Civilization

With the departure of the two monsters, I slump down to the ground, leaning against the nearest tree. Howard comes near me and places Luke down next to me making sure to not injure Luke. I look to my side and I see the alpha wolf struggling to move as it limps closer to us.

"You can understand me right? Do you have a name?"

The wolf slowly leans its body against the tree in front of me and then falls down, resting its head between its front two paws.

"Little one's friend, I am Aur, leader of the Golden Wolf Tribe. Or at least what is left of it. Only my battered body and the young ones are left."

"I did notice that only you came back from the red monster's attack. Did you call it Blood Ogre? Why that name?"

"Little one's friend, it is impolite to not give back one's name after asking another for thiers."

"Ah, my bad Aur. I am Ian, this is Howard and the little one you are referring to is Luke."

"The Blood Ogre is a subordinate of the Horde, one of the four kings of our land. The Horde is a tyrant, he steals, attacks and destroys whenever and wherever. The only logical being in his army is Casper, the yin-yang dragon. You have seen both of them already. As for why the Blood Ogre is named the Blood Ogre it is simple. It evolved after consuming large amounts of blood."

"I see...Does the Horde live near here?"

Aur shakes their head and looks me in the eyes.

"The Horde does not simply live in an area. Why the Horde has a castle he merely goes wherever he pleases. Even invade other kings' territory. We are currently in the middle of the Dark Forest which is a territory in the middle of all four territories. It is a no-mans land which is surrounded by many different monsters who have not pledged loyalty to a king."

Aur slowly stands upon four legs and moves away from us towards the river.

"I must go back to my children. Little one, take care."

"Wait, Aur. I have a suggestion. Why don't we join together? Eventually, the kings might pass through here and you by yourself cannot defeat the Blood Ogre so we should band together and protect each other."

"Little Ian, I admire your thinking but do you think you can even touch the Blood Ogre? He is not even one of the top fighters under the Horde. The Blood Ogre is merely a lowly general in his army. Nothing you nor I can do to stop them."

Aur takes a few steps away and I rack my brain to figure out a reply. I could not lose the chance to gain a powerful ally and there might be a chance we could get some rewards from the wolf den, maybe even another ancient ruin if I was lucky.

"Aur! Please help us."

I look in the direction of the voice and see Luke. Gasping for breath and in slight pain, he looks at Aur with determined eyes.

"I know we humans might have nothing that you might see as useful in the fight against the Blood Ogre but we can change. Ian has thought of many different ways to improve our survival and I know he will think of more things in due time. So please give us a chance. Be our ally and let us be someone you can rely on in your time of need."

Aur looks back at Luke and gazes at the necklace around Luke's neck. Seconds felt like minutes before Aur turns away and looks forward. My heart sinks, I hoped deep inside that Luke's words would change Aur's mind.

"Little one and his friends please follow me towards my dwelling."

My eyes brighten up and I quickly get to my feet. Howard and I helped Luke get up as well and the three of us followed Aur.

.....

We got to the wolf den after a couple of hours due to Aur collapsing on the side of the river nearly drowning himself. With the help of Howard's insane strength, we were able to push Aur out of the river where he recovered a bit of his strength to move on. There were ten wolf pups and three female adult wolves at the den that ran toward to greet Aur. Aur smiled and licked some of the pups giving off a gentle and happy atmosphere while the three of us waited on the side giving them some space.

However, the happiness did not last long. Aur collapses again on the ground and his breathing becomes more rapid. The pups sense the danger and start to whine and whimper while the female wolves dash towards the cave bringing back various leaves and small pails of water. Aur shakes his head and looks at Luke.

"Little one, you have our ancestry following you. My father and the previous pack leader is the golden wolf that resides in your necklace. While he does not look like a proper pack leader since he never had a chance to evolve as I did, he lead our tribe and helped us survive for years. I can feel death coming and I would like you to come towards me."

Luke slowly walks towards Aur and bends down placing his hand on Aur's head. Brushing his hand against his fur and looking at Aur's eyes. Aur closes his eyes and places his head against Luke's forehead.

A bright golden light shines around Aur and it starts to collect at Luke's forehead. I watch the spectacle unfold before me in awe. The light slowly envelops Luke's body and while this happens Aur's body starts to fade. A brighter light surrounds Luke and on his forehead, a golden symbol of a wolf's head appears and as if it was a vacuum it sucks in light around Luke.

"Little one, may my gift to you help you find a way for my tribe and for your tribe to survive."

Aur's body fades away but the symbol on Luke's forehead shines even brighter than the sun. The golden wolves start to howl into the sky before bowing their heads to Luke, pressing them down on the ground and closing their eyes.

The light starts to fade and the symbol slowly disappears. Luke opens his eyes and I could see his eyes had become an amber color while his hair had a long golden clump of hair on his left side much like the color of the golden wolves.

"Ian, Howard it seems like Aur left me with the gift of being the pack leader."

Howard just stood there motionless and silent trying to process everything that had just happened. I sigh and look at Luke asking him the obvious question.

"Do you want to give us an idea of what was given to you?"

"I have been given the highest position by Aur and now command the wolves but they are mostly pups so I cannot expect too much from them. They need to group up first. There are some treasures in the wolf den how about you go inside and check it out, Ian?"

I nod my head and left Luke to deal with Howard. I walk up the slope and into the cave. It was not very deep and I could already see something near the back of the cave. On top of a rock-like pedestal was a wolf fang. It was larger than Aur's fangs and was embedded into the rock. I look around the cave in case I missed anything and lo and behold in the corner of the cave between some rocks was something golden. I grin and quickly run towards the golden object digging into the rocks and removing them to reveal the golden box.

It was exactly the same shape and size as the first ancient ruin I had found back in the goblin encampment. I held onto it and went back to the wolf fang. I reach out with my head and grabbed it when a blue screen appeared in front of me.

[ Golden Wolf Den Core

Spawns a pup 1 every 5 days

Needs to be placed in a cave or in an enclosed space ]

I let out a small scream of joy and I held onto the Golden Wolf Den Core. I look at the fang in amazement and spoke to myself.

"HavenFall has just gotten even stronger."