Helene may not have been the fastest in the pack, but her body certainly has its stamina. I traveled for hours with only the necessary breaks - until I simply could not bring myself to try so hard anymore.
After a longer but still too quick rest to recover my will, I woke and got back on the move again. Until finally, I crested a hill at around dawn and saw it spread out before .
A grand enough tropolis by both world's standards. The 'concrete' and glass structures that stood tall fit images sitting in Helene's head. With smaller buildings clustered around them like courtiers around royalty.
From a personal standpoint, buildings jutting into the air like that seed higher than necessary. Especially that white one. Looking at it just reminds that I always hated the stairways in parts of the palace.
> Would you not spend just as much ti going up as you might running across the ground? <
My wolf had learned to ignore reacting to my sudden musings. Probably because I inford it... that I did not like the continued feeling of it appeasing . Like a re servant instead of soone I invoked a partnership contract with.
If it had nothing genuine to say or feel, it was best to just be silent!
Regardless, after days in the wilderness, the glittering skyline might as well have been the definition of 'civilization' compared to the few scattered houses I steered clear from.
The many loudly yipping 'dogs' at the first of those only needed to be seen in person once. To be sure that they really were just so kind of altered lineage of wolves like Helene understood and not fox-kind.
Dostication might have been a different matter if this world had proper shifters. The most powerful of a species tends to get testy at the thought of their kindred being enslaved to the whims of another.
Shaking my head, I shift into the very sort of form that has proven more dominant in this world than mine. The human side, original to this body. And finally, I get dressed.
Wrinkled shirt, pants, and socks with no shoes.
Soday soon I may truly, hopefully... not look like a total ss.
⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖
I walked for hours. Avoiding the noisy 'honks' of motor vehicles all around. Watching the growing morning light reflect off distant windows. The shift in angles of shadows cast on the sidewalk by distant billboards.
There was also that big mural of the city skyline a while back. With the phrase [Welco To: Vossden] along the top. The na of the city tickled sothing in her mories, but it was too vague.
My nose had long ago stopped wrinkling. The barrage of scents carried on the wind included exhaust fus, breakfast foods cooking, rotting garbage, and the thousands upon thousands of humans in the direction I was headed.
Beneath it all, fainter but unmistakable, were the scents of other beasts. Other werewolves.
The system map's glyph blinked and a very late warning greeted .
| Chosen Has Entered The Ricoat Pack's Territory! |
It was updated to show the lines just like I'd seen for Helene's pack. The size of it covered the whole city and more, making it clear that the place I had chosen to co to was theirs. A very large area that I'd been traveling at least a day through from the direction I ca from.
> I don't know for sure, but I doubt every human city in this world has werewolves, right? And the Ricoat... now I know why Vossden was familiar. Is this being lucky or unlucky? <
The growl-bark-talk my wolf tried to give was well aning enough. This ti assuring that it didn't know about any of that either. Which is still as unhelpful as usual, but at least it's not as touchy about admitting to it.
The backpack of supplies I'd taken - and snacked liberally from - hung heavy on my shoulders. Even though it was physically lighter than when I left, I didn't want to advertise that I was carrying an item made from dead werewolves into their city.
If I can sll them, they'll be able to sll . They might even be better at it, as they are more accustod to all these other human stinks around them than I am.
Worse, there was sothing called scent blockers for our kind.
So I may not even notice when soone approaching is a large threat.
All of this is hitting while I'm tired and kind of hungry again. My muscles ache from the night's journey. I've pushed myself harder than I might have to get here in the deadline after receiving the system's task.
"Why even play along with it? For all I know it's part of the reason why I'm in this world in the first place."
As if it was listening and chose to respond to my annoyance, the check mark starts to make itself known. I stop walking and focus on it.
| TASK COMPLETION ✓ |
| REWARD IMMINENT ⚝ |
I blinked at the blue text when it started to swirl into an indistinct lump at the end. Before I could wonder what exactly any of that ant, I had to dodge out of the way of a 'bicycle'. I stare after the relatively fast moving vehicle and its reckless and unapologetic rider.
"This place is more dangerous than I thought. Do the people here not have any concerns for their own safety?"
"I like to think those jerks get what's coming to them sooner or later, miss."
An old man spoke, sitting on the 'bus' bench not far ahead. Imdiately, I was wary... as I hadn't noticed anyone paying attention to .
He scattered a handful more breadcrumbs from the bag at his side and the flock of grey birds that had moved out of the way like landed back around him.
> You didn't warn , but I didn't feel him looking my way either... <
In this strange city filled with potential enemies, a situation like this wasn't welco. Was he just a human or a threat? A werewolf using those scent blockers, waiting near the edges for rogues like to pass by?
I tried to catch any sign of beast pheromones from where I stood. Nothing distinctive ca through the urban smog, though I still caught a small whiff of so of them further away.
As I hesitated to answer and stop looking like an uncertain child who had done sothing wrong... the blue lump from earlier swirled back into focus and ford text.
| MOTHER'S INTUITION |
A strange sensation rippled through upon reading it. The small hairs on my human form rose up like the mont before a lightning strike. When the natural magic in the air tingles against your fur.
For a few heartbeats, the awareness of my surroundings sharpened.
Sohow I knew this man held no supernatural threat. Completely human. I also noticed details I'd missed in my initial wariness.
The dark covering over his eyes that looked a little too different from normal 'sunglasses'. The tal cane propped against the bench beside him. The way he tilted his head slightly to track sounds.
He was blind - just like the ancient one that managed the palace gardens. Just like that old fox, he was completely untroubled by my long silence.
"I can always hear them coming. Those cyclists. They think they own the sidewalk and pedestrians are the ones in the way."
Even without 'sight', people like this sotis seed to know you were there. I'd always found that interesting.
Though the gardener did not appreciate my experints to see if he was just speaking to himself and hoping to get lucky that I was around when he spoke.
"I see. I'll watch out for them better from now on."
"You sound like you're new around here. Not used to the traffic in a city?"
"Is it that obvious?"
Now that I felt he wasn't a threat, I approached cautiously. The only actual people I'd talked to here were Chad and Jace. I can't even count that Kyle, because he never spoke to directly!
I shuffled closer and he chuckled. A warm sound that reminded more of one of the royal cooks. A man that would look the other way when I snuck back in through the servant entrance.
"When you've lived in one place as long as I have, you get a sense for tourists. The way footsteps hesitate at intersections. The way they say 'the people here'."
While frowning at my own unintended slip, his palm struck twice on the bench beside him.
"You sound tired. Rest your feet a minute. I don't bite."
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