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In the streets of Middling, a lone little boy could be seen wandering around. Well, little boy isn't exactly right. Vlad was thirteen and a bit tall for his age....by cossack standards. This is to say, a boy with a skinny but long, whom you could tell would get bigger by the size and shape of his hands and feet, much like a puppy who still has some growing to do, was wandering aimlessly around the streets. It was a beautiful night, the stars were out, the moon was full, and all the dogs were howling...at the boy, instead of the moon. Vlad was staring up at the moon and leading the dogs in their howls. When the boy stared up, his odd ears poked through his hair, and when he opened his mouth, his sharp teeth glinted in the moon light.

After a few minutes of howling, Vad started wandering again. He had no real destination, but felt like he shouldbe going somewhere. Some instinct was urging him on. He kept hearing some growling, but when he listened to all the dogs in the area, none of them sounded like what he was hearing. Vlad had a knack with his sense of smell and hearing, so he highly doubted that he was just hearing things.

"Zat's strange," said the child, his cossack accent highly noticeable. "I can hear sumpsin growling, and I zverr I feel someone vatchink me." Vlad calmed himself and took a deep breath. He made sure to sift through all the usual smells to see if he was right. The dogs were there, the people who lived here, and....

Vlad's eyesshot open, and he was very worried. He didn't panic though. Whatever this thing was, it was big and powerful. If it wanted to hurt him, he'd be hurt, or worse. Vlad turned around and waited as the scent of this thing came closer.

As the man came close, Vlad felt antsy. When the newcomer called out his name, he was downright freaked.

"H-how do you know my name? Who...or vot are you, anyvay?" Vlad kept his ground as the strange man approached. The smell of power coming him was overpowering. When Vlad saw the collar, he was drawn to it. The gold charm on it shining on the moonlight.

"Fenrir...zat name sounds...familiar....like someone I met long ago, and haff forgotten....And vot is 'the Game' you are talkink of? I am afraid I have no heard of it. I...don't hang out vith other people often." All the time he had been talking, he had been drawing closer to the collar. He tentatively reached a hand out to touch it and felt a jolt of raw, animal power run through him.

Vlad looked up at Anubis and said, in delight and awe "Vot iz dis vonderful charm? It crackles vith power, and...calls to me. Can I really have it?"

Vlad put out a shaking hand and took the collar. He put the collar around his neck, and then.....nothing. All the power from the charm faded. Vlad was just about to ask Anubis what happened when all the power came surging back at one time. Vlad cried out in agony. The pain was too much, it dropped him to his knees. Vlad felt his skin crawl, his bones snap and reform. He felt his tail grow out and....tail? Wait, since when did he have a tail?

"Vot iz happening to me!?!?!" cried Vlad to Anubis. After a few moments, there was no child, just a large, black wolf curled up and wimoering in pain. Before Vlad blacked out, he felt all the dogs drawing closer to him, and the growling in his head became a voice that he could understand. The voice said "Hello kid," and then Vlad knew no more.

Vlad woke up a few hours later with a splitting headache. Vlad tried to sit up, but couldn't. He tried to say something, but was only able to growl. When he looked at himself, he found he was big, black, and had four feet. Before he had a chance to panic, he heard that strange voice again, this time saying "You will be fine...eventually. Just go around and try out your new body. The body I have given you...." Vlad was shaken, but he felt like he could trust whoever it was talking to him. So, after a moment to orient himself, he got up and started off, trying to get used to this new form.