Office Romance with a Werewolf

Tikbalang is a tall, bony humanoid creature with the head and hooves of a horse and disproportionately long limbs, to the point that its knees reach above its head when it squats down. 

This creepy and monstrous creature is something the city doesn't usually have. A group of Tikbalang live in the deepest part of the forest. But when they visited the city, which is an entirely different environment, there was something huge that had urged them to visit the bright and noisy world of the city.

Werewolves and Tikbalang are rare enough to get any interaction since their habitat is different. Tikbalang are forest creatures who prefer a peaceful environment away from chaotic humans. Werewolves frequently disguise themselves as humans, which is why their pack always stays with the human.

What made them enemies even though they rarely interacted with each other?

The answer is the mischievous nature of some of the werewolves.

Some werewolves who really couldn't suppress their trickery went to the forest and messed with the solitude tikbalang.

These werewolves only started to have fun with simple and small mischievous acts until they couldn't get enough of their play and ended up harming the lives of the horse-like creatures.

From that point, their relationship became bad and was passed from generation to generation as the tikbalangs wanted revenge because they had never actualized it before because they were weaker than the werewolf.

However, as time goes by, Tikbalang becomes more powerful and can now suppress packs of werewolves.

They started to hunt them down. which made the guardians (gods) of each race responsible for providing protection to their subjects.

But something happened to the goddess of the wolves. Mila was missing in action, and that caused Daniel to act as her proxy.

At first, Daniel wasn't aware that Nida was Mila's priestess.

After the fog forest incident, he confirms that Nida needs to do her work as their priest but doesn't want to force her as well.

Moreover, he didn't expect that Nida would repel his spell.

With just a second of the disappearance of Daniel's spell, the Tikbalang immediately recognized the location of the wolves.

They went to the hotel roof that the werewolves rented to gather, and they stealthily lurked around the building without the wolves noticing.

They become experts at hiding their scent so that they can attack with stealth. 

"You arrogant fools! You will now die!"

The leader sneered as he gestured with his hand to give them the signal for the start of the ambush.

"Now!"

With a single snap of his hand, the other tikbalangs kicked their feet off the ground.

Due to the force and weight of the tikbalang, the floor and wherever they kicked cracked.

The tikbalang suddenly looked shocked once they were all in the air as they watched a swarn of bright silver dust go ahead of them from landing. 

Boom

Bang

Bang

Bang!

Boom!

Shields were made from the silver dust and soon loud banging could be heard because of the tikbalang trying to break the shield.

The berserk werewolves just stared at the shield covering them like an umbrella.

At the same time, the rest of the tikbalang landed on the shield and violently banged at it to break it.

"Did you change priestess?" the leader of the Tikbalang calmly asked as he stared straight menacingly toward Randell. Even though he knew that Wendell was the leader, he chose to face Randell instead because he was the most dominating member of the group.

"No, we don't." Randell responded honestly.

Randell knows that Daniel was lending them a hand, but the silver dust is something he can easily recognize. He doesn't want to reveal Nida's existence to the Tikbalang because he is more concerned about her safety.

Ignoring the gazes of the leader of tikbalang, he looked around to see where Nida was hiding.

Soon, the shield started to crack as the tikbalang pounded the shield harder and faster.

Bang!

Bang!

Boom! 

Boom!

Randell gestured his eyes towards Wendell to urge him to lead the werewolves. 

"Prepare to attack! " Wendell shouted as he also stood in his stance to attack.

The entire pack followed his lead, despite once arguing about Nida just awhile ago.

Everyone's muscles popped out and gritted their fangs towards the tikbalang.

Even though Randell has increased his search skills and smelt, Nida cannot be located.

"Doesn't this look like her dust?"

Randell got worried even more when the dust started to lose its strength as it started to crack. 

"Everyone prepare!"

Wendell shouted as they anticipated the clashing of everyone's claws and strength.

BANG!

Crack!

The shield finally gave in and the Tikbalang who were standing above it fell down toward the wolves who were ready to attack as their claws and fangs grew longer and sharper.

Bang! 

Boom!

Cling!

Clang!

The top floor became chaotic and loud again as the clash of two different races happened. 

With their strength and earth magic, they cornered the werewolves with ease, while the wolves won't make an easy fight towards the tikbalang and also use their physical strength, strong force, and aura to fight back.

"Strong wolves help the weak!" Wendell instructed while he managed to attack two tikbalangs at once. While he was upset with Randell, he saw him jump off the building, as if he was fleeing the scene.

"Where the hell are you going!" He shouted as he disappointedly asked Randell. He badly wants Randell to help defeat their enemy, but their strongest member is fleeing somewhere else.

But Randell isn't running away. As the strongest wolf in their pack, he can manage to defeat three to five tikbalangs at once, but Randell's focus is not on the tikbalangs. He hurriedly jumped off the building once he saw Nida, standing on the ground floor while controlling her dust.

Of course, he cannot get away without a tikbalang following him, so even in mid air, he is fighting with his fist against the tikbalang.

He managed to cut the throats of the attackers, which made them fall off the ground lifeless, and their bodies dissipated without a trace before they even landed on the ground.

Tikbalang doesn't have corpses or remains when they die. They simply turn into nothing after they die.

Even if they vanish, their core vanishes if no one claims them right away.

Nida noticed the showering of cores and used her dust to fetch them.

She thought, "It would be such a waste if we let this just disappear." She controlled her dusts as she finally understood the significance and high value of the core to every creature, especially the priests.

It can give a source of power to others, or medicine, or more.

"Nida, are you okay? How did you know that the tikbalang were going to attack? Do you know now how to use your powers? " Randell showered him with questions the moment he landed from fighting in the air and examined Nida's body to see if she was hurt or not.

After confirming that she was fine and not hurt at all, Randell waited for Nida's response and explanation. 

"Ehem! Ask one question at a time! "

Nida fixed her clothes after being messed up by Randell. She then raised her head to look at the top of the building.

Weirdly, she could know what was happening above despite being on the ground.

Her dust is giving her information about what is happening.

"The tikbalang are losing. Are you going to kill everyone?" she asked, as she felt bad for the other races that may end their existence this night.

Nida hated killing or losing someone else's life, whether it was human or not.

Every life is precious to her, and she wishes that everyone would refrain from attempting to harm or eliminate one another.

"Of course, they need to be exterminated! They tried to harm our pack! They have been trying to harm us! Sir Daniel was just there to help to be our mediator, but we really need to end this. "

Randell angrily responded to Nida's question.

He knew the long history of their fight and wanted to end this now.

But killing each other is not a good solution.

Nida frowned, and she spread her arms once again.

"What are you going to do?"

Randell worriedly looked at her as her dust started to rise up to her body again.

"There is one solution to end this peacefully."

"What?"

"Let's pull their golden hair."

Note:

A Tikbalang's mane is made up of sharp spines, the three thickest of which are particularly important. From afar, these spines look like golden hair.

Someone who receives one of these spines might use it as a talisman to maintain the Tikbalang as his servant.

The Tikbalang, on the other hand, must be subdued first by hopping atop it and binding it with a specially prepared cord.

The would-be-tamer must then hold on while the monster flies through the air, frantically attempting to eject its unwelcome rider, until it exhausts itself and admits defeat.