The gentle sound of birds chirping drifted through the open cabin window, carried in by a fresh morning breeze. Warm rays of sunlight streaked into the room, illuminating the quiet space as the distant crowing of a rooster rang out, sounding the wake-up call for the entire grounds.
Inside the Ironmaw Cabin, chaos was the order of the morning.
On the bottom bunk, Mira was a complete mess. Her blanket was thrown every which way and her hair looked like a wild bird's nest.
Her left leg dangled carelessly off the edge of the mattress, one hand rested over her chest, and her right arm was buried deep under her pillow. She didn't look like a dignified lady in the slightest—a fact compounded by the sheer power of her snoring, which sounded like a revving engine.
On the top bunk directly above her, Talia was sleeping. Calling it "sleeping" was an absolute understatement.
If it weren't for the safety rail, she would have plummeted to the floor hours ago.
Her head and upper torso were bent awkwardly off the edge, dangling in mid-air, anchored to the bed only because her legs were wrapped tightly around the wooden guardrail. Her trusted sword rested snugly behind her back—it seemed she never parted with it, even in her sleep.
Shifting to the adjacent set of bunks, Rowan occupied the lower level, sleeping in profound peace.
He was wrapped so tightly in his blanket that he resembled a human burrito, his head tucked so far beneath the fabric that it was a miracle he could breathe at all. The blanket itself seemed to be woven from shadows, pulsing faintly with a dim, dark aura that likely kept him comfortable.
Caius was also in a lower bunk. The room contained three set of bunk beds for five occupants, meaning he had his entire frame to himself.
Before James arrived, Caius used to sleep on the top mattress above Rowan, but now he had settled below.
Out of everyone in the cabin, his bed looked the most pristine and organized. He slept with his back pressed flat against the wall, facing directly toward the main entrance.
The layout of the cabin was strategic: anyone walking through the front door would immediately spot Caius's bed first. To the left sat Rowan's bunk, and to the right was the frame shared by Mira and Talia.
The way Caius positioned himself ensured he had virtually no blind spots—if an intruder tried to sneak in through a window or the door, he would spot them before they even cleared the frame.
Finally, on the top bunk above Rowan, James stirred. His hair was completely disheveled, and the glowing silver necklace hung loosely from his neck, swaying slightly as he let out a final, raspy snore.
Every muscle in his body throbbed with a dull, aching soreness.
He was suffering from a massive hangover.
As the harsh sunlight hit his face through the glass, his eyelids fluttered open, his vision blurry and unfocused at first.
"Fuck, my head..." he groaned softly, wincing against the glare.
His skull throbbed with a sharp, stinging pressure—though it didn't feel like a standard alcohol hangover. It felt more like the mental strain of having his mind blasted wide open, the lingering aftereffects of seeing far too many ancestral spirits and otherworldly forces all at once.
Once fully awake, James sat up on his bed. Being on the top bunk meant his head was dangerously close to the ceiling, forcing him to keep his posture low.
He let out a long, heavy yawn, staring out the sunlit window while feeling so fucking drained.
Interestingly, his magic reserves felt completely fine.
In fact, his magic pool seemed to have grown a bit. It looked like his brutal battle with Raze had expanded his capacity—not by a massive margin, but enough for him to notice the difference.
So, entering battle increases magic capacity... He made a mental note to ask Caius about the exact mechanics of it later.
Though if he had to guess, since magic in this realm seemed to function like a blend of mental fortitude and physical vitality, it probably worked a lot like chakra. For his own sanity, he decided to just run with that logic for now.
Groaning as his sore muscles protested, he casually swung his legs over the side and jumped down from the top bunk.
His feet hit the hardwood floor, but not a single sound echoed through the cabin.
At the exact moment of impact, he had instinctively manipulated the shadows beneath his soles, using a layer of darkness magic to cushion his fall.
"This is pretty nifty," he thought.
Darkness magic was turning out to be insanely versatile, and its sub-branch of shadow manipulation was equally practical.
He made up his mind to master as much of it as possible before even attempting to dip into elemental magic.
After all, if fiction had taught him anything, it was that mastering the basics was crucial in any power system.
Even though his landing had been completely silent, he looked up to find himself making direct eye contact with Caius, who was already sitting up and watching him with sharp, unblinking eyes.
Before James could even react—
"...Wh—AAAAAAAH!"
Talia tumbled headfirst off her top bunk.
The moment James had flexed his magic, her combat instincts had flared, waking her up instantly mid-sleep.
Her sudden, knee-jerk reaction caused her to lose her footing on the guardrail, sending her plunging face-first toward the floorboards.
BAM!
James wincing softly.
Ouch. That was definitely going to leave a mark.
Beside them, Rowan's eyes peeked out from beneath his cocoon of dark blankets, wisps of shadows already swirling around his hands like coiled serpents.
Meanwhile, on the bottom bunk, Mira's eyes shot open.
"Wher—"
CRACK!
She didn't even get to finish her sentence before she bolted upright and slammed her forehead violently against the frame of the top bunk.
She had moved far too fast, completely forgetting in her sleep-deprived haze that she was on the bottom mattress.
James stood there with a sheepish, wry smile plastered across his face.
Right... super senses, he realized internally.
Here he was thinking he was being thoughtful, using darkness magic to land quietly so he wouldn't disturb a cabin full of apex predators.
He had completely forgotten that one of the defining traits of their race was hyper-attuned sensory perception.
His amateur attempt at manipulating darkness magic had been picked up the second he cast it, dragging all four sleep-deprived werewolves out of REM sleep and tossing them straight into battle-ready mode.
"Ow…" Talia groaned, pushing herself up from the hard floorboards. That hit stung just a bit, and falling out of bed was definitely not how she'd planned to start her morning, but she was certain she'd felt a flare of magic.
She blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the grogginess. Nearby, Mira let out a low groan of her own, clutching her forehead in pain.
That hit actually hurt. For anyone who didn't know, their bunk beds were crafted by dwarves—those stubborn craftsmen who lived deep beneath the earth.
Finding dwarf-made goods wasn't easy these days. Sure, there were probably a few active clans out in Norway, but that was a long-ass flight.
Even with magical shortcuts available, traveling that far was still a major hassle.
"The hell... who the fuck was using magic?" Mira muttered, her forehead throbbing. Still, true to form, she wasn't one to sit around complaining.
"Sorry," James offered, a sheepish, wry look on his face. He really hadn't meant to cause a domino effect of morning chaos.
At the sound of his voice, Talia seemed to snap completely awake. Rowan stopped gathering dark energy, his wisps of magic dissolving as he pulled his blanket back over his head to catch up on much-needed sleep.
To be fair, they didn't have any major duties scheduled for the morning; as far as James knew, today was meant for rest, with patrols scheduled for later in the evening.
"You're awake!" Talia beamed, her energy instantly bouncing back. Whatever hangover she'd been nursing vanished the second her excitement took over—a phenomenon James made a mental note to look into later.
"I mean... yeah," he replied, a bit baffled. Shouldn't he be awake?
"Dude, you drank like ten whole barrels of wine last night!"
James's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Ten barrels?! What the fuck, that was an insane amount of alcohol—and she said it so casually, as if it were no big deal. How much wine did these people go through?
From what he'd observed during his short time here, he estimated the pack's total population was somewhere in the tens of thousands—maybe bordering on a hundred thousand.
And while not every single member was a frontline combatant (though even their mages looked like they could throw hands), a realistic breakdown would probably be around fifty thousand active warriors, with the rest handling vital pack roles.
It was only now that the sheer scale of the territory hit him.
The surrounding forest was massive, but a settlement of this size should have easily been spotted by the outside world.
The fact that it remained hidden meant something powerful was masking the area.
He had a strong hunch it was an extremely advanced barrier technique—maybe even a pocket dimension anchored to the physical woods. That was definitely something to ask Caius about later.
"I... did?" The utter confusion on James's face was unmistakable.
"Yeah! You even challenged Lady Luna to a drinking duel," Talia grinned, shaking her head. "I totally thought you were gonna get put on a stretcher!"
James raised an eyebrow, a cold sweat breaking out. Wait... I did WHAT?!
/
"Oh, you didn't just challenge her, pup," Mira grunted, sitting up on her dwarf-forged bunk and rubbing the bruised knot on her forehead. "You slammed your giant-ass mug straight into her face when she walked through the front door.
"
James stared at her, his jaw practically hitting the wooden floorboards. "I... I what?"
"Yep! Soaked her whole front in ale!" Talia piped up, practically vibrating with glee as she paced around the room. "And then, instead of apologizing or begging for your life like a normal person, you slapped her on the shoulder and asked if she wanted a drink!"
"I SLAPPED HER SHOULDER?!" James shrieked, clutching his head in sheer, unadulterated horror. "And I am still alive because"
"You were funny…..and She accepted. And then you decided human cups weren't big enough, so you dragged a six-hundred-liter master barrel of ale onto your shoulders, shifted into a giant wolf, and chugged the entire thing like a broken fire hydrant."
James buried his face in his hands, letting out a long, muffled scream of pure mortification.
Every word coming out of their mouths sounded like an absolute fever dream, but the casual certainty in their voices told him every single terrifying detail was 100% real.
"Wait, wait, it gets better," Talia grinned, hopping onto the edge of his bed. "After you won the drinking game, you stood on the main table, carved a floating smiley face into the ceiling with shadow magic, and tried to teach the warriors a fake battle chant while beating a giant boar bone against a shield!"
From beneath a massive pile of blankets across the room, a tired, muffled voice groaned.
"Please... shut up..." Rowan muttered, pulling his pillow over his ears. "Some of us were up all night researching... and don't want to remember the newborn singing to the roof..."
James looked up slowly, his eyes wide with absolute dread as the weight of his actions settled in.
"So... basically... I embarrassed myself in front of the entire pack, covered the Alpha's daughter in beer, and acted like a complete lunatic?"
"Pretty much," Mira smirked, giving him a firm, sympathetic pat on the shoulder that nearly knocked the wind out of him.
A/N And that conclude the first arc, chapter out later because i had to get some minor tweak to the story cover, and my own laziness.
Should be like 2.5 words.
Anyway, vote with powerstone.
What would yall rate the first arc, chapter 1 to 60.
What can be improved, what done good, so on and so forth.