Wings of a Werepyre, part 3
Howndst and his fellow Lycans were standing still as they looked at the menacing werepyre perch on the tree branch.
"So which one of you wants to challenge me first?" asked Byric.
"Twarzy, take the troops back to the Were-King. I'll handle this." said Howndst.
"But--"
"Just go Twarzy! Howndst and I will take care of this!" said Graknat.
Howndst looked at Graknat with a puzzled face. He didn't know why the ninja werewolf wanted to stay with him to take on Byric, but then again, he didn't care. Howndst just shrugged and continued to stare at Byric, who jumped out the tree. All the other werewolves retreated.
"How's life treatin' you Howndst? Kill any werepyres lately?" asked Byric.
"Just stop talking and let's fight; this is all gonna lead to you hating me just because I'm a werewolf." said Howndst.
"I suppose that's correct. I truly don't understand why someone as smart as you would waste your valuable talent working for those dogs. What could be wrong with becoming a werepyre like me? Hell, I'm half werewolf anyways. I just serve for a different leader."
"Didn't that new 'leader' you speak of slaughter your family when you were five?" asked Graknat.
"…Yes…Wolfwing butchered my whole family like they were insignificant animals put on this earth just to cause turmoil…but he managed to make the whole situation seem…fair."
"What does fair have to do with anything when you're working for the creature that murdered your whole family?!!" asked Howndst.
"Weren't your parents killed when werewolf warriors invaded your village and killed everybody? And weren't you bitten by a werewolf during the raid?"
"Don't change the subject! That's not the point!"
"I think it is…" said Byric, smiling.
"See, the difference between you and me is that you won't admit that it's Wolfwing's fault that you're like this! Sure, I hated the werewolves at first--"
"At first. Those are the key words. But now, you've accepted it, just like I have and you work for the creatures that have caused you a great deal of pain. Even worse, you've become friends with them all. Admit it…you have werewolves that you might as well consider to be your brother. Let me guess, one of them was that warrior who just took off. Twarzy, was it?"
"Enough talking! Let's fight werepyre!" said Graknat.
"If you insist."
Graknat and Howndst charged towards Byric, while he simply smiled and showed his teeth.
Meanwhile, Harkst and the 3rd Division were currently scaling down the inside of the castle wall, latching their claws into the cracks into the walls as though they were wall hooks. All six alpha werewolves jumped off the wall and landed down on the ground, cracking a few of the stone tiles. Their first objective was to take out the high-ranked sergeant werepyres like Uzlaht and Kriz, and then later take out the leader of the 76th squadron, Wylite-Drakkson.
"How do you want to do this Daxxil?" asked Harkst.
"Until we see Wylite-Drakkson, we play this as quietly as possible. First off, you and Blargazn will go that way." responded Daxxil.
"Got it." said Blargazn.
"All right. Now Princkl and I will go this way, and Tarwak and Jriv can explore the main atrium. Everyone understands?" asked Daxxil.
Cleary by the way Daxxil was acting, he was the one in charge of the 3rd Tactical Division, or at least the clan he was commanding. He wasn't that much older than Harkst, but he was an alpha werewolf longer than him, so Harkst treated him with respect, unlike most of his subordinates.
"Yes sir." replied the burly werewolves.
"Okay, let's go!"
The three groups split off into three separate directions: Harkst and Blargazn went left, Princkl and Daxxil went right, and Tarwak and Jriv went straight ahead.
Harkst and Blargazn were stealthily creeping through the dim hallway inside the castle when they stopped as they approached a door on the right side of the hallway. It was just a large wooden brown door with a gold knob and a picture of a werepyre sitting on a toilet. Obviously, after Harkst sniffed the air a few times, the two of them had stopped at a latrine…which was currently occupied. Lucky for the two werewolves, they probably had a good 10 to 30 minutes before the werepyre left, so they decided to plan to sabotage him when he got out.
"I got an idea. When he gets out--"
Before Blargazn could finish, he heard what sounded like a flush and a couple of footsteps. The werepyre had finished doing his business and was about to walk outside and see them. If that wasn't bad enough, another werepyre was walking down the hallway ahead of them.
"Screw this."
The minute the werepyre opened the door, Harkst dug his claws into the werepyre's neck until his claws penetrated through the meat. He then grunted loudly as he ripped the whole thing apart, exposing all of his carotid arteries and veins. Blood spilled all over the floor and the werepyre instantly collapsed.
"HEY!!" yelled the werepyre walking down the hallway.
Blargazn quickly reacted and chucked a ninja star he borrowed from Graknat at the werepyre. Before the werepyre could close his mouth, the ninja star flew into his mouth and impaled him in the back of his mouth. If one of them looked behind the werepyre, they'd see a bloody ninja star sticking out the back of his head.
"Nice shot. Let's keep going." complemented Harkst.
Princkl and Daxxil were waltzing their way through another hallway that lead to a weapons chamber and training area inside the castle. Several swords were there, made of titanium and steel and encased with the element of fire and light to help the werepyres fight the vampires and Lycans. The walls were made of red bricks and the ceiling was several feet high, unlike the main chamber the group was just in. The floor felt slippery for some odd reason and Princkl and Daxxil were sure that the air was humid and reeked of werepyres' feet.
Of course, they couldn't help but notice the werepyres training with their knives and swords, enhancing their strength by punching a bag filled with seeds, like it was a homemade punching bag. The werepyres in this room were all wearing purple shirts and blue pants, and their noses were red. They looked nothing like the 78th squadron and Princkl and Daxxil began to realize that they took a wrong turn. These werepyres were just trainees preparing for the battle to come, which would explain why they were all so sweaty and why the room smelled like a gym bag. One of the werepyres stopped punching the punching bag and glanced to his left, seeing the yellow malodorous alpha werewolves.
"What the hell?!"
"Final training lesson: If you trainees can defeat us, maybe you'll actually be able to survive the upcoming battle." said Princkl.
"Get 'em!" yelled a rookie werepyre.
All of the werepyres grabbed combat knives and swords and rushed towards the yellow werewolves, ready to attack. Both Princkl and Daxxil were surprised to see that the werepyres managed to get a hold of some fire elemental Vartai Blades and even a couple of Fire Lord's Axes, although none of them grabbed the axes yet. One of the werepyres quickly flew towards Princkl while two other ones wielding dual knives cornered Daxxil, waiting for the right time to attack.
"Wylite-Drakkson will pay greatly for your deaths…" growled the trainee walking towards Princkl.
Princkl could see the drool seeping out the trainee's mouth, the anger in his dark red eyes. He could even see his dark black fur standing up on his shoulders. The moonlight reflected off the trainee's Vartai Blade and Princkl expected the adolescent werepyre to make his move soon. The werepyre let out a vicious snarl and lifted his arm in the air, prepared to attack Princkl. The yellow werewolf simply lashed his claws at the werepyre's armpit, nearing tearing out a large chuck of meat. He groaned loudly and was about to drop his sword, but Princkl grabbed it and skewered him in the side of his head, knocking his body to the ground.
Daxxil also wasn't having any trouble with his werepyres either. One of them attacked too soon and he bit down on the sword, jerking his head sideways so the blade snapped in half. The werepyre's friend took the time to stab Daxxil in the throat, but Daxxil countered the werepyre with the fire elemental knife and made him stab his own friend in the neck, killing him. Daxxil head butted the werepyre and kicked him in the torso, followed by repeatedly clawing him on the face until it was bloody. The young werepyre kicked him in the torso twice and bit him on the chest, but Daxxil ignored his wounds and tackled the werepyre with ease. He then proceeded to ravage the werepyre's body with his choppers.
"Um…maybe we should call for backup…" recommended a werepyre.
With only two left (three if you count the werepyre Daxxil was tearing away with his teeth) Princkl decided to deal with them before they warned Wylite-Drakkson. He ran to both of them on all fours and the werepyres charged towards him, flapping their wings like crazy. Princkl jumped up into the air and grabbed a werepyre with his arms. He then lifted him high into the air and gave him a hug…a bear hug.
"UHN!! Let me go!" protested the werepyre.
"What's wrong? I just want to give you a hug!!" chuckled Princkl.
In reality, he was crushing the werepyre's body like a snake or a sneak when it wraps itself around its prey. The werepyre slowly began to gasp and scream when he could hear the bones in his body pop like bubble wrapper. Even though the werepyre Princkl was holding was lashing his claws at his face and kicking him and thrashing around like crazy, he couldn't get free of the alpha werewolf's strong grip. Eventually, the werepyre's spine snapped in half with an ear popping snap, which made even Princkl himself twitch at the disturbing noise.
"I'll bet that hurt." he muttered, dropping the dead werepyre.
Princkl roared when the last remaining werepyre blasted him with a fiery beam from the Fire Lord's Axe, leaving a huge black scar on his chest. He growled gutturally and slowly walked over to the werepyre. He gasped and grabbed a Fire Throwing Knife and threw it at Princkl in the face, but he simply snorted the knife out of his nose and continued to walk towards the werepyre. Getting over the fact that he wasn't going to kill Princkl, he decided to fly away, only to get dragged back down when he clutched the werepyre's foot. The werepyre continued to flap his wings in order to flee from the yellow werewolf, but Princkl only dragged him back down to the floor. He then grabbed his lower jaw with left hand and his upper jaw with his right and began to stretch it open, hearing some of his joints pop open. After some time, Princkl heard a giant crack and realized that he just permanently opened up the werepyre's mouth, killing him in the process. Princkl glanced to his left and saw that Daxxil was finished gnawing away at the werepyre's corpse and has blood all over his mouth.
"Well, this room's clear. Where to next?"
Tarwak and Jriv were actually having the better of luck compared to the other two groups of alpha werewolves. They already took care of eight white werepyres who were members of the 78th division. What was even better is that none of them had even been detected yet. As of now, they had 20 more (or less, assuming the other werewolves killed some more) to go before all of the werepyres were dead. They weren't traveling in a hallway, but a massive corridor lined with grey stone blocks on the walls. It must've been the atrium, judging by the size of it. There were several rooms that lead to hundreds of different places throughout the castle, hopefully to a bunch of sleeping werepyres. Not too many sounds were heard, so everyone had to be in a different quadrant or they were outside patrolling the skies and fighting more of their enemy.
"Which door should we try first?" asked Jriv.
"You take that one upstairs and I'll focus on some of the chambers down here."
"Okay."
Before they could finish talking, two werepyres appeared from the window high up in the castle near the ceiling, flapping their wings to the ground below. Tarwak quickly identified one of the werepyres as Uzlaht, the werepyre who was with Wylite-Drakkson earlier. The werepyre next to him was a young colonel named Jex-Var, who was wearing a red T-shirt like Uzlaht. The two yellow werewolves hid behind a large container storing food supplies and waited for the werepyres to start walking. They needed to ambush them at the right time before they alerted anybody.
"Is Wolfwing already aware of the plan? He's okay with that, right?" asked Jex-Var.
"Of course he is. This is our moment to take over a critical position those Lycans are storming on. If we successfully take over Razmik Canyon, we'll be able to set up a new base, and figure out more strategies at getting back at those meat eaters."
"What else did Wolfwing say?"
"He's sending one of his elite generals to lead the army against the Lycans. I think he goes by the name of Irrovs."
"Irrovs huh? I've heard many rumors about that werepyre…"
"What, that he slaughtered over 4,000 Diretooths?"
Tarwak and Jriv were a tad bit worried now. It took the whole Division to kill just a few Diretooths, and everyone received multiple wounds and scars because of it. The Diretooths were just as bad, if not worse, than the werepyres, and yet this guy Irrovs single-handedly killed off 4,000 of them!
"Wait a second…"
Jex-Var got on all fours and pressed his nostrils against the cold tiled-floor, sniffing it loudly as he walked around. Then he groaned and covered his nose, appalled when he got the whiff of Jriv's stinky footprint.
"Yep, I knew it! We got ourselves some intruding werewolves!" said Jex-Var.
Realizing that they had been spotted, Jriv and Tarwak revealed themselves and took out their Fearsome DuaLights, growling at the werepyres.
"So, you think Wolfwing will reward us if we deliver these werewolves' heads?" asked Uzlaht.
Tarwak laughed. "Try us."
Uzlaht charged for Tarwak and Jex-Var charged for Jriv. Jex-Var started off by biting down on Jriv's neck. Lucky for Jriv, his neck was very buff and muscular, so the werepyre's fangs only bit through the skin and punctured the meat a little. Jriv responded by grabbing his massive fangs and yanking his body to the ground. He then opened his mouth and stomped on the inside of Jex-Var's mouth, crushing his jaw. Jex-Var howled in pain and punched Jriv away, holding his cracked jaw.
Uzlaht and Tarwak were also having a brutal battle; Tarwak stabbed Uzlaht in the chest twice already, yet he still wasn't dead. Obviously, the sergeants were a lot more trained than the normal werepyre scouts. Uzlaht started clawing at Tarwak and biting at him, but Tarwak countered every attack with his sword. Tarwak jump-kicked Uzlaht and tripped him to the ground, ready to stab him in the face. Uzlaht quickly rolled out of the way and Tarwak managed to get his sword stuck in the tiles. Uzlaht finally found a way to take out Tarwak, so he charged towards him with his mouth opened wide, prepared to bite his head off. Uzlaht tackled Tarwak to the floor and the two of them were staring down at each other face to face. Tarwak could feel the slimy drool drip down onto his face and was holding Uzlaht off by holding onto his arms. Uzlaht punched Tarwak three times in the head and Tarwak returned the favor by head butting him, cracking one of his teeth.
At the last second, Tarwak was aware of something very important: He stinks. That was the whole point of the 3rd Tactical Division in the first place, to gross out their enemies and weaken them. Tarwak smiled devilishly and thought up of a plan. In a desperate (and somewhat cheap shot move) Tarwak exhaled loudly in Uzlaht's face.
"UGH!! Lycan breath!" said Uzlaht in revulsion.
Uzlaht got off of Tarwak and started coughing loudly and holding his nose. Tarwak jumped on top of the sergeant werepyre and bit down on the back of his neck, gradually ripping out arteries and veins until Uzlaht bled to death.
"You alright Jriv?" asked Tarwak.
He turned around to see that Jex-Var was missing over half his head, and his jaw had been ripped off. Jriv most likely severed half of his head with the Fearsome DuaLight and later took off his jaw.
"Yeah, I'm good."
At least, that's what they thought. Up ahead, the remaining members of the 78th Division were flying straight towards them. Perhaps Wylite-Drakkson heard all the commotion and sent all of his sergeants to scout out the castle. It was their sorry luck that they managed to find them.
"We're gonna need some backup…" muttered Jriv.
Howndst was on the ground, covered in his own blood, which was seeping between his teeth. The ongoing battle with Byric wasn't going well. In fact, he was losing…horribly. Graknat was either unconscious or dead; Byric countered one of his attacks and threw his body against a thick tree, impaling him with a branch. Byric himself was barely damaged and scarred. Howndst managed to bite him and few times and cut his arm with his Lycan Slasher, but that was about it. From there on out, Byric was in control.
"Get up." demanded Byric.
He kicked Howndst in the face and watched as his body instantly fell backwards onto his back, with blood flinging into the air.
"Get up Howndst. I thought you'd be a lot harder than this."
Byric kicked Howndst in the stomach and stomped on it, causing Howndst to cough up more blood.
"I thought…you go by the rules of being…fair?" moaned Howndst.
"Oh this? This is fair. If I wanted to, I could've eradicated you before you even started this battle. I just…wanted to see if you were actually tough enough to beat me. So far…I'm doubtful."
Howndst turned around and began to slide across the ground on his torso, trying to obtain his LycanBow which had been thrown far away from the battle.
"I wonder how your father would feel if he saw you like this…cowering away from your enemies." taunted Byric.
"Shut…up."
"What about your brother? I hear he supposed got turned into vampire not too long ago. How would he feel if he saw you in this state?"
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
Byric smiled. This was usually the breaking point with werewolf warriors. If they stare at a full moon, or feel an intense amount of adrenaline or anger coursing through their veins, they'd get more powerful than ever. They'd turn into an aggressive alpha werewolf and unleash their destruction upon their enemies. Howndst growled loudly and roared, standing up on his feet. Then he started hyperventilating as his whole body began to grow twice, if not three times bigger than it usually is. Everyone thinks it's painful when you transform into an alpha werewolf, but that was just a stereotype. The real pain was getting bit by a werewolf and transforming from human to Lycan. But since he was already a werewolf, he had nothing to worry about. Nothing really happened anyway, except the werewolf would grow into a fully mature alpha werewolf.
"This is the Howndst that I wanted to see!" said Byric with excitement.
Howndst turned around and revealed his new form: A giant green alpha werewolf with dangerous red eyes and yellow teeth coated with saliva. Howndst was just as tall and powerful as his clan leader, Harkst. He looked down at both of his claws and made a fist, smiling devilishly at Byric. He only turned into an alpha werewolf four, maybe five times since he had been bitten by a werewolf, so this whole experience was still a little new to him. All he knew is that he had power…and he intended to use.
"You ready pup?" asked Byric.
"Bring it on, bitch." he said, with a deep harsh voice.
The two furry creatures got on all fours and ran towards each other, panting like crazy.
Then they leaped…
To be continued…
