A yawn was heard in a small home, as a young wolf stirred in his sleep.


    “Yor, It’s time to wake up!.” Yor opened his eyes to see his mother laying out clothes to wear for the day.


    Gwynevere was a young wolf.. Her smile would make even the most paranoid wolf lower their guard in her presence..


    Yor stretched, yawned and sat up.


    “Good morning, Yor. Breakfast is ready.” Gwynevere said, as she laid his breakfast on the table.


    Yor rolled out of bed, and made his way to the table. “Morning mom.”


    “Eat your breakfast before it gets cold.” Gwynevere insisted as she pulled a meat pie from the oven.


    Yor took a piece of bacon into his mouth, and yawned again before chewing.


    A loud knock thundered from the door, pulling both of their attention. A brief moment passed before another knock, and then another. Gwynevere hurried to set the pie down, and rushed to the door. Swinging it open, she was greeted by a familiar face.


    Arthur was a young wolf, he was about 21 and his brown fur coat was beginning to shed for winter. He wore a basic brown Gambeson and had a spear on his back.


    “It’s so good to you cousin!” She said as she hugged.


    “As to you. I’m on my way to the bakery to stand guard, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”


    “We are fine.” Gwynevere made a presenting gesture toward Yor at the table. “Yor has just woken and is having breakfast.”


    Arthur frowned slightly at the mention of her son. “That’s… good.” He turned his head to the side, and his ears flattened to his head..


    “What’s wrong?”


    “Sorry, I just feel bad for the little guy, he has no fat-,”


    “Don’t say another word, his father is my business,” Gwynevere interrupted. Her smile was gone, as she stared daggers at Arthur. He looked at her like a pup that just got caught stealing by his parents.


    “Y-Yes I know! I, just want to he-”


    “You can start by leaving.” She demanded, her fur bristling with agitation. “I told you, Carmin, and everyone else that his father is mine and the god’s business. Go and play guard while I tend to my home,” Gwynevere pushed Arthur away from the door way before slamming it shut in front of him.


    Arthur sighed. “Well that didn’t go as planned…”


    As Arthur walked to his post around town he saw the residents are happy knowing a bandit camp nearby is gone, yet there is still the sense of sadness that two of their residents are now gone. As Arthur passed by the house of Adin, the mother of one of the wolves victimized by the bandits, He can still hear her cry and howl as she prayed to the gods.


    ‘They never tell you how much of being a guard is standing and walking rather than fighting,’ As he reached his post by the road leading south. The same road that the bandits would rob people at.


    The guard saw another guard at his post sleeping, leaning on the bakery. He slapped him on the head.


    “Hey, wake up you Slaker!” The guard jolted awake and angrily stared at Arthur.


    “I told you to stop calling me that,” He shook his head before he began to leave.


    “Yeah well you get to go to the tavern now, so stop whining and get moving!” Arthur yelled back at the guard and he himself leaned on the bakery to relax.


    “Fuck you!” said the guard smiling and began to walk to the tavern.


    An hour passed by for Arthur as he noticed a figure walking towards him in the distance. The figure is walking slowly, almost like a drunk, yet the tavern is on the road leading north. Arthur figured that he must’ve found some drink at the camp and took it for himself. So he was about to let him go when he saw something distressing. The guard had blood all over his chest, so much in fact he shouldn’t be alive anymore. Arthur pointed his spear at the guard and approached slowly.


    “Hey! Are you okay!? I know they said no one was hurt, but were you attacked by another group?” Arthur approached to the point his spear touched the other guard''s chest, then he was able to see his face and mouth better.


    The guard’s mouth was ringed with blood-tinged foam so thick Arthur could barely see his teeth. These are clear signs of The Plague and Arthur has the distinct displeasure of being the first to see a fully turned wolf in the village. The undead doesn’t seem to be hostile, but when Arthur plunged his spear into the undead it became enraged.


    With strength that would horrify even a hardened war veteran the undead lunges forward, biting hard into Arthur before throwing him off and leaving Arthur alone..


    Arthur screamed in pain, but those quickly died out as he began to convulse and seize as he began to turn, foam frothing from his mouth as well as his eyes bleeding. As he screamed they are heard from other villagers, some run towards the manor while others rush to get locked inside their homes. Arthur felt immense pain as his body tried to fight off the infection, but he also began to feel incredibly cold, as if he was touched by death. Arthur quickly succumbed to the infection, killing him, yet his body got back up.


    Upon getting back up the corpse of Arthur is able to clearly hear people all over. They''re screaming, some in horror and others in pain. The corpse began to run back to gwynevere’s home, almost on instinct. He saw an old woman had left the house and sprinted right at her. Before she could scream he was on her, biting into her neck. When she let out a shrill scream of pain he immediately got off of her and looked around. Seeing as more wolves were fleeing north he would give chase.


    The old woman herself would get up, dropping her bag, a meat pie would fall out and spill onto the ground. She remembered Yor and Gywnevere are inside, and ran to the door to break it down.


    Yor and Gywnevere were hiding behind a wall in their house as the corpse of the old woman began to bash on their front door. Yor screamed in fear as part of the door broke and he saw that the old woman was their neighbor Alys her eyes were bloody and showed pure hatred.


    “Mom, what happened to Alys?!”


    “That’s not her anymore. Just run Yor!” Gwynevere pushed Yor out their back door and ran to the road going north. They lived close to it and they got onto it easily. But as they do they saw the other peasants being torn apart by the undead. From the young kids to the old, all are being turned. Yor and his mother rushed past it all and began running up the road. As they ran down it a horde begins to converge and chase them.


    The road lead to Lord Amus’s Manor, a safe place from the undead as it had a moat. As they go along they see more survivors running ahead of them. By the time they see the manor they have ran for over a mile.


    While Yor is a young boy, he has never had to run far for very long. Despite this the adrenaline that flowed through him kept him going. Yor looked behind himself and saw the horde of undead had gotten much closer to them. They’re barely slower than the undead.


    As he turned his head back around Gwynevere twisted her ankle, a sickening pop was heard as her leg twisted badly. Gwynevere, knowing she can’t run anymore, got back up and kissed Yor.


    “Yor, I’ll try to hold them back, run. You will see me and your father with the god’s soon. I love you!” Gwynevere pushed Yor toward the manor and turned to the horde of undead. Moving her arms to the side and taking the horde. As Yor ran he turned around to see the horde swallow up his mother like a tidal wave of flesh. Tears streamed down his face as he ran to the manor alone.


    While his mother didn’t delay the undead by much, he was able to get to the manor. Unfortunately the horde is close behind him and gaining on him. His body ached in pain as he was just about to reach the bridge into the manor.


    As all of this was happening Griff and Aeron were at lord Amus’s Manor being rewarded for their work. They were in his throne room. It was in a small room that was simply adorned. Dunline was seated nearby writing out a report for Amus. Griff and Aeron were at Amus’s throne. Amus handed over a bag of silver to Aeron. As he was about to talk the door to his manor busted open and a guard ran to his throne room terrified.


    “My lord, The Undead are attacking, we have refugees incoming and they’re being chased by a horde!” The guard said as he fell to the ground exhausted.


    Dunline jumped in his seat and immediately ran outside and began to order his men around. Griff can barely hear the fear in his voice as he barked out orders.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Aeron doesn’t say a word to Griff, but simply ran outside. Griff follows closely and saw refugees are already crossing the bridge into the Manor. Aeron ran up to the walls and with Griff following behind they both saw wolves running across the bridge. Guards were posted at the foot of the drawbridge making the peasants enter orderly so no one falls into the moat.


    While most got across easily, the guards would still search them for bite wounds if they had blood on them. Thankfully none were found and everyone got across. Unfortunately in the distance Aeron saw a small wolf pup running for his life, the horde of The undead behind him.


    “Aeron, we have to help him!” Griff was about to run to help the boy but Aeron grabs his arm.


    “Are you mad?! All you’d be doing is getting yourself killed!” Aeron looks angry, yet he also looks concerned for his life. Much like a father.


    “We can’t just let that kid get ripped apart by them!”


    “I know…”


    Aeron let go and Griff ran to where the bridge controls are, Aeron simply takes out his bow and looks over at the child.


    Aeron sat at the wall as he began to contemplate what his options were. Does he deal with the consequences and price of killing a child? Or does he just watch, and let the sin of inaction damn him and force him to watch a child die. At the same time the gods would want a price to be paid for doing either option. So Aeron took out his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the child.


    Griff ran as fast as he could to the bridge controls, he HAD to get to them and save that child. Especially one that young, He’s just a pup. The world can’t be that unfair and evil to allow a child to die in such a way while he watches. There is no way he would let that child die, the only other option was to just let the undead kill him. He would bust his way into the control room, nearly breaking it off it’s hinges. The guards, including Captain Dunline jump and look at Griff with anger.


    “You have to keep the bridge lowered! There’s still a kid out there!” The second Griff yelled that Dunline stormed over to him and tried to push him out. .


    “Listen here, boy, we have too many people here including a lord that will die if we don’t close the gate. The boy will meet his parents soon anyways, I know what you rangers do in these situations! Now get out before you get us all killed!” Another guard joined Dunline and grabbed onto Griff.


    “You don’t understand, I am supposed to save people! That kid, I need to save him!” Griff was able to hold himself in place through sheer determination, while his body was in pain during this, he had no concern as he thought it would save a child.


    He was able to keep Dunline and a guard off the controls, but the last guard in the building would jab Griff in the stomach. This caused Griff to be pushed back and knocked the breath out of him. This made it easy for Dunline and the guard to push him out.


    “If I see you even try to open this door again, I swear to Alpha and Beta I will throw you to the undead!” Dunline shouted and punched Griff in the stomach. This knocked Griff to the ground, he could barely breath as Dunline slammed and locked the door.


    Griff got up defeated. All he could do now is watch and pray that him barging in like that would’ve bought the child enough time to get across the bridge. He looked over the wall and saw the child getting close to the drawbridge, Griff would shout and yell at the child to run as fast as he could. He was so close now that he should be able to cross.


    Unfortunately that was not to happen, for the drawbridge rose too fast. The child seeing this fell to his knees and let out a cry of anguish and fear. Then nothing as an arrow would fly through the air and penetrate the poor pups skull. His body fell limply to the ground.


    The world went silent for Griff and all he could see was the child''s body in his eyes. He began to cry and shake, not just out of sadness, but also pure anger at the fact a pup he could have saved just died.


    He stumbled back to where Aeron was and saw him holding his bow, his hands shaking.


    With a roar of rage, and barring his teeth, Griff rushes and pounces onto Aeron.


    “Aeron you son of a whore! I will kill you for this!,” Aeron didn’t even try to fight back and just let himself get beaten.


    The screaming alerted guards who ran over, and began to pull Griff off. Only through the help of captain Dunline are they able to get him off Aeron.


    “Get him to a cell for him to calm down, and get a priest over here!”


    When Griff was pulled off Aeron his rage subsided and he began to cry uncontrollably. He was mumbling incoherently and let them drag him away. Aeron’s face was bruised and bloody, the swelling around his right eye was so bad he could barely see out of it. Though he began to cry as well.


    Aeron slowly got up from the ground, he could barely see from his right eye. As he got up he began to hear the sounds of roaring and screaming from the infected. He looked over the wall and saw a bloodbath, the infected began to attack each other. In less than a minute the whole horde had killed itself. All that was left was a bloody pile of corpses.


    Aeron would then feel a hand on his shoulder, holy magic flowed into his body, he could feel his black eye healing very slowly. Aeron turned around to see a wolfess in white robes staring at him. Her eyes were a great green like emeralds and they stared into his soul.


    “You need to rest, come with me…” She whispered into Aeron’s ear and walked down the stairs and into the mansion. Inside the mansion she led Aeron to a side room, the room was decorated with religious iconography of the gods as well as a small shrine. The wolfess would kneel and begin to pray at the shrine, Aeron would join her.


    While praying the wolfess would collapse and fall unconscious. Aeron stared and sighed, Visions from the gods are normal for priests. A few seconds go by and she would regain consciousness.


    “All those poor souls have made it to Alpha and Beta.” She got back into her kneeling position and prayed again.


    “How should I discipline Griff? How should I be punished for killing a child?” Aeron asks


    “For Griff, he is young and emotional outbursts from distress and horror are only natural. Do what your order demands, while he needs discipline, don’t be too harsh if you punish him. As for killing a child… You did it to save him from a worse death, it was inevitable, but you made it as painless as possible. Beta will demand something from you, but not now.”


    “Thank you priestess. Shall we go to Griff and see if he is ready to talk?”


    “Yes, he is ready. I shall talk to him first.” They would both get up and walk to the dungeons.


    Inside the manors dungeon Griff is thrown into a cell and he rests on his knees and began to pray to the gods.


    “Why… Why did that child have to die? He was so young and could’ve done so much. Why must our world be so cruel to allow such things to happen? Please Alpha, Beta, Omega, or even Sigma. Answer me, Please!” Griff would howl after each utterance of this prayer. This prayer was repeated for almost an hour. Griff’s faith was shattered as no one would answer his calls and howls.


    Yet just as soon as he stopped he heard two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. As he turned to see who it was he saw Aeron and a woman in white robes at his cell. Despite being severely beaten Aeron looked surprisingly unharmed. The woman kneeled at the cell door and Griff moved over to her. She set her hand on his shoulder like a mother would a crying child.


    “I am sorry you had to see that my child, and had your cries not answered by the Gods,” Her voice was soft and kind, yet as young as Griffs.


    “Why would they allow such a plague to exist? Aren’t they here to protect us?” Griff’s voice was shaky and terrified, as if the idea of the gods not existing just came into his head.


    “They are held to the idea that free will is absolute and that we make our own destinies. They only appear when it’s absolutely necessary.” She caresses his cheek, Griff can feel holy magic at the tips of her fingers.


    “Is the child in their halls?”


    “Yes, I have seen it. All those who have died are with Alpha and Beta.”


    “Why did Aeron kill him, couldn’t we have saved him?” Griff stopped crying, knowing the child was in a better place has made him a bit better.


    “No, the undead were too close, and you’d have killed everyone here if you let the drawbridge stay down. Aeron will have to atone for this sin against Beta though. He has accepted that and you should try to forgive him, maybe not now, but one day.”


    “I.. I will try my best.” Griff slowly got off the floor, he looked surprised as he saw Aeron wasn’t all that hurt from his beating.


    “Don’t worry, I helped him. I will open the cell and you two can talk in private,” The priestess unlocked the cell and left Griff and Aeron alone.


    Griff left the cell, he stared at Aeron for a few seconds before he hugged him tightly. Aeron was surprised by this, but reciprocated the hug.


    “I will make this up to you Griff, I swear on Alpha I will. I should’ve told you how bad the world can be.”


    “I know now, just teach me how to make it slightly better for those we protect…”


    “I will, and you, just protect my ass when we fight.”


    Griff chuckled, let go of Aeron and stepped away from him.


    “You son of a whore, I needed that. Let’s get out of here and rest..” Aeron nodded to Griff and they headed upstairs out of the dungeon.


    Upstairs they found Lord Amus, he was in a conversation with Dunline about the events that transpired today. When he saw the pair he stopped talking to Dunline and walked over to Griff and Aeron. They both bowed to him, Amus was flattered by this.


    “You two don’t need to do that, in fact, I would love for you two to stay here for tonight. You would get the best cooking and food in this region and good beds.” Amus, seeing Griff looked surprised, turned to him. “And Don’t worry about the boy''s body, young man, we will bury them all and have the ground blessed.”


    “Thank you my Lord, your generosity to your people shows your compas-”


    “You don’t need to flatter me like that, I am just doing what is required of me from the gods. Just know you two have my support, anytime you’re near here my manor is open to you!” Amus smiled and Aeron approached Amus and whispered something in his ear, Amus nodded and whispered something back.


    “What are you tw-”


    “Nothing important, I must talk to Dunline about getting the bodies buried. Have a nice night you two.” Amus walked away quickly, almost scared.


    Aeron motioned Griff to a hallway and they walked to the guest rooms, the fact Aeron led Griff there meant he was here before. Inside the room are two beds and two dressers for them to store their things. As Griff took off his gear a carrier raven would land nearby, Aeron took the note it had, gave it a treat, and sent it on its way back. Reading through the note he looked angry.


    “Griff we’re about to encounter something worse than those bandits we took out.”


    “What is it?”


    “A serial killer. Says here he’s been targeting women. I’ll tell you more in the morning.”


    Griff would try to ask for more details, but Aeron would refuse to answer. Griff sighed and went to bed, as he did he would have a magnificent dream.


    In his dream he saw a woman sitting on a throne. She was tall, wearing armor, and what was exposed of her skin shined bright like the sun. She would motion him over, when Griff got close she spoke to him.


    “Your compassion is admirable young wolf, I myself always feel bad seeing a pup have to die in such a way.” Her voice boomed around him and had an ethereal tone to it.


    “Who are yo-” Griff stopped mid question realizing how stupid of a question it was. “Why do you speak to me?” He was about to kneel, but the woman gestured him to approach.


    “Lay your head on my lap young wolf, let me tell you something.” Griff followed her order and rested his head on her lap. “Never lose your compassion, some don’t deserve it, but most, especially children do. That being said, your crisis of faith is understandable. We are here, never forget that, and we all love you. Our love is infinite, so is our patience. Just remember that repentance is always available. Though there are few exceptions where we show our wrath, and you are going to witness the wrath of Omega soon. Now close your eyes and wake up, it’s time for you to wake up.”


    Griff closed his eyes and when he reopened them he was in his bed, awake and in the morning. Griff would get up reinvigorated and got his gear on happily, his love and faith in the gods fully restored. Though as he would soon learn, their wrath is just as terrifying.