Worries of a First-time Werewolf

"Acquiring chilled beverage is a secondary priority behind the whole werewolf issue, Cray!" Lilly grumbled. She was watching Graham wearily. "We're not taking this seriously enough. A werewolf in beast form with no control is just... is just like a dangerous wild animal. We have to figure something out. If Graham changes fully and he loses control, he could attack us. We could end up dead, or horrifically injured, or even werewolves too. And what if he gets loose on campus? It gets worse from there."

"If I get killed by a werewolf, then at least I won't have to study arcane alchemy next semester." Cray took another casual sip from his bottle. "Graham, if you lose control and maul me to death, at least just make it quick, yeah?"

Graham raised an eyebrow. "I most certainly will not. If I really am a werewolf--which I'm still not convinced I am--then I will make extra sure that you suffer greatly when I lose control, turn feral, and go on a mindless killing spree. Your death by werewolf will be slow and horrible."

Lilly covered her mouth as she chuckled, but then she glared. Through it all she had never let go of her wand, and now she waved it vaguely at her two friends. "Haha. No, but this is serious! Can you two not joke about this? There's a werewolf in the apartment. A werewolf! I dislike this!"

"It is quite unusual," Cray conceded, "but this is still Graham. He is our friend. Even if he's a werewolf, I don't think he would maul us to death. Or at least, hopefully he mauls you first, so I have time to run away."

Lilly laughed even harder, then she glared even harder at Cray. "Hahaha... Oh, I hate you!" she grumbled. "If Graham goes feral and mauls me to death, my last action will be to throw a magic missile at your fleeing coward back, so that he catches you and mauls you to death too."

Graham snorted and shook his head. "Ok but joking aside, is that a real possibility?" He raised his arm and gestured to the bracelet. "The telanium-silver stopped the transformation, right? So, we're all safe? I'm fine?"

"You're fine for now. I don't know how long that will last. Maybe we should be taking more precautions." Standing up, Lilly reached over the table to take the beer bottle from Cray, and she took a gulp of her own. She passed the bottle back to him, then waved her wand towards Graham, across the table. "Keep an eye on him. I'm going to look for countermeasures." Lilly went to her own bedroom, which like all the bedrooms, was connected directly with the common room, and she unlocked her door with her key.

"Ok." Cray winked an eye closed, then he gestured with one finger from his open eye towards Graham. "I've got my eye on you. Don't you go transforming into a werewolf now."

"Woof, woof," Graham muttered drily. "Do wolves even go woof? Or is that a dog thing?"

Cray chuckled. He blinked both eyes open again. "Haha. You've never seen a wolf before?"

"I think I've seen them in the zoo, back when I was a young child," Graham said. He nodded towards Cray. "You might have grown up in the countryside, but before I came to the academy, I was from Kadrin. No wolves there."

"City boy. Not that I've seen many wolves myself. My family owns a vineyard, not a dairy or pig farm." Cray took another sip from the bottle, then he offered it to Graham. Before Graham could take the bottle, Cray changed his mind and drew it back. "Actually, maybe we shouldn't be sharing this drink. Because of... hygiene, you know?"

Graham again raised an eyebrow, and he had to hold back a chuckle. "Yes, I'm feeling the discrimination now."

Cray pretended to be shocked. "Hey. Woah. I'm not judging or anything. But since lycanthropy spreads through bites, that sounds like saliva is the mode of transmission, and so sharing drinks or food might not be safe?"

"Ok, that's fair. It makes sense," Graham admitted.

Cray gestured towards the larder. "I'll grab you a new bottle if you want, and draw up another frost rune?"

"No need. If for whatever unknown reason I'm turning into a werewolf, I don't think being tipsy is going to help with staying in control." Graham was quiet for a moment, staring at his own wrist and the bracelet there. "I still don't understand how I could be a werewolf. I feel... almost like when I first learned I could use magic, because that was baffling and unbelievable too."

Cray nodded. "I think I know what you mean."

Graham's gaze went distant as he recalled memories. "At the time I was... maybe sixteen years old? I was reading a newspaper about a new factory that had opened up--they were hiring flame affinity mages to work in the forge. And there was a photograph of them all casting the spell together, with the spellword captioned. I saw that and I read it aloud, just for fun--moctus!"

Graham snapped the fingers of his left hand, and a small magical flame appeared, burning gently over his index finger as if it was a candle. "Just like that. I panicked and shook it out instantly, then I rushed to put my hand under an open tap because I thought I'd burned myself. But I was fine, and that's how I realized I had magic." The young magician sighed softly. He could feel the gentle trickle of energy streaming out through his finger as he sustained the small magical flame. With a minor mental exertion he moved that point about, causing the flame to leap between his fingers, before landing right in his palm where he snuffed it out by closing his hand into a fist.

Cray had been listening, but now his eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together. "I got it. It's all just the same, isn't it?" He gestured between Graham's left hand where he had been holding the magical flame, and his right hand where he was wearing the telanium-silver bracelet. "It's just about control, right? You need to learn how to control your werewolf transformation, just like how you learned to control and use your magical skills. It's all about mental self-mastery and focus, or whatever."

Graham frowned. "I'm not sure it's the same."

Cray nodded encouragingly. "It's probably the same. After all, there are werewolves who can shift form voluntarily, not just being limited to the lunar cycles. Do you want to try it out? Maybe... try taking the bracelet off, and see if you can control the transformation just with your mind?"

"Really? Is that safe? For you, I mean," Graham asked.

Cray glanced over towards the bedrooms. Lilly's bedroom door was open and she was visible inside, searching through her cabinets and her storage chest for something. The other doors were all closed, and the other two student occupants of the apartment (besides Lilly, Graham, and Cray) were not home. Cray nodded. "Sure, I believe in you. Practice makes perfect, and you've always been great with your spell control. Uhh, maybe first let me prepare something though..."

Cray put down the beer bottle and wiped his hands on his cloak to dry them, then he drew out his wand and pointed it at Graham. "Just in case you lose control, I'll try and freeze you so you don't go feral or whatever." After a moment's thought, he stood up and went over to grab a pan from the stove, holding it in his other hand. "And if that doesn't work, I'll give you a smack with this thing."

"Would getting hit with a saucepan really knock out a werewolf, or would it just make him angry?" Graham pointed out.

"That is a good point," Cray agreed, but he still held onto the pan. "Hopefully we don't find out."

"Hah." Graham laughed, but he cautiously grabbed hold of the bracelet and prepared to pull it off. He took a couple of slow deep breaths to calm himself and focus. "Ok. Well, here goes nothing..."

Cray nodded, and he waved his wand. "Do it!"

"Alright, then." Graham snatched the telanium-silver bracelet off his wrist, and instantly he felt energy surge through his body. That sensation of power was most concentrated in his right hand, and he could feel his fingers and wrist muscles contracting and moving. Except it wasn't just his muscles, but the rest of his flesh and bones shifting about, transforming into a new form. Graham dropped the bracelet onto the table and clutched his right wrist with his left hand, and he could feel the change as his limb altered itself.

He tried to fight it. Graham focused his willpower and concentrated on that energy, trying to contain it just like how he could command his magical abilities. He drew on his years of practice with using magic, yet this felt like a losing battle. Attempting to stop all that deep, inner power was like trying to hold a breath forever--the longer he tried to resist, the harder it got.

"Come on, Graham, you can do it. You can control this, right?" Cray said encouragingly. "Oh, am I distracting you? Sorry, I'll be quiet."

"Heh." Graham laughed, but then he gritted his teeth as the transformation progressed. "I don't know if... Blast, this is impossible." Just as before, his fingers and hand were the first to visibly change, shifting in proportions. Thick, grey fur started spreading across the back of his hand, until it resembled an animal's paw more than a human hand. As the transformation began spreading up Graham's arm, the young magician shook his head. "I can't. It's not working. Damn!"

He hurriedly snatched up the telanium-silver bracelet with his left hand and yanked it back over his right arm, and instantly the metal alloy flashed with brilliant light. Instead of the energy welling up within him, it poured out through the metal bracelet. Graham could feel heat against his skin, and the runes on the bracelet glowed with such intensity that he had to glance away.

The flow of energy faded away after a few seconds, and the bracelet's brilliant glow faded until they could both look at it again. "That didn't work," Graham decided.

Cray had raised the pan to protect his eyes from the glow, but now he lowered it down again. "I guess not," he agreed.

"What in the lowest dimensional tiers of hell are you two idiots doing?!" Lilly strolled back into the apartment's common room, carrying a cardboard box with both arms. She dropped the box onto the table and folded her arms.

"I was... trying to see if I could control this transformation the same way I can control magic?" Graham explained sheepishly. "Uh..." Unlike before where putting on the telanium-silver bracelet had returned his right hand to normal, now the transformation had halted but it had not reversed. Graham's right hand now fully resembled a canine paw--it was covered in grey fur, but with dark pads over his palm and with his nails now pointed and sharpened into short claws. Turning his hand around, then opening and closing it a few times, he didn't know what to say. The proportions of his fingers had changed and shortened, but he could still wiggle them about, and he had enough manually dexterity to try picking up the bottle from the table, before putting it back down.

Lilly looked decidedly unimpressed. "And evidently that didn't work."

"Apparently not." Graham held back a sigh, but then another idea occurred to him. "Moctus?" he tried. Driven by the force of his will, he created the small magical flame again, but now over his right hand. The sensation of magic flowing out of his body felt familiar and similar to how it always had, even if his form was altered. Graham gestured towards his hand. "If you could only see my hand from the wrist down, it would look like a dog was doing magic. Or a wolf, technically. Haha, how strange." He cut off the flow of magic, and the flame vanished.

Lilly shook her head, and she didn't bother holding back her sigh. "Uuggh." Rifling through the cardboard box she had just brought out, she started dropping various metal objects onto the table, all of which were made from telanium-silver alloy. "Ok, these might help. Put them on. Put them all on."

There were a couple more bracelets like the one Graham was already wearing, as well as rings, bands in an assortment of sizes, a leather belt with a large metallic brooch that was meant to go around the waist, a smaller belt that was meant to go around the neck, and various other things. The common theme was that all these accessories were either made from or at least contained telanium-silver--a special blend of metals that when alloyed together, were particularly useful for creating magical objects and equipment.

"Wow. Where'd you get all these from?" Graham picked up another bracelet and peered at it before sliding it over his right wrist. Unfortunately, the addition of more telanium-silver didn't seem to reverse the transformation of his hand.

"It's leftovers from my project work in arcane materials class. I was testing out designs to try and create a magical amplifying accessory for cheap. I didn't really succeed, but I did a good report and got graded well." Inverting the whole cardboard box, Lilly entirely poured out its contents then slid the box aside. She waved impatiently at Graham. "Well? Quit staring and start putting on the metal. Hands, legs, neck, head. Everywhere."

Graham hesitated, then he did as Lilly asked, putting on the bracelets, rings, and even the belt. The general effect was that instead of a bright, noticeable glow emanating from the one bracelet around his wrist, the glow spread out across all the metal until it was barely even visible. "I guess the idea is that if telanium-silver can supress a transformation, then more of it will supress it more?"

"That's exactly the idea," Lilly confirmed. She picked up two small loops of metal. "These are earrings. Are your ears pierced?"

"No..." Looking down over himself, Graham felt silly. There were some magicians (apprentice or otherwise) who revelled in their status and enjoyed proudly flaunting their wands, staffs, accessories, or even the magician's guild logo on their clothing. In comparison, Graham had always preferred a subtler approach. Unlike some other students, he didn't bother with telanium-silver accessories to try and provide a slight boost to his magical talents--and certainly even the most arrogant, overcompensating magician would never wear this much alloy.

Cray picked up a sheet of alloy foil from the table and crumpled it up into a silvery cone, which he passed over to Graham. "Put this on your head." Graham did so, which made Cray chuckle. "Hahaha. Graham, you look stupid."

"I feel stupid." Graham could feel all the metal weighing him down--the necklace around his neck, the rings on the fingers of his left hand, the bracelets around his wrists and ankles, and all the other things.

"Your fashion is a distant priority behind my desire not to get mauled by an out-of-control werewolf." Lilly folded her arms as she looked him over. "How are you feeling? More in control? Less likely to transform?"

Graham looked at his right hand. It still resembled a wolf's paw, and even the addition of all this magical metal hadn't made the transformation reverse. "I feel the same, honestly." He adjusted the conical foil hat he was wearing. "There's still... I don't know quite how to describe it, but there's an energy inside me that feels like it wants to escape. Like a breath I've been holding, just waiting to exhale."

Cray sat back in his chair and shook his head. "Graham, good pal, that is not reassuring." He turned to Lilly. "Have you got any more ideas?"

Lilly put her palms together and tapped her fingertips. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me think about this." Strolling to the side of the apartment's common room, she flipped at a calendar on the wall. "Lycan transformations are supposed to be tied to the lunar cycle. We're still a couple of days away from the full moon."

"What's up with that?" Graham asked. "I thought werewolves only transformed on the night of the full moon?"

"No, that's a misconception. Werewolves can shift forms at any time if they have enough control. But full moon is when they (or you) are most compelled to be in beast form, and then new moon is the opposite when they're most compelled for human form. That's what I remember from the lecture a few months ago. It's because of celestial sphere alignment which has gravitational effects on the aethereal flux."

Graham snatched the foil cone off his head and crumpled it into a ball, then he ran his hands through his hair. "I really need to start learning about werewolves. The library probably has some books I could read."

Lilly shook her head. "If you're already starting to change now and are barely in control, I doubt you'll last for a few more days without going full beast."

Graham looked at his two friends. "So what do I do?" he asked.

"We take you to campus security, and have the golems keep you under guard?" Lilly suggested.

Cray raised his hand and gestured with a finger towards Graham. "But... but if we do that, then there's no keeping the secret. Everyone in the academy is going to know that Graham's a werewolf."

Graham wanted to bury his face in his hands, but with his right hand more of a paw, he just settled for resting his forehead against his left hand. "I still can't believe I'm a werewolf. How did this even happen? Ok. No. If it's between keeping this a secret and keeping everyone safe, then safety is obviously far more important. I hope I can stay in control and keep fighting this transformation, but I don't know. Maybe Lilly's right and I should go to security."

"No, no, no. Hold on." Cray waved his hands. "What if we don't get security involved, but we just keep you here and under guard so that if you do transform and lose control, you'll still be contained? Exams have just finished, so there aren't any more classes to attend for a month."

"And how exactly do you propose we detain a werewolf?" Lilly drily asked.

Cray gestured towards Graham's bedroom. "Tie him up in his room? I'm sure we can find rope somewhere."

"Your plan is to tie up a werewolf?" Lilly asked.

"No, my proposed suggestion is that we tie up Graham to a chair, and then if he loses control and transforms into his werewolf form, he'll still be tied up," Cray explained.

"Even if we could keep him confined, which I'm not confident of because he's a werewolf, we still have the problem of noise. How do we explain the barking and howling? Astrid and Casper would ask questions about all the noise coming from Graham's room, and I doubt they would keep the secret," Lilly pointed out.

"Hm. We could gag him? Tie a cloth over his mouth? Or we tape his mouth shut?" Cray replied.

"That's not the only issue. How do we keep him fed and hydrated these few days?" Lilly said. "I guess he could go without food for a few days until the full moon has passed. We--"

"Ok, no." Graham slapped his hands (his hand and his paw) against the table and stood up. "If I'm going to be imprisoned, you might as well just take me to security."

"Sure!" Lilly gestured towards the front door. "Let's go."

"Hey! Come on. No, don't give up. We don't give up on problems so easily." Cray was still sitting at the table and he beckoned his friends back. "Sit down, you two. Sit down, please. I have one last idea. Just hear me out."

Graham sat back down, partially because he was wearing so much telanium-silver that even standing up was tiring. "It had better be a good idea."

---

"I hope this works out," Graham muttered, as the three apprentice magicians strolled through the forest.

"I hope so too," Lilly agreed.

A layer of snow covered the ground and all the surroundings, but most of the trees were evergreen conifers that had kept their foliage, adding some dark green to break up the overwhelming white. The forest all around them was starkly still and quiet, with barely any sound to be heard beyond the soft crunch of their boots against the snow. Cray was taking the lead, bringing them deeper into the forest with Graham following behind, then with Lilly trailing in the rear. All three of them were carrying backpacks, but Graham was also wearing the many telanium-silver accessories that were meant to be countering his transformation--the bracelets, belt, necklace, anklets, and various other things. All that extra metal weighed him down, and he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He exhaled slowly, and his breath was briefly visible as a small cloud of vapour, illuminated by the mid-afternoon sun.