White Roses Dyed Blood Red

Chapter 77 - Cubs

Yaorui stood at the edge of her bed, hugging one of her many sleeping campaigns.

She was debating whether or not to go to sleep, her gut was telling her something, but she didn't know if it was bad or good. She let out a heavy sigh and decided to slip beneath the covers.

The steady breathing of her roommate calmed her and guided her into sleep's arms.

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There it was.

The gray skies above her.

The dewy grass brushed against her skin.

Except this time, there was wind.

The cool breeze softly played her hair, pushing her in the direction of the trees.

She followed the wind, allowing it to push her along. When it slowed, she slowed, and when it hastened, she hastened. All while praying that the three wolves wouldn't find her again.

When they arrived, everything was reset into its original position under the tree. The roots of the tree were all healed, and there wasn't any sign of the wolves.

The staff was where it was first found, and all its features hadn't changed either.

She did a simple warm-up prior to her staff training. She had learned a few new moves from Wenshi this morning, they served as both defensive and fatal in a fight.

Her first goal was to master each move individually. This goal was followed by her second, to be able to move between them like water flowing in a creek.

She started out slow, but gradually familiarized herself with them.

Images of attacks she had learned in sword and hand combat came to her mind, and she came up with counter attacks for them.

She learned of a new feature that enabled the staff to shrink, allowing her to fight in a small range (close combat). Two squeezes took off about a 30cm off, and the more she squeezed, the shorter it got.

To undo it, all she had to do was to tap it on the ground, it was the same procedure to shrinking it, except, if she held it down for three seconds, it would return to its full size.

When she was tired, the wind cooled her with a breeze that sent shivers down her spine and pushed in the direction of a freshwater creek.

The water was cold and refreshing.

She cupped her hands and scooped up water, which she let slide down her throat.

The water didn't come from the ground like most of the water she drank came from, it also didn't taste exactly like the water she had in Canada, but it was similar.

It was fresh and tasted like water if that made sense.

She heard twigs breaking from across the creek and looked up to see three little pups being the cute little pups they were.

The biggest one was only up to her knee, and the smallest was about half her calf.

The big one had golden fur that glimmered despite the sun-less skies. The medium one was a fiery red while the smallest had a beautiful gray coat that could pass as silver fur.

All three of them watched her as she did them from across the lake. Three pair of puppy eyes stared back at her doe-like ones. Red glanced at the double-ended staff that she placed on the ground next to her.

Before she knew it, splashing across the stream to her was three wolf cubs. She knew better than to grab her staff, she so she crouched there and waiting for the three cubs to make the first move.

The three of them circled around her, observing her, watching her, assessing her. Eventually, they ceased their circling and stood in front of her.

"Hi,"

She screamed and fell back onto her hands and bottom.

"You said if we were cubs, she wouldn't be scared of us!" The golden wolf looked at the grey wolf with betrayal.

"I said maybe! And she isn't scared as when she saw us in our full forms now is she?"

Talking wolves.

Do wolves talk? She had never seen an actual wolf, but according to the books, wolves don't talk, at least not a human language.

Back and forth, her eyes went, switching from one wolf to another while they bickered. The red wolf was pretty quiet, the opposite of what she had expected, while the silver wolf seemed talkative, and the golden wolf was the most talkative.

Time ticked by, and eventually, she managed to pull herself together and accept the fact that wolves could talk.

This was a dream, after all, a very lucid dream at that.

"Um, excuse me? Can somebody please tell me what's going on?" She raised her hand meekly.

"Right, we still have to deal with the human," The golden wolf stalked over to her and leaned over so that they were nose to...snout? "I'm Ryder, nice to meet you human,"

"Iris?" She used her English name, assuming that it would make better sense to use it since the wolf had an English name as well.

"Iris, I am Josie," The silver wolf tilted her head, "That big booger is my mate, and that guy," She pointed to the fiery wolf, "is Cole,"

"Nice to meet you..." Her voice was audibly unsure.

"We're sorry about yesterday, this booger decided that showing up in all our giant glory would make you like us,"

"It's fine,"

"Anyways, we watched your training last night and decided that you were a hot mess, so say hi to your new instructors, me, Cole, and Ryder."

"Do I have to call you instructor Josie then?"

"Dear gods no, that makes me sound old, I'm only 987,"

NINE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN!

"You humans age much faster than us, in our realm, I'm only a young a.d.u.l.t in my late twenties."

"I'm 1343 years old!" Ryder shouted out as if inserting his dominance, but we all know that Josie was the leader among them. "Now I wanna see what she's got,"

He grinned evilly, these wolf cubs were not going to go easy on her.

And so she trained until every muscle in her body screamed at her. Willing her to let them rest, to relax. The wolves helped her build up her stamina and improve her basics to better her foundation.

At the end of the session, they (and the wind) guided her to a spring cooled just enough to let her bathe. The cubs left her on her own, and she stripped down.

Warm sensations sent chills up her spine, causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin.

Slowly, she sank her lower body into the stream, the tips of her long hair drifting in the direction of the current. And before she knew it, her whole body was submerged in the water.

Eyes closed, she went under and came right back up, sweeping her hair back.

Her muscles relaxed, and she allowed the warm water to slowly undo the knots in them, allowing herself to lean back and rest.

When her fingers and toes finally started to prune up, she left the spring and let the wind do a quick dry on her before she placed her clothes back on. Not even a moment after she buttoned the button, she was transferred back to reality.

She laid on her back, eyes open and senses awake.

The first crack of dawn shone through the window. The sound of her roommate shuffling out of bed was heard.

She sat up outta bed, rubbing her eyes and letting out a small yawn.

Subconsciously, she went over her list of to do's for the day.

Get better at staff and spearFinish building all the furnitureGet some reading inClean up and a few things

"Morning roomie," She heard Precious say as she shuffled towards the bathroom after Precious.

"Morning,"

Running water and her morning playlist filled her senses as she cupped her hand and splashed her face with cold water.

Having a double vanity was nice.

No need to fight over who got to brush their teeth first.

She changed in the bedroom while Precious opted for the bathroom. They took turns between the bedroom and the bathroom, today was her roommates turn to change in the bathroom.

They went down together to the main wing.

Like almost always, they were the first ones there.

Chuan Si came down not long after to grab a snack before heading upstairs to his workroom.

Now that she thought of it, she hadn't been upstairs yet. She put it on her list of to do's for the day.

Ysa, Jian Nu, and a few volunteer chefs and kitchen helpers came down to prepare breakfast.

Her stomach growled when it came to the knowledge that food would be served soon.

Soon after, Angli came down all dressed and ready for morning training like she is. He went into the pantry and the fridge, approaching her a box of cookies and an energy shake he made the night before.

"Morning sleepy, these..." He flipped the box of cookies, "Are for you, they came yesterday with the rest of the groceries,"

"You know me so well,"

"I'm not your best friend for nothing Rui'er,"

"What about me? Am I your best friend too?"

He laughed and reached out to pat her head, "You're my bestest friend,"

"Bestest isn't a word,"

"Well, it is now. How'd you sleep? No nightmare?"

"No, I slept (trained) a lot, I had a nice dream,"

"What was the dream about?"

She debated whether to tell him, "I was playing in a forest with three wolf cubs, it was fun,"

That wasn't a lie, right? It was technically correct since she downplayed the intensity by a couple hundred.

Gebao and Sheng Rong entered.