Werewolf The Apocalypse: Beast Behind The Glass

Minutes.

War-Maw and Bloodfang held their pup, Future-Fang, for minutes. That was all they had.

But it was pure bliss. The pup fed on his mothers milk. Fighting even then as he clawed at her fur and stomped her belly. It seemed all he knew was the fight. Even at his first meal.

And his connection to the spirits seemed magnetic.

You would've thought the puppy was a Theurge like Fire-tongue the way Gnosis flowed around him like auroral fire.

Whatever else was to be observed by War-Maw and Bloodfang was cut short as a distant howl cut the nervous and excited chatter of new birth.

Fire-tongue— who was relatively silent and in a trance of sorts, shook himself of his outer mind and looked to War-Maw with a horrified expression. His voice entered his mind as gunfire and explosions shook the silent night.

"War-Maw, Pentex operatives have entered our territory. Hundreds strong in packs of hundreds more approaching—"

Another bout of explosions went off, lighting up the sky as mushroom clouds of smoke and flame rose above the trees.

To attack on a full moon. In Red Talon territory. It wasn't only a declaration of war. It was a sign of confidence that shook War-Maw to his core.

His more human mind began to work at his anxieties as he took Future-Fang from Bloodfang and handed the pup to Fire-tongue.

"What do they have? What do they know? To attack us at such a time so confidently speaks to more than just Wyrmish military might. This isn't good. I need to save my son!" War-Maw thought in a panic.

His wolves raged.

Bloodfang was exhausted from going through labor on a full moon. But she stood tall regardless as the Warrior she was.

It birthed a new sort of rage in War-Maw as he turned to Fire-tongue.

"Take my son. Hide him. Get him somewhere safe. Leave the forests if you have to. These lands were dead long before I arrived anyway."

Fire-tongue let out a saddened whine— sharp ears flattening as he nodded. He spoke into the alpha's mind a final time.

"All ends birth new beginnings, alpha." Fire-tongue stood up to his full height, cradling Future-Fang in his arms. The pup clawed free of the theurge's hold to snarl and howl at the bombs lighting the sky. Even as the sight of wyrm taint spiraled from the smoke.

War-maw grinned, "That's my boy."

With little else to do, he adressed his wolves with a single bark and they gave into their rage once more.

Bloodfang hung back as all the Red Talons under War-Maw's control entered the battle.

Fire-tongue watched her.

She whined as she took a step towards the pup. Almost as soon as her foot fell, another bomb went off and Wolven cries blended with rapid gunfire.

She snarled and turned on her heels, joining her pack. Leaving her kin. For the sake of a better life. A better future. One with less wyrm in it.

Fire-tongue took off his pelt cloak and wrapped Future-Fang in it.

"Our journey grows arduous. Ready yourself, Future-Fang."

The pup bit cloak.

Fire-tongue took off in the other direction. Spirits flanked them both as they ran. And none stood out more strongly than the Griffin as it flew above them.

***

War-Maw ran in a blur, passing his own pack mates and Wendigo tribe members alike.

Even though the Garou as a whole were a very brash and outwardly aggresive species, much of their abilties were born from subtle nuances and experience over time.

War-Maw's human life gave him experience on two legs. It made him faster in his Crinos form. The positioning of his paws and spacing of his legs. He tried to teach it to his pack mates but the Red Talons were anything but tame.

A fact that became its most apparent as they dove into war.

The moon was at its fullest. Their rage climbed as spiritual oily black tendrils unfurled from the fire and smoke of man made explosives in the distance. It wrapped around their trees. It tore up the ground and slowly began erasing the lands mark in the umbra.

They were watching their lands die right before them.

The wrongness still boomed in War-Maw's brain as he ran amongst his pack.

"What do they have up their sleeve? They can't beat us in an all out war. So what's the trap? Have we already fallen into it?"

War-Maw felt a chill ripple up his spine.

His world slowed as his senses magnified. The moon. The smell of smoke, fire, rot, blood and pain. It was confusing and overstimulating him but he could still passively sense something.

He looked to his left. Bloodfang ran beside him on all fours despite her more humanoid form.

To his right, Cat-Eyes sprinted beside him.

The rest of his pack ran around and behind them. Furs patchy and wounds bloody as gun fire and bombs ripped up the forestry.

"Wait…"

He turned back to look among his pack of wolves.

Amidst the familiar forms he saw unknowns.

Thin massive wolves and doggish creatures with matted fur and drooling jaws.

They didn't smell any different. They didn't look any different to his fractured mind until he directly focused on them.

By then it was too late.

The foul wolf creatures attacked from within.