Capítulo 18: The next morning
When Leo woke the next morning, he felt as if his entire body was beaten black and blue, he felt sick, and he was naked. He barely pushed himself up from a laying position, when he started to hurl everything out of his stomach. After several minutes of vomiting, what came up nearly made him sick all over again. He had expelled mostly raw meat, and intestines, and it was bloody. Though he didn't know if the blood was his own or from whatever he ate. As Leo looked around he could barely make out the sound of running water.
Still feeling weak, he started a slow crawl. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to reach the water where he got a look at himself for the first time. His face was smeared with blood, and his hair was wild looking. As he slowly started cleaning himself up, he caught a whiff of the smell of raw meat. Looking over he saw what he thought might have been what he ate the night before. The horned bear was torn almost limb from limb. Originally nearly as tall as a maned boar while on all fours, a horned bear was able to stand strait at over twenty feet tall. But this one had been completely shredded. Of the two horns on its head, one was broken; three of its limbs were gone, and some of its intestines were scattered around the area.
What wasn't accounted for was probably part of what Leo had thrown up. As Leo recounted the night before, he could only remember what had happened before completely transforming. He remembered being in pain while his body changed, he remembered that before the transformation was complete his last thought had been to kill. And he remembered that he had hurt Iris.
Leo didn't have any delusions about what had happened. He knew, he was a werewolf. Even as he thought the words he knew it was ridiculous. But what evidence was there to prove him wrong? He thought back to his heightened physical abilities, and his enhanced senses. But the question was how had he become a werewolf in the first place? Leo's head hurt after he started thinking too much and he decided the most important thing was to determine his next move.
He couldn't go back to the village. What if he hurt them again? What if he hurt Iris? But Leo felt a longing to go back as well, he had no other place or people. But even if he did he would just hurt them as well wouldn't he? Unable to determine his next course of action, he decided to simply follow the stream for now. After over an hour of his slow advance during the cold morning in the nude, he arrived at a cliff. After several minutes he recalled that he had been here before. This was where he had been attacked by the wolf on his second day.
He recalled that it was down this cliff that he had seen Iris for the first time. Almost as if his thoughts had summoned her there, he heard a soft thump behind him. When he turned around, there was Iris. There were tears in her eyes, and when Leo looked bandages on her arm. He tried to back away, to leave before he could hurt her again. But before he could she ran forward and ignoring the remaining gore and his lack of attire, wrapped her arms around him and cried.
"I almost thought you were gone." Leo was at a loss for words, before simply wrapping his arms around her in turn and saying,
"I'm right here." His voice was raspy, like it was covered in sandpaper. And Iris continued to cry in his arms. He then caught wind of Natalie and Jack's scent, but realized they had tactfully stayed out of the way after determining that Iris wasn't in any danger. After several minutes of embracing each other, Iris then led Leo back to the village. And Leo thought that if Iris could forgive him, then maybe the villagers might let him stay. Due to Leo's being slightly weakened, the trip took a while. Jack had stayed to secretly protect the two from monsters while Natalie returned to The village with information, as well as to bring Leo new clothes. And slowly, but surely, they returned.
***
Artemis sighed in relief. Her plan had been to use Leo's connections as hostages against him. If he left them behind, then there would be no point. She contemplated how well her plan was going so far. She had to ensure that Iris couldn't find Leo until the transformation ran out, then led her right to him to ensure that he didn't leave. She was surprised though that he had found a potential wife so soon. With how they were now, she was the perfect hostage.
As she was admiring how well her plan was going, she suddenly felt a mass of dark power far off in the jungles of the southern part of the continent. As she looked to the south she suddenly muttered,
"Hades!" Hades was the God of death, and his personality was as twisted as they come. He would collect souls and then bring them to wherever it was they went to, he never told her. But he rarely ever made a champion. He liked to make undead, and would occasionally send them to battle champions to test them. But he had never made an actual champion before. Artemis pondered the reason for the change and realized it might have been in response to her trying to mold Leo to become her champion.
At first she felt concerned that her fun would end too soon, but then remembered she was doing this for entertainment! Her champion against the only real champion Hades had made. What would be more entertaining than that?! Artemis resisted the urge to investigate Hades new champion, and turned her attention back to Leo. As she patio ally waited for the six month deadline she set for herself to end.
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