After that night, the human captors increased their pace, moving as if to outrun their shame. Over time, the white wolf, with his powerful memory and keen intellect, began to learn their language. Though he couldn't speak it due to his physical differences, he came to understand it perfectly, finding it more precise than the communication of demonic wolves. He also began to decipher the gestures the humans used to convey meaning.
He pieced together that his captors were a small group of bandits who called themselves the "Money-Seeking bandits." They captured and sold creatures as slaves, raided other humans for wealth, and had no moral compass beyond their pursuit of gold. The white wolf didn't understand the value of this "gold," but he knew it was their ultimate goal. Despite their despised status, their leader held a noble rank in a powerful human kingdom, making them virtually untouchable.
On the sixtieth day of their journey, they left the forest and entered the plains, where other humans were working in their fields or entering the very forest the bandits had just left. The bandits, with their lower-quality clothing, stood out from the other humans, who looked upon them with a mix of disdain and envy. The white wolf realized that some of the more sophisticated clothes were made of beast skins, which he correctly surmised were the processed hides of demonic beasts like himself. A horrifying thought began to form: was this his destiny?
As they neared human civilization, the white wolf's fears grew. They passed through towns and military checkpoints, and the more he saw, the more he understood that the fate of beasts in human society was not ideal. Humans had found all sorts of creative ways to use their bodies: for belts, shoes, armor, and even as food. The first time he saw a human feasting on beast flesh in a roadside restaurant, the white wolf was so horrified he vomited until he passed out, waking up later, shivering with revulsion.
While demonic beasts did eat each other, it was rare. As sentient beings, they preferred eating normal animals. The white wolf had always known that the powerful rule the weak, but humans took this concept to a new, terrifying level.
Soon, the group reached the gates of a massive city. The city walls were immense, a size that astonished even the beasts who lived in a world of giants and mountains. The guards opened the gates wide for the bandits, and inside, the white wolf saw more humans than he had ever seen before, a chaotic sea of people moving in every direction. The language he had learned was dominant here, which was a small comfort.
The wagon was pulled through the city to its final destination: a large, blue building with a prominent sign above the entrance. The white wolf couldn't read the characters, but he knew with a deep sense of dread that they spelled nothing good for his pack.