Werewolf Progenitor Chronicles

The large shadow zig-zagged between the trees and occasionally jumped from branch to branch. It was difficult to make out in as the night time was darker due to the trees crowding the sky. Like a predator hunting down its dinner, the shadow made barely a sound as it crept to it's unaware target.

The target was a short-faced bear, an extinct race that existed during the Pleistocene Epoch, or Ice Age as it is usually called. This bear was happily snoring away as it lay next to its den without a care in the world.

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As I approached the bear I could smell its fishy breath and hear its snoring from a mile away. This is the first other big animal that I have met since coming to this world that I have started to realize might be the past.

I could feel the anticipation rising in my primal side and myself as we both agreed to beat the hell out of it like a yakuza asking for protection fees. To fully test the power of my new form I needed it awake and ready to fight.

Taking a page out of a child's playbook, I gathered a honey bee hive and stalked back to the bear den. The smell of honey nearby alerted the bear to the delicious treat nearby.

As it opened its eyes I readied myself to launch it right in the bear's face. The bees who look three times as big as the ones I'm used to seeing were already riled up. Luckily my skin is hard enough that I can ignore their stingers.

The hive sailed from the air after the throw and landed right on the confused bear's face that has its tongue hanging out like a dog.

The scene was comical to the extreme and my laughing just enraged the beast even more as it charged at me in fury.

Despite its huge size the bear was fast enough to surprise me but my werewolf instincts kicked in as I sidestepped the bear while raking my claws against its side in an attempt to disembowel it.

The bear however, rolled with the slash and only suffered minor damage. Both of us stopped and stared at each other before charging again and impacting head-on.

Adrenaline rushed through me as I tapped into my werewolf strength and collided with the bear.

The only sound in the forest was the cracking of bones and a pained grunt before a body went flying and hit the enormous tree enough to shake it, while splinters flew everywhere.

The bear was embedded in the tree and looked like a lumpy fur pancake with blood streaming out of what had been its face.

However, if that is all this era has to offer in terms of opponents then I will be a very bored werewolf. Even mammoths and mastodons aren't a big problem with my current strength.

The logical part of me understands that if there is a wolf divinity then maybe there will be other animals or monsters out there that weren't recorded in history. Animals and monsters of myth that defy modern science like myself.

Just imagining the bloody fights is enough for my primal side to take over and howl at the top of my lungs.

Primal and I have struck a truce as of late. As long as I transform and hunt every once in a while, then he will be content to be a backseat driver.

Even if that is the case, I know that feelings of rage or anger will trigger him to take over.

As I give a prayer to all the large mammals that will be victims later on, I look for a different animal to barbecue for food in the morning. That bear is too mangled to get anything worth eating.

Returning before sunrise with a deer corpse over my shoulder, I sit by the vacant bear den and feel the light of the morning start to glow and the sun slowly ascends.

My body crackles and pops as my bones shift and my head forms back into a human skull. Looking down at myself I notice that my animal hide clothing is gone. It must have fallen off during the transformation or the fight. After a quick look around the den, I give up trying to find it. It must have fallen off during the transformation.

I tapped into my memories of youtube browsing and remembered how to use the sinew from a deer as rope to hold things together. After I skin the deer I'll recreate my clothes and connect them together with the sinew.

I started the fire with some sticks and set everything up while the shade of the trees blocked the sun that would have beat down on me. After a while the aroma of the barbecue deer traveled to my nose that was enhanced almost to the level of my transformed self. The aroma was exploding in my nose like an atomic bomb and made my stomach growl like a beast waking from its slumber.

While in the middle of eating I could smell a dirty scent mixed with sweat. My hearing also picked up various steps of creatures in two groups. Judging by the amount and the sound they make it could be a group of lightweight animals or a group of cavemen.

My confusion was cleared when I saw a ragtag group of people walking towards me with spears at the ready. They relaxed when they saw it was just me.

The group in front of me was eyeing the skinned deer next to me and also pointing at the disfigured bear embedded in the tree trunk while whispering to each other. The were on guard but I could also see some of them gulping when staring at the deer while drool was on a few of their faces.

Honestly, they look like a sad bunch of guys who have had a tough life, and if my guess about the second group hiding farther away is true then they can have the rest of the deer. It's not like I can't easily get some food myself.

The caveman that stood in front stepped out.

"You, what happened here?"

I could see the glances he was giving the bear corpse and understood his confusion.

"I heard a loud sounds here and waited till it got quiet. Then I came over he to find out what happened. The bear was like this when I got here and I hunted this deer later. Would you like some? I cannot eat it all by myself."

I picked up a piece of meat that I had speared on a bone and set over the fire, then handed it over to him as a peace offering. After looking at me for a few seconds he nodded and ate the food.

"I have more people, I will call them over."

He put his hands together and made an animal call in a certain rhythm, then the second group emerged from the trees and confirmed my theory.

The group was comprised women also armed with spears and some that held small children in their arms, or protected the older ones with their body.

I could see the tension in their bodies as they exited their cover and walked over to the men. Only after going to their people's sides did they relax some.

I tried to smile in my most harmless manner as I continued to put meat over the fire.

The primal part of me was rearing its head again by sending me thoughts of being an alpha and creating a pack, but I stamped that out for now, seeing as I don't know these people and they look a few fries short of a happy meal.

I want people that aren't unhinged as part of my pack. They need to meet a few requirements to be considered. Definitely not the one over there that just picked her friend's nose and gave it to the other person who ate it…

While trying to keep my food from regurgitating, the oldest caveman which isn't that old considering their predicted lifespan in a dangerous era, walked over and sat down next to me.

A name? Should I keep my name from my previous life? It's a new life though, and something unique would be cool. It's not everyday that you get reincarnated into a werewolf.

It has to be something easy to understand and remember for these folk. It can't be something like Vesuvius Maximilian IV or some blue alien name from the planet Pandor*.

Hmmm...maybe Turk? It's got an ancient feel that radiates simplicity but ruthlessness. Yeah that's what I'll go with.

"My name is Turk."

I stuck my hand out to shake his...

...he handed the bone that was used for BBQ back.