The world was meat-sweet and victory-flavored.
Jerky stashed safely in a hollow, spice still prickling her tongue, Luna bounced through the underbrush with her tail flagged high. Her paws danced. Her belly burned. Her grin stretched wider than a moonlit stream.
Shadow tricks were hers now. Food magic. Hunt magic. Step-where-you-shouldn’t magic.
She was unstoppable!
Time to test how unstoppable.
A rabbit bounded across a patch of moss in the distance. Luna narrowed her eyes. A perfect target. Not because she was hungry. Her gut was still a warm furnace of salt and spice and pride. No, this was for science.
She stalked. Lower. Closer. At an angle she hadn’t tried before.
Then activated the trick.
Shadow Step.
The world warped, and her skull rang like a hollow stump.
“OW,” she yelped, bouncing backward from a tree trunk that had definitely not been there a second ago. Leaves fluttered down in judgment.
She flopped onto her side with a groan, licking her paw and pretending it had all been part of the plan.
But she didn’t lay there for long, there were more tests to try!
Like sneak snack teleport!
Luna found a squirrel nibbling at a pinecone and aimed again. Focus. Shadows cool against her fur. Her paws rippled.
She popped out – straight into a patch of mud. The squirrel screamed and fled. Her chin hit the ground with a splat. Her mouth filled with moss.
Spatting it out, she scowled, then sneezed twice from the spice still clinging to her teeth.
Shadow Step was not working right, but it would not deter her from trying until she got it right.
Clearly, it wasn’t her fault. The prey were being unreasonable.
Luna glared at a particularly long shadow stretching from a tree and pounced. Bite-first. Her jaws snapped down on empty air.
No flavor.
She blinked, then chomped again. Still nothing.
Then she spun in a circle and bit at her own tail.
Also nothing.
She sat, tail in her mouth, and squinted at the ground.
“Maybe shadows only taste good when they’re fresh?” she mumbled around fur.
Then froze.
There was a rustle ahead. Hooves.
Luna crept forward, slipping into the trees. A whole herd of deer grazed nearby. So many legs. So much meat. Her tail flicked, slow and sharp. She narrowed her eyes.
This time, she would Shadow Step behind one and bite the butt.
Perfect plan. No flaws.
She melted into shadow, and reappeared… mid-air.
Above the herd.
One deer looked up.
Luna crashed into its back, bounced off, rolled through hooves and snorts and flailing limbs. A buck nearly almost stepped on her head. A doe screamed. Panic burst like wildfire.
The herd scattered.
Luna scrambled up, leaves in her teeth, mud on her tongue, one ear ringing.
Her nose wrinkled at the mouthful of leaf she got.
Absolutely no meat.
The forest went quiet again.
She sat in a daze, chewing slowly, then spat.
“Blech. Not worth it.”
A soft chime rang in her head.
【Shadow Step Lv.2 → Lv.3】
She blinked.
“Oh.”
Well. Progress. And progress was tasty too!
She stood up, shook the muck from her fur, and padded off with a spring in her step. Next time, she would aim better. Or maybe lure something big, slow, and juicy. With snacks.
Shadow Step just needed more practice.
And maybe a snack break.
Just one more strip of jerky.
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The leaf she had chewed earlier was still stuck in her back teeth. No matter how many times she tongued at it, it wouldn’t come loose.
Annoyance built.
She needed to kill something.
Not just for the leaf.
Also for meat. Definitely for meat.
Luna crept along a low ridge until her ears twitched at movement. A squirrel? No. Bigger. Heavier footfalls. She sniffed the air. Something in between rabbit and fox?
She found it nosing under a bush. It was some chunky little root-muncher with fat hips and terrible awareness. Perfect.
Her claws flexed. Her body crouched.
She didn’t Shadow Step this time.
Just ran.
Paws pounded dirt. The thing looked up barely in time to panic. It bolted. She jumped a root, curved right, lunged left. Her claw caught its flank mid-turn.
【Momentum Claw Lv.1 → Lv.2】
It staggered, screeched, and stumbled into a tree.
She pounced, clamped jaws around its neck, and shook until it stopped squeaking.
Warm blood and soft belly. That good, earthy wild-taste with a smoky finish.
Luna ate without rush. There was no hurry, just her and the meat. And a bit of fur. And–
–finally! Leaf dislodged!
“Victory,” she declared, licking her lips.
After the bones were picked clean, she stretched out in a sunny spot nearby and rolled onto her back. The warmth felt earned. Her full belly did a happy flip. A breeze rolled through the trees, stirring grass and birdsong. A perfect moment.
Until something poked her spine.
She twisted, nose flaring.
A bone was laying there. Long, dry, cracked at the middle.
Luna sniffed it. Old. Maybe deer? She pawed at it, flipped it, bit it.
It tasted like absolutely nothing.
Still, she rolled with it. Bit it again. Tossed it, pounced, spun, lost balance, tripped, and flipped herself head over tail. Ended in a heap, tail between her teeth.
She lay there a moment. Then burst into giggles.
“Hunting big things...” she said aloud, rolling upright, “...definitely not like that.”
She glanced up toward the forest canopy. Somewhere beyond the trees, smoke would rise. Metal would clink. The scent of spice, grease, and fire. Human places.
Places with meat she would never find in the wild.
Bigger things. Cooked things. Maybe even dangerous.
But definitely tasty.
Standing up, she shook the dirt off her fur. Tongue flicked. Tail high.
She would have to sniff them out. There had to be more than just one camp. And Luna will find where the food gathered. Where the spice-masters lived.
Her stomach approved with a quiet gurgle.
But as she padded toward her jerky stash, a flicker of thought caught at her heel. The den. Her pack was still limping, and quiet.
Her ears tipped back, just slightly.
They hadn’t had spice. Or jerky. Or clean kills lately. No secret tricks or solo hunts. Only wounds. Only silence.
Her tail slowed.
Then picked up again.
Luna had time. A little.
But first, she would eat. Then scout. Then… maaaybe share.
Maybe.
She smirked, nosed a leaf aside, and trotted off with her head high.
Big prey. Big ideas.
And maybe, just maybe, something good to bring back.
The den was quieter than she remembered.
Twilight painted the treetops gold. Smoke curled lazy from the same old patch of mossy stones. A few older wolves lazed near the clearing, eyes half-closed, ears sharp as ever.
Luna crouched low in the underbrush, breath held, jerky pouch clamped in her jaws.
This was dangerous.
She wasn’t supposed to be here. Not with this. Not with human food.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about the pups.
The tiny ones who hadn’t fought Mireback. The ones who didn’t know how to steal or Shadow Step or kill fat snakes with their teeth.
She slunk closer, slipping behind a log, then a root. Ears flat, nose twitching. One step, two, nearly there–
“Whatcha got?”
She froze.
Two pups stood on a rock, wide-eyed. One tilted its head. The other’s tail wagged.
They had found her stash with their noses before their eyes had even spotted her.
She huffed, dropped the pouch, and stood up like she had planned this all along.
“Secret food,” she announced, with all the dignity her tail could muster.
Their eyes got impossibly round.
Luna nosed open the pouch, pulled out a strip, and tore it into smaller pieces. Barely more than scraps. She flicked one toward each pup and kept the rest curled close.
They sniffed once. Licked. Then chewed like it was fire-spiced heaven.
Luna grinned, chest puffed. “You’re welcome.”
Soon three more pups had crept closer, tails wagging, eyes bright. She fed them too, carefully. One piece each. Two, maybe, if they looked particularly round and soft.
Her tail wagged alongside theirs, high and proud.
She was the meat queen. Giver of flavor. Master of spice.
Until a shadow passed overhead.
She turned, ears low.
One of the older males stood on the rise, his lip curled. His eyes locked on the pouch.
“You brought that filth here?” he said, voice sharp.
The pups froze.
Luna bristled, jerky clenched in her teeth. Her ears twitched.
“It’s good food,” she muttered around it.
“It’s human food,” he snapped. “Tainted.”
A snort from the side. Another wolf looked up, disdain sharp as claws. “Going soft, little spice-mouth?”
Luna's jaw clenched.
But the pups still wagged their tails, and licked crumbs from their paws. Still looked at her like she had hung the moon.
She didn’t argue.
Instead, she tucked the pouch under her belly and turned.
“I’ll bring meat,” she said, more to herself than anyone else. “Proper meat.”
And ran.
Through bush and stream and thorn. Nose sharp, breath quick. She found the scent fast. Big, smelly, stupid boar. She circled wide, caught wind again. Waited. Pounced.
The fight was messy.
[HP -6]
But worth it.
She dragged the carcass back by the ear, muscles burning. Dropped it at the edge of camp with a grunt.
Then waited.
One of the elders padded over, sniffed it, flicked an ear.
“It’ll do.”
Another muttered, “Didn’t even eat it herself.”
“Strange pup,” came the next.
She started to turn away… Then felt a nose brush her cheek.
Warm. Familiar.
Her mother.
One slow lick across her muzzle. Just one mlem.
Then silence.
Luna blinked.
【Charm +1】
Her tail gave a cautious wag.
She didn’t need all of them.
But some licks were worth more than meat.
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Restoration of Aerthis
