The Crew's Book of Hermitcraft Season Six Oneshots

Lycanthropy

Y'all do not know how tempted I was to call this chapter 'Wolf in Sheep's clothing'.

I checked around one more time, just to make absolutely sure nobody was looking. Staying human for months on end had been draining, and I needed a break. So as the full moon rose over the horizon, I didn't focus on staying me. I just went with things, and soon began to transform.

My eyes shifted from their usual sky-blue to a bright yellow. My hands sprouted claws and began to shift into paws. My hearing briefly cut out as my ears vanished and reformed into pointy canine ones. Ash-grey fur travelled up my arms, and my teeth started to sharpen.

And then the painful part started. I fell to my knees as they popped from their normal human shape to that of a wolf. Similar reshaping was happening all over. And when it was over, I was a wolf.

And then I heard a rustling noise. I shrinked into the bushes, if someone found me like this... I'd be chased out. Who'd want a werewolf as a friend? After all, we had managed to get a bit of a name for ourselves as monsters, and not in a good way.

Iskall wandered through a few moments later, on a late-night stroll. I hid deeper in the bushes, hoping he wouldn't see me. Shame that I chose a thorned bush to hide in. I leapt out of the bush, yelping, and crashed straight into Iskall. Realising my mistake, I stood up and ran, hearing Iskall trying to get me to wait. No chance. If Iskall stopped being friends with me I wouldn't know how to cope.

I ran through the woods almost all night, never quite losing Iskall. Soon I began to tire, and stopped by a lake to catch my breath. After a few minutes, I realised I had actually lost Iskall. Quickly, I started to shift back. But I hadn't even halfway turned back when he arrived in the clearing.

And so Iskall watched me stagger back to standing, watched my paws become hands once more, watched the last of the fur vanish. He saw my teeth change back from  those of a feared predator to those of a normal human, watched my eyes lose their strange glow. I didn't realise until he spoke.

"Ren... you're..."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? You're amazing!"

"But I'm a werewolf! People hate us!"

"Come on, you think you'd be hated for being a werewolf here? This is the Hermitcraft server! Normal is weird!"

"I guess... could you not tell anyone, though? For all we know someone has a... reason... to hate werewolves, and I'd like the others to find out when I'm ready."

"Of course."

"Thanks."

A few days later...

"So, how much control do you have over the thing?"

"Oh, I can change whenever! I just don't like to. Although..."

"What?"

"Nobody's here to see."

And with that, I shifted my ears into wolf ears and leaned over to Iskall, grinning.

"See?" I whispered. Iskall's reaction, however, was not one I expected at all. He scratched behind my ears. I batted his hand away, laughing.

Now, whenever it's just the two of us, I'll partially turn. That way, I don't exhaust myself, but my secret is safe. I need to tell the other hermits eventually, but I know for a fact that at least on Hermit hates werewolves. And so I'm afraid. At least I have Iskall.

Wolf!Ren is a beautiful core concept. So yeah. Ren can shift between wolf and human whenever. It's mostly subconscious, but he can do it consciously l

OdalRune, signing off from the past!