Chapter 2 - 1

'WHAT THE?! AM I DREAMING?' I exclaimed as I glanced at my reflection in what seemed to be a lake.

Reflected on the water is an image of a creature with red blood beastly eyes and a face covered by ash-colored fur. Despite its clearly inhumane appearance, it looked incredibly cute and adorable. Maybe because it was incredibly young and innocent. If my guess was right, the creature is a wolf's cub. But that wasn't the most important and urgent fact. Unbelievable as it was, I was looking at my own reflection. To be precise, I was describing what I looked like. Yes, for some unknown reason, I was currently inside the body of a wolf cub.

'Ha ha ha ha… What kind of sick joke is this?' I asked with a powerless laugh.

Well, saying that I'm actually talking wasn't accurate by any means. After all, the wolf's cub mouth, or in this case MY MOUTH wasn't moving at all. Even though I really wanted to scream, I couldn't utter a single word. Maybe it was because my thoughts and language couldn't synchronize with what my vocal cords could do.

'Aaaaahh… What should I do?' Feeling powerless on my legs, I sat. But even just that act alone irritated me.

'GOD DAMN IT!!'

After cursing the heavens to my heart's content, I tried to catch my breath.

'Okay, calm down. What do I remember? '

I started focusing my mind trying to search for any clues as to why I am in such a situation, but no matter how hard I try, the only thing I could recall was my last moments as a human.

'No good, I can't recall anything that would give me any solid clue. The only thing that came close is that suspicious way of how I died.'

Giving up on trying to find a clue from my memories, I started looking around. The area was illuminated by dim lights; those dim lights reflected on the clear water of the lake making it glitter and shine like the stars in the night. Peeling my eyes away from that mesmerizing view, I gazed at the area around the lake. The area around the lake was covered in grass, but despite being covered in green, there were no trees to be found. Realizing that I couldn't gather any more clues from the ground, I looked up. But for some reason, I could clearly see that there was a ceiling up above. It was not flat and even but instead looked like a hard and rocky field, there were huge chunks of unknown hard minerals jutting out from it which made me worried if those things would start raining down on me. There were also a lot of what looked like crystals plastered all over it, those crystals were the only source of light of this place and from my perspective, it was like a starry sky.

'Where am I really?' I couldn't help but ask. 'Besides, from the way MY BODY looked. I am clearly a wolf's cub. If that's the case, where are my wolf parents? It couldn't be that they abandoned me here to survive for myself, right? I heard that wild animals taught their child to survive by pushing them off the cliff, but it couldn't be, right? I'm not gonna go and try to survive by myself, again right?'

As all kinds of negative thoughts flashed through my mind, my survival instinct honed from years of life and death struggles warned me from incoming danger. Following my trusted instinct, I leaped away from where I was seated. A moment later, a whip-like object slammed to that same location.

'?!'

Probably realizing that it didn't hit anything, the whip-like object was pulled back with a frightening speed. While standing on my four legs, I gazed at the location where the whip-like object was pulled. Because of the dim light on the area, I could only see the attacker's silhouette. But even so, it was oddly familiar. The silhouette instead of walking or dashing towards me was taking its time, jumping forward.

'It couldn't be right?' I thought, denying my own guess. Honestly, just from its silhouette and behavior, I'm pretty sure my guess was right on the mark. The only thing that made me doubt my guess was the creature's size, and from what I know, that thing shouldn't be that huge.

While keeping alert for another attack, I waited for the creature to be illuminated by the dim light. After another couple of leaps, the creature was finally illuminated by the dim light revealing its full form and slapping the unbelievable reality to my face.

'Y-you're kidding right?' I asked with my mouth wide open. And when I said, open, I mean it literally.

To describe what the creature was in simple terms, it was a frog. Yes, it was a huge freakin' frog. The likes that could probably swallow an a.d.u.l.t man in one gulp. If this thing was let loose from the city I was from, the city would probably fall in a state of panic.

As I was imagining what would happen if I let this thing loose in my hometown, my sense of danger once again went off. I jumped sideways successfully dodging the attack then ran around the giant frog in panic.

'WHY IS THERE A GIANT FROG HERE?! WHERE AM I REALLY?! AND THIS SITUATION IS WRONG IN ALL SORTS OF WAYS!! WHY IS A FREAKING FROG TRYING TO EAT A WOLF!! YES, I AM STILL A CUB, BUT I AM STILL A WOLF FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THE THING THAT I DODGED EARLIER ISN'T A WHIP BUT ITS TONGUE?!'

Probably irritated by my speed, the frog sped up its attack. Making full use of my sharp instinct, I ran and leaped around avoiding every attack from the giant frog.

And then I noticed. 'For a cub, I am pretty agile, ain't I? Maybe I can turn the tables against this frog!'

With renewed confidence, I stopped running around and instead ran towards the frog whilst dodging all of its attacks. Honestly, the frog was so huge that I couldn't even hope to attack its head. But since it was huge, then all I needed to do was bring it down to the ground.

'Wolves and other species related to it have their very own weapon. And ironically, the same as you, it is also a part of my mouth!!' I thought as I launched to bite the frog on its right leg. As I opened my mouth to bite the frog's leg with all my might, I felt a weird strength coming out from deep within me as if trying to aid me on my attack. Yosh! I can do this! Such thoughts flashed through my mind. And then…

*SQUISH*

As I bit the frog's leg, an odd sound entered my ears.

"?" The frog weirdly tilted its head.

'Eh?' I thought dumbfounded by what happened. When I looked up front, I noticed that only the tip of my little fangs had managed to sink in the frog's leg. I bet from the frog's perspective. It only felt like a mosquito bite. While I was panicking, I felt a floating sensation. The frog then flung its leg, and I was sent flying and rolling to the ground.

I let out a whimper as I tried to stand and endure the pain. Honestly, I still felt a little dizzy, but I couldn't possibly lie down obediently and let that thing eat me. That said…

'If my only weapon doesn't work… Then I guess the only choice is to run. Since I can't even damage it, continuing this fight is nothing but suicide. It's best to run now while I still have the strength to spare.'

When I finally decided what action to take, I turned around and ran with all my might. I could still feel the presence of the frog chasing behind me, but since I was unbelievably fast, that thing had no hope of ever catching up.

'This is just a tactical retreat!! As long as I survive, we will meet again, and next time I will win!!' I exclaimed to no one in particular.

While I was running for my life, I felt multiple hostile presences in the surrounding area. My survival instinct rang non-stop as if trying to warn me of the impending danger. Without stopping, I look around cautiously. And as if confirming my fears, I noticed multiple silhouettes hopping around the area.

'ARE YOU JOKING?!' I screamed internally. 'I still have no idea what the heck happened to me!! That's why I can't die yet!!' I thought as I continued to run.

To increase my chance of survival, I stopped scanning my surroundings and desperately pushed my battered and tired body to run faster. While listening only to my survival instinct, I ran and ran without paying any heed to anything around me. As I ran, there was only one thought on my mind.

'There is always next time if I survive!!'