Editing Fulgar - Third Vision

The dark, stormy skies were streaked with flashes of blue-white light across the horizon - to where Fulgar looked.  It was very cold, and he shivered involuntarily, despite being well wrapped in his thick winter fur.  At each pulse of Shang Ti’s power, which split the darkness, he remembered the shock that passed though him high on that peak, in what seemed like an eternity ago.  His eyes were suddenly drawn more to the foreground, attracted by a golden glow.  What started as a hint of aureate rock in the middle-distance began to sharpen in Fulgar’s mind, becoming brighter and more defined.  Yes, it was clear now, it was a golden mark; it emulated the lightning in the skies above, but it was bright, burning yellow.  As he watched, the mark grew in intensity and he missed the appearance of a wolf, or rather he thought the wolf must have appeared from behind rocks near the mark.  Fulgar was confused and disorientated; it seemed so real, but he was sleeping, wasn’t he?  

The wolf was impossibly large, the rocks were massive boulders, weren’t they?  It sniffed the golden lightning bolt that was scorched into the rock, at its claw-tipped paw.  How big was it?  Fulgar’s mind raced, still trying to define a scale and distance.  Scratching at the mark, the creature seemed a more normal size now. It pulled away, as if the golden bolt were hot, lips curling back threateningly, eyes fixed on the radiant mark.  Then the wolf caught Fulgar’s eye.  Had something alerted it to the presence of a hengeyokai? Was it smell or had Fulgar made a sound? The menacing glower was now directed at him.  Fulgar had been here many times in his youth – fight or flight, standing up to those impossible odds to secure pack honour.  Nevertheless, he was frightened.  This was no ordinary wolf or hengeyokai.  It was difficult to hold the beast’s gaze.  At any moment, he could pounce and Fulgar would feel the brutish force of powerful limbs and the surgical slicing of massive canines piercing his neck. Shame stuck him as true as Shang Ti’s lightning.  His tempestuous youth had caused him to miss his father’s rise in strength and power.  He had not been of the pack when they subjugated the neighbouring clans, one by one, until his father ruled all the territories north of the river and west of the mountains.  No leader had ever delivered as much to his pack, and all while Fulgar played at being a wolf.

‘Hush, Hēi Láng’, a soft female voice came from behind Fulgar startling him from his reverie and self-pity.  

However, the hengeyokai knew better than to take his eyes from the beast before him – in that way many had been torn to shreds.  The wolf dropped its gaze and stepped away from the burnished gold.  

‘I have a better toy for you to play with – look!’  Turning his head whilst being careful not to lose sight of the wolf before him, Fulgar glimpsed the owner of the voice. At least, a poorly defined silhouette of darkness against a deep, dull, dark-grey background.  Even in this obscure form, Fulgar could feel its power.  Only the voice gave it gender, for its form was taught, lean and muscular - androgenous.  It seemed to wear extremely tight-fitting black leather, over which was laid a cage-like armour of metal and bone spikes and horns, worn from head to toe.  Fulgar smelled sulphur on its breath and realised then that the wolf had not been looking at him, but through him - at this abomination that had entered his mind.  

The sulphurous humanoid held out its taloned-hand and, in its palm, it displayed a disc of yellow metal; not gold Fulgar realised.  It was very similar in size and shape to the Amulets that Fulgar knew marked the whereabouts of the mystical temples in this land and elsewhere. This one was different, however.  It appeared fractionally larger and in its centre was a bright-blue, spherical stone that seemed to ‘sit’ on its metal base.  

‘Take this, Hēi Láng, my pet; take this to Khagul-Gurung, to the Kondii in Minnerwe.’  

The wolf passed through Fulgar and snatched the amulet from the creature’s outstretched hand in its jaws. Simultaneously, the gold mark burst into flame and the leather, metal and bone-clad creature cackled loudly. 

‘He knows what is going to happen, my pet, do not fret at his anger – it is useless now,’ it cackled again.  ‘Once she opens the gate, I want it back.  She must not control it, my friend, once the path is open, we will be contained no longer.  Go now, Hēi Láng, join the hunt and enjoy your rewards; we shall meet soon, where the Kondii joins the depths, beyond Yen Wang’s vision. Join me on Pazunia where, on that delightfully barren, scorched place we shall use a different key – you know of what I speak.’

The dire wolf seemed to nod, before shifting its head to enable its maul to gain a better grip on the amulet.  The two creatures’ eyes met again and Fulgar realised they were communicating. ‘She has to bring it to me, my friend, otherwise she pays the penalty.  I know she is reluctant, but she will in the end: it is a powerful voice – friend – the voice of motherhood.