6

I awoke with the sun's light shining in my face. My left eye slowly opened while my right eye was still being blinded by the sun. I crawled out of bed and walked to the window. It was an amazingly pleasant day. The temperature was probably slightly over 70. There was a small refreshing breeze that blew across me as I stood staring out the window. Something caught my eye as well as my nose. Something was running through the forest close by at incredible speed. The scent was familiar.

-I recognize it. It's…..-

A young figure dressed very preppy jumped out of the forest trees and noticed me immediately. She turned her head to get a glimpse of my face and jumped to my window.

"Helen. Long time no see"

"Same for you Cory. You grew taller." She said with her normally pleasant smile. Helen was the lead shifter, the daughter of the leader, in her pact. She moved into my family after brother chose her to be his. The last time I saw her was about a year after she became brother's. That was 2 years ago.

"Where's your dad. I need to speak with him" She was looking around the room to observe and take in how it looked like.

"He's probably downstairs preparing the tasks. Where's brother?" I said while slightly glaring at her. She ignored me completely and went downstairs to the living room as I followed her. There, sitting in the living room was everyone that was there yesterday. The newcomer that I beat last night was the first among them all to stand and bow.

"Helen. What brings you here?" Dad asked. His facial expression showed the same confusion as mine. We both had no idea why Helen came and without brother.

"Your son won't make it for the newcomer's examinations he said"

"I see. I guess Cory will take over for the parts that his brother had to do"

"Wait a minute" I interrupted.

"That's more then ¾ of the examinations" I snarled.

"Don't worry. It isn't that difficult of a task" Dad insisted.

"Whatever." I turned around to walk to the kitchen. Helen followed. I got to the kitchen and began to look through the fridge for anything that would fill me for the time being. I saw a piece of steak that didn't seem all that frozen. I removed it from the fridge and heated it immediately by holding it in my hand.

"I see that you still put your element to good use." Helen was leaning against the side of the doorway watching me.

"Not that often but yes" I took a huge bite out of the uncooked piece of steak.

"Learned any new tricks with it?" She said with a smile.

"Not really." I lied.

Every shifter was a druid. Every druid had an element. But most druids don't know how to control or use their element. My family's rule was to be able to control and use it at will. There were only a few elements: Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind and Earth. Ice is the more advanced element compared to water. If you can master Ice, you can use water at your will. Every shifter is born with an element. My element is fire and Helen was the one who taught me how to control it given that her element is fire as well. Brother never showed his element to me so I have no idea what element he controls. Dad controls earth and uses it to his advantage a lot.

-I wonder what element the newcomer possesses-

I finished the last bite of the steak and walked pass Helen to the living room. Everyone was still seated and dad had just finished explaining the tasks and rules. The examination for the newcomers were about to begin. The first task was always my favorite.

"So who's ready to race?" I said with a grin. The first task was to see if the newcomers are able to outrace me. Normally if I was at 100 and in howling form, no one can outrace me except brother. The rules for the task were that the newcomer can use any form he wants to outrace me with. I, on the other hand, was only allowed to use my human form.

Everyone gathered outside ready to watch the first test or task to begin. The 3 newcomers lined up at the chalk made line drawn on the street. I slowly walked to the line and stood there with my hands in my pockets. Two of the newcomers began to shift. Both of them were able to shift into the howling form. But one remained in human form.

-Is he going to race me like that? Ha-

I choked a laugh before dad changed into a wolf. He stood on his 4 legs looking at the 3 newcomers as well as me. Then as soon as he let out a howl, the two shifted newcomers ran off at a speed that normal human's eyes were incapable of watching and keeping up. I turned around to see that the un-shifted newcomer was standing beside me.

"Why haven't you begun to run?" I was confused at why he hadn't moved an inch.

"I've been preparing for this day for 2 years." He smiled.

"Okay then why haven't you started?" I was still confused.

"I want a fair race. Are you ready?" He was excited. I could tell.

"Suit yourself. Ready. Set. Go." I began to run and realized he was matching my speed.

-This guy sure is something-

-Perhaps I can have fun for a while-

I gained speed just to test his abilities. He also matched my new speed. I thought he had potential to equal my speed until I noticed something. I smelled the seat that was starting to come out from the newcomer's body. He may be able to keep up with my speed but he can't endure it as long as I can. He was literally running. I was still only jogging at the most.

"Are you tired?" I said with a grin.

"Just a bit." He choked a laugh.

We ran for a few minutes until I was able to catch the 2 scents of the other 2 newcomers. They were about 15 minutes away at our current speed.

"What's your name?" I said to him.

"I'm not a kid just to let you know. I'm the same age as you." He said while looking straight ahead.

"Oh I know don't worry." Personally to myself I thought he was older but in terms of strength, I believe he may seem like a kid to me.

"So what's your name?" I asked again.

"Thomas" He said with no facial expression.

"I see. Name's Cory. You ready to kick it up a notch?"

"What?" he turned around. I started to run. He changed into a wolf and began to follow me. He matched my speed once again only this time he was a wolf.

We ran a little until we caught up with the other 2 newcomers. Suddenly, they stopped. Both of us stopped as well.

"What's going on?" I looked at both of them. Something was strange. Thomas was no longer breathing hard like before. He wasn't sweating either after all that running while matching my speed. Thomas changed into his human form and began to run ahead. I was about to run until I realized my legs were frozen to the ground. I was unable to move. I traced the frozen ice path to one of the newcomers.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled.

"Is he the one?" One of the newcomers asked.

"Yes" replied the one I beat yesterday. He still feared me. I was able to smell his fear. They were still in howling form. Both of them charged at me. Both of them hit me head on and I was instantly knocked to the floor. I no longer cared who they were. I was going to kill them either way. The intent to kill grew in me rapidly. I didn't hold back any longer. I began to shift. I felt my eyes change once again as well as my claws and teeth growing. I was going to be their death sentence.