Nakia walked out of the cafeteria and frowned at all the people who headed for the library or computer lab. She could not understand why they would want to be surrounded by technology when they are here to train and learn about their blood lines. She thought it was ridiculous how attached to the modern world some people were.

Turning on her heal she walked to the large oak doors and outside. It was midday. This was when lunch and free time happened. But Nakia wasn’t all that interested in it. If she really wanted to she could just have lunch in her wolf form. It really was too bad that they had to check in so many times a day. She would rather just be left alone to train and hunt on her own time.

Once out side she headed for the woods. She had already done the human side of her training today, and she wanted to run on all fours. Under the cover of the trees she removed her shorts and white tank top, kicked off her boots and let the change take over her body.

It started slowly, with a rippling of her skin, them muscles tightened and bones crunched and cracked to reform. She whimpered at the pain that went with every change but as it neared the end she howled and was off running through the trees. Muscles lengthening and wind teasing her fur. This was the best part of her life, she accepted her wolf side fully.

Hera took one look around the cafeteria and knew she wasn't staying. She made sure she checked in before she slipped out.

The warm sun run over her skin. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked around. The woods seemed to be calling her. A soft wind blew through the trees, making the branches softly wave to her, luring her in. The leaves seemed to be whispering to her. What they were saying, she doesn't know. She had a hunch though.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she quickly made her way into the woods. The smell of earth becoming stronger. The leaves still whispered, but softly. It seemed as though they were gently clapping. Welcoming her back to her real home. She stopped suddenly, wondering if she should transform, but decided against it. As much as she loved being a wolf, she sometimes got worried that if she spent too much time that way, she would be stuck that way. She didn't know for sure, but she was too proud to ask. She thought she would have grown out of this fear by now.

Getting frustrated at herself, she clenched her fists and began to run. She stumbled a bit, almost forgetting how it human running worked, but eventually picked up speed. Her lungs began to burn, but she smiled and pressed on. Where she was going, she didn't know. She didn't really care. She just knew she had to be in here, running and seeing the live, but silent, world around her thrive.

Alex was sitting on a thick tree branch high in the air in the forest. He was watching everything that was happening. He saw Hera and Nakia. He could see many things up in that tree.

He hopped down, branch from branch till he reached the ground. He loked around him,seeing and hearing nothing. Nothing but the approaching Hera. He moved beside the tree, sat down and leaned against it. The breeze made his hood flap, and hair swish. It felt good. He enjoyed while he could.

Three teens approached him. "Are you going to fight this time Alex?" Alex shook his head. He wasn't going to fight a pointless battle. The lead teen snarled. "Fine!" He kicked Alex in the face sending it to the floor. Him and the other teens then continued to stomp on his body, legs and arms. After a bit they stopped, only to lift him up. "Are you going to fight now?" Alex shook his head once again. The teenager punched him in the face and threw him into the tree, leaving with his 2 cohorts. Alex spat out a bit of blood. He once again sat against the tree, the sound of Hera approaching and the wind running through his ears.

Hera ran past three teens. Strange, she thought, what were they doing this far away from camp? She tried to let the thought slip from her mind, but something was nagging her. She continued to run and listening to the crunch of her own feet.

Suddenly, she realized why she had a nagging thought. She had lightly caught a whiff of blood and sweat on them. Chills ran down her spine, despite the rising heat. They could have been practicing. Yeah, maybe that's it. Her attempt to comfort herself wasn't working. All hope of that soon vanished when she saw Alex against a tree. It was obvious that he had been in a fight. Why weren't the other teens hurt? Why had those teens gone out of their way to find him? Why did they want to beat him that badly? More importantly, why didn't he fight back?

Hera stopped running. She was so into her thoughts that she didn't realize that she was out of breath. She didn't have to time, nor the patience, to catch her breath.

"Are..." She paused and inhaled quickly. "You..." Once that breath was gone, she quickly inhaled again. "Okay Alex?" Finally, she had her breath back and could speak.

As Nakia ran she could smell where the others were in the woods, hear talking and others running. Though many were still back at the hall, and others were headed back because it was about time for the afternoon lessons.

When she caught the smell of blood she veered towards it. Approaching the five teens she didn’t stop. Her fur was raised and she growled just before her body slammed into one of the teens who had been beating on the other guy. She snapped at the other two as her weight held down the one beneath her.

She shifted then and did not move from her spot regardless that she did not have clothes on. It was something that wasn’t so taboo among wolves. She glared at the kid she held down.

“Even an Abenthron knows not to pick mindless fights.” He fore arm was underneath the kids neck pushing his chin up. “You got that?” She looked at the other too, they had backed away but not left without their friend. She let go and stood up. They all left after that. She turned back to watch the other two that were still there.

She didn’t know what to think really. About this guy who had not fought back, even to keep himself from getting hurt. She was curious as to his blood line and his up bringing. She thought that fighting just because was mindless, but one should defend themselves.

Alex looked up as Hera appeared next to him, breathing heavily. "I am fine." Alex was surprised Nakia asked, but didn't show it. No one really seemed to care about his condition. He was used to being attacked by groups of teens who wanted to fight. He never fought back no matter how much pain the teens dealt out. It just wasn't his way

When Nakia appeared, he glanced her direction then turned away. Now someone else appeared after such an event. Would she seem concerned as well? Alex sighed. No one had seemed concerned before this. He had walked into the camp in worse conditions then this, yet no one had paid attention to him. Now Hera and Nakia were there, one of which asking if he was Okay. It was a little strange to him.

He could hear wildlife nearby, but couldn't see any. Squirrels, rabbits, and other small things rang through his ears. He looked up and scanned the small clearing he was in, leaning even more against the tree. He rubbed a small cut on he s head from when they had kicked him to the ground. He looked at the small drop of blood on his hand from the cut. It will just happen again.

He stood up, still leaning against the tree. He took a deep breath, his chest aching a bit. He didn't speak again, or look at the two. He just stared into the woods.

Hera watched him carefully, wondering just how badly injured he was.

"You're bleeding. We should take you back to camp. They might have broken something." She didn't expect him to talk much. She already figured out that he wasn't much of a talker. Could that be why he got into this mess? No. Nothing could be that serious to start this kind of fight.

Hera glanced over at Nakia. She had seen her around, but never this close. She stood strong and confidently. Honestly, she was glad she was here. Even though Hera was strong, she wasn't sure if she could help Alex back to camp if it was needed.

Hera noticed that Alex was looking off into the woods. What is he thinking? Why isn't he eager to get back into camp? She didn't know. She couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy at how calm he was about the whole thing. Despite that feeling, her curiosity was much stronger. She wanted to learn more about him.

Jay had to find out where that smell was coming from. He Hoped No one was hurt that wouldnt be good at all. He was getting closer he could tell. His fault for being on the other side of the camp mourning his been dead father. He should be where all the action is at.

When He got there two other teens were crouched over another teen... He was the smell of blood. He ran over and slid on the ground looked into the waiting eyes of Alex. "What happened man, whoever did this is going to pay big time. No one messes with my friends". He was furious no one messes with anyone knows especially his close friends. Well they were kinda close. Alex still had not answered him.

Alex glanced up at Hera when she mentioned his blood. "No need." He looked back into the forest. He was always in the forest, training, or just walking through. That didn't make it easy to escape the ones who sought him. He had stopped trying to run from them a while ago. He wiped the blood seeping from the cut again and sighed. Why were they so interested in his problems now?

He looked toward Jay as he arrived. Another one. When he heard Jay's statement he shook his head, then motioned to Nakia. "Revenge doesn't solve anything. Only makes more problems." He looked away at the sound of a bird flying over them. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He wasn't used to this, being surrounded by others that weren't trying to hurt him. He was having trouble coping with it.

Nakia looked around at all of them. She found it to be an interesting bunch of people and perhaps they would get to know each other better. Then again maybe they wouldn’t, it all depended on how the summer turned out.

She didn’t move at all when Jay slid pass her very suddenly. Things no longer startled her. She looked behind her in the direction she knew the hall was. Just as she did the whistle sounded the start of the next part of their day. And that meant they were all late. Giving a sigh she looked back at Alex, Jay and Hera.

“We are all late now,” Her voice had a slight note of dismay in it but she stood still. “Alex, do you need help back or are you really okay? And don’t you dare say you don’t if you do. People who act like that are just dumb. If you do need help, and say you don’t, you might get hurt worse trying to make it back on your own.” She stood there arms crossed waiting for his answer.

“If it turns out you do Hera and Jay can help you, I doubt you want a naked girl helping. Or I can run back in my wolf form and bring one of the instructors. Of course if you don’t want to cause problems you should just keep this between us. And believe me if this happens again, those kids won’t want to come any ware near you when I am done with them.”

Hera nodded. "She's right Alex. We need to know if you're really okay." She paused. There was no look of pain on his face. He just looked... numb. That alone was unsettling. She was becoming more concerned when she noticed more blood seeping from the cut. "Please. Let Jay and I take you back. Maybe Nakia can let one of the instructors know without causing us too much attention."

She wasn't sure, but it was worth a try. She didn't really care if she was going to get in trouble for this or not. Something about Alex made her want to stay next to him and make sure he was really okay.

Memories flashed before her of him during class, always alone. She always thought he had friends in a different class. Now she wondered if he had any friends at all. This sudden interest in him was odd, even to her, but she knew she couldn't walk away. If she did, she would always be wondering about him.

She glanced around beside her. How odd, she thought. Jay, Nakia, Alex, and herself. All here in the woods. Talking. Would these be her new friends? What sort of mess would they be getting in? She didn't think too much on the last thought. Instead, she looked back at Alex. Her eyes pleading him to let them help him, her new friend.

Alex sighed as looked toward the camp. He felt strange, being around people who wanted to help him instead of hurting him. He just didn't understand it. His feet shuffled as he turned toward the camp. "I'm fine." He took a couple steps, limping on his right leg, toward the camp before hearing the bird again. He looked up at it, admiring its freedom and beauty. Yet also feeling like something was missing. like there was a hole there, hidden behind its beauty.

He looked back at Nakia, Hera and Jay. It was still puzzling and confusing him. He was sure they were just going to lead him away from the camp, attack him like all the others did. But instead of listening to his thoughts, his fears, he listened with his eyes and ears. There was nothing about there voices that seemed hostile, but that could be easily masked. There was nothing in their eyes that showed any signs of hostility. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "My leg hurts a bit." He was leaning awkwardly on his right leg. He thought they must have sprained something. It was a bit painful, but he masked it, as he always did. Pain wasn't new to him, he could cope with it.

He looked back at the bird that was perched on the branch above him. He couldn't tell which bird it was. It seemed to be chirping a melody. He looked away from it and sighed. Missing something. He limped against a tree and looked back to the forest. He wished he could live there, free from everything, just live how he wanted.

Jay thought Alex was way more puzzled then the rest of them were Like He had a deeper story than theres. He was masking the pain. He was sure of it. Then there was Hera. She seemed strong but innocent, like she would only help. Never hurt. But he knew better than to believe first thoughts. But Nakia, she was the most fascinating of all of them.

She was different in the way she carried herself than they did. Like there was more to her than they can see. He wanted to get to know her better. If she would let him that is. Alex was still leaking pretty bad though, they better figure out what to do fast. "How about we go with Nakia's plan" he said. He might wait and see if Nakia well let him know her better. But everyone has moments where they dont want to talk to anyone. He hopes after class wont be one. But they are still late though which isnt good. " Oh and Nakia revenge is the reason were not all dead, revenge makes the world go round. But I never said revenge was right." He had to state his point on that.

“Well, I think you are in good hands Alex.” She turned her head to look a Hera. She knew that they shared the same blood line and gave her a small nod. “Take him back, help him, get him to one of the instructors, but I advise against telling them what really happened.” After that she looked at all of them to include them in the next part.

“We are out here to train, and learn how to be strong in our blood lines. Things like this they will frown at if we cannot take care of it ourselves.” She looked directly at Alex, her eyes piercing his own. “Witch is why, if it happens again, it will be taken care of.” She wanted him to understand her completely. If it happened again and he did nothing she would do something.

“You are right about revenge Jay, it truly does make the world go round. It’s too bad for the people who get in the way though.” She gave him a brief smile and turned away from the group. “time for me to get going, I don’t like missing my training.”

She shifted right in front of them and was off in a flash to where she left her cloths. Quickly pulling them on she ran, in her human form, the rest of the way to where her group was training in hand to hand combat.

So far it had been an interesting day. As she blocked , ducked and rolled she thought about the three other teens. Different from each other and herself, odd that they would seemingly get along fine. The girl was nice, and she cared, something not so common among the Abenthron blood line. But Nakia could tell from the way Hera held her self she was probably a strong warrior. She didn’t know about the boys though, Alex was quiet, maybe too much so, and Jay hadn’t been around long enough to really catch anything from him. Except his view on revenge. They were interesting to her, and this meant that she was going to see more of them. Even if it meant playing with the trainers until they all ended up in the same group for training.

"Oh, I promised I wouldnt be late for my next class" Jay had totally forgot. "Sorry to bail on you Hera but I gotta go". He hoped Hera wasn't mad at him which wouldn't surprise him at all if she was mad.As he started running to class he said " Enjoy your alone time guys", and left.

The way Nakia acted towards him pleased him alot. Which is not very often he is pleased by a female's reaction towards him. He was happy that she understood where he stood on revenge. He hoped he could get into her class as he ran he heard a familar grunt. It was her, Nakia. Screw class he thought.

He ran to the nearest tree and stood on the top of it and watched how graceful she looked doing all this. He had never thought of a girl the way he thought of her. Sorry Hera and Alex but this is important to me as well and needs my attention. He kinda thought she was beautifu in a way.The hair most importantly. It was sleek and gentile. Nevermind that she's looking at him......

Alex watched as Nakia and Jay left. He sighed and stood up straight, the pain from his leg not showing on his face. He looked at Hera, wondering if she was going to leave him there, just to make it to her class. He didn't know what to think. He had seen these people in class, but never really paid attention to them, just like everyone did to him.

"Hera...you should get to class." Alex felt strange talking to someone without being spoken to. It didn't feel normal to him. He felt like he should be punished for it. But there was something about the people that made him think. Something that made him wonder why. Why were they worried about him now? Why did they want to help him now? And why did Hera seem the most worried? He could see a deep curiosity in her eyes, like a deep pool of wonder. Was she trying to figure something out?

He looked at the camp, knowing he would be yelled at again for being late. But it was never his fault. He had been beaten by groups of teens every day, sometimes to the point where he blacked out for a bit. He limped over to Hera and looked down, knowing what he was about to say would probably lead too trouble. "Could you...Help...Me to camp?"

Nakia rolled again and when she came up her leg shot out sending her partner to the ground with a hard crash. She straightened out and quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her stance was perfect as she waited for the kid to stand up and start attacking again. But just as she was about to doge the first punch there was a ear splitting scream, and the fist connected squarely with her jaw. Startled the kid stumbled back a few steps and muttered an apology. She glared at him and rubbed her jaw. She didn’t say anything but just headed with the rest of the group to see what the scream was about. As the neared the opposite side of the hall, the scream was abruptly cut off.

This is about when people started to run to see what was going on. And they were not the only group who had stopped their training. Nakia was in the head with only one person a head of her. He rounded the corner first and then as she did the first thing she noticed was the same guy vomiting next to the wall. Then she saw all the blood and body parts laying around. Her face went pale and she grabbed the wall.

She was strong, and most of them were being trained to kill if they needed to. But this, was not something they had seen before, not since the last war. When her father and countless others had been slaughtered. She tried to take a breath but her nostrils immediately filled with the scent of blood and wolves. That’s about when the trainers arrived.

She decided she needed to pull herself together fast. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. She shook her head and forced herself to breath. Trainers were already starting to push everyone back. She helped and once they were all as far away as around the corner where they couldn’t see anything, she was the one who stood there and made sure no one tried to sneak by and see what happened. Not that it mattered. Enough had seen it that the description was already spreading fast.

But the only thing people seemed to be bothered about was. Who were they and what had done it. Well, they all knew that in truth it was who had done it.

Alex's head darted as he heard the cream. He looked one more time at Hera before taking off toward the screams direction, ignoring the pain in his leg. As he cleared the forest, his nose caught two scents of blood. He increased his pace, seeming to run faster then the others on their way to the scene.

When he arrived, he stopped abruptly at the sight. His face still held no emotion, but this was not what he was expecting to see. He tried to concentrate on the blood and sounds being made but too many people were talking and screaming. This was a gruesome sight to take in, even for them.

He looked to see Nakia to his left, noticing her expression. He had never seen her like this. He was suddenly pushed back by the trainers. He backed up as far as they were led and kept his expression blank. He was glad he was wearing his hood, hiding his injuries. Someone might have suggested he had something to do with this. He looked over to Nakia again, seeing she had fixed her shock and was now working to keep others from passing the line. He began to walk over to her, until he was pulled aside by one of the trainers. The trainer had seen his wounds under the hood and noticed his clothing was dirty.

"What happened to your face?" It was more of a demand then a question.

Alex looked up at the trainer. He said nothing, knowing it wouldn't matter if he defended himself. No one knew anything about him, so why not blame him for this event. He sighed and looked up. "I was training in the forest." The trainer glared at him.

"Really?" He looked up and spread his hands. "Can anyone vouch that this young man was in the forest?"

"He wasn't in the forest! He was in the camp!" This was the leader of the small group of teens that had jumped him. He guessed they wanted revenge for what Nakia had done. The teen had a large grin on his face.

Alex sighed. He said nothing to counter.

"Come with me young man!" The trainer grabbed his wrist.

Jay was only a few yards away when he heard the scream, he ran as fast as he could to the sound. When got there he saw Alex and Nakia getting pushed back by trainer. He just noticed Nakia's weird expression he had to figure out what was wrong. He then turned his attention to where they where looking. He almost through up when he saw the horrid image in front of him.

It reminded him a lot of his mingled fathers body that day. The way he couldn't believe it was his father because of the fact his face was completely gone. But now he was wondering why a murder like this happened and who did it. They had to be punished for there crimes or he would punish them. Even if he had to kill them.

He wanted to jump inside the window and hide but he also wanted to watch as the trainers tried to cover it up. Right then someone was coming towards him he ran and hid in the crowd. He saw Alex being taken away by a trainer. Ah man, he had to bail him out of whatever trouble he was in. He ran to the trainer and pleaded with him to let Alex go. " He didn't do anything sir they lied". He took a wild guess as to what was wrong.

The trainer nodded and let Alex go and walk to a group of three and told them to go with him. As he stormed pass he said " thank you", in a cheerful tone and left. He then turned to Alex and asked him what happened." Ok first why where you almost in big trouble there, you didn't do anything to bad did you? Oh and what happened here, what's with the mingled body with no face and a girl with a slashed throat just hanging out in the hall for?". His response was really important now.

Nakia Just stood still for a little while, keeping an eye on people so the trainers would have time to clean up. But her mind was not really on that. She was too busy thinking about other things. She was remembering her mother when she was told her husband was killed. Instead of fainting, or crying, her lips formed a hard set line and she had squatted down to Nakia’s level.

“My, daughter,” she said. “You here what has happened to you father and you cry.” The small Nakia had nodded her head allowing tears to stream down her face. “Well don’t.” She remembered flinching at the roughness of her mothers voice. And quickly trying to dry her face. “Instead of being sad, be angry. The people who did this to him, the blood line must pay. You must be strong in memory of your father and find his killer to take revenge.” with those words spoken, Nakia’s life changed for good. And the words were spoken many times after that.

She came back to present when she saw Alex approach, he was immediately singled out by a trainer, for his beat up look and when the boys spoke against him she almost followed Alex and the Trainer but then Jay showed up and she saw that he was headed to talk to the Trainer. So instead she turned her attention to the boys and left her spot to walk over to them.

When she was close she circled the one who she had knocked over in the woods. Her finger nail dragged across his cheek. “What did I tell you, hmm?“ They weren’t as afraid this time because they were all in their human form and it was three of them and one of her. The one to the Left grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him.

“Not so tough when your not sneaking up on people are you?” He flung her arm back and to her credit she only stumbled a little. And when she stood steady again she just smirked at him. He glared at her and looked to his other friends, then back at her. “Lets go, the woods now we can fight this and make it square.” She just laughed at him and turned to walk away. But before she did she said something to him over her shoulder.

“When you want to play, one on one, like a big boy, let me know. “ And she walked away. Her heart was beating fast, but she had managed to remain seemingly calm. She knew that she could take one of them, maybe two, but she was not so good that she could take on three alone and come out okay. They all had the same training, she might have trained a little harder, but still, her frame was smaller, and three would be too much.

She went to go talk to Alex and Jay to see if everything with them was okay.

Technical Error Please Ignore

Alex looked at Jay. He shook his head. "Revenge happened." He sighed. He felt very uncomfortable being noticed, he wasn't used to it. He had always been alone, even sitting in the back of the room so he could be ignored. It was very unsettling. He turned and walked over to the forest.

He stopped suddenly as his enhanced hearing picked up the conversation between the three teens and Nakia. He turned toward their direction and stopped in front of the teens. "I'll fight if you leave her alone."

The teens seemed taken back by what he said, even taking a step backwards. The leader recovered and smiled. "Really? Well then..." He motioned to his friends. "We will settle it in the forest. Meet us in the clearing we found you in. If we win, your our punching bag for the rest of the time we're here. If you win, we will leave you and the girl alone."

Alex nodded. "So be it." He watched as the three teens headed toward the woods, laughing as they went in.

"What" Jay was surprised by his words. He heard what the three teens where saying as they walked by. There's no way he was going to let Alex fight him. Even if he did get the lead teen to fight alone, he knew they would play dirty and the other 2 would jump in. He could easily beat up two of them but not three.

" Trust me Alex I'm a good fighter. When you fight him I'll be hiding. If you start losing your on your own. If they are losing and the rest jump in I'll come and back you up. But if you fight all three of them as soon as you start fighting I'll come out and help." he knew Alex would say no, but he wouldn't take no for an answer.

" No matter what you say I'm going to back you up". He had to let Alex know he wouldn't let him go in alone. He was his friend now. Being his friend means he will always back them up. Even a fight. "I hope the fight won't be a school yard fight cause me and you might embarrass them, ha". Alex must still be puzzled with his comments. Because he still was looking at the forest.

Levont Destan pulled into the camp ground in a huge H3 Hummer. He stepped out from the passenger side, As his brother Areth hopped out of the driver seat. "Ah Lupus Camp... you feel the wild in you little bro?" Areth teased.

Levont just rolled his eyes, causing his long blond hair to fall just over his left eye. Brushing it behind his ear he quickly spotted the Mirakian Camp Ground. "I see home brother..." He called over to Areth. The whole trip to Lupus Camp was a three day long rant about the equipment that was installed for the Annual Clan Bouts participants. Levont had devised a thorough regimen for this years training. Intent on the fight against The Animal Greed. He could imagine the fight in his head. Greed was known for his speed, and Levont might have thought of a way to disable that part of his rivals tactic.

"Are you in your head lost again? Come on Lev, and help me carry the stuff." Levont grabbed two canvas bags in each hand and hoisted the two hundred pound load over each shoulder. As they took the trail they caught sight of what looked like a huff match between three guys, and a girl? He frowned when he got a closer look at her. Abenthron. Oh well. as long as she kept her distance, there won't be a problem. When they finally made it to Mirakian camp, the few other clan members huddled around and took the two's burden. one being Giovanni, stepped close to the boys, and in his Irish accent bellowed. "Twell I'll Be a brown crayon in my knickers to think you two'd never make it up here in a fort night, mighty impressed I am! Now Levvy ol' boy, i hear ya fightin' Greed this year? Tough pick this year round eh?" Giovanni chattered away as Levont made his way to the forest. Levont felt the urge. and acted on it the moment his foot touched grass, he lept out of his clothes as a human, and landed on all fours as a pure white Wolf. He let out a Mirakian Howl and sped off to his sacred part of the valley.

It took better part of an hour to get to his secret place, but as soon as he smelled his scent he barked out in glee. There just by the forty foot water fall was a dense outgrowth of trees that had circled a clearing with several stones outside a cave set into the cliff base. this was his training grounds, his home away from home.

Alex shook his head. "If one can't fight there own battles I will." He looked at Jay the empty look in his eyes had gone, to be replaced with a deep anger. "Stay out of the fight. Even if they all jump in I will fight alone." Alex had never spoken like this before. In fact he had never spoken to anyone till today. The anger in his eyes was also strange. He usually never showed emotion. "I won't lose." He began to walk into the forest, following the three teens who were smirking. "I will fight alone Jay." He had noticed the new people who had arrived but paid no mind to them. Instead he headed into the woods, contempt on fighting alone.