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With a slight growl Dente pulled back and sat on his haunches, keeping an eye trained on Ehrin who still held a smug look. Drake's mouth hesitated again and he stuttered a couple times before once again speaking the words.

"Nick....what in the holy hell is going on here?"

Nick grabbed his own wrist and bit his lip. His eyes darted to the ground and danced trying to come up with a suitable explanation for a talking wolf. Behind him, the natives were already coming up with explanations; like that he was the devil and this was an omen for the end of times in their own language. But every time Nick came up with something it seemed far too silly or out there; as if the truth wasn't out there enough.

"Look. Drake. I'm going to be absolutely clear with you. There are things in this world that are....forgotten." Nick began. "Whole civilizations that were lost and forgotten in time. Much like the Esurah. We didn't know about them until recently."

"Nick, you'd better start telling me what this is. Why can this beast speak! And can that one?" He pointed to Dente. A slow growl emanated from Ehrin but it quickly subsided.

"Don't use beast. I am not a beast."

"Drake, just hear me out!" Nick paused to make sure Drake was listening. "There once was a civilization." Nick switched to the natives language so they could hear as well but it only caused Drake to take a few steps back from Nick.

"H...how!"

"There was a race called the Lycans. Strong creatures that gave Humans a run at being the dominant species. But during the final battle they were cursed to spend their lives as ferals. Roaming the land as Humans spread their influence and took over the planet. The Humans had forgotten that war or that there was even such thing as the Lycans. These two are descendants of one of the last of the Lycans. He went by Leith."

Both Ehrin and Dente looked at Nick in disbelief, they were related to him? They were both in the same line as Leith.

Drake drew a breath. "Well why are they deciding to come out now?" He said, taking this remarkably well and a lot better than Nick thought.

"Long ago, when the Lycans were cursed by the God Sumitar he promised that one day their race would return and enjoy the gifts he had given them. Speech and the ability to use ones hands." He looked to Ehrin. "Looks like they already gained one."

Drake eyed Nick. "And how long have you known about this?"

Nick shook his head, "Not very long; only several days. I was chosen by their Gods. I believe... to be the one to bring them back."

"A...and this is why you suddenly can speak in...in?"

Nick nodded. "I can also speak in their language."

Ehrin finally stood and moved forward looking around the camp. Around him the crowd dispersed, giving the wolf a wide birth.

"Wolf, what is it you want?" Drake asked.

"Quite simple really, I just want to speak with your leader. Get to know you humans a little more."

Nick kept a close eye on Ehrin as he went around inspecting the human settlement, sniffing at the food and exploring the tents.

"It's really not that simple Ehrin. Our leaders are in charge of things larger than any of us."

"Oh? I'm pretty sure a war is fairly large." He responded with a direct stare at Drake and showing a little of his bestial nature in a fanged grin.

"Is that a threat?" Drake questioned.

"It is what you make of it. I know there are factions of my race that want to destroy the Humans and retake this land for the Lycans once again and be the dominant race." Ehrin said taking a few steps back and forth. "They certainly want a war." Nick's fists curled into a ball, Ehrin was cleverly side-stepping the fact that he was the leader of the ones who wanted to destroy the humans.

"Drake! Be careful of what he says, he's not telling the whole truth." Nick tried to warn his friend, but the wound that his deception had made only grew deeper and made it harder for Drake to really know who was speaking the truth.

Drake thought for a couple seconds. "How do you know? How can I trust you? You're the one who never wanted to go on these things!"

Nick almost laughed and thought it was another one of Drakes jokes but clearly his face wasn't its normal joking self and he was serious. "Drake, seriously! I know, I've spoken to them, the very one he's talking about is himself."

"I'd believe you, but it's just the little fact that you've spoken to him! That one kind of gets me. What else are you hiding? Maybe you can't even speak to them! Maybe you're just saying that." His face twisted into a look of anger with a scowl stretching across it.

"Look, Drake. I'm sorry! But what was I supposed to say anyway? 'Oh by the way I can talk to wolves now.' Also considering how many times you rope me into things I'm surprised that I even still talk to you! You burned that library! I took the fall for it!" Nick took a few steps toward Drake, who still stood more than a few inches taller than Nick and looked at him directly in the eye.

"Suddenly it's my fault then? Suddenly everything bad that I've done is all put onto you?"

"For lack of a better word, yes!" Nick replied with a sour tone. Both Ehrin and Dente cocked their head's to one side observing Human emotions really for the first time. Extreme and almost uncontrollable. While the natives had taken more than a few steps back.

"Hmmmm." Ehrin mumbled. Nick was able to catch it with his heightened hearing but no other humans did. "Humans are easy to provoke."

"Nick, I ask you along on these trips for help and advice. Not to be spat in the face." Drake shot back as Nick backed down from his towering structure and took refuge with Dente. Who made Drake stumble back but his voice did not change. "I am the leader of these things! I am!"

"And this is all about you suddenly! You have always been selfish when it comes to things of glory but when it's something that can hurt your name you're like Santa Claus, giving them out to anyone and everyone." Nick felt bolstered by the large wolf at his side and was able to stand tall. Drake on the other hand back peddled to Ehrin.

"I wonder why your friend would lie to you like that." Ehrin said as soon as Drake came closer. "Has he done stuff like that before?"

Drake shook his head. "No. Never, that's the strange thing. Maybe he's not."

"Or maybe the reason why he has never done it before is because he does it all the time."

Drake looked at the wolf. He seemed friendly enough, well as friendly as a wolf that popped out of the forest could be, he even introduced himself and asked for a name, Humans don't even do it that formally anymore. He couldn't be that bad. At least not as bad as Nick was making him out to be. After all, Nick is the one playing devil's advocate.

Nick on the other hand still had his fist clenched. "I can't understand what they are saying Nick. What's happening?" Dente asked looking up at Nick.

Replying in the wolf's language, which made him look all the more suspicious to Drake, Nick said. "He's manipulating him. I didn't know a wolf could manipulate."

One of the diggers stepped out from the crowd. "I don't trust Nick! He speaks like the devil!" Around him the rest of the diggers agreed with shouts of yeahs and other affirmations. Nick took a deep breath and glanced around. Everyone was staring at him.

"Aren't we forgetting the wolf that can talk here?" Nick said trying to get back on track about the deception. But it wasn't going anywhere. His voice was drowned out by the rest of the hollers and jeers from the other Humans.

"I'll call someone to pick you up." Drake offered.

"No need. I'll leave." Nick interrupted. "You don't have to call anyone."

Without saying another word Nick turned his back to Drake and made his way out of the camp telling Dente that they were done and that he was going to go back to Amita with him.

"Never thought I'd see that." Drake mumbled as his old friend lift the dig and left civilization. "Uhhh. Mr. Ehrin, I'll see what I can do about getting you in, I can't believe I'm saying this, in talks with who I can."

Ehrin cocked his head to one side. "Mr? What does that mean?"

"It's a formality, we say it before a name."

The wolf stood up from his seat that he had taken and stuck his nose in the air. "What do you Humans eat?"

Nick didn't have to be subtle when stomping through the forest now and he made sure that everyone in a mile radius knew where he was. His stomps shook the soft ground below and he swatted at every branch, breaking them off.

"Drake was always an idiot, never thinking for anyone else. I mean did you hear him say that!" He turned to Dente who was walking next to him.

"I didn't hear anything stupid. Can't understand remember?" The wolf said returning to his 'fuck you' attitude.

Since the day was still young and there was no moon in sight, the pathway that Nick had followed before couldn't be seen and he had to let Dente take the lead. Which was nice because Nick wasn't in the mood to really talk to anyone. If anything, he might explode at the next person who talked to him. His insides were still fuming from the encounter and he muttered to himself causing Dente to look back a couple times and scoff at the Human.

Once they made it back to Amita, it didn't look as it had when they had left, suddenly the lush green that surrounded the area, giving the city a protective cover was turning brown. The whole area was dying! Already leaves started to fall off trees and the vines were withering, the path could be seen by anyone who was walking by. Dente stopped in his tracks as Nick followed up behind him. Both stood for a few seconds before rushing inside to see that real sunlight was breaking through the canopy and falling upon the inhabitants of the ruined city for the first time in centuries. They all looked up at the warmth of the sun but were distraught by the falling brown, dead fauna around them.

Growls started coming from each of them as Nick walked by. He tread lightly around them as Dente growled back holding them off until they came to the place where they were this morning. In which Linth the Elder still sat on his perch in the temple like building.

"Dente!" He barked. "And Human! What have you done! The forest around us is dying. It started as soon as you left with him."

"Look Linth! It wasn't anything I did!" Nick tried to barge in. "Ehrin wa...."

"Hush!" The Elder interrupted. "Then why did it happen right when you left?"

"He speaks the truth, Linth." Dente said lowering his head slightly. "Nick is not at fault for this. We were just as surprised to see it." The old wolf huffed a deep breath and stood up.

"Then what is to blame? I don't suppose it has anything to do with the Human still."

"It was all Ehrin!" Nick shouted. "Ehrin has learned how to speak in Human tongue and confronted my frie....colleagues at the digging site." His voice slowly grew quieter as he progressed. But it was enough for the Elder to start a low rumble of a growl.

"That damned traitor!" He snarled coming down the shallow steps. "I must go speak with him."

Nick blocked the entrance. "No!"

"If you want to keep those thumbs that your species loves so much I advise you move." The Elder warned.

"If you go to the site you will be captured or worse killed. My colleague Drake has already tried to get the leaders of our world in contact with Ehrin. With how fast we can communicate I wouldn't be surprised if anyone was already on their way." Nick didn't budge. "I'm doing this for your safety."

Linth's growl started to subside as he backed away from the doorway. "Then in your mighty wisdom, oh Human, what do you suggest?"

Nick sighed. "Your God Sumitar came to me once again last night and told me that there was a child, a Human child that Ehrin had captured. If we find him we may be able to get something out of him." The two of the wolves looked at Nick and grunted with a small huff through the nose.

"We don't have much else to go on. I will take you to where Ehrin lived." Linth said as Nick moved out of his way.

On the far edges of the city, further inside and far away from the entrance, hiding in shadows was a single story dwelling with all the windows shut. Cracks permeated the clay it was made out of, much like the rest but this one seemed away from the rest of them.

"This is where Ehrin makes his home." Linth said, staying back away from the place and letting Nick and Dente move close to it. "Tell me what you find."

"Sure." Nick said moving inside.

For looking so small on the outside it certainly seemed bigger on the inside. There were three rooms that divided the rectangular lay out. A wall split it down the middle and then a wall split one side in half again. This created a living area and two bedrooms. The living area wasn't anything special, just the remnants of a fire pit that had laid there, unused, but protected from the elements for centuries.

"You take the right one, Dente. I'll check the left one." Nick said pointing to the clear doorway. He moved toward the left one and peeked in, only the cracks in the ceiling and the sunlight that was now bearing through the canopy lightened his path. Inside was very much the same story, nothing but a few scrapes and a pile of leaves on the ground.

"This one is clear, Dente!" He called expecting a response, but nothing came. Carefully Nick peeked through the other door and found that Dente wasn't there. "Dente?" He stepped inside and narrowed his eyes. He heard growling echoing from somewhere and turned around, but it wasn't coming from outside, it was from somewhere inside.

"Dente!" Nick called.

"In the pit!" He heard followed by a snarl.

Nick started rustling the leaves around, the roof of this part of the dwelling was still in fairly good shape so it was harder to see but as soon as he took a step toward the corner Nick felt the floor disappear from under him and he fell into another pile of leaves. The growling grew louder and surprisingly he was able to see. Two wolves circling around each other slowly and making small yips at one another.

"You had better leave quickly. This isn't a place pups should be exploring." The other wolf said, her feminine voice echoing. He remembered it as the wolf that had confronted him outside the city before Ehrin showed up. Arua.

"The protective veil is dying Arua, things are changing. What is going on?" Dente growled. The two locked in a never ending stare and a pounce position.

"That is nothing you need to concern yourself with Dente. We are going to come back better than before. Ehrin has already made sure of that. As we speak he is talking to the Humans, it's weird to think that one of our kind can out-wit a Human." Her gaze shifted for a split second to Nick who had stood up but taken a couple steps back. "I guess you could say he was as smart, or even smarter than them."

"This has nothing to do with Ehrin, just you and me. Where is the kid. The Human pup." Nick was a little surprised at Dente. He was actually pretty menacing with his fangs showing and his growl echoing through the small cavern.

"This has everything to do with Ehrin. It's obvious you're here to stop him, and why I am here is to...well, stop you from stopping him." She paused for a split second before lunging at Dente and crashing into him forcing him to his back and rolling a couple of times. Snarls and barks filled the cavern and teeth glistened in the dim light. Dente used his hind legs to push the female off of him and he got back up, racing toward her and pouncing on top, going in for a bite to her neck. But she rolled and Dente smashed his nose into the ground giving Arua a chance at an attack. Dente stood, dazed from the impact with the ground but the snarling of the female alerted him. It was too late however and she crashed into him, sinking her teeth into his back, just missing his neck. Her jaws clenched and blood seeped out of the wounds. Her claws dug into him and Dente yelped falling to the ground and trying to roll to get Arua off of him. She let go and jumped back before going in once again just as Dente was getting up but this time going for a leg.

"Remember? When we were pups I would always beat you, this is no different." Her jaws moved to his front right leg but she felt something push her away and she tumbled the the ground as Nick steadied himself from the kick.

"But you had no friends to help you out." Dente barked retaking the advantage and diving into her, returning the bite and using his massive claws to rip gashes through her coat. She did the same, falling to the ground to break the hold Dente had on her. But Dente didn't back away instead he kept her close by using his claws and went for her leg like she had done. Only this time he connected and crunched her bone, feeling it shatter between his teeth. She shrieked in pain, only then did Dente back away as Arua tried to get up.

"Yo...how dare you!" She cried as her left front paw lay limp and pools of blood from the leg and her wounds started to form. Nick took a couple of steps back at the sight. He always remembered the saying that when a wolf is backed into a corner that's when it's the most dangerous.

"How dare I? You're the one who was the traitor! You and Ehrin and all the rest of you." Dente snarled back, his teeth dripping with her blood.

"Traitor? I helped Ehrin learn the Human tongue! I call that progress." She turned to Nick. "I don't know much but I can say." Her voice changed to the native tongue of the Humans. "You will fall."

With a growl and a snarl Dente pounced and finished the job, crunching his teeth around her neck and crushing her throat. Arua gurgled and coughed a spout of blood before the last breath left her body.

"D...did you have to kill her?" Nick asked finally approaching her body. Dente backed away, flinching from his wounds.

"I don't know if humans kill each other very much but it happens to us. It's not normal but it happens." He pointed his nose down the cavern. "That's where she emerged. I'll bet you anything the pup is down there."

Nick made a few ginger steps toward there when he heard the crackling of a fire. He followed the sound into a small room where he saw the weak flame, the shadows dancing on the wall and a figure. A boy sat stoking the fire with a stick. He looked up and upon seeing another human his face brightened up and he stood but didn't speak.

"Are you alright?" Nick asked going in a little closer. At the boys feet he noticed bones of animals that he must have used for food. "Little boy?"

"Are you here to take me home?" He asked. Nick was surprised, the boy didn't seem in distress. It was like he was fine and you had come to pick him up from school. Behind Nick, Dente walked in and the boys face lightened up again.

"Ehrin!" He said and ran to hug Dente. "You said you wouldn't be back for a while."

Dente stood stunned as he felt the embrace of the young Human around his neck.

"Nick. What did he say?"