It was going to be different, Naevius knew that. Both of them knew it. Perhaps it was overconfidence, or maybe just stupidity, but all humans were like that, and that was the reason they were considered the "strongest" animal.
Silence greeted both of them, together with it, anxiety too. As they both looked at each other, Naevius' lips slowly tried to open, then stopped. The girl noticed it, smiling, she said: "What is haunting you?"
"… I was wondering if I asked your name before."
"No." Short and cold, yet her smile didn't disappear. It gave a space to something else. "Auva, that's my name. Yours?"
"Naevius." She looked at the forest once again. "About before…"
"Don't worry about it." She cut him, messing with her own hair. "I kinda went too hard on you."
He nodded his head. "I… well, I was not carbonized to death, but I was almost drowned. It makes you wonder a lot of things, question yourself and your actions."
"Ha, I wished. I kinda just… slept. It was too quick for any thinking."
Silence greeted them again. This time, waiting for something else, not an end, but a new start. When a pack of glowing eyes appeared in the forest, Naevius quickly understood who they were and grabbed a makeshift lance from the ground.
"Come on, furrys." Auva chuckled, a trembled chuckle, probably mixed with fear too.
As if they could hear him, they did exactly that. The sound of their teeth crying for their meat, their paws crushing the sticks below them. He was ready this time, and when the first one jumped onto Naevius to pin him down on the ground, he quickly jumped to the side, doing the same as before.
The lance stabbed through the wolf's chest, and the gap made between Naevius and the Wolf was enough for him to use his own body weight and throw the lance to the side. As the animal agonized in pain on the ground, Naevius quickly broke the lance in half, making something close to a sword, but only with a tip.
Auva wasn't in a bad spot either. As one wolf made a different approach, he used his claws to hit the girl right in the chest, only to be overpowered in strength by her. Using the wolf's own arm, she pulled him close and bit him right at the neck.
A strong bite, yet the more the wolf roared in pain, the more of the fur below her ears started to be more apparent in her skin, just like a virus crawling through her body, a parasite. But that indeed helped her, as it was evident she was becoming stronger as she bit and drank his blood.
Eventually, she stopped when the wolf's neck was clearly broken by her bite. An excruciating sound came from it, then she loosened her grip, letting his dead body fall on the ground before her.
"Two gone, who is the next?" Naevius could hear the need for blood in her voice; at least it wasn't for his own blood.
As she asked, two ran straight to her, and the same for Naevius. The boy saw that one jumped directly to the lower part of his body, and the other jumped higher. This time, he didn't have enough strength or velocity to run away; instead, he jumped into the air, letting the one below him miss the attack, but getting hit by the one on top.
As he hugged the wolf, both came rolling down the grass, and he could feel the claws clipping through his chest, trying to reach for his heart. Would he let it go that easily? Of course not, getting the makeshit broken lance in his hand, and… one, two, three stabs.
He didn't stop, even rolling on the ground, the stabs continued. Hitting a tree was the reason why both of them stopped, but instead of fighting back, the wolf just received the stabs. Spurting blood in his face, Naevius didn't stop. It was during the wolf's last breath that he could look at his surroundings.
The one Naevius had jumped over was already near him, raising his claws in the direction of his neck. Naevius let him; he didn't show any kind of resistance, and just that fact scared the wolf, but it was too late. When his instincts kicked in, Naevius stabbed through the wolf's neck.
"IT'S HORRIBLE WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU? YOU ASSHOLE!" Shouting with everything in his lungs, he kicked the wolf away, the farthest he could.
He cleaned his face, wiping the blood out of his vision. Feeling relieved as his body slowly healed itself, Naevius looked to Auva; a wicked smile crossed its way through her face, the smile was mixed with desire for blood, battle, and hunting.
Her eyes scanned for another prey, but didn't find anything else. It was strange how much destruction they could do when they were prepared. Humans really were something else.
"Auva, I think it's time for him." The girl didn't look at Naevius; instead, she roared, staring at the trees moving far away. The enormous sound of paws hitting the ground and smashing it, the sound of something hungry. "…"
He sighed and then sat right there. There was not much for them to do beyond expect his arrival.
Eventually, there he was. Naevius couldn't lie to himself; it was difficult to look at that monster again, from his paw to his head, everything made Naevius scared shitless, but they had to win. Auva was already standing and didn't delay another second.
She was scared to, but this time she had more preparation, strength, and velocity. She was indeed ready to fight him. And for that reason, she didn't hold back any of her strength.
The alpha wolf dashed right in her direction. With each of his steps, the ground received flashes of lightning that somehow Auva dodged away with grace.
Learning from before, the girl this time didn't jump directly onto his back. This time, she made sure to be closer to his front just so she could easily slide below his legs.
While sliding below him, she could try to sink her nails — now strangely they're claws — into his legs. Of course, it was way stronger than she had imagined. Feeling the danger coming to him, the wolf let himself fall, trying to smash her using his body weight.
Luckily, she had the right timing to slide below his legs. When she finally moved to his back, she quickly got up and turned around, opening her mouth, she bit his tail.
When planning before the attack, Naevius had noticed the wolf's tail never became stiff like the rest of his body. Of course, it wasn't somewhere lethal for them to attack, but maybe if Auva could bite there…
As the pain struck the entirety of his body, he wiggled his tail left and right.
Yet, he was late.
Auva smiled and laughed, a laugh uneasy to anyone who could hear. It was as if it wasn't her own, but instead something else.
The strange fur that occupied a small extent of her body became more noticeable; the nails that looked something similar to a claw were now literally one. Her muscles grew in size, and her height was affected in the same way.
After she stopped laughing, a low noise came from her mouth, then it grew into a roar.
Naevius couldn't understand, but the wolf did. It wasn't just a roar; it was a challenge.
A challenge for duty.