Invane: Forge Center

We exited the forest. Left panting heavily and fur rustled as if we had ran marathons around the forest. As our eyes turned towards the nearby town, we pondered about the kind of food that they might have. My stomach growled at the thought of it, I held it with my paw while whining. Huzizu turned to me suddenly and a frown upon his face. Yet said nothing in response as he kept silent but often turned his attention towards me. We causally walked the distance to the entrance of the town. A beautiful morning with the sun rising from the horizon. Sending peaks of sunlight upon the plains, huts and grounds of the towns. We had also noticed how unbusy the town was however which is ripe for us, wolves, to start stealing. Growing hungry and stomachs growling, we forcefully entered through the town.

A road stands in our wake, leading us upon the short distance away where all the food was being held. A distant smell covered our noses and filled our brains to the brick that we were too drunk to even notice that we were already moving straight towards it. Wherever that food was however. Thus, we were unable to comprehend how 'dangerous' the town was around us. The huts were small. The gardens adjacent to those huts were a bit bigger than them. Growing with vegetables and fruits that sprout from the grounds itself. We walked passed more huts and gardens until we were upon the market place. Here was where we stopped however because the smells stopped leading us and suddenly disappeared on sight. When we had returned to our senses, we shook our heads and scanned the area around us. Wondering if we had taken the right route since our drunkenness.

As it turns out we did. In front of us was the market place. A place where food was store to be sell or bought by the general population of the town. A smile erupted upon my face as I shifted my attention towards Huzizu who also nodded as well. We both knew what we were thinking of and we stepped through the line of the market place. Finally entering into it with no hesitation from either one of us. Mainly because we were hungry. Thus after entering, we were hit with layers and layers of food smell that filled our noses and make us drunk again. However, this time we ignored the smells and pursuit forth hoping to find what we had need. Oh yeah, the market place was a bit larger than the town also. It was also filled with food, vegetables and fruits. There were other 'rarer' ones that I never see in the wild. Like for example the dragon fruit or chilies, to name a few.

We walked along the path of one market street. Shifting our heads towards the right and left sides of us. We gaze upon the brown stands, staring down onto the fruits and vegetables that stands in our wake. A fox was standing on the opposing side of the stands, yelling and shouting to draw canines or animals in. We just ignored him and walked on. Gazing left and right towards the different selections of food. I stopped and eyed upon a fruit. It was red and small; sporting a pair instead of one. The green small stems stabs against the heads of the small red ball. It was fresh. I grinned motioning towards Huzizu who swiped a yellow crescent moon into his pockets and smirked. I never hesitated and grabbed upon the pair of red small balls, making it disappear from the stands as we both walked away. No one was the wiser however for the crowd continued growing and the sellers continued selling. We were out of there, quick as lightning.

We raced out of the market. Back upon the town. Huzizu smiled confidently, a small that continued lingering upon his face. As his attention was drawn towards me, he questioned about the red small pair thingy that I had already grabbed/swiped. I nodded, “Come on. We should head back to the forest." “Really?" responded Huzizu with a small sigh as his head started rolling. “We are just getting started with this stealing. Why should we-" “Cause," I interrupted him with a small bark. Startling him as he turned his head back towards me with eyes widen, I grinned in response before overtake him and his lead. Running off through the town towards the entrance. Huzizu followed behind me. We were out in no time.

Back upon the plains we go as we exited from the town behind us. Leaving us panting heavily and weakly growling, I turned my head over to him as he flopped upon the ground. Eyes already closed. He seemed dead almost. I snorted and chuckled following afterwards, while walking up towards him. I nudged my snout into his side; he only moaned at me. An exhale emerged from my throat while I lowered my head down to his ear and whispered at him, “Do I need to bring in Horizoki or Haziyo into this?" “No!" He flinched, jumping to his feet like a pup who did something wrong. HIs eyes widened; snout lowered and pointing to the ground. Ears finally alert as his head started moving around like a lighthouse on a particular dark night. I only laughed at him while he lowered his ears and narrowed his eyes back towards me as if he was angry. But I only laughed harder against him before that died down suddenly. With the silence fallen between us, we fled the plains. A short distance afterwards and we ended up upon the forest.

The forest was thick with tree trunks close towards one another. Leaves had started to fall from the branches, piling up against one another to create a sea of leaves. In the distance and away from us were other familiar canine noises. A few that we had recognized however. But nonetheless we ignored them all. We waved through the forest grounds until we gradually slowed down. Till we halted was when I turned my head around and gaze over my shoulder. I saw no one following us through the forest and a smile crest upon my face before turning around and settled what I had already stole. A pair of red balls and a yellow crescent moon that is already starting to mold. “Gross." I responded, seeing the black spots upon the crescent as Huzizu pouted but said nothing else. His ears hang back against his head while he stared at me with those puppy eyes of his. I said nothing after him and growled or grumbled. My eyes averted his stare and looked elsewhere while we had waited for others.

We heard rapid footsteps in the distance. Rapidly closing in onto the forest grounds. Our bodies became tensed. Eyes straight forth to the source as our tails sagged between our legs. I only pondered, wondering about those noises. But I never had to ponder for long when I already noticed the other wolves coming forth from the distance horizon before us. “Haziyo! Horizoki! Over here!" I howled, pointing my snout upward to the skies. The said pair wolves turned their attention towards me and Huzizu and smiled. They ran towards us. Huzizu only frowned, a face that he makes whenever he spots the two idiots of our group. Although he fade his facial expression afterwards, he stepped forth towards them and growled quietly. “Where were you guys?" He questioned them, a paw raised towards their snout as both wolves pouted in response to him. “We stole some food from the nearby village too." “Southward from the Forest?" I questioned with a tilt of my head. 'That was something unexpected.' I pondered as Haziyo nodded his head and a great big smile escape his lips and face. Only me and Huzizu gaze upon one another in silence, before we turned back to them.

“Whatcha got then?" Huzizu asked, a bit curious. I had already noticed that his tone was a bit softer now than before which perhaps meant that he either; a) was curious about whatever they had stole and was trying to hide his anger or b)...

My head shook. Remembering that I drew a blank at the second choice. With a frown in response towards the blank letter, I returned to reality and gaze down onto the forest grounds pondering what that object was before us. A red huge single object stands in our wake. A little stem stands inside the hole of the huge red fruit. I was certain that it was a fruit. “Can you even cook this?" Huzizu asked, another head tilt while Haziyo answered “No. But you can eat it just the way it is however." “Sounds gross." I commented, “It is not!" Haziyo argued, turning his attention to me “Just the way it is." “Eat it then." I commanded. “Why?" “Eat." And so the cycle repeats for a while until we had noticed black smokes rising into the blue tranquil skies above us. Only Huzizu and Horizoki had noticed it as their heads were already raised and staring upon the skies. For as the conversation of repeating came between me and Haziyo, Huzizu growled at the two of us. And stopped our argument there.

It was only that we raised our heads, was the time that I had noticed the skies turning dark. “Seems like its is going to rain." Haziyo responded, Horizoki shook his head and growled at him “It is most certainly not! This is black smoke that rose towards the blue skies." “It came Southward. Farther away from your position however, Horizoki and Haziyo." Huzizu commented while Horizoki nodded suddenly. A wide grin broke through his face as his ear started flickering, “Come on then." He started, turning around. “Lets head and see." He ran off with Haziyo following behind him. Me and Huzizu stood our grounds, eyes up front to the skies. Staring upon it in silence before a short while later we had already noticed that the other pair had already left us. “Wait!" I yelled after them, running in a general direction.

We waved through the trees as leaves fell from the branches. Piles of them were gathered adjacent to the trees while others were floating farther away from them. We ran and sprinted. Already close towards the end of the forest. Until we were out was when we noticed we were back upon the plains. A groan escaped my lips, my eyes shut close as I whined again. My head tilted back with Huzizu pawing at the back of my head, growling. I stopped complaining and stay silent while Haziyo and Horizoki turned themselves around to me, asking “So do you know where the source of that black smoke comes from?" “Farther south it seems." I started and raised my paw upward pointing at the distance. “Over there." “over where?" Haziyo said while Horizoki turned his head following where I was pointing to. “There?" Horizoki said finally, gazing at the farther village while I nodded. “Yeah there." “You guys are not making any sense." Haziyo pouted as he gaze between the two of us. Only Huzizu laughed at this.

“Well come on then!" Huzizu said in between brusts of laugh, motioning and nudging his head towards the direction of where I was pointing to. We raced down the hillside of the plains towards the level grounds that await for us seconds afterwards. We ran through the plains for minutes until we reached the desired source village. I had forgotten to mention that Haziyo and Horizoki did try to eat some sunflowers and general flowers along the way with either me or Huzizu smacking their heads to deny them to eat. Sunflowers and flowers in general unset our stomach it seems. Yet I still never knew why we canines always have a desire to eat them somehow. “Because they are good, that is why!" Argued Horizoki as his head was turned to me. I just rolled my eyes. “But they taste bad." Huzizu growled at him, his eyes narrowed pointing towards him. Horizoki turned to face him and the two started an argument match that perhaps did not last long. But on the plus side, neither of them won in the end.

“How is that a good thing?" Both started screaming at me. Yet I ignored them and continued. My attention was turned from them who were already growling threateningly at me towards the village that was ahead of us. The place was completely empty it seems. Yet here, the huts were taller than regular and average huts that we had seen in the past. A well was settle adjacently towards one of the nearby huts. With the winds blowing peacefully through our furs and the huts in front of us, I was already starting to feel nervous somehow. But I walked forward, a step or two from the lines of my wolves and entered into the village. Quick silent and painless. Alright, just forget the last word however. Quickly noticing how the place was clear, I nodded my head towards the rest of them and they nodded in response before entering into the village itself.

Birds started chirping upon the rooftops of huts. Silence and tension hanged over our heads. Yet our footsteps was the only thing startling and interrupting them. We walked. Slowly. Unsure and uncertain of ourselves as our eyes were drawn towards the hut that was far from where we are. We walked carefully and ignored the sounds that were distracting. Yet upon reaching the distance from the entrance behind us which I perhaps was at least half way, Horizoki growled quietly and underneath his breath that somehow he shifted his attention towards the left. Halted his advances and ran elsewhere leaving the rest of us to our fates. Thus seconds upon the silence, it was therefore interrupted when we heard a loud humming noise. All three of us stopped suddenly and rapidly turned our heads towards the source. Already spotting Horizoki driving what seems to be a bulldozer.

“Where did he get that?" Spoke Huzizu while Haziyo broke into a grin and ran up towards Horizoki. Jumping onto the second seat adjacent to him and put on a black helmet. “Onward!" He screamed while Horizoki did something with the controls. Me and Huzizu jumped out of the way and dove to the grounds. Scraping out knees and elbows, we hissed in the received pain. But otherwise bared it for a short time as our heads were turned over our shoulders and stared down upon the two other wolves driving down the aisle towards the hut. Then Huzizu turned his attention towards me, frowned before asking “Will this even work?" I just shrugged. We both got up onto our feet and ran following the bulldozer as it slowly reaches that hut.

Thus making contact. The bulldozer stopped suddenly and instead the seat and body started spinning for unknown reasons. Horizoki and Haziyo started screaming inside. Then dropped upon the grounds with their heads intact. But were dizzy and throwing up seconds afterwards, spilling what seems to be green ooze slime. Both me and Huzizu gagged and backed off, keeping the distance from them while the two wolves continued. And that was when I raised my head, pointing my snout towards the direction of where the hut was. I was curious and wondering about this kind of hut. Why it was important, unique and related to the story somehow? I frowned, wondering if the hut had a connection with that female wolf we were told to chase after… What was her name again?

Face palming, I exhaled a breath and said nothing while lowering my head and gaze at the grounds beneath me. With the sounds of the two wolves in front of us still throwing up, Huzizu stepped to my side and nudged his head upon my body. For I shifted my attention towards him wondering what he had wanted at the time. As he held his paw out and slammed it against my feet, I forcefully stepped back and gave the distance some time to grow. I yelled for Horizoki and Haziyo. The two turned their heads over to me and peel off from one another. Running off from our views while Huzizu brought out what seems to be a cannon of some sort. I was legit surprise into seeing such weapon that I had found myself speaking to Huzizu about such topic.

“The author refuses to give me a rocket launcher mainly because it does not have any resemblance towards the medieval times." Huzizu responded to me, I blinked several times and tilted my head to one side questioning him, “Medieval? The time of swords, shield and honor?" “Yeah that time." Huzizu responded with a growl, “But did the cannons appeared in that ti-" “I do not know. The author never done the research." “He never has time to do such things, anyway." Commented Horizoki as he gagged again refuting him to speak for a while as I nodded silently before turning back to Huzizu. “Here is a match." He said before walking to the front opening of the cannon. Climbing inside where he disappeared without a trace, he called towards me suddenly which caused me to flinch, “Just strike the match against the box's rough surface on the side and lit the brown rope." “The brown rope on the cannon right?" I answered, Huzizu nodded suddenly.

A pause of silence came as I followed the steps. Finally lightning the brown rope on top of the cannon, I stepped back a few and held my ears with my paws. Nuffing the loud sound that could come afterwards. Seconds ticked by. Yet nothing happened. While my eyes continued being close, I rose my head and turned to what I seem to know where was the cannon. My eyes opened after a short while and gaze upon the cannon. Still lit but never firing for the firecrackers eating away the rope was slow and gradual like a snail or turtle walking the streets. My eyes narrowed with a growl, I rushed forward at the cannon. Grabbed onto the brown rope and pulled. A shot echoed suddenly, startling me, Horizoki and Haziyo as we all started flinching. The cannon blast Huzizu out and through the trajectory of where the cannon was pointing at. And as fiction as we had wanted that hut to be broken down and destroy. It did not. To our surprise, it was Huzizu's head who was broken after a hard impact like that.

Thus he had fallen upon the grounds, dazed and confuse. With a impounding headache that persist upon his broken head. I ran towards him, worryness was written upon my face. As whimpers escaped from my throat, I grabbed onto his paw and dragged him out from the hut's side. Towards the side where Horizoki and Hazyio were, we laid there for the time being while smoke continued floating into the skies. I was rather unsure of myself in ponderance of what we should be doing. And since I was out of options and everyone but me injured in some way shape or form. My eyes closed and I exhaled suddenly. I said nothing in the following silence. Yet it never took anymore time than needed when the other three have already settled their injuries and were well to continue. We just fled the scene. Never coming back to that village again. As we sought for something else. Perhaps towards a new area?

We ended up upon a cavern. Far away from the village set behind us. As we halted our advances and gaze upon the wall before us, we waited. I never knew what we were waiting for however. For I growled and grunted one after the other before walking a few steps forth towards the wall. Raised my paw upon the surface before forming into a fist and punched. The wall did not break however. What did break is my paw as I find myself growling and stepping away from the wall. Gripping my injured paw over my other paw, I shut my eyes and bear my fangs. The other wolves just stared onto me in silence. Neither of them speaking at the time. Until Horizoki raises his paws into the air and started chanting something unexpectedly. Then threw his paws at the wall in the following silence while Haziyo and Huzizu just stared onto him with disbelief. He just shrugged in answer.

The pain subsided after a while and I softly laid my paw upon the grounds below me. I kept my eye upon the wall before us then turned my attention towards the others. Huzizu, Horizoki and Haziyo said nothing. They formed a line and kept looking straight. To the wall before them. I growled at them again, making sounds as they flinched. Only Huzizu turned to me. Haziyo and Horizoki suddenly grabbed a cannon out of their ass and stared firing blanks at the wall. Much to the disbelief of me and Huzizu. As we watched them continuing firing blanks, I huffed and shook my head. Walk forth towards them and laid a paw against the surface of their cannon. Then suddenly, it fired a cannonball. It broke through the ranks. Forcing the rest of the wall to retreat, thus disappearing somewhere. As I stared at the wall with eyes widened and ears hanged back; I heard Horizoki and Haziyo celebrating behind me. I turned to Huzizu who shrugged, chuckling silently and muttered something underneath his breath while we walked to the edge of the path.

Here was where we stopped however. Mainly because I saw an abyss below. Pitch dark and impossible to see anything beyond the darkness, I frowned and stepped back. Shaking my head and closing my eyes. I heard footsteps in response a short time later. I had wondered if the other wolves have indeed follow my advice. However, when I opened my eyes. I was legitimately surprise when Horizoki's paws started glowing, Haziyo was holding a thin white pole with two straps of colors wrapped at each end of the pole. He stood up upon his hind legs, and raised his pole high above his head. A roaring crowd cheer from somewhere, but when I take a look. I narrowed my eyes, unamused to see Huzizu holding what seems to be a radio replaying the previous olympic events in the past. I shook my head and exhaled, but sat on the side to avoid getting runned over. As I watched, Haziyo waved his paws at the 'imaginary' crowd surrounding him, he gripped his paws tightly against the pole and started sprinting. A great deal of dust came from behind him as he ran forward. A short distance later, he stabbed the pole against the ground and hoisted himself high into the-

Except he hit his head against the ceiling of the tunnel we were in. Thus fell upon the grounds with a loud 'thud' that sharply sounded in our ears. Dust surrounded him. Horizoki ran up towards him. Haziyo started whining in pain. Complaining that his head ached. I rolled my eyes. Huzizu started laughing at them. What about the pole that Haziyo was using? Well, its balancing out itself upon the edge of the wall. Rocking back and forth deciding whether or not to fall or stay. I stared upon the pair of wolves before shifting my attention towards the pole which tilted further into the abyss. Thus disappearing. “No!" I heard Haziyo screaming then retracted his paw again to sit upon his head as Horizoki raised a paw and chanting something, hoping to grab something from the depths below. However, after a while. He just gripped a fishing pole.

“Welp that it…" Horizoki muttered throwing that said pole out the wall and back upon the abyss with me and Huzizu continued watching them and the fishing pole. A loud thud entered our ears which cause us to flinched suddenly. As Huzizu peered over the edge, gazing down onto the abyss below us, he started whimpering and shaking that his fur was standing on one end. “Er… guys?" “What is it?" I questioned him, raising an eye as I gaze at him. “Run."