Chapter 6
Iwake up abruptly to a loud banging on my door. “Enough beauty sleep, get your ass up, grab some food and get to the sparring ground,” Achilles shouts.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I groan, and roll out of bed. Looking down, I’m confused. How the hell do I change my clothes? Maybe it works like the food… Okay, then let’s give it a shot. Let’s see… How about my favorite Metallica shirt with a pair of loose fitting jeans.
Holy shit! It actually worked. Hell yeah.
Like some shit a crappy magician would do, my clothes changed.
Walking to the door, I push it open and notice no one is in the hall. Where did he go? Whatever, let’s see if I can remember where that chow area is.
As I get to the end of the corridor, just before stepping onto the training grounds.
“Surprise,” Frida shouts as she jumps on my back, wrapping her arms and legs around me.
“Jesus Christ,” I shout as we stagger forward, as I try to regain my footing. “Good morning to you too.”
“Are you going to grab some food?” she asks.
“Yep, trying to remember how to get there,” I reply.
“Well then I’ll have to be your guide then, won’t I,” she says with a gleeful tone. We make our way to the dining hall and see Achilles, Lucius, and Perseus sitting down, chatting as they finish their food. Perseus throws me a pissed off scowl.
“I guess that he’s still pissed off about what happened yesterday,” I whisper to Frida.
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll get over it, just give him some time,” she whispers back.
“It’s about time you two got here,” Lucius shouts. As he does that Achilles looks over his shoulder at us.
“You two hurry up and eat, then get to the sparring ground. I’m going to take these two to the advanced training ground today, and then I’ll be back to see how well you are progressing with your transformation control, Evander,” Achilles says with an almost commanding tone, as he stands up looking at the other two, with a nod they get up and follow him out.
Sitting down, I think about what I want for breakfast.
How about a stack of chocolate chip pancakes with sliced bananas and blueberry syrup?
Poof there it is, and digging in, I ask Frida.
“So what are we going to work on today?”
“We are going to work on your hand to hand combat, then combat in your Lycan form and depending on how well you do with all of that we can move on to mastering the transformation,” Frida replied.
We bullshit some more as we finish eating and then head to the sparring ground. When we get there, Uriel is standing there, waiting.
“It’s about time that you two got here, let’s go. I need to see what you can do,” Uriel says, looking at me.
Frida and I move to the center of the arena and square off.
“Okay, Evander just like yesterday, grab that rage that’s dwelling deep inside of you and use it,” Frida mutters.
I dig deep trying to find that rage, that haterade and it’s not there.
Getting frustrated, I look up, and she smirks. “Maybe you need some motivation.”
She closes her eyes, slightly crouching over and she starts tearing at her legs and arms, as her dark red fur gets exposed.
She just did a willed partial transformation and only transformed her legs and arms.
“I’m going to hit you so much harder than I did yesterday. In this form, I’m a whole lot faster and stronger, and you’re about to experience it first hand,” she warns.
Lunging, she swipes her claws at me with so much intensity and fury, I am barely able to dodge them.
A few swipes make contact, ripping my clothes and flesh as they do.
“Hey, that’s my favorite shirt,” I shout.
“Pity, pity, maybe you should be faster and I wouldn’t be able to catch you,” she replies with a sly tone and a grin, continuing her attack; swiping, slashing and kicking.
Then she balls her hand and lands a powerful blow to my ribs. The force involuntarily slumps my body to the ground.
Leaning down to me, as I’m still heaped on the ground, she grabs the top of my hair and lifts my head, so we are staring at each other. “I know you’re better than this, Evander, show me,” she whispers to me with determination burning in her eyes.
“Achilles told me that yesterday he was able to transform. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Or maybe he needs a different kind of motivation,” Uriel shouts before a loud crack, like thunder breaks out, and Uriel grabs Frida by the back of her neck, lifting her off the ground.
Kicking and struggling to free herself, she shouts as panic quivers her voice.
“Uriel what the hell are you doing?”
“Lets see if putting your life on the line, instead of his, does anything,” he replied, looking down at me.
I meet his gaze as he slowly draws his sword.
As it’s being drawn there is a light ringing from the Archangel’s blade. Is he seriously going to do this?
“Uriel, cut it out, this isn’t funny anymore,” Frida shouts, flailing, trying to pry herself free from his grip.
Swiftly he raises his blade as if he is about to strike her down.
“No,” I shout as loud as I can. Everything goes red and Fenrir’s fury explodes. All of a sudden I’m standing between Uriel and Frida, as I catch his blade with my left hand and simultaneously punch him in the head with everything I have.
Sending Uriel flying backwards across the arena, Frida starts to fall behind me. I quickly turn around and catch her.
Then I realize I’ve transformed, but it feels different this time. It’s not rage that is filling me, but something else, something I can’t describe, the same feeling I had when Fenrir first saw Serafine.
It’s as if my need to protect has changed the rage into something else, something more powerful.
It feels like it’s radiating out of me.
“Serafine, are you okay?” Fenrir asks lightly, placing her on the ground. As fast as I’d transformed, just as quickly I turned back. “Are you and Serafine okay?” I ask Frida as she fully turns back.
Shocked at what just transpired, the only thing she can mutter is, “I’m fine.”
I turn back to face Uriel. “Why would you do that? Why would you try to kill one of us… to what, prove a point? To see if I could transform? What if I didn’t, would you have killed her?” I yell at him as the rage and anger builds in me at what he had just done.
I feel my blood boil with anger as it fills me, fully losing myself in it. My vision narrows again, but this time I can’t control it. Everything goes red and I tell Fenrir, kill that motherfucker.
“I was planning on it,” he responds back. Just as I lunge at Uriel something grabs the back of my neck and raises me off the ground.
Struggling to see, it’s Achilles still in human form, how is he this strong? Frida steps in front of me and we lock eyes. The rage subsides and as I transform back, Achilles drops me to the ground.
From across the arena a voice shouts, “No I wouldn’t have killed her, but I needed to see how you would react if one of your comrades’ lives were threatened.
And I can honestly say I didn’t expect that.
It’s been a long time since a Lycan was able to land a blow on me,” Uriel replies, getting to his feet and resheathing his sword.
“If you ever attempt anything like that again I will kill you,” I snarl.
“As entertaining as that would be to watch you try, there is something even more intriguing here. Just then when you transformed what did you feel? Was it rage, anger, or was it something else?” He asked.
“Fuck you,” I snap.
“I don’t have time to waste on worthless mongrels like you,” he mutters just before taking off to the sky and disappearing from sight.
“What’s going on here?” Lucius yells in a commanding voice. I turn around to see Achilles facing the rest of the division, who are standing on the side of the arena.
“Uriel threatened to kill Frida in order to get me to transform,” I mutter, struggling to get back onto my feet.
“What exactly did he do?” he inquires. I explain what happened as I reach down and help Frida back to her feet.
From the look on her face she seems to be in shock.
“Damn it, he said he wouldn’t do that again,” Achilles replies with disappointment and disgust in his voice.
“Again,” I snap back.
“Yeah, when I first took over as this division’s commander, we had a new troop that had difficulty transforming for our sparring sessions.
Uriel pulled me aside and told me he was going to do something to motivate him, and told me not to intervene.
Then he proceeded to do the exact same thing he did here, but with one difference.
When the new guy didn’t transform he stopped right before his blade impaled Perseus. ” Achilles sighed.
“After that happened I confronted him and told him that if he ever does that again I’ll intervene and stop him. But it seems like you handled yourself just fine. Frida, are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine, I’m just going to go sit down and try to calm down,” she answers with a quiver still in her voice.
“If you need anything let me know,” I tell her before turning back to Achilles.
“What did you feel when you transformed to protect Frida?” Achilles asks.
“It wasn’t the anger or rage that I felt the other times I transformed, it was a different feeling, and it came from Fenrir. Before I could think, he was in control, and as soon as Frida and Serafine were safe, it was gone and I changed back,” I replied.
“Interesting, let’s see if we can bring that out again, so let’s continue your training.
I’m going to be your opponent for your next sparring match,” he continues.
“Don’t worry about Frida, she will be fine.
What I want you to do is use the anger that you have right now and harness it to transform. ”
Still feeling the anger from what Uriel did, I replay the image of what happened and Fenrir’s anger rages inside. Just before it becomes uncontrollable, I stop and focus. Fenrir, help me I want the same thing you do, the power to protect the ones I love.
“I believe you,” he responds as I feel him ease back, allowing me to take control.
Then it happens, I feel my body temperature rise and my bones cracking, but this time it’s happening exponentially faster.
Clawing at my skin, I tear away the flesh to release my true form.
“Good,” Achilles remarks while clapping. “Now attack me.” I rush at him, slashing feverishly, wildly.
He dodges every attack with ease.
“Come on, I know you’re faster than this, you would have to be in order to have hit Uriel,” he shouts mockingly.
This only pisses me off more and feeds the rage. Just as I’m about to lose myself to it, he punches me in the gut, dropping me to a knee.
“Don’t give in to the rage. If you do, you will always lose. Control it, don’t let it control you,” he shouts.
That blow reels me back and puts me in control again.
Control it, command it, will it.
“I see now that you have a very strong will and are willing to die for those you care for and I respect that. So I will grant you all of my strength and power,” Fenrir replies. Then he goes quiet and it feels like I got a shot of adrenaline, but multiplied a hundred times over.
My entire body feels like electricity is flowing through it. Amplifying everything from touch to sight. I become hyper aware of everything around me.
“That’s what I was waiting for. That was the power that your wolf, Fenrir, has. This is what it feels like when you are in sync with each other,” Achilles continues. “Now show me what you can really do.”
With that being said I charge him again, only this time I reach him in a fraction of the time it took me earlier.
Striking at him, he blocks my first several attacks.
“Very impressive, you’re immensely faster than before and extremely powerful.” He grunts, pushing back my attacks.
Through the commotion we are making, I get distracted by the sound of two people walking around the arena and through their scent I can tell it’s Perseus and Lucius.
From the direction of their steps, they are heading toward Frida. Achilles tries to take advantage of this opening and swings at me, but I can hear his muscles tighten as he throws the punch, and I react almost without thinking, catching his fist in my claws.
Stunned and taken back by this, he dropped his guard for a second. Allowing me an opening, connecting a blow to his chest so hard it sent him sailing across the arena and through a wall.
Bewildered by what just happened, Lucius, Perseus and Frida, run over to check on him. As they reach him a thought runs through my head, did I just kill Achilles?
He stands up before anyone reaches him and brushes off the dust and debris, before calmly walking back out to the arena, through the hole in the wall his body just created.
Then he starts to laugh. I get extremely confused when I hear him not only laughing, but cackling hysterically.
The confusion overrides the rage and I change back as we walk up to each other. Slapping me on the shoulder he catches his breath.
“It’s been a long time since anyone has been able to catch me off guard and not only exploit it… but to do it in such a fantastic way as that. Seeing how you just handled yourself, you’ll fit in just fine around here. Welcome to Division One.”