The Wolves' Den housed a total of ten members, if we included our original Captain—Asura. Who was currently away and out of commission on a long-term mission. Eleven, if you counted our wolfdog, Yuna.
Aside from them, there was me, Code, Ophelia, Havoc, Brand, and Star, who were currently present. The last two were away on solo missions, and one was always stuck in his room charging his mana, due to the properties of his magic. He was there for two weeks at a time. So, we only saw him for the next two weeks when those were up.
The hierarchy of our Guild was as stands:
Original Captain – Asura (not present/away)
Acting Captain – Greed (present)
Vice Captain – Code (present)
1st Executive – ??? (not present/away)
2nd Executive – Ophelia (present)
Ace Member 1 – ??? (not present/away)
Ace Member 2 – Nash (present/not active)
Member – Havoc (present)
Member – Brand (present)
Member – Star (present)
Guild Pet – Yuna (present)
That was all the Black Wolf Knight members.
We were the smallest Guild in the Kingdom, and the least desired Guild for new mages to want to join because of our "reputation."
The Black Wolves have always been an underdog Guild, even when Asura was the Captain. And it didn't get any better with all the fake 'Black Wolf Knights' now appearing after his absence.
We didn't care for reputation to begin with, but having that in our corner definitely didn't help. People often saw us as thugs and hooligans anyway, so it just checked out. Regardless of what they thought, we were the only Black Wolves in the Valley Kingdom, so these were all just accusations.
Prestigious mages who didn't want to dirty their names avoided us at all cost. However, some mages, regardless of how we're perceived, didn't care for such trivial things. Though they were in other Guilds, they saw us as allies and friends. One of those mages was Ryoku, or Ryo for short, the Vice Captain of the Crimson Dragon Knights, and the others in other Guilds like him…
The Arcane King, Daz, was also good friends with Asura, so he is another who kept us around, even if it seemed to taint his name with the Kingdom's subjects just a little bit. Sirus, his assistant, also looked out for us from behind the scenes, though I bet he felt reluctant to do so at times. I was grateful for an ounce of it, nevertheless.
Out of the eight Guilds of the Valley Kingdom, we were ranked eighth—the lowest on the roster. Even though we completed missions, we didn't have much support from the Kingdom's people, which helps boost your ranking. All we cared about was preserving what we had. It was my promise to Asura, who I believed was going to come back. That's why I refused to make things official and make myself the Captain of this Guild. No matter how romanticized others saw it. The one thing I wanted to be was true to my word, at the very least.
To this day, since Asura left to complete his mission over a year ago, he appointed me to be the Acting Captain for the Black Wolves in his place.
I still don't know why he didn't choose Code for this, but even Code agreed that it should be me. Ironic since he was the one with all the leadership qualities. He can cook, he's intelligent, and he's made sure we've stayed afloat up till now.
After all he'd done for us, it was hard for me to recall what I contributed to the Black Wolves at all—aside from being a figurehead.
All these titles were so annoying. I didn't care for any of it. So long as we were able to keep our small family together and our livelihood, that's all I really cared about. Though… That feeling that something was missing always found its way to the forefront of my mind.
It was hard for me to recall anything before coming to this Kingdom, finding Asura and the others. I didn't know why, but it always seemed there was this gap in my memory. Something that was far from reach and long forgotten. Something important. It also felt like I wasn't allowed to remember it for some reason…
Things like this were meant for another day, I supposed. For now, I was just happy with the life I had. If I could keep things this way forever, I would. But knowing my luck, and this gut feeling, I just knew that things weren't going to stay like this for long.
***
The next day, we all conducted our own agendas in the Den.
It was morning. My medium-large-sized gothic room let in just enough sunlight through its dark-colored curtains onto my bed to let me know of dawn.
My bed, king-sized, was all gray from the sheets all the way to the pillows. The headboard, black with distinctive carvings of some design, dully reflected some of the sunlight.
The time was 0630, my usual time to wake regardless of whether I had an urgent matter or not. I lay naked and half awake, readying myself to get up.
Pulling the sheets off, I was met with surprise as a female lay under the covers wearing nothing but my white shirt, her nicely curved body shaping through from underneath the threads of the bigger shirt. Her pink hair lay a mess as she continued to slumber unbothered, curled up next to my legs, facing me.
"Star, what the hell? When did you—" I said almost dizzily, like I'd had a rough night or something.
She murmured in response and continued sleeping.
I probably shouldn't have been surprised; after all, this wasn't the first time she'd broken into my room to sleep. She was like a wild animal trapped in a girl's body. It was also her night, apparently…
I felt strangely relaxed, though, even if my bones were tired. It was like the day after I completed the mission in LeHarla and woke up with Ophelia… Wait a second…
"By the Keeper, was I raped?" I said out loud to myself.
Star murmured again, but this time forming a sentence, "I didn't touch you."
"Oh, good." I sighed, turning away now to get up.
"But you touched me. Bad Teddy. Teddy was so rough. Star liked it, though. She saw stars," she said, moaning a yawn before going back to sleep, snoring softly.
I stopped in place from where I was about to get up, frozen, and didn't say anything for a good minute. I listened to the silence of the room before whispering to myself, "Fuck…"
Shaking my head, remembering, I turned back around to her, "Okay, Star, it's time to go. Be a good girl and get going now. Shoo."
She just kept sleeping. I could have carried her out, but I decided not to. So I left her there, got up anyway, and opened the curtains to let in more sunlight. The light shone on her face, and she winced, pulling back the covers over her again.
I proceeded to get ready and get dressed. Wearing only my black pants and a white compression shirt, I sat at the edge of the bed to throw on my boots.
"You better be gone by the time I come back," I said as I tied my last lace and headed out of the room. She only moaned in response.
As I left my sleeping quarters, I made my way down the hall and down the grand staircase from one of the flights that split into two if you were heading up.
On the other side of the flight of stairs, opposite from the one I was on, Code casually walked down with his hands in his jacket pockets.
He had his hood over his billed cap, as usual, carrying what looked like a long sword behind him this time, but it wasn't a regular long sword. It had two hilts, one on the top and one on the bottom of it, like it could potentially be two rather than one. The sheath was a color block of black and red down the middle, and the two hilts were a solid color of one of the two colors it displayed—one red and one black, the black one on top, over his shoulder.
We met at the landing and proceeded down the main staircase that connected the two other stairs we had come from.
"Morning," he said almost disinterestedly.
"Yup," I replied the same way. And silence was all that was left after. Our silence was a way of greeting on its own.
Both of us knew each other so well that if we were both silent around each other, it was a form of comfort between us. Any form of talking meant there was either something going on or needed addressing. We could hang out together the whole day, not say a word, and be completely okay with it.
When we both opened and walked out the double-door entrance of the Den, Havoc and Brand were already outside warming up. Dressed in the same attire I was, compression shirts, black pants, boots, no jacket.
"Look who's chipper this morning!" Havoc poked at me, stretching.
"Me, on the other hand—I couldn't sleep a wink with all that moaning from your side, Cap. Who was it this time? Ophy again or Star? Kinda sounded like Star. I think I'm starting to understand your schedule now. And Star is so damn loud when she's in there. Damn, who's next? Bet if the other Ace was here—"
"Don't finish your sentence, asshat. Leave it alone." I interjected.
Havoc gave me a teasing face.
"How about you stop listening in and mind your own business?" I jeered at him with my hands in my pockets, slouched over slightly, facing him.
"I can't. Hypersensitive hearing, too, remember?" he poked back, pointing to his ears.
"Earplugs. Or better yet, why don't you just move rooms?"
"Just pulling your leg, Cap. We all know Star moans in her sleep," Havoc said sarcastically, knowing full well what she and I did last night…
Code, setting down his long sword on a pillar, pulled off his jacket and hung it on a wooden stand that was just put there the other day. He was also wearing a white compression shirt underneath. Grabbing his long sword afterward, he began walking.
"Less chit-chat, more combat. Let's go," he said, brushing off our banter as he passed between us.
He flipped his hat backward as he strode along. When he got a good distance in the middle of me, Havoc, and Brand, he then, with one step, cast a giant pentagram around us that spread out over the ground and under the pillars. It disappeared once it reached its desired size, glowing a faint white before fading away completely.
With one quick snap, he switched all the pillars' places and then, with his right arm, waved slowly from his side, and with that slow movement on its own, the pillars around us started shifting.
There were ten pillars in total that led a path to the front double doors of the Wolves Den in the large clearing it was perched in the middle of. He split them between the four of us—five surrounding me and Code, and the other five around Havoc and Brand. Creating our own small arenas.
Today's training started off with sparring, and we did this once every week at the very minimum. One thing Asura embedded into each of us was to always be prepared. Those who sweat in times of peace bleed less in times of war. Something like that, or so he always said.
We prepared ourselves one last time, and once we were ready to go, our sparring began.
I dashed toward Code. He gripped one of the hilts of his long sword, which he now held at his side, and when we neared, my fist clashed with his blade.