FSE

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"Listen, mate. I don't care if you're thirsty. You're not allowed to get in with that bottle. So drink it up and try again or keep insisting and I might lose my nerve and never let you in. Your choice."

The wolf Transient gave Fenrir a clear look of hatred and then turned to the rest of his group, explaining the situation to them while making sure he insulted the bouncer in the process. The pulsing, somewhat repetitive music that came from the closed doors at his back prevented Fenrir from listening most of what he said and, therefore, from entering into a fight with the Transient. He was getting less and less patient those days.

He hated working for other people.

It wasn't only for the typical reasons: of course he didn't like being bossed around by anyone who just had enough money or wanted to put him in ridiculous situations - like the one he was in. But there was more. Being hired put him in a very delicate position in which he was supposed to trust his superiors to get the best results. However, his own experience had proven that trusting someone generally led to terrible results in which the little confidence he had was damaged, over and over.

Even in a city like that Tokyo they had arrived in, things like that remained unchanged. Transient or not, most people didn't appreciate the effort people made when trusting others and usually took advantage of that. More so with the guild phenomenon revolving around the app.

However, there he was. Living in that Tokyo world consumed the currency known as money and he was, unfortunately, running out of it. It was difficult for Transients to find good jobs and most people didn't want to employ them. There weren't many who could really make ends meet and those who could were either really lucky or involved in suspicious, often illegal businesses.

And then, there was Nyarlathotep.

Fenrir had only known about him recently and had disliked him at first sight. The weird looking hyena had come from a very far, very different world some time ago, and he had spent some time in the shadows, plotting with different guilds and proving loyalty to no one. At the same time, he had managed to build a career on music... and had ended up being quite successful in that field. Fenrir was certain most of Nyarlathotep's income probably came from music at that point, as much as he knew that the hyena was likely to still plot with different, conflicting guilds at the same time. He envied the fact that he could gather that money thing so easily, even when it was clear that survival didn't mean much to him.

Maybe I'm just jealous, Fenrir thought, as he rubbed his chest absent-mindedly. Most of the wolf's visible fur was blue, but it got white as soon as it reached his broad chest. His paw remained there for a short while, as if it was trying to grab something non-existent.

The door opened at his back and a new wave of that pulsing music hit his ears. Fenrir flinched involuntarily; he didn't like that sound at all, even though some citizens from Tokyo seemed to love it. There were even some Transients who seemed to be interested in it too. At first, when that wave of noise made him shiver, he thought someone was simply coming out of the club, but then he felt a hand on his arm and he turned in that direction, maybe a bit too briskly.

A young girl, who probably was there just to tell him something, stepped back in fear. Fenrir, who still wasn't used to how easily humans got scared, tried to soften his usual, serious expression, which was however perfect for a bouncer like him.

"E... excuse me..." the girl said, obviously still a bit intimidated.

"What?" Fenrir asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girl tried to speak again, but stammered in the same word for what felt like hours. Fenrir still couldn't understand why it was so difficult for the citizens of that Tokyo world to say things directly, more so after having seen they were capable of doing both terrible and wonderful things directly and without asking.

"What's the matter?" he insisted, losing his patience.

"Er... Nyarly... he wants you in..."

The wolf rolled his eyes and tried to contain a growl.

Nyarlathotep had asked him to go inside a few times that night. It usually was just to call his name out loud and have the crowd cheer him, which made Fenrir feel absolutely uncomfortable. He was certain the hyena was aware of how flustered he got and that was why he kept on doing so.

Fenrir wanted to refuse, but Nyarlathotep had employed him directly, and there was no way he could disobey one of his orders. He pushed the door open and entered the club, not without giving a long warning look at the other wolf Transient, who was already planning to go in whenever he wasn't guarding the entrance. The loud sound of the music soon filled his head like some kind of poison running through his body. He could feel the intense beat in his own body, the brief, repetitive vibrations making him feel weird and just a bit sick.

Just try to be patient, the wolf thought. A few more hours and then this will be over.

When he entered the dance hall, the music got so loud he felt the need to cover his ears, instinctively. Lights and lasers made it almost impossible to see in the dark, and everything looked so confusing that Fenrir momentarily wanted to just run out and go back to his bouncer spot. However, the people who were already there seemed to be having fun, jumping and dancing around in what seemed the performance of a collective, chaotic choreography. Fenrir couldn't understand what was so good about Nyarlathotep's music, and probably never would.

The hyena, who was standing at the back of the hall, soon noticed him and waved his arm.

"Now, look who's there, babes!" his voice echoed, louder than the music. "The Hungry Wolf of the Grand River! The Devourer of Worlds! And our doorman tonight! Let's all give him a big hand, come on!"

Fenrir snorted as everyone turned to him and burst into a round of applause, cheering him and making him feel, again, terribly uncomfortable. He managed to cross his arms on his chest and look away in order to hide his embarrassment, but then Nyarlathotep's voice rose again over the crowd's celebration.

"Aaaawww come on, no need to be shy here, our burly bringer of Ragnarök! Why don't you come up here with us so that we can show the world how great you are?"

The hyena's voice had a hint of a joke in it, but Fenrir couldn't really tell whether he was being serious or not. Up there with us...? Who...? Oh. Right. He means himself, the wolf guessed, as he glanced over the crowd and noticed Nyarlathotep was the only one standing on the stage. Of course, the indigo-furred hyena wanted him to go up there with him, so that people would mock him and laugh at him. There it was. The treason he'd been expecting.

He couldn't say it hurt because he had never really thought he'd see a different outcome, but he still felt the bite of shame as soon as he began walking towards the hyena, who was still standing on the stage with an arm up in the air and inciting everyone to dance wildly. If people hadn't moved away, creating a corridor for him to walk up there, it would have been impossible for Fenrir to reach Nyarlathotep.

As he walked, he rubbed his chest again, idly. There was something that was missing, but he didn't know what it was. Those thoughts left his head as soon as he started climbing the staircase to the stage. The fact that so many people were looking at him made him really nervous, but he tried to give them his best stern, bouncer look. It worked... more or less.

"Thaaaaaaat's right, babies!! We got him on stage," Nyarlathotep celebrated, with a wide, toothy grin. Lots of people roared and screamed enthusiastically at his words. "Oh, is that right? You all want to give him a new applause, my mindless dancing babies? Alright then. Let's go wwwwiiiild with this one!!"

People cheered even louder than last time, so enthusiastically that Fenrir was even a bit surprised. Of course, he'd expected the crowd to react to Nyarlathotep's words - he had that kind of power, after all - but the results were far beyond what he'd expected. Some people even seemed to be crying that he was up there with the hyena. Others wouldn't stop chanting his name over and over, roaring it out with passion. Most of them were jumping with their hands up, or clapping with the loud, repetitive beat of Nyarlathotep's music as they looked at him as if he was some kind of hero.

"They love you, my vessel of destruction," Nyarlathotep said, winking an eye at the incredulous wolf. He was talking directly to the wolf now, even though they had to scream to hear each other over the thunderous crowd. "So wild. Ever wilder. We wonder why they're like that. Transients and citizens of this Tokyo, all losing their minds over music. Such a wonderful spectacle!"

"You're making them go crazy," Fenrir objected, still blushing a bit at the enormous amount of attention he was receiving from the public.

Nyarlathotep laughed. It was a long, enthusiastic laugh.

"Are we! Maybe we are! Maybe we're giving them a soft push in the right direction. Maybe we're shoving them right into the wolf fangs of madness! Maybe we don't know at all. Sanity's so complicated."

"Can I go down now, please?" Fenrir asked, impatiently.

"Oh, but we're just getting started," Nyarlathotep exclaimed. He sounded just like a small child whose parents were trying to get out of his best friend's house. "Oh, do something. Raise your arm now for those back there. See? See!!!! They love it!!! They're losing their mind over that. We love them."

"Shouldn't I go back to my spot? I have a job to do. You paid me for it," the wolf reminded him, with a mortified tone. Nyarlathotep simply burst into laughter again. The music was still playing.

"Oh, baby. That isn't the question you should be asking!"

Fenrir wondered whether he should play along or not for a few seconds, then decided the sooner the hyena grew tired of him, the sooner he would be able to come back to his quiet spot outside.

"Alright. So what's the question I should be asking?" he said, rubbing his chest again. It felt odd.

"What did you forget?" Nyarlathotep asked, in a much calmer, serious tone. His green eyes gleamed enigmatically.

The question caught Fenrir by surprise.

"Huh?" he mumbled, confused. "What...?"

But the hyena wasn't paying him any attention anymore. He had changed the song and was now jumping with one of his paws up in the air, and the people on the dance floor were just following him with raw enthusiasm. Noticing he was no longer needed there, Fenrir decided it was time to leave the stage.

However, people weren't as comprehensive as when he had tried to reach Nyarlathotep and he had a hard time trying to push his way towards the door. Everyone was dancing, jumping and shaking wildly as if they had just abandoned themselves to their primary impulses and Fenrir grunted and growled as he felt everyone bumping into him, kicking him, stomping his feet - and groping, too.

He glared at some people when they clearly hurt him or were too handsy, but they didn't seem to realize. Nyarlathotep was right: they might as well have lost their minds already. The wolf hurried up towards the exit when he wondered whether he could become one of them or not, whether the hyena's powers were a real thing or just something he had imagined, and whether he'd end up enjoying that hellish music after all. The last perspective filled him with disgust.

With a final push, he managed to walk through the last line of dancers and stumbled as he got to a part of the room that was mostly free. He made the motion required to open the exit door as he let out a long sigh of relief, but then he noticed something strange.

His open paws hit a concrete wall. The exit door wasn't there.

That's weird, Fenrir thought, turning around and trying to re-orientate himself. He would have sworn he was walking towards the exit when he had left the stage, but it seemed he had deviated from his path as he was pushing his way through the crowd. The door was in the opposite corner, actually.

Frustrated, the wolf let out a long, impatient groan as he plunged into the multitude again, being pushed around and groped shamelessly yet again. He snarled at the first few people that dared touching him, but after a while he realized it wasn't making a difference and rushed towards the door, trying not to lose sight of it this time. It was difficult, because of how quickly the lights were changing and how confusing everything was getting. All around him seemed paws, tails, shoulders, heads; claws slashing in the darkness through a beat that had changed a few seconds ago even though Fenrir hadn't realized.

His body, when groped, felt weird. He couldn't explain why. His fur... There was something there, or better yet - something wasn't there. Whatever that was, it was needed.

And it was making him feel sick, sicker than the terrible music and all those nagging people.

When he practically pushed aside the last two people that were on his way, the door wasn't there. Angered, Fenrir let out a frustrated growl and hit the concrete wall with one of his closed fists. The pain didn't make him feel any better, but at least it was real. At least, it felt like something he could trust.

He turned back to the crowd in order to find the door. After a while, he spotted it right at the other side of the room, as if it was mocking him, escaping from his grasp whenever he tried to reach it. Fenrir glanced at Nyarlathotep, who kept on jumping with an arm up in the air and seemed rather focused on his task to be causing all that.

But he obviously was. Fenrir was well aware of that. He wouldn't let him get away with it again, though.

He was about to enter the stifling crowd again when someone patted his shoulder. The wolf turned, already baring his teeth at the provocation. His eyes fell upon the beaming face of a hyena he knew too well. Of course, he thought.His Sacred Artifact can warp space. And he's one of the Old Ones. He can be at many places at the same time.

"Hey, babe!" Nyarlathotep said, sticking out his tongue. He seemed delighted. "Having fun here? We just noticed you were wandering around like a lost mind in an asylum. Wanna join the party and get all wild and crazy?"

"No!" Fenrir had to stop himself from hitting the hyena. "I want to leave this cursed place and go back to my spot... And you know that!"

"Oh, do we? We didn't notice! You seemed so happy dancing with the others."

"I didn't... You traitor! Stop messing with me!" the wolf shouted, trying to make himself heard over the uproar. Nyarlathotep - the one that was still onstage, that was - had started playing a different song. "I'm not staying here forever, and all you want to do is play with me as if I'm some kind of toy!"

"Oh, come on, Hungry Wolf. You are quite a toy," Nyarlathotep remarked, as his grin widened.

"Shut up! If you don't stop this now, you'll leave me no choice but fight you," Fenrir threatened him, as he pointed an accusing finger at the hyena's snout.

He took his other paw to his chest, trying to summon the power of his Sacred Artifact. He didn't realize right then he wasn't even sure what his Sacred Artifact was supposed to be, but he was determined to beat the hell out of that insolent hyena if that helped him get out of here.

However, Nyarlathotep seemed to find that very funny and just burst into laughter in response.

"Hey, babe!" the one from the stage said. The dancers didn't seem to notice him. "There's no need to start such a serious fight here and disturb all this beautiful, nonsensical madness!"

"We're right!" the other Nyarlathotep - the one in front of Fenrir - said. "Besides, we just want to help you get out of this situation. That's why we brought you... this."

The hyena extended a paw to the angry wolf, holding something. The darkness, constantly disturbed by all kinds of lasers and lights, made it difficult for Fenrir to notice what it was exactly, but when he did he felt... confused.

It was a rope.

"What's this?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Nyarlathoteps laughed again.

"Oh, baby! You're so delicious! Can't you see it with those lovely eyes of yours?" Fenrir growled and threatened to use his Sacred Artifact again. "Alright, alright. It's a rope, as you probably noticed. The strongest and longest rope in the world. Capable of holding the most dangerous wolf, the Devourer of Worlds. Oh, that one's you, love."

"I know," Fenrir snorted, looking away. For some reason, he suddenly felt embarrassed. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Well, it seems to us that you're getting disoriented as soon as you get there." Nyarlathotep pointed to the jumping crowd. "Such insane craziness would have that effect on anyone, babe. No need to put the blame on yourself."

"I'm not blaming myself!" Fenrir shouted again. "This is your doing!"

"Of course!" the hyena smiled happily. "Now, if you don't want to get lost, you should just tie this rope to a conveniently placed pipe - oh, here's one! - and hold one end as you walk through the crowd. If you lose your way, you will come across the rope and that's how you'll know you're walking in circles."

Fenrir tilted his head as he watched the end of the rope that Nyarlathotep was offering him. It actually sounded like a pretty good plan, but coming from the hyena, that could only mean it was a trap. However, he couldn't think of any other ways to successfully get out of that place.

And he really wanted to touch that rope, for some reason.

"Alright," he agreed. "If I do this silly thing you'll let me get out, right? You'll stop playing with me."

"Absolument!" the Nyarlathotep from stage exclaimed. "Good luck, babe!"

It was then when Fenrir noticed that the one he had been talking to had already disappeared and that he was holding the end of the rope in his paw. It felt nice to touch it, just as he'd expected. Almost as if something inside him was safely contained, somehow. Almost as if he could relax a bit.

That was silly, though. And he really needed to get out of there before the music turned him into a mindless dancer, like those on the floor. Stroking the end of the rope with his thumb and enjoying the feeling, he pierced through the jumping crowd again, straight to the door that stood promisingly at the other side of the room. He made a huge, enormous effort not to lose sight of it again.

He was getting used to the constant pushing, kicking and groping, though. Even though it still felt a bit uncomfortable, he didn't turn to growl or snarl at those that shamelessly touched his body whenever they had the chance. The ones pushing or hitting him by accident were only doing it because of that crazy frenzy they were going through, so Fenrir could easily forgive them. After all, they weren't responsible of their own actions. The blue furred wolf could understand that now, and a part of him even felt a bit jealous.

He kept walking and walking, pushing his way through the ravers, for what felt like hours. He never saw the rope again, so that had to mean he hadn't lost his direction and was still moving towards the door. He could even see it, over the heads of the people in front of him. He just had to keep walking.

The music was so loud. Constant beats made his whole body tremble, as if they were shaking or hitting something inside him. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling at all. In fact, Fenrir was starting to like the constant vibration running through his bones, skin, fur and muscle. It was as if he was resonating, as if he was part of something much, much bigger. Stroking the rope, too, made him feel better. Much, much better.

This time, when someone groped him by placing a small paw particularly close to his crotch, the blue wolf turned to look. His eyes met those of a thin, rather good-looking deer Transient, one he'd never heard about. The deer was looking at him with big, blue eyes, and there was some sort of glassiness on them, as if he wasn't really seeing him - or as if he was seeing him way too much. Fenrir thought the deer was cute. Then he thought he liked that he had touched him.

As if the deer Transient could hear his thoughts, he took a step closer and put that little paw of his on his chest. Fenrir, who was still holding the rope, liked the powerful feeling of towering over the smaller transient, their obvious difference in size and how thin those little arms looked compared to his thick biceps, perfectly built for his bouncer position. He'd never felt that way when he looked at anyone - and the music was loud - and he thought it would be fun if only for a while he could give into that powerful, dominant feeling.

Oh, he wanted to have that little thing between his arms. He wanted that small deer Transient to feel so powerless and weak and submissive as powerful, strong and dominant he was feeling at the moment. He took one of his strong hands to the deer's chin and forced him to look up into his eyes. The deer gasped.

Then they kissed, and kissed, passionately - and the music was loud. They continued kissing for a long while as the deer Transient's paws explored his muscled body, feeling his strength. Fenrir loved the sensation and made sure his tongue would overpower the small deer's in his mouth; he made sure he'd know how small and helpless he was, and how much the wolf was in control of everything that was going on, and how much he could just crush him if he had wanted to. When they broke the kiss, he forced the deer to turn and started stroking that small chest of his, rubbing his somewhat growing bulge against that thin back as he bit his prey's neck and shoulders, over and over. The deer moaned and melted in his arms, and both loved every second of that. The people around were dancing mad and Nyarlathotep was saying something, but he couldn't hear it now.

Someone noticed them, and looked at Fenrir with longing eyes as if they also wanted to be his prey, and the blue wolf made sure they'd feel small and powerless too. He couldn't even tell their species apart now - they were all dancers in the darkness, groping each other and kissing and biting and moaning. Fenrir was simply hunting them. He rubbed fur, scratched skin, bit flesh, and kissed so much. He wanted to make everyone in that room feel helpless, small, controlled. He wanted them all to feel his raw, wolfish power. And they all gave in, one after another, moaning - and the music was loud.

They were dancing at some second and almost having sex at the next, and sometimes it felt as if they were doing both things at the same time, caught in some weird space and time where none of that mattered, where everything became tangled and unrecognizable. Fenrir had never ever felt that good and free and he wanted it to continue, he wanted to keep jumping, he wanted to keep thrusting, he wanted to keep...

At some point, the sound of his own enthusiastic yelling woke him up from that dream. He was jumping in the middle of the dance floor, one of his paws up in the air, just like he thought. But he was completely alone.

It took him a while to stop and realize there was something very off. Where were the people he'd just been having fun with? Where were his preys? And why had the music suddenly disappeared? He was just beginning to like it.

Right?

He turned around, trying to see something through the darkness that had filled the club now. There were no more lasers or fog machines, only shadows. He could see the rope, of course - Nyarlathotep's magic, endless rope, which was still tied to that pipe. It then moved towards the opposite wall, where it rolled around another pipe, and then came right back to the center of the room. From there, it just moved to the other corner and then came back to the center. It was as if Fenrir had been moving around all night, from one cornet to the other, and now the rope was all around him.

"Ny... Nyarlathotep...?" he asked, then. There was something wrong, he could feel it. Dread was slowly crawling up his spine. "Are you there?"

His words echoed in the empty hall. He sounded more frightened than he had thought possible.

He was about to call the hyena's name again, when a myriad of whispers seemed to rise from the shadows.

"The Hungry Wolf of the Grand River..." the voices said. "The Devourer of Worlds..."

Fenrir stepped back from the shadows, instinctively. He was still careful not to step on the rope, though. He wasn't sure what would happen if he stepped on it, but he clearly remembered he had enjoyed touching that rope and, for some reason, he didn't want that to happen again.

He was certain that feeling good would leave him in a much more vulnerable, weak position, but he wasn't sure why.

"Hello, babe," Nyarlathotep said then. The hyena had just appeared in front of him, out of nowhere. He was smiling and his head was tilted to the right. All of his colorful tails, which seemed like ghostly hands reaching out for the darkness, were slowly swaying behind him. "We think you got quite lost here."

"What did you do to me?" the blue wolf asked, gulping. He felt completely at disadvantage, but he wasn't sure why.

He was stronger than Nyarlathotep after all. One of his punches should be enough to knock the hyena out.

"We only made sure you'd enjoy our beautiful madness," the hyena said, shrugging. "And it seemed you did. We also wanted you to see how much you could last without remembering the thing you love. The thing you crave. The thing you need."

"What is it?" Fenrir asked, even though he was beginning to think he already knew the answer.

Nyarlathotep laughed.

"O, mighty wolf bringer of chaos. We love your disposition to madness. We love that if you were to lose the one thing that keeps you contained, you'd simply go berserk. You carry that madness wherever you go, and it's gorgeous."

"Where's my Sacred Artifact?" Fenrir's question sounded a bit more scared than he would have liked to.

"Your Sacred Artifact has been here all along, babe," Nyarlathotep answered, with a wide grin. The whispers from the shadows were talking again. "A rope capable of absorbing the power of anyone who touches it. The only way to keep the wolf contained. We wonder what might happen if you were to lose that rope..."

Fenrir clenched his teeth and got into a fighting stance again. Nyarlathotep's grin got slightly wider.

"Of course, we noticed something funny then," a voice from the shadows said. The wolf swore he could see a pair of green eyes.

"Yeah! Something wild. Something crazy. Something we weren't expecting," a different voice said behind his back.

"No matter what you do," a third one said, with a mocking voice. "You've already lost. You know why, don't you, babe?"

Fenrir turned around, trying to spot the rest of Nyarlathoteps that seemed to be getting closer. He caught some pairs of green eyes in the shadows, and then a few ghostly claws scratching the dance floor. Those colorful tails were lashing the air now and the wolf could feel danger crawling towards him. If only he'd been able to see clearly through darkness.

"W-what..." he said, confused. He couldn't understand any of the hyenas' words.

"Trust me on this, babe," the Nyarlathotep right in front of him said then. He was euphoric. "I know everything about madness and you. You love it, too."

Then, as if someone had given a soundless order, all the Nyarlthoteps came out of the shadows and leaped on him. Fenrir tried to escape and managed to dodge one or two of those grinning hyenas, but the rest quickly surrounded him. One of them immobilized an arm, the other bit one of his legs. He tried to get rid of them, but they kept crawling from the shadows, and more of them were coming. After a short, vain struggle, they forced him to his knees and when Fenrir tried to let out an angry howl, someone put a piece of rope around his muzzle and shut it tight.

The blue wolf could feel the howling dying inside him as the good feelings came from the rope. He noticed then that every single Nyarlathotep was holding an end of the rope - wait, how many ends were they? How many ropes? - and they were holding him still, making sure he couldn't move, and making sure they'd tie him up as if he was some kind of package.

And Fenrir could feel their paws moving all over his body, caressing every single inch of fur, skin and muscle, and the nice sensation from the rope containing him as it spread through his body as if it was a disease. He tried to scream, he tried to fight back against both the hyenas and the crippling feeling of submission; but then one of the Nyarlathotep's tied his paws together behind his back and then he couldn't move his arms. Suddenly, another one tied his footpaws together and then he couldn't stand up.

He could barely recall the feeling of being all strong, powerful and dominant that had flooded his thoughts just a few minutes ago. That was all gone. And now, as they kept on tying him, he could only feel week, powerless and submissive.

After a while, every single inch of his body was covered in ropes, making sure he wouldn't move a single inch. Fenrir could only stare ahead as the Nyarlathoteps made sure he would remain motionless. And it was then when he remembered.

The thing they had said he loved. The thing they had said he craved. The thing they had said he needed.

It wasn't his Ancient Artifact. It wasn't the rope.

It was exactly that. Feeling trapped just like that, feeling himself unable to move, contained by a stronger force. Being all tied up in that position, completely stuck. Frozen.

When had he started drooling? The ropes felt just too good. So good that he felt as if his mind was going places. So good that when one of the Nyarlathoteps put a new piece of rope around his neck, he felt as if the shadows were getting closer and swallowing his eyes and mind and good feelings and then he was out.

Nyarlathotep chuckled, his claws tapping on the wrinkled surface of the dark box he held with one paw. The dance floor was deserted and only him - that was, that specific version of himself - was around now. Or rather, he was the only one standing on his feet.

Kneeling before him, in a particularly unfavorable position, there was a blue wolf. And it wasn't just any wolf. After all, Nyatlathotep wasn't all that interested in normies. It was a wolf that would eat the world whole if consumed by madness, that would destroy everything on his way if only the ropes around his body were to disappear.

It was the most dangerous wolf in existence.

Not that he looked so dangerous now, though. Sure, his bulging muscles and fierce appearance made him quite fearsome. That, and the fact that Nyarlathotep had touched his Sacred Artifact out of curiosity, just to see how it worked, weakening the bounds that prevented him from turning into a big, wild beast. His appearance was now more feral than ever. If the hyena hadn't tied his muzzle, he'd probably be baring his fangs, tongue hanging out in eternal bloodlust.

But the ropes around his body prevented him from moving a single muscle. He was now convulsing weakly, but constantly, as if drowning in some kind of nightmare - or maybe melting in a very pleasant dream. The corners of his lips were leaking, and drool was dripping out and over his powerful chest. His clothes had torn apart when Nyarlathotep had weakened his Ancient Artifact's binds, making the wolf acquire his true, monstrous appearance. A throbbing erection could be seen between his legs; but that, of course, was also tied to the rest of his body. There was no space for movement or escaping.

Not anymore.

"It would be so easy to free you," he said, in a whisper. "To make that hungry wolf of destruction come out. It would be so easy to let you run wild. But we've seen the truth now, babe. We know how to properly make you crazy. We know the only two songs you play and they both involve driving you mad."

He paused for a few seconds. The blue wolf let out a weak, indistinct noise and the hyena grinned.

"Why would we let the crazy beast run wild," he asked then, licking his fang "when we can keep you in this state forever and make a beast of that normal side of you. 'Cause this is the twist of our show, babe."

He placed a paw on the wolf's shoulder. He didn't seem to notice.

"Nothing will remain to come back to," he whispered into his ear. "We've made you into two crazy beasts. One that wants to tear those binds apart and run wild. And... one that's lost his mind already, wishing that these binds will never be torn."

Those last words echoed in the room, but there was no one to hear them anymore. Nyarlathotep had disappeared and now there was only the convulsing wolf. His open eyes were lost somewhere else and his whole body kept trembling. Lost in that crawling feeling of pleasant chaos, he could not fight back or stop fighting. If his mind had been clearer, he might have thought about it.

About the rope, about his Ancient Artifact. About his future, or the lack of it. But there were no thoughts anymore.

And the Hungry Wolf of the Grand River was contained.