"The Half-Blood Arc: Ashes of War - Volume 1"

Part 21

There was a nagging cold that Matthias felt; it gripped him and continued to hold on until it could no longer be ignored. Slowly but surely, he awoke from his near-death experience, more out of annoyance than desperation.

Part of him hoped that all he felt was a long, continuous dream that had haunted him for the last four years. However, he reminded himself that these dreams were too real to be false—far too creative, far too realistic for his mind to simply conjure. So, begrudgingly, he accepted reality once again.

The very first thing to grace his vision was flickering lights, illuminating the war-torn radio station where he and the men fought desperately. He looked around to see the room completely empty, with no sign of man monsters. The room was torn apart, barely recognizable from where he first saw it. All that he could see were dead men—some human, some monstrous—scattered here and there, but mostly just lifeless bodies.

Matthias attempted to get to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he said to himself, "No rest for the weary." The feeling in his stomach was like getting kicked by a linebacker. Planting both feet on the floor, he began to walk, resembling a baby taking his first steps. However, he quickly lost the fight and came crashing down, now feeling as though a linebacker had kicked him in the back rather than the stomach. "Wow, that was a lot harder than I thought," Matthias said.

Matthias, who was putting both of his hands on the floor and attempting to push himself up, was halted when he heard crying. He started to hear glass move, something coming right for him with a very slow walk. Slowly, Matthias turned his head, and there it was—a massive dark figure walking towards him. Above, glowing yellow eyes greeted him. "You ought to stay dead, kid. Best case scenario, you'll end up like me," the voice, distorted but familiar, said.

Then the answer hit him. Matthias slowly let the words fall out of his mouth as he said, "MacArthur." He came into view at that moment—a very tall werewolf, blood adorning his mouth. In his hand, what he presumed to be the remains of one of his soldiers. MacArthur sighed and said, "I patched you up. I shouldn't have, but I did. Then, before I knew it, I devoured poor Johnny. They bit some of us, some... well, you can do the math to how it became this thing."

Matthias was surprised at how complex his emotions were despite his face being that of a wolf. He also wondered how MacArthur could talk with a mouth like that. MacArthur wiped the blood from his mouth and gently set down the remains of Johnny.

MacArthur began to tell his story. "They bit me and another man, who's long gone by now. They were laughing and said, 'You should appreciate Mother's gift. The whole world will make sense to you now,' and they left as fast as they came. One of them examined you and said, 'He's as good as dead. Let's not keep the rest of the world waiting... demonic bastard.'"

MacArthur began to visibly shake, dread filling his voice. "Johnny picked me up and helped me treat my wound, and he and I began to look for survivors. We patched you up. But then I was greeted by a sudden hunger I never felt before. It overwhelmed me, and I transformed. Johnny tried to run from me but the other werewolf found him. We tour Johnny apart... And I ended up eating him, and I wouldn't stop... until the hunger went away."

MacArthur pulled a bone out of his teeth and then said, " I never ate something so bony before. The funny thing is, I couldn't even tell the difference between flesh and Bone."

Matthias yelled, "I get it! ... Are you going to eat me or what?" MacArthur, with a look of guilt, said, "No, I've already had my fill." He looked into Matthias's eyes and leaned down to be at eye level with him. "Everything is over now. There's nothing left. I could kill you, and I want you to know that... I can end your suffering once and for all," MacArthur firmly stated.