บท 71: Wolves Are A Man's Best Friend. Not A Woman's (Backstory 3)

~2 months earlier.

On the morning of Sam's 10th birthday.

In another place, far away, a woman cried.

"Must you do this…?" She beseeched as she gazed longingly at the back of a man in ornate and tattered armor.

* * * * * * * * * *

Among the endless worlds, there were countless places considered as holy. But if one were to ask where the holiest place in all the worlds is, the answer would be unanimous - Eunos.

Eunos was an unassuming city in an average world. Not too big; with agriculture and vine-dressing as the main industry. Normally unassuming, that is, except for every 10 years - when the Convention of Deities was held there. Despite there being no king or queen above the gods, there was an unspoken understanding that the god of light and god of darkness were their corresponding factions' leaders. And their single joint temple was located in Eunos.

It was noontime at the temple, when normally the bell would toll 6 times, once for every hour of the day passed. Except that today it was deathly silent.

The temple lay-out was similar to a small castle, beginning with the grounds for guards, servants and the temple caretakers. Followed by 15 foot high pearly white walls laced with gold engravings - not gold plated, but solid gold. Within the walls like an inner ring was a streamlet of waters diverted from the mountains above. Then the courtyard of tranquil gardens where mighty warrior-priests stood dispersed as sentries.

Onward was a straight path of 272 steps, until the archway of the temple portico. And only there, the area of worship began, where the priests conducted worship.

Except today, there was no worship.

Neither were there any guards or warrior priests. Nor servants. Just quiet bodies, lying still in pools of blood - surrounded by ruined remnants of the temple.

From the outer grounds all the way to the pathway was a trail of carnage and blood.

A frequent visitor would be shocked to see dragon lords and gryphon kings among the corpses, their massive bodies lying across the walls; along with hundreds of warrior-priests of the highest level. And at the end of the trail of blood were a group of 3. A wolf the size of many great horses, a heavily built man kneeling beside the wolf with one hand on its neck, and a woman dressed in armour.

The wolf panted heavily, each breath more strained than the last. Blood stained its claws and mouth. From its right shoulder flowed black blood from a shockingly deep, round wound. If it weren't obscured by so much blood, one would be shocked at the smoothly cylindrical the wound - as if someone had deleted a portion of the wolfs' body, from its shoulder through to its chest.

"Leo…" the wolf sputtered in an oddly gentle, human sounding voice, one that did not fit its size or savage appearance.

As the wolf shakily tried to raise its head and speak, the man steadied it and continued to press on the wound, the edges of which had grown a horrible black and ash white in successive circles around the wound.

"Guzen, rest. We'll finish what we started. You don't have much time left." He spoke gently.

The woman stood silently at the side, her expression flickering between urgency, sorrow and indecision. Her heavy flamberge was held tightly, ready for any other defenders of the temple.

"Leo... it's time. Before any more Gods descend. We... we can't kill another."

The man frowned. His grip on the wolf's fur tightened, before he loosened it, realising that he might be hurting his soul partner.

"My brother…"

"Leo! They're coming! You... it's time!" The woman did not raise her sword, and yet an intangible power began to swirl around her.

Leo did not need to look up at the purple black crack in the sky to know what was happening - another wraith-like skeletal monstrosity was descending - the true form of the so-called gods of the Endless Worlds.

Leo gave a last meaningful glance to Tamar, before his gaze locked on to Guzen's. He nodded, and the wolf responded with a nearly imperceptible nod.

As Leo retrieved a sapphire necklace seemingly from thin air, the woman who had earlier been rushing him hesitated.

"Must you do this?" her eyes glistened as she haltingly spoke these words.

Leo paused but for a moment, and swallowed his saliva, only to notice his mouth was sand dry.

"To be forgotten… that's worse than death." She continued before he could respond.

While they spoke, the turmoil in the skies above them grew and the silhouette of a bony and leathery wing could be seen. Apart from differing in colour, it looked eerily similar to the corpse already on the throne of worship in front of the trio.

Trying to comfort her, he spoke. "To free all mortals from the Heavenly Fate... any price is worth it. What do all those legends and stories about me matter anyway? Let me be forgotten! I am still Leo the Wild – who cares what anyone thinks?!?" He ended with a laugh, but that quickly died off.

It was silent for a moment (except for the raging tornado, crackling thunder and rip in the skies…).

"What about me…?"

Leo was stunned. Then he looked at Tamar. Blood-soaked Death Knight Tamar. Now blushing like a girl before her first kiss.

Glancing at the reaper beginning to materialise in the sky above, Guzen coughed politely.

"Now's not a good time to imagine mating with her, you know…?" Guzen continued, "You should have caught that bitch in heat much earlier if that's what you wanted."

Tamar was irritated but chose to ignore Guzen's insult. He probably didn't mean it that way, anyway – female wolves were technically bitches, right?

Leo, shaken out of his *ahem* imagination *ahem*, looked confused. Then his face changed as he made his decision.

He ran over, swept up the girl who could pound dragons and sea serpents into patties as a morning warm up - and kissed her.

Then before she could react, he tightly gripped his necklace and placed his hand on Guzen's head.

"I'm sorry…" He looked wistfully at her as the ritual was completed.

"Goodbye".

There was no flash, no storm, no theatrics. One moment a wolf and a man were there; the next, they were gone. Not even the trace of their existence remained – nor the signs thereof. Just a few wisps of light; maybe a trick of the eye.

"If you're sorry… Why'd you have to do that…? It just makes forgetting you more painful…"

As her memory of her only love (and his dog) began to fade, she muttered to herself.

She turned to the skies with sword at the ready to greet the reaper; to accept her fate in the last seconds before her death.

Oh, I forgot.

She hurriedly pulled out a scrunched up note; ignoring the fact that a second reaper was elegantly waltzing out of the rip in the skies. One or two, she had no escape anyway.

"Guzen's secret last words" was the title. And in badly written script, reminiscent of a child's, it wrote:

I ALWIZ KNOW THE DIFERENT BETWEN BITCHES (WOLVES) AND BITCHES (YOU)

Tales would be told of that day henceforth, the tale of the birth of the goddess of revenge. It was said that her righteous anger burned so great at the loss of her lover that she defied the heavens and, casting aside her sword, tore apart a thousand reapers with her bare hands. Or maybe she was just angry at his dog.