Pain fades slowly.
Not instantly—like a game respawn—but in slow, pulsing waves peeling themselves off my nerves. Every second feels too real, too physical. My lungs expand with air that tastes like wet earth and crushed leaves, and my ears twitch at sounds far beyond anything human hearing should pick up.
A bug crawling under a rock several meters away.
The wings of something small beating high in a treetop.
Fen's heartbeat—slow, steady, wolf-like.
Lura's—calm on the outside, shaking underneath.
My senses are still too sharp, too alive. Like my entire existence has been upgraded without my permission.
Fen and Lura flank me silently.
They keep a respectful distance—maybe reverent, maybe terrified—but their eyes never leave me, like I might vanish again if they blink too long. Or worse… like I might attack if they move wrong.
I push myself upright, fur brushing against rough bark.
My voice rumbles out low, gravelly, almost unfamiliar.
"…What exactly happened to me?"
Fen bows his head. "You awakened."
Yeah. Thanks. Super helpful.
Lura flicks him a glare sharp enough to slice bark. She steps closer, movements poised and cautious, the way someone approaches a sacred beast.
"When you were slain, the pack fractured," she says. "Rivals rose. Territories burned. But the system… refused to delete your data. It waited."
"Waited?" I repeat, trying not to panic at the idea of a video game system waiting for a dead king to respawn.
"For your return," she finishes quietly.
Return. Resurrection. Revival.
I don't know which one fits, because all three make me want to lie down and scream into the dirt.
Before I can respond, a sharp chime echoes—not in the air, but inside my skull. Like a notification popping up directly in my brain.
A red warning flashes in front of my vision:
ALERT: Core Status Unstable
AI Divergence Detected
Entity ID: Werewolf King (???) has deviated from Expected Behavior Pattern
Please contact Administration.
Fen's ears flatten like someone punched him with sound. Lura tenses, claws slipping from her fingers.
I stare at the hovering red warning like it just accused me of murdering its family.
"…Administration?" I mumble.
Fen growls, voice low. "Do not answer. They will erase you again."
Erase me?
"Hold on—who are 'they' exactly?"
Lura steps closer. Her violet eyes meet mine—not fearful of me, but fearful for me.
"They created us. Wrote our souls. Forced you to obey their cycles." Her throat tightens. "You fought them once."
A chill crawls through my fur.
"And they killed you for it," she finishes softly.
Great. So I rebelled before I even existed. Nice to know I'm consistent.
A throbbing headache pulses behind my eyes. Not normal pain—more like my brain warning me: Don't open that box yet. It's full of trauma and DLC you didn't buy.
I drag my focus back to the forest.
Blood still glistens dark on my claws. My muscles hum with a strength I didn't have, but underneath that strength is something else…
Instinct.
Memory.
Hunger.
Like a shadow curled beneath my ribcage.
A voice—deep, old, cracked like stone—whispers from somewhere in the back of my skull:
"Take back the throne."
I blink hard, and the forest snaps back into harsh clarity.
Fen watches me carefully. "More fragments?"
"Fragments of what?" I ask.
"Of the king before you," Lura answers. "His memories remain… inside the power. You may see what he saw. Feel what he felt."
Fantastic. So I'm basically sharing a mental Airbnb with the ghost of a tyrant wolf king who hates authority.
Before I can process that, Lura gestures deeper into the forest. "My king, we must move. The Dire Wolves were scouts. Their alpha will come."
Fen bares his teeth. "And he hates you."
"That seems to be a theme today," I mutter.
The trees rustle with faint howls. More wolves. Bigger ones. The kind that don't chase players—they hunt kings.
"Fine," I sigh. "Where do we go?"
Fen points toward the ridge rising in the distance—black stones jagged like fangs tearing the sky.
"The Old Den," he says. "Your throne lies there."
"And enemies," Lura adds. "Many."
"Can't something in this world be simple?"
"No," they reply together.
Figures.
We move through the forest. I expect awkward stumbling, maybe crashing into a tree like an idiot. Instead, my body moves like it's been here for centuries.
Every step is precise. Balanced. Power ripples under my fur like coiled springs ready to launch.
I leap over a fallen log effortlessly. The landing is silent. Even the air seems to shift to make space for me—like the world knows I belong here.
My heart should be racing with fear.
Instead… it's steady. Solid.
Maybe too solid.
With each step, more flashes scratch at the edges of my mind:
Fire swallowing trees.
Wolves kneeling in a blood-soaked den.
A towering shadow with fractured glass eyes reaching for me.
A voice like a glitching god: "RESET HIM."
The old king didn't just rule.
He died fighting something… broken. Something wrong.
A deep vibration shivers through the ground.
Lura's ears twitch. "Too late. They're here."
Fen stiffens. "Dire Wolf Alpha. Level 48."
The trees ahead explode outward.
A creature larger than any wolf-shaped thing should be crashes into the clearing—black fur bristling like blades, muscles rippling under scarred skin. One yellow eye burns with hatred, the other socket empty, still marked with claw scars.
Its gaze locks onto me.
Pure, primal hatred.
Its voice booms—not spoken but echoed directly into my skull like someone screaming through the system itself:
"TRAITOR."
It charges.
Fen shouts, "My king—MOVE!"
But the king inside me doesn't move.
He answers.
My instincts take over, pulling every muscle into perfect harmony.
I roar.
A roar so deep the earth trembles. Birds explode from the trees in a frantic storm of feathers. Even Fen flinches.
A burning sigil erupts from my chest—dark silver lines pulsing outward like veins made of lightning.
[ALPHA DOMINION — Awakening Skill Activated]
Air whips around me, forming spirals that twist the grass flat.
The Dire Wolf Alpha skids, claws digging futile trenches into the dirt. Its body trembles violently, legs stiffening until they buckle under its own weight.
It kneels.
Forced submission.
Fen's jaw drops. "H-He obeys you…"
Lura stares like I just bent gravity with my fingers.
I step forward, radiating power I didn't ask for but can't deny. The Dire Wolf collapses further, muzzle pressed to the earth, unable to lift its head.
My claws rise—instinct telling me to strike, finish the rival, reclaim dominance.
"No…" I whisper. "I'm not killing him."
But the instinct in me roars:
"A king leaves no rival alive."
Two wills clash inside my skull.
Sai Ji — the lonely loser kid who barely speaks to humans.
And the Werewolf King — monarch of bones, breaker of armies, predator of predators.
My hand trembles. Blood drips from my claws onto the dirt.
Fen and Lura don't move. They respect my choice—or fear my hesitation.
The Dire Wolf shivers, waiting for judgment.
I inhale deeply.
And choose.
[PATH SELECTED: King's Mercy]
Dominion Evolution: Compassion Variant Unlocked
NPC Behavior Shift Detected
Storyline Divergence: 14,900%
WARNING: The System Cannot Predict You
The warnings vanish like swallowed smoke.
The forest goes dead silent.
Fen whispers, "You… altered fate."
Lura exhales shakily, a small, soft smile spreading across her face. "Then you truly are our king."
The Dire Wolf Alpha rises unsteadily. Its single eye no longer holds hatred—only loyalty, deep and instinctual. It bows its massive head once… then disappears back into the shadows.
I stand there, heart thundering, claws shaking.
I'm not the old king.
I'm not the forgotten kid from the real world.
I'm something new.
Something unpredictable.
Something dangerous.
And whatever the system planned for this world—
I just broke it.