THE WOLF UNIVERSE

Part 1. (The werewolf burns in the god flames.)

Chapter One: love land

The sorcerer entered the palace in a carriage made of gold and scarlet. Four slaves bore him on their shoulders and 6 mages walked before him. The slaves bearing him were all naked- revealing their wicked-looking muscles and the mages wore a pair of black leather trousers with a scarlet robe over their shoulders. Each mage had a staff with a long blade mounted on it- their mere presence screamed "danger".

Nobody dared to stop them, not even the king's guards till he was let down gently and he walked to the throne.

"Oh great king", The Sorcerer bowed in a sarcastic show of respect, "Long may you live!"

The king clenched his fists, looked at the sorcerer with a gaze that showed a deep feeling of disgust, frustration, and anger.

"What do you want this time, Samson? What have we done?", said the king.

The sorcerer stood up straight and his look changed from that of a mischievous kid to a soulless man- incapable of love, compassion, or reason.

He said,

"I know about your tiny little plan against Ihoga- my glorious abode. I know your brother- - was sent to the Ifa priest in the mountains to seek counsel against me. Oh faithless mortals! When will you learn? When will the goat accept that its fate is in the hands of the butcher? When will you accept that I am your God!"

One of the king's guards wanted to speak up but an older member of the king's guards held his hand over his mouth,

"Hush Ironbath, you are a member of the great order of Camelon- behave as such", he whispered to the younger guard who was using every ounce of strength in him to hold himself back.

The sorcerer continued- his voice amplified by magic-,

"Perhaps you need a reminder of where your place is!!!? But no, I won't do that… yet. I am not an evil sorcerer like you heathens are trying to make me out to be. I am a benevolent God. As such, I will overlook everything. Including the bad behaviour of the Camelon who tried to speak up. I won't be judging you today. Instead I will accept 2 tributes. One for your folly and one for the little Camelon who tried to speak"

The king couldn't hold back anymore and he moved to stand up and speak.

"Hush! Kneel!", the sorcerer commanded and it was as if the king was a puppet. He couldn't speak a word and he fell on his knees.

"Don't let me come back for my tributes, see you in 9 days!"He said as he climbed into his carriage.

As he was being carried out of the palace, a black goatskin bag fell from his carriage.

Nobody dared to move… the whole palace was silent as a graveyard.

It took a moment for the king to regain his senses and motion towards the black bag the sorcerer dropped.

A member of the palace guards walked towards the bag and touched it carefully with his spear before picking it up and opening it. He fell on his knees immediately with the opened bag in his hands.

Inside the bag was the bloody head of General Armstrong - the king's brother.

The war room

The king summoned his chiefs and the head of the Camelon (the royal guards and assassins) into his war room to find a solution to the problem at hand. Sarumi demanded for 2 tributes- a tribute meant 201 virgins. 2 tributes meant double that number.

King Rage spoke,

"My chiefs, my confidants, didn't our elders say that a man must not sleep with his roof on fire? My roof is not only on fire now, my bed is burning too. Just 2 moons ago, Samson- the evil sorcerer took 201 virgins from us. We couldn't refuse him. Now he's back for double the number. If we let this go on like this, none of us will have a child left to pour dirt on our graves when we die. This kingdom my ancestors fought to establish will be no more, what should we do? Please help me"

The Pendo (leader of women) was the first to reply,

"Oh great king, this has gotten out of hand. Samson has become the hawk that swoops down to devour our kids and his hunger is insatiable. 2 moons ago, twenty kids were taken from my ward alone. Twenty! The mothers are currently broken beyond repair. O King, I know this sorcerer is extremely powerful. But can't we try to send a delegate to him and negotiate a kind of peace with him?"

The Bull (right hand of the king) replied her,

"Venerated mother, I understand your pain. We feel it just as you. My brother's son was picked for the last tribute- he was the only child of his parents. But you shouldn't be so forgetful. Remember the last time we tried to make peace with the sorcerer? He sent back our delegates to us in coffins! Negotiating is pointless at this moment; he just wants to cause sorrow and pain. Let's just offer sacrifices to the Idols and pray they come to our rescue."

"Enough of all that please", Paredance (the head of the Camelon and the king's war strategist) said. "I have a plan".

The king sat up in his chair and the chiefs turned to look at Paredance as he spoke. They knew he rarely talked but whenever words came out of his mouth, it was as if the Idols (gods) spoke.

He continued,

"I planted some of my Camelon among the sorcerer's household years ago and they have been feeding me vital information. I don't need to go into details but we know how to infiltrate his fortress and terminate him. The only thing is that we have to make our move tonight. The full moon is our window of opportunity"

The chiefs began to argue about the plan. Some supported it and some feared the repercussions that could arise from a failed attempt on Samson's life. Paredance remained silent as a figurine and the King let them argue for a while.

"Enough!" The king commanded and they all went silent.

He spoke,

"The mission is on already, I gave the go-ahead. Even now, they should have breached his fortress already. I didn't call you here to seek your consent nor did I call you in for your advice. There is a traitor among you."

The chiefs gasped and shifted in their seats and the Iyalode held her head with both hands.

"Come in boys!" the king said and a platoon of Camelon emerged from the walls. They had been there all the while but they blended perfectly into the walls like the Camelon (meaning chameleon in old language)- the animal they took their name from.

They were dressed in tiger skins decorated with cowries with black beads fitting tightly on their necks, hands, and feet. Each of them had iron spears in one hand with a short sword as a side arm.

One of them held a pot of burning coal which he handed over to Paredance with a bow.

"Today, you shall experience one of the seven powers of Camelon: the flames of truth. No man can tell a lie after being exposed to the flames of truth. The traitor will be exposed today"

He poured a mixture of herbs on the hot coals and he began to recite the incantations to activate the spirits in the herbs:

"When the water had no containet shall waste, water in container shall see surface, beginning of a spell.. …"

Before he could complete the incantations, Chief Left eye- the treasurer of the kingdom pulled out a hidden dagger and ran towards the door like a rat with its tail on fire. Two of the Camelon threw their spears and the spears stuck to the ground, forming an X in front of him. He was stopped in his tracks and he tripped over the spears, falling face first onto the floor.

Quickly, he was restrained and brought to the center of the war room where he was made to inhale the smoke from the burning coal just like all the other chiefs… and he began to answer all the questions Paredance asked him with perfect sincerity.

Chapter 2: Ihoga- the serpent's burrow

Ironbath was part of the seven members of the order of Camelon that went on the mission to assassinate Samson- the sorcerer. They had mapped out the fortress and laid out their plan of attack. They entered the forest where the fortress was located and they slipped past all the guards without being seen. When they got to the fortress, they took out little gourds and poured the contents on their hands- It was a charm that gave them the ability to stick to any surface like a wall gecko- and they began to climb the wall. A Camlon who had been working as a cook undercover inside the fortress had prepared a way for them to enter- he killed all the 6 guards stationed in the dining hall and opened the window for the 7 other Camelon to enter the fortress.

They moved silently without making a sound. From the dining hall, they broke into the ceiling and crawled towards Samson's chamber like cats hunting a snake. They had memorised the blueprint of the fortress and they knew exactly where to go. Ironbath wondered why the mission was so easy but he shrugged off the odd feeling- he could not afford to be distracted.

They stopped when they got to Samson's chamber and they listened… from the sounds coming from the room, they deduced that there were three people in the room and their captain signaled to them that they should cut the ceiling below them and jump down. They jumped and they landed on the velvet carpet in Samson's chamber.

Sleeping on the bed was Samson with 2 naked girls.

The assassins removed their spears from their side belt (enchanted bags that could contain all their weapons and supplies) and they crept silently to the bed. When they had surrounded the bed, their captain signaled to them with his head movements and they struck Samson in unison.

Suddenly, they heard the voice of Samson laughing and they found themselves in a room surrounded by a hundred guards and 6 mages with bladed staves . Samson walked in dressed in a long robe with his pet snake in his hands.

Samson spoke, "I can see you really tried. You come when I am at my weakest and you bring weapons blessed by the goddess of the river and moon- Mevent. You did all you could as mortals but you forgot one thing: even at my weakest, I AM A BLOODY GOD!"

The cornered assassins brought out shields from their apo and stood in battle formation as their enemies attacked…

The first wave of enemies fell quickly by the spears of the Camelon and the fighting intensified. The Camelon fought like spirits- cutting down their enemies with animal-like ferocity. Then the mages joined the fight and sent a lighting bolt each to the Camelon. The Camelon assassins blocked the lighting bolts with their shields and pushed back towards the mages with all their strengths. They moved and fought with a perfect union like a piece of machinery- perfectly synced. The pushing continued until they threw their spears at the mages at the same time- 6 of the spears pinned the mages to the wall and one flew straight to Samson. The mages died instantly but Samson dodged the spear that flew towards him.

The assassins brought out swords and they continued fighting. Their captain broke out of the formation and he lunged at Samson with his sword, Samson sidestepped from the blade of the assassin and picked up a scythe from one of his fallen guards.

The Camelon captain fought with the sorcerer while the other Camelon assassins fought on. Suddenly, Samson's snake jumped from his neck and bit the captain on his face. He immediately fell before Samson- dead on the spot.

Seeing his captain fallen, Ironbath burned inside with rage- he killed every guard in his way as he charged towards Samson with his sword and shield. A guard lunged at him with a scythe and he bashed his head in with his shield while cutting off the head of another who came at him with a war hammer. Behind him, his comrades kept on fighting.

He got close enough to the sorcerer to look into his soulless eyes. He was about to fight him when Samson's snake jumps at his neck. The snake moved too fast for the human eye to see so he didn't see it coming. He felt the greatest pain he had ever felt in his life as he crumpled to the floor with his shield in his hand.

CHAPTER 3: OF DEATH AND A NEW BIRTH (THE WOLF BARES ITS FANGS)

That night 7 Camelon assassins laid lifeless on the floor.

Samson looked at their bodies lying amidst the bloody corpses of his guards and he spoke,

"Take their heads off and throw away the bodies. I will pay the king a visit tomorrow. I think it's high time I showed them who…"

He stopped talking as he looked down to see the blessed sword sticking out of his chest- dripping with his own blood. Behind him was Ironbath on his knees with his sword stuck in Sarumi's heart from behind.

"How? Nobody survives the venom", the sorcerer said as he fell lifeless to the floor.

The snake shrieked and lunged at Ironbath, biting him multiple times again until his heart stopped beating and he laid lifeless beside Samson's corpse.

In the morning, the head of the Camelon went to Ihoga with other members of his order and regular warriors. They saw the corpse of Samson and his guards on the floor but they couldn't find his snake. So, they retrieved the bodies of the fallen Camelon assassins and set the fortress on fire.

Way of the dead

They washed the corpses of the valiant assassins and dressed them up in their ceremonial clothes of white and golden colour. Then they placed them in wooden coffins with their weapons by their sides.

The whole kingdom attended the funeral; tears flowed and people came to look at the valiant men for the last time. Before they were lowered into their graves, the king stood up to give a speech and the whole place went silent,

"Though we should be celebrating our liberation from the oppression of the evil sorcerer, the loss of these sons of Loveland will dampen the sound of any song and tarnish the taste of any food or wine. These men- who were orphans- dedicated their lives to the service of this kingdom and they paid the ultimate price. They have given the greatest gift anyone could ever give. Because of their sacrifices, Ifetedo kingdom has a future"

As the king ended his speech, the undertakers began to lower the coffins into the grave- they dug one grave in order to give the men the honour of resting with their brothers in arms.

They lowered each man into the grave but when it was time to put Ironbath in the grave, something shocking happened…

His coffin was being lifted when he suddenly raised a hand and dropped it back. Everyone who saw it gasped in a mixture of awe and fear. The king immediately ordered them to stop and the royal doctor rushed to inspect him.

"He's alive!" he screamed after checking his pulse.

The resurrection.

Ironbath quickly became the hottest topic of discussion in the kingdom. Everyone wanted to know what was going on with him but the king kept him in his personal hospital where his doctors attended to him- away from public disturbance.

He was treated by the best doctors and herbalists in the kingdom for days but he didn't wake up. He just hung onto the little life that was left in him. On the fourth day of his treatment, an old man walked into the hospital- he was the old Ifa Priest in the mountains. The one Armstrong (the king's dead brother) wanted to meet for help with defeating Samson.

He wore a white garment with his bag of divination hanging from his shoulder.

Everyone who saw him trembled; he had never left the mountains before, people could go to him but he had never left his hut in the mountains.

"Give me the boy, everything you're doing is making him worse," he said.

Normally, they shouldn't have given him Ironbath without the king's direct order but no one could resist the priest. Everyone who hears him is compelled to listen to him.

He carried Ironbath out of the hospital and placed him on his donkey then he led the donkey away towards the direction of the Mevent River. When he got to the river, he said a prayer to Mevent- the river goddess and pushed Ironbath into the river.

"If she finds you worthy, you will come out alive. May your personal deity be with you", the priest said.

The priest waited by the river till he gave up on Ironbath.

"I guess I picked the wrong boy after all", he said as he climbed on his donkey and turned to leave.

In an instant, Ironbath raised his head above the water, splashing and gasping for air. The old man looked behind and his eyes brightened with joy. He quickly jumped down from his donkey and he hurried to help him out of the river. Not as much as a scar was on him, he was completely healed. The old Ifa priest put him on his donkey and took him to his home on the mountain.

After a year of living with the old man in the mountains, Ironbath had developed a relationship with the old man. It was like a father and son relationship. The old man had no child and Ironbath had no father so they filled a void for each other. One day, while watching the old man practice his art of divination he asked him,

"Biyi (As the old man fondly called him), would you like to possess a power that is beyond what any other human has ever possessed? A power so great the whole world will tremble before you?"

Ironbath remained silent for a moment, then he replied,

"Definitely Spirit man! If I had such power, none of the people who died trying to stop Samson would have died".

The old man continued,

"I can help you to achieve it. But don't forget that power comes with equal responsibilities. Such power won't make your life easier, it will make it harder. Do you accept it?"

"I accept it", Ironbath replied.

So, For the next 16 days, the old man made him sleep in the shrine of each of the 16 Idols of Loveland kingdom. On each of those days, the Idol, whose shrine he slept in, appeared to him in his dreams and fed him with the food of the gods.

On the sixteenth day, the old man woke him up in the middle of the night and took him to the shrine of god of iron- the Idol of war and iron. He invoked the Idol and the oil lamps in the shrine lit up by their own accord. Then he told Ironbath to sit on a mortar. After he had sat on the mortar as the old man instructed, the old man took a spear from under a metal sculpture of a warrior inside the shrine and he began to cut little incisions on Ironbath's skin with it.

As he was cutting his skin, he was adding a mysterious powder and reciting verses from the Oracle corpus. He made 201 incisions in total on his skin.

A big iron pot was already on fire with a black concoction boiling inside. The old man instructed him to enter the boiling concoction and he did. He could feel his flesh boiling off his bones but he endured the pain. The old man told him to submerge himself in the concoction and he covered the pot.

He continued to recite the verses from Ifa corpus while walking around the pot. Suddenly, the pot levitated off the fire and shone brightly as the material of the pot began to change- it changed to gold, bronze, a strange metal that looked clearer than a crystal and 13 other kinds of metals until it settled in its original iron form. By the time the lid of the pot slid open, what came out of the pot was no longer a man but a giant wolf with fiery eyes.

"Arise, the wrath of the Idol! No longer shall you be called Ironbath. Today you received a new name: Strength- the iron wolf! The strength of the 16 Idolss courses through your veins. Inside you is the power of the universe itself. You have become unstoppable. Let evil tremble at your terrible power!" the old man said to the giant wolf which stood before him.

That day, the boy became more. That day he stopped being human and he received a power beyond what any other man had ever seen. That day he became a werewolf.

Little did he know that his new-found power would not shield him from the troubles to come, rather they would put him at the center of everything.

The Idols knew that a war was coming unlike any war that had ever been fought. Hence, they created an army unlike any army that had ever been created: Strength- the iron werewolf…

Chapter 4. 40 YEARS AGO.

Samson came into the Loveland kingdom from the northern nomadic tribes. He came as a simple scholar in search of knowledge.

He was welcomed by the hospitable people of Loveland and he continued living undisturbed until trouble came to Loveland: the king of Reaplake kingdom declared war on Loveland.

The war was brutal; within 3 months, twenty thousand men had died fighting and the odds were not in the favour of Loveland kingdom. Losing was not an option and surrendering would be worse. The only thing that could stop the war was the defeat of Reaplake or the total annihilation of Loveland.

King Rage (The King of Loveland) needed help and he needed it fast. His life and everything he had was at stake.

One starless night, while pondering on the troubles that entrapped him, king Rage received an unexpected visitor. It was Samson- the reclusive scholar from the North and he had a solution.

He told the king about an ancient ritual he discovered that could summon a demon from the 4th dimension. The demon called Reptiles king- was a snake demon that could defeat the powerful blood mages of Reaplake and end the war quickly.

To carry out the ritual, Samson told the king that they would need 201 virgins, the blood of the tainted, and the blood of a king.

The ritual was a very dark one but the king was desperate enough to accept anything.

That night, Samson performed the ritual in the presence of the king and his 2 most trusted members of the order of Camelon; Samson had kidnapped 201 virgins from the kingdom of Reaplake and kept them bound in a cave.

He had drawn the runes he needed beforehand. He made all the preparations as if he knew that the king would give him the go-ahead.

The king looked on in shock as Samson gruesomely slaughtered the young boys and girls with his red dagger- their blood flowed from the top of the giant triangle he had dug in the earth to the base of the triangle. Forming a triangular pool of blood with bodies strewn all along the edges.

The king wanted to stop him but he didn't. He let the ritual go on.

"They are children of the enemy anyway, sacrificing them to save the children of my kingdom is a sin I have to bear. As long as this works, I will bear whatever guilt or consequences that comes with it", King Rage thought.

Then Samson started the incantations for the ritual…

As he began the incantations, the triangle split into two- forming a pentagram. Then it began to spin and glow with a bright white light. Samson took out his dagger and cut deep into his own palm, squeezing his blood into the pentagram. As soon as his blood touched the pentagram, the white light turned red.

Then he said, "we have spilled the blood of the righteous, we have spilled the blood of the tainted, now we shall spill the blood of a king"

Immediately, the king unsheathed his sword and squeezed the blade with his palm. He felt no pain because the pain in his soul was greater than any pain a sword could cause him. He knew they were crossing a line of no return but he had little choice in the matter.

Samson stretched his hand towards the king and the king's blood floated towards him into the pentagram.

That very moment, the ground beneath them began to tremble, the wind began to howl violently, and bats dropped dead from the walls of the cave. The light kept shining brighter till it exploded in bang!

The explosion sent the king and his guards flying in different directions. By the time they got back up, they went back to check on the scholar and there he was, lying down naked with a snake wrapped around his waist.

When he stood up the snake stayed wrapped around him. His eyes were no longer human- they were just blood red, with no pupils.

The next morning, the warriors of Reaplake kingdom were gathered for their final assault. The king even brought all his wives and children to the battlefield just to watch the annihilation of Loveland.

The battle started with Reaplake warriors sending a wave of arrows that had been enchanted by their blood mages- the arrows never missed and they could pierce through shields and armour like butter. Only the sanctified metal of the order of Camelon could stop it.

Reaplake expected a bloodbath but they were in for a shock; standing in front of the Loveland warriors was Samson the scholar in a red robe with a white snake hanging from his neck.

He raised his hand and a red smoke covered the Loveland army- trapping the arrows. Then he gestured as if to expand something in the air and the arrows multiplied. With a flick of the hand, he sent them flying back to the Akala army impaling thousands of them instantly.

The mages of Reaplake quickly conjured a shield that covered the rest of the army in a glass-like bubble to protect them from further attacks.

Then they summoned a powerful lightning bolt to strike the Loveland army. The lightning struck but instead of crushing the Ifetedo warriors, it struck Sarumi the sorcerer.

The Mages of Reaplake watched fearfully for a moment and they almost took a breath of relief when the maniacal laughter of Sarumi filled the air.

"Kalanthra sinahi" he spoke as he called down a black rain on the Reaplake army. The black rain burned off their magical shield like fire burning dry leaves. Everything the rain touched burned to nothing including warriors and their weapons alike.

As a last resort, the mages of Reaplake combined last of their life essences to create a protective barrier on the rest of the Reaplake army to protect them from the black rain.

Sarumi laughed at the weak resistance put up by the invading Akala army and their blood mages…

"Kalanthra ehi, suma thrasa", he spoke in the 4th dimensional language of magic.

Immediately, all the dead soldiers on the battlefield rose up like puppets and charged towards the Reaplake army with otherworldly ferociousness.

The king and warriors of Ifetedo looked on in utter shock as the dead fought on their behalf at the command of Samson the sorcerer.

The Reaplake warriors tried to run but they were cornered on all sides by the dead hacking and slashing and biting them to bits.

On seeing his army being annihilated, the king of Reaplake ran for his life with his family and royal guards. Little did he know that he was just like a sheep destined for the slaughter.

Members of the order of Camelon had prepared an ambush for him- with a wave of spears, they killed every member of his royal guard. They then decapitated him and his sons. Only his wife and daughters were taken back to the Ifetedo kingdom alive.

That was how Ifetedo kingdom won the war against Reaplake kingdom without losing a single soul in the final battle- thanks to Sarumi the sorcerer. In essence, they struck a bargain with the devil to defeat a monster… the devil shall have his due.

CHAPTER 5: (PRESENT DAY) LOVE VS DUTY.

Ironbath woke up the next day with an intense desire for meat. He felt like he could eat a whole herd of elephants with the growing hunger inside of him. But he had no memory of what happened to him the night before. He just felt inside him that something had changed.

"Good morning son" the old man greeted him as he walked in with a juicy piece of roasted venison in his hand.

Ironbath could smell the aroma of the venison but it was different: he could not only smell the venison, he could somehow tell that the deer it came from was a female deer just by the smell. Not only that, he could hear the heartbeat of the old man loudly like the pounding of heavy drums from across the hut. As the old man moved, he could hear the sound of blood flowing through his veins like an endless river.

He could suddenly hear everything: from the birds chirping in the trees about half a mile away to the termites crawling under his bamboo bed.

"What's happening to me!" he screamed in confusion.

He tried to stand by supporting himself with the wall but his hand pushed straight through the solid wall like an ordinary piece of leaf. 

In his confusion, he heard the old man speak: "Take a deep breath and repeat after me… the day births the night, the night births the moon, the moon rules the night"

The old man's voice was loud in his ears like a booming thunder but as he repeated the words, his voice grew faint gradually until Iron bath felt a sense of calmness wash over him. 

It felt like the words were anchors that brought him back from the edge of madness to sanity. 

Seeing that he had calmed down, the old man sat beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He spoke:

"I know you are confused about a lot of things: you have been given a gift by the Oracle- you are now a werewolf but your mind is yet to adapt to your new abilities. You will experience heightened senses, a burning anger, and a fearful hunger. Under a full moon, your abilities will increase but so will your desire for blood. Eventually, you will learn to control this but for now you need to be careful let's the beast in you destroy what you cannot restore"

At that point, the memories came back to Iron bath. He remembered every bone in his body breaking painfully as he felt a new power coursing through his veins- he remembered running into the woods, howling at the moon with flesh and blood between his fangs. He thought it was a dream but suddenly it felt all real. 

The old man interrupted his recollection:

"You should stay here in the mountains with me till you master your abilities but I'm afraid we do not have enough time on our hands. Samson the evil sorcerer might be dead but such a man cannot be so easily defeated. He is in the veil between our world and the world of the dead and he's trying to come back to our world".

"Before he died, he put a portion of his soul in a receptacle hidden in Flower Village. You must go now, find the receptacle and destroy it before he is able to return to our world from the other side. Use your heightened senses to find it, it will carry a strong scent of the sorcerer. I'll also give you a bracelet to help you keep your wolf under control.", the old man added as he handed over a beaded bracelet to Iron bath. 

Iron bath knew he wasn't exactly in the right shape to go on a mission but he knew that he had to do it- if Samson is allowed to return to the world, everything he and his comrades endured on their mission to defeat Samson would be in vain. So, he packed his bags and descended the mountain on his mission to Flower village. 

THE SERPENT HAD A FLOWER 

Iron bath arrived in Flower village by boat 3 days later. As soon as he landed on the shores of the village, he picked up the scent of the sorcerer as the old man said he would… No wonder Samson's receptacle was hidden on such an Island village- the water surrounding the village prevented the scent or presence of the receptacle from being easily discovered outside the village. Only a powerful diviner like the old man could have found it so quickly. 

He remembered the scent from the times he had encountered the sorcerer while he was alive. It's the same scent just that it's not as purely evil as the scent of the sorcerer, he was picking up the scent of flowers too. The sorcerer's scent was very faint compared to the scent of flowers. 

He followed the scent till it led him to a fortress. He immediately knew the fortress was his target- the scent was heavy there. The fortress was heavily protected with multiple guards in metal armour patrolling it. He assessed the situation and he decided to wait and strike under the cover of the night. 

That night, he walked under the cover of darkness to the eastern part of the fortress, he waited a while there and he was able to count the number of people in and around the fortress by listening to their heartbeats- he counted 103 people in total. 

He could hear and smell them before they could get to him so he perfectly avoided them as he climbed over the wall into the fortress. He focused his sense of smell and pinned the location where the scent was strongest- that place felt like the place the receptacle would be so he kept on climbing further up the fortress towards the scent. 

He got to a window in the upper part of the fortress and he opened it, the scent was heaviest there- surely that was the location of the receptacle. He kept on walking towards the source until he found it. 

Contrary to his expectations, the source of the scent was not a box or something similar, it was a girl…

She had an aura of evil around her but she also had an air of beauty and innocence that pulled Iron bath towards her.

"What is this? How could a girl possess the worst of evil inside her yet possess such an ethereal innocence and unmatched beauty? Is this another product of deceptive magic?" he thought.

She was as black as night with the light from the lamps bouncing off her skin like fairy flowers, she stood tall and elegant like a sculpture carefully crafted by the Oracle, her pure white eyes expressed nothing but love, kindness, and a strong will that could not be broken. Never before had he seen such a beauty in the whole of Ifetedo kingdom. 

Her breasts were perfectly curved like little hills- the home of the goddess of love herself. 

He was lost in his thoughts when he heard the voice of the old man in his head,

"Iron bath, that is the receptacle. What are you waiting for? She might look beautiful and all but never underestimate the amount of evil that lives inside her. Destroy her now, that is your duty as the Iron Werewolf- the fang of the Oracle. Perform your duty!"

Maybe it was the girl's beauty or the dilemma of choosing whether to perform his duty by destroying her or follow his instincts and kidnap her to be his mate, but he was distracted enough to miss the trap in front of him. 

As soon as he stepped on the trap, a heavy cage fell upon him holding him down. He tried to bend the iron but it wouldn't bulge even under his immense strength- it was enchanted to be unbreakable. 

Immediately, about 60 guards rushed in with scythes surrounding the girl to protect her while the others formed a perimeter around the fortress. 

Out of the formation of guards protecting the girl, 6 mages stepped forward and they began to cast a spell that made the cage grow smaller around him, it grew smaller and smaller until it was crushing him, then some of the guards moved close to him to throw chains at him- the chains where enchanted too and they immediately bound his hands and feet. 

All the while the cage kept getting smaller, it became small till Iron bath was folded into the cage with his head between his knees like an animal. He could feel his bones cracking as the cage shrank further. 

Two of the mages and some guards quickly took the girl away to another part of the castle as the rest secured Iron bath in the shrinking cage. 

"Who sent you, who are you? You don't have much longer to live, but if you answer me honestly, I could make your death less agonizing", one of the mages asked Iron bath.

In agonizing pain, Iron bath replied,

"You're a minion of the evil sorcerer, I can smell nothing but his filth on you. You have no goodness left in your tainted soul. You should beg for mercy but it would be a futile attempt because I won't spare you!"

As he spoke the moon shone brightly in the night sky bathing the fortress in her radiant light. Iron bath's eyes turned a brilliant yellow like a wolf's and he looked up straight into the mage's eyes, 

"Who am I? I am Ikoko- the Iron werewolf. Fang of the Oracle and these eyes shall be the last thing your tainted soul shall behold", he said in a deep fears inducing voice as he began to transform and every bone in his body began to break.

The mages and the guards could feel the air change, they could hear their hearts beat in morbid fear as they watched the intruder break and contort into a beastly shape before their eyes. 

They rushed at him with everything they had, the mages cast spells to crush him quickly while the guards stabbed him through the cage. The mages cut themselves with daggers and they used their blood to conjure fireballs which they hurled in unison at Iron bath.

The cage was set ablaze, burning everything around the cage including the guards close enough to be burnt by the magical flames. 

For a moment, the mages and the guards stood still with weapons drawn

"We have destroyed him, we're safe", they thought. 

When the fire stopped burning, they moved closer carefully to confirm if their enemy was dead but instead of seeing the ashes of a defeated enemy, they saw a giant grey wolf standing in the midst of the smoke and dust, the iron cage reduced to nothing all around him. 

Whatever the humanity left in Iron bath was locked away deep down his soul, the only thing left was hunger and a burning desire for carnage. 

He lunged at the petrified men and ripped off the head of the mage in front with his fangs. The others tried to run but he rushed at them tearing them limb from limb. He moved faster than the human eyes could follow, crushing everyone in his path. He wrecked carnage like a messenger of death till only one of the guards remained, the guard dropped his weapons and knelt in surrender

"Please, spare me. I know where they took her, I will take you there. Please don't…"

He was still pleading when Iron bath the werewolf sank his fangs into his neck breaking it with a crack. 

He stood for a moment and raised his head, howling at the moon before leaping out of the window. He landed on the other side of the fence and ran in pursuit of the girls tracking her by her scent. 

6. DADDY WILL BE ANGRY