A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Chapter 578 - More dangerous than change...

A few days later, Erik crouched on a large branch near the top of a massive tree in the middle of the Ethiopian jungle, wearing casual attire. A confident grin graced his lips as his eyes locked onto a small village in the distance, barely visible through the dense greenery.

He was much too far away to be spotted, but from up there, his third-rank vision could easily see the villagers as they lived their lives, completely unaware of what was coming.

Next to him sat Naeku, who looked at their surroundings strangely. "You know, none of this used to be part of the jungle," she muttered, her voice tinted with disbelief. Despite the fact it had already been more than eight years since the awakening, the rate at which the planet was changing astounded her.

It wasn't so long ago that most of the Horn of Africa's biomes were a lot more varied. Most were relatively dry, and there were a few deserts. However, ever since the awakening, both the jungle and the desert have begun to expand.

Milder biomes were quickly being swallowed as everything started converging towards the extremes. Already, several places across their kingdom had harsh deserts directly bordering lush jungles. Only their mountainous highlands remained more or less stable.

"Heh, yeah," Erik chuckled and nodded. "Most planets in the process of awakening will get that. Temperatures get more extreme on both sides of the aisle, even as nature becomes hardier and grows faster with the help of aetherium. Thus, extreme biomes expand to swallow the milder ones in between."

"Fortunately," he continued, glancing at his side to wink at Naeku. "We, the people living here, are also getting tougher."

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"Hmpf, yeah… but so have the animals," snorted in frustration, glancing at a small pile of dead wolf-like mutant beasts near the roots of their tree. "Not to mention that their taste for our flesh seems to increase at the same time."

Obviously, their journey to this place hadn't been entirely peaceful. It appeared that even animal packs of entirely second-ranked beasts now roamed the jungle as well, and they weren't afraid to take on a lone third-ranker.

"Well, yeah," Erik nodded and shrugged, as if that was obvious. "The beasts get an instinctive desire to grow stronger, which is honestly not much different from us. And, just like us, they get benefits from eating aetherium-rich meat… like ours."

"In the end, I guess everything truly happens in a balance," Naeku muttered absentmindedly. "As we get stronger, so does the world get more dangerous."

Erik nodded as he glanced over the treetops, arms resting on his crouched knees. "That's probably a good way to look at it."

"Well, anyway," Naeku sighed, deciding to move on from this topic. "Are you sure this plan of yours will work?"

"Of course, it will," Erik chuckled as he turned to Naeku with amusement twinkling in his eyes. "I do want you to marry me, after all, so it has to."

A small blush appeared on Naeku's cheeks. Turning her head away, she muttered something under her breath.

"Hmmm…?" Erik drawled curiously, despite having heard her perfectly.

Naeku groaned and turned to glare at him. "I said it doesn't have to actually work, you asshole! I just…" she sighed reluctantly. "…I just wanted you to care. To try and fix the problem proactively, to the benefit of our people, and without forcing anyone's hand."

"Whether your plan succeeds or not…" she continued, looking away awkwardly, "…I'm satisfied with the sincere attempt you're making."

Erik blinked, a little surprised at her admission. But then he smirked and swept Naeku into his arms before jumping off the branch they sat on. While falling, he closed his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Naeku.

Yelping and a little panicked, Naeku instinctively turned back to the human form Erik still hadn't seen and allowed his lips to find hers. At the same time, butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She loved this unexpected, spontaneous side of him.

Once their lips separated, Erik also crashed onto the ground. "You're adorable," he whispered in her ear, before gently putting her down. Blushing, Naeku turned back to werepanther form, and Erik opened his eyes again.

"Such a scoundrel," she muttered under her breath, causing Erik to chuckle.

"Anyway," Erik grinned, now taking Naeku's transformed hand as they moved in the direction of the village, pushing through the dense foliage. "It should work just fine. I think you might have been underestimating how difficult these villages actually have it."

He indicated at their surroundings. "I mean, you said it yourself: this never used to be such a lush jungle. It must be hell to maintain their houses in this climate. They weren't built for such humid surroundings, not to mention that they likely have to constantly preen and cut down the greenery that tries to overgrow their settlement."

"And then there's the constant attacks from beast packs that have surely been growing more dangerous already, even if they haven't been attacked by a third-ranked beast yet!" he continued, gesturing dramatically.

"Basically," he continued, turning to smile at Naeku. "I'm willing to bet most of these villages are already at their breaking point. They're likely being held together by one or two people with strong and/or charismatic personalities, bullying the others into going along with their insanity."

Slowly, Naeku nodded, forced to admit he had a point there. "That's probably true," she muttered, thinking back to every time she'd met with representatives of these villages and noticed how it was only ever one man or woman talking over everyone else.

"Right," Erik continued, smirking slightly. "At the same time, most of these people probably don't even care about the whole ancestors thing. I'm sure there are those that do, but I'm willing to bet most are simply afraid of change, especially after all the changes this world has already gone through."

"I guess," Naeku softly sighed, a little annoyed with how unfair the world was sometimes. Fear of change, combined with strong personalities, had wrought a lot of evil in the world.

Then, she raised an eyebrow. "So… I guess you're going to ''break the camel's back' as it were…?" she asked curiously, glancing at him.

"Hehe, that's right," Erik nodded as his body suddenly began to transform into his terrifying werewolf form. "Elora had the right idea, but… we can implement it without anyone actually dying."

He glanced at Naeku, his eyes shining dangerously. "We just need to remind them that there are things more dangerous than change…"