Before, Then, and After [MAR-APR 2024 8CC LIST]

1 - Back Home

[Present].

When Adolpha was called to action, she rose to the task. Since before she was born, the world had been preparing for her to save it.

And now she had.

And now she was alone again.

Adolpha had lived in her jolly little village in River's Bed for her entire life. She was a mere forty years old, which for someone of her kind, was quite a short time. Lycanthropes were a prevalence in the modern age, and lived to be a near 250 years old, on average, and were considered adults at around 25, at the time of their ability's maturity. The single thing that made Lycanthropes so unique was their ability to shape-shift into wolves. They kept a pack mentality, even in a human form, making them a formidable force to oppose. Not to be confused with Anthromorphs, of course, which were humans with the ability to turn into any mammal that they had come into contact with. At first glance, they may have seemed identical; but a quick look of their ears could decipher them apart, for Lycanthropes had gently pointed ears, and Anthromorphs' were rounded.

These great powers were given to the people centuries ago by the peoples' God, Mother Nature, as a form of protecting them from evil. Since then, the Lycanthropes and Anthromorphs had reproduced and grown, and now lived in many quaint, little villages scattered across the warm equator, where winters were light and summers were long.

In the winter, fall, and spring, they farmed and preserved food in great amounts, as when their long summer of 6 months came about, no rain would fall until autumn, and their crops would wither and die. Though, many villages rested alongside rivers, and could work around the summer's dry seasons with the right farmland. Both Lycanthropes and Anthromorphs alike took great pleasure and jest in their fascination of growing food, hunting, and the arts. They lived delicate, simple lives, and very happily at that.

Adolpha was not so happy. She tried to be, very much so, but a darkness seemed to linger.

Give it time, she would think. It's only been one day.

She lived in a charming cottage high on a grassy slope, up from town, where her neighbours were a short distance aways. She could look right out the front door window, the moonlight on this dreary night streaming undertow, head cocked to the left, and she could see just a 15 minute walk down the stone paved lane another beautiful brick cottage, and then beside it another, and another, where the bustling town truly began. There were homes, but there were also shops, trading posts, butchers, herbalists, blacksmiths, leather workers, wood workers, librarians... the list went on. Many of them held shops in a separate room of their homes, or had their house on the same property of their work. The houses sat short, squat, and condensed, for most of the Lycanthrope's days were spent entirely outdoors, even during the dry season.

Mostly, the town was made up of farmers, with large plots of fertile land being upturned by draft mules or men and women pulling wagons and rakes. Many were hunters, too, and who often sold venison, calcium fertiliser, and tanned hides. Even the miners, who specialised in forgery, metals, and precious gems, would carve up some limestone to enhance the farmers' soils.

The many hunters hunted with rifles, or sometimes bows, and the best hunters in town never missed a shot. While there were some that hunted as wolves, wolf hunts were often reserved for parties or holidays as an act of celebration for Mother's gift.

Overall, it was a prosperous and quite a large village, there in River's Bed, where the people were happy, healthy, and lived long.

There, looking out the window of her house as the moon rose to the clouded navy sky, she could only seem to see that brick-house cottage down the lane, with its tall, triangular roof of well-worn and mossy brown shingles, the grout of grey between tan, orange, and brown clay bricks, all cracked or imperfect in some way, having been built a likely thousand years prior, repaired and cleaned with reticulation many times over the years. Though, Adolpha wasn't looking at the house itself, but rather, thinking of those that lived in it. Her closest neighbour and most dearest friend, Quince, formerly known as Keith. Her dear friend Quince once had her own unique ability, just as Adolpha did.