-Unknown time.
The night was deep, many different stars floated in the air, circling the silvery moon as if trying to play with it. Waves of moonshine fell upon the whole continent, radiating its pureness to the world.
Crunch! Crunch!
Right in the middle of the dark forest, an ominous sound rang out, conveying it further into the darkness. A newborn silver wolf could be seen biting into a piece of bone while moving its tail back and forth excitedly.
If one looked closely, they would notice that the piece of bone was actually just a part of the whole collection. An entire human carcass lay next to the wolf, who continued to bite into the piece of bone.
Cling!
Suddenly, the skull of the dead human moved, completely startling the wolf.
"Bark! Bark!" the wolf began to howl when it saw the bones moving imperceptibly. The wolf was incredibly scared, but the temptation to nibble on those bones forced him to stay. The forest was extremely dangerous, when would he ever get another chance to snack like this again?
"Ahh..." a voice unexpectedly rang out from the skull as the wolf fell silent. He had experienced many anomalies since he came to this forest, but a bone that could make sounds? This was the first time he had even heard of it.
"Who...am I?" the skull's jaws moved, beginning to speak something the wolf couldn't comprehend. The bones began to move faster until eventually, a shadow rose directly in front of the wolf, hindering the brilliance of the moon.
"Bark! Bark! Bark!" This time the wolf barked, because of simply being scared. The hollow shape of the skeleton would bring the majority of beasts to halt. After all, who wouldn't be afraid of a skeleton staring at them with no eyeballs on its face?
"What is this creature...? What am I?" the skeleton shifted his gaze and looked around, hoping to at least see something that would explain the current situation.
The skeleton's memories were hazy, he knew something was wrong, but even after a few moments of intense thinking, he couldn't remember anything. It was as if he had never existed.
'This can't be true... I feel like something's wrong...' the skeleton said inwardly as he looked down at his own hands, only to see two white bones arising in his vision.
'I don't have any skin? The skeleton's confusion grew as he looked at his own body from above. The only thing he saw were a few ribs with nothing but more bones underneath.
It was a strange sensation. He had no eyes or any organ, and yet he could see, hear, and even walk. Even though he couldn't properly recollect his thoughts, he understood that it was impossible to live without a heart, which meant that the current situation was definitely abnormal.
"Bark! Bark!" The wolf didn't back away for a second, still wanting to munch on that bone. Only now did the skeleton notice that one of his fingers had a slight dent in the middle, apparently left by this beast.
"Yo-You want my fing-finger?" the skeleton said wearily. Wolf nodded instantly as saliva dripped down from his mouth. While he was confused and quite scared of this creature, who would turn down such a tasty snack? Wolf was definitely not one of those psychos.
"Do-Do you und-understand me?" the skeleton muttered once again, this time trying to be louder.
"Bark! Bark!", the wolf wagged his tail and nodded in response. Skeleton was still quite confused as to whether this animal really understood him or if he was just excited to eat the bone.
"Where are we?"
"Bark?!" the wolf barked while slightly tilting his head to the side and stilling the moving tail.
'So he doesn't know. It seems I'll have to find out myself,' Skeleton thought as he detached the middle finger from his body. Although it was quite a painful experience, he still didn't stop.
Since he had promised to give this beast a bone, he would keep that promise.
Seeing the skeleton remove its own part of the body, wolf felt quite anxious. However, the hunger from the depths of his belly forced him to bite into the bone without remorse.
Crunch! Crunch!
While the beast feasted on the finger, the skeleton ducked. Slowly, he reached out to the beast, trying not to scare it away by any sudden movement.
"Grrr!!!" the beast growled rigidly when it saw the figure trying to touch him. However, the skeleton didn't even bother stopping until he finally touched the wolf's head and slid his hand through the fur.
Surprisingly, once the monsters touched each other, the awareness of the wolf disappeared entirely. Instead, he rubbed his head against the bone with relish.
"What i-is your name?"
"Bark," wolf heaved a sigh while lowering his head. The moment he was born, his entire family had been attacked and torn apart by wild beasts. Fortunately, he managed to run away until eventually, reaching this forest.
"Since you don't have a na-name then I should give you one," Skeleton rubbed the silver wolf's forehead before muttering, "How about Fenrir?"
"Bark! Bark!" the beast barked excitedly, accepting the name without qualms.
'He seems to like it' skeleton smiled...Or at least tried to smile and said, "It's nice to meet you, Fenrir. My name is...my name...Name?"
Suddenly, a stabbing headache overwhelmed the monster, forcing him to place his hand on the forehead in hopes of easing the discomfort. Unfortunately, the pain only elaborated further until eventually, the monster felt his vision abating.
"Bark! Bark!" Fenrir tried to help the falling skeleton, but alas, it was an impossible feat with such a small body.
Thud!
The skeleton fell to the ground, making a meager sound. After a few seconds of floundering, the monster passed out completely, still hearing Fenrir's soft howl.
-
While Fenrir was trying to help the fainting skeleton, a carriage covered in pure gold could be seen moving at full speed down a wayward road. The horses, who were covered in dirt, suddenly stopped, creating an unpleasant squealing sound.
Inside the carriage, two figures could be seen talking while occasionally taking a sip from their cups.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to ride in the same carriage? Won't your brothers kill me if they find out?" An ugly person with a bunch of pimples scattered around his face and a big nose tilted his head, waiting for an answer.
"Don't worry about it, Professor. I'm sure my brothers wouldn't mind if they knew the purpose of our conversation," a pale beauty with blonde hair and sharp red eyes followed the professor's actions, taking a sip from the cup.
"So, how's it going, Professor? Did you manage to find a way to extract the divine powers from the Qi Beasts?"
"Although the progress is slow, there is definitely some improvement. If we combine my intelligence and the influence of Romulus Kingdom, then it's only a matter of time before we start extracting divine powers from the beasts en masse."
"Sigh... It's unfortunate that beasts with divine powers are rare. Still, thank you for your hard work," the blonde woman sighed as she adjusted her beautiful pink dress, "This place should be far enough into the forest. We shall begin our hunt"
Professor smiled slightly as he stroked his back, "Your Majesty Katherine, don't expect much from me. I'm not that experienced in fighting, nor do I have any divine powers"
"Absolutely no problem" Katherine replied with an earsplitting smile.