There was mumbling coming from his cracked lips by the time he woke up, dry and incoherent sounds scraping out of his throat. A part of him felt like he had just clawed his way back from a nightmare, one that still clung to his skin like cold sweat.
Leo pulled himself up to his feet and assessed his surroundings. For some unknown reason, he could tell his vision was sharper than it had ever been before. Everything looked clearer, painfully so, every edge defined, every shadow heavier. He could tell he was in the small, one-room apartment he currently resided in within Glory Base.
But there was a dissonance in the air that was palpable, thick and wrong. His room, which he had always liked to keep clean, was now a complete mess, as if something violent had passed through it.
The pot and pan he frequently used to cook whatever scraps he managed to salvage from his hunts were split cleanly into two pieces, almost like they had been severed by something sharp and merciless. He had to admit they were old, worn thin by years of use, but still manageable. Seeing them in pieces almost made him shed a tear, a strange ache twisted in his chest.
His breath left him, cold and raspy. His dark eyes flickered slightly as if trying to comprehend the picture right before him.
It had been hard to see earlier because the moonlight, which barely used to trickle into his room, was now shining down brightly, bathing everything in a pale, unforgiving glow.
Leo jumped up in shock and regretted it immediately. His body swayed, his balance failed him, and he toppled back to the ground with a dull thud. "Dammit, why is it night time? Did I sleep through the whole day?"
Cold air entered through the window, crawling along his skin and making the room far colder than it had been just seconds ago, carrying with it a scent that felt unfamiliar and sharp.
There was an odd sense of self stirring within his soul. He tried to think hard about what had happened, forcing his thoughts to line up, but the last thing he could remember was entering his room and shutting the door behind him. Nothing more came to mind. One more look around his room left him even more troubled.
He quickly realized that it wasn't just his favoured pot and pan that had been destroyed-- his entire room was a wreck. The beautiful auburn curtain he had, the one that reminded him faintly of home, had been torn down and shredded. The futon he slept on had been ripped apart haphazardly, stuffing spilling out like exposed organs. His heart grew louder within his chest, beating slowly and heavily as his mind struggled to catch up.
The most visible signs of all this chaos were what he assumed to be claw marks-- or perhaps scratches. They scarred everything, from the walls to the curtains to the bed, deep grooves carved with savage intent.
"I've got to be seeing things, right?" he groaned as he massaged his temples, trying desperately to relieve the growing pressure in his head.
"This makes no damn sense."
There had never been reports of a beast breaking into a secure base. Even if one somehow managed it, the strong factions and mercenary groups would have killed it long before it ever breached the iron gates.
Leo inspected every inch of his room, desperate to find any sign of a forced entry, but there was none. No broken locks. No shattered windows. "Nothing adds up, why does nothing add up?" He launched his fist into the wall in frustration, and almost immediately, he heard a sound.
A dull crack echoed.
His eyebrows stretched thin as he took a step back to inspect the damage. A small crack had formed in the wall, thin but unmistakable. "Curses, the landlord will have my head for this." As angry as he was, he forced himself to restrain the urge to hit anything else.
Something caught his eye then. He turned toward the window where the cold wind blew in freely, revealing the vast expanse of blackness outside, dotted with billions of white points labeling the night sky. His gaze passed over all of it and finally settled on the full moon. He couldn't explain why, but he felt drawn to it, like something inside him recognized it.
He slowly slipped into a trance-like state, his eyes reflecting the moon's cold glow. His stomach grumbled again, but this wasn't hunger-- not entirely. There was something else, something alive, pulsing violently through his blood.
His heart began to race like a train on full throttle. He could tell something was happening to him, a shift. His blood boiled, and whatever churned in his stomach began crawling upward into his lungs-- with alarming ferocity. It felt like being punctured by a million needles dipped in molten fire.
Leo was no longer in control of his body. His body was in control of him. He felt that if he held back whatever was clawing its way out any longer, he would die.
His ears twitched.
He could hear hundreds of hearts beating all around him. He could hear blood rushing through veins, thick and rhythmic. He was no longer existing by knowledge, nor by will, but by pure, unadulterated instinct.
The strange thing forcing its way up his lungs reached the back of his throat. His body opened up, reverberating violently, his chest expanding unnaturally. His eyes never once left the moon. He felt his instincts feeding on its image, growing with unfathomable speed, his body basking hungrily in its pale rays.
And like a dam bursting, it broke.
All the noises in the world quieted.
All the heartbeats stopped.
His mouth opened wide, revealing huge, monstrous fangs dripping with strings of warm viscous saliva. A loud, guttural roar tore free from his throat, raw and primal. Veins bulged from his neck, so large they threatened to explode. His nails elongated into dark, jagged claws. His ears sharpened and stretched outward, growing pointed by several inches. His eyes ignited with an eerie glow, turning into a bright, unnatural purple.
His roar echoed through every corner of Glory Base, sending waves of panic through the sleeping city. People jolted awake, confusion and terror mixing on their faces. Some hunters summoned their weapons immediately, convinced a beast had invaded the base. Hearing such a sound so deep into the night was… deeply unsettling.
The roar slowly twisted into a long, haunting howl that rolled across Glory Base like a curse. That night, everyone feared the beast that had broken into what was believed to be a safe haven for superhuman hunters. What started as town-wide panic quickly turned into a coordinated full-scale hunt. The Hands of War mercenaries mobilized almost immediately, with the Surge military group close behind.
They stormed the streets first, before conducting a brutal house-to-house search.
Leo slowly came back to his senses after several harrowing seconds.
His nerves relaxed, his breathing steadied. Despite the chaos he had unleashed, he felt good-- ecstatic even. All the stress from earlier was gone, washed away completely. It felt like he had just been reborn. Every strange feature he had displayed moments ago had vanished, as if none of it had ever happened.
Seconds passed, and all he could do was stand there, staring up at the moon in disbelief. "What-- did I just do?" he asked the moon as if it were to blame, but the moon remained silent.
Leo was burdened by questions rather than answers-- no, that wasn't right. He had no answers at all.
The voice of the sphere came a second later, its timing disturbingly perfect. He heard it inside his head, smooth and almost mocking.
[ALERT: System Assimilation… Complete.]
[Unauthorized bloodline accepted.]
[Reconfiguring host…]
[Legacy of the Dire Wolf has been forcibly implanted.]
[WARNING: Core Pathway Corruption at 100%]
Leo bit down hard on his lower lip, drawing blood from it, and cursed under his breath. "Curses… what did that old man really do to me?"
His hand reached for where he had been bitten and rubbed it nervously.
The voice of the sphere returned, this time laced with unmistakable sarcasm.
[A new legacy has been attained.]
[Legacy Name: The Cursed Dire Wolf.]
[Legacy Description: Cursed by the daughter of the moon. Apollo, defiled and shamed, became the beast of the night. His curse is now yours to carry.]
Leo's legs gave out. His breath seized as he collapsed onto the floor, landing heavily on his backside. His eyes trembled, unfocused, as the words sank in.
The realization slipped from his mouth in a broken whisper.
"It's a damn legacy."