Lupine Dawn Part 2!

It’s hard to write two stories at once, yes, but if I get bored of one, I can hop to the other! HUZZAH!

The dazzling morning light had faded to an embracing afternoon sheen. The grisly scene of the morning was fresh in the minds of Jeremy and Crystal, who had spent hours dragging the dying man back to their camp.

The man awoke to the smell and sounds of a crackling fire. A familiar scent wafted through the air – the smell of charred pepe meat. He tried to stand, but could only muster enough energy in his broken body to twitch his neck.

‘Well, for starters,’ he began to himself, ‘I can’t open my eye. I also can’t feel my arm… or my foot. There’s a fire somewhere… I’m alive; I see a tent… am I back in the village?’

His thoughts were interrupted as Jeremy entered the tent. A spastic jerk of his neck revealed to him the ‘intruder’, and he tried to gasp, but his jaw felt locked shut.

“I’ll be blunt,” said Jeremy, “you’re lucky that you’re alive, for one. You lost way too much blood, your arm and eye were mangled, your foot was completely snapped, and your jaw was misaligned. You were pretty beaten up. We managed to patch you up and use our only emergency kit to give you stabilizing fluids. We’re taking you to El Nath tomorrow.”

The man groaned softly.

“Oh. Your arm, foot, and eye are all gone. I’m sorry. It’s the best we could do just to patch them up.”

He let out another groan, this one fiercer and distressed.

“Seeing as you can’t eat, I suppose I’ll let you sleep. You’ll be moved tomorrow morning.”

He didn’t respond, save for another jerk back towards the ceiling. Jeremy exited the tent with a sigh, going back to Crystal at the fire.

The snow was beginning to freeze over once more from soft power to hard ice. The churned areas from footsteps were already accidents waiting to happen. Jeremy’s large boots, however, kept him aloft.

“You think he’ll be okay?” asked Crystal between two bites of pepe.

“Well, I can tell you he’s gonna live,” said the other, forlornly. He didn’t touch the food in front of him, only fiddled with a buckle on his pants.

Crystal sensed his mood and scooted closer, resting a thickly gloved hand on his knee. “Don’t be so down. We saved his ass from death. That’s what counts.”

Jeremy didn’t answer, just stood and crunched over to his tent. “See you tomorrow,” he muttered, slipping into the cloth enclosure.

Crystal watched him as he left. Though she didn’t know him long, the usual courteous, charming Jeremy was quiet and sad. She considered for a moment following him, but since that was against the rules and guidelines of her research fund provider, she simply finished eating and went to bed in her tent.

Night passed almost silently. There were a few times that Jeremy had a nightmare, and awoke to sounds of lycan howls and packs roaring over territories, but he supposed it was normal for a night out so deep in the frozen lands of El Nath.

However, morning can only bring surprises in the world of MapleStory, and that is what they found here.

“What the hell! WHAT THE HELL!” yelled Jeremy, staring with disbelief in the tent that housed the mysterious man. His entire body was shaking; his eyes were wide in surprise bordering on horror.

Crystal was awakened by his shouting. She stepped groggily from her tent into the shining morning snow… tinted deep red from blood. In front of her was a bloodied and half eaten Jr. Yeti, its entrails exposed. Flies buzzed hurriedly around it. Visibly canine tracks stalked around it and from out in the Icy Territories, the led slowly back to the tent where the man was housed.

The terrified researcher ran to her colleague, only to screech in terror at the sight before them.

There, in the tent, was the man. The previously battered, broken man.

The only difference was that his body was fully healed, just as it was when he was born.

…nude and all.

He slept peacefully, his clothing tattered and strewn across the floor. He was pristine, but the tent was covered in blood and white hair. On his person, white hairs were scattered along his body.

Jeremy took Crystal to his side, curtly turning her from the scene. She was breathing heavily and bordering on crying.

“…okay. Okay. We… we…,” he didn’t know what to do. “We should… dump him? Find his village? What?”

“No… no…,” said Crystal, steadying herself and pushing away from Jeremy. She began to massage her temples. “We, uh… we experiment? Put him in a cage or, or something… I don’t… I don’t know…”

Just then, a moan came from the tent. The two turned and, there was Mr. Mysterious, bundled in a bloody sleeping bag.

He rubbed his eyes. “So, uh, wanna tell me where I am and why I can’t remember last night?” he said casually, smiling warmly.

Phew. Okay, yeah. Kinda short. I think. And… yeah.