Hours passed while Fenris and Buck explored the frozen world. Fenris had hoped the snow didn't stretch across the entire land, but so far he had seen nothing that suggested otherwise.
They encountered more elementals along the way, though none were as powerful as the first one Fenris had fought—or the one Buck had defeated with ease.
More ice elementals appeared. These ones were smaller—closer to human height.
Fenris dashed forward, claws out, aiming for their chests… or rather, their cores.
They all crumbled behind him. Their cores seemed to be much closer to the surface than the giant brethren.
"Hah." He grunted, slightly in pain.
He took a look at his claws. Frostbite crawled through his fingers, numbing them.
Fenris turned to his side to find Buck dealing with the other elementals with ease, using his whip.
"I'm winning," Buck said, wearing an annoying smirk.
"It's not a competition," Fenris replied.
"Hmmm. Isn't that what a loser would say?" Buck said, tapping Fenris on the shoulder.
Fenris snarled and shoved his hand away. Then they both heard footsteps. Hundreds of them.
From the distance, the two werewolves saw them marching forward. Ice weapons in their hands.
Fenris smiled. An opportunity had just presented itself.
"We'll see who the loser is," he said.
He dashed forward on all fours, snow spraying heavily behind him, doing very little to slow his relentless, meteoric speed.
Claws spread wide, he swiped at the core of the first elemental, shattering it before him.
Again and again, endlessly, he mauled through dozens of the elementals—then hundreds.
They fought back, of course. Their ice weapons stabbed through his body—torso, limbs, and chest—but none pierced his heart.
Fenris stiffened. The ice weapons embedded in his body shattered and fell into the snow.
He began to heal, but his body did so slowly.
It seemed the ice was slowing his regeneration ability. But still, despite the numbing pain and the urge to just stop, he pushed forward toward the rest of the creatures.
'I came here for a reason. To get stronger. I won't lose… not to him.'
The more elementals that fell, the more his stamina, slashes, and frostbite increased.
'Why am I even doing this? To prove something to myself? To Buck?'
'No… that can't be it.'
Fenris didn't realize it, but the reason he continued fighting without end was simple: catharsis.
For the world that had hunted him since he was a child. The world that saw him and his kind as nothing but monsters. For his lost memories. For Luna.
When else could he perform such a massacre without feeling even the slightest shred of guilt?
Leaping toward an elemental, he ripped out its arms with ease and beat it over and over with them.
'Ahhhh!' With a scream, he stomped on its core. Just like the rest of its brethren, it fell.
Panting heavily, frost spilling from his breath, Fenris looked across the snowy battlefield. Not a single elemental remained.
Broken bodies of stone and ice were scattered as far as the eye could see.
His wounds slowly began to close up but halted as a terrible hunger arose from his stomach. He growled as his instincts to hunt began to kick in. His eyes darted desperately, looking for prey.
But there was none. Only the corpses made of stone.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and growled, fangs bared at the one who dared disturb him.
"Easy, friend. Easy," Buck said, arms raised. "Pouch. Meat. Eat."
Buck's slow words reached the man behind the beast. Fenris grabbed the enchanted pouch from his inner pocket and chewed the dried meat voraciously.
His sanity returned, and his hunger somewhat settled—for now.
"I would have helped you there… but it seems like you really needed to do that yourself," Buck said, concerned.
Fenris didn't answer. He continued chowing down on the meat.
"Slow down," Buck said. "We're going to be here for a while."
Fenris's ears perked up, and so did Buck's. They turned to the side. The corpses of the elementals slowly sank down into the snow, and a harsh breeze struck the two of them, getting more violent by the second.
'The blizzard… it's coming,' Fenris thought, agitated. 'Did this just happen, or… did I cause it when I killed all those lesser elementals?'
Not only that—they both heard roars in the distance. The giant elementals were out there, coming for them.
Fenris stood, ready to fight despite his wound. Buck rushed in front of him.
"Stay behind me," Buck said.
The blizzard came fast, almost striking them—until a dome appeared, encasing both Fenris and Buck.
Buck's runes glowed intensely through his clothing, blending hauntingly with the blinding blizzard. The roars were still there, echoing in the distance.
By instinct, the two wolves defended one another, back to back, waiting for an attack.
As they did, Fenris's eyes lingered on his claws, still covered in frostbite.
'Maybe I should have listened to Beowulf,' he thought, as his mind wandered to a few days ago.
He sat on a grassy field of the torn-down castle. Bruises and cuts covered him everywhere—but they weren't from claw marks.
Fenris gripped the dark leather handle of a longsword as he stared up at Beowulf, who held a similar longsword pointed at Fenris's neck, a smirk on his face.
"You're a quick learner. Good. But you still swing that sword like an aimless child," Beowulf said.
Fenris bared a fang—or at least he tried. His eyes lingered on one of his middle fingers. He wore a bronze ring with a stone on it: a moonstone.
Beowulf swung down. Fenris rolled away. On his feet, Fenris struck Beowulf. Beowulf paused easily. The two were in a standstill, eyes flaring. Beowulf was winning.
"Your swings, your thrusts, your parries—even your stance. All lackluster." Beowulf commented. "You fight like an animal. A calculative animal. But still an animal."
Fenris let out an unbelieving chuckle.
"That's hilarious coming from you. The first time we fought, you were more of an animal than me."
"Fair point, and yet…," Beowulf paused.
He kicked Fenris in the ankle. Fenris tumbled due to his inferior stance. Once more, Beowulf pointed his longsword at Fenris's throat.
"Do I fight like an animal now?"
Fenris growled in annoyance, but he also tilted his head in confusion. He hadn't known Beowulf long, but his behavior was different from the bloodthirsty brute he had first met.
Fenris's gaze shifted to Beowulf's hand. He too wore a moonstone ring.
'Is that why he's acting so differently, or is this just a side of him I haven't seen?' Fenris thought.
Beowulf lowered his blade from Fenris's neck, allowing Fenris to breathe a little easier.
"You're not ready," Beowulf said.
"What?" Fenris asked, confused.
"I heard from Gwendolyn. You want to explore the other worlds. You are not ready."
"Maybe so, but I'm still going anyway," Fenris said.
Beowulf put on a proud smile.
"Admirable. I won't stop you, but you should listen to my words, young warrior."
"We have just begun your training. Form yourself first. Master a fighting style of our choosing. Get your runes, then your weapons. After that, you can depart—just like the rest."
"And just how long will all that take?" Fenris asked.
"Depends on the warrior's spark… and how long that spark can last," Beowulf answered ambiguously.
Fenris sighed. Beowulf was slowly starting to sound like his old self again.
"No," Fenris answered decisively. He was tired of staying in one place. Even if Lycan had declared this place safe, it still didn't feel right to remain somewhere for days.
"And besides, as far as weapons go…" Fenris removed the moonstone ring. His claws grew instantly.
"…these have never failed me before."
The fingers beneath those claws were now pale blue, slowly returning to their original color. Buck's dome continued to protect them from the harsh blizzard.
The roars and footsteps of the ice elementals grew nearer.
"You can take them, can't you?" Fenris asked.
"Sure I can. But…" Buck paused.
Fenris turned, observing Buck. He was stiffened, not in pain but clearly concentrating hard.
"You'll have to drop the dome, won't you?" Fenris asked.
Buck nodded slowly.
"Do it," Fenris said.
"But—"
"I've already taken down one of them without your help. I can do it again. We stay here idle and we die."
"You're right," Buck said. He grabbed Fenris by the shoulder and sank his claws deep.
"Ow! What are you—" Fenris paused as a similar sensation traveled through him.
'Pain sharing,' he thought, unsure. But Fenris's pain wasn't being siphoned away. Instead, something was being given to him.
Not pain, but a sort of misty chill. It was neither hurtful nor comforting. A transparent and glittering veil encased all of Fenris.
Buck's runes dimmed. The dome slowly dissipated. Fenris was out in the blizzard but was fine.
"This won't last forever. When you feel it coming down and it will. Find me, quick," Buck said.
Buck ran off on all fours to fight one of the elementals in the distance. Fenris remained, waiting to confront his own.
He wasn't just unharmed by the blizzard. He could see through it as if it were night.
His sense of smell had returned as well. His hearing was still clouded by the aggressive howls of the wind, but he would take what he could get.
The snow beneath him shook and fell. Claws ready and teeth bared, Fenris was prepared to face one of the giant elementals once more.
Peering through the blizzard at the ice elemental, Fenris almost dropped his jaw.
The elemental he was about to face looked like the one he had defeated when he first arrived in this world, but it was also different.
Stepping out of the blizzard, Fenris came face to face with the giant ice elemental. But this time, it wore thick armor that protected its body—especially its core.