My mind felt like it had exploded. Thoughts swirled like a storm, and the very next moment...…. I was back!
Back inside the cave of trials.
The world around me slowly returned to focus. The faint, cold air of the cave touched my skin, grounding me. And right there, standing over me, was the Guardian Wolf.
His huge white body towered beside me, but the moment our eyes met, he looked less like the divine sentinel of the cave… and more like an excited puppy waiting for a treat.
He leaned in, eyes wide with anticipation.
"Did you meet Him?" he asked, voice trembling slightly. "Did you meet Him?"
I blinked at him, trying to process everything I'd just experienced. My head was still spinning. The divine pressure, the godly laughter, the weight of what I'd learned... clung to me like fog.
I gave him a tired smile and waved a hand.
"Yeah… I met Him. That's one experience I'll never forget."
The Guardian's tail gave a small wag as if he'd just heard the juiciest gossip of the century.
"So… what now?" he asked.
I took a deep breath and sat up slowly.
"Well, now I go back to the city," I said, "There's a lot I've learned from the Wolf God. And a lot I have to do before the other gods react."
The Guardian tilted his head.
I continued, "I've pissed off the entire Human Domain. The gods might not be able to descend directly into the mortal realm, but they can still do what the Wolf God did for me. They can give mortals powers. Systems. Weapons. Artifacts. And if they're smart, they'll give them to people strong enough to kill me."
"So…" the Guardian said, voice quieter now, "you're going back to prepare?"
"Yeah," I replied. "To protect myself. And to start laying down plans for the future."
He gave a small nod and said warmly, "Then travel safely, brother."
"Thanks." I smiled, then reached behind me. "Oh, before I go…"
I gently lifted the sleeping cub from my chest and held her out.
The Guardian's eyes widened slightly as the little wolf stirred and slowly opened her eyes, gazing up at him with innocent curiosity.
I expected the Guardian to reclaim her, maybe scold me for taking her without permission. But instead, he looked at the cub... then at me.
Then he smiled.
"You know what, Gray?" he said, tail swaying slightly. "Take her with you."
"What?" I blinked. "Why?"
He sighed and sat back on his haunches.
"That cub… she's not just any wolf. She's a few months old at most, but she's already reached Alpha level. That doesn't happen unless the bloodline is extraordinary...likely blessed by the Wolf God himself."
I glanced down at the cub, who now nestled closer to me, still calm in my arms.
"She was with you when you entered the realm of the gods," the Guardian continued. "That's enough for the Wolf God's protection to fall upon her. That alone… completed her trial."
"But she didn't do anything," I said, confused. "She just… waited outside."
The Guardian looked at me with a sad, knowing expression.
"She stood there alone. In the snow. Trembling beneath the god's statue. No parents. No pack. No one to guide her. And yet she stayed. She waited. She faced the divine cold and didn't run. That, to me, was more than enough."
His eyes hardened slightly.
"If she leaves this cave now, on her own, she'll die. The world is cruel. Even with Alpha power, she's still just a child. She can't form a pack. She has no guidance. She'll be hunted down, or worse."
He looked at me earnestly.
"You were once a snow wolf too, weren't you? Do you remember how it felt when you were small? When no one stood beside you?"
I stared at the little cub in my arms.
Yeah. I remembered.
Too well.
"She's not strong enough yet," the Guardian said softly. "But with time, care… and your protection… she could become something incredible. Maybe even your strongest ally."
I looked at the Guardian suspiciously for a moment. He was being a little too persuasive. My instincts stirred, sensing something off. But… no ill will came from him. His aura was warm, calm. Trustworthy.
I nodded.
"Alright. I'll take her."
I stood slowly, letting the cub rest against my shoulder.
Then I turned back. "Actually… I'll bring my entire family with me. They might look like beasts or monsters to others…..but they're mine. They're my people."
The thought made me pause.
Where would I even house them?
They couldn't live in a mansion like humans. They needed open space. Forest. Territory. A natural environment.
I sighed and made a note to expand my estate once I got back...build a habitat for them within the city, a sanctuary inside the mansion grounds. It'd take effort, but it'd be worth it.
With that, I stepped out of the cave.
Meanwhile, in the God Realm…
The Wolf God sat atop a grand cushion, woven from divine silk....softer than clouds, warmer than sun-kissed fur. It looked like cotton, but felt like the embrace of heaven itself.
His massive body was draped in quiet stillness. Eyes closed. Breathing steady.
But then, something shifted.
His golden eyes snapped open....pupils black as coal, swirling with the depth of an endless abyss. The whites of his eyes weren't white at all, but molten gold, as if fire and crystal fused into divinity.
He narrowed his gaze.
He had seen something.
A ripple in the world.
And then… he smiled. Softly. Darkly.
"Kid… you bit the bait."
He laughed.
A low, rumbling laugh that built into a roar.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You actually bit it!"
His laughter shook the clouds around him, rippling through the God Realm like thunder.
"This...…this is the one thing I've waited eons for. The one joke cruel enough to change the very face of this world. The gods will sh*t themselves trying to stop it...….HAHAHAHA!"
He rolled onto his back, howling with laughter.
"And those Human Gods… oh, they have no idea what's coming. This kid… he's going to be the curse they never saw coming. A parasite they can't kill. A domain born from nothing, infecting the system they built with their fragile egos."
Then, his tone dropped.
Softer. But no less dangerous.
"F**k you all… each and every one of you arrogant bastards."
He stared into the horizon—beyond what any mortal or god could see.
"Today… I've planted the seed of something that will destroy the balance of everything. The laws. The realms. Everything will be so Fuckked Up that even i can't believe."
His golden eyes gleamed.
"I've created something none of you can control. Not even me."
This Wolf God, a divine being feared across realms, wasn't famous for power alone. His true strength was in his mind. His mastery of artifacts, his ability to craft divine systems and objects no other god could replicate. His greatest masterpiece… was the system Gray now held.
It had taken him soulless years.....millennia of planning...…to create a system that could operate like a god.
A system that ignored the rules of gods and mortals alike.
A weapon disguised as a tool.
Not just to empower… but to reshape.
And now, his creation had taken root.
He had always known that no god could rewrite the rules of the world. Not truly. Not from within.
But a foreign soul? A being born outside the system?
That… could change everything.
And so, he waited.
Smiling.
Watching.
Letting the tree grow, branch by branch, until it would bear the fruit he needed.
And once it did—
He would take that fruit… and ascend beyond even the gods who mocked him.
He closed his eyes again, and slowly… the Wolf God drifted into a divine slumber.
A slumber that might last for a thousand years.
But in his dreams, he laughed.
"This… this right here… is the one thing I've waited eons for. Not centuries. Not millennia. EONS. I've watched entire civilizations rise and fall like ants building sandcastles, all while choking back this laugh.....this cursed, divine laughter.......for this moment."
"The punchline of a cosmic joke so cruel, so devastatingly perfect, it will shatter the delicate glass ego of every smug, hypocritical, self-righteous god sitting on their holy thrones."
"And they won't be able to stop it. No, they'll panic. They'll rage. They'll cry to each other in fear and desperation while their temples burn and their worshipers start praying to a new name...a name that I planted, that I nurtured, and that they will never be able to erase."
"This… this little mortal brat.......they'll label him an anomaly, an infection, a threat to divinity itself. But the truth? He's my masterpiece."
"The one virus I slipped through their firewall. The living, breathing middle finger I carved out of fate itself."
"And now? Now they're going to sht themselves. Not metaphorically. I mean it. The entire Human God Pantheon is going to collectively sht divine bricks trying to put out a wildfire that started from a fing matchstick* I lit just for fun!"**
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!"