The mountain pass reminded Eric of those he saw back home, taking long and calming drives with Rose on the winding mountain roads, seeing the leaves change in the fall, and a cool breeze flowing over his face through the car window. 

Riding horseback through a dirt-filled, cramped mountain pass on a path that was barely a road while filled with anxiety of whether or not the party would disturb the roaming leviathans that had been spotted by locals, which Eric had still yet to see, was the complete opposite to those memories with Rose. 

At least it’s beautiful, Eric thought. 

The trees here were different than what Eric expected to see in the mountains here. The temperature was moderate, not quite cool, but not too warm either, and there didn’t seem to be many trees with any kind of leaves, but more like pines that had melded with some kind of quaking aspen, the characteristic white bark greyer on these trees. Their pine leaves were a vibrant dark forest green, a few sections of trees here and there yellowing. 

Fortunately for Eric and the party, it was a calm climb up the mountain. It had taken much less time than Josiah was assuming, so when the village slowly came into view, Eric thought they had stumbled upon another local encampment somehow.

“This is my people,” Josiah said, pointing to an outcropping above the road as it wound up and to the right a bit higher, disappearing behind a jutting stone hill. 

A howl sounded somewhere above them, bouncing around the crevasses and stone towers that stood like sentinels for the wolf-kind shifters. Eric jumped and looked around for the source of the sound, seeing just grey stone. 

Josiah waved at Eric, a calming gesture. 

Eric continued to look around despite the waving, Sophia doing the same. Bearick seemed to be enjoying himself, smiling as they rode higher up the incline to the village’s entrance. 

The party exited the towering stone crags and flattened out onto a small plateau that looked out down into the pass and over the road. The large clearing seemed to be a micro valley in the mountain, having another entrance at the rear that led off somewhere else farther up into the mountain. A moderate creek flowed at the back of the village and wound down to the side of the pass. 

The village looked cramped, with a variety of tents, log cabins, and a type of log building with mud and stone in long houses that sat near the center of the village. Those reminded Eric of the Viking long houses. The long houses were a rarer type, but the log cabins seemed plentiful, with canvas tents being even less common. There were many structures, nearly filling the entire small valley. Other animals roamed, with a corral near the creek in the back of the village as well.

And there were a lot of people here, perhaps a thousand for such a small area.

Eric inhaled sharply at the culture shock, seeing a real village of people that seemed more akin to what the Vikings would have looked like in their time. It didn’t help that the villagers suddenly stopped and stared at them as they entered the village, a range of people from hairless to a type of wolf standing on two legs. 

“I suppose this is the wrong time to ask,” Eric said. “But what are shifters exactly?” 

Sophia turned and stared at him flatly. 

“What? I had an entirely different concept of them in my head and seeing… they made me realize that the werewolves in the stories weren’t a good matchup.”

Sophia sighed, then spoke. 

“In a community of shifters of any variety, there are levels of strength with the ability. Some can shift entirely, and some never shift. Then others have more permanent changes that occur during puberty. That’s why some of them seem to be in the middle of shifting.”

“Ah,” Eric said, noting the people as they approached. Many were growling. 

Josiah dismounted and then approached a pair near the front who looked at the party with weighing eyes. They spoke softly with Josiah, then nodded. He turned back to the party and waved them forward. 

“We should dismount first,” Sophia said, swinging out of her saddle. 

Eric, Clanker, and Bearick did likewise, leading their horses forward. 

A few young boys came up and offered their hands.

“They can take your horses to the creek to water them,” Josiah said. “I will take you to the elders.” He nodded, then made his way into the village. 

Eric shrugged, then handed his reins to one of the boys and followed Josiah.

Though the village was cramped with most of the buildings nearly right up against each other, there was a central road that cut through the center of the village and formed a sort of small plaza that was only about two car lengths wide on each side, a large long house sitting in the center of the dirt plaza. Josiah was leading them there. 

The people barely let them through, forming a near-human wall that the party had to move through. Most of them glared at the party, with some growling as well. The rest just looked confused. Eric couldn’t tell what the near wolves were thinking, since their faces were contorted, and difficult to see the humanity in them. 

Man that would have sucked, Eric thought. To have had puberty that rough while all of your friends grew a normal amount of chest hair. 

They entered the longhouse and a wave of scents assaulted Eric’s nose. He couldn’t decide if he was happy about it or not.

In the mix of scents, Eric could smell a nice roast somewhere in the structure, but at the same time, some kind of alcohol smell with body odor accompanied the smell. There were other smells, but they were drowned out by those stronger ones. 

Around a wood and mud barrier right inside the structure, much like a protective wall to stop those from seeing into the center of the longhouse, four individuals sat on squat wooden seats, legs folded beneath them. 

Despite being low to the ground on the short seats, they seemed to be the ones looking down on the party as they entered. 

The four were aging, hair grey and even fully white on one woman. They wore white robes, somehow not dirty from the ground they sat above. The whiteness of their robes even surprised Eric.

A man with a long white beard in the middle of the four spoke, a series of grunts and sounds that meant absolutely nothing to Eric. 

Josiah moved forward and knelt on both knees in front of the four. They conversed in their language for a moment, somewhat quiet, yet getting a bit heated. 

One of the men, two men and two women in total, mostly clean-shaven, looked at Eric with intense, golden eyes. He couldn’t break eye contact with the elder, feeling naked in front of this man. He seemed to be completely focused on Eric, not listening to the other three as they spoke to Josiah. Suddenly, the elder raised his hand.

All sound ceased in the long house, even the other elder’s conversation.

Then, he rose and stood, towering above Eric. He had not realized how large this man was, wide stature and nearly inhumanly muscled. He was at least a head taller than Eric, nearly touching the low roof of the long house. 

The air grew tense, waiting to see what this man did. 

He approached Eric, still staring at him. Then, he sniffed the air in front of Eric. 

After another moment, he held up a hand to a square, forearm parallel to his head, fingers pointing to the sky.

A wave of gasps moved through those in the long house, but otherwise, no one spoke, still waiting for something. 

Sweat beaded on Eric’s face, feeling like this man had his eyes locked, muscles somehow tensed by him, unable to move. He felt like this man was enveloping him in his massive arms, crushing him in an embrace, but the nature of that embrace somehow gave Eric no sense of danger. Yet, his heart raced, pounding in his ribcage. 

Then, finally, the elder spoke, his rough language billowing through the longhouse, booming outward as if it was meant to be heard by those outside in the dirt plaza. 

And somehow, Eric understood what he said, but only a single word, meaning attached to it. 

“Lightbringer.” 

Tears filled Eric’s eyes suddenly, surprising him. The word seemed to enter his mind, bringing with it the meaning of hope, and peace coming to the land once more. 

And in that moment, Eric knew what this elder saw in him.

It was the same thing that everyone else in the city, even in his party had seen in him. 

Someone to change their world for the better. 

Just be good.

Suddenly, people were howling, and yelping loudly both in and outside of the long house. The sound was deafening, shaking Eric out of his realization. 

“Seems everyone wants to worship you,” Clanker said, looking around at the villagers. 

Josiah turned and stared at Eric, eyes filling with awe.

“What is going on?” Eric asked, already mostly knowing the answer.

“You have been named,” Josiah said, voice seeming to waver. “And it is a name reserved for a great man, one that is said to help the world, help us wolf kind. It is a sacred name, foretold by elders for generations.”

Thought so, Eric thought. 

One of the women elders motioned the party forward.

“Come, Lightbringer,” Josiah said. “It is time we speak of the coming change to this world, and how you will save this village from the monsters that attack us.”

With that, the party sat, squatting on provided wooden seats, listening to the dire situation Josiah’s village had gotten into.