SepulchureSepulchure slowly wandered through the dark and dense forest, looking for signs of civilization. Each step was accompanied by the noise of dead leaves and twigs being crushed beneath his armored feet. The forest was eerily silent, not even the songbirds were singing their tune around him. He silently walked with an assured and unconcerned bearing, as if he knew for a fact that he was in no danger, leaving his large blade hanging at his side. Little did he know that a large pack of wolves had been stalking him for a long time and had finished their encirclement, now waiting for the right time to strike at the creature who had foolishly intruded upon their sanctum.
Some time later...
After a while, Sepulchure’s wanderings had led him to a clearing with a small spring of water. When Sepulchure reached the center of the field, the leader of the pack decided now was the time to attack and let loose a magnificent howl that shook the branches of the surrounding trees. They charged at the interloper with snarling jaws open wide baring their razor sharp fangs to the man.
Sepulchure raised an eyebrow upon seeing the wolves emerge from the shadow of the trees.
“Strange, normally animals know their place. Most aren’t suicidal enough to attack me.” He thought to himself. “I guess I’ll have to teach them their proper place!” He exclaimed, drawing his sword faster than a human eye could perceive, following up with another swift movement. He raised his off hand and let loose an immense blast of crackling white energy that vaporized the wolves in front of him along with several old trees that came crashing down with a thunderous boom. He then turned and cleaved in half a wolf that had had the gall to attempt to leap upon him from behind with a single mighty blow. “What a waste of time.”
The remaining wolves cautiously circled around Sepulchure at a safe distance out of the reach of his blade, unsure of what to do. After a few second, they howled in unison and retreated back into the shadows, only to be replaced by an enormous beast of a wolf. It glared at Sepulchure with anger in it’s eyes. Sepulchure returned the gaze, completely unfazed by the appearance of a monster.
“So, it seems I may have been wrong, perhaps they weren’t so foolish after all, if they were being led by you.” He said.
The giant wolf responded with a howl that shook the heavens and lunged at him with a speed that matched that which Sepulchure had demonstrated earlier and attempted to crush him under his enormous paw. Sepulchure met the paw with a brutal slash of his blade, cutting deep into the wolf’s skin before jumping back to dodge a second blow, pointing his arm at the wolf and let loose a faint black circle barely thicker than his arm.
The wolf stepped back, The grievous wound to its paw quickly sealing up. It howled, and suddenly disappeared in a blur of movement, smacking Sepulchure hard enough to send him flying through a tree before appearing behind him and repeating the process.
“Nngh!” Sepulchure grunted. This enemy was far stronger than he’d expected; the wolf was no pushover. It smacked him again, knocking him into a huge redwood with a deafening crash. He stood up and surrounded himself with a translucent shield; following up by surrounding himself with a dense aura of darkness before he charged at full speed matching the pace of the wolf.
The wolf had no time to react before it found itself being cleaved by the man’s dark blade. It screamed in pain, fury seizing control of its mental facilities. Only one thought remained in its ancient head: destroy the one who had injured it so badly. At a speed even faster than before, it flung Sepulchure away from it and sprinted forward with its mouth open wide, attempting to swallow him whole. If the great beast had still retained control of itself, it may have wondered why Sepulchure didn’t attempt to dodge this time, instead just standing still as it tore towards him.
Pure darkness enveloped Sepulchure’s blade in preparation as the wolf charged at him. He calmly watched it leap towards him, waiting in a ready stance. Now that the beast was acting on pure instinct, its movements had become predictable. Counterattacking would now be a very simple endeavor. Just before the wolf entered his striking distance, he swung his great blade.
It ripped through the mighty wolf’s skull and eviscerated its brain with one fell swoop, a train of darkness remained for a split second after the sword had swung before dissipating into the air.
Pain filled the great beast’s consciousness as the empowered blade passed through its skull, destroying both of its eyes in the process. The force of the blow failed to redirect the wolf however and it slammed into Sepulchure at full speed, causing him to tumble wildly along the ground. It smelled the air, and blindly charged once again in the general direction of its assailant.
Sepulchure picked himself up and immediately jumped to the side, barely dodging the mad beast. As it turned to make a third attempt, he punched the ground, sending a wave of black spikes towards the wolf, impaling it in an attempt to temporarily immobilize it. The wolf howled, calling its brethren to aid it in its struggle against the man. The wolves that had retreated before now returned in full force to assist their leader in his deadly struggle. Sepulchure leapt into the air above the wolves and held out his palm, taking several moments to fill it with a black ball of dark energy. After he released the swirling vortex, it grew many times in size, consuming all life in a large radius. Once the blast had dissipated, the only remaining creatures in the field were Sepulchure and Father Wolf, who had managed to free himself from the spikes and heal the injuries they had inflicted upon him. It leapt into the air and headbutted Sepulchure with all the strength in its body, sending him flying into the sky.
“Tch. Fluffy, to me.” He called out, removing his dragon amulet. Fluffy came soaring full speed to its master, ready to serve. Sepulchure touched the dragon with the amulet, causing it to grow into a huge, full sized dracolich that caught Sepulchure on its back and began hovering high above the forest. “Fluffy, destroy the wolf. I’ve grown tired of its antics.” Fluffy roared in response to its master’s order, and released an enormous blast of black fire from its mouth, destroying everything in its path and leaving a large blackened spot in its wake. Nothing of the wolf remained. “Foolish creature. It should have known how powerful I am; what attacking me would entail.” He looked around, finally catching sight of the city. Fluffy flew him to the city, depositing him on the outskirts. It then shrunk back down in size to an adorable baby dracolich. Sepulchure walked into the city. “Now, I need to figure out where I am. This doesn’t look like anywhere on Lore that I know of.”
