New allies, new foes
The sun rays of the bright golden morning of first of June shone brilliantly through the mouth of the wolf's den and the windows of the Archmages' treehouse. The mages all woke up, some less willing than others.
"You really couldn't have put fucking blinders, could you?" asked Fannaeras groggily, for he used to wake up late.
"Evil waits for no man!" said Ithilden in a mocking leader's voice. "We've got plenty to do, so we should start early." He said while putting out plates.
"Like what?" asked Shalidor a bit annoyed, for he was also been woken up early by the sun rays.
"Well we have to look for the wolves, which could take a while, and search more clues, of course!" said Lara reproachingly. "We didn't come here to enjoy the scenery, we came to fight a monster."
"Alright, alright, chill out." said Kharazim yawning. "Let's eat and go. Though we don't have to hurry that bad, are wolves even up this early?"
They all ate in silence, while most of the wolves were enjoying their sleep. But Kate and Garth were on patrol already, regardless of the early hour, and asking themselves the same question.
"You think these guys are up this early?" asked Kate.
"I honestly have no idea." replied Garth. "Dad really wanted us to go looking for them, but we don't even know where to look. We're just wandering aimlessly right now." added the wolf annoyed.
"Come on, we need to patroll anyways, don't be a pup." chuckled Kate, rolling her eyes.
"Says the one who's unapproachable when there isn't any food..." said Garth ironically, getting an elbow from the she-wolf. "Ow, hey, it's true!" he chuckled. Kate laughed a little, but didn't answer.
The Archmages also started going through the Pack's territory. The pairs were formed identically to yesterday, and one went south, one east and one west, all looking for wolves which would possibly be part of the pack. They all disguised themselves as normal humans in case they would bump into rangers or tourists, not especially wanting to be stared at for their appearance, or even just arrested straight away.
About half an hour later
Searching, searching, searching... both sides were already getting annoyed, losing faith of seeing each other that day. That was until Fannaeras and Garth finally sensed something very close.
"Wolves!" he said excitedly, looking at Shalidor. The second smiled.
"Humans..." said Garth worriedly. Kate frowned and spotted them. The two wolves were sneaking up on them, preparing to pounce, not knowing who they are, as they looked like tourists.
"Where are-" the human didn't finish his question, because he had to dodge a pounce of a wolf.
He and the blood-elf both pulled out of the way and had different reactions. Shalidor made a lightning barrier, which shocked Kate a little and threw her back as she tried to pounce on him, and Fannaeras released with a sign of his hand a dark-green shockwave which sent Garth flying into a tree, completely draining him of stamina. The wolves looked at each other and yelled:
"STOP!"
To their surprise, the mages lowered their hands.
"Are you the wolves that-" began Fannaeras.
"Yeah it's us, we were the ones that saw you yesterday." finished Garth.
"You look ... different. That's why we pounced initially. Sorry." said Kate.
"No problem, we were expecting it." answered Shalidor. Their disguises faded and revealed their form.
Garth's mouth dropped and Kate stared incredulously. The Archmages noticed and smiled. Shalidor took off his mask, or Morokei, as he calls it and spoke:
"This is us. Fannaeras, call the others. Search's over."
"The others?" said Garth.
"Yeah, there's six of us in total." answered the human, as the blood-elf made a transmission and told the others the coordinates.
" 'The search's over' ? " asked Kate.
"We were looking for you. And you might know why."
"Funny, we were too. And we know all too well." laughed the she-wolf.
In a few moments, the others all appeared in the same spot and stepped forward, taking off their disguises.
"Hey everyone." chuckled Lara at the amazed wolves.
"We are the Archmages." bowed Ithilden.
"I'm Kate, this is Garth." said the she-wolf. "Follow us to the Leader of the Pack's den. You'll introduce yourselves there, with everyone else." she continued.
"Is it a long way?" asked Kharazim.
"Not very. Let's go." answered Garth and they started running to the den.
Three quarters of an hour later
By the time they reached the high stones of the cliff, the warm sun was at morning point. It was the middle of morning. They took a path which led directly to the Leader's den, not wishing to bump in all of the Pack just yet, with six humans and non-humans with them. Everyone would panic for certain.
They took the path which led to the den's back entrance.
"A large and inviting den, I could say." said Mithrandir, stroking his beard.
" Thanks, it isn't ours though, it's the Leaders' " smiled Kate.
A loud growl met them from outside and a she-wolf, very similar to Kate, prepared to pounce. Mithrandir very quickly tapped the ground with his staff and created a barrier between them, which Eve hit roughly, and didn't even budge it. She fell backwards and swore.
"Eve!" shouted Winston. "I told you they're allies, not foes! Stand down." he said roughly. Eve sat at the entrance, still growling and fuming, muttering something about strangers in the Leader's den. Mithrandir tapped his staff on the ground again and the barrier dissapeared. Kate and Garth went to the other side to sit with the wolves.
"Greetings." said Winston.
"Hello." said Tony.
The Archmages all bowed simultaneously, in the same manner: leg extended, hand flat, head down, chin to chest. Lara had taught them that fancy elven bow.
"From left to right we are: Kharazim, Mithrandir, Fannaeras, I, Shalidor, Lara and Ithilden." Each bowed their head when acknowledged.
"It is good to meet you. Please sit." said Tony. They all sat on the hard, rocky floor, in different positions. The sun was getting higher and it was warming the den softly with golden rays.
"Now , to the matter at hand.." said Humphrey.
Shalidor cleared his throat:
"Yes. From what we learnt so far, this monster calls itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It can create powerful illusions and without many traces, imitate voices and other folk perfectly, even influence other people's minds, determining them not to meddle, based on what we discovered yesterday. But it doesn't work on us six and you wolves. Maybe not even critters in general. Penny knows we are here, but I'm not sure he knows what we are. Has three victims already. May even be able to attack psichologically, but phisically, it uses a large maw with many sets of small teeth, and hell big claws."
"We also know another thing." said Lily.
"Which is?" asked Lara, smiling at the cooperation.
"It seems to morph into what we fear the most, to try to induce us into horrible fear, then attack us." said Lily in a mysterious tone.
"What makes you say that"? asked Fannaeras.
"As you maybe know, Dean had a twin, Kyle. He's also dead." she added as Ithilden opened his mouth. "Dean told us he was killed by a bear, but not any bear. It was unusually fast, and had strange attack manners. Doesn't do it like normal bears do. The twins' worst fear were bears, because their parents have been murdered by one, that's why they were orphans. We guessed that it can morph into that."
The Archmages all looked at each other suprised.
"A fucking fobomorph?" asked Kharazim. "Those motherfuckers were extinct hundres of years ago!"
"Well, it looks like it is one. All evidence points to this." said Mithrandir shrugging.
"It's a what?" asked Kate excitedly. Even Eve turned around, her ears pricked up.
"Fobomorph. An ancient species who have the psichological ability to determin their victim's fear and use it against them, inducing them a intense feeling of terror, then devouring them." explained Lara.
"Think this a special case. A more powerful one." said Shalidor.
"Why?" asked Winston and Tony interestedly.
"It seems it doesn't only induce fear, but also guilt." continued Shalidor, staring at the ground. "You said Dean ran away, and then I saw too that it came back as Kyle, and he blamed Dean for his death, which wasn't true, but Dean seemed to blame himself. I think it will try to also induce guilt, not only fear. That makes it only tougher, because it has two ways of weakening us psychologically, then hurt us physically. But... it cannot kill us entirely, only if we feel true fear or guilt. Also, I doubt it's easy to hurt it. Must be pretty accomplished in hand to hand combat. Or claw to claw, whatever."
Silence followed Shalidor's words.
"This is only making everything murkier and more difficult." concluded Garth. "How the hell are we supposed to fight it?"
"Hey, there's no 'we'." said Mithrandir. "Us, the Archmages, will fight Pennywise, not you.".
There was an instant uproar.
"Oh, no way we're just gonna sit on our ass here and wait for you to protect us!" said Humphrey loudly.
"We're Alphas, we can manage with it somehow!" shouted Garth and Kate.
"We won't let you risk yourselves alone!" screamed Lily.
"What will the Pack think? That we're cowards!" said the senior leaders.
Ithilden raised a hand. The wolves quitened.
"Look, we'll face it at least once before the final battle, that's pretty clear. That's when we will see exactly how powerful it is. Then we'll decide if you are able to fight it, or if it doesn't make any sense to lose Pack members, and leave it to us. Hell, even we might have trouble with it, who knows how strong it is. We shall decide when the moment is right. We must be brave, but not foolish. Agreed?"
The wolves agreed reluctantly.
"Good." replied the druid. "Then I think this is all for today, next time when we feel it anywhere close, we'll engage it."
The wolves nooded.
The Archmages got up to leave. Kate added, earning a low growl and glare from Eve:
"Our pups are arriving today, so you might want to stay tonight. We'll have a celebration and we'll be glad if you're there. It starts around at sundown."
Eve opened her mouth but Winston silenced her with a stare.
"Very well. We shall be there, it certainly will be interesting. Should we bring anything?" asked Lara.
"No, we already have all the food that we need." said Humphrey, smiling.
"Actually, could you... umm... produce ... lights?" asked Lily, blushing slightly at her wording.
"Yes, we're completely able to." said Shalidor. "Brightest and nicest lights you'll have yet!" added Fannareas.
Lilly beamed.
"That's settled then." said Garth. "We'll see you at sundown, around here somewhere.".
"Righto, see you then." said Mithrandir.
The Archmages all bowed and teleported.
"What on earth did you think of inviting them to the Moonlight Howl?!" shouted Eve at her daughter.
"They're allies, Mom, get used to it!" replied Kate angrily. "We're not gonna let the Pack die just because YOU don't like them."
"I would've suggested too, dear." said Winston tiredly. "They're allies, maybe even friends. We should let them know that they are, so they will be willing to help." he continued.
"FINE. I'm going to get some more decorations ready." said Eve, storming out of the den.
"Well, better get some more things ready." said Tony, staring after her.
The wolves all left the den, the sun now being high in the bright sky, the fluffy clouds floating lazily along it. But nobody noticed above back entrance of the den a red balloon floating eerily, an evil face of a clown leering evilly in it...
The Archmages sat around the table.
"Well, it went quite good I could say." said Mithrandir happily.
"Yeah, went really well, we're allies now." added Lara.
" 'Brightest and nicest lights you'll have yet' ? " asked Shalidor the blood-elf amusedly.
"Yeah, you produce great Magelights. I'll give 'em some shading, and boom, best lightning!" concluded Fannaeras triumphantly, clapping his hands.
"I'll make some of my own, and I'll make them all last as long as we wish, don't wish the lights to be out mid-party." chuckled Mithrandir.
"Well, guys, let's find something good to eat, but not too much ... " began Lara.
"I think I won't eat there, don't wanna vomit raw meat after." laughed Kharazim.
"Good point." said the she-elf. "I'll just make enough for all of us, eat how much you want." she concluded.
While Lara and Ithilden went out, the other Archmages went to their quarters, all pretty eager for the evening to come...
A few hours later, around sundown
The dusk was showing it's beautiful orange colors along the reddening sky, and the light was reflecting shallowly on to the water, as though small pieces of orange were floating calmly on the surface. Many of the critters began to prepare for sleep, except the wolves, which were ready for the celebration to come very soon...
To keep it just a bit shorter, Claudette and Stinky, the two oldest pups of Kate and Humhprey, arrived from Alpha School, the girl bringing her boyfriend, Fleet. They were welcomed warmly and excitedly by their family, only to be shocked at the news of the terrible events that happened at home. They finally were calming down, being reassured by their parents that the Archmages were going to solve it.
"Well, certainly didn't expect this..." concluded Claudette, shocked.
"Nope... not the welcome I would've seen..." added Stinky, as stunned as his sister.
"We'll manage it... I hope." said Fleet.
"Come on, don't be so upset! You just got home! This night will be amazing, we'll worry about everything else tomorrow." said Runt bracingly. "I bet the Archmages will kill this thing!" he added, still in the same optimistic tone.
"Thanks, little bro... You're right, let's enjoy this night, we'll start worrying for our lives tomorrow." said Claudette, now smiling.
They all went to make any final preparations, now in higher spirits.
A quarter of an hour later
The Archmages all appeared into the Leader's den simultaneously, giving quite a startle to the Leaders, and themselves, as they expected it to be deserted, only to find Kate, Lilly, Garth, and the seniors.
"Holy shit!" said Shalidor, creating a barrier.
"What the fuck!" shouted the wolves jumping backwards.
When the rest of the Archmages teleported, and Shalidor saw what he was making barrier against, he lowered it and they stared at each other for a few seconds before Kharazim spoke in a pretty awkward tone.
"Um... sorry for the awkward entrance."
"It's alright... you didn't hurt us." smiled Lily. "How the hell can she always be so calm?!" thought Kate, who was prepared to pounce.
"Well, it will start soon, I guess? The celebration?" asked Mithrandir.
"Yeah, it will. Head east to those huge rocks, which are ascending." said Kate.
"Righto." said Lara, leading the way out.
Only as they were walking out, the wolves noticed they had a different attire.
"Must say, that fur's damn beautiful." said Humphrey, staring after them. Kate elbowed him.
"Hey, it's not nice to stare. They are nice, yes." she told Humphrey.
"So" began Eve. "Kate, Garth, keep a close watch on them. While you're having fun, of course." she quickly added as they both opened their mouths angrily, to say they have mates to stay with.
"Fine..." they replied, rolling their eyes. Eve's untrusting attitude was getting irksome.
They all left the den.
At Howling Rock
Many wolves were there already, enjoying themselves through dancing, eating, or just basking in the warm, pleasant evening sun with their mates or lovers. One of this pair was Claudette and Fleet, stretching in the sun, tails intertwined.
"This howl's gonna be amazing, babe." said Fleet nuzzling her.
"Mhmm, it's gonna be like no other..." she said leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Like no other?" he asked amusedly.
"You make it unique, dear..." chuckled Claudette.
"I love you so so much..."
"Me too, babe..."
They then started kissing sweetly and passionately. In simpler words, 'making out'.
The two brothers laughed at their sister.
"Man, she's really all over him!" said Runt laughing.
"Yep... doesn't wanna admit it to Mom and Dad, but she loves him like mad..." chuckled Stinky.
"She did actually." said an amused voice behind them.
They turned to see their parents, Lily and Garth.
"Stop spying you two, you should be glad she found someone, unlike you..." laughed their mother.
Runt laughed with her, but Stinky's ears dropped.
"Chill bro, you're gonna find someone out there, I know it." chuckled his little brother, elbowing the elder.
"Yeah, I will... someday. Let's get something to eat. Are those guys here? The Archmages?" Stinky asked.
"Yeah, right there." said Humphrey, jerking his head at the quite hard to miss group.
Fannaeras was wearing a much more elegant and beautiful robe, ornated with golden flowers, Shalidor a black doublet with golden lines, similar trousers and a fur cloak, Lara a stunning pure-white dress, which was quite... 'sexy'... as Fannaeras described it, only to be elbowed hard by the she-elf. Mithrandir and Ithilden were both wearing a long red robe, and a skin vest on top. Kharazim came with an elegant dark-brown tunic, with a short jacket and long black trousers, with a long, dark-red cloak.
They were getting many kinds of looks: admiring, hateful, hopeful, even pitiful by some. But they couldn't give a shit. They walked up to the family.
"Greetings, greetings. Thank you for the invitation, I must say, the place is quite stunning. Also, the atmosphere is just the one of a dream." commented Mithrandir.
"Oh, thank you!" said Lily, blushing slightly. "We worked quite hard to organize it!"
"Hard work always pays off, Lily. And this is one good example for it!" added Fannaeras, bowing his head. Lily blushed more, and the rest of the wolves smiled.
"Well, enjoy yourselves!" said Kate. The wolves all started towards the feeding grounds, Runt in lead. Claudette and Fleet also went with them.
Time passed, and the Archmages made a few introductions to wolves which didn't believe they were going to kill them all. The announcement Winston made to the pack went... alright, that would be the best word. He convinced most of the wolves, but of course, some didn't wish to be helped by the mages. Eve was still against them, and that didn't help, and keeping an annoying watch everywhere they went. The warm evening was bleeding into a cool night, until the moon, the eye of the Gods, was hanging high in the starry sky. The couples slowly began to occupy different positions on the Howling Rock, ready to start the best part of the Howl, which is of course, howling. Shalidor, Fannaeras, and Mithrandir created the lights, which made beautiful lighters, and even Eve commented that they were amazing.
The beautiful howling starting, the best couples in the lead. Those were Lily and Garth, Claudette and Fleet, and Kate and Humphrey. The Archmages looked smiling from a side and immersed themselves in the gorgeous song that was produced by the perfectly mixed howling. It was a song of love, passion, and eternity. The finnesse of their voice, the perfect pitch, it was making an atmosphere of pure fantasy. They forgot about the horrors of the past days, only making the most of the starry night.
But dreams don't last forever.
A distant scream was heard by very few. The wolves that heard it didn't care or took it as a horrible howl. But the Archmages knew better. It was a human scream.
"Wait... it's from that direction." pointed Shalidor.
Mithrandir and Kharazim looked at each other.
"The ranger!" they both said loudly. Mithrandir opened a portal and they all hurried through, while Kharazim teleported.
"Where did those weirdoes teleported to?" seethed Eve angrily.
"I would be more worried about WHY they teleported. They must've realized something."
"Damn them... I knew it! They-" started Eve, only to be interrupted by Tony.
"Stop, Eve! I think something's going on, and I hell don't like it. And not their fault."
"Kharazim and Mithrandir said something about a ranger?" repeated Winston.
"Well we know where the two humans live. The last one alive must be in danger." said Tony. "And probably because of that fucking monster." he added disgustedly.
"Let's gather alphas, we need to try to help." said Winston.
"On it." replied the other leader and hurried to call Garth and Kate, which were strolling with their mates, having finished howling, with blissful looks on their faces, while Winston gathered other Alphas.
At the ranger's office
The mages arrived there, and the door was locked.
"Allow me." said Kharazim and with one lightning-fast kick he kicked it down.
Shalidor sent a mage-light through and it stuck at the end of the hall. Not one soul was dwelling it. Though the place was quiet as the grave. They slowly stepped forward, magic and weapons at ready.
They heard a gulping sound from the ranger's office and slowly opened the door.
"Holy fuck." gasped Kharazim, who was first. All the other Archmages swore at once.
The ranger's body was on the floor, full to the brim of leeches, which where gulping on him. He was already dead, and many holes pierced his body. A brilliantly-coloured gift was open at his feet, empty.
"Must have been his worst fear. Leeches." said Shalidor, who looked close to vomiting.
Suddenly, something pulled his leg into the back of the room, into the darkness. Children's laughter could be heard distantly and a face of a clown leering horribly showed. All at once attacked: Shalidor threw a fireball, Fannaeras a skull aflame with green fire, Lara a beam of light, Kharazim a black dragon which went swerving at the monster, and Mithrandir raised a barrier, expecting... a big explosion.
Pennywise was launched outside but he landed safely, using his long claws, the mutilated body of the ranger flew into a tree like a ragdoll thrown by an angry child, and all the Archmages rushed outside.
Lara was first to dash at It, sword in hand and after a good low cut, she quickly had to parry and dodge the clown's very fast attacks. "VEEN GAAR NOS!" was heard and a cyclone came from Shalidor flew into Pennywise, throwing him backwards and slamming him into a tree, while Lara dashed away.
Ithilden struck him with a beam of moonlight, then Kharazim did the 'Seven-Sided Strike' where he dashes like lightning from one part to the other, and hit five kicks, before Pennywise caught his leg in his jaws and threw him into Shalidor, who barely made a barrier in time to catch the monk.
He quickly started healing him, as the druid made root bindings shoot out of the ground and ensnare the clown. He pulled and twisted while being hit by Fannaeras's green flames and finally broke free. He dashed at the druid but the warlock threw him back with the dark-green wave he used on Garth, and Pennywise, without stamina, was hit multiple times by Mithrandir, who was using a whip of fire, as he roared. He regained his stamina.
He caught Mithrandir's whip and pulled it out of his hands and hit him with it, but the second time he tried, the wizard parried it with his staff and disspelled it with his ring. From behind, Lara impaled him with the sword, but the clown's head turned around fully and bit her arm painfully.
Lara quickly dashed away, healing herself, with her sword, Zirael, still in him. He pulled out and threw it at her, but Lara caught it in her left hand.
Kharazim, healed, struck him with lightning-fast fist attacks, and suddenly the vampirism in him activated, and his human hands became sharp claws, not much unlike the clown's. His claw went right through Pennywise, lifting him and slamming him into the ground. The clown's claw then went into his shoulder and threw him off, but then Fannaeras started draining him of life and stamina.
Shalidor summoned ice spikes and launched them, impaling the clown's legs, Mithrandir shot him with a beam of light, slowing him down, Ithilden burned him with sunlight strikes which came from the high heavens and Lara also got her staff out and was hitting the clown with bright green waves of Elder power. The clown howled and twisted in pain, but then some other strange things happened:
Out of nowhere, a winged demons appeared and attacked Shalidor and Lara, flaming bounds ensnared the druid and the warlock, and whips of fire were hitting Mithrandir. Kharazim was also bound to the ground by stamina-draining bounds.
Pennywise laughed maniacally, and was prepared to strike when Kate and Garth caught his arms in their jaws, other Alphas got his legs and chest. He let out a shockwave and swiped at a few and all the wolves were thrown in different directions, some hurt, leaving the clown bleeding severely.
He became smoke, which blinded all his attackers, and enveloped the body of the ranger, and everything disappeared. The mages freed themselves, and killed the winged demons, and got up, only to see that Pennywise escaped.
A few minutes later
All the attackers were healing each other, and the wolves were licking their wounds.
"What in the fuck was that?" asked Garth, panting, licking his slashed front paws.
"Well, there's your killer. That thing." said Shalidor, healing Kharazim's mangled shoulder.
"We would've no damn chance alone." said Winston, who didn't fight but saw the ending and helped one of the Alphas with his wounds.
"That thing's hellish fast, he threw us off AND had time to swipe." panted Kate, licking her back-paws and Eve licking her bruised back.
"We can't fight that thing alone. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm glad that you're here, Archmages." concluded Eve.
Fannaeras snorted.
"Well, great, because, whenether you like us or not, we wouldn't have left anyway. What were those demons at the end though? Weren't the clown's, that's clear."
"It's helped by some other entity, a much stronger one." said Lara, healing herslef and an Alpha.
"Great, we got more shit to deal with." said Kharazim.
"Who knows if it will show itself, it might summon other weirdoes from Hell to come for us." said Mithrandir.
"Well, we'll be prepared..." concluded Ithilden. "So, wolves, we're staying probably longer than we thought."
"You're welcome to stay in a den, we'll find one." said Lily.
"That's not the problem, we have where to stay. We were just saying." replied Shalidor. He stood up and he let out a huge golden wave, healing the rest of the wounded. Lara and Ithilden did the same.
"Only now we had the strength to do it." they said, while everyone smiled at them.
"Well, now we shall go rest, tomorrow, the hunt begins. We have a trail right here to follow, we can find Penny. And. Leave. It. To. Us." said Shalidor very clearly.
"Alright. We'll leave it to you, then. But any help you need, we'll be right here." said Kate, getting up. "Back to the dens everyone!"
The wolves all left.
"Well, that wasn't quite the Howl I expected." said Claudette, sitting down and curling up.
"It could've been worse, we could've all died." said Runt humorously.
"Yeah, I guess." laughed Stinky.
"Good night, pups." said Humphrey.
"Daaad, we aren't pups anymore!" replied Claudette yawning.
"You'll always be for us. Now, go to sleep." said Kate.
They all curled up close and fell asleep soon, while in their tree-house, the Archmages did the same, completely exhausted.