Eye of the moon

"Now then" The man starts as he leans forward in his seat, his green eyes glint with a passion for something yet to be seen. He interlocks his fingers together as if trying to hold himself back from doing anything.

"Have you seen anyone in your dreams lately?"

Kai flinches slightly at the question, but thinks carefully about it.

If the wolf knows, he should definitely know... but why does he look angry? Is it a bad thing if I say I know The Ever-changing?

"Yes" Kai answers with a nod of his head, not adding more than that. As the man said before, that'll cost you another question.

Clearing his throat, Kai carefully thinks of what question to ask next. If he only has two more, and the man can lie for one of them, he should just ask ones where it would be easy to tell if ones lying, so he does just that.

"How come most people level up quicker and easier than me?"

A question which has been weighing on his mind for the last week. Both Sofia and Noelle had reached level 13 while he was still level 11, then there was Creepy and Beefcake with Creppy being level 15, even Umbra was level 12, and Kai was a higher level than her when he first contracted the moon wolf.

"Ah, you have that problem? It's to do with your class. Take this for example, each class can have multiple ways to level up. A blacksmith can level up my forging weapons and armour and also by killing monsters, or a mage can level up by creating new spells, mastering old ones, killing monsters, a much wider variety.

But some classes are more focused on giving XP in certain ways. A necromancer would get more XP for creating new minions rather than killing something, or how a cleric would gain more XP for healing someone rather than killing."

Frowning after hearing this, Kai looks at the fire as it crackles, the flames of the beautiful fire crackle as it looks back.

It seems I'm in a bit of trouble, did I get clickbaited by the stats? It can't be, I mean, I met The Ever-changing so they have to be pretty powerful, a powerful class wouldn't be bad at leveling up... or maybe it would, maybe 18 unnasigned stat was too good to be true...

"Now then, my turn again." The man grins as he rubs his hands together, any previous trace of anger or resentment now gone. Pondering for a few moments, or maybe its just an act, the man asks his second question.

"What is your class? Since you seem to not level up that quick, I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing."

A bead of sweat forms on Kai's head. He internally debates wether he should lie about this answer or answer truthfully. On the one hand, lying would mean he would have to answer the last question truthfully, but if he tells the truth for this one the last question could just be an easy answer and it would be a waste to lie.

"I'm an apprentice." Is the answer he decides to give. Sure lying on this question might not be the wisest, but a feeling in his gut tells him to, the same feeling that told him to pick Apprentice of The Ever-changing.

"I see..." The man stroke his chin, silently thinking. He's probably aware that Kai chose to lie for that question, but he doesn't know for sure.

"Final question." Kai speaks up, but honestly, he doesn't know what he should ask. It's not that he doesn't have questions, it's that he has too many. After some deliberation, Kai decides on what to ask.

Everything he has seen so far today, a pack of well trained wolf scouts, a dome in a cave that can imitate the real sky, animals working together in harmony, a monstrously powerful wolf who is currently acting like a house pet, all of these originate from one person.

"Who are you really?"

The man smiles, the previous charisma gone, all that remains is longing and an expression full of sorrow.

"As I said in out first meeting, I am a failure, that's who I am. Nothing more, nothing less."

Feeling as if his last question was wasted, Kai hides a scowl and leans back in his chair, thankful that the game is over.

"Are you forgetting something, my friend?" Failure speaks. Kai tilts his head to the side, looking at the charismatic man. "I still have one more question."

Cursing, Kai waves his hand in the air, smiling slightly, he says;

"Alright, go on then. But go easy on me though, we're friends, right?"

"Of course we are friends, and like a good friend would I'll pick an easy question. What's your bloodline like?"

Kai's skin turns cold as he looks at Failure. He has a genuine smile on his face, as if he actually believes that this last question is an easy answer.

"It's, uh..." Aldred's snout twitches, as if he knows Kai is about to lie. Biting his lower lip and accepting the fact he has to tell the truth, Kai answers with;

"I don't know, it's majority human with a few percentage hidden behind question marks."

"Question marks you say?" The rooms temperature seems to drop by a few degrees after he finishes speaking. Failure's eyes narrow as he looks at Kai, as if inspecting him.

Does he know what the question marks are? Maybe, it doesn't seem likely though. He looks like he has an idea of what they are though.

"Hmm, that is strange." The man shrugs, shocking Kai at his bluntness.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Kai looks at the flames of the fire and admires them. The beauty of the fire is an incredible sight for someone like him who had been stuck with the bare essentials for who knows how long.

"What are the abominations?" Kai blurts out, breaking the silence. He looks at Failure to gauge his reaction, only there is no extreme reaction. The man sighs and answers;

"I can answer, but it is an extremely long story."

Kai shrugs nonchalantly and leans back in his chair, getting comfortable while basking in the heat of the tranquil fireplace.

"I have time to spare."

"Well alright then." Failure sighs as he himself gets comfortable, indicating it really may be a long story and he wasn't exaggerating like Kai thought.

"Long ago, in a kingdom far west of here, there was a kingdom. A prospering region. Famine, drought and wars were non existent. The royal family were the ones to thank for that. Unlike the royals of other kingdoms at the time, the King took great care of his kingdom. But this was all due to his daughter asking him to.

His daughter, the princess, was a kind and caring woman, and had the beauty to match. Long blonde hair, a figure gods would envy, she was the eye of many noble and poor men alike. Her name was Princess Ethenia."

Ethania? Is that not the name of the forest? So is it connected?

"Sadly, due to her outstanding beauty and radiant personality, someone set their eyes on her, someone extremely powerful. A god."

Kai's blood runs cold at the revelation, swallowing, he asks;

"A god? sure gods aren't real, right?"

The man chuckles, a self deprecating tone hidden in the cheerful action.

"Is it really impossible to believe that? I mean, look at all you're going through. Plus, you've met a god before."

"No I haven't-" Kai starts to speak, only for the realisation to hit him mid way through.

The Ever-changing... is a god? No, it can't be... Do gods really exist? And now I'm the apprentice of one such god?

Slightly scared, but immensely curious, Kai closes his mouth and allows the man to continue his story.

"Ethania was just an innocent Princess who cared deeply for her people. One of her favourite things to do was at night, she would watch the stars and moon and imagine flying among them, a shining light in the vast expanse of space. Only, while she was looking at the moon... the moon was looking back.

A powerful god of a religion set up far, far away. Their name was Eye of the moon, or that was their alias, even I am not sure of their actual name."

Eye of the moon? Is he the reason the moon kills you? What the hell is wrong with that dude? Are all gods crazy?

A slight chuckle is heard in the back of Kai's mind, as if it came from a being far away...

"They set their eyes on Lady Ethania, Eye of the moon was known for having many women with him at all times. He had a vile personality and made sure to torment any who rejected him.

After coming to the kingdom to take Ethania, she turned him down in front of everyone. Embarrassed and enraged beyond measure, Eye of the moon gave her one final chance. She was to be in the room in the tallest tower at midnight in three days time, otherwise he would wipe out her beloved kingdom off the face of the planet.

These were just normal people, what could they do against a god? Nothing, that's what. The nobles turned against her, the princess who had done so much for the kingdom was now asked to be a sacrifice for it. Even her father turned against her and tried to have her captured.

With nowhere left to run, Ethania took her loyal Knight who was with her since she was young and left everything behind. Sadly, they did not make it far.

In a vast grassland where you could see further than any could hope to dream, they were caught. The enraged God laid a curse on Ethania, turning the Princess into a tree. He also expanded the moon and made it many more times its natural size. Afterwards, he infused some of his power into it that caused it to deal damage to any who look at it.

The whole kingdom was wiped out that night from the mind attacks of the moon, but unaware of what was going on, Ethenia tried her hardest to save anyone, anything.

With sheer will, she seeded, grew and expanded her influence over the whole expanse, creating a shield of trees to block out the moon and to allow the creatures below to live on peace.

This peace lasted a few millenia, until Eye of the moon caught on. Using the shadows from the dark side of the moon, he created the abominations. The creatures living in peace below had to go into hiding, their hiding place being thus very Dome. The abominations were just too strong after all.

That is, until Aldred came along."

The man smiles and pets the gray wolfs head again, the wolf leaning into the touch.

"The way the moon beasts power works is the bigger the moon in their eye, the stronger they are. That's the reason there are no gibbous moon creatures in the whole forest except for the abominations. The abiminations wiped them out so they don't pose a threat. Except, they managed to miss a pup, a small wolf born with a full moon in their third eye.

The wolf had to learn to survive by itself, fighting any creature that came after it and constantly training. More millenia passed and the abominations continued to eradicate the creatures below the trees, until Aldred stepped up. He courageously fought against the full moon beast of the abominations, a four armed demon with crimson skin.

Their fight continued for a hundred years before one side slipped up. The four armed demon missed a decisive blow, causing it to lose an arm and go into hiding to recover. During this time, the creatures below the trees thrived and recovered lost land, this Dome became the headquaters of all the beasts in the forest, and it was peaceful for the last few millenia.

Sadly, peace doesn't last forever and the time is coming again. The demon is recovered and the murals prophesied it would return when someone bearing... that bastards scent showed up, and that person is you.

The final fight is upon us, the end of the forest is coming and it will be decided before this tutorial ends. It will all be over soon..."

The man's voice grows somber, as if he's been waiting for this for a long time.

Suddenly, a status message pops up before his eyes, shocking him slightly. He reads it, some realisation hitting him as he does.

Quest: Fight for the Forest

Ally with the creatures below the trees

Yes/No

Rewards will be decided based on your contribution in the end

Of course there's a quest system...