warlord had long since replaced them during repairs on her armor and left them laying around in the warehouse in her den, never finding time to reforge them into something suitable. Training with both slabs of iron at once was too straining for Annie right now, so she used chains to strap one to her back, as she was doing squats, pushups, running and jumping courses. According to Zero, wolfkins grow stronger by dominating others and by winning in combat. Annie had no one to fight this, yet rigorous training was making her muscles grow bigger with each day, bit by tiny bit. She'll be able to do push-ups with both iron slabs with ease one day.

Annie unlocked the lock on the chains, easily catching the metal slab with a single hand as her communicator called. She smiled, despite the sweat in her eyes. The slab was still a bit heavy, but not as much as it was weeks ago. She put metal on the ground, looking at the message on the communicator.

"Check it out!" Came a text message from Virginia, with added images to the file. Annie frowned in annoyance but calmed herself. She did ask the fellow wolf hag about help in gathering images for the site of the Wolf Tribe.

Her brows went up as she looked at the images with increased worry. The first set was something normal, sunset, dawn, ruins of an underground city. A glow was rising from the ruins of the city, the deadly poison of the old world was rising to a clear night sky, painting it with pink color, giving the light that was coming from shining stars above in the skies the orange-pink light, surrounding the whole area in otherworldly light. Virginia, in crimson power armor without a helmet, was posing with a normie cub on her shoulder, some kilometers away from the ruined city. Other normies, cubs and adults, surrounded her and a few members of her pack. On the ground before them lay broken forms of insectoid warriors, assembled in "Missin Accomplished" words. Annie assumed that Virginia simply misspelled the first word. Probably on purpose.

This was good, this was something she could work with. This was actually an inspiring picture, much unlike the pictures of the dead raiders that Virginia had been sending her at first.

"You are the best! I will be taking these ones." Annie quickly replied to the wolf hag. Zero insisted that she enlist the help of Virginia. Even Alpha sent a message that she was ok with this idea, as long as it doesn’t hinder the missions.

"I still don’t get what was wrong with the first pics. These were just raiders. You know what they do to people. Ain’t no one will miss them. " Virginia replied.

"Cubs are visiting our site from time to time. You think it is fine for them to see freaking dead bodies? Iterna will ban access to our site in an instant!" Annie typed the response angrily.

"Eh, what cubs didn’t see the dead bodies?"

"Normal ones." Annie quickly replied, "Anyway, thanks for the great job. Please send images of how you trade with locals, help them, and similar stuff. Something inspiring."

"Dead bodies usually inspire fear in our enemies."

"Or make them fight to the last, if they decide that we show no mercy. No dead bodies, no human blood. Helping hand, smiling cubs and scenery. Nice scenery, not a scary one! This is what I need!"

"The hell is "nice scenery" even mean?! Fine, asshole, I will see what I can do." Virginia sent a message and turned off her online status.

Annie rolled her eyes. The Wastes were a large region between the Ravaged Lands, lands uncontrolled by the state, and the Core Lands, heartland of the state. Over the years, the Core Lands has been expanding itself, terraforming the surrounding area into something more suitable to live in. Where there used to be deserts as far as the eye could see, the land was now covered in greenery. Where sandstorms once ravaged the surface, now rain was calmly falling on the ground, giving life to mighty trees underneath. Humanity was slowly but steadily regaining its footing after the Extinction.

Yet, with this came some problems. The Wastes were getting smaller and smaller. The wolfkins preferred an overheated climate, thus shamans were driving the Tribe closer and closer to the Ravaged Lands, moving away from the creeping green. It will take decades before the first terraforming machine even comes here, yet shamans are already thinking about an exodus into the Ravaged Lands. The Dynast, sole ruler of the Reclamation Army, also wanted the Ravaged Lands for his own goals. The goal of the Reclaimers was a simple one: to unite the entire planet, restore the world, and bring peace and prosperity to all. The Ravaged Lands were a long-time place where the interests of Iterna and Reclaimers were crushed against each other. Both sides possessed weapons of mass destruction, and both sides banned their usage. In order to avoid escalation that might bring another Extinction, diplomats from both sides worked overtime to make a proper deal on how to split spheres of influence. In the meantime, Wyrm Lord was sending parties to the Ravaged Lands to answer calls for help from locals. After all, if locals joined willingly, it was not a conquest but a peaceful reunification. Virginia was part of one such party, tasked with protecting the village from rampaging insectoids.

Annie shrugged her head, collecting her training gear and dragging it back to her tent. Who cares about politics anyway? Politics is best left to smart people, someone like her will only mess things up. She leaped out of her tent, not bothering to close the door behind her. There was nothing of value inside anyway.

She dashed up to the tower, flung open the door, and jumped into the chair, turning on the terminal. Zero was absent, and this was good. The warlord would have undoubtedly chastised Annie for working overtime again and for not taking a shower before sitting in the armchair.

But the photos were so good! She had to post them right now because people often asked what exactly the wolfkins were doing in the Ravaged Lands. The Wolf Tribe led a reclusive life. Their villages rarely had guests. It was natural that stupid normies and other new breeds were wary of them.

Well, maybe now they will see that we do not do anything bad, thought Annie, uploading images. It was a fool's hope, of course, but for the wishes of Zero, Annie will give up her all.

"Miss Annie, I presume?" Asked a cold voice behind her, and the woman jumped in the air, landing on her feet while she turned around.

I forgot to close the door! Panicked thought came as Annie looked at the man in the black military coat before herself. A helmet from an anti-heat suit was on his belt. A single medal, in the form of a silver eye, was on his chest. The black leather cap was on the brown hair of the man, his skin was highly tanned, clearly as a result of overexposure to the harsh climate of the Wastes. Black eyes calmly looked at Annie, while one hand, covered by a leather glove, was on his belt, next to a holstered pistol.

"Who are you? This is a private den of the warlord, I demand that you leave immediately." Annie demanded to know, feeling sudden fear. She was unsure why, normie before her was barely a threat to her. Even if this dude was a raider, the bones of female wolfkins were tough enough to endure even bullets, should he somehow reach for his gun in time.

"Angoro Viscario, lieutenant from the investigation bureau," The man nodded his head in a sign of respect, yet made no attempt to leave. Instead, the agent lazily looked around, as Annie felt increasing unnatural fear, "We received a request from you about your sister. I am sad to inform you, that the investigation has given no results so far, but we do not lose hope. Truth always comes out, miss Annie…"

"Wolf hag Annie." She corrected him.

"Of course," He said, without bothering to say her rank, "As I was saying, we failed. For now. My presence here, on the other hand, is because of something you did, Annie."

"I already told you to leave. This is a private den. And use my rank, when you speak with me." Annie clenched her fists and forcibly relaxed herself. He was looking to rile her up, no doubt. This is why he came without Zero around. Wave of fear hit again and with surprise, she noticed how the left eye of Angoro twitched, his hand moved closer to the gun. What is going on?

"As I was searching for your sister, I received information from the postal service that someone was writing to our… fellows in Iterna and Oathtakers. I was surprised to learn that it was you. So, I can't blame you for caring about finding your sister, little Miss Annie, but do you understand what you have done and how it makes us looks? Obviously not, this is why I decided to come in person and speak with you abo…" The agent stopped as his eyes widened. Annie could feel it in her soul, the feeling of inevitable mutilation, the feeling of approaching pain. Out of the blue, it became harder to breathe, and she swallowed drool loudly to break the imaginary blockade in her throat, uncaring if she would look stupid to the agent. He too was looking at her with something akin to desperation. For a moment, they were close to jumping into the embrace of each other, like a pair of scared cubs.

"Interesting," Came a cold voice from the exit. Annie knew this voice and tried to look as small as possible. The tanned skin of the agent was suddenly becoming pale, while he struggled to turn around and face the newcomer, "Tell me, what law exactly did the wolf hag Annie break by writing to a neutral country? I admit that I never heard of such a law."

A monster stepped inside the tower, but it was a familiar monster. Each paw of warlord Alpha had only three long fingers, but these fingers ended up with long, thick claws. Despite giving a fake impression of a dull instrument, the mere touch of her claws was capable of rending steel asunder. Her claws were the size of her fingers, it was impossible for her to retract them. The fingers of her three-fingered feet ended up with long, curved claws which produced clicking sounds as Alpha moved around. Despite this, when the warlord wanted to, she could move around in full silence. Her wrists were thicker than Annie's entire body. No fur was on the body of this monstrous warlord, only a short topknot of crimson hair was on her square-shaped head. The wolfkins usually had brown or light skin underneath their fur, yet the skin of Alpha was that of the palest snow, giving a stark contrast with her burning amber eyes. The whites of her eyes were of a regal purple color, snout of Alpha was shorter than that of a regular wolfkin, and her ears were round. Alpha was dressed in a green military coat, leather boots on her feet had openings for claws, underneath the coat Alpha wore a sweater and camo pants. Three bright medals were on the left side of the coat, one bronze medal for bravery and two silver ones, one in the form of a star for rescuing comrades under fire and another in the form of a triangle, gifted to those who managed to lead the civilian population out of a war zone.

She knew?! Annie wondered aloud as Alpha's massive form approached them. The warlord could not dress herself, not with her unnaturally sharp claws. Someone had to help her dress herself. Annie knew it, because several times she herself was tasked with providing help to the Alpha. In combat, Alpha was probably unstoppable. But everyday life was hard for her, she had to use help to do many basic necessities and use custom power armor and communicators in combat. The paws of Alpha were not capable of creating and maintaining stuff, only of destroying and tearing asunder things. The only reason why she could be here, fully dressed, was because she knew about the coming of the agent.

"Warlord Alpha. "Your presence here is… Is…" Angoro stuttered, his teeth loudly clacking as he spoke. Sweat ran down his brow. Annie felt her own legs tremble all of a sudden, try as she might, she just couldn’t shake off the sense of utter despair and fear that arrived along with Alpha.

The warlord looked at both people before her. Massive eyelids lower themselves, hiding the blinding light of her eyes for the briefest of moments. The warlord inhaled air. And then the sense of dread disappeared, as if someone turned on the light in the dark room. Alpha looked inquisitory at an agent, awaiting an explanation.

"Miss Annie broke n…"

"You will address a soldier of my kin as wolf hag Annie. Insult her once more at your own peril." The words of Alpha were calm, no sense of anger or threat could be heard behind them. Yet the agent swallowed suddenly, as if something nearly hit him. As Alpha spoke, Annie saw two rows of fangs inside the jaws of warlords, the front row was filled with thin and sharp fangs specifically designed to create clean, gushing wounds. The fangs in the second row were thicker, forming a set of truly mighty chompers that were capable of rending any bone to dust and biting through any muscle.

"But of course. No disrespect was implied. Wolf hag Annie committed no crime; I've simply come to inform her that some sensible things should be kept in secret from other countries. It will make us look bad if other intelligence agencies decide that we can’t…"

"I see. For this reason, you dared to enter the den of the warlord, uninvited. For this reason, you sneak on the wolf hag this late in the night. Disrespect might not be implied, yet threat was implied, am I right?" Alpha asked bluntly, staring down at the man. The clawed hand moved, beckoning Annie to come forward, "Wolf hag. There is a communicator on my belt," Alpha said, pointing at the oversized device, "Dial the number eight-six-point-one, at once." Annie hurriedly jumped toward the warlord, pressing the numbers on the device. The breath of Alpha is similar to an arctic wind that the wolf hag saw on television. Cool and cold, with a hint of stillness in it. Annie's head barely reached the warlord's waist, and she had to stretch herself to reach the device.

"Not threat, warlord. Merely… a warning, nothing more. We merely wanted to preserve the image of... The agent tried to weasel his way out of the problem, looking at the exit behind the warlord.

"The only reason why our image might look bad is through the incompetence of our own actions. True professionals care not about the opinions of rabble." A new, cold voice said from the communicator. Whoever it was on the other side sounded like a person who was used to being obeyed at once. The sound of flowing water was on the other side of the communicator, along with loud music. In Annie's opinion, Melody resembled a series of cannonballs falling upon the land, accompanied by the hoarse voice of a singer that overused words like "Death" and "Push" far too much. Something clicked at the other side of the communicator and the song stopped, leaving just the sounds of water and a same cold voice, "Alpha? Why are you bothering me during my relaxation time and who is this idiot who speaks such foolish things?"

"One of the agents from the bureau swung by and tried to intimidate one of my kin. On behalf of the wolf hag, I demand satisfaction." Alpha was still looking at the agent.

"Tried to? So this fool failed even at that? The height of incompetence. Wolf hag, I demand a full report." The cold voice asked once more, and Annie looked at the warlord pleadingly. Shew was not used to reporting anyone. Besides, nothing bad happened anyway…

She shrank down when the warlord looked at her, before immediately standing at attention. Words came out of her mouth, flowing like a river. She tried to explain the situation as best she could, without making any more problems for anyone.

"…So you see, this is no big deal, mister…"

"I am captain Ivar. And I am the one who will decide if this situation is important or not," A hint of steel could be heard in the voice, when the strange man stopped Annie’s verbal flow, "Sergeant Viscario, you have disappointed me greatly. I could’ve forgiven the fact that you decided not to inform me about your little operation, even though all new breeds of the Wolf Tribe are in the care of my brother. My brother and I are merciful beings, we would have gladly overlooked this minor insult. I would’ve even forgiven your boldness of entering the den of the respected warlord uninvited, since this is only partially your fault, due to the door being left open. But a combination of both? Incompetence at intimidation? Boldness to be here, worrying about the image of the bureau, despite your utter incompetence at finding a missing person? No, no clemency from me anymore, even my mercy has its limits," The voice told the pale agent in the tone that sounded like a judge who was giving a death sentence to a criminal, "Wolf hag Annie, you may claim satisfaction. State the desirable punishment, anything will do. Within the laws of the state, of course."

"Please, there is no need for any punishment! It was just a misunderstanding, caused by my…" Annie said as she desperately tried to find some way to end this strange discussion. The words of captain Ivar were scaring her. He sounded casually dismissive, almost like if he was fully fine with killing the agent here and now.

"If you will not choose a punishment, I will." Ivar responded to the plea with the same cold voice.

"Then…" Annie looked at Alpha, but the warlord ignored the woman, looking instead at the pale-looking agent with the eyes of a predator. Her tongue moved across her lips, giving her the impression of a predator that is eager to try the meat of its prey. The agent tried to stand with dignity, despite a hint of fear in his eyes, "Lieutenant Viscario told me that he searched for my sister, right? Then let him continue to look after her, if this is okay."

"Hm… A lack of punishment is not a proper substitute for justice… But I will allow it this time. Sergeant Viscario. You have heard of the wolf hag. Find her sister. I will also send my own official complaint to the bureau. Dare not to even step close to the new breeds under the command of the Third Army without informing me first. Am I understood?" Even Annie could understand the threat that was in the voice of the captain.

"Of course, sir." The agent bowed quickly, looking at Annie with gratitude. She just turned away angrily. He was still just one of the normies. She wasn’t sure why she bothered to help him get out of trouble.

****

"Sorry, can I ask you some stupid question?" WingedMonstrocity87691 wrote in chat.

"Shoot away, but I don’t promise that I will answer it." Annie typed on a keyboard, rolling her eyes. Tons of weirdos were asking her… not very pleasant questions about the Tribe. She wondered if this one was one of them. The nickname sure is checking out.

"Is it true that wolfkins have breasts?" Words came on the screen, and Annie sighed. Yeah, you sure sound like some weirdo.

"Yes, we do, but we rarely feed our cubs with milk from them." Annie wondered why she was doing this. It was her job, yes, but some topics were… unpleasant for her, "You see, females in our Tribe usually have five to seven cubs. Twin tits just ain’t cut it to feed all of them. For this, we have a set of organs at the sides of our bellies. If you want to, I can send you a link to a description of our anatomy, but in short, after successful mating, our bodies begin the production of milk. In the Tribe, it is one of the first signs that wolfkin will bear cubs. Really, our breasts are mostly a redundant organ, a quirk produced during toe." Annie cursed slightly, after she wrote "toe" instead of "ToE" which stands for Time of Extinction. Evening was coming and she was getting tired.

"Yes, send the link if you can. You see, I rarely leave the house, but I am trying to write a book about the abnormals and normies of the Ravaged Lands, about societies here and traditions and stuff like that. Will it be okay if I visit one of your villages? I mean, will I be safe?"

"We don’t eat travelers)))" Annie wrote in response, thinking that, unlike normies, wolfkins at least had some standards, "But be warned though. We have no hotels, almost no place to stay, and barely anything to see. There are no shops either, but if I am still around, and the village is still here, I can show you around."

"The village can go missing?" came the question from WingedMonstrocity87691.

"It can be relocated, yea. We are always looking for a better place to breed cusacks, our main source of meat." Another redundant thing. Wyrm Lord provided the Wolf Tribe villages with aplenty of food. But old traditions refused to die out.

She heard the door opening behind her and allowed the chat bot to take over from here. She had better hurry to leave the place, or Zero will be angry at seeing her work this late again. She swiveled her armchair to greet the newcomers. The warlord came today in full armor, even wearing one of her cloaks. Another warlord came beside her, Dragena herself. The second warlord was dressed in a simple white shirt without sleeves and camo shorts, but she wore no boots on her feet. Twin belts ran across her waist, holding a single sheath with a blade in it.

"Annie, from this day onward, you will serve Dragena. If you want to transfer, of course."  Zero spoke calmly.

"Have I done something to anger you, warlord?" Annie hurriedly jumped off the chair, bowing low to the newcomers. The spacious room was suddenly small when two such large beings came inside. Annie desperately bared her neck to the warlords, trying to look as submissive as possible.

"Nothing like this. You handle your job quite admirably, in fact." Zero walked to the terminal, checking recent posts about tribal celebrations and traditions. Of course, some things, like the number of deaths in pits, were hidden from outsiders, but slowly, ideas of Zero were coming to fruition. Much to Annie’s frustration, normies became frequent visitors in the village. Where before they were afraid to come and trade in the village, now they were coming wide open. Shamans grumbled at this, coming into righteous fury each time they saw cubs coming to talk with traders, but admitted outsiders for now.

Zero wanted outsiders to stop being afraid of the Wolf Tribe. She wants the Tribe to accept normies and other new breeds. Why exactly she wanted it, Annie had no idea, but what Zero wants, Zero will get if this is within Annie’s power.

"But I have eyes," Zero giggled lightly, pointing at the solid surface of her helmet, with no lids or lenses for eyes, "I can see that you are unhappy here. Dragena has a spot open in her pack. It will be hard, Dragena is as cruel as every other warlord…"

"Lies," Dragena snapped, sizing Annie with her brightly lit amber eyes. Power was rich in her, it set her eyes aflame, turning her pupils into bright orbs of fire. Her hair was cut short to match the length of the rest of her fur. Not a single scar marked her snout, "Never in my life had I laid a claw on a subordinate. But the rules in my packs are the same as in others. You will be tested. Your rank will be challenged. Others will try to dominate you. You will be beaten and might even lose your rank, ending with you having to claw your way back to the top. Is this what you want?"

"Yes!" Annie said, feeling a mix of fear and excitement rising in her. Field! Actual work in the field! A chance to become a soldier, a chance for revenge!

"One thing to clear out. I admit that I spied on you for a few days," Dragena casually admitted, and Annie shuddered in surprise. Surely the warlord was jesting. No one so big could have stayed hidden, right? "I saw that you act strange, each time you are near humans from outside our Tribe." Dragena leaned her huge body forward, looking directly into the eyes of Annie, "Will this be a problem?"

"I don’t know." Wolf hag Annie answered honestly. She dared not to lie to this sea of flame in the eyes of Dragena.

"We shall see." Dragena nodded.

"Just keep in mind, if the situation becomes unbearable, you can always come back. There will always be a job for you here." Zero added quickly, raising her paw as if to put it on the shoulder of Annie, but then stopped.

****

"And you are supposed to be a wolf hag?" Kayleen laughed as she heard Annie introduce herself.

"That is correct. From this day on, I am your commanding officer. Pleased to meet you all." Annie responded with worry.

They were on a military base, some fifty kilometers away from the village that served as home for Annie for so long. Base was a weird place. In areas controlled by normies, discipline was pristine, everyone spoke with respect and duty. Soldiers were positioned on walls, patrols were heading out into the wastes on their daily routine.

In the areas controlled by the pack of Dragena, the situation was different. While each wolfkin becomes a disciplined soldier in the presence of the warlord, when wolfkins have any free time on their paws, they spend time dominating each other. Strong dominated weak, prompting weak wolfkin to head out for training, determined to reclaim their pride in the next scuffle. Bruises and wounds covered wolfkins, healed in a few days, only to be received anew.

Annie was given a smaller pack to lead, with fifteen members in total. Dragena warned her that she would be tested. Annie just did not expect that she will be tested on her first day here.

Kayleen, scout of Annie’s pack, stepped forward, as the rest of the members of the group formed a circle around the fighters. Kayleen had spotted fur, not that much unlike Annie, she wore no shirt or boots, just military style pants. One of her breasts was missing, a huge scar was in its place. The lips on the right side of her snout were covered by thick scar tissue. Kayleen put her left hand behind her back and beckoned Annie with her right paw, inviting Annie to attack her.

Annie swallowed drool in worry, taking a stance, raising her paws before her snout. Wolfkins in Dragena’s pack do not use claws and fangs. This was one of the rare rules that Dragena always imposed on her pack. Claws and fangs leave torn wounds, forcing soldiers to be out of service for too long.

Annie punched with her right paw, aiming to make a feint. She intended to allow her fist to almost reach the jaw of Kayleen, then pull her fist back and punch with her left when Kayleen will be distracted.

Instead, Kayleen caught her by the wrist, twisting the hand of the wolf hag as she dragged her closer, following with a kick into the left knee of Annie, forcing Annie to fall on her knees from pain. The wolf hag gasped from pain, when Kayleen released a hold on her wrist, just in time to beat aside a weak punch from the left arm of Annie. The scout followed up her fluid movement with an elbow to the snout of Annie, causing the wolf hag to throw her head back in pain. As the elbow moved back, the palm came in, landing a heavy chop into the throat of Annie, taking away the ability to breath from the wolf hag for several long moments. All this time, the left hand of the scout was behind her back. Just one hand and one leg were enough to utterly destroy Annie.

Annie fell on the stone floor, gasping for air desperately, as Kayleen stomped on her back. One, two, three, and four kicks were delivered, each kick was hard enough to crack the stone floor with the body of the wolf hag, forcing Annie to groan from pain against her will. Finally, the beating stopped for a moment, and Annie, still breathing badly, raised herself on her knees once more, looking into the merciless eyes of the scout.

"Weak." The left paw of the scout finally left her back, slamming her fist into the temple of Annie and sending her flying across the room.

Annie was splattered across the stone wall, slowly falling onto the floor when she heard the steps of Kayleen.

She is going to kill me! Annie thought, in a state of panic and embarrassment. Dragena brought her in just a few days ago, and yet Annie has already failed her warlord. Some soldier she is…

"Enough already, the cub learned her lesson." Kayleen came to a halt, turning toward the entrace, looking worried for a moment. Her fists trembled slightly.

A gorgeous-looking wolfkin lazily stepped inside the room. Her silk shirt and black pants were doing little to cover the impressive muscles underneath her blue fur. Black paint was used to make the eyebrows look more visible. Rings, made of actual gold, were on the fingers of the newcomer. Her smile was warm, yet her eyes betrayed only boredom in her mind. Moving like a figure made of water, she walked toward Kayleen.

"I am just making sure that the newcomer knows her…"

"Yeah, yeah," The blue-furred wolfkin raised her paw lazily, interrupting Kayleen's sentence, before looking down at Annie, "Hey, there scared cub. You want to quit and run back to mommy Zero, or will you move on?"

"I will become stronger. I will endure any burden." Annie tried to stand up, but fell as her left knee gave in. Both wolfkins before her grabbed her under the shoulders, lifting her up and holding her steady for a few moments.

"You?" Kayleen laughed in her face, sounding more like broken gears in a vehicle than a human being, "You will never be stronger. Etch this into your skull, before you force me to break you. Your position is mine. I am the strongest and the bestest! And this is how it always will be!"

"Wolf hag, please show warrior Annie to the shower, she needs to clean up the blood. Also, since you were the one who fucked her up, you will also take responsibility for teaching her how to properly clean and treat her bruises. After this, lead her to me." The wolfkin with blue fur said, before turning around.

"Wait," Annie managed to push the words out of herself, her voice sounding hoarse and rough. She struggled to stand on her own, prompting Kayleen to help her again,  "What for? Who are you?"

"What for? Unless you missed something, the wolf hag intended to break you and your bones, knee and all. And yet here you are, almost fresh. You have endurance, kiddo, we will work on your form next. As for your second question… I am Carty. Just a lazy scout around here.", Carty sent an air kiss to Annie, before turning around and leaving.

At the age of thirteen, Annie had lost her rank and became a warrior in Dragena’s pack. Ever since that day, she trained for two years under the guidance of Carty without a single complaint.

****

“Your weakness caused you to lose. Soft, weak… That’s all you will ever be.”

****

"Just give up already!" Annie snapped to the back of the scout.

She was laying on her back, holding the neck of the scout in a lock with her arms, suffocating her slowly. Annie's legs were tightly wrapped around the torso of her opponent. She won. Her opponent could not escape. And yet this stubborn idiot refused to hit the ground with her paw, admitting her surrender.

Well, then go to sleep, Annie increased her hold on her opponent's neck, blocking access to air entirely. Even though she herself suffered countless defeats in this way and even some wins, using this move always scared her. Just one wrong application of the force, just one mistake, and the fight could end badly, no even worse than badly.

She released the hold as soon as the body of her opponent went limp. For a brief moment, she lay on her back, afraid. Then she heard the heartbeat of the scout and smiled, taking her off herself gently and laying her on the floor.

"Congratulations, scared girl," Carty clapped her paws. Two other scouts, all with bruises and cuts on them, begrudgingly joined the clapping. One other scout was still unconscious. Annie lifted the defeated opponent and carried her to the unconscious scout, laying them next to each other. She should probably call the medics, but…

"Thank you so much for training me," Annie bowed to all the scouts, including Carty, "I have become so much stronger."

It was true. She could feel how her bones were getting thicker, how her eyes were slowly becoming sharper. When she was concentrating, she could even see the movements of a falling stone in slow motion. But such feat strained her eyes and caused her head to hurt. Carty encouraged her to keep doing it, saying that eventually her brain will adapt to a new perception. Her muscles hurt, but it was a pleasurable pain. She was getting stronger, bit by tiny bit.

"Your turn!" Annie dared to speak to Carty, and the scout's smile widened.

Carty was a weird one. Even wolf hags were wary of her, yet the scout never made an attempt to raise herself in rank. She never made fun of the wolf hag in front of superiors, whether normies or warlords. Outside of that, it was all fair game for her, no one was safe from her sharp tongue. But at the same time, Carty never bothered with dominating anyone either, she was fully content with helping others grow. When someone felt down, Carty tried to find a way to cheer them up, causing Kayleen to become angry. The wolf hag took her duties quite seriously, the morale of her pack was of the utmost importance to her. Despite constant beatings, Kayleen always finds time to speak with her soldiers, learning about their problems and finding solutions to them.

"Carty, she is just a cub…" One of the scouts said, when Carty stepped into the training area, stretching her body, with her back turned toward Annie.

"I am well aware, but unless you keep putting wall after wall before cubs, they can’t really grow." Carty closed her eyes demonstratively and turned to Annie, putting one hand on her chest and another on her waist, "Well, stupid girl, you wanted show, let me give you on…"

She was cut off as Annie jumped in the air, attacking while her opponent was still posturing with closed eyes.

Soldiers have no need for honor, Annie remembered the words of the warlord. It was true. Soldiers do not often fight with equal opponents. Quite often, the opposition was stronger, faster, and more talented. As long as it was legal, Dragena encouraged her pack to use everything to even the odds.

The leg of Annie almost touched the jaw of Carty, as the hand of the scout moved. With two fingers, she touched the ankle of Annie, turning the massive body of her fellow scout around in the air. Then Carty bent over and used the same hand to slap Annie across the belly, sending her to the ground.

The scout felt how the stone cracked under her back, but she barely felt pain, the adrenaline in her blood was driving her to try again. She jumped to her feet, turning toward Carty and sending a punch to the smiling face. Still smiling, Carty disappeared from sight, Annie sensed the perfume of the scout to her left and then something hit her across the ankles, kicking her legs back. Her body began to fall forward, but before Annie could land on her hands, a strong hand grabbed her by the back of her head, sending her to the floor at the speed of a racing car.

Annie closed her eyes, expecting pain that never came. Carty stopped her fall right as the fur of Annie’s snout came into contact with the stone floor. With a single movement, Carty pulled Annie up, taking her by the shoulders as she put her on her two feet.

"You are pretty fast now, songbird," Carty smiled happily, slapping Annie on the shoulders, "Crafty too. Your judgement was solid, but you missed the crucial part. Sometimes an enemy can lure you with a sense of false arrogance. Do not mistake arrogance for negligence, or you might pay badly in the future. Anyway, you beat up four scouts and are pretty winded up by now. Let’s call it a draw."

"You kinda won…" Annie mumbled, but the fellow scout only laughed.

"Anyway, ladies, call the medics and tomorrow evening we will all go drinking. And no, not juice this time, Annie, like it or not, you are in. You knew what you were getting into. I am paying, so no worries everyone. By the way, Annie beat all of you, the first one of you to fall under the table will be the one who is losing her rank to Annie."

"Why tomorrow?" Asked the scout who was worried about Annie’s wellbeing when she challenged Carty.

"Cause some of us are still unconscious, stupid." Carty sang in reply, reaching for the communicator and calling for medics.

****

Annie moved across the training field. The long and busy day was already over, and the pack was slowly getting back to their dens in the barracks. Here and there, warriors were taking off their armor, the sounds of whining were heard as some warriors were venting their anger at the males. Annie forced herself to breathe slowly, today was not the day to stop the beatings, the warlord called for her specifically. Kayleen, without power armor, lifted a warrior clad in full power armor over her head, smashing her against the ground with enough force to create a small crater. The wolf hag smirked, beckoning the warrior to stand up, then deftly dodged every single hit, humiliating her opponent, before knocking her out. She turned around and went to demand submission from a couple of males nearby, biting them by the necks. In the Wolf Tribe, males were weaker than females. Their fangs were less durable, their muscles were weaker, and they were smaller. Because of this, other warlords often neglected males. Dragena trained everyone equally, while males in the ranks of her soldiers were often filling the ranks of field medics, according to Carty and Kayleen, in the heat of battle, they always had your back when needed. This created another problem, however. Because of equal time in training, females viewed males as equal to themselves. Instincts demanded a show of domination, leading to males getting beat up often.

One day soon, Annie promised herself as she walked toward the warlord. She tried to stop Kayleen several times, during fits of rage. It always ended up with Annie biting the dust, sometimes literally. The wolf hag was strong, no matter how hard Annie tried, she utterly failed to even force her opponent to be on defense.

Annie made a full circle to avoid the area where wolfkins trained with firearms. Most likely everyone has already left, but why risk your hide? The scout found the warlord standing in front of the newest members of the pack. Dragena was in full armor, the lenses of her helmet were bright with light as she looked down at the soldiers before her. These were five wolfkins, but Annie frowned as she saw how skinny they were. The only female among them had only a tiny bit of muscle, her elbows were sticking out and her hip bones were visible. The girl looked weaker than a normie. Her body was covered with the same number of scars as the bodies of everyone else. The scout frowned, trying to understand why the new recruits looked so weak. Maybe one of the villages suffered from a shortage of food? And then Annie saw the brand on the girl’s shoulder. A mark of broken bone burned onto the skin. Each of the newcomers had it.

Cubs of the Crippled. Things made a bit more sense, not every village cared enough to provide enough for the Crippled and their cubs often received less than scraps. The cubs of the Crippled were also subjected to special inspection upon birth, the shamans were generally unhappy when the Crippled produced offspring. According to their teachings, if one loses parts of the body, how can one produce a proper cub? Thus shamans treat such cubs more harshly and brand them, as to mark them as most disposable members of the Tribe, meant for only manual labor instead of war. Such ostracism was leading to cubs getting bullied over and over in pits, lack of food and milk prevented them from ever becoming strong enough to stand up for themselves. Annie herself was dangerously close to being branded. But she was born before her father lost a limb, making shamans accept her.

Dragena lowered herself on one knee, removing the steel gauntlets of power from her hands with a soft hissing sound. She then touched the muscles on the arm of the female, clicking her tongue in disapproval.

"Lucendra. Your muscles are too underdeveloped for your age. Your bones are also too frail. This will not be allowed to continue."

"I am sorry, warlord. I swear I will work really hard and…" The girl said with pure desperation in her voice, and the warlord lifted her head in surprise.

"Sorry?" The warlord asked, genuinely trying to understand her new subordinate, "What for? You have made no mistakes so far. You were all placed in my care and under my command. For the time being, you are nothing more than raw steel, but steel nonetheless. I will reforge you all into proper soldiers, ones who will be of use to the state. You have nothing to be sorry for, recruit, superior is responsible for everything and everyone under her or his command."

The warlord stood up, turning to face Annie, just as the scout approached. Scout pressed her hand to the heart in salute, and Dragena returned the gesture:

"Annie, these recruits will be put in the pack of Kayleen. They are not to be challenged for half a year. Domination is also strictly prohibited against them for the same amount of time. If they throw the first punch, I expect you to eat it and report it to me, so I can discipline them through non-violent means. No claws, fangs, or fists are to touch them. Is this understood?"

"Yes, warlord." Annie bowed low, unsure why the warlord was saying this to her. Surely it would make more sense to tell Kayleen this?

"I will consult with medics about the training program of Valerye."

"Valerye?" Annie blinked in surprise. Valerye was one of the most legendary warlords among youth. She rose as a shining star and fell down like a comet after encountering Alpha. Previously known as Red Streak, now Valerye was known as Foulsnout because of her horrible injuries.

"Yes. She proposed… let’s say it like that… a plan to captain Scorpio. Each ach year we lose good number of soldiers because of stupid prejudices against cubs of Crippled," Dragena explained the situation calmly, and Annie felt a bit of dread under her fur. For her, the word of the warlord was law, but her superior was on the verge of disparaging shamans, the undisputed rulers of the Tribe's civil life, "Valerye decided that this would not stand. Shamans grumble as usual, but Scorpio is very good at persuasion. As a part of an experiment, several warlords now have new recruits made from branded cubs. I will prepare a proper training and feeding program to ensure that new soldiers of the state will be able to catch up with the rest of the pack in time. It will be a good challenge for all of us. If we are to win this challenge and cubs of the Crippled are to be finally allowed to serve in the military, then it is my task to ensure they will have the same chance to exceed as others. I bet Zero is happy that her efforts have not gone to waste."

"Warlord?" Annie asked in surprise.

"No matter, just musing my own thoughts out loud. Keep our new allies out of trouble, scout Annie."

****

"…Ready." Kayleen reported to the warlord, as she finished checking out the equipment of her pack.

Annie nervously swallowed drool underneath her helmet. They were inside M43, the flying vehicle of the Reclaimers. The M43 was an outdated model, rarely used in actual combat by now. Its armor was thick, yet its lack of defensive weapons and even basic flares made it a poor choice for actual combat. But for today’s mission, such a machine was fully fine.

They were six kilometers above the ground, hidden among the region's middle clouds. The wolfkins hated air and Dragena constantly pushed her own pack, forcibly removing their fear of air by making them land from the air over and over again. Annie was content with the massive jetpack strapped to the back of her power armor, she knew that this device will not allow her to crash to her death.

Aside from the glowing lenses from the wolfkins' power armor, pure darkness reigned supreme in the cargo hall of the vehicle. Soon enough, massive doors will open and packs will be unleashed upon the ground, like drops of mystical rain.

New goal for myself. I want to experience actual rain at least once in my life. Annie made the decision to distract herself.

"Pack C is already in place and awaits operation start." Another wolf hag reported. Pack C was comprised of scouts under the command of Carty. They were hiding close to the enemy base, preparing to use their sniper rifles from an elevator position.

"Pack C reports that the enemies are not expecting your arrival. They are drinking and acting rowdy as usual." Lieutenant Angoro Viscario reported. He was the man who enlisted the help of the wolfkins for this operation.

"It is to be expected. The soldiers of the Bento Tribe are very through, they have killed anyone of worth by now. Those who escaped and captured traders here are just a bunch of parasites. It was easy enough for servants of captain Scorpio to split the gang with promises of forgiveness and a fresh start." Dragena responded for the first time. Upon coming to the M43, she simply spent time standing in the corner, watching how her wolf hags prepared their forces for the operation.

"Yes, reports show that our "informants" are all confined to a single warehouse. They are mostly teens and youngsters, guilty only of stealing. Killing others is somewhat of a scary thing to them, so they are willing to surrender." Kayleen checked the updates that she received from Carty. 

Annie summoned the map on her own screen. Red, yellow, and green dots were filling the surface of the long abandoned subway station. Red dots were the spotted soldiers of the enemy, yellow dots were informants, and green dots were hostages. In the world before the Extinction, this place served as a hub for transportation. Post Extinction, this place was pushed onto the surface by some cataclysm that changed the surrounding area forever. Some of the old structures had survived the centuries, and the area was now used as a temporary rest stop for traders traveling from the Wastes to the Ravaged Lands. All was well, until a group of thugs arrived from the Ravaged Lands, escaping from the justice of the Bento Tribe, after Bentos finally snapped the back of the largest gang in their lands. The group was big, with nearly four hundred people. They took over the place with ease, eliminating all resistance. Not desiring to risk the lives of police and border guard members, the army command wanted to turn the place into dust with artillery. But after some of the raiders were contacted by the agents of captain Scorpio, the black wyrm decided to enlist the help of Dragena and her pack for this mission. The gang still had some living hostages, including several cubs of normies. Some of the hostages were placed in iron cages outside of buildings, without water or anti-heat suits. Their end was unpleasant. Such savagery caused the youngest members of the gang to plead guilty and beg the state for help in escaping. These were just street urchins, people who had never held a proper gun in their hands before. The only reason they were even here was because Bento would have hanged them for being part of the main gang. Angoro explained that after the mission is over, they will be interrogated and, if they are as innocent as they claim, they will be sent off to orphanages in the Core Lands, as Scorpio saw no reason to keep them in prison. If they are guilty, they will serve their sentence in reeducation camps.

Dragena immediately set out on the mission, along with her pack. The newest members of the pack were still back in the base, only those who had at least one year of service were allowed to participate in the mission. The warlord was calm and relaxed as always, the wolf hags were busy quietly cracking jokes to the most nervous members of the group. For them, it was a routine job. Go in, annihilate resistance, save hostages, restore order. Confidence of their superiors spread across packs like mist, calming even the most green soldiers, like Annie.

"Act swiftly. The plan is to minimize the collateral damage but without getting overly sentimental. If some of our informants leave the warehouse, treat them as if they are part of…" Viscario responded to Kayleen.

"Belay this advice." Dragen cut him off, snapping her jaws. The warlord herself was standing, surrounded by pack members. She allowed wolf hags to inspect the weapons and armor of the pack members, while she was looking through mission details in silence, looking for any flaws. Ancient power armor was on her, steel slabs were covered by words of prayer. This was the same power armor as the one she was using nearly a century ago. A rumor was going around base that a new set of armor was being developed for all of the wolfkins, but this was just a rumor for the time being. Six blades in simple metallic sheaths were behind her back, even in almost pure darkness, the hilts of blades reflected light from crimson lenses of wolfkins. A single long rifle was strapped to the back of Dragena, a marvel of death gifted to her by Iterna after a joint operation between the state and their rival nation to rescue hostages. This weapon was a precision sniper rifle, it was capable of releasing a single shard-shaped projectile at a speed of two thousand meters per second. The rifle was black with silver ornate lettering in an unknown language. According to rumors, this lettering had been spelling the names of all dead members of the warlord's circle, ever since the creation of the Tribe. 

"Our informants are marked on a map. Even at the cost of time, they are not to be killed. Keep in mind that they are but cubs. Knock them out if you need to, but keep them alive. Once you secure them, keep them separate from hostages, we want no revenge killings," Dragena started talking in a monotonous voice, fully assured that her pack will obey her. She was not wrong, none dared to miss even a single word or command from her, "According to available information, the leader of enemy forces has the power of a connector, which means he can use the power of another new breed freely. He was shown to be able to lift entire vehicles in the air, so avoid close combat with him and simply shoot him to death. Keep in mind that the original wielder of this power is also hiding somewhere out there. That is all. Finish the mission and come back alive."

"Yes, warlord!" The wolf hags pressed their right hands to their hearts while the massive steel door of the cargo bay finally started to open.

Annie took the shardgun from her back into both hands, waiting for her turn as the first wolfkins started jumping off the doors. Her eyes twitched nervously as she thought about the battle that was coming. Ever since she joined Dragena and her pack, this was her first actual mission.

I am not weak anymore. I am strong. I have allies by my side, I… She spoke in her mind, trying to calm herself. Two paws closed on her shoulders, and she nearly jumped.

"Take your finger off the trigger," Kayleen calmly said, holding Annie in place, "Take the shardgun in one paw. Breathe calmly and remember your trainings."

"Sorry." Annie quickly moved her finger away in shame. Such a childlike mistake. She closed her eyes for brief moments, gaining control over her breath, "I am good."

"I know that you are. Everything will be fine, you will be fine, we will all survive, and you will handle the mission just fine." Kayleen was speaking with kindness, so strange looking for someone like her. All she ever did was snarl at others and bite them for the slightest miscalculation. Yet now, she was calmness itself.

Kayleen gave Annie a small nudge and the scout walked toward the exit from the cargo bay. Kayleen herself and other wolf hags will jump last, in order to help any members of their pack in case of any problems descending. Scout understood now why she was not with Carty and the others. Rank, by itself, meant nothing. Experience was everything, and she still lacked it.

I will learn. I will not be a burden. Annie jumped off the edge of the cargo doors right into the darkest void of the night.

She fell down like a boulder, pressing her arms and legs closer to her body. Her armor fully closed itself around her, blocking even the claws on her hands and legs. Even the mouth was closed by a steel plate, as systems of power armor insisted that this was the best option to survive the fall. Annie was calm, pseudo intelligence of power armors was archaic, old and outdated, but still useful. Once she is on the ground, the armor will release its hold on her body, allowing her to use claws and breathe actual air. For now, she inhaled recycled air and forced a weak smile on her face. She could sense no wind or heat from outside, it was as if she was entombed in a steel coffin.

"Don’t panic, stubborn girl. We are all cheering you up from here." The voice of Carty chuckled inside the helmet as Annie fell from the clouds, seeing the lights of the enemy base on the ground. She could see the trade hub. Or what was left of it, anyway. A series of ruined buildings, surrounded by a makeshift wall made from rubble. In some parts, the wall was destroyed, clearly from a previous attack. The Wastes and Ravaged Lands were poor and underdeveloped lands. Yet people live here, struggling every day. Normies or no, these blasted raiders had no right to harm the locals.

"I am fine!" Annie wanted to sound angry and brave, yet her voice came out as mild and uncertain. Battle was upon her, and she wondered if she was ready for it.

"In that case, drinks are on you once we get back to the base." Carty responded.

"I am not falling into the same trap again!" Annie snapped back angrily this time. Last time she went with Carty and others drinking, she fell under a table, and fellow scouts drew pictures all over her snout with black marker while Annie was in drunken slumber. The most humiliating thing was that they stopped after Annie whined in her sleep from nightmares. She woke up in Carty’s room to the worrying looks of scouts, who spent the night standing guard over her. It was beyond humiliating.

Carty just laughed, and traces of fire speared the night when scouts opened fire, taking down enemy patrols on the half-ruined wall that surrounded the trade hub. The lenses in Annie’s helmet activated binoculars mode, allowing her to see how dark forms of people in green anti-heat suits were falling off the wall like bags of food. As they fell to the ground, bodies no longer tried to rise. New and new sparks speared the night, bringing death to brigands.

"Annie, I've seemingly forgotten how to descend properly. Show me the proper way."  Kayleen said in a calm voice over the communicator and Annie gritted her fangs, ashamed to be the weakest link in the group.

I will become better.

You are reading story Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. at novel35.com

She turned in the air, positioning her legs toward the ground. Her vision returned to normal, and she reached for the trigger of her jetpack with her left paw. She could also activate it via command of her armor, but Dragena insisted on the old-fashioned way in order to avoid malfunction. There was a hint of reason in this, the operation system of power armors was way outdated by modern times, so it was wise not to overload it with requests.

A flame came in from the steel tube behind Annie’s back as her descent slowed down. She could already see the ground clearly, noticing ruined tents and running people on the ground when her fall slowed to a crawl.

People looked up.

This time, Annie gave order through the systems of her suit. The jetpack fell from her back, nearly crushing one of the thuds underneath her. She crashed on the sand underneath, and the suit gave the signal that everything was fine, releasing armor on her paws, legs, and mouth. One of the enemies raised his dusty-looking rifle, but Annie was close by, kicking him in the side of the leg and striking him in the temple. From Annie’s perspective, she barely tapped the man, yet the force of her blow was enough to knock him out cold, and her kick broke his leg like a withered tree branch.

At least he was alive. The normies around her were covered with red markings when she looked at them through the vision of her suit. It meant that they were terrorists who captured this place. Easy targets, they looked as if they were moving in slow motion. Snuffing life out of them would be easy. And yet she knocked out the second foe as well.

Annie was a coward, this much she was willing to admit. A true warrior would have carried out her revenge, taking the lives of these miserable scum as an offering for souls who cried out for retribution. The normies deserved to pay, all of them were evil! However, she hesitated, afraid to take the life of another human being.

All around her, more metal tubes fell on the ground as packs K, A, and W descended. Kayleen landed with a thud underneath her, breaking his shoulders with her legs. After knocking out a man with a kick, she walked toward the den with the prisoners. The door of a second-floor nearby building suddenly opened and two people charged outside, taking aim at the wolf hag. She ignored them and two bullets hit them in the heads, coming from a nearby mountain range. The bodies of the deceased people fell from stone stairs as Kayleen moved forward. This area was for pack A to clean.

Annie charged toward the den in which hostages were kept. The loud barking of shardguns thundered around her. She forced herself to look. The sharp projectiles of the wolfkins' guns tore through the bodies of enemies, tearing limbs and turning body parts into bloody sliced meat, killed people outright. Unlike scouts' precision weapons, shardguns were butcher's weapons, designed to either kill the opponent outright or seriously wound him.

On this day, Annie understood why new breeds like the Wolf Tribe and others were used in war, not in patrol duty or police. There were many new breeds in the state, some were physically weaker than the Wolf Tribe, some, like wyrms, were far above their power. The power of the Wolf Tribe lay in physical strength and the ability to rapidly grow in strength over time. Even without armor, they towered over most of the normies. This was not a battle, this was an execution. The bandits' weapons were rendered nearly useless against the wolfkins' encasement of solid steel, even without their power armor, most of the new breeds could tear normie apart.

If you ever have to knock out one of the normies, keep the force of your hits in mind. When two normies fight each other, even normal kicks and punches can accidentally kill them. However, differences in our bodies are such that even the lightest punch can easily kill them. It takes more skill and effort for us to take them alive, than to kill them. Annie remembered the words of Dragena, during the time when the warlord led a long training course, explaining how best to hold back in combat and how to pull your punches. As risking the lives of allies was far too great a risk, Dragena enlisted the aid of old model of droids, using them to train the newest members of her pack.

Even if the wolfkins wanted to hold back on their foes, some of their foes would still end up dead, most likely.

And to the woe of the brigands, the packs had no desire to hold back, nor were they ordered to. Soldiers of the state pierced through the scattered rubble of defenders, spearing them with knives and claws, gunning them down with shardguns, stomping on the falling foes, killing them. Only Annie and a few others took some of the enemies alive, the red dots of the downed enemies were quickly changed to purple, indicating the color of captives. Packs will leave them alone for now. Once the mission is finished, border guards will swarm the place, capturing whoever is left.

"Pack W, you are behind schedule. What’s the reason?" Annie heard a question from the warlord over a communicator.

"Hostages are strapped to the doors of the main hangar, warlord, surrounded by explosives. Some of them are still alive. They are badly burned by the sun and metal, but I am positive we can preserve their lives and disarm traps just fine. Hostiles inside are trying to start engines and escape." Reported the wolf hag in charge of pack W.

"And if you can’t disarm explosives in time? In our line of work, we all have to make sacrifices sometimes. Your lives are far too valuable for the state. Blow up the explosives," Lieutenant Angoro gave command in a stern voice, "Sacrifice a few, to preserve the greater whole. Do not allow the enemy to escape, or they will take away far more lives."

"Belay this order. The duty of soldiers is to lay down our lives, so the state can endure, and citizens are part of the state. Pack W, rescue the hostages. Then deliver retribution along with aid from Pack C. Carty, if any vehicle moves from the hangar, stop them."

"But of course, warlord. Nasty boys and girls will stay and play till the end." Carty almost purred in response, and the night was speared by another bright shot fired by one of the scouts. One of the raiders on the half-destroyed building's roof collapsed after discovering a fist-sized hole in his chest.

Kayleen walked forward, leading her pack in a steady pace toward the dens of prisoners, surrounded by a cacophony of screams and shots from all sides. As the wolf hag passed the nearby building, one of the brigands showed up from the window, taking aim at her, while another jumped out of the door with a shotgun in his hand. Kayleen moved briefly, her jaws closing on a man in a window, snapping half of his head. Her leg kicked the man in the doors in his chest, the claws tore through his bones and reached all the way to his heart. The wolf hag's shardgun fired once, killing an enemy far ahead before the woman could react to the advancing wolfkins.

This is a battle. The thought shocked Annie far more than it should have. Her opponents were ordinary people, blasted, disgusting creatures undeserving of sympathy. However, seeing how three lives were ended in the span of two heartbeats, as Kayleen spat the bones, flesh, and brain of the deceased man on the ground, as the bandits were dying all around her, she shuddered. No life should end like this… It just felt wrong. Who was she to decide who deserved to live or not? Maybe some of bandits here were good people, just misguided? As the blood of dead people was splattered across the sand of the former trading hub, as blood was slowly drying up from the intense heat of the night, the eyes of Annie widened even more. She'd seen death before. On this day, she was supposed to deliver it. To take life. And she found herself lacking the drive to… to…

"Scout. Keep up the pace, dens on the left are yours." The voice of Kayleen snapped Annie from her trance, making her shake her head. Mission! She had a mission! She must abandon her fears, she just has to complete her mission. Like in training!

The scout charged forward, ignoring the feeble bullets of the foes as she rammed through three defenders that stood before the iron cage. She pushed forward to the cage, kicking and punching with just enough force to knock out three men armed with machine guns. It was placed in the open, allowing the sun of the day to fall upon people inside. Even at night was harsh enough for most people, and Annie’s nose felt pus and sensed the smell of a burning meat as she saw the people inside. They pressed their bodies against each other, men and a few women stood in the outer circle, trying to protect weaker people behind them from the harsh climate of the Wastes. People in the outer circle were half dead, their skin covered with sun burns of such intensity that few of them had their eye lids burned away, their eyes forever went dark. Annie swallowed as she saw a cub, who was pressed deep to the woman’s chest. Skin was peeling off of his hand, drops of blood were falling on the ground.

"Annie! Behind!" Kayleen shouted, and the scout turned away, still in deep shock. The normies suffered too. She hated them with every fiber of her being, and yet… Right now and here, she would have given her life just to ensure that these people would never have had to suffer such a fate in the first place.

Behind her was one of the bandits, one of the people whom Annie supposedly knocked out. The hood of his suit fell off his head, showing the messed up and dirty blonde hair of a man in his early thirties. His eyes were filled with sheer terror as he lifted the machine gun, aiming the weapon at the scout. Annie frowned for a moment. He was not a threat to her, her armor would protect her from anything he could…

Hostages! Panic hit her like a whip. Without thinking, she obeyed her training, taking aim with her shardgun and firing her weapon. If but a single bullet from his weapon flies past her, into hostages, then…

The eyes of the man before her became round, his whites turned red as blood vessels popped in his eyes. His chest turned into a bloody rag filled with holes, his body was sent back a few steps, sliding across sand and leaving a bloody trail behind. Annie looked at the dead body with a strange, numb feeling. A mix of horror and acceptance was overflowing her. She killed a person. She killed a person. I am a murderer. A monster.

A gunshot snapped her from her fear, as the body of another brigand fell on the ground, the chest of a dead man turned into a horrible parody of a bloody red rag.

"Scout? Is everything fine?" One of the males who followed after her asked, lowering his weapon. Annie felt shame, because of her incompetence hostages were in danger once again. She should have noticed the bandit on her own.

"I am fine. Just…"

"I understand. We were all there. We will cover you, don’t worry, ma’am." The soldier nodded, lowering on one knee and firing once more into someone.

Still burning with shame, the scout turned around, reaching the steel doors of the prison cage and tearing them away with the same ease as a cub who lifts a ball made from straws. Some people inside weakly screamed, while others looked at her with numb acceptance. Wolfkins were not used in police operations. They were the state's hammer, not to be seen with locals in lands on a regular basis. Fear and anxiety at the sight of the Wolf Tribe was expected.

Annie tore the med kit from her belt, throwing it to one of the healthy males among the hostages.

"Stay safe. Help is coming." She turned around, exiting the cage. Males from pack K have already started creating a perimeter around the dens of prisoners, wiping out any resistance. Once resistance had been suppressed, warriors and above were supposed to move on, while males would guard hostages and try to preserve their lives.

Deliver retribution. Annie latched onto these words in her mind, as if a person drowning in sand latches onto the closest tree branch near him, praying that it is tough enough to support the weight. She kept repeating these words in her head as she opened fire, no longer caring about trying to take the foes alone. She shot raiders, slashed them with her claws, stomped them with her legs, feeling how their bellies ended up being torn under the force of her impact.

"On your knees, scum! You are way in over your head!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs to six raiders who rushed out of one building. Whatever they saw in her lenses, whatever they saw in her form covered with the blood of the deceased and dying, made them throw their weapons and prostrate before her. Annie wasted but four heartbeats tying their hands behind their back with ropes made from the suits of dead people around her. The speed of her movements surprised even her, during trainings Annie often made some mistakes. Not here, not anymore. The world became black and white for Annie. Those who lay down their weapons will live. Those who surrender will live. Hostages will live. All the others will die. As simple as that. The simple task was good, it kept her from being distracted from suffering and death around…

Don’t think. Just carry on your duty. Her shardgun fired once more, downing the enemy on the second floor, some ninety steps away from her. Shardguns were not meant to be used at long range, and the vast majority of her sharp projectiles merely tore stone walls around the woman. Some, however, pierced her in the chest and belly. Systems of armor assigned a purple color to her, as intelligence of armor surmised that the enemy was still alive. Annie placed a call sign on this enemy, marking her as a high priority due to her wounds. Males will decide whether they have time to save this enemy combatant or not.

"That’s the spirit!" Kayleen shouted, firing her shardgun, impressed by Annie’s words. Surrounded by wolfkins howled in agreement, the bone-chilling sound of new breeds itching to enact retribution upon those who dared to hurt the state. They howled, and Annie joined them, killing and slashing, as she was freaking out inside. She freaked out as she opened the man before her from groin to chisel with a single slash of a claw. She cried in fear as her shards from her weapon sliced away the head of the raider before her, the woman was too scared to drop her weapon, fear drove her to try and attack Annie with a feeble steel pipe. Noise behind her made her turn, but the raider behind her was already gunned down by one of the males from her pack. Seeing allies surrounding her made Annie felt herself a bit better. She was not alone, others had her back. And she will have theirs.

Black and white. A world devoid of all colors, save for two. Flame, red on the ground, sounds of dead and dying, sounds of battle, all that was but a part of black and white. There was no difference here, no complexity. Kill. Spare those who surrender. Do not think, don’t dare to think about the people whom you killed. Follow the simple orders. Turn the horror inside of you into a raging flame that devours all who stay in your path…

"Move and I kill him!" The perfect world cracked and Annie snapped back into reality, longing for the perfect clarity that she had just a second ago. A beautiful, clear answer to everything in the world with no fear, no questions no…

She shook her head, forcing herself to remain in the present moment .Something snapped her out of it. What was it?

The wolfkins before her surrounded one of the raiders, a woman in an anti-heat suit of crimson color, with several metal plates hanging from it, forming makeshift armor. She was pressing a pistol to the head of a small cub of normies, her finger trembling at the trigger. The systems of armor showed Annie that Kayleen was already lifting her weapon. Without thinking any further, Annie fell on the knees before the confused raider, taking off her helmet.

"What will you gain by killing the cub? His life is worth nothing, he is no shield worth using. Look at him covered with sunburns, about to die. Is this any worthy hostage?" Annie demanded to know, putting aside her weapon and lifting her paws, "I offer you myself as a gift. Take me, I am a far bigger shield than this cub. If I try to run, you can shoot me, doing far more damage to the forces of the state. I swear on my life that if you let the cub live, I'll give you a free shot at me."

"I think that I will take you both. Just to be safe, you understand" The brigand smiled, forcing the cub into the paws of Annie, just as the barrel of the gun was pressed to the temple of the wolfkin. The cub was barely breathing, each time he inhaled, it looked as if his lungs were torn. The left side of the cub’s face was burned away by the cruel sun, revealing gleaming meat beneath. Part of his black hair turned white from the intense heat. Annie carefully pressed the cub to her chest, closing her snout over him, "Move or I will…"

Annie chuckled in response, and the wolfkins around her laughed. None of them moved when the gun fired, and Annie felt the pain, as her fur and skin were torn by the bullet. She smiled fiercely, feeling how the bullet was unable to pierce her skull and ricocheted away from bone. In the next moment, the scout moved, kicking the gun from the hand of the raider with her shoulder. The woman saw something in Annie’s eyes and fell on her knees, screaming.

"I surrender! I surrender, please don’t kill me!"

"I don’t want to kill you." Annie smiled in the face of the brigand. It was true, among all packs. The orders of the Dynast and warlords were extremely strict. If an opponent surrendered, they would be taken alive, regardless of the crime. Disobedience to this order was punished by death, torture of prisoners by soldiers also shares the same sentence. As Dragena explained to members of her pack, Annie included, the primary reason for this was not even to exchange prisoners between two warring states, although it was an important part of the rules as well. Soldiers will always fight harder, knowing that the state has their back. The real reason for this law, however, was to prevent the decomposition of personnel and the deterioration of discipline. A soldier in the army is but a cog of the system, who must do her job in her place, very often contrary to the instinct to save her life. If a soldier takes the role of judge into her hands, this gives her an inflated sense of worth, eventually leading the soldier astray, which will inevitably lead to insubordination, "Authorities will deal with you. They will either hang you, rehabilitate you, or lock you up for life. Either way, you are done."

She stood up, allowing the wolfkins to tie up the raider. A worried woman was behind the wolf hag, the normie fell on the ground as she saw the cub in the arms of Annie. Crying and sobbing, the woman begged Annie to give her the cub, and, after Kayleen gave an approving nod, Annie obeyed, gently giving up the small life away and allowing the medic to treat the wounds of the hostages. Hopefully, they will manage to preserve this life. While the males in Dragena's pack served in the role of medics, their skills were subpar when compared to true medical personnel. After all, the wolfkins rarely needed extensive medical care in the field, their strong bodies either toughed it out until the hospital or the victim died.

"You two, lead the hostages back to prisoner dens and guard them when you finish tending to their wounds!" The wolf hag snapped at two males. Kayleen looked at Annie, and both of them turned to the north, hearing the sound of tearing metal.

"Run. We all must run. Before he comes back." The normie woman, with the cub in her hands, whispered in fear, her body shaking.

"Miss." Annie lowered herself on both knees before her, lifting the head of the woman. An ugly lacerated wound ran across the face of the woman, utterly devouring one of her eyes. Annie forced herself to smile, making sure to hide her fangs behind her lips, "Look at me. I am real. My name is Annie. I am a new breed of the Reclaimers. My kin and I are sorry that you had to suffer, but we swear to you that all the scary things are behind. Retribution cometh, and all your wounds will heal in time. Our presence here is real, your salvation is real. Please relax and stop feeling fear, if you can. We won’t let anyone harm you." Annie frowned as one of the wolfkins sneaked up on her from behind, placing a sticky medical patch on the wound on her head. Yet she still smiled softly at the woman, despite this embarrassment.

"You have no idea who is up against you. I saw him. He is also a new breed. And he has the power to make things move with his mind. When one of the guards went against him, he skinned the man alive. Each time when anyone refused to do what he wanted, he… he…" The voice of the woman started to tremble once more from barely held back horror.

"And you have no idea who came with us. Annie, put on your helmet and do not waste any more time trying to calm down hostages. Neither of us are any good at this. Males! Update! Remove the civilians from the danger zone and start treating their wounds already!" The wolf hag roared to the males, and they hastily took the woman into their hands, carrying her to the dens of prisoners, "Now listen up, everyone! Pack A seems to be in a bit of trouble. Form up, we have a bastard to skin and kin to help! Can we ask for a better task?" Kayleen said, lifting her snout to the air and unleashing a howl filled with primordial rage.

"No!" The pack roared back, and Annie caught herself screaming the same.

"Do you have visuals of a prime target?" From Dragena came a cold question. The warlord was listening to all conversations through devices installed in each armor.

"Negative. We can’t confirm his presence yet, warlord. Rumors about him could be a fluke," Kayleen quickly went from a beast filled with rage to a calm person as the voice of the warlord spoke in the helmets of Pack K, "Please stay aboard just a bit longer, oh warlord, he could be anywhere."

"Move out to help Pack A." Dragena gave her command.

****

It took the pack less than a minute to arrive at the northern part of the trading hub. Once, this place was filled with merchants' stands, as people from the Wastes and Ravaged Lands came here to trade. A makeshift stone roof, excavated from the ruined subway, was placed over the wide square, protecting travelers inside from heat. The Wastes and Ravaged Lands were poor regions, yet many traders were buying medicaments and food in bulk in the Core Lands and were selling them to traders of the Ravaged Lands in this place in exchange for excavated marvels of the Old World. Traders were interested in all kinds of marvels, from technology to long-lost books, even magazines and journals were of value. Aside from that, regular trade of resources was also going on here, cusacks exchanged owners on a daily basis, sweets were sold for ore, medicine for money. Four entrances were leading inside the building. Pack K entered the building through the south entrance, while Pack A was already inside, fighting with the leader of the brigands' defenders.

And now this was all a dream. Stands were cracked and ruined. Dead bodies hanged from the ceiling like broken dolls, ropes across their necks. The truck was parked in the center of the square, the tires were missing, and the vehicle bore signs of repair. Near the vehicle was a scrap pile, filled with half-rotten food, steel parts, tokens, and various valuables. Atop of this pile was a throne, made from countless steel pipes merged together. A man, looking disgustingly too ordinary, was sitting on the throne, unbothered by the scene of carnage right under his throne, as his bodyguards went against members of Pack A. Not even his anti-heat suit could hide his vast belly. His legs were spread wide, one elbow on his right knee, and his right fist was pressed to his sweaty cheek. His beard was receding, barely covering his lower jaw and showing scars underneath the hair. His round, pale eyes looked with boredom at the battle at his feet. Despite the fact that his own people were badly outclassed and were dying en masse, the leader of brigands did not even bother to lift a finger to help them.

Upon seeing the man, Kayleen threw up her shardgun, taking a quick shot at the man. Pale eyes shifted from the carnage at his feet, and shards stopped in the air. The man removed his fist from his cheek and extended his palm toward shards frozen in the air. He clenched his fist once more, and the shards were reduced to tiny balls of steel. With a look of disgust on his face, the man waved his right hand casually. Steel, frozen in the air, flew back with a booming sound, causing the wolf hag to jump away from their trajectory.

"Ya think we didn’t tried this!?" The wolf hag of pack A screamed, backing down from the man on a throne. He shifted his gaze at her and saw cracks run on the stone floor below the wolf hag. The soldier gasped as her armor trembled under the pressure of an unseen force. As if grasped by a mighty hand, something forced the wolfkin to stand on her knees.

"Good dog." The thin lips of the man smiled, as he saw how the wolf hag struggled not to be crushed by his power. Two more of his bodyguards died, leaving just five people. One of them dropped his weapon and lifted his hands in the air.

"I surrender, I…" He screamed in pain, when the leader of the raiders looked at him. Each part of the guard’s upper body was turned one hundred and eighty degrees. First his fingers. Then his wrists. Then his arms. Then his torso. And finally, mercifully, the head of the bodyguard turned around, his bones snapping with a loud noise, ending the suffering of the man.

"Either die for me or die for naught." The brigand’s leader spoke upon witnessing the demise of his man. The rest of the bodyguards, still in the open, lifted their machine guns at the wolfkins. People were obviously scared, yet their leader whipped them into action with his words.

"Annie. Place mines at the entrance. Rest, spread out, and take firing positions," Kayleen calmly gave command over a secure channel, unheard by enemies. As the wolf hag stood up, she looked at the bodyguards, "You will be spared, if you drop your weapons and run. If I were you, I would have taken the chance."

Annie hurriedly reached for three mines in her belt. These were the standard mines issued for wolfkins, explosives that trigger on contact with the built-in camo field inside. Once in place, these round and thin devices of death were able to unleash a field that allowed them to blend in with their surroundings. In the opinion of Annie, regular mines were almost always better. The charge in camo mines only lasted for three to four hours on average, after that, it was easy to spot them. Annie was unsure why she even had to place them, the wolfkins were meant to advance and break through enemy lines, not dig in and defend.

The brigand leader looked at his hesitant bodyguards once more, and the wolf hag of pack A jumped to her feet, breathing heavily. She spat blood on the stone floor, wiping the edges of her mouth with one paw. In the vision of Annie, the systems of her armor indicated that the structural integrity of the wolf hag’s armor was under threat. The system recommended an immediate retreat from the combat zone. The enemy looked at the wolf hag and pointed a single finger at her, sending her flying all the way into the wall of the building. Even from the entrance, Annie heard the wolf hag's armor start hissing due to countless internal damages within the armor. The wolf hag herself left a crater in the wall, falling weakly on her feet.

"Annie…" Kayleen said as she advanced at the brigand. He looked at her and lifted his hand, as if to swap out a fly. The wolf hag jumped back and half of the circle appeared on the ground where she had just stood.

"Fifty steps, Kayleen!" Annie shouted as she made a guess about the limit of the enemy’s power based on what she just saw.

"I know already, scout! "Help the injured!"

"Already on it, wolf hag!" Annie placed one last mine and jumped to help the wolf hag from Pack A.

As Annie ran toward the wounded, she felt the gaze of the enemy on her. Following his casual gesture, a massive steel spike lifted from the pile on which he was sitting. The spike, weighting at least several tons, started spinning in the air, following the gesture of a man. As the spike was spinning, one of its edges started getting sharper, as rusted metal was sliced from one end, making a thin and dangerously looking tip of a spear. start He blocked several shots from shardguns of wolfkins with his free hand, and then he made a throwing gesture.

Air screamed as metal was shot as if it was an arrow released from a bow. Still spinning, a massive chunk of metal flew at, still standing at her knees, the wolf hag of Pack A. The man smiled, sending two more wolfkins into the ceiling with gestures of his hands. The only reason why he hadn’t killed him was because he had to block shots from shardguns. The wolfkins fell to the floor, backing down at the command of Kayleen.

Annie looked at how the spike was flying toward the wolf hag. Carty was right after all. Annie was getting used to seeing things in slow motion. The scout was still five steps away, as the spike was twenty steps away. As she took one more step, the spike covered a distance of ten steps.

Screw it. Annie decided. She will not, she refuses to let anyone else die, when she could save them. She felt how adrenaline shot through her body, as fear took a backseat to her decision. Annie was not strong. She just trained a lot, that’s it. But this time she pushed her fear of failure back and jumped in the air, kicking the spike into the side, just before the tip could touch the wolf hag’s chest. The spinning of the steel twisted the ankle of Annie to the point of nearly breaking it, yet her kick sent the spike aside, making the tip burrow into the stone wall, to the left of the wolf hag. Annie collapsed on the ground, gritting her teeth and raising herself on three limbs like a beast. She looked at the massive steel that she pushed aside with disbelieving eyes. Behind her, the wolf hag stood up, coughing out blood.

"Both of you, retreat from the battlefield immediately," Dragen calmly gave the orders, "Wolf hag Kayleen, allies bought you time. Finish it."

WThe wolfkins figured out the power of the enemy. They kept their distance as they surrounded the enemy leader, taking firing positions while others distracted the foe. Finally, all was in place, time had come for the final charge. Kayleen threw a grenade forward and the leader turned to her, his remaining bodyguards threw down their weapons and ran like madmen away from the field of carnage. Within ten steps of the man, the grenade got frozen in the air. The man smiled, lifting his left hand in a gesture when the scout of Pack A fired her shardgun. Several shards hit the grenade, and the eyes of the man widened in panic.

Fire and sharp pieces of metal came over him as he threw his hands up. The fire that was supposed to consume him stopped two steps away from him, hiding him from eyes of the wolfkin.

"Enough!" A roaring voice shouted from the sea of flames, and fire was pushed to the ceiling, harmlessly disappearing in the air. Veins appeared at the side of the head of the raider, his eyes were mad with hate. He moved his hands down, making a grabbing gesture, before jerking his arms upward. The pile of scrap underneath his throne shifted and the man nearly fell off, "You dared to anger me and now you will pay the…" Massive steel pipes were torn from the pile, lifting in the air, spinning in the air according to the will of the man on the throne.

He never finished his words, instead screaming in agony as a wolfkin behind him fired a shardgun, causing part of his left shoulder to disappear in a torrent of blood. As the man turned around and gestured at Wolfkin, the pipes fell to the ground with the sound of a falling building. Before anything could happen to the soldier, Kayleen shot him in the back, and the raider panicked, clutching himself with both hands, stopping the armor piercing shards an inch away from his body. Annie finished placing mines and turned around, noticing the wide eyes of the man. The moment he turned away from one wolfkin, another one was firing in his blind spot, forcing the foe to be constantly on the defense. A swarm of shards was surrounding him like a mist, sharp edges of projectiles, meant to pierce steel and stone, were looking menacingly in the face of the strained man, as he pushed his power to the limit, trying to keep them away. More and more shards were unleashed, some of them pushing the shards before them into the form of the raider.

"You are nothing but a miserable scum! Who do you think you are, daring to touch me!" The regal and stern voice of the foe disappeared in a flash, he screamed in a high-pitched voice, filled with pain. Panic gave him strength, and he spread his hands wide, forcing shards to fly away from him. He looked at the foe, his shoulder and wounds on his body bleeding, "If you want a piece of me so badly, then you can beg the devil for one as I smash you all into a bloody pulp!"

He raised his hands up and the stone ceiling, a relic of the past that survived the Extinction and following cataclysms, started trembling, straining under the immense force directed at it by the mind of the brigand. A few stones fell from the ceiling.

"Spread out!" Kayleen shouted, and the packs charged toward the exits. The wolf hag of Pack A grabbed Annie over her shoulder, easily overpowering the scout with a single movement, much like a grown up overpowering a cub. Then she darted toward the western exit of the room.

"Wait, the south exit is clos…" Annie tried to say.

"Shut it, scout. Watch and learn." The wolf hag spit blood as she was running.

The brigand jumped off his seat, running toward the south exit with a speed far unbecoming for such a bloated body. Annie’s eyes widened as she understood that he was using his own power to enhance his speed and stamina to a level that was equal to that of a wolf hag or maybe even above. His steps left cracks in the stone floor, a smile was on his lips as he ran toward safety. His suit tore itself, creating makeshift bandages around his wounds. With all the wolfkins at the other exits, he will…

Exit exploded when the foe stepped onto the mines placed by Annie. An explosion lifted him in the air, tearing off the left leg of a screaming man, searing his body with fire and setting his suit aflame. Gesturing like a madman, he pushed fire away from his body while falling to the ground, making the sound of wet meat. He looked at his missing leg, looked at the approaching wolfkins, and screamed in fear once again, trying to crawl away.

"No! You will not…" He pushed one hand forward, trying to block projectiles like before.

Nothing happened. Shards hit him in the chest, pushing his body away from the building. His body left a blood trail on the ground, and wolfkins charged after him. The wolf hag who carried Annie joined them, keeping fifty steps behind the main group. Kayleen approached the still breathing man, putting her leg on his chest. She pointed the gun at his face.

"No… Brother, don’t forsake me!" The man shouted with his last strength.

"Everyone, out. At once." For a brief moment, the voice of Kayleen trembled.

The roof of the truck near the pile of scrap flew up, crashing against the ceiling as the floor of the room started to violently shake. Two wolfkins jumped at the wolf hag from Pack A, grabbing her and Annie and charging toward the exit. Cracks run against the solid floor, all the way from the truck in the middle of the room. A moment later, cracks run along the ceiling.

"You… will all die," With bloody lips, smiled the leader of raiders as everyone charged outside, "Yes that’s it! This is what you get for making fun of me! Brother, show them true hor…" His body crumbled into the floor like a wet rag that was stepped on. Just a moment ago, he, person who could survive shards into his chest, was alive. In the next moment, life was snuffed out of him as easily as you can put off a fire in the desert. Annie’s eyes widened as the roof fell.

The building collapsed in the shower of stone. Stone slabs, bigger than vehicles, were slammed into the ground with the force of cannon balls, causing some wolfkins to lose their footing and fall on the ground outside of the building. While both packs managed to get alive just fine, they turned toward the rising pile of dust before them with fear and caution. Surely no one could survive after tons upon tons of rubble fell on that person? The sound of falling buildings could be heard even by scouts on the mountain cliffs, dust cloud from falling rubble was rising higher than most buildings in the area. Annie swallowed nervously, as her fellow soldiers held her, slowly backing up from the crushed building. Whoever was inside was dead, surely dead.

An explosion of force lifted stones in the middle into the air. Massive stone slabs, each bigger than the largest tent in the village, bigger than even AVP, were floating in the air for the briefest moment, before stopping moving. Dust was swept aside, small rubbles slashed Annie's and other wolfkins' armor, leaving small slashes across the metal of their armor. Rubble and dust appeared behind wolfkins, forming a whirl of death that sliced a few stone carts and dead bodies behind soldiers. The halo of rubble and dust that caught the wolfkins in the circle was moving from right to left at a blinding force, cutting off any ability to retreat from the danger zone.

In the middle of the clearing, outside of the truck, stood a tall man. He was dressed in simple pants, his bare feet were touching the overheated stone beneath him. Even from afar, Annie could see his massive abs, his wrists were easily as big as the torso of a wolf hag. A casual smile was on the man's face, as he held a struggling naked woman in his left hand. He kissed her once, as he lifted her in the air, her back toward the wolfkins.

"Sorry, honey. I found myself a set of new fucktoys. Here, lemme show them to you." Kayleen fired at these words, knowing what will happen next. Without her command, ten more wolfkins fired, creating an entire wall of shards that was flying at the man. With surprise, Annie noticed that the shards were supposed to hit the man in his head, shoulders, and legs. The skills of soldiers were such that even shardguns in their paws could become precise weapons.

This attack was in vain . The man did not even bother to look in the direction of the attackers, his disdain was clear. Shards stopped in the air, while the man twisted the woman's head in his hands with a loud noise, turning her head all around her body so she could see the wolfkins in her final moments. A sweet smile still on his face, the man looked at the soldiers before him. He allowed the dead woman to slump on the ground.

"One more person that you failed to save… Who cares, actually? More importantly, did any of you see the fat and ugly… Ah, yes, I seemingly killed my brother just a moment ago myself. My bad, my memory seems to be unable to hold insignificant things." He looked confused for a moment before chuckling jokingly, "Ah, well. Can’t be born without family, but you can at least cut off unnecessary ties."

"You killed your own brother? How could you…" Annie gasped against her will, looking with disbelief at the man. Family is the most important thing of all. How she longed to have hers back. And this monster here just casually…

"Tsk, what’s the point of family anyway? Ma and Da always bothered me with the duty to watch over Bro, but what did it bring to me, aside from a headache? " The man shrugged his shoulders, unbothered by guns pointed at him, "My bro was a parasite, I gave him a bit of my power, but he always let it go to waste, playing with it like a fool. Power shared is power wasted, you gotta hold on to what you have to achieve your goals and not mess up…" One of the wolfkins sneaked up on the man from behind, firing at him from the shadow of the rubble. Without looking back, shards stopped one meter from the man’s body. He turned around and smiled, "Rude. But a good demonstration of what I am talking about." The man lifted his arm and made a snapping gesture in the direction of the wolfkin. A wall of force hit the soldier with the force of a train, sending him high into the air, above a swirling halo of dust and rubble, and into the edge of a building outside of the zone of battle. The body of the wolfkin hit the edge like a cannonball, crushing through stone and falling on the other side of the building. According to the warning that flashed in the display of Annie, the male suffered various internal injuries, one of his lungs was pierced by his own shattered ribs.

"My name is Jack, and breaking people is my game. Let us play for a bit." The man turned toward the wolfkins, and lifted his brow, making the dead form of a woman near him explode like a popped-up balloon. Blood flowed around the man, falling behind him as he kept smiling. The armor-piercing shards that were around the man fell on the ground around him. Obeying his will, the massive stone slabs hung up in the air crashed into the ground with a speed greater than that of a bullet.

A shockwave from the collision sent the soldiers into the air. Annie gritted her teeth as she fell onto the still shaking ground, pain hit once more in her legs. Still laying on the ground, she saw how some soldiers jumped onto their feet, firing their weapons into the foe. The man only spread his hands in a mocking gesture, as shards stopped one meter away from him, crumbling like pieces of paper. The ground is cracked, and a massive crack in the ground ran next to Annie, showing the depths of the ruined metro station many meters below. Several soldiers fell into the crack with a scream. Grunting from pain, Annie caught two soldiers by hand and shoulder, pulling man and woman back to safety. As the heavy breathing trio tried to look around for any way to counteract, they were lifted in the air.

It was a strange feeling, as if a suit of flesh was tightly enveloping your body, not allowing you to move even a muscle. Even breathing was hard, as if unseen fingers were tightly holding your lungs with a cruel grip. You couldn't scream because your mouth was sealed, and you couldn't blink or open your eyes because your eyelids were held closed. All your body could do was to helplessly dangle in the grip of the mystical force that held you.

"Here, all better, right? I like it when girls and boys keep their silence. Now, let us break you, first physically, then mentally." Jack let out a laugh as his force slammed the wolfkins into the ground. More than two dozen bodies were slammed into the ground at once, in perfect unison. Annie spat out blood as her armor failed to fully protect her, but at least forced it to release its cruel hold on her snout. Jack turned to one of the wolfkins, raising two fingers up. The body of a wolfkin flew up in the air, straightening itself up before the foe, who chuckled again at the sight.

Jack's hand made a letter V with two fingers, and the wolfkin before him screamed as her legs spread, then her armor on the bottom was torn. Finally, her skin began to tear apart when the unseen force was pulling her in two. Blood flowed from ruined armor between her legs, as bones, skin, and muscles were pushed aside. Her screams were accompanied by the laughter of the man, who was lifting himself up in the air. The dust flowed behind him, forming a crown over his head and two cruel wings, giving the brigand an uncanny resemblance to a demon from tales of the Old World.

And then the demon was felled down, as a bright star shot from heaven above, piercing through the clouds. The fallen star struck the man, forcing him to release his hold on the wolfkins, allowing them to move. Several males from both packs immediately rushed to the aid of their wounded comrade. Annie tried to stand up, grabbing her weapons, but Kayleen was on her, wrapping her paws around her body.

"No sudden movements. We retreat from here." The wolf hag whispered and nodded at the whirlwind around the battlefield. A whirlwind that slowly faded away as the man put all his strength into trying to stop the projectile in his hands.

Shining brightly, as if it was a rising sun, a small orb of energy was between the palms of Jack, his face strained from effort and sweat ran down his face. He looked with mild annoyance and with disbelief at the energy between his palms, as it slowly, yet inevitably, was moving toward his chest. The ground was cracked underneath his feet, his legs burrowed to their knees into solid stone. He bared his perfectly white teeth and growled in anger at the orb of energy before him. Finally, he screamed, loudly enough to be heard by almost everyone in the trading hub. Normal humans should not have such lungs, yet Jack was far from normal. Still screaming, he threw his hands up, the orb still locked between his palms, and started flying upward, returning to the skies from which it came.

"Get over here!" Jack screamed in madness and hate, looking at the skies above. Some wolfkins tried to fire at him, but shards stopped in the air once again, unable to reach his body. Before punching in the air, Jack made a fist with his palm.

The clouds above the battlefield parted before Jack's power. Annie could see the flying vehicle of the Reclaimers, and Jack saw it too, impossibly high in the skies. And the man smiled, closing his hands across the form of the vehicle that was so far away from him.

Whatever he planned to do, never came to pass. A figure, clad in lapis-colored armor, jumped from the vehicle, her legs hit the air, sending the warlord down like a missile. No, her speed is even greater, understood Annie in sheer amazement as the warlord made a full circle in the air, positioning her leg to hit the face of the foe below her. Like an angel that descended from heaven to punish a demon, Dragena crushed into Jack, her left leg aimed at the head of the brigand. Jack threw one hand upward, casually smiling as he planned to push Dragena aside. The air became solid before him, yet a missile of cold fury crushed into the new wall, creating shockwaves that threw her own soldiers off their feet. A dust cloud rose in the air, and stone rubble moved aside, as an explosion of violence landed on the brigand before her. The crown of dust and wicked wings disappeared, Jack's smile turned into a painful expression of incredible stress, as the form of the warlord was closing on him, and Jack had to throw both hands before himself just to ensure that Dragena will land before him. His power ruined the main building in the trade hub. He redirected a shot from the warlord’s rifle. He defeated two packs at once. He cracked the ground with his mind.

He nearly died as Dragena landed on her feet, her knives in her paws. A blur of steel struck forward, with the sound of a torrent of raging sandstorm, hitting Jack from both sides. A smile appeared on the face of the brigand as stone underneath him moved backward, following the will of the man, along with the brigand with his legs still deep inside stone, getting him out of danger. His smile turned to a scowl as he saw two bloody slashes across his palms. Dragena charged after him, when two gigantic stone slabs, each twice as big as her, crashed into her from left and right. A blur of raging steel surrounded the warlord, as she sliced stones around her in pieces, while Jack smiled as he raised his left arm above his head. The lenses of the warlord's helmet covered the man before her in crimson light, and she made a cross slash before herself, still too far away from her foe. The smile of the man disappeared, and he quickly raised his left arm before his eyes, while making a cutting gesture with his left arm. A sound resembling that of thunder could be heard as both opponents struck each other. The ground was sliced in a straight line leading from Jack toward Dragena, tips of her blades were sliced away as she herself was pushed back dozens of steps. The claws on the feet of the warlord were leaving deep traces in the ground as she halted her movement. Torn wounds appeared above the brows of Jack and on his right hand as torrents of wind, turned into cutting death by the speed and might of Dragena, reached him. From the long and ugly line that ran across the chest of the warlord, from her shoulder onto her leg, the metal of her armor was deeply pushed into her own flesh. Dragena put the ruined weapons back into the sheath and took out two more blades in a slick movement. Jack lowered his right hand and saw the tips of the ruined blades lying between him and Dragena. Smiling, he turned them into dust of metal with a thought and allowed dust to flow like a halo around his head.

"Impressive, truly! A rare example of power indeed," Jack clapped his hands, frowning from the pain of cuts on his palms, "I say that you passed my test," He extended his right hand toward Dragena, "Join me and let’s rule these lands as emperor and his whore."

"Why should I join someone who got his ass kicked by people in the Ravaged Lands?" Dragena asked, lowering herself and getting ready to charge forward.

"Ah, that," Jack said, waving his hands and spilling blood in front of himself. His eyes never left Dragena, "There is a new force that has risen in the Ravaged Lands. A king, like no other before him, spread his dominion far and wide, uniting everyone under him. I have no spirit of a bootlicker in me, so I made a temporary withdrawal. You see, I am a good learner. If he forged his empire, then so can I through my own power, granted to me by the Sun itself!" Jack said, his opened hand clenched into a fist, "Destiny has chosen me, and destiny has brought you here before me. Join me and you can live as my pleasure toy and my right-hand woman. Resist me and you will live your last moments as my bitch."

"You want to claim these lands?" Dragena inquired, sounding genuinely surprised for a moment, "You and what army?"

"My power alone is enough to forge me a path to a bright future ahead. The ones who bend their knees will live and fight for me. The ones who dare to resist my destiny…" A bullet shot from the mountains outside of the trading hub, stopping less than a centimeter behind the head of Jack. His smile widened at this. Without even looking at the bullet, he made it collapse to a tiny dot and drop on the ground. Behind him, the cliffs of the mountains, a few kilometers away, suddenly suffered an avalanche, "...will not be able to see at all."

"Carty, are you all alright out there!" Annie dared to break the silence, calling to the scouts on the faraway mountains.

"A bit roughed up, but… Dammit! Sorry, I nearly fell just now, we live." Carty responded in a strained voice, cracking sound of a torrent of stones falling in the background accompanied her voice.

"Rule with your power only? Are you insane or what, boy? Who does this nowadays? If you rule with power, then you will fall, because…" Dragena started talking to the smiling man before her.

"We got ID on this Jack fellow." Angoro Viscario quickly said in a worried voice on the communicator, "He is suspected of causing the deaths of at least one thousand and two hundred people when his gang crashed down fair in the lands of Bento Tribe. Violation, murder, acts of terrorism, extortion… He has done it all. Warlord Dragena, his potential is incredible, yet according to the laws of state, the sentence for his crimes is…"

"Thank you for your clarification, lieutenant. It seems there is no need to take him alive." Dragena stood tall and relaxed, her head looking up at the sky and her arms dangling at her sides.

"Take me alive…" Jack laughed at these words, and the ground trembled as pieces of stone raised in the air, obeying the will of the raider, "I am the supreme being, that descends onto this land to rule upon all of you, you insignificant little creatures. Worship me, praise me, lest you incur my wrath," The ground shook as Jack spread his hands slowly, metal dust halo was circling around his head, "Killing me, capturing me?! Punishment for such insolence is death, death of you and every single person dear to you. As you draw your last breath, I will make you give me every single name of your family, your friends, even the names of your pets. But I digress. You were going to explain to me something. Feel free to spit your wisdom, before I break you down for good. Speak now, before I flatten this entire place." Jack said these words in a kind and gentle voice, while raising his hands over his head for the killing move.

"Indeed, you need an answer. You see, the reason you can’t rule with power alone, is because…" Drops of blood from wounds on the head reached Jack's eyes, and the raider blinked blood away, breaking eye contact briefly. It was just a brief moment, one that lasted less than a fraction of a second. Yet, as he opened his eyes, his head suddenly started falling from his shoulders, while the warlord stood behind Jack, not a single drop of blood marked the blade that severed his neck clean. Pain hit the brigand's eyes, as Jack understood that his neck was cut clean, and his body was slumped on the ground. The warlord put her weapons back in the sheaths and caught the fallen head, looking into the eyes of her dying foe, the eyes that were filled with pain and disbelief. A halo of metal around Jack’s head fell in a cloud of dust, covering his eyes. Jack's lips moved wordlessly, trying to say something, "…you will make a mistake one day, just like the mistake you made now, and you will die all alone, forgotten and abandoned by all, just like you are dying right now. Repent in the afterworld for your sins, apologize to the dead, and be reborn as a smart and good person. Smart people rule through loyalty, not through loyalty born out of fear. Good people obtain loyalty by improving the lives of their subjects and others, instead of forcing others to be loyal through fear of reprisal. Only through unity can one carve out a nation and live well."

The ground shook violently one more time when Jack's lips opened wide in a wordless scream, and the metal on Dragena's shoulder screamed as an immense weight struck her. The warlord closed her paws and Jack was no more, his head was crashed in the mighty grip of the warlord.

Dragena looked at her soldiers, shaking off the blood from her fingers.

"Mission is complete. Treat the injured and secure the place." The warlord simply said.

****

"Annie." The scout almost jumped, feeling the gaze of the warlord on herself. Packs were still busy capturing remaining raiders, keeping informants away from former prisoners and new prisoners in three different secure positions. Lieutenant Angoro has already confirmed that the first border patrol will arrive within half an hour, along with medics and members of military police. Pack W managed to save their own hostages, and Pack C prevented raiders from escaping.

Packs had several badly wounded members, but no one was dead, thanks to the spirits. The scouts joined the group, and Carty helped Annie, resetting her twisted ankle. The leg still hurt like hell, but at least Annie could walk now. Carty herself was covered with bruises, not even her armor fully protected her as a boulder larger than her slammed into the body of a scout.

"Warlord." Carty and Annie looked at the massive form before them.

"Carty, go and help others. Annie, you are with me. I need to know something." Dragena nodded to Carty briefly, sending her to watch over the "rats" as the cubs of raiders called themselves. There were twelve of them, oldest of them was barely over ten years old. They were the ones who contacted the forces of the state about hostages. Dragena spoke with them briefly, before ordering food and water to be allocated to them. After medics clean them from drugs, the cubs will be shipped off to an orphanage in the Core Lands, as a reward for information. Wyrm Lord has already stated that the state will cover all medical expenses for injured traders and hostages, their recovery will be quick, but the horror of the previous days will most likely remain in people's minds. Cubs and relatives of the deceased will also be provided with compensation and help from Reclaimers.

This trading hub will become abandoned in the foreseeable future, and the trade route itself will be relocated for the time being.

Dragena lowered herself, checking the damaged ankle of Annie herself, before standing up and gesturing for the scout to follow after her. The warlord slowed her walk just enough for Annie to keep up with her. Both of them went to a warehouse at the edge of the trading hub. On their way, the warlord spat on the ground, and Annie saw how blood was soaking into the sand. A massive steel door was blocking the entrance, yet the warlord tore it aside with casual ease, allowing the steel slab to fall down with a sound of gunshot.

"My apologies for putting you through additional stress, scout. Yet, time has come to choose what kind of person you want to become. Take off your helmet," The lenses of the warlord unleashed bright light, lighting up the insides of warehouse with crimson light.

"Warlord?" Annie asked, obeying order. In a moment, she saw it. Inside was a creature. Limbs of the creature were twisted, bone fingers looked like they were ready to rip and tear even through metal. Bones covered half of the upper head, emerging from pink skin and protecting the eyes deep within bone sockets. The monster saw them and sobbed loudly, retreating helplessly into a corner and nervously licking his lips. Deep within his mouth were needle-like fangs.

Monster! Thing! Murderer! Blood veins popped in the eyes of Annie as she recognized this… this filth as the same kind as the ones who killed people in her village. Her helmet fell on the floor of the warehouse as the shardgun appeared in her arms, before she knew what she was doing.

"Cubs of raiders reported that he was one of the caravan hands. I spoke with traders, and they confirmed it, he is living in a nearby village, often helping people with repairs and often joining caravans during travel. He and his wife produced two cubs." Dragena said calmly, looking at the weeping man.

"Murderer. He is like one of them… Murderer. This creature… Took them… Took them all from me…" Annie whispered, feeling the searing hate rising in her. Something in her demanded retribution here and now. Only blood will wash away the crime that was committed.

"Warlord. I demand that you remove the scout from the operation area. She is mentally unstable at the moment and may…" Angoro spoke in the communicator, still watching through cameras.

"I am well aware, lieutenant. Yet I will not always be there to catch her before she falls. We will settle it here and now. Annie," Dragena looked at the scout, "Will you kill him?"

"Please… I have tokens, I…" The man went silent and the warlord looked at him, his pink skin began to become pale.

"He looks just like them… Just like those beasts!" Annie whispered with hate.

Kill, kill, murder, slaughter, kill, kill, kill! Remember the fallen! A beast roared in the head of Annie, and she felt sweat running down her hide. Never before had she wanted to kill someone. Never before did she know that she could feel such hatred, such urge…No, such need to kill. She needed to end this filth. Her finger twitched, moving toward the trigger.

"Indeed, and yet he is not a beast. He is a human, just like you, me, and the murderers who attacked your village."

"He… I promised that I will kill them all for what they had done. All their filthy kind…"

"This way of thinking will only allow you to merely create another mass murderer."

"Huh?" Annie asked in surprise, confused while the beast inside roared for vengeance.

"Think about it. You will kill him for the single crime of looking differently from you."

"Not for the crime of being different! For the crime of being the same creature as the murderers who killed my mother! Almost wiped out my village!" Annie shouted angrily at her leader, who ignored her outburst and continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"Will you kill his cubs next?"

"What?" Annie asked in confusion, stumbling back.

"Think about it. They probably look like him after all. Will you kill them right away or wait until they grow up first? Who will be next? His wife? She may look different, but she did share a bed with him, right? Or will you draw a line at her? What will your revenge make of you? If you do this, then how are you any different from the ones who destroyed your family in the end? Revenge is a process, not a goal, it brings nothing, it breeds nothing. Instead of living, you worship the very existence of people who destroyed your family by spending too much time thinking about them and hating them. This is not existence. The scum who attacked your village is not worth such dedication. You have no excuses not to live, and you have no excuses to punish others for the crime of looking similar to those who hurt you. You said to me that you wanted to become a soldier. Is this still true?" Not once did Dragena raise her voice, her posture was relaxed as she talked to the scout. The voice of the warlord was as calm as it was during training.

"Yes… I mean, I am a soldier!" Annie shouted back, "I saved people! I killed people… I worked side by side with the pack!"

"If you speak the truth, then why am I seeing murder right now in your eyes? There are no enemies here, just a scared civilian and two soldiers. Or maybe one soldier, one victim, and one murderer?" The lenses of Dragena shone crimson light deep into the eyes of Annie, blinding her briefly, "If you are a soldier, how dare you abandon your duty and principles now? How dare you even think about raising a weapon against a civilian? A soldier has clear goals. A soldier has no need for honor, but we have rules and principles. The rules of our state are clear, we do not kill civilians. Our principles are clear, we protect civilians whenever possible. We do not persecute others for the crime of having the wrong body type. So will you give in and become just like the people who destroyed your life, or will you live on and one day lay your life down for the sake of protecting people who might look like him?"

"But… He… He looks…" Annie weakly said, looking at the creature with blind eyes. Shardgun trembled in her paws.

"Choose. On this day, unknowingly, you, among others, risked your life to save the life of this man as well. Now, as he stands before you, you stand on the line, revenge on one side, duty on the other. Will you cross the line and become a crazed murderer? Or will you commit to your dedication to becoming a soldier and choose duty? Out of two types of people, only one has a future and a place in my pack." Dragena said mercilessly.

Annie looked at the shardgun in her paws. She killed people today, right? These people also had dreams and hopes today. A soldier or a murderer… Is this even a choice? She killed people, this makes her a murderer by default, right? What more difference will one life make? Is your rage truly so weak? Come, travel along the road to a desirable end. To true retribution. To make hills made out of dead filth like this one, to…

And what kind of person would Sveta like to see you become? Protector of a murderer? The thought hit Annie like thunder, and she hastily put the weapon behind her back with trembling paws. What was I thinking all this time? How... how did I differ from...

"Soldier… Spirits, forgive me my thoughts, soldier, of course." Annie looked into the lenses of the warlord and they went dim, as the helmet slid in two, revealing the snout of Dragena, burning embers in her amber eyes shone down on Annie.

"Then, at long last, allow me to welcome you to the ranks of the Reclaimers, scout Annie. From this day onward, you are an official member of my pack. No more tests, no more doubts. You have been reforged into steel, worthy of my hand and worthy of the trust of the state. As a fellow soldier, I welcome you. As a person, I am glad for you." Dragena briefly hugged Annie, and the scout felt the intense heat of the breath of the warlord over her head.

The warlord let go of Annie, and the scout knelt before the civilian, bowing low and unconcerned about how she looked.

"I am sorry for scaring you, mister. On my life, I swear, you have nothing to fear from me."

"Really?" The man asked with distrust, pressing himself harder against the wall.

"Really," Dragena confirmed, nodding behind Annie. She sniffed the air and looked at the man strictly, "You are aware that drugs are forbidden by the state, sir? Due to circumstances of our situation, I will overlook it this time, but this stuff will kill you one day."

"It just something to keep a mood on. I travel a lot, you see, it… becomes lonely during long trips. I just need something to cheer me up…" The man tried to explain in confusion, "Besides, I am not hurting anyone."

"Not hurting anyone?!" Annie jumped to her feet, and the man covered his head in fear of her suddenly angry voice. She grabbed him by his bone hands, forcing him to look in her eyes, "My dad died because of shit like this! You think that his death was not something that didn’t hurt anyone?"

"But I don’t even know you…" The man whispered.

"Argh!" Annie screamed in frustration, "That’s not the point, sir! The warlord said that you have cubs! And a wife! You believe they will be pleased to see how you degrade yourself day by day! The state will provide for everyone who suffered today, so use the help of medics to clean yourself up and live a proper life for the sake of your family, you selfish prick!" Annie stopped in confusion at her words, adding in a guilty voice, "I mean, with all due respect, it is my genuine view on things and all, sir…"

Dragena tapped on her shoulder with a finger, making the scout stop and look at her.

"Scout, we are supposed to be the shock troopers of the state. Weapons of terror, not… soothsayers… But I think good sir heard you point."

"I think that I will stop recording here." Angoro said, with a hint of humor in his voice.

"It will be for the best. Agent, when you pass this information to the higher ups, make sure to tell them that I will take up any punishment in place of scout Annie," Dragena said, her helmet covering her head once more.

"I will not let you off the hook, have no fear. Warlord, we have therapists in the state. Maybe not as good as the ones in Iterna, but we have actual people who could have helped scout through her problems. You had no right to risk the mental health of an important soldier of the state." Angoro replied in an icy voice.

"Foolishness, Angoro. I know far better how to help my soldiers than these soothsayers." Dragena responded to him and cut off communication, motioning Annie to follow her. Outside waited two males from pack A, and Dragena nodded to them. One of the males smiled to Annie, before rushing inside and helping the hostage to stand up.

"They will escort the hostage back to others." Dragena said to Annie.

"Warlord… I deserve punishment for my… my stupidity." Annie asked quietly, trying to find the right words.

"Hm…" Dragena stopped for a moment, turning toward Annie, "If this is your wish. A proper punishment... For the next half of a year, you will spend all your free time helping at a temporary refugee center near our base. You will wash clothes of people, speak with people, show them directions, and cook food for them. Yes, I think it will be a proper punishment and a chance to grow for you."

"Of course, warlord." Annie bowed to her leader. She hesitated before asking, "Warlord, what if… what If I had chosen wrong?"

"This would not happen, for not once in my life have I made a mistake. You had my full confidence, and you passed your test with flying colors." Dragena said with a stern voice, looking into the eyes of Annie. The crimson lenses of her helmet started working anew.

"But still… What if I had made a mistake and opened fire?" Annie asked, desiring to know for sure.

"Then I would have blocked your shot and would have killed you on the spot for daring to put a civilian in harm’s way." Dragena shrugged her shoulders.

****

"I don’t care. Stay still." Kayleen gave her command, and Annie felt the hot water hit her.

Upon returning to the base, Kayleen first sent her entire pack to the medics, forcing healthy members to loudly cheer up injured members as their wounds are treated. Once it was done, medics checked the bodies of wolfkins. Through domination, wolfkins grew in power and stature. With surprise, Annie saw that she actually grew a tiny bit after the events of the night. Upon completion of check-ups, Kayleen ordered her pack to the shower room. Wolfkins had a natural aversion to water, viewing showers as an excessive luxury, unworthy of true warriors. Yet Dragena always insisted on keeping her pack clean, thus the wolf hags ensured her will. Pack W and Pack A both managed to get there first, much to the infuriation of Kayleen, who forced her pack members to wait still, until one of the shower rooms was free. Then, like a caring nanny, she forced the wolfkins inside, walking around the room, making sure that each member of her pack would be clean from the blood and filth of today.

A tight bandage was on one of Annie's legs. The wound on her head was stitched by medics on the base and covered with a waterproof medical patch. She looked at how water, mixed with blood and dirt, was flowing into the sink beneath her feet.

"Wolf hag, will the injured soldiers be fine?" Annie dared to ask, as the wolf hag poured water on her, clicking her tongue in disapproval. When the wolf hag noticed Annie was not cleaning herself properly, she took the job into her own hands.

"One of them had her bottom torn up. She will spend few months in hospital, but eh, we are tougher than this. We all alive, no one lost limbs, everyone will be back in some time."

"That’s goo… Shit!" Annie screamed as Kayleen increased the stream of water from the tube in her paws, slamming Annie against the wall.

"That’s good, my ass! I don’t intend to let you off the hook, Annie!"

"What in the abyss did I do now!?"

The wolf hag turned off the water, coming close and inspecting the body of Annie for any signs of dirt. Annie felt how amber eyes ran all over her body, noticing every scar, every bruise and damage, checking for any weakness. Finally, the wolf hag nodded and grabbed the scout by the head:

"What haven’t you done, you little, stubborn, idiot?" Kayleen spoke slowly, stretching words, "You have ignored telling me about your "problem" with the normies. You have taken off your helmet in a field. You managed to get injured. You made the warlord worry. What else could you keep in secret from me? Any past trauma, hmm? I would have asked you to come with me with any of your problems in the future, but I feel kind of hurt and angry right now. Tsk, tsk, little idiot, we will have to have a long and proper talk real soon. For now, you are free!"

Cursing slightly, Anni wiped the water from her body. Scout took her clothes and was busy dressing herself, gritting from the pain in her leg. Finally, she looked in the mirror at herself. Bruises were covering her body, but this was nothing serious. Medics carefully treated all her cuts and scratches. The whites of her eyes were slowly pushing the blood in them away.

Her paws trembled as she remembered what happened today. The wide eyes of the man that she killed. Blood from the dead covered her armor, sneaking through the cracks onto her fur, soaking all the way to her skin. Trying to get rid of these memories, Annie bit her finger, lightly. Her fangs drew a bit of blood, yet dread remained.

"Scout? Is everything fine?" Asked one of the warriors coming into the room.

"Yes, yes, all fine, everything just dandy!" Annie stormed out of the room, forgetting her jacket inside.

No matter, I will get it later… I need to talk, I need to talk with someone… Thoughts rushed through the mind of Annie as she stormed across the corridors, half lost in fear. She was confused as to why she was afraid. They all survived, all was well, so why was she feeling herself so… so… strange. Each time she blinked, she saw her first kill over and over. Her mouth became dry as she hurried to her room. Her fingers trembled, releasing claws against her will.

"Annie?" said someone, and the scout understood that she nearly crashed into Dragena, who was returning to her quarters from medics. The Warlord was dressed in a light white shirt and simple linen pants. A black belt was over her waist, small communicator was on her belt. Her shirt did little to hide the ugly wound on her skin beneath. With surprise, Annie understood that she was hearing a soft hissing sound and that faint smoke was coming from the edges of the wound. Damaged skin was healing before her very eyes.

"Sorry, warlord, I just… Need some time for myself." Annie bowed hastily, showing her neck. She understood the stupidity of her movement a second later. Dragena never touched anyone with a finger. The last recruit who showed her neck to the warlord was sent to clean toilets for the whole week.

"Of course. Medics finally freed me from my armor. According to the damage that I saw, it will take engineers quite some time to fix it. Time is late, so I will run through your score later and update your record later. You are free to go."

"Record, warlord?" Annie asked in surprise. She hadn’t heard about any scores before.

"Yes." The warlord looked at her, pressing two fingers to her own lower jaw as she was lost in thought, "It is a minor thing that shows your victories and defeats. Since today was your first win, we will start your official record. Pay it no mind, it is of no concern, just something to brag about before other new breeds. Would you like to meditate with me, by any chance? Meditation sometimes helps you to calm down your troubling mind."

"No, thank you, warlord. I need… I need to sleep. Yes, some rest, that’s it." Annie let out a sigh, finally coming up with some clear goal. Yes, she will be again if she just sleeps for a while. Everything will be fine.

"Go on then. Keep in mind, my door is always open for members of my pack, when I have free time, of course." The warlord turned around, reaching for the communicator on her waist.

Not believing her luck, Annie stormed away. Dragena rarely left members of her pack alone. If she notices a flaw in one of her soldiers, the warlord quietly takes the soldiers away, either whipping them into shape with her words or putting them through her own training courses until they meet her standards .In the case of mental distress, Dragena would often make pack members meditate with her, until they were ready to talk about their problems.

Annie reached her room's door and opened it with a trembling paw, a blood smear from her wound on her finger on the door handle. Carty was already inside, sitting in the chair and reading some book. Unlike her usual attire, she was dressed like a peasant tonight. Black pants and a blue jacket over her shoulders, which was all that he had chosen to wear for tonight. The bandages that covered her body probably played some role in this. Carty hated allowing others to treat her wounds with passion. She was sour after every mandatory medical inspection. Serious in the field, the scout tried to escape from medics with some childlike stubbornness.

"Well, this will need cleaning." Carty noted the blood on the handle. She looked at Annie and frowned.

"I… Carty, can I speak… If this is not a prob…" Annie licked her lips, unsure what to say.

"Of course, you can. What’s the matter, Annie?" Carty called her by her own name. This meant that, on this rare occasion, the scout was going to treat her seriously.

"I… I wanted to sleep, but I am afraid right now," Annie said simply, feeling burning shame in her body at this admission, "Each time when I close my eyes, I see the dude whom I offed back in the field. I have no idea why, it was fine just a few hours ago, yet now… I, sorry."

"Ah, yes, it was your first time." The scout put aside her book and stood up. She was about to take Annie's paws, when someone hit the scout in the ass, forcing her to stumble deeper into the room from the doorway.

"Lies! I knew that you were going to keep some secrets from me once again!" Kayleen stumbled into the room, throwing Annie's jacket onto her bed. The wolf hag had a manual under her arm.

Kayleen looked around the room with a burning gaze and sniffed the air. Carty just rolled her eyes as the wolf hag grabbed Annie's arm and dragged her to bed, forcing her to sit.

"Okay, what are you gonna drink?" Kayleen asked in annoyed voice.

"Wh… what?" Annie replied in lost voice.

"She is drinking only juice. Beer and above makes her weird," Carty said, sitting near Annie, "I will drink wine as usual. Red one, preferably."

"Phh, piss poor recruits, piss poor discipline, stupid idiots… Red wine, snobbish asshole…" Kayleen reached for the communicator, calling for staff of the base. She ordered snacks, vodka for herself, and drinks for the scouts. With surprise Annie noticed that Kayleen paid for all herself. Usually, members of a pack spread the costs among themselves.

Kayleen threw the manual on the bed, sitting in the chair for a moment, looking angrily at Annie. Her eyes were burrowing into Annie with burning intensity, as if the wolf hag wanted to bite her. Annie raised her head, showing her neck. If Kayleen was here for domination, let her get over with it already.

"I came to read you a lecture about the fact that it is unacceptable to take off your helmet during a fight. And I still will, just a bit later," Kayleen swallowed, as if speaking words was a physical torture for her, "You did good, ‘kay? You saved the blasted cub, worked hard and all that. Listen, we all had that time, it sucks for a couple of days, but you get over it eventually."

"Are you going to hit me or…" Annie asked in confusion. Kayleen usually acted with rage and fury, not… like this.

"She is trying to tell that she cares about you, stupid!" Carty rolled her eyes again, wrapping her arm around Annie’s shoulder.

"I will strangle you. Both of you." Kayleen looked at the scouts with bloodshot eyes filled with anger.

"You will die trying, sweetheart." Carty sent her air kiss and the wolf hag released her claws, growling. She was about to stand up, when she threw a glance at Annie and forcibly calmed herself.

"I am not good at soft approach… Fine, mock me all you want. Just for today only, I will be as fluffy and harmless as a… I don’t know, plushie toy maybe?" Kayleen asked in an uncertain voice, before shaking her head, "Never had any toys, but I heard that cubs like them. Listen, Annie, let’s play a game, all of us. I will tell you what is bothering me, you will tell me what is bothering you, we will spend the rest of our free time drinking ourselves to a state of vegetables and then we will all fall asleep. The warlord gave packs leave for today, so no worries about training, everyone will skip them anyway, lazy bastards. Once we wake up, I will give you the lecture and we will all move on with our lives as usual. Deal?"

"We can talk about anything?" Annie asked with a suspicion, worrying that this might be some kind of trap.

"Yes. Anything. If you think that I am a bitch, just say it, I won’t be angry tonight. Don’t hold down your punches."

"This "tonight" part worries me very much. But I agree. I… Who will start?" Annie looked around in fear and hope that the other two will decide to drop this game. Her paws were trembling slightly less, yet she still felt cold sweat running down her spine.

"I suppose, I will." Carty shrugged her shoulders, "So you know that I dislike lies, right?"

"We noticed." Kayleen responded angrily.

"Good for you. Well, it is because back when I was a cub, parents often promised me toys if I became the top member in the pits. Or do chores at home. I did all that they asked of me, but they never bought me any, cause we were poor. Like I love my parents, always send them tokens, but why the hell do they need the urge to lie? Why can’t people just say the truth, just accept the bloody truth?" Carty bared her fangs, a hint of madness appeared on her face, turning the beautiful woman into an angry-looking beast. Her voice turned into a low growl as she continued to speak, "Truth is what makes us human. Only by not lying can we excel. Accepting failure is not a bad thing. They could have just told me that "sorry, we are poor, but we love you, please try hard", but no, they thought that I needed some cheap prize to excel. They dared to think that their love was not enough drivel for me! Curses, lies, any lies, just piss me off! And it still pisses me off that I can’t just call them and tell them this, cause I am afraid to hurt their feelings! I'm lying to myself by keeping it inside! When I think about it, I just want to rip and tear, to see the guts of my foes spread on the ground before me, to see a sea of dead arrayed before me as far as eye…" She looked around at Annie and Kayleen. Annie was pale as snow underneath her fur and her eyes were round. Kayleen pushed herself deep into the back of the chair, looking with surprise at the scout, "I am sorry, why are you both looking so strange all of a sudden?"

Before anyone could answer, base staff knocked on the door, and with a sigh of relief, Kayleen jumped out of her seat. Trio ate and talked for a long time before finally falling asleep. As she woke up, Annie noticed with surprise that she had no nightmares about yesterday. Her paws were no longer trembling and fear was no longer running down her spine. She felt great!

She felt great, right up until the moment when Kayleen woke up and forced Annie to sit through a three-hour long lecture about the dangers of removing armor in a combat zone and how to avoid it. Turns out, listening to the lecture of someone who was suffering from a hangover and then answering questions on a test at the end was quite a task, when your examiner was looking for a way to screw with you out of bitterness. Instead of helping, Carty merely verbally cheered on Annie, causing the wolf hag to get angrier with every moment, while Carty clearly enjoyed herself getting Kayleen all riled up. After the lecture was over, Carty dragged the fellow scout to a training field, forcing her to spend the entire day sparring. Annie felt as if her ankle was about to burst from pain, but she suffered through all eight hours of training without a single complaint.

At the age of fifteen, Annie participated in her first military operation and took her first life.

****

"Thank thee for giving me strength to accept my mistake, Spirit of Endurance." Annie bowed to a stone idol, shaped in the form of a wolfkin with a missing leg and arm. The statue, like others beside it, was crudely made out of a solid chunk of stone, with the claws of shamans. The Wolf Tribe cared little for beauty, all they cared for was utility. The packs needed a place to worship. The shaman can make one within an hour, slashing stones into the forms of statues with her claws. Usually, the den for praying was a crude place. Yet the den near the military base was a whole other deal, it was brightly lit, well made, and massive icons of the Spirits were placed behind each statue.

Annie was standing in a cavern located five hundred meters from the military base of the Reclaimers. Most of the state's faiths were represented within military bases, with small chapels, altars, and even places to burn offerings within the military facility's sturdy walls. Priests, druids, and other religious people served the spiritual needs of soldiers daily.

The Wolf Tribe was a bit different from this. They dislike praying side by side with other normies, always finding a deep and dark den outside of base, building an altar within it. Such places had little value to them and could be abandoned at a moment's notice. Spirits cared not for material side of the life, the only reason shamans made effigies of spirits was to help wolfkins focus their thoughts on someone while praying. This place was supposed to be a remote den, far away from the prying eyes of others. It was supposed to be, yet the Spirits decided differently.

Originally, this cave was dug out by two shamans, who hollowed out the insides of a small hill in order to create a small and dark den for prayers. Mighty claws tore through stone and removed the ground. Wooden supports were placed, ensuring that the den would not collapse in the coming days. Five slabs of stone were brought in, and with just a few slashes of claws, they were turned into shapes that believers mostly associated with spirits. Initially, no lights were shining in this place, the floor was covered by dirt and jagged pieces of rock, sharp enough to wound the legs of normies. When shamans were content with what they built, they scratched words of basic prayers above each statue, to ensure that any member of the Wolf Tribe could pray here even without the presence of a shaman. There were countless prayers in the Wolf Tribe, slowly changing as life went on. Entire tomes were filled with words that shamans used as they led different ceremonies. But five basic prayers were always available to all.

Then the shamans went back to sleep in the village, only coming back once a week to check if the den was still standing and help with prayers for the most inexperienced wolfkins. At the end of the second week, when the shamans arrived to clean the place and lead the ceremony, they were at a loss. The floor was clean from dust and rock, plates made of wood now covered the ground, leading to the place of prayer. An electric light was shining in the den. Several generators were placed in corners of the den, and lights were now covering the ceiling. Crude wooden supports were replaced with sturdy metal supports, and the walls were now round rather than the misshapen mess they were before. The effigies, however, experienced the most change. Crude stone figures were still in place, but on the wall behind them now were icons with imagery of the Spirits, new effigies were placed on a large bronze altar. A few small heaters were placed inside the praying den to warm the place at night.

Naturally, shamans were confused as to who could have done this. The icons were skillfully made by an unknown artist. The Spirit of Rage resembled a being from hell, the dark shape of a wolfkin standing in front of a crimson background. The Spirit of Endurance was depicted as a wolfkin who moved through raging torrents of water and wind. The Spirit of Loss was painted as a gentle mother, surrounded by the moonlight, calming orphans of both normies and wolfkins around her. The Spirit of Spite was depicted as an indomitable figure, refusing to give up to foes before her. The Spirit of Pride was depicted as a caring father, prompting people around him to reach for greater heights. The confusion of shamans only grew at this sight, the Wolf Tribe was not known for any artists. More so, Dragena and her pack were notoriously known for lacking in dedication to Spirits, barely any of the pack members bothered to come for prayers and certainly no one of them would waste their time adoring the prayer den. Shamans wondered who could have changed the cave so. They searched around, finding footprints leading to the military base.

Finally, shamans called for Dragena, asking for an explanation. The warlord visited the commander of the base and came back with news. Recruits who came from the Core Lands were believers in the Spirits. The shamans initially refused to believe in this, normies and other new breeds hold the same beliefs as the Wolf Tribe? Inconceivable! Wolfkin shamans visited the base, spending a long time speaking with newcomers, confused as to why would anyone outside of the Wolf Tribe even think about worshiping Spirits. It turns out that the faith had spread, far and wide enough to be established as one of the officially recognized faiths of the state. Dens of Spirits, as normies called places of worship, were built in the Core Lands and shamans from the ranks of normies were elected.

The Wolf Tribe's shamans were perplexed by this news, but accepted it as a manifestation of the Spirits' will. The faiths were similar, but the beliefs of normies were too soft in the view of the shamans of the Wolf Tribe. Shamans of normies kept their names. They did not care about promoting domination and struggle. Grumbling discontentedly, the shamans of the Wolf Tribe allowed normies to use dens made by wolfkins for the purpose of prayers, yet refused to join two faiths into one. Normies were allowed to add their own prayers, to ask wolfkins about prayers and the history of the tribe, and even change dens to suit their physical and spiritual needs. Shamans of normies and new breeds other than wolfkins were allowed to lead spiritual ceremonies in the Wastes and Ravaged Lands, when shamans of the Wolf Tribe were not available. These concessions were happily accepted by the faithful from Core Lands, and the shamans of Wolf Tribe were invited to lead several joint ceremonies in Core Lands as a sign of friendship. Then the same request came from Iterna, of all places, where faith in the Spirits also took hold. Confused and scared by such turn of events, the shamans of the Wolf Tribe refused both requests. The Wolf Tribe was always known for secluding the lives of its members. The shamans of the Wolf Tribe never wanted to spread their faith among other people, they never wanted to leave the tribe either, save for the times of war. Shamans assumed that after making so many concessions, they would be left alone. The invitations never ceased coming, however.

"Spirit of Loss, I thank thee for helping me to move on." Annie bit her thumb, allowing drops of blood to fall into the bowl before the idol that represented the Spirit. The icon behind was shrouded in shadow, barely visible to the eyes of non-new breeds, while other icons were brightly lit by the flames of the braziers on the wall.

Men and women stood side by side with Annie, giving their own praise to the Spirits. Some people spoke as loudly as Annie, while others prayed silently. The main ceremony was over, and the two shamans were busy cleaning up the den. Both shamans were massive beings, their fur did little to hide impressive muscles underneath their skin. Each of them had taken part in countless battles and dominated hundreds of opponents on their road to power. Yet now both women were trying to be quiet, allowing people to give thanks to the Spirits.

"Seriously, I can’t believe that this is happening." Quietly said one shaman to another, while working with a broom, swiping dust from the floor. Even for the ears of Annie, it was hard to hear the words. Shamans always spoke the truth or the truth as they understood it. It was not uncommon for them to be wrong, and they always admitted their flaws before. Yet right now, both women were too ashamed to speak aloud.

The shaman nodded to her companion among the fifty people gathered before the altar. Most people were normies, fresh recruits from the Core Lands. Some of them were new breeds, however, standing head and shoulders above their comrades. And not all were even military, there were some traders here, one man had blonde hair and claimed to be from Pearl, another was a tall, dark-skinned woman from lands far to the east. Just a few weeks ago, Annie would never have prayed side by side with outsiders. The scout, on the other hand, realized that she no longer cared about such trivial matters, her fear and hatred having faded away. For the first time in a long time, Annie truly felt at peace.

Looking back, Annie understood how stupid she was. In her hubris, she declared all outsiders as evil beings, who wanted to hurt the Tribe. The height of foolishness, that’s all that it was. Dynast, an outsider, was the one who saved Ravaged and the entire Wolf Tribe. Devourer helped the Tribe numerous times. Wyrm Lord, another outsider, provides food and care for the Tribe. Abyss, normies even taught Annie how to use the terminal!

"Spirit of Pride, I thank thee, for giving me another chance of bettering myself. Spirit of Spite, I beg of thee, never allow me to forget about the dangers of prejudice." Asked Annie, feeling burning shame deep within herself.

"Spirits willed it, and thus it happened," The second shaman shrugged her shoulders, counting supplies brought in by officials of state. The State was covering all the spiritual needs of soldiers, building places of worship when needed. Candles, electric cells, repair materials…. Den now needed proper maintenance and shamans took upon themselves the task of ensuring that soldiers will feel at ease, "We will adapt and grow stronger through it."

"I agree. It is hard to lead ceremonies for others, though. Their views are… different from ours, and you can’t even bite them, because you don’t know if they are genuinely ignorant and if they can survive the bite. I hate failing in my duties." The first shaman exhaled a sigh. The woman appeared to be more distressed by her inability to properly lead her new and strange flock than by the fact that she now had to maintain dens in both the village and close base. Her head was devoid of ears, with only scars visible around the holes where her ears used to be. The shaman herself was dressed in a strange vest, stitched together out of countless jackets that were too small for her individually.

"Spirits give us trials, so we never stand still and always move forward. This predicament is merely one more trial. Let us learn more about the traditions and customs of the Core Lands. I am sure that we can find a way to better guide new believers if we can understand them. Until then, all we can do is to answer all their questions." The body of a second shaman was a living tapestry of scars, thick lines ran across her entire body, ruining her natural fur forever. One of her eyes was missing, her eye socket merged with a mechanical device with a crimson glass orb inside. The Wolf Tribe looked down on those who used augmetics, believing that such people lost their connection to the Spirits. This shaman did not care about this superstition, it seemed.

"I hate speaking with outsiders. Remember when the warlord asked us to bring food and medicine to some tribes during times of trouble? I ended up helping one of the locals there in her first lifegiving. You know that it is not uncommon for normies to only have a single cub during lifegiving? And yet there are so many of them around. All of them are weird."

"I am of the same opinion, sister. Yet Spirits gave us a task, and by their will, we will find a way to succeed in it. Maybe we should try and watch this TV thing? Normies seem to watch it."

"We don’t own a TV, and neither do we have tokens to buy one." The first shaman critically looked at the result of her cleaning, "Besides, this TV thing reeks of deviancy. As superior beings, we will naturally be immune to its poisonous influence, thus watching it simply pointless if it won’t have the same effect on us as it has on them."

Both women stopped talking as one of the normies, a blond-haired man, came to them, asking questions about praising Spirit of Loss. Among wolfkins, it was common to sacrifice at least something to the Spirit of Loss, be it blood, tokens, or even single hair. For when you change, you often discard something. The Spirit of Loss collects the items, which are meant to represent discarded bad memories or feelings, and melds them into something new. For nothing in the world was truly useless. Such practice was apparently uncommon in the Core Lands, and few faithful were curious about what the Wolf Tribe members were doing before the altar of Loss.

"Spirit of Rage, I thank thee for leaving me alone for one more day," People slowly start leaving the den. The weekly prayer was over, the shamans went with the flock to the exit, answering questions. A few vehicles were parked outside of the den, provided by the command of the base. Soldiers will return back to base, before continuing on with their duties as usual. Annie was left alone in a spacious hall, praying to the demonic image of the Spirit of Rage. His stone idol lacked any shape, it was just a mismatched mess, created by the shamans. Stone idols of this Spirit were made by remembering and reliving the most painful memories, while your claws worked on the stone. Rage had no shape, thus each idol was unique, I beg thee, rage that answers any despair, turn your gaze away from me for a moment longer. I have finally found myself… I think. Let me see where my road leads me, oh Harbinger of Doom."

Annie bowed once more to all spirits before lowering herself on her left knee before the stone idols. She felt as if someone or something was gazing at her, but when she turned around, she saw only an empty hall. Fire was softly cracking in braziers and voices were coming from outside of the den, along with the starting engines of vehicles. No one was present here, Annie convinced herself that she was simply on the edge because of her today’s duties.

"Spirits, I have a request to ask from you all, one that you have no doubt heard often from me by now," Annie licked her suddenly dry lips and abandoned her official tone, "I know that my life is not worth much. But please, take my life and give my sister back. Any duty, any task, I will carry on, just give it to me and you will see. In exchange, give Sveta her life back and keep her safe. I beg you." She grasped her hands together, placing her elbows on her right knee and pressing her forehead to her fists. The cackle of the wood in the braziers was the only answer that she received. The scout waited for a whole minute, repeating a personal made-up prayer over and over, before standing up and bowing once more.

Annie was surprised to see the familiar form outside of the den. Angoro Viscario, dressed in his black uniform, was speaking with two shamans. Behind him was a small squad of agents. Finally, one of the shamans nodded, and Angoro bowed to the woman.

"We meet again, scout Annie," Angoro smiled as Annie approached. The shamans yawned and went to sit on the stones, while the agents who came with Angoro went into the den. Annie noticed APV forms moving toward base, carrying back the faithful. This was fine, on the orders of Dragena, she will take the journey in another direction anyway. Outside of the den, the wind howled, causing the coat of Angoro to flap like a pair of wings. The smell of marks, a special fluid that shamans used to keep insectoids and other animals away from their dens, hit the nostrils of Annie. A large, badly crafted face of a wolfkin was slashed from stone, sitting over the entrance to the den. Animals are kept away with chemicals. Bandits and raiders were given fair warning with a sign from the shamans.

"We had a bit of a problem during our first meeting. You mind if I apologize, and we put them behind us?" Viscario took the glove off his hand and extended his arm for a handshake. Annie shook his hand, noticing how strong his fingers were. The man smiled with white teeth, "Anyway, I am sorry for being an asshole and all that. Care to answer the question? You were the last person in the den. Noticed anything strange today?"

"No, sir, nothing out of the ordinary. Your apology accepted, sir." The man before her outranked her by far, and Annie decided to play safe, "I have not seen anything out of the ordinary or suspicious. May I ask what seems to be the problem, sir?"

"At ease, scout, let us speak just like two fellow servants of the state," Angoro let go of her hand and looked at the entrance, as if thinking, "Not to harp on noble warlord Zero and all of that, but it is what it is. She invited reporters from World Without Borders, who are from Iterna, and from Sights Unseen, one of our state media. I am sure you know about the reputation of both of these companies, and now we have both of them competing with each other right here."

"I actually have no idea who they are. Never was the one to keep up with the latest news, aside from laws." The scout said honestly.

"Then you're in luck," Angoro said, smiling again, "These people are looking for sensational news. Stuff like aliens, secret cabals that rule the world, what if the Dynast really is a woman in disguise, what if the retired queen of Iterna is actually not a human, and similar insanity. But they are brave, I will give them that. Warlord Zero invited them to make a documentary film about the Wolf Tribe and the life of new breeds here. Few other reporters would willingly go out of here from comfy places like Core Lands or Iterna, yet almost in a flash, nearly a hundred people appeared here, vehicles and all. As I understand this, warlord Zero expected that reporters would limit themselves only to the village. This was a miscalculation on her part, as both groups were very persistent and enthusiastic. And they have the best camouflage equipment that money could buy."

"Sir, you want to tell me that we have civilians skulking around our base and village?" Annie almost grabbed her head in despair. Sure, the Wastes are no longer as dangerous as they once were; for example, you won't die if you suddenly step into a glow. No, they were still too dangerous for people from other lands, as insectoids, raiders, and even common bandits still fight fiercely with border guards and police officers.

"Not just around. We already caught two reporters, who sneaked into the base under the guise of repairmen and were busy questioning wolfkins soldiers. After we interrogated them, we learned that both groups wanted true material and not "spoon fed information", whatever the abyss this means. We find hidden recording devices from both sides all around the village and the base. Considering that we joined free speech and joint information agreements between us, Iterna, and Oathtakers, we can’t even lock the bastards in for a long enough time, just fine them and put them behind bars for a couple of days. Now we have to find them and keep an eye on them, before they find a way or two to get themselves killed." Viscario looked aside in dismay.

"You think that they could have sneaked into the den, right?" Annie looked around, thinking that it would be insanity for reporters to travel alone in the Wastes. This region was still dangerous.

"Think? Scout, of course they were here, this place is frequently deserted for entire days! For Spirit’s sake, this den doesn’t even have a door!" One of the shamans raised her ears at Angoro’s mention of the Spirits. The other shaman slapped herself across the snout and then looked at the entrance critically. The lieutenant made a few steps towards the den, then stopped and looked up into Annie’s eyes, "Listen, me and my people will deal with it. You know, I overheard what happened during that mission and… I trust warlord Dragena and all, but the state really has some good specialists. If you have any problems, even if it is simply nightmares, tell me and I will arrange therapy and people will help you, just like you help the state. If you are worried about the warlord’s reaction, no one will ever know, I swear."

"I thank you deeply for your offer to help, sir," Annie bowed to the surprised man. She fully meant what she was saying, "But I am fine now. If you don’t mind me asking, maybe you have some news about…"

"I am sorry, no. We are still looking for her. We combed every piece of ground at the place of the attack but found no remains of your sister. Forgive me for being useless in this matter. We do not give up, of course, but sadly too much time has passed since the event. " The man shook his head, walking toward the den.

"Still, I thank you for your help, sir!" Annie shouted, and the lieutenant waved his hand in a sign of goodbye without turning around.

Annie smiled as she turned toward the emptiness of the Wastes, taking off her boots and putting them into her backpack. She stretched her legs and arms, as she lowered herself on all fours, smelling the air, the fingers of her paws burying deep into the stony surface of the ground. Her muscles bulged as the young wolfkin loudly inhaled and exhaled air, banishing all thoughts from her mind, concentrating only on the task at hand. The refugee center was sixty kilometers from her current location. The gathering of volunteers will begin in thirty minutes.

Easy enough to get there on time. Annie leaped off the pace, charging forward on all four limbs.

****

"Welcome everyone! Please gather here, yes right here at this painted yellow dot! We will assign todays tasks as follows…" A woman in uniform from the investigation bureau waved her hand, directing the crowd of people before her to a place where she could speak with them all. Her long blonde hair reached her waist, where it was tied up to her belt. Unlike Angoro, who was always dressed strictly according to protocol, this agent had her collar and the upper half of her coat unzipped, showing a white t-shirt. In one hand, the woman held a small and thin terminal, as she began her briefing, she looked at the terminal from time to time. No weapon was on her belt. Most guards inside the refugee center did not carry any weapons either.

A crowd of volunteers, almost seven hundred people from all kinds of places, even two dozen people from Iterna, were here. The refugee center itself was a massive place, built at the edge of the border between the lands of Oathtakers, Ravaged Lands, and Wastes.

Annie was not keeping up with the latest news, but from what she could gather, a man known as the Chosen Prince invaded the lands of the Oathtakers in force, wiping out several border cities and currently closing in on the city of Stonehelm, one of the biggest cities at the edge of the rival state. Some, actually quite a lot, of the citizens ended up being cut off from the road to the mainland and were forced to flee toward the Ravaged Lands. Compared to the lands of Oathtakers, the climate of Ravaged Lands was a hellscape for refugees, and Lord Steward, ruler of Oathtakers, himself, contacted Dynast, asking for help for stranded people.

From available information, Chosen Prince used weapons of biological warfare, one of the banned types of weapons. There were also rumors about a massive moving steel keep and hordes of savages who followed Chosen Prince, but these were just rumors. Iterna and Reclaimers joined in condemnation of the usage of forbidden weapons after their own agents confirmed that the Chosen Prince indeed used biological warfare indiscriminately, not caring whom he was going to kill with it. Thousands of civilians are already dead because of this invasion. And yet Lord Steward refused to allow a relief force from the Reclaimers into the lands of the Oathtakers. Instead, Hive and Lord Steward are currently leading a massive army against invading forces, while Dominator and his forces fortified Oathtakers' borders against Reclaimers.

This refugee center was always here, originally it was a small place to process people who were willing to leave one of the tribes and nations in the Ravaged Lands for the more amiable climate of the Wastes. But now tens of thousands of people, some of them sick, many of them with massive sunburns, have arrived at a place, like a stream of water. Thanks to the joint efforts of captains Scorpio and Ivar, new facilities were built almost overnight. Supplies started pouring in, including aid from Iterna itself.

And not just it. Annie briefly looked behind her shoulder, still hardly believing her eyes. There, in the distance from the refugee center, they stood. The Trio of the Reclaimers. One, shrouded in darkness, floating in the air on a glowing disk. Outsider, commander of the First Army and the one who cast down Lightbringer, the champion of the Oathtakers and the original bearer of the name Lightbringer. Whenever Annie looked at Outsider, she always felt a strange tingle of fear on her back, as if Outsider was looking back at her, staring directly into her eyes. One of golden color, looking like an angelic being that descended from heaven itself, Wyrm Lord, commander of the Third Army, his mere presence was causing a wave of calmness around him, golden glow from him was covering the lands around him in soothing illumination. Wyrm Lord was standing on two legs, head proudly lifted up and wings unmoving. The body of Wyrm Lord was so big, that if he fell on the Refugee Center, he would surely level most of the facility. And finally, there was another giant being in the desert, a massive serpentine body of pale color, a body so big that it dwarfed even the size of Wyrm Lord. Coiled around itself, raising his serpentine head to the heavens, Devourer was looking in the direction of the border with the Oathtakers. Annie was unsure of what great snake she could possibly see there, for the border was so impossibly far away, yet according to rumors, the vision of Devourer, commander of the Second Army, was second to none. Some claim he can even pinpoint satellites in space with 100 percent accuracy. It was difficult to accept, but these beings were also people, just changed to become different because of the glow.

Of the Trio of most legendary beings of Reclaimers, only Ravager, one of the original Trio, was missing. Trio of beings who could level entire countries by themselves. Now they stood guard over the refugee center, while far away, war was raging. Their presence here will not last. Each has their own duty in their own region. Yet for some time, they were here, no longer rulers and warlords, but rather as protectors and custodians. If Chosen Prince even dares to show his face here... he will understand why the age of warlords came to an end a long time ago. In Annie’s view, the Oathtakers were fools for not allowing Trio to cross the border and help. What’s the worst that could have happened anyway? If Trio marched over, they would have ended the war in less than a week, saving countless lives.

Annie was initially concerned that because of the nearby country's war, all military would be placed on high alert, forcing her to spend her entire time on a military base. However, the Dynast apparently refused the idea of a big mobilization. Border fortresses were on high alert, but aside from that, no massive mobilization was on the way, save for a few elite units of Devourer and Outsider that were closing in on the border to ensure security.

Annie was staying at the refugee center Gamma, which is located on the outskirts of the Ravaged Lands, in the middle of a single road leading across the massive canyon that marked the border. Ahead of the refugee center, some ten kilometers deep into the Ravaged Lands territory, was put one of the bases of border patrol, but with fort Uglo being nearby, border patrols had little to do here, aside from helping refugees with food and water so they could reach a safe place. Two crawlers stood near the sprawling facility, engineers were hastily creating barracks to house the incoming stream of people. There was a lot of work to do, places to store food and supplies were horribly too small for such huge numbers of people, the medical center had a shortage of personnel and space, agents of the investigation bureau worked overnight, separating cubs with no parents from the people who escorted them here. Once alone, the cubs were questioned and the search for their parents slowly began. Massive floating transport was visible in the skies above the location, and Iterna sent their own relief to Reclaimers on a regular basis. Meanwhile, new medical centers were being built, advanced medical instruments and machines were being delivered on a daily basis, and thousands of workers and engineers were hard at work expanding refugee center Gamma, not stopping their work even during the night.

Seeing how everyone worked together was very inspiring in Annie’s eyes. Not all the refugees of the Oathtakers were wounded, and several trolls and members of the Insect Commune worked side by side with former rivals, helping build up the place.

"…As I was saying, do not take any oaths. If you even suspect that any member of our guests offers you to take an oath, please immediately report to the closest agent," The woman smiled cheerfully, showing her white teeth. Her behavior was a stunning contrast to the agents that Annie knew, woman held herself casual and open, "Now, all of this is naturally a load of shit, I am sure you understand. We have cameras all around the base, and people come here because their lives are in danger. Don't worry, they will not try and drag you into this weird sect of theirs... Don’t tell anyone that I told you that," One of the volunteers laughed at this remark, and the woman frowned in a fake sign of indignation, "Anyway, please allow me to thank you all deeply for coming all the way here and now, without further ado, let us proceed to work. We have tons of things to do, and the clock is ticking, people. Group A! You will help with unloading crates with supplies from trucks! Keep your grubby hands away from the drinks, there's mostly no alcohol there," A few people laughed again as one of the helpers led a dozen people away, "Group B! You have basic medical training, so you should be able to carry shit from hospitals, clean floors, and if some nurse asks you to bandage someone, please admit if you are not up to the task for the love of the Planet. Medic personnel are overworked as it is, they don’t need to treat your hides as well if you faint from a sign of blood…"

****

"Anyone here?" Annie asked, as she opened the door to the hangar with her leg, holding three steel crates, each filled with at least fifty kilos full of energy cells, in her paws. The hangar itself was small, barely three stories tall, several people were seen on the second floor, busy repairing one of the transports that was hanged in the air with steel cables. A pair of mechanical arms, sturdy looking devices meant to be used when something heavy needs to be lifted, were suspended from the ceiling. On a floor stood several trucks, several medical capsules of emergency care, currently broken and covered in blood. Two of the medical capsules, however, had tags "Fixed" placed on them. A man, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, was busy cleaning one more capsule from traces of blood. A black protective cap, made of hardened materials, was on the top of the man’s head. The capsule itself was half round, half square, with the round part made of reinforced glass and the metal part containing various medical devices meant to help the injured and serving as a foundation for the bed installed on top.

"Finally! What took you so long, we can’t ship these beauties back to the hospital unless they are charged!" The worker complained, with his back still to the Annie. He scraped off the last little piece of feces from the place where the glass that covered the capsule connected to the steel foundation of the medical bed.

With all due respect, sir, I completed the mission on time. Sorry, but I was given ten minutes for this task. I am here in five."

"Excuses. With an attitude like this, we can safely send you after our own deaths. This way, we will all get to live forever." Still grumbling, the worker opened something in the side of all three capsules, small chambers shaped exactly to fit energy cells into them. The man started turning around, "Well, at least now we can ship off three, instead of… You!"

The man almost jumped in one place as he tried to back away from Annie. She saw familiar bone features of the man, his clawed hands and long teeth. It was the caravan hand from the night of the attack.

"How in the name of Abyss are you here, and why?" He asked, trying to calm himself. The whites of his eyes were red, several veins in his eyes popped up from sleep deprivation.

"Um… Sorry for frightening you, sir. I am here as part of a group of volunteers. To be honest, I had no idea that you will be here." Annie tried to explain her situation, looking at the man from the left side of the crates.

"Well, after the trading hub went the way of the old world, I needed a new job. People here were hiring, and I live nearby, and I know how to fix stuff. So I am here now, working on an official job for the first time in my life." The man quickly took several breaths, calming himself.

"Sorry again for raising my weapon at you during that…" Annie stuttered, unsure how to properly make excuses for her behavior.

"Will you just let me forget it?" The worker forced himself to come closer, taking one crate from Annie's arms, "Put the rest at the wall, these are just spare parts," The worker crashed the crate near medical capsules, his clawed hands slipping under belts wrapped around the crate and slicing them off with ease.He took out one power cell and slowly start inserting it inside the capsule, "Name’s Hans Goldrish, by the way. Despite how our encounter went last time, let me thank you for saving me and other fellows from being butchered."

"My name is Annie, mister Goldrish. Please, no need to thank you; I am still deeply ashamed of..."

"Call me Hans," Something sparkled inside the capsules as several devices turned on and lights slowly began to shine inside, "What, you think you're the first one who wanted to kick my ass for how I look? I get shit for how I look almost every day. Abyss, the brigadier here almost screamed as she saw me. My looks are partly why I was asked to stay away from the hospital, but you're looking uglier than me!"

"My village was attacked by people who looked similar to you and… Well, it was stupid of me to hate others for it." Annie felt how her skin was becoming crimson underneath her fur.

"Ah, those fucks," Hans finished preparing medical capsules and stepped away, visually checking if chambers were properly sealed and everything was fine. He put the tag "Fixed" on the third medical capsule, "My condolences to whoever you lost. How about we start over and forget about the whole "planning to shoot me" incident? I kinda need someone’s help right now."

"Sure, sir!" Eagerly nodded Annie, not believing her luck, "What do you need me to do?"

"Drop the "sir" stuff, just call me Hans. We will drive these beauties," he nodded at the capsules and shouted to the men working above. One of them, a brigadier in a green jumpsuit, looked down. She nodded as Hans pointed at capsules, and the pair of mechanical arms moved from the ceiling, lifting capsules in the air and placing them in the back of a nearby truck. Hans walked toward the truck and climbed into the driver's seat, "Hop in, I need someone to help unload capsules when we arrive, otherwise those idiots will break them again. Also, I also need someone to go into the hospital and report to Ieshua that we delivered the stuff. As I said, they kind of don’t want to see me there. I am scaring patients or some shit like this."

"Sorry about your treatment, sir." Annie said, climbing into the truck and closing the door.

"You kidding? It’s the best job I've ever had in years! I am officially employed, have insurance, and the bank finally approved a loan for better housing for my beautiful baby, and I even have breaks here!" The man started the car, as capsules were in the back of the truck, while massive steel doors of the hangar were opening.

"And your problem, with you know… drugs?" Annie quietly asked, as the truck's doors were closing.

"Ain’t got no time for this stuff here," Hans casually responded, looking only on the road, "Too much to do, too much stuff broken, not enough time. If not for that blasted brigadier and her "Oh, you need to take a nap, Hans, it is forbidden by rules to work without breaks" constant pestering, I would have fixed so much more. Abyss take it, I once hadn’t had an ounce of sleep in two weeks and was just fine, I can go a few days without sleeping!"

The vehicle moved from the hangar, slowly moving toward the hospital in the distance. This one was the largest hospital in the refugee center Gamma, standing five stories tall, shaped from the same material as the bunkers that surround the center. Of course, there were smaller medical facilities in the area, but this one was the main place where injured people were treated. Currently, wounded people were allowed to move in from three entrances, soldiers were working overtime to ensure that lines of people did not mix up. Those with light wounds, were allowed through entrance A. People in need of emergency care were moved through entrance B. And finally, patients with symptoms of sickness of any kind, were only allowed through entrance C.

Hans drove the truck toward the entrance on the west side of the building, near entrance C. Annie jumped from the track, feeling the hot cement beneath her feet. It was a nice feeling, the closer the Ravaged Lands were, the hotter the climate was. Thankfully for refugees, the climate here was not hot enough to make normies suffer, like poor souls in the trading hub had suffered.

"Late. I sent notification ahead of time and they. Are. Still. Late!" Hans almost jumped from indignation in his driver's seat, "I understand that everyone is overworked here, but can’t we have some semblance of order here? Who is going to carry the capsules inside now?"

"I will do it! Just tell me where to put them." Annie eagerly said, taking off one medical capsule from the back of the truck. She felt a tiny strain in her muscles as she fully took the large device into her paws. Not the hardest thing she's ever lifted, not the easiest either. But Annie decided that she could manage.

"Through the large doors before us. Press two-five-three to enter and then go straight across the corridor, the first door on the right. Then across the new corridor, the last door on the left. But if I were you, I would have waited here, after all, you only have one spine," Hans said as he sat back in the driver's seat and turned on the music.

"It will be fine!" Annie smiled, putting the large capsule over her shoulder. She began to walk toward the large metal doors leading inside. After entering the code, the doors slid away and she was met with two soldiers.

They were surprised to see a wolfkin here, among all places, but after she passed identification, they let her go, after making sure that she put on protective glasses and then a respirator. The respirator was made for normies, but for large snouts like that of wolfkin, it felt more like a noose, as it pushed the nose and even lips backward too much.

Their den, their rules. Annie decided while walking further. She knew that the situation was bad, but she never expected it to be this bad. Coughing people were left lying on stretchers in the corridor. Only a few nurses were visible, turning patients from side to side or bandaging wounds. Stench of decay, mixed smells of pus and blood were in the air, barely held at bay by the respirator. Some patients bore signs of necrosis. It was a horrible sight, a still-alive human being, half of her side blackened. Skin cracked in several places on blackened skin, revealing ugly pus within, mixed with blood. One eye was milky white, while the other rapidly moved in its socket from pain and horror. Sweat made pillows on a stretcher underneath her wet. A thin stream of some green substance was coming from her ear.

Feeling yourself slowly rot away, organs failing one after the other... Annie shuddered and hurried forward, stepping across patients. She wasn’t afraid of getting sick, most new breeds have far sturdier immune systems. But seeing horror around her, hearing the moaning and wailing of dying people, whipped her forward, like no whip could ever hope to do.

She entered the final corridor and came face-to-face with an unusual new breed. The body of the person was tall, his head almost scratching the ceiling. The skin was grey and the arms of the new breed reached all the way to his ankles. He was dressed in the white coat of a doctor, with a sweater underneath it. There were no ears on the man’s head, just two round holes. Pale looking eyes looked at Annie with a question in them.

"I assume you're a volunteer, right?" Asked the troll, one of three common types of people in the lands of Oathtakers. There was no mask or respirator on his face, but trolls had no need for such things. Their bodies possessed unnatural healing abilities and immunity far above those of others. Annie felt tingle of envy at this, wolfkins were also able to endure most illnesses, but it appears that people here had more faith in a troll's ability to endure sickness than in a wolfkin's ability.

Oh well, who cares?

"Yes, sir, I volunteered to deliver medical capsule, to the facility, sir!" With surprise, Annie noticed that the badge on the right shoulder of the man indicated that he was in charge of this hospital. This was highly unusual, trolls were citizens of the Oathtakers, rarely leaving their lands.

"They put me in charge, because the reclaimers wanted to show a sign of solidarity. It is but a honorable role to play for a show of unity, there are also other people in charge here," The troll calmly said, noticing the surprised look of Annie. He gestured for her to follow him, "My name is Ieshua. Follow me, I will show you where to place this capsule."

"Yes, sir! Mind if I ask, how is the situation here?" Annie hurried after the man, trying not to look at the patients.

"We had to start using triage practice a few days ago, due to the lack of hands. The rest you can easily guess by looking around." With the same deadly calm in his voice, the troll responded, leading the wolfkin to the large room.

Several medical personnel helped Annie to place the medical capsule in the wide room. Several similar capsules were here, inside were people, covered with horrible burns and blackened skin. Systems of capsules were pumping them up with strange looking fluids, tiny metal arms were slicing away pieces of the most corrupted skin. Several such patients already lacked an arm or a leg.

"Please, just kill me…" A man on a stretcher gasped, as two male nurses were placing him into the capsule that Annie had brought. The entire left side of his body was a color of utter void, pus was seeping from pores and cracks on his body, the right side of his body swelled and looked purple. Each breath was a struggle for him, and his wheezing words could barely be understood.

"Please, calm yourself, sir. We already deduced how to treat an ailment that is the result of the power of Chosen Prince. You will survive, some of your organs and limbs will be lost, of course, but it is nothing that augmentation can’t replace nowadays," Ieshua calmly typed something on the tablet terminal in his hands, not raising his voice or showing emotions even once, "Your pain will recede soon, the painkillers in MC are far superior to the ones that have been given to you before."

"I can hear his voice…" The man fell silent as the breathing tube rose on its own from below the bed in the medical capsule, forcing itself into his mouth. Rows of syringes rise in the air on mechanical arms, while the capsule with the patient inside closes.

"Now he will spend the next thirty days looking at a glass ceiling."

"But he will survive?" Annie asked.

"Of course, we have several patients in the augmentation wing already, they are busy testing out their new limbs. After adjustment, they will be undergoing rehabilitation procedures, to bring their remaining muscles up to level. Mental scars will remain, but there is no longer any danger to the life of this person at this moment. Now, I thank you for your help and let us all be on our way." The doctor made a quick bow, before leaving with most of the nurses.

Annie did not need any other invitation. Like a rocket, she ran from this place, carefully evading patients. Instead of allowing her to exit normally, soldiers led her to a separate room, where all possible traces of infection were removed from her body, clothes, and fur, before allowing Annie to finally exit.

The first thing Annie noticed as she exited the hospital was a swarm of workers removing the remaining capsules from the truck. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Annie walked toward the truck and climbed inside.

"You look as if you met a ghost." Hans noted, turning off music and starting engine.

"Something far worse, actually." Annie replied honestly, as the truck began to move backwards, preparing for a turn, "Should I return with you or…"

"We start it together, we go back together. There is still something you can… Eh, what hell!"

Hans stopped his truck as a small figure charged behind the back of truck, trying to reach the other side. Hans and Annie jumped out of the vehicle, out-speeding their partner. Annie leaped behind the vehicle and blinked in surprise.

A cub was sitting behind the truck, sitting on the ground from fear of the wheel. But this was not just any cub. This person had legs, resembling those of a normal human, only covered with hardened chitin of a brown color and with a small hair covering. The six arms protruded from the torso, the massive and sturdy torso gave the person an overweight impression. Five of them resembled fly limbs, while the last limb was cracked at the end, with brown chitin shredding from the limb, revealing an all-too-human fist covered by blue chitin underneath. Compound eyes looked with guilt at Annie and Hans.

"Sorry for getting in your way." An all-too human-sounding voice came from a pair of mandibles at the lower head of a person. The voice was undeniably female-sounding.

"Beat it, kiddo, what in Planet's name are you doing here all alone?" Hans asked, coming to cub and lowering himself on one knee.

"I wanted to get to the kitchen." The girl looked at him.

"What, they don’t feed you? I have some bars of choco…" Hans quickly looked in the pocket of his suit and the girl raised all her limbs.

"No, no! People here are really nice. They give us plenty of food. I just wanted to get some apples. The boy who saved me during the attack likes them." Cub desperately waved her limbs, trying to clear confusion.

"Where is your family? Let’s get you to them." Annie offered, coming to the cub and sitting on the ground nearby. After the initial shock had passed, she understood the situation better. The cubs of the Insect Commune were born in their protective larval forms. As time goes on, they shed their scary looks for a more normal appearance.

"You can’t, lady. My mom is far away and dad… Dad is no more …" The cub went quiet.

"Well, let’s get you your apples then, to cheer up your friend." Annie picked up the cub, placing her behind her own back. The chitin plates of the girl felt strange to the skin, and Annie was all too used to fighting against mindless insectoids, not carrying a person who looked like one.

"N… no, I would not dare to bother you so much! Please, I am fully capable to…" The cub tried to argue in a shy voice.

"Either I bring you safely back to the ward or you will end up under someone’s wheels,"Annie smirked, ensuring that she held the cub properly, "And I can’t allow such an important mission as yours to go to waste."

"It won’t go to waste, scout Annie," A cheerful voice said, and the agent, who gave the briefing to volunteers, came toward the group, wiping sweat from her brow with a mocking gesture, "Young miss Lia here can fall under the tank’s tracks now and still be fine. Very few things can stand in her way now. May I ask what seems to be the problem?"

"Annie is about to take the kid to the kitchen, so the kid could get some apples for her friend in the kid’s ward. Any problems with it?" Hans asked.

"No, not at all!" The agent flashed a smile to the Hans and then looked at the insectoid cub, "Lia. If you want to, we can give you a proper room, one that befits your stat…"

"Don’t wanna," Annie felt how cub pushed her face into the back of the scout, trying to hide from the agent, limbs of cub tightly grabbed the back of the wolfkin, "I am good as I am, thank you."

"Oh well, had to try at least," The agent shrugged and patted Annie's shoulder. "My name is Kassandra Trugh. Kids are not allowed to walk freely here, but just this once, I will overlook this fact. Take good care of our dearest guest. Scout Annie, you have fifteen minutes to get what our guest wanted and return her to the safety of a kid's ward! If you need anything else for her, just find me. I will sort out everything."

"Well, that was weird," Hans noted as the agent walked away, "What does she want with you, kiddo?"

"It is because of a person whom I might become. Instead of going back to mom and grandpa, miss Kassandra and others want me to go and live in the Core Lands, promising me all the toys I could ever ask for," The cub said shyly, releasing his grip on Annie's back.

"Well, then they are fools, cause this is not even a choice worth to consider! You always gotta stick with your family, Lia!" Annie exclaimed, leaping from the place and sprinting toward the kitchen, carrying the cub on her back, "I know that I would’ve always stuck with mine, if this was still possible."

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