It took Xenon all his strength to just lift his head up. He didn’t know how long it had been since he went to investigate Bark’s ‘meeting spot’. All he knew is that he kept going in and out of consciousness as Bark and a few people, wearing robes and masks, would keep him subdued.

He heard a noise that was loud enough to give him a splitting headache. This is what woke him up. He opened his eyes. Everything was blurry. He tried to count how long he was staring around, but with nothing outside of fuzzy blobs to see, he couldn’t figure anything out.

“Gotta fight this,” Xenon thought to himself. He couldn’t feel his arms for the longest while, but after trying to wiggle them enough, he finally managed to wake them up. He then started to shake his head to get his neck muscles stimulated enough for him to fully sit up.

Though he managed this almost-impossible feat, it took several more minutes before his eyes could fully adjust. He was in a clearing of some sort. There was a big rock with bleachers in front of it. Several people were sitting down and looking at something to his right.

When he turned his head, he saw… something. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking at Chomby and two humans. One person he recognized as Bark. They had a devilish smile on their face. The other human, he could only assume was the ‘Emily’ person he remembered overhearing while in and out of consciousness. Based on what Xenon found out, Emily was Bark’s girlfriend. She went to great lengths to make sure that Bark was properly supported both financially and socially with his idea. Xenon had speculated that, without her, Bark wouldn’t have gotten this far.

But how far did he get? Chomby was here. There was a circle of chalk in front of Xenon. The audience seemed captivated. Emily was holding a spear to Chomby’s neck.

This image made Xenon’s body jolt awake. He realized that Chomby was in trouble.

Xenon tried to focus on what Bark was currently saying. He only heard the man mention something about a zipper and clothing. He remembered what Chomby had told him before.

“Chomby!” Xenon yelled out. “Don’t let them do this! Cult rituals always go bad!”

Chomby wasn’t reacting to his yell at all. He was about to yell more, but then he saw Chomby make a coughing motion. He then saw bits of green fly out of the soundbyte’s mouth.

“No!” Xenon yelled. “No, no! No! NO!” He tried to shake himself out of the chair, but the ropes that were restraining him were too tight. “Don’t you dare hurt Chomby! Bark, you coward, come here and fight me! Leave Chomby alone!”

The more Xenon struggled, the more he felt his attempts were futile. When he looked back to Chomby, he saw Bark say the words, “just a simple pull, and-”

Xenon watched in horror as he saw Chomby’s form begin to shift rapidly. The familiar characteristics of a Soundbyte he’d grown used to faded. Chomby’s legs elongated and his belly shrank down. His soft appearances started to become more bulky and massive. His black and green patterns faded away, giving way to a color palette of cream, grey, black, and brown. Xenon recognized the fur patterns as wolf-like. Chomby’s ears then shrank down to become more canine in appearance. He didn’t know what the front of Chomby looked like, as he could only see the soundbyte’s back. But, based on what he had been learning the past while, he knew that this was, in fact...

“A werewolf?” Xenon asked quietly. He looked down at his lap. He tried to remember everything that was said. Werewolves, yenaldooshi, a werewolf deity named Berithal. Was it all true?

Chomby’s form continued to grow. Within a minute, he was twice the size of Bark and completely hid the man behind him.

“Berithal!” Xenon heard Bark say. “I, your loyal servant, have summoned you to this world by sacrifice of the harbinger! As I have done as you’ve asked, I ask you to grant me lycanthropy so I can fully embrace you!”

The now-lumbering figure seemed to move slowly. It lifted its head. Xenon could see the snout of a werewolf. It had elongated teeth. Its eyes were pitch black with two pin pricks of green for pupils. In a way, this was similar to Chomby’s eyes, yet it somehow looked more terrifying when it belonged to a big, monstrous creature versus a chubby soundbyte.

The werewolf sniffed the air. “La...ven…der…” it said.

“That was one of the potential sacrifices, Great and Powerful Berithal!” Bark yelled. He gestured over to Xenon. “The man smells of lavender. I don’t know why, but if you desire him for food, then I will not deny you this!”

The werewolf seemed to follow Berithal’s command and turned around. Xenon could see that it had a decently-large, cream-and-brown-colored belly. This was probably due to its host, Chomby, being rather fat himself. It locked eyes with Xenon and slowly started to lumber over to him. As it moved, it placed a hand to its neck. Xenon noticed there was a thick mat of both green and red liquid. Xenon could only assume this was both Chomby’s and the werewolf’s blood.

Xenon tried to get out of his restraints. “Berithal is it?” He stammered out. “Bark murdered my friend to summon you. I don’t think I’m the best person for you to eat!”

The werewolf stopped. It did seem to respond to the name ‘Berithal’. It looked back over to Bark, then back to Xenon. Its eyes lit up. Xenon couldn’t tell what its emotion was.

“Eat?” Berithal asked. “Eat person?”

Berithal continued to walk over to Xenon. When it was standing only a few feet from Xenon, Xenon began to shake his chair as wildly as he could. He needed to escape somehow. He needed to get the police. Maybe, if he could just reach the radio in his pocket, he could call for backup.

Berithal leaned forward and put his nose directly in front of Xenon’s. Because Xenon was wearing a disguise, Berithal accidentally pressed its nose against his snout.

“Lavender,” Berithal said.

“Do you like lavender, my lord?” Bark asked.

Berithal turned its head to Bark. Again, its eyes lit up. This time, however, a large, crooked smile appeared on its face. The smile contorted until the werewolf looked almost manic.

“Ha… ha… ha…” Berithal said. “Sacrifice… ample…?”

“No! No!” Xenon yelled. “Please, I just wanted to help my friend, Chomby! He’d been having visions of you for so long that it was hurting him. I can’t let this be the final thing I remember of him.” Xenon felt his heart sink. “At least let me give him a proper burial or something, dang it!”

Berithal looked back at Xenon. It blinked. It then lifted its head up and sniffed the air. “Blood?” It continued to sniff as it lifted a hand to its neck. It applied a bit of pressure and then released. It looked down at its hand. “My blood.”

“Uh… Chomby’s blood, my Lord. He’s a soundbyte! They have weird-colored blood. I can wipe it off your neck for you, my Lord, if you desire!” Bark bowed down. He then gestured for Emily to bow down as well. Emily did so.

“Ha… ha… ha…” Berithal said. It turned away from Xenon and lumbered back to Bark. “Become a werewolf?”

Bark lifted his head. “Yes! Yes! Please! Anything! I would love to become one, just like you are, Oh Mighty Berithal!” Bark gestured to Emily. “My dearest Emily would desire this as well!”

Berithal finished lumbering toward Bark. Xenon noticed, as it continued to lumber, its stance started to correct itself and it was now walking semi-normally.

Berithal scratched the top of its head. “Me… think. Me… thinking… I’m… I… I’m thinking.” Its ears perked up. It looked back at Xenon, then down at Bark. Xenon could finally see an emotion on its face that he recognized. It was rage.

Bark stood up to stare at Berithal. His eyes were filled with such awe. Within the next second, Berithal grabbed around Bark’s waist and lifted him off the ground. Xenon could only watch.

“You want to… become a werewolf?” Berithal asked.

“Yes! More than anything!” Bark said hastily. He started to wiggle his legs aimlessly.

“You sacrificed… a jacket… to me… and… assumed that would suffice?” Berithal asked.

“I… I did what my dreams told me, Berithal! The harbinger you sent was a sentient jacket! Did I get that unclear?”

Berithal used its free hand to grab Emily as well. She gave a startled yelp when she was grabbed. “She is your accomplice?”

Bark and Emily shared a glance. Emily looked up at Berithal. “Y-yes! He is my love. We promised to do everything together!”

Berithal lowered his ears and lifted his lips into a snarl. “You are a pitiful human if you think this was enough to sate my hunger. I will not be fed literal clothing and be expected to do your bidding!”

“We have more, My Lord!” Bark said. “You can take both the sacrifices in the circle!”

“I need more,” Berithal growled. “I will take your lover as well. A delicious snack.”

Bark looked over at Emily, then up at Berithal. “Y-yes! You can have her, too!”

Xenon saw Emily’s expression change. Her eyes filled with fear. “What? Bark! What do you mean? You can’t seriously let him eat me like that! What about our bond? What about our love?”

“It’s all to get what we’ve been wanting, Emily! Lycanthropy!” Bark said.

“I didn’t sign up to die, Bark! Please, don’t let him do this!”

“But… but…” Bark looked up at Berithal. “P-please?”

The werewolf continued to hold the two humans for a moment longer. It seemed to be thinking. After that moment, it shoved Bark’s face into its own so it could stare deeply into his eyes. “A pathetic mortal you are. You aren’t worthy of lycanthropy.” It immediately dropped Emily but kept Bark held up. “Leave now. I best not ever see your face on this plain again. The moment we meet, you will be MY meat.”

Berithal fully released Bark. Bark dropped sloppily to the ground and staggered to his left. He then looked up at Berithal. His eyes showed he was pleading. “But… I did everything you asked, My Lord! Please!”

“Ha… ha… ha…” Berithal said. Xenon realized that he was laughing. “You are nothing. Worthless. A werewolf has a pack. You failed that test. Sacrifice your own for your own gain? Begone. Now.” Its voice came out in a surprisingly smooth manner. Its articulation had certainly improved over the past few minutes, but now it was talking with more poise than Bark ever did.

Bark whimpered. “But-”

“NOW!” Berithal shouted as it slashed a claw out toward Bark. Bark narrowly dodged out of the way before turning around and running away.

~~~~~

Next chapter is up! Seems a newcomer has joined. Oh my!

~~~~~

Sarge/Chomby/Xenon/Art/Story (C)  Juntarhenogu Me