Friday Morning, September 21st, 546 ALW. Fennur's Heart, North-Eastern Glacial Regions. ….
Mothers words lit a fire inside of Konan. A Fire that burned so hot it made him sweat. Even as he sat on the frozen and snowcrusted outer top-side of the Howling-Frost Pack's cave.
Valleys of white stretched for miles.
Glaciers rocked and swayed in slush oceans to the east and west. Under the warm but distant sunlight, they cracked, sending roaring echoes in all directions.
If Konan squinted, he could see the clouds go darker further south. The snow below did the same, shifting from clean whites to muted grays. Like Mother's hair.
"If you don't want any more deaths, then shouldn't you do something about it?"
Her words echoed in his brain.
Nuwetara sat beside him as he rested on a smooth rock.
"Let's do something." Konan said before digging the Eye of the Explorer out of his hide skirt belt-lining.
The spherical black piece of mysterious tech was scratched and dented from the fight against Berkaal.
His anxieties heightened as he eyed the bizzare technology. If it was broken, he had no shot at getting back what his friend had lost. He had no chance to prevent those deaths he spoke about with Mother. He'd have to pray that he was lucky enough to find a map inside the cave. But part of him had a strong feeling he shouldn't let any of them know what he planned to do.
That he didn't plan on staying any longer.
Sulekha wouldn't like it. And angering her wasn't enjoyable. Even less enjoyable than her deeply intrinsic questions that made him uneasy about the details of himself.
Or lack thereof.
So, he had few options and many hopes. All as he held the sphere.
He took a deep breath and pressed his thumb against the finger-printed groove.
Lights flickered and beeped in the core of the eye before flashing red and sending a shocking blast into Konan's finger.
Like before, he felt the energy whizz through him with a violent surge. He pushed with an equal force of his own from within.
When he opened his eyes, the lights flickered blue and the halographic screen blipped to life.
For a second, it was aimless static.
"Server Unreachable.... Data-Domain Encrypted...Searching…. Locating…. Connecting to Server…."
The screen switched and suddenly the blinking trail along the desolate map was back online.
They were so much further away.
Over double the previous distance.
Konan growled. But the fire didn't fade in the face of ice cold new truths.
"Nothing changes, Nuwe." Konan said as he itched the fur behind the felines left ear as she sat beside him.
"Sure it does! Things change all the time!" A young voice interrupted suddenly.
"Well that depends on the context of your assessment. And your definition of change. And—"
"Ru! Shut-up, man."
Konan jumped to his feet, trying to click away the map and shove the eye of the explorer into his belt lining again. In his haste, he dropped the orb once before catching it and shoving the trinket into his belt.
The twin werewolves arrived, previously in the middle of some petty argument before eyeing Konan.
They wore their usual marked wrappings from head to toe and fox hides but now dragged along forty foot long metal planks.
"What you got there, Konan?" Makari— also known as Maka, asked with an evil smile brightening his face.
"Nothing." Konan replied.
Makari and Zehru sideeyed eachother.
Zehru spoke first, "Wai—"
"LIAR FIREPANTS!" Makari roared. His curled locs burst into flame as he took off after Konan. His footprints left puddles of melted snow in his wake.
"Hey, wait—"
Makari threw his metal plank over Konan. It fell down the hill making up the backend of the massive pack cave.
He heard it land as Makari tackled him and sent them flying off the edge. The only reason Konan didn't react appropriately is because when Makari's hand touched him, a wicked shock of energy rippled through his body. Like the eye of the explorer but maximized a dozen times over. It gripped and shook his entire nervous system as they fell down the ice hill.
The world screamed.
He gazed at the sky and found his vision pushing past the clouds and into the dark of space beyond. He could smell burning sulfur and alchemized blood pools from cities beyond the ice. It was like he was suddenly viewing the world from the skies as something much greater than a man.
Then they hit the ground. Something huffed from the sky.
Konan was snapped back into his senses. Goosebumps spread across his skin as he sat up. He was on the metal plank, surfing down the mountain of snow.
Makari sat in front of him as they rode backward down the slopes.
"Sorry, Koko….. I just wanted you to sled with us…. But…. What was that….?" Makari went to go itch his head but the current of electricity spinning around his finger popped him in the cheek, "Ahh! Hot!"
"Maka!"
Konan and Makari looked to their left and found Zehru surfing on his metal plank beside them with Nuwetara holding up the rear of the plank. She sat casually, eyes shut slightly from the winds as they picked up speed.
Zehru pointed ahead of them both, down the hill.
Konan turned and found it. He was so stunned, he didn't mind that Makari was screaming and laughing in excitement, causing the metal plank they rode on to drift and shake.
"HAHA!!! It's Spike! Hey buddy! Where you been at?" Makari yelled at the…..
"Spirit." Konan knew what it was.
Just like the Lycan's. The ghosts. Long dead and screaming their end.
But the thing running in front of them was different.
It looked like an antelope with dark thunder-cloud colored fur, six legs and antlers made of focused lightning. It's hoof-beats sounded like thunder.
"What is that…." Konan said aloud.
"It's Spike! He's our pet." Makari replied.
"Spike is a Beast-Spirit…. I forgot his real name. I've been slacking on my Lycanic Studies." Zehru explained.
"Beast-Spirit…. like Beast-Energy." Konan replied.
Zehru nodded as he cut left and steered closer to them, "Yea. But where Beast-Energy is something for you to use and learn from freely, Beast-Spirits are avatars of specific elements and lessons left in nature when man joined civilization…. It feels so wrong to explain this to a Lycan by the way."
"Lessons…." Konan could use a few of those. Ones that weren't near impossible to decipher at that.
"Yea! Like don't try to pet baby Berserker's no matter how cute they are. It's a trap." Makari replied as they picked up speed down the hill.
"Cub. Berserker cub." Zehru corrected before continuing, "I'm just quoting Mother. I don't know how the lessons hit us. Or you. Berkaal says the lessons are internalized as phobias— forcing us to listen out of energetic fear—"
"Berkaal is a crybaby! Spike wouldn't do us like that." Makari interrupted.
"How do I learn… these lessons." Konan watched the Beast-Spirit sprint down the hill ahead. Casually galloping at incredible speeds.
"Well…. Mother says Beast-Spirits come in two forms. Spike comes in the form of an antelope. So, Spike is a Prey-type Beast-Spirit. Which means—"
"I have to hunt the spirit." Konan said. He needed the lesson. He needed to learn. He needed to grow. It would help on his mission to Bio-Foundry Seven.
Makari looked over at him, "Yea….. but Spike is fast. Like really fast."
Konan looked down at his hands. Electrical currents of Beast-Energy spun and flowed in chaotic pulses after Makari's touch.
"I think I am too."