Advrik came to high above the Atlantic, plummeting towards Earth from what could have only been the stratosphere. The curvature of the earth and the horizon bled way to the cosmos beyond for a brief second before realization kicked in.
The last thing he remembered was sitting in bed reading a book after dinner. Two delicious, fresh-caught trout that had been roasted with some vegetables.
Next thing he knew, he was freefalling towards the ocean without a hope to hang on to.
Or so he thought.
Instincts he didn't know he had kicked in, spurring him into contorting his body against the pull of gravity. Straightening himself out against the rushing upward gale of wind, he felt his whole body quickly come to a halt mid-air. Floating erect high above the ocean now, somehow, he had a moment to think.
He looked at what lay below and around him: The ocean was calm this day, which would have done little to lessen the certain doom he had just been facing not five seconds ago, but still, the sight soothed him somewhat.
To the east, he saw dark, violent clouds—a tropical system of some sort. Lightning streaked through the mass as rain fell in a thick, blurry mass below.
And to the west, though still out of sight, was home.
He needed to figure out just what was going on first, how he got here... How he's keeping himself afloat like this. "If I got some sort of brain-infecting parasite from that fish, I'm going to be--"
Another switch had been turned on his brain, yet another of what must have been many on the circuit board that was the wolf's brain. Suddenly, he knew how to control his altitude almost as naturally as he knew how to wag his tail.
He dipped a little at first, a bit too fast, as it felt like falling once more, which disturbed the contents of his stomach. Choking the vomit back down, he tried reducing his altitude once more, this time drifting lazily downward. Down, down, down, until he was floating just above the ocean's surface.
What he saw looking back up at him in his reflection wasn't what he had expected: It was the same familiar face he'd known all his life, with the shaggy dark brown hair and crimson eyes, but the rest was all different.
He found his body encased in some sort of elastic, tight-fitting suit of scaley armor from the neck all the way down to his paws. The suit was rough to the touch but breathed nicely and gave him far more mobility than he would have expected.
On his chest was an emblem that resembled that of the head of a wolf being viewed from the front, but the constant ripple of the water's surface made it hard to distinguish.
A strong gust of wind cut across the ocean from the east, ruffling the wolf's hair and displacing the until-then-unseen thick red cape that hung from his shoulders.
"This is too much," He said, grabbing the strong-feeling cloth as it brushed across his front.
Then, the sound of a call for help pricked his ears, and they twitched in the direction of the sound, which came from the west. But how, he thought, how was he hearing anything out here in the middle of the ocean?!
Another switch flipped into the On position as he suddenly, instantaneously, learned how to further manipulate the gravity field that encased the planet. "I know we have Gravity-based magic, but this is unheard of!" he said as he jettisoned upward like a rocket, both arms at his sides as he soared at ludicrous speeds up through the same cloud cover he had fallen through just moments ago!
High enough up, he stopped to listen again for the cries for help. He scanned the world far below him the same way he'd listen for approaching vehicles before crossing the street back in town. Finally, he picked up again, honing in on its location.
Balling both fists up, he thrust both arms outward above his head, just as that little voice told him to do, The same little instinctual voice that told of how to wag one's tail or when it was time to use the bathroom.
Flying at an even more insane speed, Advrik soared directly toward the cries for help that were becoming increasingly frantic and numerous with each passing second.
Ocean gave way to the land as he flew high above New York City, wondering the while if anybeast had seen him or would be later reporting a UFO sighting.
Pavement quickly gave way to grassland and highways as he quickly left the city behind.
"This is incredible!" He yelled, voice drowned by the sound of wind ripping past him as he flew faster than any object known to beastkind. The wind shear alone should have been tearing him to shreds right now, yet he felt nothing but a light breeze.
Finally, he arrived at his destination.
Advrik hovered gently over the town of Brickhedge, creating a visage of an alien-like entity as the noonday sun obscured all features but his gently swaying tail and wind-swept cape.
The beasts below all gawked in amazement at that which hovered above them. There was a hushed murmur amongst the ever-growing crowd as beasts poured out of every building and onto the rooftops of businesses and apartment buildings in hopes of catching a glimpse of the flying wolf.
He felt each set of eyes fall upon him and, even more miraculously so, the voices as well. They spoke of him with a mixture of fear, astonishment, and confusion, their tones trembling with uncertainty.
"It's magic, right? Gotta be a publicity stunt for a new flying magic spell!" Said a dove standing beside the street light.
"Clearly an illusion. Somebeast needs to walk beneath him and find the hidden pedestal," Said another avian sitting on a bench.
"It's an alien! It's here to kill us; everyone run and hide!" A panicked gecko said through horror-filled tears and a quivering lip.
"Poppycock," A high-pitched old mouse shrieked, "Ain't no illegal aliens moving into MY town!" Said a particularly nasty little mouse, waving her cane at him.
"It's home," He thought, scanning the crowd, looking for the source of the earlier commotion.
"Run, get away!!" The voice shouted once more, his head locking in the direction from which it came. He took off once more, flying up over the mountain that loomed above Brickhedge and back down.
A fox and a bear were bloodied and banged up but on their paws and running with all their strength. Behind them, a Chimera with a black and red color scheme. Time had slowed down, it felt like, as he approached the two as they fled for their lives. Their clothes were torn, and their bodies were covered in blood and injuries.
He couldn't tell who they were, but that didn't matter right now. Eliminating the danger was priority number one; he just didn't know how he was going to do it without a weapon.
The wolf had landed between the fleeing pair and the chimeric monstrosity like a meteorite, the impact booming as the ground gave way against the downward thrust of energy. There, Advrik had kneeled, one fist propping him up and the other holding high to stabilize him.
Fox and bear were knocked off their paws and thrown across the ground, forced over by the powerful shockwave from the landing. Even the monster had given pause.
"Who-- Who are you?!" asked the fox, her voice tinged with pain and exhaustion and probably fear. Advrik didn't turn to face them, instead keeping his eyes firmly locked on the monster.
"Run, get out of here. Now!" He yelled, but the two failed to heed his warning. The Chimera was different from the one he had fought previously; It was much larger, and its fur was black and red. The snake-like arm was more akin to a king cobra rather than a generic serpent. A King Chimera, most likely. Ten times as dangerous, too.
The monster overcame its shock as it stomped toward Advrik as he regained his footing, standing powerfully on both paws, looking up at the monster as it quickly closed the distance between them.
He could smell the putrid, rotting flesh stench of its breath as it lunged for him, giant mouth agape with fangs the length of chef knives ready to sink into its prey.
Click!
Another switch. Another ability, or the knowledge of said ability. He wasn't quite sure yet.
The King Chimera attempted to bite down on the wolf's head, but Advrik was much, much faster. The monster's jaws snapped together in a loud cracking sound as it bit nothing but the air.
The caped wolf had taken two steps forward faster than one could complete a single blink. The punch he threw into the monster's gut was even faster than that.
The chimeric being's eyes bulged out of its head as it took in every square inch of pressure the wolf's punch had delivered, smashing every last one of its internal organs and spinal cord to a fine pulp. In its final breath, it violently vomited the majority of its innards and skeletal pieces, which emerged from its massive mouth as a fine apple sauce-like paste, onto the forest floor before collapsing into a motionless heap.
The fox and bear had watched the events play out with disbelief. The monster that nearly killed the two of them had been taken out with a single punch to the stomach by a caped wolf.
Advrik turned to face the two. And to his astonishment, he knew who they both were. The giant grizzly bear was Eligh Brannigon from town hall. The smaller, purple-colored fox was...
He felt his vision rapidly begin to blur as he stepped towards the slackjawed duo. It was Brigid, he realized, and he desperately wanted to talk to her. The need to do so was sickeningly overpowering, the same sort of feeling that he often felt within a...
A dream.
* * *
Advrik's eyes opened as the early dawn light from the window he failed to close began to creep into the living room slowly.
Before him, atop the coffee table in front of the couch, was a half-crumpled wad of aluminum foil and the skeletal remains of two trout within.
He'd fallen asleep here last night after dinner, not in his bed.
"It was a dream..." He repositioned himself, stretching himself out across the couch, the warm, pleasing sensation of a good stretch washing over him.
"It was just a dream."
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