Grand Game 484: Welcome Home (Patreon)

Passage completed! 

You have entered sector 107 of the Endless Dungeon. This sector is level 3 of 5 of the Guardian Tower, which consists of 5 unclaimable sectors and 6 one-way portals. 

A maximum of 6 players may be in the Guardian Tower at any one time. The dungeon is repopulated daily.

Current number of players in the dungeon: 6 (including you).

Sector bosses remaining: 5 of 5.

I stepped out into a world of white.

The tundra was everything I remembered. Harsh, sterile, and bitingly cold. But I didn’t care.

Coming back to the tundra felt like returning home. It wasn’t the place—my memories of it were bittersweet at best—no, it was knowledge of those who awaited me. 

The Packs, dire and arctic wolves both. 

Cara—Safyre now, I suppose. 

The twins, Teresa and Terence. 

And perhaps even Anriq—hopefully he’d managed the journey from Nexus safely.

All of them were mine to protect and shelter. All of them were House Wolf. Family. 

I glanced to my left where a shivering Nyra and Adriel were hastily donning the winter gear I’d warned them to have ready. They, too, were of House Wolf, no matter that Adriel hailed from Death.

It had taken me many long weeks to get here, but I was here finally. “Home,” I breathed.

“Home,” Ghost echoed.

I smiled. “Go on, manifest. I know you want to.”

“Thank you, Prime,” the pyre wolf said excitedly. 

A moment later, a resounding boom—audible even over the howling winds—rocked the icy plains. Both Adriel and Nyra froze, eyes tracking the sudden shower of snow ten yards ahead of us.

I laughed. “Don’t worry, that’s just Ghost. She’s too impatient to manifest normally.”

Both women managed indulgent smiles—only partly marred by their half-frozen faces. It was cold, perhaps deadly so. Still, I found the wind’s touch… refreshing.

“Wolves!” Ghost yipped excitedly. “I can smell wolves! And hear them too!”

Tears swelled in my eyes even as my grin widened. There were no wolves in sight, of course. Even my mindsight was empty, but Ghost’s reach had always exceeded mine, and her words were all the confirmation I needed. 

The dire wolf Pack was here.

And safe.

Exhaling a tremulous breath, I lowered the mental shields woven tightly around my mind.

A familiar voice whispered through. “Michael?”

“Yes, Aira. It’s me,” I replied, tears streaming heedlessly down my face.

A welter of emotions passed through the link, emotions she made no attempt to hide. “We thought— I feared—”

“I know,” I replied. “I wasn’t certain, we would make it back either.”

“We?” Aira asked, momentarily confused.

Off to the side, I felt Ghost dance fretfully, impatient to join the conversation. Widening the mental link, I let her in. “Yes, we. I’ve brought our intrepid adventurer back.”

“IT’S ME, AIRA!” Ghost shouted joyously.

“Welcome back, little one,” Aira said warmly, and before Ghost or I could respond, I felt the mental link on the elder’s side expand as she let in others of the Pack.

“Pup?” an acerbic voice demanded. “Is that you?”

“YES, SULAN. IT’S ME, GHOST! I’M BACK!”

“Stop shouting,” Sulan snapped. But despite her attempt to sound stern, there was no hiding the unrelieved joy in her voice.

“Sorry, Sulan,” Ghost replied contritely, only hearing the ire in the white wolf elder’s tone.

Sulan’s regard turned to me. “You did well, scion. Thank you for returning our lost spirit. The Pack is your debt.”

“No, it’s not,” I replied firmly. “Seeing Ghost safe was my responsibility too.”

“And I’m not a pup anymore,” the pyre wolf chipped in. “Nor a spirit. I have a body now!”

“You do?” Sulan asked, taken aback. She was not the only one. Aira, and the other elders listening in, appeared just as startled.

“I do! Adriel made me one. I’m a stygian pyre wolf now!”

Surprise transformed into alarm.

“Is that true, Michael?” Duggar asked, pushing himself to the fore of their mental collective and taking charge of the conversation.

“Hail, Alpha,” I greeted solemnly. “And yes, it’s true, but it is not what you fear. Much has happened.” I paused. “It’s better if Ghost and I share the rest of our tale in person.”

“I agree,” Duggar said. “Snow is already on his way to guide you back to the den.”

I squeezed my eyes shut at the mention of Snow. “Then the arctic wolf pack has survived?”

“More than survived,” Aira interjected. “They’re thriving.”

“You did well by them,” Duggar agreed. “You are at the portal?” 

“I am,” I replied faintly, still overcome by relief and joy. I’d done everything I could for the arctic wolves before abandoning them on the tundra—even going so far as to build them a den of ice and bone—yet I had still abandoned them… and I’d been uncertain what state the pack would be in on my return. 

“It shouldn’t take Snow long to reach you then,” Duggar added. “He’ll be there any minute now.”

Lost in my musings, I almost missed the import of the alpha’s words. The arctic wolves’ den was not all that close to the hidden portal, and I expected it would be a few days hence before we reached the two packs. “You’re not at the den?”

“We are,” Sulan answered. “Safyre and the others helped us move it closer to the portal. We are not far.”

The last of my tension dissipated. “Safyre and the twins are safe?”

“They are,” Duggar assured me. “As is Anriq.”

“Thank the ancients,” I murmured. That was the last of my allies accounted for. Only Saya’s fate was yet to be determined, but I would have to journey to the wolves’ valley before I could assure myself about her wellbeing.  Which I will do as soon as—

I broke off, as something Sulan had said niggled at me. “You moved the den? Why?” And why move it closer to the portal?

Momentary silence. 

“That, too, is a tale best relayed in person,” Duggar said finally. “Much has happened while you’ve been away.”

I frowned, more than a little perturbed by the alpha’s response but still willing to wait to hear him out. “Then we best save further talk until we reach the den.” 

Closing the mental link, I opened my eyes and found Adriel and Nyra staring at me expectantly. The pair were kitted out in many more layers than could be comfortable—and yet were still shivering.

“The others are safe, and on the way to fetch us,” I reported. 

“F-fetchh us-s where?” Nyra asked through chattering teeth.

“Somewhere warmer,” I added sympathetically. Motion in the far distance caught my eye. “In fact,” I said, turning to face the approaching shape, “that must be them.” 

✵ ✵ ✵

Adriel has cast death’s sheltering hand.

Between one second and the next, the wind’s howling ceased, strangled to silence by the black dome hovering over us, and the temperature rose appreciably.

I threw the lich a questioning look over my shoulder.

She shrugged. “It’s cold. And why wait in discomfort?” she asked rhetorically.

“Thank you,” Nyra said fervently, her hunched over posture straightening.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Adriel murmured. “I can only hold the spell while we remain stationary. Once we get moving, the cold will return.”

The qualification did not appear to perturb Nyra, though, and she closed her eyes savoring the warmth, temporary though it might be. Facing forward again, I turned my attention to the approaching shapes.

Snow was not alone.

Accompanying him were four smaller wolves. Ice-white like Snow himself, they nipped at each other and yapped excitedly as they followed the alpha’s lead.

Snow’s offspring.

I smiled. All four had survived. A feat in of itself on the harsh tundra, and while they were not quite full-grown yet, the four were no longer vulnerable pups unable to defend themselves. Now, they were more rightly, young wolves.

Stepping forward, I went down on one knee to greet the five.

Snow drew to a dignified stop a few yards away, his wary gaze on Ghost. The pups, though, paid the pyre wolf no heed. Surging past their sire, they flung themselves at me. Laughing, I fell back, overcome by licks and wet noses.

“Are those… wolves?” Nyra asked.

“Yes, girl,” Adril murmured.

“What are they doing to him?” she whispered in an aside to the lich. “And why are they so small?”

I chuckled. The young New Havener had never seen real wolves before, and of course, compared to Ghost, every other wolf would look small. “These are pups,” I said, shooing away the four as I rose to my feet. “And they’re only a few months old, which accounts for their size.” I gestured to Snow. “But they won’t grow much larger than him.”

“Is that their sire?” Adriel asked quietly.

I nodded as I strode forward to greet Snow. “Yes, he is the alpha of the arctic wolf pack.”

Snow watched me approach, his countenance unchanging, but his mind replete with images. One after the other, images flickered through my mind, pictures of full-grown wolves, many of whom I’d never seen before. Of those that I recognized, Snow portrayed most as vacant eyed or with wounds too gruesome to survive. Next came a long string of pup images, some no more than a few days old.

He is reporting, I thought. Showing me the new recruits, the dead, and the newborn.

Going down on one knee, I rested a light hand on the alpha. “You did well, Snow,” I said gravely. “The Pack has grown strong under your leadership.”

The white wolf raised his snout proudly, sensing the intent behind my words if not the entirety of their meaning.

“And how is Star?” I asked.

Another series of images followed, showing Snow’s mate snug in one of the igloos. “Leaving you to do all the work, is she?” 

Laughing agreement.

Smiling, I rose to my feet and glanced at Ghost. Understanding wolfkin etiquette better than I did, the pyre wolf had deliberately hung back. 

“Come meet him,” I said.

Ghost slipped forward, her padded feet leaving glistening puddles in the snow. Through our bond, I sensed her anxiety, her earlier joy fleeing in the wake of darker emotions. 

Would the Packs accept her? Or would they consider her too strange to be considered a wolf? These and other worries ran rampant in her mind. 

“You can trust Snow,” I reassured her. Burying her fears, the pyre wolf stepped up to my side, looming over the arctic wolf.

Immediately, four small shapes pounced.

The first launched himself at Ghost’s tail. The second scrambled onto her back. The third latched on the underside of Ghost’s belly and hung there, trying to bite through her coat. And the fourth went for the jugular.

The sight of the four pups trying to wrestle Ghost into submission made for an amusing picture, and I would have laughed if not for Snow’s sudden spike of fear. Hackles raised and teeth barred, the alpha stepped forward, ready to defend his offspring.

“Easy, brother. She will not hurt them,” I assured him.

Fighting his own instincts, Snow held himself still. It could not have been easy trusting my judgment over his own, but the alpha did—a fact I found humbling. 

“Thank you,” I said solemnly. Turning back to Ghost, I watched as she slowly lowered herself onto her belly. Keeping her mouth closed, she gently but firmly nudged the growling pups away.

They threw themselves at the pyre wolf again, of course, making a game of it, only for Ghost to push them away again.

The tension drained out of Snow.  He saw what I did. Ghost was indulging the pups, the way any adult in the Pack would. He turned his serious blue eyes on me, a question in his mind.

“This is Ghost,” I said, introducing her. “She is my…” I paused, searching for the right word. How could I define my relationship with the pyre wolf in a way the wolves would understand? “…my pack sister,” I finished. “Consider her a member of the Pack the same as you would me.”

Acknowledging my words, he strode forward. The pyre wolf saw him coming and the pups too. Sensing their sire’s mood, they backed away while Ghost dropped her head submissively. It did not matter that she could tear open the alpha’s throat with a single bite. This was about more than strength. This was about Pack Law.

Lowering his snout, Snow touched his nose to Ghost’s.

I sighed in relief. The alpha had accepted the pyre wolf into the arctic wolf pack. 

Ghost was no longer a lone wolf, lost, and astray. 

She was Pack once more, and knowing how important that was to her, the pure joy streaming through our bond did not surprise me.

“Welcome home, Ghost,” I murmured. “Welcome home.”