Renegade's Dominion

Ty tore through the forest in a blur, every stride powered by urgency. His thoughts churned chaotically, colliding with each other like waves in a storm. If only he had been more aware… If he had paid closer attention to the strange stillness in the area earlier, perhaps none of this would have unfolded. Kaiden and the others might not now be teetering on death's threshold.

But self-blame was a useless indulgence. He had acted with what little he knew. This wasn't negligence, it was ignorance. A victim of circumstance, deprived of crucial knowledge. Still, that didn't erase the truth: now it was on him to set things right. And so he raced, his wolf form devouring the ground beneath him in great leaps, covering impossible distances within seconds.

His aura was tightly suppressed, the better to avoid alerting any nearby creatures. Despite the speed of his flight, his aura perception skill remained active, probing the wilderness, scanning for any signature that matched his goal. He clung to the Elder Goblin's directions, east, the elder had said, and east he ran, so fast that the landscape blurred into streaks of color, the wind tearing through the fur along his flanks.

Then—there.

A flicker in his perception. No… not a flicker. A towering blaze. A presence so vast and formidable that it dwarfed anything else nearby. Its sheer magnitude was staggering—likely the very reason this region was devoid of active predators. Ty felt his lips curl in both awe and irritation.

'An apex predator… great. I asked for a winged creature, not the sovereign of the food chain.'

The Elder Goblin's idea of "help" was clearly based on an assumption that Ty could handle anything. A faulty assumption, one Ty would remember the next time he asked the old goblin for advice.

The aura thickened as he closed in, emanating from above. Concentrated. Stationary. Perched atop the tallest tree in the area like a crown of living power.

Ty smothered his own aura entirely, sinking into a predatory silence. Surprise would be his ally. His wolf form might lack wings, but that hardly meant he was confined to the ground.

He drove forward, building momentum until the forest floor was a distant blur beneath him. Then he leapt, paws finding purchase on a tree trunk, claws carving into the bark for grip. He sprang from one massive trunk to the next in a rising diagonal, bounding higher and higher, his ascent a blur of controlled ferocity. At the final leap, he soared across the canopy, eyes locked on his quarry.

It was a magnificent sight.

The creature lay curled in slumber atop a colossal branch, plumage a pristine white that caught the filtered sunlight. Its long feathers draped like a regal cloak, obscuring much of its form. Even at rest, there was an aura of sovereignty about it, a creature that had no fear of attack from below.

And why should it? At such a height, twenty feet, perhaps more, it was beyond the reach of most threats. Few monsters would ever dare to climb this far. Only those with remarkable agility or stubborn determination could attempt it, and Ty was both.

The air itself seemed to hum around it, charged with the creature's aura, a natural shield that would dissuade anything weaker from even approaching. Yet here Ty stood, the anomaly who did not care for the warnings of nature.

Now was the moment. It slept still. He would end this quickly.

He leapt again, aiming for the branch that cradled the white-feathered form. But fate, ever the trickster, had other plans.

The creature stirred. A rustle of feathers. Then a head lifted, golden eyes flashing open. They caught him mid-leap, a wolf hurtling toward it through the canopy. In that same instant, it rose with a fluid, explosive grace.

Wings unfurled, vast, gleaming things that spread wide enough to blot out the dappled light. The white feathers were immaculate, edged with faint silver that caught the sun. A proud chest thrust forward, revealing a frame of layered muscle beneath the plumage.

And then came the sound.

A roar?!... No, a detonation. A sound so deafening it bent the air itself, an earth-splitting cry laced with force enough to buffet him backwards in midair. Ty's momentum shattered as though he'd struck a wall. The sonic shockwave blasted him away, sending him hurtling downward in a violent, tumbling descent.

He crashed through branch after branch, splinters and bark exploding around him. The world blurred into chaos and impact until finally, his instincts flared, snapping his body into control just before he struck the ground.

Claws bit into a nearby trunk, slowing his fall. He angled sideways, bounding off to another tree, then another, until at last he landed on solid earth, muscles quivering from the near miss.

His chest heaved. Adrenaline sang in his veins. And yet, despite the close call, a sharp grin tugged at his lips.

'What a roar.'

That sound had not been mere intimidation, it was a weapon. A skill no doubt. The raw power in it was enough to blast him from the air without the creature even moving from its perch. Ty's mind raced, already turning over possibilities.

'I need to get back up there.'

When he had asked for a winged monster, this was far beyond what he'd envisioned. But standing here now, feeling the thrill pumping through his blood, he knew he could not walk away. There was something in that creature, its form, its strength, that called to him.

A white lion.

That was what it was, now that he had seen it fully. A lion's noble head crowned with a mane as pale as frost, wings arching from its shoulders like the banners of some celestial warlord. Its body was compact but powerful, smaller than his wolf form, perhaps, but every inch a predator. Claws like hooked ivory. Fangs that gleamed. Muscles tuned for lethal efficiency.

And it could fly.

To have that form, to merge his ferocity with the gift of the sky that would be the perfect evolution. He could already imagine it: soaring above the battlefield, swooping down with the strength of a predator both landbound and airborne. Yes… he wanted it. Needed it.

His mind was made up.

Ty surged upward again, bounding from trunk to trunk, higher and higher until the ground was far below. The air thinned slightly as he breached the upper canopy once more, muscles burning but steady.

The lion was no longer perched. It was aloft, suspended in the air by the steady beat of its vast wings. The sight froze him for a heartbeat, not in fear, but in awe.

The sunlight danced along the spread of its feathers, glinting off every movement. Its body hung effortlessly in the open sky, the wingbeats slow, almost regal, as though the mere act of flying was a declaration of dominance.

The aura radiating from it rolled outward in invisible waves, a warning to all who might challenge it: this was its domain.

Ty's gaze locked on it, and the fire in his chest flared hotter. This was no longer a hunt for a mere winged beast. This was a battle for supremacy. For the right to claim that power for himself.