The Void Wolf

Raveria was playing with Harper somewhere in the Underground City. To be more specific, it was a fortress that was currently under construction and the new home of the Valkyries. In the center of the fortress was a spacious yard made for Raveria. A few flowers were planted and with Raveria’s ability, it quickly became a garden.

The little girl was growing rapidly and even though she was only born a few months ago it looked as if she was five years old. It was a completely horrifying rate of growth that couldn’t be understood.

“Ravi!” Harper was chasing Raveria when the latter suddenly stopped.

“You can’t catch me.” Raveria stuck out her tongue and then her image split into two.

“W-What?” Harper was caught off guard by the change and the two Raverias began to laugh.

They split into four and laughed in unison again as Harper’s expression froze in shock. She could sense they were all real.

“R-Ravi, how are you doing that?” Harper questioned as she approached the girl, or to be more precise, girls.

“You won't get it.”

“Hmph.”

“Harper is a dummy.”

“Harper’s too slow.”

The four of them answered separately, the easiest explanation of Raveria’s ability was the creation of time-doppelgangers. It wasn’t as if she reached months and years into the past or future but rather a few seconds. Ira could perform a similar feat by rapidly teleporting but the difference was he didn’t produce somewhat autonomous clones.

Suddenly, Avery and Casey appeared on a balcony overlooking the yard and were shocked beyond belief.

Raveria jumped in surprise and all her doppelgangers were absorbed into her, “Mom!”

She took a step forward before suddenly appearing next to Avery.

“...Raveria, where did you...Did you learn that from your father's memories?” Avery asked.

Raveria gave delayed nod as she looked up at Avery with an innocent expression.

“We need to start her training, Avery,” Casey spoke up.

“We can’t.” Avery refused.

“If it goes on like this who knows what’ll happen. She might develop a dangerous ability that could hurt someone,” Casey explained.

“Our training won’t work for Raveria.” Avery continued to refuse. Although what she said was true, she didn’t want to put Raveria through the same training she went through.

“Then do you have a solution I can offer to your Grandmother when she returns?”

“We have to wait for Ira to return since he’s the only one who can actually train her,” Avery replied.

Casey took a few moments to think about it before she nodded and gave a small grin, “You’re becoming quite the protective mother.”

Before having Raveria, Avery didn’t think she would change much it was clear that she had. It may have been due to all the times they shared dreams together but she loved her daughter.

…

Ira looked at the group of higher races in front of him. His main focus was on the ancestor of the Vulpes, Jydar. Due to Jydar’s question, they all wanted to know Ira’s origins.

“Hey…” Ira narrowed his eyes at Jydar which caused the person in question to visibly tense up. Ira could see that Jydar was the strongest out of everyone gathered and instead of eating him he thought of something else.

Ira ignored the anxiousness emitting from him and continued speaking, “Are you seeing anyone right now?”

The pre-established tension was erased and looks of confusion were sent toward Ira.

“Seeing anyone?...No, I’m not involved...in any relationships,” Jydar replied with a nervous gulp. From Ira’s inquiry, it appeared as if he had some interest in male Vulpes.

“I see…” Ira hummed before turning to Virgil, “I’ve changed my conditions.”

“...Uh, would you like...to um, share them?” Virgil couldn’t help but give Ira another look.

“Yeah, I’ll kill those Gods but after I’m done you’re marrying into my family.” Ira pointed at Jydar.

“P-Preposterous. You wish to copulate...With my dear ancestor?!” Riel shouted with a flustered look.

“It’s fine, Riel. If it’s to secure a path for those under the rule of the tyrannical dragons I can sacrifice my body. All I ask is that your lustful desires don't to spread to any of the other male Vulpes.” Jydar said solemnly as he resigned himself to his fate. He had been alive for a few centuries and had learned that some things were worth letting go in order to lead to something greater.

“What? What the fuck are you– No. No. No. I didn’t mean...Why would I even...” Ira pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as he realized what they were thinking. His unintelligible denial gathered more doubt that became visible on the faces of everyone in the room.

“You’re not marrying me you fucking bastard. You’re marrying one of my wife’s cousins!” Ira shouted as he resisted the urge to rip Jydar’s head off.

It was only when Ira mentioned his wife did they noticed the wedding ring with a dim molten red glow on his hand.

Jydar’s face showed an awkward expression as he began to speak, “Oh...Forgive me for–”

“Stop.” Ira held his hand before pointing to Bertrand and Hildred, “Both of you wanted to fight?”

Bertrand and Hildred looked at each other before nodding.

“Fine. Let’s find a good place.” Ira smiled.

After a few minutes, Ira was led to the area used for training those involved in the uprising. It was a huge dirt field that could fit hundreds of people at a time and dozens of pieces of training equipment were lined up on the sides. Virgil followed behind with a complicated expression, he noticed that Ira didn’t bother to explain what he was and it was dangerous not to know. Especially if Jydar sensed the danger in Ira’s existence. He decided to be extra observant in order to discern clues from the way Ira fought.

“Alright, both of you can get ready.” Ira didn’t even take a defensive stance.

“I know you were said to be strong but you really want to fight the both of us? We could probably kill a weaker dragon by ourselves.” Bertrand stated as he retrieved a giant hammer.

“If he’s the one requesting it then we should oblige him.” Hildred drew her sword.

“Are you done talking? If so, let’s start.” Ira was clearly eager to take his frustrations out on someone.

“Let’s begin,” Bertrand said.

As soon as he finished speaking Ira lunged forward with the wind pushing him and arrived in front of Bertrand in the blink of an eye. Ira restrained himself as much as possible before driving his fist into the pit of Bertrand's muscle filled abdomen.

“Hueeek!” Bertrand dropped the hammer he was holding and fell to the ground while throwing up blood.

Changing his target, Ira teleported in front of Hildred who was already swinging her sword. Ira’s hand changed into a pitch black claw as he blocked her attack before he opened his mouth and produced a weakened Storm Breath that blew Hildred away. The whirlwind was so strong that Hildred couldn’t even recover herself by summoning her wings and crashed into the ground creating a small crater.

“Hmmm. Not bad.” Ira didn’t even break a sweat and he felt temporarily satisfied with the short spar.

“Y-You’re...a fucking monster…” Bertrand looked at Ira with a clear sense of fear as he continued puking blood.

“Try to keep that in mind,” Ira smiled. He held back as much as he could but that would still kill most people. It did have to be noted that Ira was still holding back whenever he killed a dragon since he had the Void at his disposal. He decided that he would use his Void related abilities to kill all the targets given to him as quickly as possible.

“Any of you want to try?” Ira directed his question to Virgil and the others.

Their silence indicated that they were refusing his offer much to his disappointment.

Hildred climbed out of the crater with a broken wing, a twisted arm, a few fractured ribs, and shattered leg. She began healing herself before retracting her wings and walked over to Bertrand and beginning to heal him.

“You ended up worse than me.” Bertrand stood up with difficulty as he clutched his stomach.

“At least I managed to attack.” Hildred retorted.

“If that’s enough, I think we should get started on planning our next move.” Virgil couldn’t quite understand what Ira was and the only thing he picked up on was a black claw, his teleportation, and ability to produce a whirlwind breath similar to dragons and their fire breath. There were no other races on the continent that fit the description so he could only guess that Ira might’ve been the only one of his kind which was more or less accurate.

“I don’t care what you’re doing just get me what I asked for.” Ira shrugged.

“You must have even the slightest bit of concern with the lives of the people fighting to be free of the dragons, right?” Riel asked with a clear investment in the uprising.

“Nope. Not even the smallest amount,” Ira answered honestly. Though he was curious to see the ending of the Uprising. The Wolf showed him memories of many conflicts and the ending for most rebellions was usually grim for both sides.

“You…” Riel clearly looked dissatisfied with Ira’s answer.

“That’s enough, Riel.” Jydar stopped her from going any further before he continued, “We’ll have to talk later.”

“I...understand, Ancestor.” Riel nodded reluctantly.

“We’ll have the information for you, Ira. You should make yourself comfortable in the meantime.” Virgil said.

“I always do.” Ira chuckled to himself before he vanished from sight.

The five who remained were left to contemplate Ira’s existence. He asserted that he didn’t care for the lives of others so it was hard to tell if it was wise to bring involve him with the uprising.

Virgil sighed and realized it was probably too late to refuse to help Ira. After dragging him all the way to their hideout, he wouldn’t take it too kindly if he found out his time was wasted.

…

Lauren and Ustia landed on an empty beach before retracting their wings.

Clearly full of emotion, Ustia grabbed a handful of the sand under her and let it fall between her fingers.

“...Yeramesh.” She took a moment to collect herself before her face returned to its usual mask of coldness.

“Remember, we’re here for Ira. Everything else can come after that.” Lauren reminded her.

“I know,” Ustia responded.

Lauren nodded and then looked around, “We’ll go on foot from here and look for information along the way.”

The current Valkyries might not be as receptive as they would’ve been one thousand years ago and both Lauren and Ustia knew they wouldn’t be a match for multiple opponents of a similar skill level.

They began moving forward in search of Ira and with his most recent exploits, it wouldn’t be hard to find him.