A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

All the while, Erik kept Katya\'s training manual in the back of his mind and used it as a guide to improve his stances and training methods. He quickly noticed a remarkable increase in his body\'s aetherium absorption and power generation.

He could feel his movements becoming more fluid, and his strength increasing, as the aetherium altered, and improved his body, advancing him along the path of a Runebound.

\'I wonder if she actually developed this thing herself, or if this is another relic from Earth\'s mysterious past,\' he thought to himself. \'Although, if she did develop it herself, that would be incredibly impressive. Even I, together with Elora, wasn\'t able to create something like this in the last seven years.\'

Of course, Elora wasn\'t that much help in Runebound matters, since she wasn\'t one herself, but she was able to inspect Erik\'s body on a deeply essential level.

It was together that they discovered the mysteries of a Runebound body, while the rest of Earth all had each other to compare notes with.

He also used the knowledge from Katya\'s manual to help Astrid improve as well, causing her to be amazed.

"You say you got that manual from this councilwoman, Katya?" she asked, awe in her voice, while they were taking a short break. They were currently sitting on the ground, and leaning back on their arms. Join the journey at m-vlempy _r.

The snow and cold naturally didn\'t bother their powerful bodies.

Erik chuckled at the look in her eyes. Anything that had to do with fighting or improving strength never failed to interest Astrid. "Yeah, she wanted to entice me into becoming her apprentice."

Astrid sighed as looked up, "I\'m not sure I would have been able to decline as you did. Training with the woman who came up with that manual sounds like a dream."

"Maybe you\'ll get the chance yet," Erik laughed softly. "But are you sure you wouldn\'t have declined? You\'d suddenly be bound to a large faction with many people more powerful than you. Who knows when they\'d let you leave to get revenge on Edda? If ever?"

A difficult look appeared on Astrid\'s face as her desire for strength warred with her hatred of Edda. A hatred that hadn\'t diminished simply because Erik was still alive.

In fact, it was entirely possible Edda\'s betrayal had simply given Astrid a reason to vent a resentment towards Edda that had perhaps always been there. A resentment born from watching her crush drool all over the golden-haired bitch.

Eventually, Astrid sighed, "Well, maybe you\'re right." Then she jumped up. "Alright, enough resting! You\'ll call me sister by the end of the day, or my name isn\'t Astrid Frost!"

Hearing her full name, Erik was suddenly a little struck by the irony of someone with the name Frost getting a sun affinity. Naturally, he had known her last name before, he just didn\'t really think about it until now.

Shaking himself free from those thoughts, he jumped up as well with a taunting grin. "Well, you\'ll still have a few more hours to think of a new name for yourself then."

"I\'ll make you eat those words!" Astrid yelled before charging Erik with an excited grin.

Chuckling, Erik prepared to receive her, and so their day went on.

Unfortunately for the shapeshifters who came there to receive some training from Erik, they were now going entirely ignored.

Sure, when Erik and Astrid left the house and saw them training, Erik whipped them into shape for a few minutes while Astrid watched, but once Erik and Astrid got going, Anne, Björn, Olaf, and even his uncle Viljar had to start fending for themselves.

They couldn\'t even leave, because the covenant forced them to be here and train! Not that it mattered. They couldn\'t leave Frostvik because of the same covenant, so what else were they going to do?

They didn\'t really mind anyway. Only Björn looked a little disappointed as he had actually been looking forward to learning from the man who was not only his teacher\'s son but had also defeated Viljar.

Finally, the sun began to fall below Frostvik\'s houses, and the shadows became longer. By now, Astrid had an essentially permanent smile plastered on her face. Her mind had calmed down a lot, after this cathartic afternoon.

She looked at the humanoid wolf in front of her with a fondness born from many memories of this exact scenario. \'I still don\'t know if I can trust the new him,\' she thought, \'but… damn it feels good to spar with him again.\' Her eyes actually became a little wet at that thought.

Erik lowered his arms and looked at her with raised eyebrows in surprise, "Astrid?" he asked with some concern in his voice, "Are you alright?"

The vampire woman chuckled and wiped her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I\'m fine. It\'s just…" she looked up at him with a happy smile. "It\'s just really good to see you again."

Erik grinned and winked, "I hope it will turn into something more than just seeing each other again. Remember, you\'re mine until you say otherwise."

Seeing that possessive look appear in his eyes again, Astrid gulped a little as she felt herself heat up a little. But then she quickly broke eye contact and coughed. "Y- Yeah," she mumbled.

Yet, despite her subconscious screaming at her to just give in to her old feelings, trust Erik, and jump right into his little harem, she couldn\'t. Not yet. She needed to be sure he was still the old Erik at his core.

\'Maybe if I…\' a thought jumped to mind, but it was interrupted by Emma\'s sudden appearance. "Dinner is ready, Master, Astrid." The white-haired girl said with her signature bright smile.

Seeing her appear, Erik turned towards her with a warm smile, "Thank you, Emma. We\'ll be ri—"

Bam!

Suddenly, pain shot through his side, and he found himself flying through the air. "Oof," he groaned, as a large breath of air was forced out of him. Yet, before hitting the ground, he elegantly turned in the air and landed on his feet. Then, he turned to face his ambusher with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

What he saw was Astrid with a shit-eating grin on her face. "There\'s your clean hit!" she laughed. "A little clutch maybe, but we weren\'t done fighting yet!"