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The land in front of the new alpha weredog was an expanse of bleak ash covered fields that were covered in a dense clouds filled with smoke laden air. In the distance stood a domineering volcano that spewed burning crimson lava from its heights down the side of the mountain and into a deep crevice that went on into oblivion. Under his paws the ground was dry and brittle from the lack of both sun and rain but Kendric ignored his discomfort to try and understand what was going on. A muzzle probed his side and the alpha looked to see Isaiah staring at him with questions brimming in his eyes.

Nuzzling the wereCollie, Ken watched as the rest of his pack came out to stand by his side while looking at their new surroundings. Each weredog had a different expression on his face that ranged from bewilderment to excitement. Having never been in such a intriguing world before and seeing the new sights while taking in new scents made some curious while others wary, but everyone ended up gazing to Kendric for an explanation. Ken shook his head before he took a step forward and tested his paws on the gray earth and then another and another until he was making his way slowly towards the burning volcano in his wake. The rest of the pack filed in line and trailed after their alpha, all the while not knowing what to say or do but everyone trusting Ken implicitly.

The journey took the pack for miles as the nearer they got to their destination the farther the trek seemed to take. No one opened their muzzles to say anything, as a heavy aura seemed to wrap over Kendric silencing even the rumbling bursts of magma coming from the volcano. Moving along with his ears down and his tail hung low, Ken steadily made his way while the fur on the back of his neck seemed to rise with every step he took.

Ezekiel was brimming with questions and vexation as he watched the weredog/mage's tail wave around agitatedly from behind the alpha but every time he opened his muzzle to ask something a stern growl from behind him made the former alpha go silent. Turning to glare at Isaiah, the wolfhound mixed weredog huffed at the collie while keeping his muzzle shut.

Isaiah could sense the importance and the ire rising from within in Kendric and it made the beta of the pack nervous. He was very sure that Ken's natural demeanor was not orientated to being so...unsure. Something was wrong and whatever it was had the alpha scared in a bad way. Though on the outside, everything seemed to be okay, but inside, Isaiah could tell. As beta, it was his job to tell the moods of the pack and to help them whenever and however he could so keeping Ezekiel out of Kendric's fur was the best way until the alpha was ready to tell them what was bothering him.

Three hours later the pack found themselves at the base of the volcano and stopped when Ezekiel bumped into Ken's rear causing a domino effect leading everyone to become aquatinted with each other in a rather...personal way. Groans and yips could be heard as the pack scattered away from each other while trying to see what was wrong in the front.

"You mind?" Ken said as he turned to Ezekiel, the chilly bite of his voice made the larger male back up and sit on his haunches in reverence.

Once the rest of the pack was situated around Ken in a small semicircle, the weredogs watched Ken as he sniffed the ground before shaking his head and then sitting stock-still. A red glow brimmed from his fur and the pack's fur bristled at the electric feeling striking through the air around them. Soon enough the sensation faded and everyone calmed down accept for Ken who snarled and dribbled small droplets of drool from the sides of his muzzle onto the ground.

"Why would that idiot be here?!" the new alpha ran into the base of the mountain and just disappeared.

The pack looked between themselves, as no one could understand what just happened. Ezekiel was the first to move as he sniffed where Ken had been and then padded the front of the stone faced cliff. His paw phased through the front of the mountain inside to a cool space before the former alpha pulled back. The claws and fur on his leg and foot seemed to be alright so Ezekiel pressed his paw back inside and then his entire leg before taking a single step forward, followed by another. The others gaped as their second alpha disappeared the same as Kendrick and then breathed a sigh when a blue and gray shaggy head peaked back out.

A single nod brought Isaiah and the others to his side and once inside of the mountain they found themselves in a dark cavern. The pack had to focus their vision for a moment to accommodate themselves to the pitch-black darkness but once they did everything became just a bit clearer. While they may have been inside of a volcano the inner sanctum of the heated mountain was cool to the point of being cold while the ground under their paws was damp and muddy. Isaiah was the first to notice voices coming from up ahead and soon the all the pack had cocked their ears to listen to the sounds coming at them.

"IDOIT!!!" Ken's clearly ranted.

"Big for you to say! Look at you!" another person said in contrast.

Like a shot, the pack ran off at hearing their alpha's angered voice and came up to find the weredog growling and barking at a strange young man floating a mere foot above the ground while scowling down at Ken. The person in question had long white hair flowing down to his narrow shoulders while wearing a long cream colored robe and a pair of dark slacks underneath, sandals covered his clawed feet while a long serpentine tail wagged around angrily behind the creature. Clearly the youth wasn't a normal human but what he was was a mystery to the pack, as the only other supernatural creatures they had been privy to were werewolves, vampires, and the occasional ghost that haunted the city back on Earth.

"Jamerick, I always knew you had rocks for brains but even you should know better than this! What's wrong with you?!" Kendric had his tail raised in the air and his ears slapped down across his skull while his white fangs glimmered from the sides of his muzzle.

"That's none of your business wolf boy! And just what right do you have to judge me?" the serpent tailed youth shouted back while waving a long staff in his manicured hands.

"My right came when you lost your mind! Have you gone mad or do you not know what's inside of this place?" Ken's voice was sharp as he tried to belittle the other but there was something else there as well...

"It's because of that that I came! Not like I could wait for you to come and save us oh Great One! Someone had to do something or else the entire world could go up in smoke!" Jamerick crossed his arms over his chest as he turned away from Ken and huffed out loud before a biting comment from the alpha made him snap his head around and stomp closer to Ken.

Both males were face to muzzle with each other in seconds and neither relented as they showed off long fangs to one another in a challenge of dominance. If Ezekiel and Ken were less than civil around each other than these two were almost at war. Sparks cracked from Jen's fur while the white haired boy's tail lashed at the ground, smashing down upon the rocks and leaving small craters in its wake.

It took Kenneth the wereLabrador, woofing quietly to Isaiah in question to turn the arguing duo's attention towards Kenneth causing the Labrador folded in on himself while trying to make himself seem smaller than he was.

"Look I don't have time for this. You should go back and stay out of my way and keep your little doggies with you!" Jamerick taunted before he raced off into the cavern. The last thing that could be seen of him was his wagging white tail leading into a dark cavern up ahead.

"Wait!" Kendrick tried to shout but the other was long gone before he could get another word through and the alpha just clicked his teeth together in disgust before calming and turning towards his packmates.

"Sorry about running off but...I needed to stop him.." Ken was about to follow after Jamerick's trail when something held onto his tail causing the former human to swirl his head backwards and look down.

"Yes?" Ken asked of Zeek, one of the German shepherds who happened to be tugging on his tail.

When the mage/weredog spoke the offender released him and then sat back down with the others while getting an approving nod from Ezekiel.

"Where you go, we go. That's pack law when it comes to things like this Ken. I realize that this may be odd or even aggravating at times, but this is the way the pack works." Isaiah reminded the new alpha.

"This is not a game Isaiah. Not only is this place much too dangerous for you but me as well, current form withstanding. This volcano is filled with all sorts of monsters and not to mention that idiot Jamerick running around with that staff of mine. I can't believe he got that from my house! Little bastard broke into my chest and got it out without my permission. Gonna make him pay later on." Ken began to mutter to himself while promising dire retribution on the impudent little punk.

"Regardless of the situation at hand, this is a foreign land to us and we would be better off staying with you. There isn't much of anything around here to hunt with the land so barren and should something happen to you what would happen to the pack? You said yourself that this place was dangerous, did you not? So shouldn't that mean that traveling in greater numbers assure the highest chance of survival, if not just for your sake than ours as well?" The werecollie was making so many good points that Kendrick couldn't find any avenue to argue and looked at Ezekiel with disbelief clouding his face.

The wolfhound weredog just shook his head before staring at Ken remorselessly. Trying to find some measure of backup from the other members of the pack proved to be a fruitless effort since everyone from Kenneth to Zeek and Zan were in accordance with Isaiah. Kendrick sighed as he bowed his head and curled his tail around his waist before nodding and sighing. The pack, with the exception of Ezekiel and Isaiah, surrounded the alpha and licked his face and muzzle in joy before barking out and wagging their tails.

"Alright. All right. Just, come on and don't stray. If this is your first time having to fight and kill, then you better learn really quickly." Looking to where the white haired boy had gone off to Ken knew that he was going to regret this.

The pack was briefed about what kind of creatures lived inside of the cavern and told what to watch out for before they set off but the reality was very different. As the pack traveled deeper into the darkness the almost endless black gave way to flaring passageways surrounded with molten lava pools and bursting flames coming from the ground up. The cavern itself was made from spirits of both fire and air, that was the reason the inside was cool enough not scald anything as the tricky wind elementals surrounded incomers with their magic shielding them from the heat, for the most part. Since steeping into one of the large lakes of lava on either side of the walkway they traversed on would still kill any weredog in a matter of minutes, Ken had everyone file into a single line behind him and had everyone keep check on the others in front and in back of them.

As the nine weredogs made their way into the depths of the volcano they were greeted with the sights of beasts that looked to be crossed with both animal and magick. Salamander looking creatures that spit out flames from their mouths at each other in play slithered and skulked on the ground as solid orbs of bright flaming red hovered overhead while shooting spheres of crimson fire out into the walls of the cave causing them to explode. Miniature Cyclops wielded hammers and clubs and swung them in feign attacks at each other while growling and roaring in shows of strength.

Ken felt his blood run cold as he thought about taking these things on with his packmates and looked behind him into the faces of his kin. How desperately he wanted to tell them to go back and wait for him but determined gazes pierced at his heart making him sigh and relent his pleas before they were born. This was what it meant to be a leader, something he never wanted to do again, but unlike before Ken didn't have the luxury of his full magickal powers while in his dog form, or the prior knowledge of his comrades abilities. He would have to trust in them as they did in him and back them up with all the prowess he had inside of him.

'I'm not going to let anything happen to them. I swear it on my life!' the alpha vowed.

Muttering to the others and organizing their attack strategies by pairing the pack up into twos, Ken prayed for the best and charged into battle with his ears pressed forward on his head and his tail raised high into the air.

"GO!!!!!!!!!" Ken shouted as he and the pack made their way out from their hiding place and into the foray of monsters.

Despite previous fears, the weredogs worked together to time their attacks against the monsters with tooth and claw all the while Ken got into position to use his limited magick to aid the others. Walking and running may have been easy with practice but battle was trickery for the alpha but Ezekiel or one of the others aided Kendric as he cast his spells and took down as many more difficult monsters as he could.

Fur was cindered and burnt in some places but that was the most of the damage done on the pack's side of the fight as their enemies fell before them one after another. Kendrick's casting abilities were especially useful between healing the more serious damage done by their opponents whenever one of the pack got struck or using plasma lined bullets made with the blessing of the wind spirits helped to kill off the fire attributed entities and sickles of wind slashed into the fiery magickal orbs floating around up top, dissipating them into embers. Every time a monster would get too close to one of his brothers, Ken would change the direction of his attack spells to pummel the creatures and then return to his previous enemy while keeping watchful eyes on the status of his packmates.

The salamanders were the easiest to take out since their bodies were mostly flesh and bone and ripped easily in the jaws of the German shepherds and the Labradors. Their muzzles held tight and tore into the soft flesh while the monsters veered the course of their attacks and tried to slither and crawl closer to others who were a little busy with their own opponents to pay attention. Before the scaly spawn could get close however, they would be swallowed up by strong shots of electricity that materialized out of the air and be burned alive.

The Cyclops were harder to get rid of as they swung with deadly accuracy, cutting the fur from the weredogs that got too close. It was in those moments when their attacks seemed to be ineffectual that Ezekiel proved that he hadn't been an alpha just because he was the biggest but also the fiercest. The wolfhound charged into the fray with the larger creatures and got in between their attacks and bit deep into flesh while hanging onto the one eyed monsters and getting support from those of the pack that could take the Cyclops down from underneath.

The hulking beasts went down with loud and resounding crashes where they were then mauled to death by the pack members who were weren't fighting at the time and left to bleed to death as entrails and other pieces of intestines were shown to the outside world. When one set of creatures was dispatched the pack moved on with bloodied fur and adrenaline pumped blood as they followed behind Ken into the volcanic mountain. Small hordes of monsters blocked the weredogs way but each was dealt with the same strategy as the last until finally Ken and the others were caught up with Jamerick.

In a flash of light and verse upon verse of arcane words, the young white haired teen raised the staff in his hands and cried out sending waves of green energy into the cavern. Monsters caught in this light roared and bellowed before they were turned to ash and then swept away into pits of boiling magma. Jamerick hovered over the ground and cheered to himself before his body slumped down and sweat dripped from his back soaking his robe. Faint grumbles could be heard by the pack coming from farther along and everyone stopped just a few feet from the serpent-tailed mage before Ken walked up and nosed the boy. Jamerick yelped before he turned and aimed a staff with an emerald jewel encased at its tip at the alpha's muzzle before lowering it and glaring at Kendric.

"What are you doing here?!" Jamerick yelled.

"Cleaning up the mess you made and trying to stop you from getting into trouble. You don't know how to use that tool with the necessary precision. That's why you've been having such trouble. Give it back and go home. This isn't a game Jamerick." Ken calmly stated.

"What do you know?! I can handle this thing just fine!" the young man ran off with a petulant snort and turn of his head making Ken yell out after him.

"That idiot..." Ken shook his head before a yell and a ground-shaking roar made the pack's fur bristle.

Not wasting any time, the pack ran towards the sound and found Jamerick panicking and waving the staff in his hand around at the monster in front of him. The creature was a large as a two story house with lava covering him everywhere possible, it truly was just a set of eyes that stared out of a molten body of rock and heated rock but it had large arm like appendages protruding from both sides of its body and reaching out for Jamerick. Ken yelled for the white haired teen to get back but the mage was frozen in shock as he looked at the tentacle like hands reaching out for him.

As the thing was almost touching the scared youth, Jamerick cried out and curled into a ball before something knocked him out of the way and landed on top of him, just in time as the monster's molten appendages swept over the ground where the serpent tailed teen had been.

The white haired boy looked up to see a black muzzle panting over him and then up further to a set of amber eyes that were attached to an angular head. Trying to say something got Jamerick a lick on the face and the white haired youth tossed the staff still in his grasp outwards in order to whip his face off. Kendric watched as his treasure landed by his feet and thanked whatever deity was watching over him before picking it up in his jaws and then chanting a spell through the weapon. The emerald stone glowed with a burning aura that outshined the monster's burning body before the entire area was covered in green light.

In the next second, when the flash of power had settled, the lava born monster had solidified and hardened to become that of stone. His body had locked into the rocks behind him and all that could be seen was a mouth like feature protruding from the wall with two large arms by its side. Ken dropped the staff from his muzzle and then hit the heated ground with a thump as he panted and huffed in exhaustion. The members of his pack that weren't currently watching the rocks with suspicion moved over to the alpha's side and nuzzled his face before everyone came to Ken in a group nuzzle. The tired alpha mage laughed and accepted the affection with good grace before he stood up on wobbly legs and went over to check on Jamerick.

The young man was sniffing and trying hard to fight the tears in his eyes but an innocent flow of silver cascaded down his pale face onto the ground. Ken watched the white haired boy for a moment and then licked his tears. Kenneth bounded up and intercepted the alpha's tongue with his own as he yipped and whined in the green tailed youth's face to comfort him.