USERS: 13
#13 of users
Ch13. Some lessons are learned the hard way.
The day wasn't that bright out due to the clouds when his light blue eyes watched as the human slept soundly in his arms, very gently Blaferis unwillingly unwrapped his arms from the boy and slowly slipped out of the bed. He walked over to his own chest and got ready for the day's events. The elemental fight rosters would soon be posted, after strapping on his last wrist band he looked at it for a while. The long scratch running down the thick piece of metal reminded him of how he got it, its custom for the guild that when a User was witnessed at beheading a Bragin, the one who sees the act puts the scar on the armor.
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The day was so clear to him, the whole squad was directing the anthros through the gates. Blaferis was walking beside a family of tigers when a horse came running up to him. The wolf looked over and stood at attention.
"Yes captain?" The wolf asked when the anthro came up too him.
The horse smiled as he stopped. "Can you go back and see how Anthony is doing?"
Blaferis's ears perked up at the thought of being able to talk to the new human. "Sure." The wolf was off in a hurry. Anthony was standing off to the side while he looked at all the anthros walking by him, some waved at him others would come by and talk to him, asks if he needed water or anything. He always told them he was fine and resumed his duties that he was given. Anthony was looking out when he saw that Blaferis was walking up to him, he didn't know the wolf that much but did enjoy the company when they had it. He smiled briefly till he seen the wolf started to sprint at him calling out. It was a mad panic as the anthros started to take off running for the gate, Anthony was able to turn to see the group of Bragins were charging at them. It was his first time seeing the huge monsters screeching and pulled out their weapons. Blaferis ran as fast as he could, he could hear more of the other Users were right behind him. He seen that the Bragins were coming from everywhere and the boy wasn't moving.
'He's scared.' The wolf thought. He was running as fast as his could when one of the Bragins stepped in front of him and swung its sword downward. The wolf parried and quickly stepped off to the side but was encountered by another Bragin, the wolf didn't have time so he used his element to freeze the creatures in their place as he darted to the human. The wolf only got a few feet before more came at him. The wolf fought with all his might, one of the last ones was frozen in a block of ice just beneath its neck. With a quick swing the Bragin's head was rolling on the ground. He ran around the frozen body but stopped in his tracks at the sight of the human laying face first on the ground. The wolf softly whimpered while he walked up to the body, he knelt down beside it and reached out to touch the lifeless flesh. The wolf could see where he was stabbed but if that didn't kill the human then all of the trampled marks on his body did. He didn't have time to get to know Anthony but the fact that a life was lost still brought tears to the wolf's eyes, others came up and mourned over the loss of the human. He was given the scar on his wrist guards a few days later but it serves as a reminder of his failure on protecting someone rather than an accomplishment.
He sworn from that day he would never lose a life by his fault again.
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"Deep in thought?" The wolf heard from the door way.
Blaferis looked over to see Hikrit leaning against it. "A little."
"You were thinking of him again weren't you?" The horse asked.
"Yeah, every time I see this mark I always think of how I fucked up." The wolf stated while he finished up tightening the wrist guard.
The horse snorted. "Is it because you think he died on your paws and afraid to repeat that mistake that you like to keep Phillip so close?"
The wolf growled and quickly turned to the horse. "What are you talking about?"
Hikrit walked up the Blaferis and poked a figure at his chest. "You know damn well what I'm talking about, you keep that boy on a short leash, and get pissed when others get too close. I saw the way you got when the Husky gave the boy some affection the other day and how you had the boy sleep in your tent while in the other world and not with the rest of the men. Trust me, we all feel the same way but I'm not going to act like a kid trying to keep my favorite toy away from everyone. If he bonds with the mutt then fine nothing we can do about it."
Blaferis lowered his ears against his head. "I know, I just..." The wolf let out a sigh and slumped against his chest.
"It's more than protecting him isn't it?" The horse asked.
The wolf now got mad and grabbed his sword, "None of your damn business." He stormed passed the horse.
He walked down the sidewalk at a fast pace, the thoughts of Phillip was fresh on his mind, deep down he was still afraid of losing the human to the Husky but he knew that the horse was right, if the boy did bond with the dog then there is nothing he could do about it. He made it to the village and seen where all the rosters for the events were posted. Blaferis looked at the lists till he seen his name, he was up against someone from Wolf Fang. His match was about to start in an hour so he decided to make his way to the ring.
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Phillip pulled the blankets closer to himself before opening up his eyes. The lack of warmth told him that he was by himself, he rolled onto his back and slowly stretched as best as he could. The pain was still there but duller because of the pills, he sat up and slowly got to his feet. After slowly making his way to his chest and changed he grabbed his cane and started to head out to get something to eat. He stepped outside and looked up at the cloudy sky. All the loud crashing sounds and cheering coming from the village reminded the boy of the events going on, he started to slowly make his way to see if he can catch either Blaferis or Husvor's matches. He passed a few anthros who offered to help him but he told them he was fine and kept on walking, the pain in his leg was bearable but he knew he would have to take his medication if he wants the pain to stay low.
He finally got to the village and was walking around and seen that even in the early morning it was full of life as venders were trying to sell merchandise or foods. Then a thought hit him hard, he had no money. He let out a grunt and decided to head back from the direction he came from to go to the cafeteria.
"Hey bud where you goin." The boy heard from a distance, he turned and smiled when Padreion came up to him. "I heard you were hurt from the race the other day." The wolf said as he caught up to the boy.
Phillip smiled. "Yeah bad fall." He lifted up his wrapped arm as proof.
The wolf chuckled. "I see that, so where you going?"
"Was going to eat but forgot I don't have money on me yet so I was going to head back up to the cafeteria and grab something there."
The wolf shook his head. "No, you need to take it easy and that walk is way too much on you as it is. Come on."
"No I can't, I'm fine with walking up there I swear." The boy protested.
"I know." Padreion smiled. "But I'd like to treat you out."
Phillip knows what the result is if he argues with an anthro, he loses every time. So defeated he walked with the wolf to a small booth that had hotdogs and got something to eat, after the wolf paid and received the food he watched while Phillip reached into his pocket and pulled out his pills and poured out two before tossing them in his mouth. The boy took his hot dog and took a small bite, chewed a little before swallowing it down with the pills.
"Drink?" the wolf asked.
Phillip nodded. "Water please."
The wolf asked for one water. After he handed it to the boy and watched him take a big swig, Padreion looked around the village. "So what do you want to do?"
The boy's face gave a disgusting look after the tablets went down his throat. "Can we go watch the element fights?"
Padreion smiled and started to lead to the boy to the fights. "Sure."
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Blaferis was rolling his shoulder when he walked into the arena, his opponent was some User by the name of Ocrim. The wolf got to his spot and waited for the User to show up, his wait didn't last long when a black horse came up into the arena and his ears perked up when he seen who he would be fighting, a small smirk went across his face. He walked up till he was standing right in front of the wolf.
"Well well, isn't it the little pet?" The horse said while crossing his arms across his chest.
The wolf remained calm and just stared at the horse. "You were the horse from last night." He stated.
Ocrim chuckled. "Yeah, little kid has balls I can say that and now I can beat down his little mutt. Once he knows how much stronger I am and I give a proper apology, he'll be mine. "
Blaferis laid his ears back but before he got a word in a panther came up to them. "Listen up," he yelled and got their attention. "The rules are simple. No weapons, only element and hand to hand. If you go outside the ring you lose. You go till you tap out or can't fight, which I will intervene if I see that there is no chance that you will win and keep you from further injury. Any questions?" The two said nothing, Blaferis glaring at the horse while the Ocrim still had his smirk on his face. "Alright then, on my mark." The panther held his hand out between the two fighters and in a flash he took off running in the opposite direction. "Set, go!" he yelled as he dove out of the ring.
Ocrim quickly stomped his hoof onto the ground and the ground exploded where Blaferis was standing. "To easy." He said, as the dirt fell down. The horse smirk fell when he seen Blaferis doing multiple backflips and was making distance between them. The wolf landed on his foot paws and placed his hand paws in his pockets. "You think distance is a problem for me." The horse reached out and made a fist. The ground around the wolf quickly started to rise up but fell back down. With a gasp the horse clenched his throat and was struggling.
Blaferis was started to slowly walk up to the horse while pulling out one of his paws, he rose his paw up and everyone watched as the horse's hooves were lifted up off the ground. He was kicking and gasping for air.
The wolf got right up to the horse and placed his paw on the ice that had formed around the horse's throat. "Listed here equine, I don't give a damn if you go and try to be friends with Phillip. It's not my place to stop anyone from being his friends." The wolf growled and showed his fangs, Blaferis could sense the fear the horse was giving off. "But if I ever see that look of pain in his eyes like I seen last night I swear that I will kill you." He thrust his paw against the ice hard and made it shattered, forcing the horse to fly backwards and tumble out of the arena.
Blaferis heard that ref declare him the winner, he took a deep breath before he started to walk out of the arena. He looked up and intently his ears dropped against his head when he seen Phillip standing with another wolf, he didn't need to read the boy to know that he was worried. Like a puppy that knew he did something wrong he kept his eyes on the ground and his tail between his legs, he slowly walked over to the kid.
"What was that about?" Padreion asked.
Blaferis looked up to the boy as best as he could. "I didn't want to see him hurt like last night again." He said quietly.
Phillip just shook his head and moved closer to the wolf so he could wrap his arms around him. "Thanks, I think he got the message now." Blaferis hugged him back softly to not give the boy more pain from his injuries.
The rest of the day Phillip watched the wolf fight and shouted encouragement, Padreion took him to go eat lunch and dinner. "So what are your plans for this evening?" The wolf asked while munching on a bone from his stake.
Phillip shrugged. "I don't know kind of didn't really think about it. There is so much going on though."
The wolf laughed. "Yeah, it's always like this during the celebrations."
"What are your plans?"
The wolf smiled and leaned back in his seat. "I was actually going to call it a night."
"Oh..." Phillip said while his gaze went down to his plate.
Padreion chuckled and sat back forward. "If you want you can come with me back to my tent?"
Phillip smiled and looked back up to the wolf. "You sure?"
"Yeah, if you want though."
"Sure." Phillip said, the two got up and Padreion left the money for the meal on the table before they made their way over to where the wolf is currently staying, the sun was already setting and fires were started all around the camps. Padreion and Phillip sat around and talked with the other anthros, sharing stories or having advice being tossed at the human. The talk eventually went over to the human and bonding.
"Any guesses on who might bond?" A lion sitting across from the boy asked.
Phillip shook his head. "I don't know, there are a lot of friends I like."
Everyone around the fire started to laugh. "That's good kid, but it's not always that easy." The lion continued when he was able to settle down to speak. "All it takes is a small contact or hello and you could bond at that moment."
Phillip looked somewhat surprised. "So I could bond to you right now?" the lion nodded his head.
"Put it this way." Padreion moved closer to Phillip and moved his paw out, Phillip watched to see the smoke from the fire moved to the wolf's paw and starts to swirl around. "Think of this as your inner self so to speak." The wolf reached down and picked up a hand full of dirt. "And this is everyone else." He held his paw full of dirt over the ball of air and dumped the earth in it. The moment the dirt made contact with the air the dirt swirled all around but was tossed into different directions. Phillip had to shield his face from some of the dirt, "Sorry." The wolf chuckled "But see, when you read us we are able to be part of you but not permanent, but if you meet that another anthro..." he held up his free paw and make another ball of smoke. "That's like you." He moved his paws together and the two balls of rotating smoke became one big ball. "Then you two will bond." The wolf let the smoke rise from his paws to rest them on his knees.
"That's the kid's version of it." The lion chuckled.
"So I have to find someone that I can most compatible to?" Phillip asked.
The wolf nodded a little. "In a way yes, but it also might not be you."
Phillip looked a little confused. "What do you mean?"
"It could be the anthro." The lion blurted out.
"That'd be fucked up." Another lion chuckled. "The boy's waiting to bond but the anthro isn't bonding to him."
"What does he mean?" Phillip asked.
Padreion sighed. "You could have bonded already but if the anthro has problems or is depressed or whatever the reason, the bonding could be delayed."
Phillip leaned forward and stared at the ground. "So I could have bonded already?"
The wolf shrugged. "Could have, might soon, or in months. No one really knows for sure. The bonding is a confusing thing."
"Yeah no shit." The boy chuckled.
They all talked a bit longer when the wolf seen the boy start to yawn. "You getting tired."
"Yeah, it's getting late. I should start heading back." The boy started to get up.
The lion that was now lounged on the ground chuckled. "Why don't you just stay the night here? Like you said, it's late."
"Thanks but I think it's best if I go back to my barracks."
Padreion quickly stood up. "You sure. You can stay here you know."
"Thanks but I have no bedding or a change of clothes."
The other lion chuckled. "The cloths you have on is fine and you can sleep with the wolf."
Phillip's cheeks turned bright red. "I...I"
"If you don't want too, I understand." The wolf said in a whisper. "I'll take you back to your barracks."
Phillip stood looking at the wolf for a moment. "You want me to stay the night don't you?"
"Of course I do." The wolf chuckled.
Phillip smiled but let out a sigh 'I have to stop losing to these guys.' He thought and nodded to the wolf. Padreion's tail started to wag as he escorted the boy into the tent and to where he sleeps. Phillip looked over at some of the other spots that already had sleeping anthros. "You going to bed too?" he asked.
The wolf nodded. "Yeah, I'll keep you company."
Padreion helped Phillip out of his shirt and pants, after the boy slipped under the covers he watched as the wolf slipped his own clothing off till he was in his loin cloth. The wolf slipped under the blankets and instantly wrapped his arms around the boy. Phillip actually smiled and moved closer so that his back was against the wolf's chest.
"Padreion?" Phillip asked quietly.
"Hmm." The wolf grunted.
Phillip wrapped his hands around the wolf's thick arms. "Do you want to bond to me too?"
The wolf let out a big sigh and pushed his head against the back of the boy's. "I'm going to be honest, yes I do but no matter who you bond to, I'll still be your friend."
Phillip rolled over so now they were face to face, "Thanks." The wolf smiled and leaned forward to give the boy a lick on the cheek before laying his head back down. 'Who am I going to be bonded too?' was the only thing running through the boy's head and the thought of all the anthros he knows and how it could be.
To be continued....