A/N and Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except some OCs (Eltheon, Lords Ingeitos and Orochnia, etc.), the rest are owned by Valve. Hero stories like this may be requested in reviews. Enjoy! ^w^

Five years passed. I never saw hide nor hair of Luna again. She was gone when I woke up the next morning, but she left me a little necklace, with a moon on it. I smiled, happy to have made a friend outside the family, but sad that I'd probably never see her again, even if she did nearly rob and kill me. I wore the necklace since.

Lately though, I've been hearing talk of revolts around the estate. More guards have been walking the halls, and I've seen Father hiring thousands of mercenaries with the Ambry wealth. I asked the servants, worried, and they told me that the king was corrupt, that the kingdom was failing, and that many nobles agreed with him. Many of my elder brothers and cousins were joining the six-thousand swords Father was going to send.

I could not argue with that. The kingdom was failing. The poor on the streets had doubled, and there was talk of charlatans, and scoundrels of magic replacing the officials in the king's court.

"Father, are you sure?" I persistently asked him. "The king could be stronger than you think."

"Fear not, Bane," Father reassured me. "Our six-thousand swords are not alone. House Ingeitos and Orochnia have pledged their support with thousands more. Slom will be ours, and that fool of a king will fall."

I accepted that, and awaited that fateful day, a week later, when they would lay siege to the capital city of Slom in a vicious coup d'etat at midnight for the castle. Sounds of battle raged, their low bass horn bellowing with our own powerful brass horn as screams rent the air, and metal clanged against metal. I waited with the family in the living room, listening with baited breath for the end. My father seemed to be upset, as if something was bothering him, a feeling he had, but that he knew it shouldn't.

Suddenly, the sounds of battle died. We saw nothing outside the window, except a city on fire. My father, with fumbling hands, fixed a message to a pigeon, sending it out the window to ask for a status report on the battle. An hour later, the pigeon returned, with a message scrawled that our troops had won, and were sieging the castle as we read it.

The family cheered, and so did I. Finally, a rule fit for the grand kingdom we called home! We all went to bed cheerily, our thoughts fixed on a grand victory parade and feast tomorrow, in honor of the rebirth of Slom. I closed my eyes and dreamed...

"Lost in the woods, are ya?" Luna chided me as I chased her through the thick forest.

"Wait!" I laughed as I leapt over a few roots, intent on catching her.

"Gotcha!" I cried as I tackled her and she went "Oomph!" as we fell into a grassy plain. We laughed together, and we lay down, watching the clouds. I took her hand, and she rather bashfully took mine. I looked at her, and she smiled as she looked at me too.

"I wanna take you somewhere..." she said, shyly twirling a lock of her smooth, silvery hair.

"Where?" I chided her, poking her on the nose.

Suddenly, her face went sour, and her voice changed to a man's, her grip becoming much too tight as I struggled to free myself from her vice-like grasp. "You're coming with me, brat!"

I awoke with a start, to see a Slom soldier grasping my wrist, his armor awash with the orange light of fire in the hallways. I yelled, and tried to fight, trying to break his grasp and kick him futilely in his armored shins.

I could hear my family screaming in the other rooms, and the sickening sound of blood splattering the walls as they were murdered. It was all I could hear in the darkness that the soldier induced by knocking me out with his gauntleted fist.

I awoke to hear a sound not much better: the king's laughter. Rage burned in me. He murdered my family, and he dares laugh?! I struggled against the chains that bound my neck, hands and feet to the floor of the king's court, full of stupid-looking clowns, and idiots playing at wise men and magical sages.

Despite his laughter, the old, and crazed-looking king of Slom looked enraged. No doubt it was because of the rebellion, and the thousands of swords sent to sever his neck from his body. I looked to my right, and saw my father, disbelieving that he was chained to the floor, that he lost. The marble floor shone beneath us, ornate, and the court was huge, beautifully crafted by the kingdom's best architects. The walls were studded with jewels, and the walls of smoothest alabaster.

"Really, Lord Ambry," the king sneered as his court of fools jeered. "You thought to take the capital with six-thousand swords against my ten-thousand? I thought you more cunning."

"I don't understand, Father," I said desperately. "They said we'd won."

"Little effort to forge a letter and signature with magic, foolish boy!" the king jeered as his court laughed themselves to death.

"Impossible..." Father muttered, his eyes flicking left and right, obviously thinking hard. "Unless..."

"He paid us too well, my friend," the traitorous Lords Ingeitos and Orochnia smiled from the jury's benches. "Your sixteen-thousand was missing a teensy bit, wasn't it?"

"Fools!" Father bellowed, and it scared me how angry and unhinged he looked. "Do you realize what you've done to this kingdom?!"

"Billions in gold, Lord Ambry," the king smiled cruelly as he laced his fingers. "Amazing what money can do to loyalty...and heads. How is your brother, Lord Ambry?"

Father was silent for a while, but I could feel his rage, hear his chains shaking, and I felt the same. "You... You sent Soruq... You murdered Eltheon..."

The king's laughter sent my blood boiling as I put the pieces together. Lord Orochnia and Lord Ingeitos were spying on us. They let Soruq in, and probably left him a way out. Uncle Eltheon was rich, and a major bankroll for the swords we hired. But why Eltheon? Why not my father, the mastermind of the rebellion?

"We did tell you that maybe it was a sign that the king knew and we shouldn't rebel," Lord Ingeitos waggled his finger at Father, as if he were a naughty child being disciplined.

"Why him?" my father demanded. "He needn't have died. I was the leader."

"I wanted to see if you were as cunning as they said, if you had the brains to put it together," the king shrugged, as if Eltheon's death was of no consequence. "Evidently, you're just stubborn. In any case, you were easily interchangeable. He could be where you are now if Soruq had killed you."

My father just stayed silent, his eyes hollow. The king rose, his demeanor that of an executioner who the criminal had personally wronged. His face enraged, he pointed to his sorcerous charlatans, and declared, "Change the boy into a wolf."

A sorcerer with a mischievous face stepped forward gleefully. "Whatever for, m'lord?"

"Do this," he said, with a cruel sneer on his lips as he glared at us. "So Lord Ambry will understand the bite of betrayal."

The magician laughed maniacally as strange energies began to fill the air, all circling above me. Fear, hatred, and rage mixed like acidic poison in my gut. He meant to turn me into a beast so I'd kill Father! I had known the king must be cruel, but this...this was inhuman!

"Bane," my father called to me, his voice desperate, his eyes hollow as his tears spilled. "Forgive me, my son. I'm so sorry I brought this upon us..."

"It's alright, Father," I whispered, as the energies descended on me. "Long live the Ambry!" I yelled in pain as the magic contorted my body, freeing me from the chains, but forcing my body into a smaller form, my human voice changing into a howl as fur grew all over me, and my hands became paws...

When the lights died, I rose blearily on my...paws? I looked down at where my hands and feet were, and paws were there instead, sharp claws pointing from them. I stood on all fours, a beast as large as a man, and my ears twitched left and right as I heard so much more than the court alone. Red and black fur, colored like my clothes, covered my body entirely. Instead of teeth, sharp fangs filled my mouth as I panted, unable to sweat. I howled in sorrow, as the king's magicians cackled evilly.

He pointed to Father, laughing. "Now, slay him, my pet!"

It dawned on me that I could still understand him. I wasn't totally lost to the curse! I was still Banehallow Ambry. The magicians' curse was strong, but even as they changed my form completely, they were not strong enough to expel my spirit. Just as one could expect from charlatans: half-baked work. I thought as I did, and most especially, felt as I did. And I was furious. Sanguine vengeance was at hand, and so quickly too.

I let out a savage roar and pounced on the unwary magicians, whose eyes bulged as they screamed. A wolf, much larger than they were, fell upon them, claws tearing into chests, and teeth into necks, their terrified screams turning to pathetic gurgles as I easily ended their lives.

"Magicians! Guards! Stop him!" the king of Slom's terrified voice screamed from his throne as a dozen knights, Slom's finest, drew blades. The magicians desperately cast, but found their original enchantment too strong to remove without their comrades, who I just murdered.

""Fools!" the king wailed. "Have you no offensive magic to slay him with?"

"We know no such sorcery, my king!" the second-in-command pleaded. "Forgive us!"

"Guards! Attack!"

Slom's knights yelled their battle-cry, and charged me. I roared back, and slew one of them instantly by pouncing him, fangs tearing into his neck like knives through veal. Another slashed my hind leg, and I yelped in pain, roaring as I turned to slice my claws straight through his leg, then took off his head in vengeance.

I darted quickly between their legs, bowling them over from my size and weight. On the ground, five of them were wearing plate armor too heavy to rise from. They met their ends quickly, as my claws found their faces, and my teeth their neck. The few more skilled rose, their armor not so heavy, and put a few stabs into me as slew their comrades, but I was enraged. Bloodthirsty. Furiously, I slew two more of them, too foolish to back away. Only three remained, and despite their skill, I saw the fear in their eyes. One of them took a step back, and another followed.

"Cowards!" the king roared from his throne as he drew his own blade. "Tis just a boy in the body of a beast! Have you never hunted wolves before? Strike him down!"

I could hear Father laughing, but I dared not turn to face him, lest they take the opening. One of them yelled, "For the king!" and charged, and feinted to the left. My claw missed, and I whimpered as he sank his blade into my left side.

"Ha!" he withdrew for another attack, but I pounced forward, enraged at his audacity, and sank my claws into his eyes. He screamed as blood poured from his ruined sockets, and fell silent as my other paw crushed his throat. The two remaining started to back away in earnest, and I knew: they were trained to fight men, not beasts. They were taught to recognize patterns of attack, not reflexive swinging. Nevertheless, they charged together, hoping to end me, but I crushed their hopes when I pounced, my weight falling on their thin chain mail, and flattening their lungs.

My enraged yellow eyes turned on the king, as a feral growl escaped my throat. He hid behind his throne, his sword arm poking out from one side as if it would discourage me from spilling his blood. The door to the court burst with soldiers; one of the smarter charlatans must have summoned the guards. Scores of them spilled in, and while they were not Slomian knights, I could not hope to slay thousands of them alone, not even with my new power. I fixed the king one last look of pure hatred, and rage. Another time.

I turned to my father, my eyes desperate. I could carry him, but I'd sustained heavy wounds, and could barely run fast enough to escape them already. I couldn't save him...

"Go," he said, coughing, but smiling genuinely; the first time I really saw him smile since he set the coup in motion. "I'm proud of you, Bane. We all are. House Ambry's glory and pride shall live in you."

I howled a final, sorrowful farewell to my father before I took off towards the guards at the door as fast as I could, then jumped high, cleaving a majestic arc right over them and into the hallway. I sprinted through the halls, intent on leaving, and getting as far as possible before Soruq and his apprentice could track me, but I could still hear and smell as far as the court.

The metallic swoosh of the king's sword sliced through the air, and the king's angry yell was nearly deafening as his steps stalked towards my father's scent.

My father laughed, and spit in the king's direction. I was nearly out of earshot...

"Long live the Ambry."

The sound of metal going through flesh rent my heart, and the scent of blood filled the air.