Struggling to see, it’s Achilles still in human form, how is he this strong? Frida steps in front of me and we lock eyes. The rage subsides and as I transform back, Achilles drops me to the ground.
From across the arena a voice shouts, “No I wouldn’t have killed her, but I needed to see how you would react if one of your comrades’ lives were threatened. And I can honestly say I didn’t expect that. It’s been a long time since a Lycan was able to land a blow on me,” Uriel replies, getting to his feet and resheathing his sword.
“If you ever attempt anything like that again I will kill you,” I snarl.
“As entertaining as that would be to watch you try, there is something even more intriguing here. Just then when you transformed what did you feel? Was it rage, anger, or was it something else?” He asked.
“Fuck you,” I snap.
“I don’t have time to waste on worthless mongrels like you,” he mutters just before taking off to the sky and disappearing from sight.
“What’s going on here?” Lucius yells in a commanding voice. I turn around to see Achilles facing the rest of the division, who are standing on the side of the arena.
“Uriel threatened to kill Frida in order to get me to transform,” I mutter, struggling to get back onto my feet.
“What exactly did he do?” he inquires. I explain what happened as I reach down and help Frida back to her feet.
From the look on her face she seems to be in shock.
“Damn it, he said he wouldn’t do that again,” Achilles replies with disappointment and disgust in his voice.
“Again,” I snap back.
“Yeah, when I first took over as this division’s commander, we had a new troop that had difficulty transforming for our sparring sessions. Uriel pulled me aside and told me he was going to do something to motivate him, and told me not to intervene. Then he proceeded to do the exact same thing he did here, but with one difference. When the new guy didn’t transform he stopped right before his blade impaled Perseus.” Achilles sighed.
“After that happened I confronted him and told him that if he ever does that again I’ll intervene and stop him. But it seems like you handled yourself just fine. Frida, are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine, I’m just going to go sit down and try to calm down,” she answers with a quiver still in her voice.
“If you need anything let me know,” I tell her before turning back to Achilles.
“What did you feel when you transformed to protect Frida?” Achilles asks.
“It wasn’t the anger or rage that I felt the other times I transformed, it was a different feeling, and it came from Fenrir. Before I could think, he was in control, and as soon as Frida and Serafine were safe, it was gone and I changed back,” I replied.
“Interesting, let’s see if we can bring that out again, so let’s continue your training. I’m going to be your opponent for your next sparring match,” he continues. “Don’t worry about Frida, she will be fine. What I want you to do is use the anger that you have right now and harness it to transform.”
Still feeling the anger from what Uriel did, I replay the image of what happened and Fenrir’s anger rages inside. Justbefore it becomes uncontrollable, I stop and focus.Fenrir,help me I want the same thing you do, the power to protect the ones I love.
“I believe you,”he responds as I feel him ease back, allowing me to take control.
Then it happens, I feel my body temperature rise and my bones cracking, but this time it’s happening exponentially faster.
Clawing at my skin, I tear away the flesh to release my true form.
“Good,” Achilles remarks while clapping. “Now attack me.” I rush at him, slashing feverishly, wildly.
He dodges every attack with ease.
“Come on, I know you’re faster than this, you would have to be in order to have hit Uriel,” he shouts mockingly.
This only pisses me off more and feeds the rage. Just as I’m about to lose myself to it, he punches me in the gut, dropping me to a knee.
“Don’t give in to the rage. If you do, you will always lose. Control it, don’t let it control you,” he shouts.
That blow reels me back and puts me in control again.
Control it, command it, will it.
