The Wolves Ch. 006

No one was able to beat Brax in the first round, but Xigios performed the best. He was given a force of two battleships, four cruisers and ten destroyers, and had to go up against a force of one dreadnought, two battleships, four battlecruisers, four destroyers and six frigates. He managed to 'cripple' one of the battleships, one battlecruiser, all four destroyers and five frigates before his own forces were taken out. He also did a slight amount of damage to the dreadnought, but it just had too much firepower, and it was far too durable.

The next best was actually the person who would end up facing Xigios in the finals, though they were only able to 'cripple' one battlecruiser, two of the destroyers, and all six frigates before being defeated.

For round two, each opponent was given five-hundred troops equipped with training weapons and armor. If you took what would be considered a mortal wound, your armor would lock up and you would be stuck on the battlefield until the battle was over. Spells weren't allowed for this exercise, since they could easily kill your opponent's forces.

Xigios won all three of his rounds handily. For the first two, he didn't even lose one-hundred of his troops while annihilating his opponents. The final one proved more of a challenge, but he still had over two-hundred troops left at the end.

Finally, for round three, he had to fight another Scyftan. While in their normal form, a Scyftan is usually between three and four feet tall and weigh between 70 and 130 pounds, depending on height and gender. Neither of them were this small when they stepped in the ring, however. Xigios had shifted into an amalgamation that a human would say looked like some sort of a cross between a gorilla, a rhino and a dragon.

His head was that of a rhino with a large, very sharp horn, his body was heavily muscled like a gorilla, though covered in scales rather than fur. To finish it off, he had large wings and a long, very powerful tail. In either gorilla-like hand, he had two heavy swords, though he could discard them and just beat his opponent with his bare hands.

His opponent, on the other hand, was a lot smaller and more nimble. Rather than take on the appearance of an animal, or various species, she appeared as one of the old allies of the Scyftan people; an Elf. She had two swords that were much smaller than his.

It was a tough fight for both of them. While Xigios was large and powerful, she was small and hard to hit. She got a few hits in on his wings and his back before he did something about that. He shifted to remove his wings, and replaced them with a large shell that would cover the entirety of his back. The shell was incredibly durable, and meant that she would need to fight him head on rather than trying to get around him.

All it took was the woman making one mistake and Xigios ended the duel. He managed to strike her with his tail which sent her flying against a tree, breaking some bones and knocking her out. The force field shut off and the medics came in and began to heal all their injuries. When they were both healthy, they were summoned in front of Brax.

He expressed how proud he was of both of them, and said he would have been happy no matter which of them had won the right to lead. Over the next month, Brax had slowly passed leadership over to Xigios. A month later he passed away, but before he died, he recommended to Xigios that he promotes someone he trusts to be his second. It turned out that Xigios and the woman he defeated had built up a rapport with one another in the month since the duel. He promoted the woman to be his XO, and both of them have led The Indomitables for the past thousand years.

When Xigios and his XO were back in their shuttle and the door was closed, she turned to him. "I really wish we could have killed him right then. I hate that man." she said.

"No more than I hate him, but it has to be this way, Esriro. Our people are slowly being encroached upon from all directions, and there is nothing Kaldrus can to do stop it. The only person who might be able to is Jonuth Kidravia, which is why we're taking this contract so someone else doesn't. This way we can keep him safe, and when he finally makes his way to Nedovis, all three of us can find vengeance for what Kaldrus Dhir has done."

"I know, Xigios. We've gone over it about a hundred times. Doesn't mean I have to like it," she replied.

He leaned over to kiss her on the head. "No you don't, but it's only a little longer now. Ten months there, ten months back and it should be finished."

*****

Earth

Canadian Adventurer's Guild HQ

August 12, 2019

18:58 EDT

I filled my team in on the change of plans and then we left the dungeon, heading to the Adventurer's Guild HQ. Traffic wasn't heavy, so we made it in good time. I had been here before, and my parents had set me up with access to the employee parking, so I drove up to the security checkpoint and pulsed it with my mana. The bollards sank into the ground and I drove forward. I found a parking spot and then my friends and I got out. None of them had been here before, so I led them to the door where my mother was standing, holding it open.

"Hey, mom," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and walking through the door.

Mason mimicked me, the kiss and all, causing everyone to burst into laughter and then followed me in the building as well. When everyone was through and greetings were finished, she led us to a briefing room where my father was sitting and waiting.

"Please, everyone come and sit," he said, gesturing to the many seats around the table.

Everyone sat down, with my mother sitting beside my father and everyone else spreading out along both sides of the table.

Upon seeing we were all seated, he continued, while looking from one of my friends to the next. "Now, Alexandra and I have been waiting to tell Jonathan what we're about to tell him for a long time. You four are his closest friends, so we're going to allow you to hear this if you wish."

I was both puzzled and intrigued, but let him continue.

"This is fairly sensitive information, so I need to ask all four of you to sign this binding contract that I will be passing around. If you don't wish to sign it, you will be asked to leave until we're done. If you do sign it, the contract will prevent you from speaking about what we tell you to anyone know does not know already. I'll pass it around now. Read it over if you wish, and then either sign it or leave the room when you're done."

Mason didn't even hesitate to sign it, though Ben and the twins were a little slower. They read it over and signed as well. Sonja handed it back to my father and beamed when he saw all four signatures on the contract.

"I'm glad Jonathan has such good friends,'' he said, looking at each of them. He then looked at me. "Jonathan, you got some strange news while going through your evaluation, correct?"

I nodded. "The voice in the evaluation said that I am a Scyftar and that I have the ability to shapeshift into various forms."

"What the hell is a Scyftan?"

"This is a Scyftan," my father said, pressing a button on something in his hand causing an image to appear above the table.

"Woah, is that a hologram?" Ben asked

"It is."

The image displayed on the screen was that of a small humanoid with light pinkish skin. It had the characteristics of a male and looked to be about four feet tall. He had short white hair on his head and eyes at least twice as big as a human's. His nose didn't protrude as much as a human nose does, and his mouth has a row of sharp, needle-like teeth. He had fairly large pointed ears for someone so small, probably four or five inches long. He had four fingers on each hand, including the thumb. I couldn't tell how many toes he has, since he was wearing shoes or boots, but he definitely looked like an alien.

The girls thought he was cute, but Mason and Ben were skeptical.

"How do we know that is what a Scyftan looks like? Can we see one?" Ben asked.

Gabriel looked at Alexandra and she nodded. He looked back at us. "Certainly," he answered.

Both Alexandra and Gabriel stood up and after a second began to change and grow shorter. After about ten seconds, they stopped and in their place were two humanoids. They looked similar to the one being projected from the hologram. The form Alexandra shifted into was a little over three feet tall, had long blonde hair and was clearly feminine in appearance. Gabriel was closer to three and a half feet tall and had short purple hair.

We all sat there with our mouths gaping like fish, myself included. It was silent for a moment and then Mason spoke up.

"Holy shit!"