In the abandoned castle, Buck, Lycan, Gwendolyn, and Fenris were all sitting. They had just explained their plan to Fenris: the plan to journey into other worlds to locate a ritual to make one into an Alpha werewolf.


    "Now Fenris, I know you told me you were interested before, but after hearing everything, I need verbal confirmation from you."


    "Are you in?" Lycan asked. Fenris thought about it. It sounded insane; it was insane, but it also felt possible. No more running, no more just trying to survive. If they could pull this off, then they could actually fight back. He felt a type of excitement he had never felt before. Was this hope?


    "I''m in. Dammit, this entire thing sounds crazy, but I''m in," Fenris said.


    "YES! I knew you''d come around, friend. This calls for a celebration!" Buck said, getting off his seat.


    "Terrific," Gwendolyn said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Great, happy to have you, Fenris. We should start talking about the next steps for you," Lycan said.


    "But I have a few conditions," Fenris said. The room fell silent; this was unexpected.


    "Wow, you really are full of yourself," Gwendolyn said. "Conditions? We are offering this to you. We don''t need you. The only reason for this meeting was because Buck wouldn''t shut up about making you join us."


    "Then consider them requests or favors," Fenris said. "Before all this, I had some, let''s say, personal quests. I''m still going to join you. I just wouldn''t be able to rest easy knowing I haven''t completed them."


    "Please, I need your help," Fenris said. There was sincerity in his voice and a bit of sadness in his request.


    "Let me hear these ''requests'' first before I decide if I can fulfill them or not," Lycan said.


    "Firstly, I''ve been looking for a mage, a Blessed One. She has purple hair and wears a robe with crescent moon patterns. If you can help me look for her, that would be great," Fenris said.


    "That''s quite an odd request, but I will see what I can do," Lycan said. "If I may ask, what is your relationship to this particular mage?"


    "She''s a friend," Fenris answered.


    "Right, a ''friend,''" Buck said, doing air quotes, which earned him a death glare from Fenris.


    "Any more requests, Fenris?" Lycan asked.


    "Yes, there is." Fenris took a deep breath. "I have missing memories from my childhood. It started when I woke up in a field I didn''t recognize. I only remembered my name and had this necklace on my neck."


    Fenris showed them the wooden necklace he had.


    "The mage I mentioned tried helping me regain those memories but left. Do you think you can help me get my memories back?" Fenris asked. This was surprising for Lycan and Gwendolyn, but not for Buck, because he already knew this from eavesdropping on Fenris and Luna.


    "Wow, I didn''t know that. That''s even more odd than your first request," Lycan said in amusement. "Missing memories? That''s going to be tricky. Not something I can help with, but someone else in this room might." Lycan turned his eyes toward Gwendolyn.


    "I have about a million things to do. Adding this will just be a waste of my time," Gwendolyn said. Lycan started to look at her with puppy eyes. She took a big sigh. "But I''ll see what I can do."


    "Good, now that''s all settled with. Let''s move on to the next step," Lycan said.


    "And that is?" Fenris asked.


    "Training, of course. No offense, but you don''t seem like a proper fighter to me," Lycan said.


    "I can fight!" Fenris declared. Lycan looked toward Buck for confirmation.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "He does okay," Buck answered.


    "I can fight. I''ve fought dozens of hunters and made it out alive," Fenris declared.


    "And why exactly do I need to train?"


    "When joining the travelers, you won''t always be alone. When traveling worlds, you might also need to join a group temporarily to avoid suspicion. Do you know any other way of fighting without using your fangs and claws?"


    There was silence from Fenris.


    "That''s what I thought. Buck, take him down to the training area," Lycan ordered.


    "Sure thing. Follow me, buddy," Buck said, getting up from his seat. Fenris followed Buck to an open room in the castle. There were scratches and dents on the wall; it was clear that this room was used often.


    "So, should we start, or do you need some time to prepare?" Buck asked.


    "Prepare for what?" Fenris asked in confusion.


    "To fight, of course. I need to see what you''re made of and areas you need to improve on," Buck answered.


    "Are you serious? You and I have fought before, and the way I remember it, I was standing over your unconscious body," Fenris said.


    "Yeah, that was then, and this is now. Honestly, I''ve been meaning to pay you back for that, and now I have the chance," Buck said with a grin.


    "Fine. Your funeral," Fenris said as he brought out his claws. "Was I not supposed to do that?"


    "It''s fine. I want to see how you normally fight," Buck answered.


    Fenris then lunged at Buck, swiping one of his claws, but Buck evaded it. He did it again and again, but Buck kept evading.


    During this, Gwendolyn and Lycan had entered the room, observing the two fight. Well, fight might have been a strong term, as they saw Fenris keep swinging with claws at Buck, but they were evaded quite easily.


    "What is this? He wasn''t this fast before," Fenris thought.


    Fenris changed strategies. Instead of swiping his claws at Buck, he went for a lunge at Buck. Buck, seeing this, stood in place and made a fist.


    When Fenris got close enough, Buck punched him in the stomach. There was strong wind from Buck''s elbow, which sent Fenris flying across the room and slamming into a wall, leaving a huge crack behind.


    Gwendolyn, seeing this, had a smile on her face. Lycan stared at her—not in a threatening way, just with a disappointed look on his face.


    "What? Is it so wrong to take a little bit of enjoyment from his suffering?" Gwendolyn asked with an innocent look on her face.


    Fenris coughed up blood but got back up. After all, werewolves healed at an incredible rate and were extremely durable.


    "Damn, that hurt," Fenris said, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Did he use rune magic? Isn''t that cheating?"


    Swiping his claws at him didn''t seem to be doing anything, and charging forward proved to be ineffective. Fenris was thinking about what next move he could make. He looked around the room. It was quite spacious. Then, he had an idea.


    He started running—not toward Buck, but around him. He kept running in circles around Buck at a great speed. He then picked something up and threw it straight at Buck. It was debris from the wall that Fenris had been slammed into. Buck swiped it away with claws, causing small particles to enter his eyes.


    ''Now''s my chance.''


    Fenris charged right at Buck, going for a claw slash. Buck evaded it by jumping back. Fenris'' claws were inches away from hitting him but missed. Buck then kicked him sideways, causing Fenris to skid across the floor. Fenris quickly got back up.


    "THAT''S ENOUGH!" a voice echoed in the room.


    Turning around, Fenris saw it was Lycan. Lycan slowly approached Buck, who was trying to clean his eyes.


    "Man, Fenris, you fight dirty," Buck said, still trying to clean his eyes.


    "Do you know what you did wrong?" Lycan asked.


    "No," Fenris replied.


    "You went on the offensive and left yourself exposed. You didn''t even think of dodging Buck''s attack. You just kept charging without caring if you got hit or not," Lycan answered.


    "Why would I? Any attack Buck landed on me, I would just heal. I didn''t need to dodge any attacks," Fenris argued.


    "That kind of fighting is going to get you exposed on your first day as a traveler. You need to learn to fight with caution. Besides, not every attack will be easy to heal from," Lycan said.


    Fenris knew what he meant. Some wounds on werewolves could take days to heal, like being burned by fire or having their limbs cut off. The former had once happened to him, and it wasn''t a pleasurable experience.


    "Buck, how are your eyes?" Lycan asked.


    "All good, Lycan," Buck said, blinking his eyes a little bit more.


    "Fenris needs to learn how to evade. Help him with that," Lycan said.


    "No problem," Buck said.


    Lycan left Fenris and Buck and went to stand right next to Gwendolyn. Without warning, Buck let out a wind slash at Fenris, hitting right on the chest, which sent him flying across the room and landing on his back.


    "What the hell are you doing?" Fenris asked.


    "Didn''t you hear Lycan?" Buck asked.


    "I''m teaching you how to evade attacks," Buck grinned as he brought out his claws and sent two more wind slashes toward Fenris.