Chapters The uncaged Wrath of Equis.
Chapter 1: The chains are broken...
Blood was all that mattered for Warwick at this moment. The moment he took in the scent was the moment he surrendered to the beast within.
He did not care for the consequences of this because he knew his opponents were the type of beings he started hunting when he
Right after his transmutation he hunted every moving object, he didn't care if it was a living creature or a machine. He just cared for the hunt and the need to fulfill his newly acquired hunger. Men, women, children. All became his food, his sustenance. The more he killed the more the beast within got excited.
But a little while after that he became self aware again of what he was doing, he was horrified yet he was unable to fight these new instincts he gained. His memory loss didn't help either, being unable to form an image of the person he once was before. All what his memory now was were flashes of pain and uncontrollable rage which were enhanced by the chemicals pumped into his body. All which triggered the beast within to break free.
But he thought that there was a glimmer of potential to turn this grim scenario around. Maybe he could aim the beast at something. A man's criminal past came to mind. He sensed that that man was or used to be him. But he had forgotten the name of said man. He sensed that this was probably for the best.
He would aim the beast at other criminals that plagued the streets of Zaun. He could maybe take down the crime gangs that ruled the city and it's inhabitants. Maybe he could make Zaun free again. And it worked for the most part. All feared the beast in the shadows. There were still these unfortunate accidents here and there where a innocent inhabitant crossed his path. It never ended well for them, most of the time they were no more than a swipe and a flash of blood.
But he could not dwell on these mishaps.
Then came the time he met 'them'. Summoners they called themselves. They were able to draw the man in his mind forward and make a proposition. A chance of redemption. He would serve the League of Legends and be able to fight for a just cause while being able to take down other criminals.
It was to good of an opportunity to just leave. It was everything Warwick dreamed of at the time, a chance of redemption. And so he was accepted into the League of Legends. They dubbed him Warwick - The Uncaged Wrath of Zaun. The name fit him so he took it as his own.
But he soon realized the hollow words of these summoners were false.
All their promises of redemption and a better future were lies.
Runeterra was plagued with conflicts, everyone disliked each other, so there were often wars between faction until it nearly became the end of the world. That's when The League of Legends came in with a solution.
The League of Legends was a battle arena where the winner could decide an outcome of a conflict without having to tear apart the world with war. Each faction would have some champions to represent their cause. It was also a place where the general populace could watch these matches between champions.
It grew fast in popularity, almost like it was some sort of game to them. It disgusted Warwick. Here these so called 'Champions' were no more than slaves made to do the bidding of one of these summoners. There was near to no free will in these matches. Everything was controlled by these summoners, even movement. Everything controlled by a summoner that could enter their mind and control them like puppets.
But for now he didn't care, he was on the hunt. He was doing good in this match. He had hunted at least every opponent in the enemy team at least twice and was on his way to a team fight in the bottom lane. Two of his teammates were pinned to their tower while they were under siege by four enemies.
The Two teammates, Lucian and Leona were trying to clear the waves of minions that endlessly spawned as fast as they could. But they were both running out of mana. It would only be a matter of time before the enemy would attack and kill them under their tower and perhaps even destroy the tower.
His first target would be The Blind Monk - Lee Sin who would be lurking in a nearby brush. Lee Sin was a target of value. It was the champion on the enemy team with the highest potential to initiate a fight. Take him out and the siege of the tower would surely fail.
Out of nowhere a sonic wave hit Warwick in the side and a blind monk soon followed, trying to take Warwick down with his martial arts.
The pneumatics in Warwick's body shifted as his claw extended. A quick few swings and The Monk was already injured while Warwick only suffered a few bruises from the kicks and punches.
With blood drawn the beast came out ready to tear apart the monk. He lunged at Lee Sin and bit him in the side. With this massive pneumatic claw he sliced the arm of the monk clean off. Lee Sin was on the ground bleeding heavily but Warwick was not done yet.
With a massive bite he took off the blind monk his left leg. He then stabbed Lee in the neck and smashed his face against the nearby wall.
"You have slain an enemy."
Said the announcer's voice. The first out of four thought Warwick. Now it was time to punish the enemy for pressuring his teammates.
Next up was Kog"maw - The Mouth of The Abyss and Soraka - The Starchild. He started running at them at full speed.
Kog'Maw was already injured and bleeding from a small fight between him and Lucian. The scent of blood further drew out the beast in Warwick as he ran faster and faster. In a matter of moments he had closed the distance and lunged at Kog'Maw. A quick bite was all it took to have the creature in his jaws. While Soraka desperately tried to heal the mouth of the abyss, it was already to late. A quick twist and the creature his neck was broken.
"Double kill."
The announcer said while the void energies inside small creature exploded Kog'Maw's body into pieces. But this did not fase Warwick.
He quickly dashed to The Starchild before she could get away. He stabbed his large claw in her leg which prevented her from escaping. With a quick upwards movement of his massive claw he sliced her in half. Half of Soraka stayed up while the other fell down.
"Triple kill!"
Said the announcer as the second half of Soraka fell down as well.
Now Warwick had to hunt the fourth and final kill. But his last enemy, Malzahar - The Prophet of The Void, was fleeing back to the safety of the middle tower. Still it would take the void mage quite a while to get there. So Warwick made his way to run around and cut off the void mage before he got to his tower.
After a few second Warwick had arrived at a brush near the tower just before Malzahar had arrived. He took his spot in the nearby brush in order to ambush the unsuspecting void mage.
His target was indeed approaching after a few seconds. His blood lust roared to life as the chemicals flooded his brain. All rhyme or reason lost to the beast as it got ready to take the leap.
3...
2...
1...
With a mighty howl did Warwick leap at his target. His pneumatic claw ready to tear into the void mage.
Malzahar was taken by surprise because his summoner had been naging him all game. But he finally had enough of all of it. He gathered all his energy together. With massive burst of energy he threw the summoner from his mindscape and faced the incoming Warwick. It took nearly all his powers to remove the summoner from his minds. Still it finally allowed him to act freely again.
With the summoner removed from his mind at the moment he had complete full acces to all his abilities. But it would only be a matter of time before the summoner regained control. He had to act quickly.
"You have been a nuisance Wrath of Zaun, ever since you became part of the League. It is time for you to disappear," He addressed the incoming champion. With the last of his energy he quickly threw open a void portal right in front of him, right in between him and Warwick.
Warwick had no time to react nor did his summoner as he jumped head first into the portal.
The last thing he heard before the portal closed were his summoner screaming his name and the void prophet laughing in victory. With that he lost conscienceness.
**TIMESKIP**
New smells immediately hit Warwick his nose as he regained conscienceness. Smells he didn't recognize.
The last thing he recalled was being cast into that void portal by Malzahar. Was he in the void? No, it couldn't be. The smells around him told him that he was in a forest of some sort and the void was told to be a dark dead and cold place where nothing was except for these monsters like Kog'maw. Was he back in the League? No, there was no forest near The League of Legends arena. Where was he?
He opened his eyes as he tried to get up and take a look around. Just as he thought, he was in a forest or a jungle of some sort, pretty dark and wild. There were nearly no forests like this anymore on Runeterra. Most of them if not all of them were burned or chopped down because of all the wars that nearly tore the world apart.
Smells of different creatures hit his nose, creatures he never smelled before. Where exactly was he?
He decided that he would scout around the area to search for any landmarks, maybe get some high ground and look around that way.
While Warwick started scouting around he noticed how his mind was oddly clear. There was no trace left anymore from the many summoners that had invaded his mind. The memories of constant pain, agony and anger were next to non-exitcent. Even the presence of the beast was not even detectable anymore. It was a strange feeling to just have a free mind for once in many years of unrest, even tho his body still ached every now and then because of the strange machinery integrated with his body.
Finally being able to think clearly was refreshing but strange for Warwick. Usually his mind was swarmed by either summoners, traces of their presence or the rage generated by his memories and the green liquid pulsing in his body. So it would take quite some time to get used to this way of thinking again. Just the thought of it was quite unsettling.
Unable to focus, Warwick decided to rest in a tree and let his mind wander for a while until he had calmed down enough. He had no hurry to get anywhere, or get to anyone. He had no loved ones or friends, no home to get back to. But this didn't bother him. He would find fulfillment in stopping other beings from sharing his fate.
In the tree was nothing of interest, but what he saw from on top of the tree was quite unique thought Warwick.
He was surrounded by the forest he was in. There were a few mountains in the far distance and a single mountain to his left that was nearby. There ran a river through the forest, a spot for him to find water and some fish probably so at least he wouldn't starve or die of thirst.
But the strangest thing was that in the middle of the forest there was a large castle and probably a city around it. The architecture looked kind of like Demacia but at the same time it had it's differences. Warwick decided that it would be best to scout near the castle but he would stay out of sight for now.
He looked further around and saw that behind him the edge of the forest was relatively close. There was also a small village close to the edge. That would need further investigation. Who lived here? Was it really Demacia?
Warwick slid back a few branches down where he took a seat to rest for a while. It didn't take long until he fell asleep, finally being able to put his mind a bit at ease, only thinking about what this new place could offer him.
The uncaged Wrath of Equis.
Chapter 2: The beast is free.
It was nearly midnight when Warwick was rudely pulled from his sleep. A loud thumping noise paired with the tree shaking nearly made him fall out of the tree.
It was dark so a human wouldn't be able to see a tree in front of himself, but this was no problem for Warwick.
Warwick pushed his ears flat to defend against the offending noise. He looked down to see what was causing all of this sound. It was a massive cat-like creature, perhaps even a cross between a bear and a cat considering how large the animal was.
Upon further inspection the creature had small bat-like wings on it's back, clearly not large enough to fly but maybe able to extend it's jumps, it even had a large scorpion like tail with stinger and all. Considering the stinger it could be venomous thought Warwick.
It was pawing at the tree Warwick was in, probably marking it's territory. From the small observation Warwick could tell that this was a top tier predator. He was going to have to carefully plan his next moves to get away unnoticed. He would rather not risk engaging the creature head on.
He looked to his left and saw the next tree fairly close. A plan formed in his mind.
He could try and hop from tree to tree, but with the creature constantly shaking this tree it would be hard not to lose his footing.
Warwick carefully stepped to the edge of the branch he was on, he had to try and jump to the next tree.
The moment he tried to jump to the other tree the creature down below shook the tree hard enough for Warwick to lose his footing. 'Just my luck' thought Warwick as he fell down from his tree.
He landed right on the back of the strange cat. The cat-like creature reacted with a roar and threw Warwick to the side and against one of the trees.
To the manticore it looked like this smaller wolf like creature just jumped from the trees and tried to attack him. This was not acceptable. It was time the manticore taught this weird wolf the pecking order of this forest. With a roar the manticore approached the weird wolf while making sure to show of it's massive bulk and swinging it's tail in order to intimidate.
To Warwick the reaction was just as he expected. An alpha predator would not let an act like this go without retaliation. They would not take an attack laying down. So Warwick readied himself for the inevitable.
Both of them were staring each other down. Neither of them gave in, until the manticore had enough of this disrespectful display. Usually any creature that came across a manticore would have ran in the other direction. But not this weird wolf. So the manticore charged.
Warwick was expecting the charge and prepared to jump out of the way. Right when the large cat was only a leap away he jumped off of the tree trunk and dodged to the side.
Multiple times did the manticore charge and Warwick was barely fast enough to dodge every time. Sudenly the manticore changed his plan of attack and jumped with Warwick just in time to swipe his leg.
A nasty cut now adorned Warwick's leg and it was bleeding decently. He could not keep this up for long anymore.
The manticore tried to impale Warwick with his massive tail. But Warwick was barely fast enough to dodge. The tail smashed into a tree shattering it. Bits of wood flew everywhere. A few pieces managed to fly back at the manticore and cut his leg. The large cat had gained a small cut on one of it's paws. It was small and only bled a tiny bit, a wound this small would not hinder an animal this size or his next attack against the small offender.
However for Warwick this small cut was enough to smell it.
Blood .
The machinery in Warwick surged as the green liquid was pumped into him. The liquid even changed color from bright deep green to yellow and even a fiery orange.
The rage was overwhelming him with blood lust. He was forced down on all fours just to bear all of it impacting his mind and body. Pure power surged through him as he easily sliced a tree cleanly in half.
Finally a deep growling voice came from him. "What have you done?!" He roared as he gave into his rage. His claw extended. The beast was back and on the hunt.
The manticore knew something was up when strange sounds came from the weird wolf. It's claw extended to at least twice the length. It's color changed from green to almost red. Together with it's piercing red eyes, it was pretty terrifying to look at. That's when the manticore realized he messed up.
Warwick just gave into his rage and took a very high leap into the air. His claw was extended, the liquid was pulsing, his rage was burning. When he came down his claws were poised to strike at the creature's massive head.
Warwick landed on the creature's head and almost decapitated it. Blood and brain matter splattered in every direction. At least now Warwick had dinner.
Warwick ate from the creature's carcass until he was full and looked around again. His rage had subsided a bit. When he looked at himself he noticed that he was full of blood and gore from the large cat. He needed to find that river in order to clean himself. So he started walking in the direction of the river he spotted earlier. But he seemed pretty upset while he walked.
He was disappointed that the rage was still there and could rise up at a moments notice transforming him into a merciless killer. But the emotions and memories were less detectable which in turn gave him a clearer mind when he wasn't enraged. Usually his mind was poluted by traces from the summoners, by his memories and by the augmentation on his body. But now that his mind was as clear as it could get He started to realize it. This situation was so strange that it frightened him. It scared him how unpredictable his mind was.
The forest was dead silent, as if to acknowledge the fact that there was a new alpha predator. Warwick didn't mind. It gave his ears more opportunity to detect danger or at the very least any creature that his nose didn't pick up.
It took Warwick a good while to get to the river where he took a drink and washed himself. He took a look at the gash in his leg. It was already starting to seal up. The liquid that was being pumped into his body greatly improved his stamina and his regeneration of both flesh wounds and bone breakage.
After he washed himself he decided to wander and explore. Maybe he could find the castle and the city inside this forest.
***Scene Change***
In the Everfree city, capital of Equestria, a squad of lunar guards just set out on their nightly patrol through the Everfree forest. Patrols were always four squads that alternated. Two solar squads that patrolled during the day and two lunar squads that patrolled during the night. It was an effective way to make te existing trade routes safe to travel.
But recently the Everfree had been plagued by trappers/hunters. These were griffons and sometimes minotaurs that hunted animals inside the forest. Technically they were not doing anything wrong. But they were only hunting the big predators like manticores and hydras. The hunting drove these creatures dangerously close to the Everfree city which had everypony on edge.
There were even a few incidents that these animals attacked traders on their way to the city. But there was nothing the ponies or even their leaders, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, could do about the hunters. The griffon leaders just refused to stop these actions. And any hostile interference would be met with severe consequences from the triple alliance. This triple alliance consisted of griffons, minotaurs and camels. Tensions were already high but an all out conflict could never end well for Equestria.
So these were stressful times and everypony was on edge. You could never know what you would find on the patrol.
But still the patrol set out on their nightly routine.
"Okay everypony, listen up," the Sargent of the squad said as he addressed the rest, " Reports came in that large predators have moved closer to the edge of the forest near the settlement Ponyville. So the road connecting our city with that village could no longer be safe for traders to use. We'll start our patrol on that road."
"Yes sir," Came the automatic reply from the rest.
The forest was unusually silent for this time. Usually every kind of night dwelling creature could be heard, but now it was dead silent as they continued their way up the road.
As they walked they found tracks of some timber wolves, signaling them that there was at least one pack in the area. Timber wolves usually didn't attack traders or a trade caravan. You would only have to worry about them if you were walking alone trough the forest. But precautions were already taken and travelers always had a small escort of guards with them to guide them out of the forest. This way incidents were kept at a minimum.
The real trouble was with the bigger predators like manticores and hydras creating territory along the roads and attack all those who came to close. And the worst part was that you couldn't blame the predators. They had to flee in order to escape the hunters
When the patrol got closer to the edge they began to see signs of manticore territory along to road. Trees were deeply marked with claw marks signaling the start of a territory. And from the looks of it these were freshly made.
The ponies would have to continue with caution.
"Lads," the Sargent started, "These marks look at the most a day old. The manticore might still be in the area. Keep your eyes pealed," He warned his escort.
"Sir? To the side at about fifty to seventy five steps there is some destruction in the forest," One of the stallions reported.
"Could it be the hunters? Would they have spread this far in the forest?" An other stallion suggested.
"Unlikely," the Sargent answered, "Maybe somepony got unlucky and ran into the manticore. We should investigate. If somepony indeed got unlucky than we will be able to make a report about it and give the pony in question a proper burial. But stay alert, we don't know where this manticore is."
They continued towards the devastated area. Several trees were cleaved in half. One was even shattered into pieces, while the rest were marked with claw marks to signal the center of the manticores territory.
Then the Sargent noticed blood splatters here and there.
"Euh. Sir?" One of the guards asked the Sargent to get his attention, "Did you see this?" He said while pointing behind one of the fallen trees.
When he went over to look, a strange awful smell hit his nose. Almost like something was dying or had died. And then he saw what his fellow guard was pointing at.
"Oh my pony sisters."
Behind the tree lied the mutilated carcass of a manticore. It's head nearly sliced off and it's skull caved in. The side of the beast was torn open and it looked like something had eaten from it.
"Sir? Could the hunters have done this?" A stallion asked.
"Maybe? But I doubt it was the hunters. They would have taken the carcass more apart. Also there are no signs of any of the traps that the hunters use," the Sargent answered while he continued his investigation.
"Somepony please write down our findings," He commanded.
"Yes sir."
"Okay let us start.
The claw marks beside the manticores marks are foreign. I don't know any creature that could make these marks. The wound on top of the manticore's head would indicate a single powerful attack took it out. Bite marks on the side of the manticore are of unknown origin as well. There are unknown paw prints all across this scene, most of the time they come in a set of two. This suggests that the unknown creature would walk upright and was bipedal most of the time. But we have no further indication of what the creature looked like.
Anything else I missed?" The Sargent concluded.
"No. I think that is all," A stallion replied.
"Good, look around in case we missed anything and then we'll continue our patrol. But we have to report this to the princesses as quickly as possible. I don't think we would want anypony walking into this creature unprepared," The Sargent said.
They searched the site one last time and continued their patrol.
The rest of the patrol went uneventful. They saw some timber wolves, but timber wolves would never engage a military force. Even a small one.
When they got back to the city the Sargent dismissed his squad.
"You boys can relax for a while, maybe get something to eat. I'll go and report back to the princesses."
"Okay sir. We'll see you in a bit."
The patrol leaders were instructed to report back to the princesses. Ever since tensions between most nations rose up have the princesses been taking matters more into their own hooves. Even small matters like the patrols.
As the Sargent walked up the stairs up to the castle, the guards recognize him as one of the patrol leaders and let him pass.
Both sisters would be hard at work now, filling in papers and finding solutions to the complaints ponies had, as well as finding solutions to the financial problems Equestria had at this moment. It didn't help that tensions rose between the two sisters. This entire situation got to both of them pretty hard. And they both disagreed on the other's decisions. The younger sister liked a more aggressive approach to the problems they faced while the eldest preferred a more passive approach.
The Sargent arrived at the study where both of the princesses would be working and he knocked.
"Come in," Two voices said at the same time.
"Princesses." He addressed them while walking in.
"Ah, Sargent Watch. How was the patrol this night?" Princess Luna asked.
"Quiet for the entire night," He trailed off.
"That is good to hear," Princess Celestia said.
"Indeed, but my squad and I came upon quite the unsettling scene," He continued.
"Oh, please continue," Princess Luna said.
"We came upon a carcass. The carcass of a manticore. Quite close to the edge near ponyville," He explained.
"What was the cause of the creature's untimely death? Did the hunters get that far into the forest?" Celestia asked.
"No. We found no evidence of the hunters anywhere near the site. We did however find evidence of an unknown creature that could have attacked the manticore. This unknown creature seemingly had the power of striking down the manticore with a single attack," He said as he finished his report and gave them the report his squad had made at the scene.
"Do you have any idea where this creature could be?" Luna asked while she read the report.
"It's tracks led straight towards the river. For all we know it could be near the city by now," He guessed.
"Thank you Sargent. Go and have some rest. You and your patrol earned it," Celestia said.
"Thank you princesses," The Sargent said as he took his leave.
"Sister, this creature is going to pose a threat of unknown size against our little ponies," Luna said.
"I know Luna. But what could we do? We have no idea where it is, we can only guess. Maybe it won't even bother our ponies. " Celestia tried to reason.
"Tia, with a creature with this kind of potential power, there is only one thing to do."
The uncaged Wrath of Equis.
Chapter 3: It takes a monster to gut one.
It was almost noon. Warwick had taken his time to explore and mentally map out the forest. He had nearly memorized the entire forest except for the city and a moderate perimeter around it.
He had taken notes of the points of intrest in the forest. Many caves and small burrows that could provide shelter when he needed it.
A few caves were inhabited by these large dragons or bears. While the dragons could prove to be worrisome, Warwick wasn't exactly fireproof, the bears were more of a nuisance than anything else. They were large slow creatures that were easy to fool, they could be used to his advantage. But for now he left both types of creatures alone.
The wooden wolves Warwick met were a bit of a hazard. They were sturdy creatures that could be found through out the entire forest and were very aggressive creatures that tried to use their number advantage to take it's pray down. But they lacked any real strength to be able to compete with Warwick. He had to give it to them, they were too fast for Warwick to be able to shake them off. So any confrontation was unavoidable and they were going to be a nuisance if Warwick decided that he would stay in this forest.
At the edge of the forest, near the mountains, there was a bit of a swamp where larger creatures lived. There were these very large
The weird thing was that quite a few of these reptiles could be found making their nests though out the forest which was strange. Large creatures like that were not adapted enough to live in a forest like this. What was making these large predators flee from their natural habitat? This would require more investigation.
Through the forest were two roads. These were well traveled by these weird small horse-like creatures, ponies? These were probably sentient and quite advanced because more often than not were they escorted by some military force. This was probably for protection against the larger predators that roamed the forest.
Their armor had a small resemblance to the Demacians of Runeterra. But they had these symbols of a sun on their armor. The guards who patrolled at night had symbols of the moon on their armor. Were these to honor their deities? It reminded Warwick of a few cults in Ionia.
These ponies had three different shapes or variants. One had a horn on their head, others had wings on their sides but these were a bit too small for flight or so Warwick thought, and others had none of the above but seemed stronger than the others. These ponies seemed pretty passive and were deemed not a threat.
The strangest thing was that parts of the forest were littered with parts of traps and carcasses of large creatures, herbivores or predators. Spike traps, death pits, tar traps, heavy iron nets, bear traps, you name it and it was probably there. Predators like the large cat or manticore he had faced fell to these traps as well as a few of the large reptiles. Their bodies were damaged a bit but no body parts were missing which was strange.
So these creatures were not hunted for food Warwick concluded, they were hunted for sport. Their carcasses were left nearly entirely intact. Someone or something was over-hunting quite aggressively and this forest was suffering because of it. This was also probably the cause for the creatures fleeing from their natural habitat.
Who or what would want to upset an entire ecosystem just for sport? It seemed like that the only creature that was spared were these wooden wolves. And that was probably because they were made of wood so the traps had little to lo effect on them.
Strange this were happening inside this forest. Creatures fleeing from an unknown threat, strange sentient ponies lived inside this forest, strange creatures, traps lying around. And that was only inside this forest. What else was waiting for Warwick outside of it?
His train of thought was lost as he heard some disturbance just a mile or so along one of the roads.
Warwick's curiosity got the better of him as he decided to check it out. With his mind made up he took of running.
While he was running he noticed that he was nearing the outskirts of the forest. Whatever that was happening, it was just entering the forest.
As he was nearing the disturbance ha was able to make out that the sounds were voices. It sounded like something was in distress.
The closer Warwick got the clearer the voices became. It sounded like some females in distress and some thugs giving trouble.
It appeared that the situation was going on in a small clearing along the road near the edge of the forest.
Warwick was nearly close enough to see the situation for himself. He decided to stick to the shadows and treetops for now as he would estimate what was going on.
As he crept closer he could finally see what was happening. A small bunch, probably a family, of three of these weird ponies were probably on their way to the city in the middle of this forest when they got stopped by a group, around seven, of the strangest creatures Warwick had ever seen.
They were mostly like a bird, an eagle even, but they had the backside of a large cat, probably a lion. With massive talons as front limbs, paws with claws as back limbs, a large raptor beak and massive wings Warwick was sure that these were top tier predators. They even seemed sentient with all the equipement they were carrying. They had ropes, wooden supports, digging tools, nets, iron spikes...
Upon further inspection the clearing was littered with these parts. Connecting two and two together, Warwick realized that these strange birds were the hunters responsible for the death and destruction throughout the forest. Why were they doing this?
Warwick was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the birds move in on the ponies.
"You shouldn't have wandered into this forest little ponies," One of them said.
"I swear we didn't see anything. We just wanted to get to the capital," The female pony pleaded.
"Oh, we are going to make sure you didn't see anything and certainly that no word of this gets back to your little princesses," Another one of the birds said as he got closer to them with a knife in his talons.
"Stay back. I'm warning you!" The male pony said trying to protect his family by standing in front.
"Oh? What are you going to do about it tough guy?" The bird with the knife said as he pressed his knife against the stallion's cheek.
A moment of silence followed while everyone waited for a reaction. When none came the bird spoke again.
"Thought so. Ey Stone Sentinel? You gotta come see this amigo," He yelled to the other side of the clearing.
A large Minotaur not unlike Alistar came from behind the foliage.
"Stone this chump thought he could stand up to us," The bird said to his large friend.
"They ain't worth my time. I'm going to continue on the traps and if you are done playing around, you should continue as well. I would still like to catch something today," The Minotaur said as he walked back where he came from.
"Okay Stone, whatever you say. That leaves us with a bit of a problem. How do we dispose of you without you three blabbing against one of your princesses?" The bird guy said.
"Please just let us leave and you won't have any trouble," The stallion pleaded.
"I really want to," the bird guy mocked, "But I can't take that risk. So do we keep you as captives or do we dispose of you some other way? What do you think boys?" The bird guy said to his crew.
"We are itching for some sport boss," One of the back birds said while the others loudly agreed.
"Well, I have to give what the crowd wants," the lead bird said while they were all closing in on these ponies.
It was time for Warwick to act. He jumped out of the tree he was in and landed with a bit of a thud. Immediately the birds turned around and faced him.
"It looks like sport arrived a little early to the show boys," The lead bird announced while gesturing at Warwick, "Heck this one might be worth a lot of point for the hunting game. What is it even? Some sort of wolf?"
"I could ask the same thing about you," Warwick growled at them.
"Oh, it can talk. Those would be some nice bonus points, don't you think Stone?" The lead bird yelled at the Minotaur.
The Minotaur in question walked into view with a grin, "Now that is something worth my time, too bad the traps aren't done yet."
The Minotaur looked at the lead bird. "I want a shot at this one," He said. The bird looked bewildered.
"Alone," The Minotaur enforced.
"Alright," The bird hesitantly complied, "But if you are in trouble, don't expect any help from us."
"Like this is going to take long. I'm twice the size of this thing," Stone said quite confidant.
"Alright," Warwick growled, "A monster's inside you."
"Damn straight there is," The Minotaur replied.
"I'll tear it out."
"Bring it on you mutt," The Minotaur bellowed as he charged.
Stone tried to overpower Warwick with brute force alone as he tried to connect some heavy punches. But the transmuted wolf was swift enough to dodge these, even tho a few got very close to hit.
The Minotaur even tried to grapple and wrestle with Warwick, but any attempt to do so was met with some fangs and claws as deterrent.
Suddenly Stone was able to connect a single punch through sheer luck. It was a heavy blow and Warwick felt it through his entire body as he skidded back a few feet.
The punch connected with his chest and he had some trouble breathing.
"How did you like that?" The cow started to mock him.
"This pain is nothing," Warwick murmured.
"What was that? You have to speak up. Or is one hit enough to stop you already?" Stone asked thinking he had already won.
"You'll choke on your screams," Warwick roared as he leaped at the Minotaur. His claw extended and pierced the cow's chest as he bit into the shoulder of Stone. Stone flailed wildly around trying to tear off and punch the wolf. Warwick applied more and more pressure to his bite when suddenly a loud crunch was heard.
Stone's shoulder blade shattered into bits under the power of Warwick's bite. The Minotaur was able to throw the attacker off of him. But this didn't give him any time to rest. In a matter of moments had Warwick already closed the distance and sliced open his abdomen. Next up he bit down on the next of the cow. Until with a quick twist he broke the neck of Stone Sentinel.
With this fight over and blood flowing freely from the body, Warwick turned his attention back to the birds.
They had grabbed the ponies and held them at knife-point.
"So you were probably thinking of saving these, right?" The main bird said.
"No living thing just messes with the triple alliance of camels, minotaurs and gryphons and gets away with it. We will hunt you until the end of your days," He said trying to be intimidating.
"Not if not even your screams will escape from here!" Warwick growled trying to move closer.
"Now now. You wouldn't want anything to happen to these poor ponies now would you?" The lead bird said mockingly while pressing the knife closer to the stallion's throat.
Warwick was at a stalemate. He wanted to tear apart these poor excuses for living beings, but his morality wanted to keep these ponies safe.
"What do you want?" Warwick asked while taking a small step forward.
"Not to close now," The lead gryphon said while cutting the stallion's neck. A tiny stream of blood came down along his neck.
BLOOD
This together with all the emotions Warwick felt was enough to let the pneumatics in his body pump the unknown green liquid into his body and turn it orange. He knelt down on all fours as he felt his sanity slip from his grasp.
The gryphons were enthralled by this. The ponies took advantage of this, pushed them to the side and hid behind a rock at the edge of the clearing.
Warwick saw this and screamed at them with the last bit of his sanity, "Run, faster!"
For now he could aim his madness at these gryphons, but they were not the ones bleeding, were they? For the beast would not stop until it's hunger was satisfied.
So the ponies took of running down the road towards the city and the palace.
Warwick took of and jumped on the nearest gryphon. Within seconds the bird was decapitated and had it's wings torn off. all that was left was a twitching body that didn't expect the attack.
"Claws... Hungry!" Warwick growled as he leaped to the next target. Shock left the gryphons as they tried to fight back, but Warwick was to fast. When the second gryphon was stabbed to death and had it's heart cut out, panic started to cloud their thoughts of victory.
When the third gryphon got sliced in half and they were showered with his blood, they all abandoned the idea of fighting all together and tried to flee.
The fourth one tried to fly out of the clearing, but Warwick simply jumped up and stabbed him in the head. When he landed, he saw that the remaining three fled into the forest. But in this kind of forest they couldn't fly fast and so Warwick easily caught up to the fifth one.
He jumped to the side and pushed the gryphon head first into a tree. Dazed and badly wounded, the poor gryphon never saw the final blow as Warwick tore him in half with his jaws.
Two more to go. The lead gryphon and a smaller accomplice were still on the run.
And they followed the ponies towards the city.
