A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik's wolf form propelled him through the now desolate streets of Hampstead. His keen senses absorbed the unfamiliar sights and sounds of a city unlike any he had ever known.

Having been raised in an isolated community in Northern Norway and later thrust into the more fantastical planet of Söl, running inside a modern city like this one was entirely alien to him.

He had seen movies, even where he grew up, and Söl had plenty of massive metropolises, but to experience a large modern city like London was new.

Yet, this place was not what it used to be.

An eerie silence enveloped the broken streets. Buildings, once towering symbols of human progress, now stood as shattered remnants of a forgotten era.

The skeletal remains of skyscrapers loomed over him as he raced through the streets, their broken windows and leaning structures a stark contrast to the pristine yet medieval or fantastical structures he had known on Söl.

Signs of hasty repairs and makeshift barricades hinted at a struggle for survival that echoed through the city's core. It was a visual testament to the resilience of those who had clung to life amidst the ruins.

While Erik ran through the ruins of London, he remembered learning from the others how earthquakes had ravaged the planet, or at least Europe, during the first few weeks after awakening.

He wondered how many of these ruins were due to the fighting and how many were due to the earthquakes. How many people had survived the awakening, only to die because their house caved in a few hours or days later?

Gradually, the affluent areas, mostly abandoned due to proximity to the Witch of London, gave way to worn-down yet partially restored neighbourhoods. From here on, every building he encountered bore the scars of conflict.

Small pockets of life began to show themselves here as Erik noticed people attempting to live relatively normal lives.

While racing past, some looked at him indifferently, others with wariness. Only a few recognised he was a second-rank Runebound and looked at him with fear, as most people were still in the first rank.

In some places, remnants of magical explosions lingered in the air, a testament to battles that had unfolded recently. Burns marks, and holes scarred the sides of buildings while occasional bursts of residual aetherium crackled and created an otherworldly glow.

Clearly, the council still had a lot of work to do if they wanted to bring peace and order back to Europe.

At some point, Erik was even accosted by a group of rank-one thugs, clearly thinking he was an easy mark. Alone, in a hurry and with a book under his arm.

But since they were all rank-one, they barely slowed Erik down as they quickly lost their heads. Since he was already in hot water with the council, he might as well stop being careful.

His journey led him to the London harbour, a place that seemed to cling to a fragile sense of normalcy. The distant sounds of lapping water reached his ears, and as he approached, the salty breeze carried with it the unmistakable scent of the sea.

The council's restoration efforts in this area were more apparent since this was England's primary connection to the mainland after the Eurotunnel collapsed.

While sea travel had become more dangerous, experienced and powerful ships and sailors could still make it across short distances. Some fishing boats bobbed gently on the water, as some people still enjoyed food, even if they didn't really need it.

While eating food allowed them to grow in power quicker, it wasn't noticeably faster, so most people had yet to realise the difference.

The harbour was busier than most of London, and Erik even noticed some people acting as peacekeepers. They wore special uniforms with a logo Erik recognised as belonging to the council.

It was a crest-style logo incorporating three distinct shields, each representing one of the council's races. There was something that looked like a magical staff, the shadowy form of an undefined creature and a wide-open set of teeth with clear vampire fangs.

The harbour was awash with various sounds and smells as people talked among themselves. Truly, this was a place of refuge among the chaos and ruins. Even some stalls were present, as people bought and sold goods using their own energy as currency.

Basically, this meant transferring some accumulated energy from the buyer to the seller, allowing the seller to grow stronger. The buyer won't weaken from doing this but will have to spend more time accumulating power in the future.

This worked even between supernatural and humans, as the Runebound simply used the aetherium that was modifying their bodies instead of the energy their bodies generated since it was too different from aetherium to be interchangeable.

However, the system wasn't perfect, as no one could have continuous growth this way. They needed to rest in between, yet they had no way to store the energy. Some people would even bring family or partners to absorb some power as well.

Erik felt a strange mix of emotions at seeing all this. On the one hand, he was glad life continued on Earth despite what it had gone through. On the other, did he really care about people on Earth anymore?

Deciding not to sink into any philosophical debates right now, Erik sniffed the air, searching for smells within smells.

After a few moments, he found what he was looking for and took off running, dodging people as he went. Most people quickly avoided him, however. Seeing a shapeshifter run around in their beast form without being in a fight was strange.

Not because shapeshifters were generally uncomfortable in their beast form but simply because the human form was a lot more practical for everyday tasks.

Naturally, he drew much attention like this as people began to talk about him, and peacekeepers kept a close eye on him.

Some people who were almost bowled over by Erik's large form rushing through the crowd even yelled after him, "Hey! What the bloody hell is so important that made you the most important man in the world right now, huh? Fucking mutt!"

When he used the derogatory term for werewolves, he quickly received a slap on his head from the woman next to him, "Shut it, Sam! Your senses may be dull as always, but that man was a second rank! Don't get us both killed with your stupidity!"

Yet, even if Erik had heard the man, he was in too much of a hurry. Thirty minutes had already passed since Katya and her people left, and there was no telling how much time he had left exactly.

A few minutes later, he stopped in front of a heavily guarded boat.

*******

About half an hour before, when Erik was just about finished with his battle with Katya, four figures were moving quickly through the harbour crowd.

In front were two slender figures weaving their way through the crowd and dressed in black cloaks, fully covering their bodies and hiding their faces.

Behind them came two rough-looking men carrying large backpacks and wearing sunglasses despite the cloudy weather. No one called them on it, however. Most people quickly learn to stay out of trouble in this post-awakening world.

The figures in front seemed to whisper to each other, "Where do you think this boat is, Big Em?"

Naturally, these figures were Emily and Emma, while the two brutes behind them were mere thugs who tried to accost them on their way from the mansion to the harbour.

They had been having quite a bit of trouble with those backpacks at the time, so Emily quickly 'convinced' them to become pack mules.

The reply was immediate and focused, "I don't know, Em. But it should be here somewhere. Just look for a boat with some of those so-called peacekeepers surrounding it." She uttered the word peacekeepers with no small amount of disdain.

After all, many of the people who showed up at her door with Liam had been peacekeepers, and despite her partial purification, she was still annoyed at their intrusion into her territory.

She wasn't even that bad! Sure, she enslaved a bunch of people, but only those who intruded on her territory in the first place! After all, Emily had never even left the Hampton neighbourhood in the last seven years.

They kept looking around while trying to avoid any contact with others. Luckily, the brutes behind them made most people think twice about approaching two likely young and beautiful women.

Not many other kinds of people would travel like this, after all.

Another few minutes later, they finally found what they were looking for.

It was an 18-meter (60-foot) long sailboat sporting three masts and with enough room to accommodate at least ten people.

While the boat's top appeared to be original and in good condition, the bottom and sides had been heavily reinforced to resist the mutated and powerful sea creatures now roaming the waters.