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Prologue:

- I will refer to anthromorphs as "animals" here, since it's from a young anthromorphs point of view, and he wouldn't really know what to call any and every creature he meet)
- Even if I write he thinks in human terms, it's just to make it easier for you to know in what ways he can think. He'll be very primitive in his mind, so if you want to know how he really thought, it'd be in pictures, at least in the beginning. Later on, he learns how to think in words.

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189 years ago, during a stormy night, a werewolf cub was born. His mother and father were the only werewolves living in this part of the world, so they stayed protected in an underground cave, one which they seldom left. They rather waited near its entrance for prey than to head out and hunt.

Somehow, rumors were spread among humans about this werewolf family, residing in the forest. So occasionally, explorers and hunters wandered the area, only to find nothing. The humans rarely entered the cave, as if they'd be attacked in there, their chance to survive would become much smaller.

But one night, many years later, a skilled hunter had gathered a group of men to seek this one cave out. They chose to hunt during a night, to let their eyes get used to the darkness outside. The two werewolf parents quickly noticed the prescence of the humans, and they knew it would lead to a fight, so they sent the little cub off a hidden path, small enough only for him to follow. Eventually he reached the end of it, finding himself in the deep parts of the forest. He quickly ran to the shelter of a gathering of large rocks. There he waited... And he went tired, almost falling asleep when he could hear his parents howl in the distance. He knew what it meant... They were crying, in pain.

And so did he. He gave out a weak cry to answer them, but the sorrow and exhaustion made him crumble to the ground.

When he later opened his eyes up, he could hear something very close to him. It was breathing heavily, almost grunting. So after realizing it, he sprung up and looked around himself to see a large bear look at him. He growled to the bear, fighting the air with his claws to fend it off. But the bear just charged and grabbed the cubs body, throwing him around before releasing, smashing him right into a tree.

This didn't wound him too much, but instead of stay and defend, he started running off, the bear following him for a little while before realizing the werewolf cub was too fast.

Hours went and the cub still ran, yet now not knowing what to run from. He gave up running when the legs started to ache. So he found and crawled under a very dense tree and laid down. There he rested for days, not opening his eyes, not looking for something to eat.

Soon he started to feel pain throughout his whole body. His body was slowly withering away. He could barely move because of the pain and the paralyzation.

But he could still hear well, and he heard light footsteps in the distance. Before he could find out what it was, his body gave out and he lost consciousness.
...
Then he entered what he thought would be an afterlife. A place to meet his parents. It was just what he tried to do; to find them. But he was lost in the vastness around him. Nothing seemed real, and his mind was dizzy. So he cried out as hard as he could, only to hear the neverending echo of his own voice. He kept crying and crying, until he felt like being dragged through an eternal distance, light covering his vision. He had to shut his eyes, while wildly fighting air with his paws.

He then opened his eyes, when everything around him suddenly turned clearer, to see a human hold him down. It gently stroked his fur and it smiled at him.

Then the human spoke. He couldn't understand, not even know what "speaking" was. But he paid attention to the sounds.

So he calmed down, and the human let go of him. Then it walked away, only to come back with a piece of raw meat. The cub knew of this. It's what he ate! So he quickly grabbed it and started chewing on it, his tail starting to softly wag. This human seemed to be nice to him. Why would it be? Humans killed his parents, so why would they suddenly turn nice and help him? But he didn't care. He was only glad to have something to eat.

When he had eaten his meal, the woman gently pushed him down on the soft covers he laid on. It was very warm around him, so he gave up resisting. He laid down and observed the human walk around, doing things humans usually do. But where was he? In the humans home? Had the human actually brought him here to help him? Did the human know that he was in trouble?

Maybe there are humans that are nice, he thought, yet in a very primitive way. He could not think in words, but in actions. In pictures. And he knew about good and evil. His parents were good. Humans were evil. That was his experience about this. But perhaps there are humans that are good, just like his parents. So he bound those pictures together. And he stopped fearing this human.

So he climbed out of his covers, to join the human in its walking around the home. It took a while before the human noticed him. It laughed a little, and gently grabbed a hold of him, lifting him up on a table.

It spoke to him again, while stroking his fur.

The humans hand was very soft and very warm, so he pressed his head against it to feel it better. Then he suddenly embraced the human. He started whimpering, thinking of his parents... He missed them so much.

And the human replied with embracing him.

So they became "friends"...

The following days and weeks, he was rarely let out of the humans home. He learned it was a female human and that it was very old. And he started learning a few words like come, stay, look, and food. And he thought she was calling him something that sounded like "Andreas". So he paid attention to her everytime he heard her say that word. Eventually he tried to say that word himself, and in time, he could say it good enough to make you hear the actual word.

As the weeks and months passed, Andreas grew bigger, and regained some of his strength and speed. He was eventually let out more often than before, knowing he had to be careful not to let other humans see him. He knew there were lots of humans living not too far from her house, so he didn't ever go towards that direction. Instead, he played in the forest, training his muscles and reflexes by running around and jumping around in the trees, sometimes hunting squirrels or rabbits, not to kill them, but to train his reflexes.

And she gave him things; clothes, accessories and such, as he grew bigger. And one day she made him a drawing. He learned that the center of the drawing was her home. There was a drawing of a large gray lump not far from the drawing of the house, and he quickly understood what that was. A tall rock he used to run around. The drawing showed a trail he could walk. But he never tried following the trail. He dared not go further than to that rock.

So one night a few years later... One as stormy as the one when he was born, he laid in his bed, watching the human sleep. He usually did that, because her breathing reminded him of the breath of his sleeping parents.

He lost himself in his thoughts, thinking about them. He did not grieve very much anymore and the feelings he had, had turned to memories.

Suddenly, the human coughed and snorted, and Andreas jumped up to see if she was alright. He tried to ask her if she was alright by whimpering and licking her nose. She woke up and looked at him. And she spoke. But slower and weaker than usual. She pointed on the drawing she made, hanging on the wall above his bed. He didn't understand what she meant, but he walked to the drawing and pulled it down from the wall, returning to the human. But she had fallen asleep. So again he poked her with his paws and his nose to wake her up. But she did not wake up. He poked harder, whimpering a little louder.

The sky outside made a loud cracking sound, followed by lightning.

Why won't she wake up?! He felt tears creeping up from behind his eyes. Is... she dead? He tried waking her up again. He hit her a little harder to get a reaction. But she didn't do anything. She just laid there with her arm pointing out of her bed.

Then he knew it was pointless to try to wake her up. He bumped down on the floor, not knowing what to think or what to do. Then he looked at the drawing. And then at her.

Was she telling him to follow the map? Did she know her time to leave life was coming, and she gave him her last words of advice?

He did not want to leave. So he laid down on her side, in her bed, thinking he would leave in the morning. Eventually, his ears gave up reacting to the thunder, and he fell asleep.

So when the sun hit his face, the morning after, he woke up. The human still laid there by his side. Lifeless... Not breathing. So he gave her a lick on her nose as a goodbye, before he left her home. He wore ragged clothes; a shirt and short trousers and he had all his belongings with him, in a backpack, the drawing in his hand.

So he ran off to the rock he knew was the first checkpoint. From there, he did not really know where to go, until he climbed up on the top of the rock, seeing above the trees. It looked like a green ocean. He did not know what an ocean was, but it's what it looked like. He had to stand there and watch for a moment until his chills faded.

Then he looked at the drawing. The checkpoint closest to this rock, was shaped like a tree.

A tree? But there are so many! Which one was he supposed to go to? So he looked over the green ocean to see one tree taller than the others. Maybe that was the one tree he was supposed to go to? He had to take the chance. He jumped down from the rock and followed a straight line towards the tree.

It took him a few good hours to reach it. It was much thicker and taller than the other trees surrounding it.

Now what? A curved blue line was the next checkpoint. This was a tough nut to crack for him. He could see no blue lines close to him. All he could see was trees, plants, a river, and small critters here and there running to and fro in the forest.

But he was thirsty, so he went to the small river to drink some water. Then he realized as he looked down the river, the sky reflecting its blue color on it.

The blue line. Was he supposed to follow it? The next checkpoint was a square covering a part of the blue line.

Maybe it's a crossing, he thought. So he ran parallel with the river for many hours. The sun eventually set and he had to find a shelter. There was a hollow tree in the vicinity of the river, which he walked into. The wind did not reach the insides of the tree and the ground was soft and warm. So he spent his night there, not being disturbed at all.

Next morning, he woke up early. The sun was yet to rise. That was good for him, he did not want to wake up late. So he packed his gear and kept walking along the river until he was warm enough to increase his pace to running.

It was misty, so he could not see too far ahead of him. But the treelines went thinner, so he thought he must get close to something. And so, hours went on and the sun had found a high spot in the sky when he reached what he believed was the next checkpoint. A bridge, with roads going in each direction of its ends. He decided to rest for a moment as his feet started to ache and this seemed like a nice place to rest. But he stuck to the forest, not too far away from the bridge.

Humans may walk this road. But why would the woman want him to cross path with other humans?... That could not be.

Maybe she had a friend who would accept him, at the end of this trail. And so, he could see the shape of a person walking the road. He crawled closer to take a good look.

That wasn't a human! "It's... like... an animal just like me... but with a shorter nose and fur more shiny... maybe I can... approach." he thought.

So he did, and it didn't take long until the animal noticed him. It must have good hearing ability. But it did not run away or attack him. It just smiled at him. And then it spoke.

The human language! That made him flinch and he had to jump back a few meters.

Then the animal smiled even bigger and slowly walked closer to him.

"Maybe it's friendly... I will take the risk." he thought and slowly walked closer too. It was female, he could hear it on the voice. He had a feeling females weren't bad... Males were usually bad.

She reached out with her hand, and he answered with taking her hand and she gently shook it. He looked at their hands as he did not know that's how common people greet each other.

She pointed with her other hand to the direction of where he was going. Maybe she was going there too, for the same reason he did? He decided to follow. Since she wasn't human, and since she dared walking this road, maybe he wouldn't get attacked by anyone in her company.

She kept talking all the time as they walked and he could only understand a few words she said, which made his ears react. He listened to her but he did not understand. She shifted her talking with giggling and laughs in between, which made him smile.

"How relaxed she seem. And she looks rather pretty too..." he thought. Eventually, the road forked and they both stopped, not saying a word.

Quickly, he got to think of his drawing! He brought it up and looked at it. Yes! The next checkpoint was just shaped like this roadfork. And the next one was a door. Maybe that was his goal?

The female companion looked at the drawing too. She reacted to it and she seemed to know where he was going. She pointed to the left way and then pointed on the same part of the fork on his drawing. So he had to walk left. "Good... Let's go then!" he thought, and pulled her hand. But she pulled him back. He looked at her in surprise.

Then she laid her hand on her chest, and pointed with the same hand on the other road. They had to part ways? He sighed and looked at her with a sad face. Then she got down to her knees to meet her lips with his cheek. And she stroked his head with her hand.

That was enough for him to understand. He once again sighed and nodded. Then they let go of each other, and he took off on his own road, deciding to run with his front paws as well. He didn't know he could run this fast. The wind hit his face real hard, and he feared keeping this speed up might hurt him, so he slowed down. The curves of the road made him almost run into the forest. When he slowed down, he could smell something... It was a common smell. Like wet fur. Maybe he was getting close to something?

So he slowed down to a pace where he could stand up and run on his hind legs. Eventually, he could see a wall in the distance, with a gateway in it, right infront of the road.

"It's... a town? Is this where she wanted me to go? What if there are humans here? They'll capture me and kill me!" He thought, doubting to go any further. Maybe the smell was from dead animals? But he had come too far to turn back. So he slowly walked towards to the gateway. He could see animals just like himself in there, walking around casually. That surprised him. The smell must come from all the animals living here. He could see no humans.

"Is this a town for those such as me?" He thought as he entered the gateway. Then he looked at his map again.

Yep. This was the goal. There was nothing else to follow.

Now what? He thought. To begin with, he explored the main street of the town. Nearly no one paid attention to him as he walked by lots of people, none of them humans. There were some werewolves there, just like him, but they were of another subspecies. He saw a lot of mountain werewolves. They're very strong and heavy, so they're not really what a young forest werewolf would like to meet in a fight. Even an adult forest werewolf would not last long against a mountain werewolf.

There were several armored men watching the streets too, carrying spears and shields. He didn't know about crafted weapons so he couldn't know what they were used for. But he liked how they shined.

Then one guard paid attention to him and walked up to him. That guard reminded him of the female animal he met at the bridge, but this was a male one. But since it was a male one, he didn't really like how he was approached. The guard spoke to him, and Andreas just replied by shaking his head like he didn't understand.

Then the guard grabbed him by his arm and took him a bit further down the street, before they took of towards a smaller street. Andreas struggled a little. At the end of it, there was a huge building surrounded by a metal fence. There was a garden inside of the fence, and young animals were running around inside. Playing.

The guard opened the gate and let him inside, before he led him to the front door, knocking on it. A quite... large female animal opened the door and quickly noticed Andreas. She gasped and took him into her arms, hugging him. Then she talked to the guard and he left, before the woman closed the door.

She then let him down on the floor, taking his bag away from him, holding it for him. Then she invited him to walk upstairs in the building, which he did. He then waited for her to join him. And when she reached the floor, she led him to a room with several beds in them. She put his bag on a bed which seemed to be a one he would sleep in.

"Is this a place I can stay?" he thought. He wanted to know, so he tried to talk, but only brute werewolf sounds would leave his mouth. The woman stepped backwards, covering her mouth in surprise, or fear.

He then shut his mouth and held it shut, while whimpering. He wanted to be able to talk... He wanted to learn the human language.

But he knew one word... Andreas. So he spoke it, and the woman reacted... she seemed to know what it meant. In human, that was a name, so she thought that was his name, thus calling him Andreas. Then he was giving a label put on his bunk. It was spelled "Undreas". So he figured that was what the name looked like.

He spent much time by himself in this house, not caring about the other cubs and pups and whatever they were. He spent hours looking at his name label. And he finally figured how the word was built. He could separate the letters with the sounds.

"So this is how the human language works? There are signs for each sound!" he thought. So he brought the caretaker to his bunk and spelled out each letter of his name. The caretaker clapped her hands and smiled at him.

Later on that day, he was given something by the caretaker. It was a dictionary, but he didn't realize that until he spent a few hours looking at the words in the book.

The caretaker would help him pronounce the other letters in the human language other than the ones he already knew, and from there on, he quickly started to learn words and their meanings. Quickly, as in over the years he spent there.

Many years went before he could speak common... over 50 years, that is. Wild animals aren't built to know the human language, so it took him some extra time to realize how to talk, and how a society works.

But by the time he could talk, he had grown old enough to live and care for himself. So he was given some "graduation" gifts from the place he lived, which was really an orphanage. But everyone who are allowed to leave, are given useful gifts. So he was given some money, clothes and books by the caretaker and the few orphans he had got to know.

He was also got a small cottage in the slum quarters of the town, given by the town mayor. The ground there was all muddy and filthy, but he didn't mind it very much, other than for the smell. His home was small, but waterproof and warm, even during winters.

He eventually found a job at the port as a carrier. He wasn't strong, but he didn't have to carry heavy things onto the ships. But he was fast, so the shipmen started to like him and his eagerness. And he did get a good pay, not in money, but in proper meals each day.

And he had not ever seen the ocean before, so when he was free from work, such as on evenings or mornings, he often sat at the edge of a pier and looked at the horizon, the seagulls, the fishes, and the ships, docking and leaving the harbor.

Eventually, he got used to the citylife and that was when he started to get bored of it. He was now a young adult, and had gotten some reputation in the town. He had a few friends and there was a girl in the town that he liked. But she was a vampire, so he didn't think she'd like him. But she was so beautiful, his eyes got stuck on her the first time he saw her. He had only seen her a couple of times during his time there, but he often thought about her.

One day, he decided he wanted to leave this town. But he knew he wouldn't get far, and he wouldn't be able to cross the borders to the human countries without a border pass. Apparently, animals were allowed in human countries if they could speak common and if they had a border pass.

Undreas could speak common, and he could just afford a border pass if he sold his cottage. So he did, and went to the municipality office to recieve his border pass.

After that, he exited the southern gate of the town, standing there. Watching. Wanting to explore the world around him.

What he did during his travels... is a very long story... perhaps it will be told one day.