Cyneric

Part 5

Peter awoke with a start, sweat dripping from him and soaking his bed sheets. He strained to remember what had woken him up, then remembered what he was dreaming about. A dark entity was chasing him through a labyrinth of words. The words kept repeating themselves. Watch out... Watch out... Watch out... Over and over again. When the entity had caught him, it hissed those very words in a voice that Peter had immediately recognized, but could not place where he had heard it. It was a man's voice. Particularly deep, with a slight variation of tone in between the two words.

Peter climbed out of bed, shivering. They must've turned down the temperature in his room. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around himself, then headed to the door, checking the handle. Locked. As usual. He focused and turned the handle, it snapped off into several pieces and he gasped in surprise. The door lazily groaned open and he rushed outside, looking through the corridors. He wrapped the blanket a bit tighter and started walking towards Sebastian's office, which was marked by a few signs here and there.

A few twists and turns later Peter appeared in front of a well lit room, with books and a desk inside. It looked completely out of place inside the all-white building, which he still didn't know where was. His stomach growled and he winced. Hunger, knawing at his insides yet again. He hurried into the office to find Sebastian at his desk, rifling through stacks of important-looking papers.

"S-Sebastian?" Peter said, stuttering a bit with the cold. Sebastian looked up, smiled a bit, and waved Peter into the room. Peter circled the desk and took a look at the papers on Sebastian's desk. Oddly, Peter couldn't make out any of the words on the paper. Not even the letters. It was in some other language. Either that, or some child had scribbled on Sebastian's papers. Each of them said "Confidential" at the top in English, but the rest was completely illegible.

Sebastian threw some other papers that seemed less "Confidential" on top of them and looked at Peter. "Is there something I can do for you?" He asked. Peter nodded slowly and shivered a bit. "It's v-very cold in my room..." He said with a slight chilled stutter. Sebastian gave Peter a weird look and then pressed a button on his desk. "Can we turn up the temperature in Peter's room, please?" He asked the button. A confirmation beep sounded and a voice talked back, saying "Of course."

Sebastian looked back at Peter and raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything else?" Peter nodded once again, then sighed a bit. "When do I get to leave? I'm starting to become scared of the color white. This place.... It's much too small." He said, complaint leaking out of his sentence. Sebastian grimaced a bit, then sighed as well. "I don't know, Peter. I'm not the head authority here. When they say you can leave, you're allowed to. Until then, you're going to have to tough it out and keep training." He said in reply.

Peter went back to his room after hearing the news. To be honest, he was expecting a quick "never" and then a wave of Sebastian's hand, signaling him to leave. Peter found his room and laid down, trying his hardest to keep calm and collected. This place was beginning to break him, but he wasn't about to give up. He would tough it out until he was allowed to return to his normal life. Forget everything that had happened, and move on. He closed his eyes, sleep coming easily from that thought.

In the morning, it was the same as usual. Get up, eat some meal that tasted awful, then return to his room until called upon for his daily training. The training was easy enough, just practicing some maneuvering skills and a few combat-based moves. He then returned to his room until lunch, then ate another terrible meal, then went to his room. He was called for training once more. Same drill. Went back to his room, then ate a terrible dinner, then bed.

This regiment went on for a month, Peter was never once prompted to change his form, which was a huge relief. Terrible meals, long waits in a white room, long training hours, then bed. He was beginning to think that this whole werewolf thing wasn't so bad. The only thing that bothered him was how closely he was  monitored. Every minute of every day in his life was recorded and documented, reviewed and applied to his training. If he turned over in his sleep the people studying him went on a rampage of what that meant, and decided to come up with tests in his training involving rolling.

After a month, everyone was comfortable once more around Peter. Of course, this meant pushing his limits. Which involved his more dangerous half. He was told that today would be a werewolf training day, meaning they were going to try to teach him how to control "the beast inside of him", as they put it. Peter reported to the training room and was greeted by three people with clipboards, four people with weapons, hopefully loaded with tranquilizers, and Sebastian.

Immediately the people with clipboards started scribbling down notes about how Peter had entered the room, the expression on his face, and the type of approach he made. Peter ignored everyone else and focused on Sebastian, ready to start his training. Sebastian took of his shirt and handed it to one of the people with guns, who put it aside. "Today I will teach you how to change your form without losing your consciousness. Peter copied Sebastian, taking off his shirt and handing it to someone who put it aside, then nodded. "I'm ready."

Sebastian sat with his legs folded up over each other. In elementary, teachers called it "criss-cross applesauce" so the kids would know how to sit. He breathed very very slowly. Peter copied him again, sitting down and breathing super slowly. Sebastian nodded. "Good. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth very slowly. After your heart rate is slowed enough, close your eyes and imagine the embodiment of power, and let it consume you. After this, you should transform and have control, given you don't break your concentration."

Peter did as instructed. He closed his eyes and imagined a very powerful being. Naturally, his thought of power was a wolf, howling into the night. He let the feeling of the wolf flood through himself, giving him a renewed vigor and a feeling of immense strength, agility, and pure power. All the traits of what he was trying to accomplish. He heard a few gasps in the distance, they seemed very far away. Peter focused on clinging to the feelings. Then, let them envelope his entire body. He immediate felt a burning itch everywhere on his body at once, but focused still on the feelings. He started to breathe heavily, feeling himself grow out of proportion and into something much more powerful.

Peter opened his eyes and found himself unable to see any color in the objects around him. Just shades of gray, white, and black. He glanced around at the startled faces in the room, then looked down at his body. There were shredded clothes laying at his now fur-covered paws that led up into powerful-looking legs, a strong chest, and big arms. All portraying his immense power. He adjusted his sight, looking at the people, then sniffed. Immediately, colors flooded his vision. They startled Peter with their bright oranges and purples, greens and reds. He looked around at them confused. He could see that the colors were radiating off of each of the people and other objects in the room.

He looked toward Sebastian and nodded a little, signaling he had done it. Sebastian boasted a huge smile while the clipboards were scribbled on. The guards lowered their guns and everyone marveled. Sebastian got a bit closer. "Great job, Peter. Let's run through the basics of your abilities." Each word boomed into Peter's ears and made him stumble back a bit in surprise. They were WAY too loud. "No need to yell, Sebastian, jeesh!" he said. The voice came out as a low, grumbly sound. The words were there, but not easy to understand.

Everyone in the room looked at him with great surprise. The clipboards went ballistic and Sebastian looked at him weird. "What?" Peter asked. Sebastian shook his head slowly, still staring at Peter. "You're not supposed to be capable of speech while transformed, Peter. There is no record of any werewolf who could..." Sebastian looked a little grim now, seemingly reflecting on something. The words seemed quieter now, since Peter had adjusted his hearing. It felt like he had turned a knob in his head, instantly quieting everything.

"Well... Why can I talk then?" Peter asked with a slight uncontrollable growl. Sebastian shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Peter... I don't know." Sebastian's words seemed somewhat cryptic... Like he knew something. Peter was curious as to what Sebastian was hiding. Peter looked around some more, admiring his newfound senses. He could feel the air move when someone swung their arm. He could sniff and see the smells that conquered the room. He could even see everyone's scalps through their hair, which normally wouldn't be possible.

Peter was beginning to enjoy being a werewolf and he had no arguments when they started to test him. His strength was off the charts, even for a werewolf. He could, in theory, lift a car and throw it several meters. His bite was the strongest on record and his hide was virtually impenetrable. Peter was an overpowered werewolf, with no explanation on how he ever got this way. Throughout the training, Sebastian didn't smile once. Only looked grimly at Peter as he excelled beyond normal levels, only to become stronger with practice.