The Wolf God’s Mate

The sky is dark and the clouds are roiling. Gradually, they get thicker, denser and gloomier- completely eclipsing the moon. In just a few minutes, the sky is entirely covered in black, ominous looking clouds. The wind violently rustles the trees in the forested area below and they sway aggressively, threatening to topple down. Thick branches the size of a grown man’s thighs can be heard ruthlessly snapped off while leaves are wrenched from their embrace. Strong winds kick up dirt and decomposed matter from the forest floor. All creatures lurking in the forest scamper back to their homes and if they didn’t have any, they chased away weaker ones and took over theirs while they in turn had to quickly find other hiding places. In short, every living thing in the forest scrambled to get away from the elements. All except for one. A man can be seen standing motionlessly with his hands clasped behind his back and his head tilted upwards towards the sky, unconcerned about the tempestuous whirlwinds around him. There is a stillness about him, so much so that he almost seems inanimate- just like a statue. He is wearing brown leather pants which are snug against his toned body and nothing else. If one looks closely, they would notice that although the wind is fierce and there’s a lot of dirt and debris whipping around in the air, nothing seems to touch the man. No particle dares to come in contact with his person and his clothes and hair does not even flutter in the wind. The space immediately around him seems inviolable; this is a man that even mother-nature knows not to provoke. There is a rustling sound behind him and a figure appears. The figure is garbed in an ivory coloured hooded cloak which enshrouds it entirely; the stature of the figure indistinguishable in the large cloak, and its facial features shadowed by the hood. The man stays in the same position as though unaware of the new presence, however, the cloaked figure knows that the man had already felt its approach even before it got there. He just did not feel like acknowledging its presence just yet. The figure did not mind it and patiently waited. They stay in the same position for almost an hour, neither saying a word, with the man watching the skies and the figure watching him. The first to break the silence is surprisingly the man. “So, what are you going to do about it?” he inquires, still maintaining the same position. He asks this obvious provocative question with an even tone of voice, almost bored. He speaks in a low tone, his voice deep and authoritative as it rumbles. He speaks in the old tongue- the language of the Gods. “You have gone too far this time.” The figure replies, in the same language, with a soft and melodious voice, as soothing as flowing water. It is a woman. “That is not what I asked you. I asked you what you were going to do about it”, this time, there is an obvious undertone of goading in his voice. The woman does not show any irritation to this and replies calmly, “You must be punished.” This finally gets him to turn around and face her. Looking at her smaller stature, he raises a brow and scoffs, “Who is going to punish me? You?” and with a humorless laugh, adds, “You can’t hurt me”. “There are other forms of punishment asides from physical pain” she continues patiently, as though not hearing the condescension in his voice. “I warned you after the last time that there would be consequences if you committed such heinous acts again. I gave you one last chance and you have used it up and for that, you must pay”, she adds in a kind voice, as though she had not just passed a dooming verdict on him. The man does not feel threatened at all however and bursts into laughter. With a sardonic gaze he answers as though humouring her, “Let’s say you could actually do something to me, why would you though?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “In fact, shouldn’t you be thanking me?” his eyes filling with derision. “I helped you get rid of those annoying pests that go around pillaging your little villages.” “Aren’t you against killing, raping and all that?” he asks mockingly, waving a hand carelessly in the air. “Well I’ve helped you” he concludes and bursts out into more laughter. “You wiped out an entire town-“ “-you’re welcome” he cuts her off. “There will be no more murdering, raping and looting for them.” He splays both hands in the air and shrugs his broad shoulders. “You don’t care about their crimes at all, you only did it because they are his followers”, she spits impatiently. “However, there were innocents in that town. Old people, pregnant women, and children!” this time her voice is not so calm and distress leaks out. “His people constituted only a tenth of the population of that town but you went and killed EVERYONE!!” her voice raises from emotions and her hands clench into fists under her cloak. Scratching the lobe of his ear, “Well now we can be absolutely sure that they’re dead can’t we?” he replies offhandedly; evidently feeling no remorse. Appalled, she exclaims in a near scream “Children!!” He nods diligently and patiently explains, “How can we be sure that they will not grow up to be like their parents. So it’s best to just end their family lines.” “As for the rest of the uninvolved people…”he pauses and scratches his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face, “…collateral damage.” “No war is won without some.” He shrugs unconcernedly. She is rendered speechless. Taking in a deep breath, she lets it go to calm herself and slowly releases her clenched fists. There is no point in arguing with him, she knows this. He simply cannot be reasoned with. It wasn’t the first time he had done something like this and she knew that if measures weren’t taken, it wouldn’t be the last either. She lets out a weary sigh and shakes her head. And as he watches her smaller figure with droll eyes, she brings out a fair palm from the arm slit of her cloak and makes a gentle gesture towards him. “You will be punished” she repeats. And before he can say anything, he hears loud clacking sounds which can clearly be distinguished above the sound of the roaring winds. It is a familiar sound and as he takes a glance, he sees large and thick iron chains materialize in the air from different points around him and head straight towards him with alarming speed and accuracy. With an interested expression, he does nothing and lets them wrap themselves around tightly around him. It does not end there though, and after wrapping around him, the ends of each chain elongate and transform into sharp stakes and embed themselves into his flesh. Still he does nothing. He could have dodged them if he wanted to, but he wanted to see what the woman in front of him was up to- curious about her ‘punishment’- which he knows will do nothing to him. There are nine chains in total; two chains embed themselves into his wrists, one in the left and one in the right; two into his shoulders; two into his ankles, two more into his thighs and the last only wounds itself around his torso without piercing into him. Blood gushes out of the newly made wounds and he raises a brow in interest, bows his head and takes a closer look at the chains. They seem to be made of pure adamantine, the strongest metal in existence which can only be wielded by gods. It is also the only metal which can injure one. The chains are shiny silver and emit a soft otherworldly glow. They are quite pretty, he thinks. The man then moves his limbs and gives a faint yank to test the strength of the chains and concludes, “Hmm…sturdy”. Done examining the chains, he raises his head and looks at the woman in front of him, “Surely, this can’t be it?” he asks with great amusement. It is as though he feels nothing after having so many chains impaled into him. “These little trinkets might hold a normal person, but surely you don’t believe that they can imprison me, can you?” with a look that clearly says ‘you can’t be serious’. “You can do much better than this”, he smirks. Completely unruffled, the woman nods her head and says in the same gentle tone as she had when she first started the conversation, “You can try to break them then”. Feeling a faint sense of unease at her calmness, he looks down at the chain around his left wrist and gives a forceful tug with his arm. The chain clanks but stays intact. His brows furrow and he gives an even more powerful tug and the same thing happens again. He tries with the other chains but none of them budge. By this time his face is dark with repressed anger. He jerks his head back up to look the cloaked woman again who had been serenely watching him the entire time and growls out, “what the hell is this?” “Adamantine alone might not hold you but what about adamantine charmed with a specific Stipulation?” she asks. “Explain”, he snaps curtly. “The only use of the adamantine is to get the chains to pierce your flesh. The chains were reinforced with a Stipulation during its forging. They were made specifically for you and so, they only have the ability hold or hurt you alone. It would be absolutely harmless to anyone else. This alone gave it immensely more power to do its job. In other words, all it properties have been charmed to only one direction. You.” She explains. She watched as his expression got more and more murderous with every word she spoke. At this moment the skies explode with a crackle and boom of thunder- as though mirroring the man’s emotions. “There’s more”, he rumbles out. It is not a question. “Yes”, she acquiesces with a smile in her voice. “You refuse to listen to reason and arbitrarily do whatever you want to do- regardless the consequences of your actions on others. You lack compassion, you lack kindness, you lack empathy and try as I might, I cannot control you”, she adds resignedly. “No one can”. “And so, until someone who can make you change comes along- ” “Wishful thinking!” “-you will continue to stay like this, chained up. Maybe it will give you enough time to reflect on your actions.” She delivers, regardless of the interruption. As he tugs violently on the chains, he feels them slowly but surely become heavier and wound tighter around his limbs. The more he struggles, the tighter and heavier they they get until he feels himself almost forced to the ground. Face taut, eyes blazing with fury and jaws clenched, he glares at the cloaked woman and growls out a menacing vow, “I will kill you.” “Then you had better get out of those chains first”, she quips back lightheartedly. "In the mean time, you stay put and get comfortable because you're not going anywhere anytime soon", looking at her handiwork with an admiration. "And don't bother morphing either, the chains will just adapt to your other form and what will be the point in that?" as though reading his mind. She turns around to leave, cloak billowing in the wind and takes a few steps only to pause. "Ah, I almost forgot", she raises a hand over her head and snaps her finger. Immediately, the sound of more chains are heard, and the man whips his head to look behind him and sees in alarm, another chain hurtling towards him even faster than the others did. This one though is nearly three times the size of the others. In the blink of an eye, the chain gets to him and the end flashes a silver light and begins to morph, but instead of a sharp edge, it changes into a large shackle and clasps around his neck. This final chain is as heavy as the rest combined and immediately bring him to his knees. The woman does not even bother looking back and as she takes two more steps forward, the heavens break out in a torrential downpour and with a great boom, thunder rumbles. The woman disappears in a flash of light. An angry roar reverberates around the forest, the ground vibrates with the intensity of it and the creatures in the forest burrow even deeper into hiding places. The King of Beasts had been provoked.