A/N – Another chapter, shorter than I wished, but it neatly wrapped itself.

Harry let his eyes roam the landscape, below he could see some kind of forests and he knew from his training that it was the safest bet for him to survive and get something edible. From the forests his gaze slipped higher, towards the mountains, crevices, glaciers, jagged peaks and passes between them with wind howling over it and doing its best to suck out heat out of everything. He shuddered as a stronger blow of it slammed into him and made him shudder from cold.

Quickly gathering his wits and the gear he was given he started to make his way down the slope, into the lower parts of the mountain, high enough to have a good view of the surrounding area, but low enough to have close to the forest. Once on the border of the forest he paused and looked around, trying to spot above the mountains shape of his target, the Aett was huge and spotting it should be easy.

His eyes swept over the horizon covered in a thick layer of clouds that obscured most of his vision when he spotted a fang-like mountain grow between them. He squinted his eyes and the shape became somewhat clearer and it was just enough for him to identify it as his target.

"Troublesome," he muttered realizing he would need to circle quite a sizeable mountain range to get to his target.

He slipped between the trees, slowly walking forward as last dozens months of training flashed in front of his eyes, reminding him about threats and dangers lurking for any careless hunter. He could also feel something change in his body, as if something inside of him was waking, something powerful and dangerous. It felt to him like a gift and a curse, a thing he wanted to have, yet needed to control and show its proper place or it would overwhelm him. There was also something more that was happening inside of him, something that was changing his body, not mind.

He shook his head and focused on the task at hand, he needed to get some kind of a shelter and food as well as a source of water. The last of which was probably the most important one as he learned that without food his body could last few weeks, without water, days.

Moving through the forest he kept looking around for water and some relatively safe place for night, yet he constantly felt as if something large and dangerous was trailing him and wanted him as its meal. He glanced backwards but spotted nothing, which put those feelings to some rest, but they were still deep there. It felt to him as if it was a new sense that screamed whenever he was in danger.

Next several hours he spent moving lower down the slope into parts of the mountains that should be less deserted and also full of things he needed. He spotted a stream and approached it cautiously, his hand on a handle of a knife, ready to draw the weapon and kill anything that could jump out of the foliage and snow. It also made his mind tell him that trolls and several other of the nastier predators loved such spots as everything needed water.

He felt gravel crunch under his feet as he slipped onto the bank of the stream before kneeling and slowly drinking the water. It was cold, really cold, but it at least quenched thirst and allowed him to focus on other goals. Mainly on getting back to the Aett and surviving the process. He stood up and crossed the stream before following it and getting into even lower parts of the mountain range.

He was about to climb onto the tree that he spotted as a shelter for a night when he heard a loud howl right behind him. He barely managed to turn around before a massive Blackmane wolf slammed into him and pushed into the bark of the tree. He managed to move his head in time and luckily avoided set of massive jaws from killing him or at best maiming severely.

He looked at the beast and smirked before coiling his legs and delivering a powerful kick to the wolf's abdomen that made it jump away, snarling and growling. More in annoyance than anything else. Harry used this precious moment to scramble to his feet and pull his knife out of the scabbard before looking at the wolf.

"Come to me," he said, crouching and keeping the knife in front of him.

Wolf snarled and bared its fangs before hurling itself at Harry and making him shift to prepare for the additional weight that was flying towards him. He was pushed back by the force of the impact, but the wolf didn't tackle him and didn't have any opening. Harry winced as he felt claws of the wolf leave cuts across his shoulders and arms, but he ignored it and used the moment to plunge the knife deep into the chest of the beast.

The wolf let out a whining sound of pain and at this Harry twisted the knife in the wound and slowly pulled out as warm blood of the wolf flowed out of the wound and onto his hand. It felt weird for him to kill something for the first time, he looked at the wolf and saw that it was dead at which he pushed carcass onto its side and went about skinning it and getting something that could work as a protection from wind and cold.

Next several moments were bloody, unpleasant and nasty for him, he needed to remove the skin of the wolf, preferably without tearing it too badly and then get whatever he needed out of the carcass. Mainly meat of the animal, he considered an idea of using sinews to tie his knife to a branch to get a spear, but he shook his head at the idea the moment he realized that his knife was more or less a small sword and he felt much more comfortable having greater freedom of moves.

As the sun fully hid behind the horizon and even the last, hopeless rays of warmth were gone with it Harry climbed onto the tree he chose for himself and wrapped in the fur he got of the wolf went to sleep. It was his first night in the mountains, he knew that he achieved quite a lot, but he also knew that a lot more was ahead of him. Also in terms of distance he didn't get much closer to the Fang, he slipped into the regions traversing through which was easier, faster and safer, but the target was as far away from him as it was when he started.

o-0-o

Torin marveled at the craftsmanship of the armor and looked at the storm bolter mounted to his wrist and the flexed his finger, activating the firing mechanism and watched with some satisfaction as the bolter barked and spewed out a stream of destruction that chewed into targets on the other end of the training yard. He emptied whole clip and with another move of his hand it was ejected out of the weapon. He slammed into its place a full one and looked at Valkoth. "That's a gear I can have."

"And they will be sending the rest of the Blades in few days," Valkoth said and paused. "Though there will be just twenty-three of them, instead of twenty-four we need to fill the ranks."

"I wonder for whom they keep the spot open," Torin said and mused. "I think we both know whom he is and why do they do what they do."

Valkoth paused cleaning of his own storm bolter and looked at Torin. "Him? They want to send him here right after the end of training?"

"I think it is quite obvious," Torin said and Valkoth looked at him. "Harald is a member of household and was adopted into the house, one of its lesser branches, but still he is a member of the house. And having a Space Marine of any kind be a member of the house, even if an adopted one, brings prestige and honor to the family."

"I suppose," Valkoth said and grumbled. "Hot-headed Blood Claw as a Wolfblade won't work all that well, even with Ragnar we had troubles and he was a lot older when he first joined and by that point he should have been a Grey Hunter."

"I would cut him some slack," Torin said, making Valkoth look at him. "If he was an average Fenrisian, I would question wisdom of this decision, but we train in warfare and killing since the moment when we can walk. He is from Terra and he showed that he can think, which most of the Fenrisian lack before lunging into combat like a reckless warrior. And he was always a weird one, in a way that I cannot explain, so he might be an even better than we think."

"Perhaps," Valkoth said and smirked in a way that didn't make Torin feel well. "In any case, when he gets here, you will explain to him everything and you will ensure that he doesn't do some stupid thing."

Torin gave Valkoth a look, but then nodded and looked towards the targets at the end of the training yard and once again flexing his hand and activating firing mechanism he watched with satisfaction as bolter shells tore through the target.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the mountain pass as he started to make his way through the snow that was to his knees. Last few days were a slow and a very painful trek for him, he avoided any more large predators, the likes of that blackmaned wolf he had killed on his first night. However without those dangers it was still a problem, he needed to get some food, decent shelter for the night, get himself warm and find some water so that he wouldn't died from it or multitude of things that just waited for his mistakes.

As he walked for those days he felt something wild and powerful wake up inside of him, something that had a mind on his own and could help him or overwhelm him if given the slightest opening. He also felt changes happen to his body, his previously longish hair grew a bit and got even messier than they were, but that wasn't as obvious to him as other changes. Mainly his senses becoming much keener and canines growing much larger than normal.

He sniffed the air and felt as if he was almost overwhelmed by the amount of new sensations his sense of smell was able to provide. He previously was able to recognize just the strongest smell, now he could detect all manners of things and the world felt to him richer, much richer than it used to be. Previously it was bland and lacking sensations, now sensations were almost too much, but he also felt the world live around him.

He pushed through the snow and with each step he could feel that he was finally getting closer to the Aett which was becoming more and more visible. He let out a small breath of relief when he realized that he was maybe a day or two away from his goal. Soon he would be able to sleep in a warm and comfortable bed for as long as he wished, but first he would need to take a long, soothing and lazy bath so that he wouldn't stink of a dead wolf and unwashed body. Also there was the fact that for the first time in ages he would be able to get a civilized meal that he didn't need to make.

As he descended down the pass he felt some new energy enter his body, previously he felt as if the cold and the weather sucked out of him every single sliver of heat and warmth. While now he wanted to move faster through the snow and get to the target as soon as possible and be done with this trial that made him curse every single thing he could name.

o-0-o

Patrolling approaches to the Fang, especially when blizzards were rolling across the countryside was one of the least liked duties and was usually given to those that committed some minor crime or annoyed one of those in power. Who happily assigned people to it as a punishment or in case of Blood Claws to try to learn something from older warriors.

Lukas the Trickster used his hand to cover his eyes from the worst of the blizzard and scannée the terrain ahead of him, then his gaze darted to a group of Blood Claws that was trying to be as small as possible and hide out of the way of the wind. He laughed at their forms and swept his eyes over the horizon, there was something amiss and he could feel it in his bones.

"Move," he barked an order at the Claws. "There's something coming and we better check what it is."

They gave him dirty looks, but surrendered to his will and emerged from their hiding spots before slowly moving forward. He slipped into a position ahead of them and after passing several dozen meters he squinted his eyes as he saw a dark shape move towards them. He raised his hand in a signal that halted the advance of the Claws and waited.

He could feel them get restless and confused behind him as they stood in the snow, weapons in hands and unable to tell what was his reasoning behind the order. He ignored it and instead focused on the shape that was getting closer. While previously it was something black, now he could tell that it was something humanoid and that made him curious, no Wolf was reported to be outside of the Fang hunting and there weren't too many other possibilities of humanoid beings so close to the fortress.

"No, that's not impossible," Lukas said and looked at the Claws behind him. "Do not fire, just stay where you are."

It could be just the single thing, but nobody expected that he would survive, he was dumped in a place where planet should have killed him. Apparently the Great Wolf wanted to test if the new implantation process worked and decided to drop that poor soul into the worst hell they could find. Lukas walked forward and saw an Aspirant walking towards him, his body wrapped in a fur of a massive wolf.

Lukas looked at the Aspirant and then tapped his ear, activating his communicator. "We have an Aspirant," he said once the link was established and Machine Spirits were happy. "I don't know how by the Russ he got here in the blizzard, but he is here and might need medical help. Also he brings a nice pelt of a wolf."

"Understood," came reply after few seconds. "Iron Priests will be ready to take care of him once he is inside, you are allowed to carry him into the Aett if need be."

Lukas nodded and tapped it twice in quick succession to tell them that he understood the command and walked towards the Aspirant before holstering his plasma pistol and deactivating lethal energy field around his lightning claws.

"You passed the trial," Lukas said as he approached the Aspirant before letting him support himself on his massive frame. "The Chapter knows about it and I'm allowed to help you."

The Aspirant smiled at it and shifted most of his weight onto Lukas who didn't even felt it, but it allowed him to take a better look at the Aspirant. He was exhausted and there were several nasty wounds to his legs, probably from meeting with wolves or some rocks hidden below the snow. But other than that he was whole and not injured, which was a small miracle from the Allfather and an even bigger one was the fact that he didn't even show the many changes caused by the Wulfen. Hair were wild, dirty and would require some work, canines longer and eyes a bit lupine, but other than that the Aspirant passed this transformation without any changes and then Lukas realized that he knew this boy. It was the same one as one that was spotted by Ragnar and Lukas remembered training him in some martial arts.

"Harry," Lukas said softly and Harry looked at him. "Aspirants normally aren't dumped into that part of Asaheim and you will be greeted like if you did some exceptional, because you did. Just don't freak out when you will be treated like some future great leader and tell the servants to make you a cloak out of the pelt you had got."

Lukas saw Harry nod and knew that this was probably the most he would get, exhaustion, pain and injuries took toll on everybody and it would take time before Harry would be ready to talk and more importantly had the energy for it. He fell silent and more or less dragged the boy towards the Aett, when they passed place where the pack of Claws waited, he stopped and gave them a look. "Move in the pattern you know from training," he said. "I'll deliver him to the Aett and get back to you, if I find you not doing your duties you will be praying to Russ that I will just mention your behavior to your Sargeant."

Lukas smiled to himself when he saw the Claws hurry to do their duties and disappear into the blizzard, while letting him drag Harry the last few hundred meters in peace and with no need to look over his shoulder to ensure those idiots would be doing their job. He smiled when in front of them appeared almost perfectly straight wall with gates that were opening as they approached.

o-0-o

Logan Grimnar saw the Aspirant return to the Aett and almost immediately being helped by an Iron Priests. He looked at it and then switched his gaze to Ulrik. "He survived the trial," he said with grudging respect.

"Aye, he did," Ulrik said and looked at his liege. "Since he survived it I will tell Njal to start training him as his body matures and we can finish his transformation into a Wolf. Transformation that will take him several more years of training and growing up."

"I know," Logan said and let out a low growl. "At least the Inquisition cannot take him away from the chapter, which would greatly displease me if it was allowed to happen."

Ulrik nodded and it was then when he noticed that the thing in which Harry was covered was a massive pelt of a wolf. "By Russ, he managed to slay a blackmaned wolf and got its pelt."

"And a healthy one, too," Logan added and Ulrik nodded.

"Aye, he is marked for greatness and deeds that will be remembered in our sagas. The rune on his forehead should have told me that he was blessed by the Allfather and Russ, but now I know that. Njal only confirmed that with the test he did and the fact that his soul is as pure as it can be."

Logan nodded and with one, last look at Ulrik stalked away, there were things he needed to consider and ones that required his immediate attention.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and felt that he laid on something so soft that he had troubles believing that it was possible. It took for his mind several long moments to discover where it was and that it was in the Aett, in one of Healing Halls and that the trial was done. He looked around and quickly noticed Ranek walking to him.

"Yes, you passed your trial," he said and Harry smiled, his eyes shining with pride. "Now you have time to rest and once that's over we will get back to your training and further transformation. But now get rest and recuperate from the trial."

"How long?"

"Until you are allowed to leave," Ranek said and added with a thin smile. "You received organs derived from our Primarch and because of that we don't want to see you dying for no reason. So you need to stay here as long as we deem it necessary."

Harry grumbled in disagreement, but Ranek ignored it and left him. Not long after that Harry's exhaustion once again slammed into his body and letting out a loud yawn he returned back to sleep.

o-0-o

A/N – End of yet another chapter, next one will wrap up Harry's training and will maybe reveal some of his psychic powers, but mostly his training, greater Imperium and perhaps some pointy eared bastards will make an appearance.

Harry and his worth to the chapter – until he received his implants, not many would give a shit about his survival. Now he has parts of their gene seed and the rest is on its way, so nobody wants to waste him as that's too big of a hit

Reviews:

OBSERVER01 – I like your review and some might spawn some plot bunnies for me, so here is more in depth.

Things where due to conditioning and training he would be turned into another set of numbers:

Assassins and the Grey Knights(I have respect for them, a lot, but their training wipes out part of Aspirants minds and basically writes them from scratch. Assassins, similar reasons.)

Where he could flourish:

AM – probably one of the best places to him, especially if he ends on Mars, in canon he is shown to be at least somewhat bright and intellect is a thing that could help him there. He probably could get to some higher rank rather easily and quickly.

Space Marines as a whole – as long as their training doesn't destroy the mind and they aren't a truly monastic order, he should have a successful career. He also due to his past has hate or at least distaste of authorities above him and in a structure where your advancement in ranks is based on merits, not age, he will don't feel it that badly and in the Wolves he has a hierarchy based on personal strength and that's a thing he can understand.

Rogue Traders – hell yes

Creed – he would give him a chance to flourish and if he was able to motivate Harry to work, Lord Solar Macharius v2?

Not listed here, but one I kinda considered is the Inquisition, Malleus or Hereticus.