Chapter 1: I Die

Index

It was the perfect time of night for hunting. The pack spread out, surrounding the deer as it dug for grass in the snow. The scent indicated that it was a young doe, the rest of the herd had left it behind because of a lame leg. This time of year, we hunted what we could and didn’t ask questions. The plan was simple. We flush the deer so it would charge in the direction the pack leader was crouching, and he would kill it. The simple plans usually worked best.

The wolf to my left started it up, purposefully stepping on a twig and snapping it. The deers head snapped up, swinging her head about, trying to identify where the sound came from. I rose and started to growl, a deep sound coming from my chest, and showed my fangs. The deer bolted, and we gave chase. We stayed far enough back so that she followed the right path to the pack leader. She burst out of the forest and towards the ledge where the pack leader was sitting. He reached up and grabbed her throat in his hands just as she leaped over the edge. Squeezing as the deer bleated in fear and pain. This was not a clean kill, it did not bring honor to the pack.

“Well, well, well,” the voice was familiar, even though it was tinged with a deep southern drawl. “I see you Child of Rome. Come to play have we?” The clouds parted, allowing the moon to shine its light down upon us. Caligula stared back at me, cruel smile on his face.

“Enjoying winter are we? Ha, no matter. You and me, boy, we’re the same, whether or not you wish to accept it. My plans are in motion once more, and I shall gain the power of the gods one way or another, I can assure you of that. I have added more powers to my already impressive portfolio, and soon enough I will be able to challenge the Gods on your precious Mount Olympus. How do you feel about that?”

I growled, baring my fangs and crouching down, getting ready to pounce. The rest of the pack formed a loose semicircle around us, waiting to see what would happen.

“You don’t like that thought. How unsurprisin’. I guess I will just have to kill you next I see ya. Come find me boy, I will tear your soul apart.” Caligula tossed the dear aside and started walking towards me. I rushed towards him, feinted to the left and dashed around his right side when the snow itself betrayed me. It froze as my paws sank into it and at the speed I was going my limbs made a sickening crunch sound as the bones shattered from unfamiliar stress. I fell over at an unnatural angle in shock, sure that my paws were not supposed to be stuck in the snow that way if I was lying on my side.

Caligula continued his advance on me. When he reached me he grabbed me by my throat and lifted me off of the snow with one hand. Sickening rips sounded through the night and more pain registered in my body as my feet stayed where they were. I was face to face with the monster, I could see burn marks like there were in our last encounter. Now there was more damage. More burn marks, but also it looked like part of his head had caved in, one eye was missing its iris, but instead of being milky white it was milky blue - the same color as the Mist he manipulated.

“I took some severe damage during our first encounter, what with you blowing up that bird and all,” he indicated the burns on his face. “During our second encounter, when you used that damnable Helios’s helm to disrupt my ritual, I took even more damage,” he indicated the caved in skull, “the explosion sent me through a couple piles of junks and all the way into the Rocky Mountains. It took me nearly a month to dig myself out. This here,” he pointed at his eye, “this is something I got more recently, when I stole the power’s of some guy in Iceland. His hammer hit me straight in the face. Anteus’s power isn’t perfect in me, I heal from everything, but the more severe damage still leaves me with scars.

“But my next acquisition,” my head was getting fuzzy at this point, between the blood loss and the shock from the damage my body was suffering. I couldn’t focus on whatever he was saying. He must have finished, because he laughed and threw me over the edge.

The ground started rushing towards me and I closed my eyes, ready for the end.

Chapter 2