Chapter 21: Godly Embodiment Was it afraid of just his thought of order? Finn wasn’t stupid. He knew there was more to it. The shadow wolf had been content to be bound to him by the soul debt just fine before. Biding its time until an opportunity would arise to fully devour and corrode him. But now, out of the blue, it chose to battle for control, despite the current clause already in place. Finn didn’t know anything but the bare minimum about soul masses and soul debts, but he definitely knew there had to be severe repercussions for going against an established soul debt clause like the shadow wolf was. Yet it had still chosen to. Why? His mind moved a mile a minute trying to figure out the mystery behind the shadow wolf’s sudden move. It was a race against the clock, as he could feel it rapidly gaining control, trying to enforce a new soul debt clause. He sorted through different ideas quickly before coming to the conclusion that the only reason the shadow wolf would risk such a breach was if it feared something he possessed. Specifically, if it was actually possible for him to enforce order on the shadow wolf somehow. Without wasting any time, he focused intensely on the concept of order and the act of enforcing it, waiting for any reaction, any change at all from the shadow wolf... But nothing happened. What was he missing? He was certain his conjecture was right. So why wasn’t anything happening? Was he going about it the wrong way? He thought back to the original moment he had thought of order. What was different between that instance and this? Fenrir! The realization suddenly dawned on him. He was thinking of the creature, Fenrir at that time! He quickly moved to visualize Fenrir again, but abruptly stopped. Fenrir was not a creature of order, but rather, one of pure chaos and destruction. Finn wanted order, not chaos. So instead of the Fenrir, his mind went to other options, searching quickly through his knowledge of mythological creatures from different cultures back on earth. He needed something that was most preferably a wolf, but was the opposite of Fenrir. His mind came up empty, save for the four that barely made the cut: First was the Kitsune from Japanese Shinto religion, which was still very much practiced in modern day earth. The second was Anubis from Egyptian mythology. And the last were from Norse mythology: Geri and Freki, Odin’s two loyal wolves. And just as Finn settled on these four, about to select the most appropriate that correlated to order, his mind shook. The fear and pain he’d detached himself from surfaced again in full force. The shadow wolf was full-on frenzied, throwing everything at the remaining bind of the soul debt clause, at the expense of itself. Finn couldn’t hear anything in this state, but he literally ’felt’ the shadow wolf howl in pain from the intense backlash of doubling down its efforts to break the current clause. It had totally given up on its well-being, intent to break the clause at all costs before Finn could finish what he was doing. Finn didn’t stop either. Despite the pain and fear that urged every fibre of his being to stop, he pushed through with a ’roar’ and forced his mind to focus on the entities of order he had selected. Quickly, he sorted through them. The Kitsune from the Japanese Shinto religion were not wolves, but rather foxes. The only reason he selected them was because of their loyalty as servants to Inari, the god they served. He’d not found a one-for-one wolf-like creature that depicted order. So, what if he could enforce ’loyalty’ instead? Anubis on the other hand, was closer to what Finn wanted. The Egyptian god of death and judgement. Anubis wasn’t a wolf, in fact, the only part of Anubis similar to a wolf was his head, and even that was jackal-like. But Anubis was the closest to ’order’ that Finn could think of, trumped only by the last two: Geri and Freki. But that was only because Anubis’ order was one of ’judgement’ while Geri and Freki’s was more of ’loyalty and utter obedience.’ 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 And that was what Finn needed. The Kitsune also embodied loyalty. But for some reason, the danger signals in Finn flared at the thought of trying to lock-in on them as his counter to the shadow wolf. He knew for certain he’d fail, even as he still didn’t know what was next after this. But somehow, he just knew he’d fail if he tried it. So he went with Geri and Freki. They didn’t give him the same threatening feeling as the Kitsune. Quickly, he locked his choice in, straining painfully against the shadow wolf who had nearly succeeded in its efforts. Finn struggled as the shadow wolf pushed even harder. He focused on the idea of loyalty and obedience, channeling it through the two wolves – Geri and Freki, until suddenly, the pain stopped. For the briefest moment, a dead silence reigned... and within the depths of Finn’s mind, he ’saw’ the shadow wolf. They locked ’eyes.’ And immediately, Finn went into a trance. Where am I? He stared at his hands that looked every bit as real as the outside world’s. In fact, he could feel a cool morning breeze blow across his skin before he quickly looked up to take in his surroundings. Where am I? He questioned again, this time more urgent. One second he was in his mind fighting for control against the shadow wolf, and the next, a verdant forest with trees as tall as an apartment complex filled his view. It’s the shadow wolf! This is not real! Finn tried to ground himself. This had only happened after he looked into its eyes! Was this a last ditch attempt to stop him from enforcing order onto it? Shit! I need to get out of here! He picked a direction and dashed forward, trying to get out of the forest first. He immediately tried to call upon the idea of ’loyalty and obedience’ that Geri and Freki represented, but no matter how he tried, there was no feedback. He could think of them just fine. But that state of ’embodiment,’ the feeling as though he had a direct connection to them, as if he could actually latch onto the idea they represented, was no longer there. How had the shadow wolf done it?! What the hell was this place?! He knew it wasn’t real, but it felt every bit like it was. Finn gritted his teeth, dashing between the trees that blocked his path. He didn’t know what was happening, but he knew he needed to move. This was the shadow wolf’s doing, so it— His thoughts were brought to a halt as he abruptly burst out of the treeline and into open space just as he charged through a shrubbery that blocked his path. But immediately he caught himself, taking in the new view that lay before him, his heart skipped an involuntary beat. Right there in the far distance, atop a large hill, stood the shadow wolf, if it could still be called that. It towered nearly thirty meters into the air, with the length of its body stretched like a Boeing 747 aircraft, making the hill it stood atop look disproportionate to its size. The sight struck abject terror through Finn’s entire body as the wolf, previously scanning the tree lines, locked onto him immediately he burst out.