Rebirth

Chapter 5: Tested Strength

Beowulf eyed me close, cracking his knuckle and holding his grin. The rest of Zhaniah's pack had quickly caught wind of the little scuffle, and wanted to see their best and strongest beat down the new comer. Zhaniah watched from her throne, wolves at her side. She looked antsy, like she was ready to jump in to keep me from getting killed. At least there's that.

"Are you ready, welp?" Beowulf asked, crouching. I sighed, "Let's just get this over with." In all truth, I wasn't expecting to win. No, far from it. I'd be lucky to even land a hit. I couldn't picture hitting this guy at all. In the lore, wolves were extremely fast creatures, and only get faster under the moonlight, their abilities peaking under the full moon. And guess what tonight was.

Zhaniah gave the signal to start, and Beowulf launched himself at me. I was expecting him to, he looked ready to jump me at any moment. I jumped down, the wolf guard flying over my head and skidding on his feet, turning and running at me again. I turned again, barely dodging his claw. Blood dripped from my cheek, but I ignored the minor injury. The best I could do is just evade. Of course, I knew he was toying with me. If he was serious, he'd ripped me apart already. I think he was having his fun before he "accidently" did away with me. "Why do you run!" He asked, laughing loudly as he did. "Are you that afraid of me?"

"Not at all." I said calmly, and he looked at me in shock. "Truth be told, you're not scary at all. Don't even look tough, and smell like dirt and rotted dog crap." It wasn't hard to trash talk. I was planning to make him mad enough to slip up somehow. Of course he grew irritated, but he instead smiled at me. "Mind games won't work on me. I've been trained to-"

"I don't care about your life monologue. Being trained is necessary for a mutt like you." I said, smirking. This was actually pretty fun. "You disrespectful little..." I laughed gently. "Little what? I'd rather be little than a big fool like you." He launched himself at me, and I could from the fury in his eyes he was ready to kill. Zhaniah saw this as well, and stood, ready to interfere. She wouldn't get the chance. My body went on autopilot, my mind had cleared. Beowulf swung, missing, and my hands wrapped around his wrist. I brought my knee up, slamming it into his stomach. He growled, swinging at me with his free hand, prompting me to duck underneath him. Wasting no time, I connected three quick punches to his chest and paused, crouching. Beowulf stood there, the pack around us shocked. The commander wolf stumbled forward, dropping to his knees and the to the floor. The silence grew even more intense as I looked around, eyes widened and shocked. I even shocked myself to be honest. Murmurs began boiling gently, and soon erupted into shock roars of excitement. Zhaniah sat in her throne, sighing if relief. "You did well." She said through the noise. "I thought he was gonna kill you."

"Good, at least you were ready to jump in." The roars ceased quickly. It was no surprise, bad luck always found its way into good things for me. I whipped around, Beowulf rising sharply and roaring as he grabbed the closest spear, jabbing madly at me. I ducked, dodging as best as I could. Growling, I knocked the pointed end of the spear in the air, not before cutting my palm on it. I formed a fist, a sudden burst of energy forming in my veins. Heat formed around me, my fist slamming against Beowulf's spear. The wood snapped beneath the impact, Beowulf taking the punch full force. Around us, the heat grew so immense it began melting the brick walls, until a massive fireball enveloped everyone and everything, Despite that, I felt no burning.

The flames ceased, a small white flicker of fire in my hair. Beowulf lay at least 5 feet away, eyes rolled to the back of his head as he lay unconscious. He wasn't exactly burned, just dusted and smoldering. "Don't attack someone from behind."

The murmurs began again. I looked at the surrounding pack, blinking at the group.

"W-where are my clothes!"

"They've been burned to ashes!"

"Hey.. The Queen lost her dress too.."

At that comment, all the males turned to Zhaniah. I hesitated, but sighed and followed their eyes. Poor girl kept her private areas covered, a small blush on her irritated face. Not towards me, but towards her hormonal pack. They looked hungry, but something told me it wasn't to eat. My eyes went to my left palm, the gash healing quickly in steam. I would have time to think about this all later, because if I waited any longer, Zhaniah would have to deal with a bunch of wolves ready to mate. It was a long shot, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I focused, not on Zhaniah, but the area around her and her wolves. I waved my palm, and in response, white flames shot up around them like a wall. The male wolves turned to me, gritting their teeth and growling loudly.

"You should really think clearly. I'm pretty sure your Queen isn't enjoying the sight of your ugly mugs," I started, walking through the parting me and standing in front of the flame wall. "She ain't interested. So get lost." One of the males stood in front of the rest. "Move it! This doesn't involve you!"

"I think it does." I growled back. "You already saw I bested Beowulf, I could easily beat you down."

"Not if we jump you!"

"You really wanna be with a used Queen?"

Everyone, Zhaniah included, looked at me. I glanced at her, winking, and speaking loudly. "Listen ya little mutts! Your Queen has already found her King! If you attempt a move on her, you would all be put to death!"

"Is it you?" Someone said.

"What?"

"Are you her King.. Is that why you're so protective?"

"Not at all. I'm simply a friend. One would argue brother, but that's not important."

"By Queen's law," Zhaniah began, standing behind me, "If you doubt this boy, or attempt to have your way with me, he has right to execute you on sight. Have I made myself clear?" The pack glanced at me, looking at my eyes for any sort of agreement. They found plenty, because at that point they looked down in shame, and merely nodded with minor whimpers. "Now, go play with yourselves or something and leave my presence. Forget you saw me in such an embarrassing state." She said, and the men scattered. I turned to her, and she pushed my head forward. "No looking."

"Sorry. So, think I proved myself enough?"

"Plenty. You start running jobs for me tomorrow. Hopefully you do enough to get out my hair."

"That's kinda cold isn't it?"

"I don't want to have another incident like this again. Besides, we don't know how you did all that to begin with." I looked at my hands after her words. "Me either.. Oh well, what's done is done." I snapped my fingers, a mini flame flickering between them. Soon, I increased the flame's size, staring at it's white color, stepped forward, and began bouncing the flame around like it was a soccer ball. "I think I'm gonna enjoy being here."

"You better. Now, beat it, I need to find some clothes and I don't want you looking at my ass when I go through the portal."

"Who'd wanna look at that flat thing anyway." I said smirking. She gripped her staff, lunging it at me and I ducked as it pierced the ground behind me. "I WAS JOKING!"

"I'll call you back here in the morning. For now, can you please go?"

"Yeah, yeah." I said, moving from the alleyway. Glancing back at Beowulf to make sure he wasn't dead, I moved back across the river, sat in the shade of the tree, and closed my eyes, drifting off into a dreamless slumber.