My Werewolf System

Chapter 1715  The Red Legend

The three of them stood in stunned silence, their eyes fixed on the sky where the impossible had just occurred. They had witnessed a massive red dragon descending through the clouds, only to shift its form into a human being before their very eyes.

Gary and Kai were no strangers to transformations; they had seen Harvor shift into a Dragon Altered before, but this was fundamentally different. In this time and setting, the raw weight of the presence they were witnessing felt more real, more ancient, and far more terrifying.

The most amazing thing, however, wasnʼt just the transformation, it was the power. This man was able to pin Jack, a powerhouse in his own right, to the dirt with the weight of a single foot. The sheer amount of force radiating from him was staggering.

As the three continued to watch the spectral memory play out, they saw the red-haired man move. He dealt with the rest of the rampaging werewolves at a speed that could only be described as lightning. He moved with a perfect blend of strength and agility, utilizing strange and powerful abilities that looked like high-level magic. One moment he was a blur of physical strikes, and the next, he was casting spells that kept the werewolves at bay, ensuring none of them could get close to the knights or the cowering civilians.

He was doing it all on his own. Everything that Gary, Kai, and Lupus had struggled to do together in their simulation, this one man was accomplishing with ease.

“Who is that person?” Gary asked, his voice shaking with awe. “Is he some type of Altered? Just like Harvor?”

“No, that’s not it. Altered don’t even exist during this time period,” Kai replied, his mind racing to connect the dots. “Don’t you remember what Rickel told us back then? And what Harvour himself said? The Altered program was originally built as an attempt to bring back the power of the dragons. That was the true, hidden purpose of all that research. What we’re looking at right now isnʼt a science experiment. I imagine that is a real, living dragon!”

A small, proud smile touched Jack’s ghostly face as he listened to them speak about his friend. He enjoyed seeing them witness Ray’s true greatness for the first time. It brought back a flood of memories from when he was younger, back to the days when he first realized the staggering depth of Ray’s skills.

“What you are witnessing is exactly as you suspected, a true Dragon,” Jack’s voice echoed through the memory. “But that person isn’t just any Dragon. He is the last king of the Red Wing Kingdom. He is a Legend, even among the greatest heroes of history.”

Hearing Jack describe him in such a way, one might have thought he was over-exaggerating or giving the individual far too much credit. However, watching the way he effortlessly suppressed Jack and the entire pack, the trio couldnʼt help but believe him. They understood now why this person was called a Legend.

“He earned that title because he was the sole reason the entirety of Bronzeland was saved,” Jack continued.

“Wait, but if he existed, then why didn’t he appear during our simulation?” Kai asked, frowning as he tried to find the logic. “Surely a person that powerful should have been part of that world as well?”

“There was a war,” Jack explained solemnly. “After the last great war, Ray sacrificed himself to save Bluebird. At the time, some people believed that Ray had died during that moment of sacrifice. Others thought something else had occurred, that he had simply disappeared and would one day return. It seems that Ray had his own reasons for vanishing. He decided he wouldnʼt get involved in the worldʼs affairs unless he absolutely had to, unless there was a tragedy happening right in front of him that he just couldnʼt bear to see. At least that is my guess.”

By now, Ray had already defeated the entire pack. Using a massive amount of his skills, he had successfully restricted their movements, pinning them in place without having to take a single life. They waited in that tense silence until the first rays of the sun began to peek over the horizon. As the sunlight hit them, the werewolves began to come to their senses, their bodies shifting back into their human forms.

That was when Jack finally felt the weight lift. He looked up to see a person sitting casually on top of him.

“So, you’re finally okay again?” the person said, standing up and walking off as if he hadnʼt just saved an entire kingdom from a massacre.

When Jack turned his head, he was distraught, his mind a whirlwind as he tried to piece together the horrors of the night and the fate of his pack. But when his eyes landed on that specific red-haired figure, the words spilled out of his mouth instinctively.

“Boss!” Jack shouted, his voice cracking with emotion.

“You’re still calling me that after all this time?” Ray said, pausing and looking back over his shoulder. “Arenʼt you the boss of your own group now? Anyway, it seems like a massive mess has been caused here, but I did what I could to clean it up.”

Ray began to turn away again, his silhouette framed by the rising sun. Jack wanted to shout out, to say something, anything, to make him stop and stay, but he was choked up. Instead, it was Bluebird who found his voice and called out.

“Arenʼt you going to go see Sylvia? Or your kids, Ray!” Bluebird shouted, his voice desperate. “Where have you been this whole time?”

Ray turned his head slightly to look back at the two of them, his expression unreadable.

“There are certain people who arenʼt too happy about my return,” Ray said quietly. “And if I get involved any further, things will get complicated for everyone. But sometimes... you just have to do what you have to do, even if you piss off a few people on the way, right?”

With those final words, Ray’s form flickered and vanished into thin air. The memory stopped playing right then and there, the colors of the Red Wing Kingdom dissolving into the grey mist of the void.

“Now you know everything. You have seen everything I needed to show you,” Jack said, turning to Gary, Kai, and Lupus. “The truth of the past is yours to carry. Now, it’s time for the three of you to go back to your own world.”

***

(Second chapter will be in the morning. I have to wake up at 5:30, writing this chapter at 1am, to head to the airport for my flight. So will try do the second one in the morning once I pass security)