Infinite Storm

Chapter 13

A creature slowly emerged from the bushes, revealing itself. Raven took out her torchlight, and she could then clearly see the wolf that was standing right in front of her.

The wolf gave a snarl. "Who are you, and what is your business here?" it asked Cliff.

Cliff looked at it, amazed. "You can talk? That's cool!"

"Shall I repeat myself?" it threatened with a menacing tone. "Who are you?"

"Oh, young wolf, you still have a lot to learn. Did you know? Before asking for another's name, you should tell them your own first," Cliff replied in an arrogant manner.

Without warning, the wolf immediately pounced onto him and pinned him down, its saliva dripping down towards his face.

"You will not want to see me angry," it warned.

Not long after Cliff had been attacked, Raven planted her torchlight onto the soft ground, drew her dagger and dashed towards the wolf, her blade at its throat.

"You try to hurt him, you die," she glared, but her arrogance soon turned to fear. Several more of the wolves started to emerge, and in a moment around seven more, Cliff did a quick count, were already surrounding her, ready to attack.

"Raven, relax. The more you threaten them the more they'll think we're enemies. They're not who we came here to fight with," Cliff said as he wiped off the saliva on his cheek, and Raven slowly put down her dagger. The wolves, too, started to back down a little until they returned back into the bushes. The wolf who had pinned Cliff down started to loosen his grip, then allowed him to stand back up.

"Let me ask you one more time," it said, "who are you and what is your business here?"

"I have been called the Shadow Knight, Nightboy, and some other names, several of them unpleasing

though. But my name is Cliff, and the girl over there's my partner, Raven. And you are?"

"I am Alpha, leader of the pack that once ruled this forest," it announced, "these fellow wolves are part of my pack." The other creatures started emerging again, but this time they did not attack. "If I have not heard wrongly then may I ask who in this forest you are trying to find?"

"We found our target already," he explained. "But the Shadow Wolf was too strong we couldn't defeat it. It moved so fast, and one hit from it sent me flying here all the way from there."

The leader choked. "The Shadow Wolf, you said?"

"Yes. What's wrong? Do you have a grudge on it or something?"

"The Shadow Wolf, he was my brother. But one day a dark spirit came and possessed his body, and turned this forest into the way it is now. We kept trying to find him by searching the whole forest, but there were no signs. If you know where he is, please, bring us to him. If you want to defeat the demon in him, we will help you."

Raven tugged Cliff's sleeve, and whispered, "Cliff, are you sure we can trust them? They might have been designed to backstab us later on or something. We don't know for sure."

"Wait a second," the Shadow Knight recalled, "this all makes sense now. 'He will need help from its comrades.' The 'it' doesn't refer to the demon that possessed the wolf, but the wolf itself. And their comrades, they're right over here. They're the key for us to win!" Cliff looked over to the wolves, then declared, "Wolves, if you want to find the Shadow Wolf and free your friend from that demon, we need to work together. I need your assistance in defeating it. That's the only way to cast it out, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is," the leader replied. "We will go with you."

"Alright, now we better head to the bridge. I forgot where that place is."