Chapter 72

Natalie opened her eyes only to find she was back in the world of her dreams. This time, there was no forest, no mountains, just the cliff that she appeared on and plains surrounding it. Looking around, their seemed to be nothing around her. Confused, she peered over the cliff edge. Thousands upon thousands of monsters all stared back at her before crying out in what she assumed was a war cry. The voice of thousands of creatures of varying sizes rushed up the cliff face to greet her, but in the end, she did not feel fear. Nor did she feel strength, pride, or really anything at all. It was as if she was a passenger just watching how things went. This was further drilled home to her as her own body arched backwards and howled at the sky, going into the half human, half wolf form. When the howl finished, so did the transformation. Looking down upon the massive horde, Nat could swear that she was smiling while eyeing the horde in front of her as prey.

Before either the monsters or she moved, bursts of green light came out of her body. More half human, half canine forms came out and lined up along the ridge with her. With each burst, another one came out. Hundreds flowed out, but the ones that stuck closer to her were far too easily recognizable. Kali, Maia, Bryden, and all of the other canines that inhabited her Soulscape came out in bipedal forms. Seeing that all of them came out, Natalie realized something that she felt was important. Did this dream mean to say she could shift into this form on her own? Without the help of one of her bonded family? Before she had much time to think on this, her body's earlier howl was responded too, with every form around her howling in strength despite their size.

The next thing she knew, her body had jumped down the cliff. As she did, every other half and half form followed her with a feral grin on their faces as they flew towards the mass of monster bodies. Another war cry came out from the horde as the two sides clashed. Clubs and fists hit her body, and she could feel the strain on her as some spots had already started bruising to appear. But for every hit she received, she dealt another two back at a minimum. Throats were slashed, heads were ripped off, and claws went through the squishy stomach regions of the monsters that attempted to stop the packs advance. While the number of orcs and hobs felt never ending, it was overshadowed by the unstopping ferocity of the pack as they all tore through the crowd, sparing none of the twisted creatures.

After what seemed like no time at all, the pack had broken through the other side of the horde. Hobs and gobs fled while shrieking as the pack collectively stood overtop the corpses that littered the battlefield, howling in victory. As they did, Nat felt herself getting ejected from her body. Now floating as if she were nothing, her shapeshifted body lowered its head to look at her. "Next, is your turn." Her body declared, pointing directly at her. After seeing the scene, Nat could not believe herself. Shapeshifting into that form was one thing, but she found it incredibly unlikely that she would be leading a charge into a numerically superior group of enemies. Especially if it was possible to evade them and escape notice. She just could not see herself leading her family into that kind of danger. As she had these thoughts, she almost completely missed the sight of everything fading to black.

Waking up with a start, Nat attempted to sit straight up and breath. However, Maia had once again rolled on top of her chest, making sitting up a near impossible task without using her arms. Instead, Nat just lay there and collected her thoughts. Not only was she able to shift freely on her own, but all of the canines with her had been in different forms. Before, she had doubted the dreams, and very much regretted it when she found out it was true. Taking the dreams at face value, she started brainstorming what it could be. An evolution of the energy over time? Possible, but unlikely. Was it her own body changing to be that way? Doubtful, as the Soulscape was not a physical thing on her body but a manifestation of her inner self. That was a thought. What if her soul was changing and was making those sorts of changes more viable? That could explain so much. Why she could not bond with the cattle, why she was getting better eyesight, and why she had started craving meat more and more lately. Her soul could be becoming a mix of the human soul she had up until the event and a canine soul like those she had bonded with. Did this mean that it was all a matter of time? Or did she have to practice as she grew more into the abilities? Remembering how drained she felt after the last time, she decided that all of that could be checked before going to bed.

As it was, it was almost time to start another day. The sun was starting to rise in the east, slowly bathing the tent in an orange light. She lay there for a few more minutes, coming to term with her newfound discoveries. Her soul was probably changing, but that was probably the same reason that the canines with her in the dream had been able to shift. Bonding had been shown to be a two-way street, and if her soul really was changing to become more like theirs, than it was extremely likely that theirs were changing to become more like hers. The more complex feelings, understanding of language and every other realization that had happened to those she bonded with started to make more and more sense. Knowing all of this, she knew two things. One, she had inadvertently created a cat lady out of a grandma. Secondly, she had to tell Shannon. For whatever she first bonded with could change her more than they originally thought. Feeling a bit stir crazy in bed, she started scratching Maia right behind the ears. After a week, she had started to get an idea on how to wake up the wolves. Well, Kali and Maia anyways. The two of them were always the ones that seemed to pin her to the mattress they all slept on. Once Maia was up, Nat finally rose from the blankets and moved out of the tent door. However, she froze in front of the exit to the tent. Rubbing her eyes, she convinced herself she was not seeing double. Sitting beside Edwin and Lucille, was another pair of coyotes.

Huge thanks to my Elder Wolves Jake, Viktor, Nikolas, Saganatsu, Eeleater, Eric, Corgi, Lachlan, Coen, Adam, John, Nicholas, Jacob, Onean, Hades, Neal, Sebastian, Sir Hellington, and Kevin for supporting me and my writing! Remember that I keep Patreon ten chapters ahead at all times. Our next goal on Patreon will be getting up to 25 patrons, which I will then open up an official discord for everyone to come and discuss the story in and hang out!