Melancholia

Remnants 32 - The Wolves

"Here come the wolves, the wolves are here!" a guard cried out.

"Close the gates immediately!"

"Bam!" the heavy gates were closed quickly.

The villagers of Reala Town were battling the wolves, and were now in a defending position. It all began when one day, a woodcutter brought his toddler along to chop wood. The toddler ran off while he was not noticing, and it was only later that he realised that his son was gone.

He searched around but could not find him, so he arranged a search party to find the toddler. Alas, they could not find a single trace of him. So, they declared him dead, and arranged a funeral to pay respects, but without a burial. The night of the funeral, they heard wolves howling. It wasn't unusual to hear them, but they had howled for an hour. Then, they heard running sounds. It was the wolves.

It didn't take long for the wolves to arrive. Three of them approached, while the rest waited from the top of a mountain. The villagers were afraid and they quickly prepared their weapons. However, the two adult wolves did not attack the villagers, and instead pushed the wolf pup forward to show the villagers.

The woodcutter, who was there, looked at the wolf cub and immediately screamed, "That's my son!" The villagers stared at the man in disbelief, so the man headed up to the pup and extended his hand. The pup sniffed his hand, licked it, and then, shocking everyone, bit the woodcutter's arm. The woodcutter jolted, and returned to the villagers.

"Is that truly your son?" asked a villager.

"It sure does look like him," said the village doctor.

"What do we do?" asked another villager.

They decided that the best way to get them to leave was to feed them, so they threw some bones towards the wolves. The wolves picked up the bones and ran back. The woodcutter with his injured arm stopped chopping trees for a while.

After the incident, the village was peaceful again, until some kids disappeared again. They had been playing in the forest, and they didn't return home. Not long after this, the wolves paid them a visit again. This time, they brought five pups, and each parent of the missing children recognised them. It was uncanny. Bones were offered to the wolves, and they left like before.

It was around this time that the villagers decided that something had to be done, and so they decided to erect a huge gate. As such, the woodcutter began chopping wood again for the gate, but this time with more help hired. The wolves saw this, and grew angry. They attacked the village. The battle between the wolves and the villagers started.

One night during the battle, a playful kid ran out of the house. The kid was found by wolves, and he started running. The wolf, which was much faster than the boy, caught him and blocked his path. The wolf then licked the boy's leg, causing a tuft of fur to grow on the spot.

The boy was horrified to see his leg turning gray, and he screamed for help and tried to run. The wolf didn't care, and kept licking the boy. Eventually the boy's legs were both covered with fur, and turned into wolves' legs. The boy, now unable to stand on two legs, was repeatedly licked until the boy was covered wholly with gray fur. At that point, his mind began to change. He was no longer a human boy, and was now just a wolf pup. He barked at the adult wolf, and followed it when it left.

This was witnessed by a woman looking outside her house, checking for safety. After the battle, the woman told everyone about what she saw. Everyone gasped in shock, and they worked even faster to get the gate fixed. Within a few days, the whole village was barricaded into a fortress and the children were not allowed to go out.

This all happened half a year ago, and even now they are still defending.

"Why aren't the wolves running away? We fed them bones already."

Suddenly, a wolf jumped over one of the barricades and entered the village. The villagers were frightened and told their children to stay in the houses. However, a group of children didn't listen. They went outside to play, and ran out everywhere. The wolf walked around, as if it was searching for something. And everytime it came near a child, it started licking the child.

The villagers saw this and immediately panicked. Some quickly searched for the children and put them back into the house, while the others attacked the wolf. The wolf did not care about its wounds, and continued its search. Eventually, it died, leaving seven wolf pups in its wake. The adults tried to approach the pups but the pups bit them and ran off, scratching the big gate.

The villagers were unsure what to do. A few parents wanted to catch their former kids into cages, but to no avail. They were just too hard to catch. Eventually, they just opened the big gate to let them out. The wolves outside saw the pups running, and left.

The event terrified the villagers, making them sworn enemies to the wolves. Who knows how long will this battle continue on for?