Chapter 33: Incompetent

All was set and done, I finally felt ready and very confident in myself. I realize now that so many things I said we're in the end just words, like how I brag about my unique and powerful magic. It is unique and powerful but I never got the chance to practice and nurture it because I was too busy being overworked by those witches. A powerful weapon in the hands of someone who doesn't fully know how to use it becomes less powerful. I remember I once confidently wondered how I'd fare against Roseanne and the truth is she would defeat me. One of those reasons is she has probably been fighting using her angel powers for a long time now and she can use her powers for a far longer period than I can.

"I don't even have to ask, you look too ready" seeing me come out of my outfit and all I had on me screaming excitement for where we're going he gave a nod of approval. The thought of slaying some monsters and swift Glooms made my heart pump with excitement. I wore grey pants and a simple black shirt, heavy boots that were a bit heavy but they looked good. The mid quality healing, energy and invisibility potions were in a bag strapped tightly around my waist. The glass bottles were a bit thick so even if they fall they won't break easily. The bag wasn't the only thing strapped around my waist, I also brought water but instead of a bottle they were contained in what looked like a curved leather back. (AN- yeah sorry I really don't know it's name, I've only seen it in movies).

It looked weird and it made walking a bit weird but it's nothing I won't get used to, I'd say it contains ten litres of water so it was a bit heavy for my waist. I also didn't tie my curls and left my hair loose cause it'll look very cool and dramatic when I'm using magic while the wind blows my hair. Anyway yeah so I was ready, sure I looked a bit weird with what I had on but it didn't make me less good looking.

"No time for small talk, we mustn't keep the others waiting" I told Zik while I walked past him. When exiting the elixir house I saw a scene similar to the last time, the pack members were already in their werewolf form ready to depart. The big silver wolf was the first to land its eyes on me and the others followed. Zik was quick to also transform making me cringe to the sound of bones popping but a weird occurrence followed. Roseanne was ready to ride on the big silver werewolf but she stopped all of a sudden. She went to another werewolf and rode on it instead...weird? Zik was done with his transformation and I was ready to ride on his back but Vale's voice stopped me... well it's what he said made me freeze.

'you will no longer ride on Zik, you'll ride on me instead'

Uhm... why?

'Zik failed to protect you, he failed to defeat four weak vampires. You're safer with me, I'll be able to insure your safety during battle'

It's sort of weird to keep a straight face while hearing his deep voice with a bit of anger in my head. So he is mad at Zik but excuse me did he just say four weak vampire? I almost died! Does he really think they're weak or maybe it's over confidence and arrogance? I mean Zik is really strong and I get that with him being the leader means he is the strongest but I'm sure the gap between him and Zik isn't that big. While having all these thoughts he wasn't just standing there and waiting, his big wolf head was too close that I instinctively stumbled backwards. I had to admit that I'd love to have eyes similar to his and although he looked fearsome I still had the urge to stroke and touch his soft fur.

I don't care what he thinks about Zik and couldn't possibly accept being monitored by him so I asked

'can I refuse?'

'No!'

'Hey I'm the one who almost died, not you and I get to decide whose incompetent and who is not'

Reading my hidden meaning he asked with annoyance laced in his voice.

' and 'who' is incompetent?'

I sighed also feeling a bit annoyed, the others around me were confused with the wait and even more confused why Roseanne won't be riding on him. We were having a private conversation, at first I wondered why he didn't order Zik to stop observing and 'protecting' me if he thinks he failed. It was simply because nobody knows that the vampires attacked us and Zik suddenly being replaced by someone else would raise questions. Well I'm not sure if they'd dare question his decision.

'It doesn't matter and it's not like the vampires will dare to attack while we're fighting monsters, the monsters won't spare them'

'Enough arguing. You cannot refuse simply because I wasn't asking for your permission. You are stupid enough to not see your worth. Anything can happen 'anything' especially since I haven't caught the traitor'

Having a conversation with a powerful usually cold emotionless werewolf leader who's angry at the moment is exhausting. I got on his back that felt a bit different than Zik's, well his form is a big bigger than Zik's so no surprise there. It wasn't long till we passed the dead farm we stopped at, the last time. I was glad that the monsters haven't yet advanced at where I first saw the monsters. Even the town that still looked as terrifying as the last time we were here had yet to be infested by a new batch of monsters. It only smelled horrible because of the dead monster's remains that were half burnt.

As the werewolves continued I noticed how the environment got darker that one would almost mistaken it as Knight. Life deserted these lands that were invaded by poison, I swear if this place had a humanoid form the only thing that would remain would be it's bones. I sadly cannot imagine anyone strong enough to repair it.