Virun had completed every quest set before him. Accepted every whim of his fickle god and performed as he was called upon to do more so than any Fenrir before him. How many lives he had taken in the name of war and the hunt was a fact he scarce tried to reflect on. Urdith was his shield sister, the woman called to his side that had followed him through hell and back to fulfil the most primal desire they both had been nurturing. But as they had finished their last errand, the castle had fallen, the demon slain and the keep claimed under Clandine's name" They found themselves staring the heart of the world into the eyes.

The swirling mass of dark clouds and crackling lightning beckoning them once more. The final stage was prepared and with a glance aside to Urdith he acknowledged their oath had come to an end. They were ready and Clandine was waiting. This was the moment of retribution and revenge they had waited so long for. Without hesitation he took his first step toward the portal and extended his hand to break the violent mass of cloud and light.

The curtain was to set on their lengthy and cumbersome adventure this day.

On the opposite side of the portal that hungrily swallowed him whole he found himself standing on a large broken bridge carved from stained white marble. The centuries hadn't been kind to the white stone and throughout the passing of time the once slick stone had cracked and broken so a narrow swath teetering on one single remaining beam wide enough for the two remained floating in the void. The empty void of dark clouds angry as the summer storm's sky extending in all directions without end.

Turning on his heel almost he looked back to the portal waiting on Urdith to enter and released a sigh of relief when he saw her step through and give him a small timid smile of assurance. "You know what we have to do. You're strong and you're ready." He gave her his best impression of the utmost assurance the night before he had every bit of confidence in her as his Yolgith. Both of them knew she was their weakest link.

"Please." She shook her head causing loose strands she didn't quite catch for the quick bun at the back of her head to sway, "I don't need you to mew over me at every turn, Virun. I'm just as prepared as you are." She boasted with every ounce of fake bravado she could muster. She wasn't ready. She would never be ready. Her partner was a force of nature before they were turned. But her" She was only a mage. She wasn't a warrior and never had planned to be one.

"If I don't mew who will" The variant' Psh, those tit latchers can barely care for the-" The sudden rumble of thunder in the far distance drew his attention and broke his words mid stride as Urdith jumped and clutched her staff tightly. Turning to face the rumble he watched the static glow of snapping electricity in the distance dim and pressed his lips firmly together. When they parted his words were barely above a whisper. "He's getting tired of waiting on us?"

Urdith nodded softly to his words and in half steps grew closer to the black coat the warrior before her wore almost as if to hide behind it. "We shouldn't keep him waiting for much longer then."

Virun cast one last glance back and held her wide green eyes for a moment longer before he gave an affirming nod to her and took a step off the bridge onto the clouds.

As the torrent of wind passed his ears in the short descent he glanced up at a harsh and shrill scream that passed over his head only inches from his scalp. It wasn't until he hit the cloud barrier under his feet and rolled forward that his body snapped around and he saw what sort of machination created the sound. With a steady gaze leveled on the side of the dilapidated bridge he saw what he knew from the moment they stepped into the void was bound to happen. Slowly rising to his feet he let his eyes trace the pierced form of Urdith against the stone shattered and imbedded into the wall. Thankfully he couldn't see the damage do to her being so deep inside that only her legs hung from the wall but it was enough to stoke the flames of hate a little further deep inside.

A change occurred inside the void, electricity began to flutter from all directions rumbling in a heated and passionate manner constantly. When Virdun turned back to face the source of the original rumble a stone throne sat not far from his position and seated on the throne was a man with white hair and glowing blue tribal markings across his body. The god of war waited on his champion.

"So you have arrived Fenrir." His voice boomed but his lips never parted, "I will not waste our time with rebuttal and insult. Kill me, and take my place as god of this void." His glowing blue eyes sat on the man as he pushed his hands down onto the arms of the throne and slowly stood.

"You lay in wait and kill her before she has the chance to show her mettle" Is that how this holy ceremony is suppose to be carried out' To fight as cowards?" His teeth only clenched tighter as his rage grew.

The god took slow steps forward encroaching on the man before him with eyes cast down from his hulking stature to the clouds of the void. "The weak have no place in our battlefield Fenrir. Only the strong. Those with the unbridled will to live have a hand in the works of the world." He turned his eyes back up to the man and lightning crackled through the void, "This battlefield yours and mine alone."

"You think that's what drives us" Why we have come so fa-" His hate began to spill forth but the heavy thud of an untouchable force slammed into him and sent him back into the crumbling bridge.

"It is a simple decision fenrir. Defeat me and take my place as god of this world or die a merciful death. You need only the will to claim what is offered you. The will to survive." The god's hand was extended to the man the force that had struck him still swirling between fingertips.

This beast knew nothing of mercy. The decision was nothing as he spoke it. The decision was to kill him or die a dog's death here among this empty corpse filled void.

With a fair bit of struggle the man rose to his feet and gasped as he dove to the side and the remaining bridge fragments were shattered and sent scattering in all directions. The roll he fell into at his mad leap wasn't an easy one to bring under control and as he caught himself he felt his body pull with the weight of the sword his hand had instinctively pulled from its" scabbard.

It was only a moment's length more and his body was in motion toward the god, his sword lashing out and striking a force that shimmered at the swords contact from the god's hand. The onslaught was relentless and fevered, growls and grunts leaving the man as he swung trying to break through the screen the god had created.

"Yes! Fight! Fight me Fenrir, fight tooth and nail as you have in my name before coming here! Fight like the savage beast you have always been, long before the curse, before me before the Fenrir!" The god released another burst of that horrid force that struck the blade of the man's sword and shattered it midway down.

Even with shattered sword Virun continued to slash at the god, his body moving in a powerful circular motion aiming at the god's body and even soul.

"What is it that drives you, Virun" Your torrent of hate and bloodlust is but a shadow of what you really are harboring." Virun gained small ground on the god causing him to twist as he darted from one side to the other to dodge not only the god's offence but to out maneuver his defense. "Sheer will, the desire to change the world at her most fundamental core. You are here and are have reached this point because you willed it. That alone has brought us to this point." Even the god had begun to snatch himself to keep his shield of light in place, his offence coming to an end to employ an all out defense against Virun's onslaught.

With a final slash he shattered the light shield and his eyes widened as he could feel the hunger to bite into the god's flesh grow but he was given no such satisfaction. Within a blink the god was gone and his swing left to send him reeling into the direction of his last powerful slash. He took that brief instant to collect himself, that split moment to push the rage and hate he felt to the side and push away all impulses they might have brought with them.

Snapping his head from one direction to the next he felt his heart rise into his throat as he looked for the god. It was that damn incessant rumble that caused him to turn himself back and see the god walking with a lump of flesh in his palm.

"The potential, it's certainly there." The lump of flesh he held was the heart he had taken from him all those years ago. He was holding the heart out from himself and looking onto it as he paced as though Virun wasn't even there. "The beasts of this land I call forth, much like those who believe in the hand of a creator I too call forth the creation of those outside the bonds of men." Even as open as he seemed Virun could only watch him for the time being, the threat of tackling him now head on was greater than waiting for him to come after him. The god brought the heart back to his chest and dug it back inside of himself. For a single moment, the first time in a decade, Virun felt a faint thundering beat of his heart. "Expect none of the mercy men believe to come from their gods. The world is a cruel place. That is the truth. The cold truth of a world barren of mercy."

"Is this all there is to this?" Virun brought his foot closer to the other and lowered his back, sweat starting to form on his brow, "You preaching at me until one of us moves?" His teeth clamped down sharply as he waited then.

The god took a moment to stand in silence before he turned back to the warrior before him. The shimmer of his skin began to die away and his white hair began at the root turning a deep almost blood red. The blue tattoos began to fade and armor from an age lost to time replaced the visage of the god with a man the same as Virun himself. This was Clandine. This was the man behind the god.

Pulling a wide sword from a sheath and throwing a plank shield into the clouds the god held the sword out at chest level to Virun in challenge. "Come, Virun. I shall meet you on your field. Our battle now stands at it's end. See your journey through and put an end to my time."

Virun stood motionless for a moment. His eyes staring wide into the milky white eyes of the man before him. This was no test to overpower a god, it was impossible to overpower what he just fought". This was a send off for this man into glory. A final battle with an adversary he deemed a worthy end. He couldn't kill the god no matter the amount of healing his curse brought to him. But a man' A man he could kill.

He was reset in a shutter of time and with a low swipe from his shattered sword met the blade of the older warrior. The clatter of swords echoing over the rumbles of the void. The battle was one that could have been a tale of swordsmen sung in castles by the bards but in the void it was forever their story. Their tale as the clash of wills ensued and the dance of gods had begun.

It was a long battle, perhaps hours, and as the man stood over the bloody god panting and battered he cast eyes into the man that held years of hatred and darkness behind them. Holding his bleeding side with one hand and clenching the sword in the other in a white hot grip he closed an eye trickling blood from his head had caused such searing pain to that he could no longer force it to stay open. "This?" A raspy groan was the only way to describe the dry and exhausted voice that left the hunched figure, "This is what you wanted" To die in an empty void" This is what you made us for?" He felt his teeth crack under the pressure of his bite.

"And" It succeeded. I have been slain. My place in the wheel has been fulfilled. Everything I did." His eyes began to close as his breathing slowed, "Was for this moment." The god began to drift away, slowly but easing himself into death.

"No." The new god let the hiss leave his mouth like the beast he was deep inside. With beaten and bloodied body beginning to tear and expand he took the form of that horrible wolf like creature this very god had lovingly given to him. He could feel the thunder of his heart in his chest now. The rolling waves of life returning to him but that was all secondary now. Now he had to grant his first wish as the new god. "You don't get to fade away like a hero. You will drift into the end screaming.? The voice that left his snout was cruel and echoed over the void as he set on the man then.

From that moment a new god of war was named, the god of the hunt and werebeast was his title. A man who rose in the west and came to conquer the Oren valley. He would be the first to complete the trials of ascension.

The Grim Wolf was born.