Here's the prologue and the first and second chapters of Wildfar, (my book that's soon to be published.) This book is under copyright, so please no stealing. Also, I can't post links here, so I had to get this by pulling from the document itself. Enjoy reading! X3
Prologue
A long faraway ago, there was a World known as Wildfar residing within a galaxy in the very far reaches of space. For many years, the planet had been in a state of great peace and harmony. Then, without warning, on a night with a cloud filled sky, the world was thrown into chaos by the destructive breath of a monster known as a Dracnus.
Those that survived the sudden onslaught did all that they could to help save as many as possible from the flames that had so suddenly fallen over their world in the dark of night. All females, family members, and young were taken and hidden away, while those that were male that were old enough to give sufficient assistance, stayed outside to help as many injured as they could get to safety.
The Dracnus’ flames could not reach those that were hidden away, but there were many that had been killed by them. Up to more than half the planet’s Creaturans were destroyed that night.
Two of the survivors, Thoroughfang wolf and Zorros fox, fought the Dracnus and miraculously sealed it inside of a volcano, never to wreak havoc on their world again. Before being sealed away in Archenrahld, the Dracnus bit Thoroughfang and forced him to fight against Zorros in a battle to the death through use of his power of manipulation.
Thoroughfang was unable to stop fighting Zorros while under the Dracnus’ power. With his magic of ice, Zorros froze the Dracnus inside of a huge sphere of thick hollow ice; breaking the control it had over Thoroughfang.
He then rejoined with Zorros, combining his magic of telekinetic captivation with Zorros’ magic of ice, and together, moved the firmly caged Dracnus into the boiling volcano. Using all the magic they could muster, they sealed the top of the volcano with powerful earth magic, tipping the volcano with ashen rock, a little bit of Kemrio, (the hardest substance in all of Wildfar), and diamonds which made up most of the seal over the summit of the open 350,000 foot wide opening of the 600,000 foot high volcano. The Dracnus was sentenced to sleep within the lava filled mountain for as long as it would stand. After sealing the Dracnus, the two of them mysteriously disappeared.
Two weeks passed by. Though the Dracnus had been sealed away, its flames had thrown dark grey smoke into the air that mixed into the thick clouds above. Rain fell intermittently in heavy downpours the last part of that year and lasted into the next for a full three weeks; extinguishing the lasting flames of the evil Dracnus.
The once beautiful Wildfar was now completely ashen black and filled with spacious lakes of rainwater that absorbed into the ash ridden ground, giving possibility of life returning to Wildfar’s vast forests. Two years seemed like thousands as the rain fell.
After the rains had ceased the clouds of smoke cleared, and sunlight streamed over all of Wildfar. The trees that were once ashen black, regained their lustrous colors, and grass and meadow flowers slowly returned to the forest floors as the years flowed ever onward.
The Creaturans celebrated new life and believed Wildfar, at last, would recover and never suffer again from the dark Dracnus’ fiery rampage.
Little did anyone expect that the monstrous Dracnus would rise from its ashen volcanic prison to continue what it had begun…
Section I.
Sallowfang Wolf
Chapter 1. The Lone Wolf
I felt cold, wet, and hungry as my eyes opened to a world I had never seen before. After emerging from within the warmth that surrounded me for so long into this strange colorful world, I found myself face to face with strange creatures I had never before seen. They had hats that resembled wolves and their clothes were fashioned to look like fur of all different colors.
Their arms were covered in fur all the way up to their elbows and their hands resembled wolves’ paws. The one female holding me gave me to another she wolf-like being. She was beautiful and white. She had beautiful golden eyes and pale skin and her hair hung to the right of her face, covering it from view on that one side. The right side of her face was only slightly covered with her gorgeous silvery hair and was securely held next to her right ear by something weird. It was white like her, but I didn’t know what it was. I could clearly see her left eye, which stared down at me fondly. A small strand of her hair that had been fastened by another of those weird white things but smaller, fell down to where I could grab it. I reached and took hold of the soft strands with one paw while touching her skin with the other. I felt very at peace in her arms.
I looked up at her in wonder as she told me tenderly, “Sallowfang Wolf, I’ve been waiting oh so long to meet you, now that you’re here at last, I shall cherish and care for you until you are grown. Welcome to life my son, welcome to Wildfar.”
I could tell by how her skin felt that this wolf woman was my mother. I cooed happily as she held me securely in her arms. My chest rose and fell as she spoke my name. A name that made me feel mysterious and powerful. I wanted to stay in her warm arms forever, but her head jerked up at the smell of flames on the wind. I shrunk into her and pulled her hair tighter as she leapt to her footpaws and held me even tighter in her arms.
The tension in her muscles confused and frightened me, I looked at the scenery as it sped by while she ran from the warm place we had been in moments before. All of the faces of the creatures I saw were fleeting by me and running away. My mother’s hair tossed and billowed in the wind as she sped through the burning trees around us. She tripped on a stone as she ran and sent me tumbling through the air. I crashed into a protruding tree root not far from where I had heard her body fall.
Seeing her through my blurred vision lying unmoving on the ground, I called out to her in desperate howls, but she didn’t answer. I crawled closer to her in concern and saw a pool of red stuff extending from her head. Wanting to know why she hadn’t answered, I reached out to touch her. However, when I did, I found that she was cold and all the warmth I had felt from her before had disappeared. There was no life in this being I had touched. I felt sorrow for her and began crying. I tugged on her with my small fangs by the back of her jacket sadly trying to somehow reawaken the life that had clearly left her. What could have caused this to happen?
As I tugged on her to try and awaken her, I realized that it was no use. I crawled away from her whimpering and crying despondently. I had lost her before I ever really had the chance to get to know her. I heard a noise I didn’t recognize a few minutes later and after backing away from her cold body a sufficient distance, a huge burning tree trunk landed right on top of her limp cold form, removing her from my blurred vision.
I stumbled away in terror and the earth disappeared as I fell into the dark. I could smell something foul on the air as I twirled and hurled into this deep darkness. I soon lost consciousness when I hit my head into something hard.
When I awoke again, she was gone. All the faces I had seen had disappeared from the world. I was alone. My vision seemed much better now, and I was able to see my surroundings. That’s when something that I had never felt before, surged through my body. It was a feeling that I couldn’t describe, but it seemed that my body had changed. I looked at where my paws once were and saw they had been transformed. Thumbs stuck sideways out of my paws, and I was bigger—so much bigger! What had happened to me?
I clawed my way up out of the hole and fell upon the ground with a thud. Once outside, I felt something I had never felt before. A clear substance that I knew nothing of fell over me and made me soggy and wet. I didn’t know where it was coming from. I looked up and a drop of it hit me on the nose. That’s when I realized it was falling from the sky.
The trees that were previously on fire that I had seen before getting hit with that rock inside the hole were now put out and were black and crumbly. Knowing I was alone with no one to help me, I worked at strengthening my legs by trying to stand on them like I had seen those other creatures do.
After about two hours, I was up on my footpaws. Feeling the scorched Earth under my feet crumbly and hard, I tried to walk and stumbled many times falling occasionally. I wanted to master running like I saw them do.
Also, I was drawn to taste this clear strange substance on the ground. I got on my knees and took the clear substance in my paws and drank it. It was refreshing! I wondered what it was, but I didn’t care.
Just then, my sense of smell picked up on a dead cooked creature nearby. It was beyond a pair of bushes. I pushed the bushes aside and looked down on the ground where my sense of smell had led me. I then beheld a creature I had never seen before. It was small, tan colored and had long ears and feet. It laid dead in front of me its body cooked by the fire.
Somehow the dead creatures scent was highly ‘appealing’ to me. So, I began to eat it. I wondered what the creature I was eating was, but once again, cares were cast away because of hunger. The creature was succulent, soft, and tasted very good. I really enjoyed it.
A few minutes after I had eaten this tan creature, a big brownish black creature came roaring out of the bushes looking down at me. I, being frozen with fear of the great giant, was too afraid to move. Since I wasn’t moving, the giant beast swiped at me with one of its great arms with claws outstretched. I closed my eyes and felt the claws slightly leaving wet and pain filled scratches dripping with my blood. I backed away after I felt this. The creature took advantage of my fear and charged at me, and on top of that, tried to eat me!
I swiftly turned and ran from the beast, not knowing what else to do, when all of the sudden, yet another unknown creature flew out from amongst the trees and hit the giant brown creature in the head really hard, averting its anger toward me and converting it to itself.
I wanted to thank the flying one for saving me, but it disappeared with the brown creature deeper into the forest hitting it even more as the both of them disappeared into the foliage. I took some of the clear substance that lie in a wide puddle in front of me and walked over to it and stuck my head in to clean away the wet and painful feeling over my eyes. When I opened them again after washing them off and wiping my arms across my face, I saw another ME!
I yelped in alarm at the sight of it in the clear substance before me, however, after a few minutes of moving my arms and shaking my hand at this other me, I realized it was me I was waving at. I got on my hands and knees and looked at myself inside of the clear substance within the ground. I saw a single slash over my left eye and an ‘X’ like wound over the other one. Both slashes over my eyes were red and were still somewhat wet and slightly dripping. My skin was tanned, and I had four silvery strands among dark shoulder length grey hair. The silver strands were positioned to the left side, center, right, and behind my left ear. In front of my left ear and separating the other pointy silver strand to the left were two long dark grey strands of hair and the center silver strand was thick, jagged, and pointed. Underneath the silver strand was a long dark grey strand that hung in front of my right ear to just barely graze my collarbone. The silver strand to the right was long, wide, and thick and resided behind my ear. It seemed to be drawn from within my dark grey hair. Lastly to the right of my head was a long dark grey strand of hair that was pointed and straight like the rest of my hair, which went to just below my shoulder. My hair shined and glistened in the moonlight.
After getting a good look at my hair and face, I looked atop my head. I wore a similar thing to those creatures that I saw when I first awoke. It was wolf like. This thing I wore had a maroon bandanna tied about the top of its head. This bandanna wrapped around the bottom of its ears and tied off to the right. On the right ear, there was a golden ear clip with a golden ring hanging from the lower side. It looked sad and lonely. This is just how I felt. I also had a bandanna that was the same color on my head and a golden clip with a ring hanging from it on my right ear. My eyes were orange and glowed almost yellow in the moonlight above my head. Just like its eyes were at that moment. Come to think of it, this thing I wore on my head was dark grey furred too, just like I was, it even had the slashes that I had just received from that huge brownish black creature a few minutes ago. When I saw this, I realized this thing on my head was a representation of me.
My clothes were grey and brown. I wore a grey vest with jagged sleeves. The vest had white fur lining the outside from my neck down to the lower part of my chest. Over my chest and falling to my right thigh, was a black sharp looking piece of black fuzzy material that looked sharp and jagged cut like the shape of a stretched-out lightning bolt.
On my lower half around my waist and covering my torso, were dark brown pants which at the waist had brown skins hanging around and behind me all the way to my upper and lower legs. Under these skins a grey sash fell that trailed behind my legs like two tails. Over my feet were thick black fuzzy pieces of material that wrapped around my legs like boots and had an open area that let my toes hang through. The claws on my feet were really dark grey, almost black. I was fascinated with what I saw.
I knew I had to find somewhere to get away from this clear wet substance coming from above me. However, I didn’t know where I was going. I looked everywhere for signs of something that I could hide in to get out of this wet stuff. I saw a cave and went inside. I came face to face with a huge orange creature with stripes and fangs inside the cave I had just entered!
I was startled and yelped in fright when I saw it. It chuffed quietly at me looking me right in the eyes. Somehow after looking into its golden eyes, I wasn’t afraid anymore. I inched closer to the creature and it just sat there looking at me. I sat close to it and cuddled up next to its warm furry body. It wrapped its long tail over me and I could hear it chuffing softly as if to console me from my terror. I drifted off into sleep, closing my mind, and body from the physical world for the night, drawing myself into the intensified, and comfortable warmth around me.
When it came morning, I felt the creature prod me awake with its paw. I awoke with little trouble and looked around. The cave was brighter now. It was morning outside. The creature suddenly stood up and walked a few feet away from me and then turned to me and gestured that I follow it.
Judging by its growls, I assumed it was a boy like me so I followed it. It led me out into the forest again and let out a low growl for me to pay attention. I looked ahead and saw a deer. Something inside of me wanted to go after that deer with all my being. I saw the orange striped creature jump onto the deer and bite its neck. The deer on impact under the orange striped creature, fell to the ground struggling to get free. A few seconds later, the deer stopped moving completely.
I shakily walked over to it as the orange striped creature sat eating it and then, I said my first words. “Is it dead?” It stared at me for a moment and then answered me with a simple nod. It took some meat from the deer and gave it to me to eat. I took it of course, being it thus that I was hungry. Come to think of it, I seemed to ALWAYS be hungry.
The striped creature told me that what it had done to the deer I must do to all that I wanted to eat. I remember its exact words. ‘Don’t let any prey go until it goes cold and stops moving.’
So from that moment on, throughout the year, I stayed with this striped creature. I found out from him that his name was Kyori. So I nicknamed his cave ‘Kyori’s cave’. As the seasons passed, I grew taller, and hunted often with Kyori. I was getting very fast at hunting down a lot of prey at once.
Kyori was impressed with my innate predatory instincts, and told me that it would serve me well in my lifetime to use the skills I had been taught. I promised him that I would never forget his teachings.
I stayed with him throughout every season until it came spring again. That’s when the year ended. Kyori told me in a parental voice, “You are ready to face this world’s dangers alone now young one, go, make your life great. Become a wolf renowned in this forest.”
“I will Kyori…goodbye.” I told him with a grateful smile. Then I turned away from him and ran into the forest. Fighting my urge to stay by his side…he had taught me how to hunt and fend for myself as well as how to survive… had it not been for his teachings, I would have died long ago. I will always be grateful to him forever for that.
As I ran through the forest, I saw a small red creature sitting at the foot of an elm tree. He was crying and had a hat similar to mine, but it was reddish orange and had white fur over the cheeks and the sides of its snout. The eyes were shut but showed the color of the young ones eyes. It had no earpiece or bandanna over its forehead or on its right ear like mine did, but it had whiskers of black. This small one was all alone…just like I was. I decided I would care for the little one from that day forward.
He had scarlet red paws and black claws. He also wore a crimson red jacket lined with white fur. This jacket he wore had long sleeves that overlapped his wrists. The top part of the shoulders of his jacket, were tattered and orange and the part bridging from his upper arm to just below his elbows was also tattered and crimson red. Covering his forearms, were black skins that also were tattered. He wore pants that mimicked the sleeves of his shirt and his footpaws were black with his ankles hiding under his pants. I was about to ask him his name when it suddenly popped up in my head and I said it aloud without knowing how I’d known it. “Arvle fox…”
The little one looked up at me surprised.
I picked up the little fox and got a good look at him. His hair was crimson red and his skin was fair, but slightly tanned. His eyes were…filled with innocence that seemed to pop out from within his very soul. They were greener than grass and trees after rain. He was indeed, a very exotic little fox.
I said to him gently picking him up off of the ground, “You’re with me now little one, you have no need to fear, while I’m with you, you’ll never be left alone… for I will watch over you forever.”
The little fox struggled to get down to the ground so I let him. I just stood there watching him. He seemed to only be 4 months old and was able to walk, but staggered a bit trying to maintain his balance. He tripped on a root. I rushed in to steady him.
I held onto little Arvle’s right hand as we walked through the forest. As I walked slowly along with little Arvle beside me, he smiled up at me with his innocent green eyes and laughed. I smiled down at him and then suddenly, I smelt a familiar scent.
It smelt like Kyori, but it wasn’t. I looked forward and met eyes with another striped orange creature just like Kyori eating a fallen rabbit. He looked up at me and Arvle curiously wondering who we were. He called over to us. “Who are you guys? I don’t think I’ve seen you two around here before. What’re your names?”
Seeing that he had asked who we were, I followed his example. “I’m Sallowfang wolf. This little one is Arvle fox, my newly adopted brother. Who’re you?” The striped creature licked his mouth clean of the rabbit’s blood and replied, “My name is Keen Tiger. I’ve lived in this forest for about a year now. Where’s your pack? Don’t your species usually stick together in packs? Or is that just urban legend?”
I lowered my head sadly and told him, “We have no packs… we are alone and are traveling alone.” Keen lowered his paw sadly and said, “Oh… so you lost your families too? Well I guess we’re just gonna’ have to stick together now huh? Three loners in a pack. What do ya’ say wolf and young fox? Wanna’ form a pack?”
I thought about this for a moment and since Keen was a tiger like Kyori, and Arvle was too young to decide for himself, I decided that we ‘would’ form a pack. “Alright, let’s become a pack Keen.”
Keen laughed and replied, “Okay so…who’s the leader of this pack, you or me? Let’s decide THAT now. Since YOU’RE a wolf, YOU be the leader okay?” I didn’t really understand what a leader was but I agreed to Keen’s assignment clearly. “Right.” Keen asked me curiously, “Do you know what to do as leader?” I replied bluntly, “No. I’ve never lead anything.”
Keen told me with a smile, “That’s alright, if you don’t know HOW, just follow your instincts. They’ll guide you to be a great leader of our pack.” I felt sure of the power of my instincts so I replied boldly, “Alright. Let’s head out then.”
Keen then asked me, “Where to leader?” I looked around, and smelt fresh prey up ahead, so I told him, “Straight ahead. Come on.” I picked up Arvle and began running through the forest keeping Arvle close to my chest as I ran.
I felt invigorated and powerful with every step I made as I protected Arvle and ran beside Keen, who was now my third pack member. I decided then that I’d look for more to join my pack and make my own family with those who joined me.
We came to a river in the path. Keen asked, “Have you eaten today Sallowfang?”
I shook my head and Keen replied, “I’ll catch us some fish then, we can eat them in the morning, sound good?”
I replied, “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. How are you going to catch them?”
Keen took a net from within his belt and replied, “With this.”
At that moment, Keen thrust the weighted net into the river and caught a whole slew of fish underneath it. He dived into the river and gathered the ends of the net together and he resurfaced from the water with the freshly caught fish. After twisting the stones and securing the net closed and shaking the water off himself, Keen asked me curiously as he rung out his hair, “Do you have a place to stay Sallowfang?”
I answered, “No, I don’t.” He replied, “I have a cave up in a mountainside not far from here. It’s a cool and comfortable place. It should serve as good housing for a pack of great numbers.”
I thought about it and since I wanted to expand our pack a considerable bit, I replied bluntly, “Lead the way Keen.” Keen smiled and replied, “As you command my liege, follow me.”
I followed after Keen not knowing where to go. He led me toward his dwelling in the mountains, which would soon become our pack’s den. I found we were coming to a clearing in the woods. There were a couple of dead trees leading up the mountainside into Keen’s cave.
Keen bounded up each of the tree branches in and landed nimbly inside of his cave. He called down to me yelling, “Come on up Sallowfang!” Having never climbed trees before, I had a rougher time than Keen getting into his cave.
Instead of climbing the trees, I climbed the mountain ledges that led up into the cave carrying Arvle’s vest in my teeth which looked like I was holding him by the scruff of his neck. I jumped into the cave beside Keen with Arvle’s vest dangling from my mouth. He wasn’t surprised that I had climbed the mountain instead of the trees and I could tell by his chuckling, that he was making fun of me.
I asked him slightly agitated, “What are YOU laughing at?” Keen chuckled and replied, “Nothing really, let me show you around.” I guess he was too afraid to admit that he was laughing at me a few seconds ago, but I decided to let it slide. After all, we were now a pack. This meant we were family, and I had to treat him as such.
Keen asked me curiously, “Where do ya want to sleep? There’s plenty of room anywhere you’d like. Just pick wherever you want Sallow.” When I heard the last word of that sentence I was confused. I let go of Arvle’s vest and let him slip into my arms and then I asked Keen in a bewildered tone, “‘Sallow’?”
Keen looked at me surprised and asked me curiously, “Have you never been pet-named before?” I was even more bewildered by this phrase ‘pet name.’ What in the name of claws and fangs did THIS phrase mean? I asked Keen confused, “What IS a… pet- name?”
Keen replied simply, “It’s a shorter way to say your name. Some pet names refer to what you are instead of simply shortening your name.” I was immediately interested in what Keen was telling me about pet names. I asked him inquiringly, “Keen, do you know… what I am?”
Keen stared in confusion and asked, “What do you mean? Like what species you are? Is that it?” Keen was clearly perplexed by my question. I replied, “I… have never known what I am. I only know who I am, just my name, nothing more. So… do YOU know? If you do, can you tell me?”
Keen smiled and replied, “You should’ve asked me earlier, I would’ve told you. I know EXACTLY what species you are.”
I looked at him in surprise and replied, “Really? What am I then?” Keen laid down on a flat rock and replied, “You are a wolf.” I looked at him in surprise and wonder. The word WOLF sounded mystic. I asked him curiously, “What is a wolf?”
Keen answered, “A WOLF is a canine fit to hunt in almost any weather. Your kind was at large long ago in the predatoric era when predator creaturans were the most renowned. In fact, they were the third strongest of the predator creaturans of the land.”
“Creaturans?” I asked, bewildered yet again by a phrase I had never heard before. Keen explained, “Creaturans are creatures like you and I. There are MANY creaturans here in this world. There are also many sections of our world that still haven’t been seen by a lot of the classifications.”
I was curious as to what these classification things were, so I asked. “What are these…classifications?”
Keen smiled and replied holding up his claws one at a time, “The classifications distinguish us from those that are different. You see, all normal creaturans that are under classification are classified by how many feet they have. Since we have four feet as our animal forms, we are classified as Quadrean types.”
“Oh.” I said as I realized what this meant. It meant that it wasn’t just me, Arvle, and Keen in this world, but many, many MORE ‘LIKE’ us as well. I asked him curiously, “What of the other classifications? What are they called?”
Keen chuckled and replied, “Boy, you don’t know ANY of this DO you? Fine then, I’ll explain.” I listened carefully as Keen told me all of them one by one.
Arvle listened too though he didn’t really understand what Keen was saying. “Each classification, that is normal, is classified by how many legs they have. The one-legged creaturans are called Unibaraas. They are EXTREMELY rare.” “Next, there’s the Birenxx, the two-legged creaturans. They’re as common as you and I are. They’re EVERYWHERE. After them, are the Triannus types. They’re three legged. They usually live along water somewhere. After the Triannus types, are us, Quadrean types. We have four feet and are the most common creaturan on this planet. However, those four classifications AREN’T the only ones on this planet. There are four more.”
“Really? What are they?” I asked curiously. Keen replied, “These classifications are the more dangerous of ALL of them. They are referred to as, THE SECRET CLASSIFICATIONS. They are so secretive, that they are barely EVER seen by ANYONE.”
“What are they called? Do they have specific classifications like we do?” I asked intriguingly. Keen licked his paw and pushed it down over his ear as he replied, “Yeah, they DO have separate names. The first is called Noctorus. The secret classifications are NOT classified for their legs. They’re classified by their abilities. The Noctorus have extraordinary power and only appear in the night and evening hours. They sleep during the day.”
“Wow…” I said in wonder of the Noctorus. I listened as he explained the other three secret classifications. “The next one is called Araccium. They are classified for their poisons and their legs. They have eight legs and most of them are also night creaturans. Some Araccium are morning creaturans but not many of them are. After them, comes the Excavors. Or singularly known as, Excavor types. They live underground and barely ever come out to see the sky. They’re like engineers for the Noctorus and Araccium types. The last of the secret classifications are the Zerons. They have NO legs and are also VERY poisonous like the Araccium. If I remember right, they live in the same area too. Well, that’s all the classifications I know of Sallow, so now you know.”
“I had no idea that there were so many…can we go and see them?” I asked intrigued. Keen saw Arvle had fallen asleep and replied, “Let’s get some sleep and then we can talk tomorrow.”
I looked up into the starry moonlit sky outside the cave’s entrance and replied, “Alright.” I went over to the slanted rock I had chosen to the west of the entrance of the cave and closed my eyes and laid there.
Arvle was soundly asleep and curled up into a ball right behind me. I could hear his soft breaths in the stillness of the night. About a half an hour later, I could hear Keen purring and growling loudly in his sleep.
I knew that getting to sleep wouldn’t be easy with that much noise, but I decided to give it a try. It didn’t work, so I just laid there with my eyes closed… waiting till it was morning again.
After about an hour passed by and it grew darker in the cave, I heard a rustling inside the cave that was unusual. It didn’t sound like Keen or Arvle, so I opened my eyes and looked cautiously towards the sound…
Chapter 2. Thief in the Night
I looked behind Keen and saw another creaturan with an odd hat. It had a fluffy grey and black ringed tail hanging from the back. This creaturan’s clothing was strange. It was mostly skins and fur. Its paws were thin and small, but it was grabbing a lot of things from the back of the cave.
I could smell fish in its paws. This meant only one thing. This Creaturan was trying to steal the fish Keen had gotten earlier on that evening for our breakfast! I wasn’t about to let it steal our food while I was coherent enough to stop it. So, I crept up behind it quietly as to not disturb Arvle, and slammed it to the ground demanding angrily, “Who are you and what’re you doing here? ANSWER ME!”
The creaturan was terrified to the point that as it spoke, it stuttered out shrieking, “I-I wasn’t t-trying t-t-to do a-anything I s-swear! I-I just wanted a c-couple of the f-fish y-you caught t-that’s all…” I growled at him angrily. He was very scared. Keen woke up and said annoyed, “Oh no, not YOU again, why do you keep coming back here Hackle? Find your OWN food!”
I stared confused down at the creaturan under me and repeated his name. “Hackle?” Hackle replied, “Y-yeah, that’s me, Hackle Raccoon at your service Mr. Wolf.” I was slightly annoyed at him for calling me Mr. Wolf and I made that known through a low and aggravated growl.
He realized then that I didn’t like this title and he asked me curiously, “W-what is your name then? What do ya want me to call ya’, ‘BOSS’? Or just your actual name?”
“Boss?” I said completely confused. I mulled it over for a moment and told him, “My full name is Sallowfang Wolf, YOU can call me Sallow. If you’d like to keep your skin, you’ll join my pack tonight and keep silent when it comes night. Do I make myself ‘CLEAR’ Hackle Raccoon?”
He replied fairly relieved, “Is that all I have to do? Join your pack, stay quiet at night, and you’ll spare my life?” I nodded simply and replied, “That’s right, join me, Arvle, and Keen and we’ll share the kill as a pack. Deal?”
I held my paw down to him and he took it and replied, “I’d rather live another day than die tonight so… deal.” I smiled triumphantly knowing I had won myself a new pack member and then I got off Hackle and told him and Keen, “Sleep well you two, we’re going to be travelling a lot from now on.”
Keen asked me confused, “What about YOU Sallow? Aren’t YOU going to sleep too?” I nodded and replied, “Don’t worry about me. Just go to sleep. I’ll be fine.” Keen and Hackle looked at each other and then Keen told Hackle with a stare, “Wherever you’re going to sleep, it better not be anywhere close to me… got it?”
Hackle replied simply, “Sure thing Tiger, goodnight.” He went to the darker part of the cave and laid down there. Keen growled in displeasure at knowing Hackle was in his cave but went to sleep on his slab which he had claimed for territory.
As for me, I sat at the cave entrance on my stone bed looking up at the moon. I wondered if somewhere out there in the world there were other wolves like me… was I really the only one? According to Keen, I was the only one left. How could that be? Why?
I suddenly felt drowsiness creep over me. I lay down on my bed. The second my head settled over the cold stone, everything went black. As I dreamt, I heard a voice I didn’t recognize. The voice frightened me but it somehow felt… strangely familiar.
It was whispering something I didn’t understand. Suddenly it went silent. I listened to see if it would speak again and when it did, it said something that made me very uneasy. The voice said aloud in a hissing voice, “Who’s there? Who are you?”
Suddenly, I heard a loud sniffing noise and then the voice hissed and said in disbelief, “Wolf? It cannot be! You died! It’s not possible!” The next thing I heard was a very loud and enraged roar and a loud crashing sound.
It was so powerful and struck fear into my soul so much so, that I could no longer remain dreaming. I awoke in cold sweat that night heavily breathing and intensely afraid. What ‘WAS’ this dream?
Who was speaking to me? Why couldn’t I see who it was? What just happened made my head spin with confusion and fear. Whatever it was frightened me greatly. I knew not what it was that had spoken to me, but one thing I hoped sincerely, was that what I had just heard, I would never hear again. After having this terrifying yet sudden nightmare, it was still night and yet… I felt wide awake like I’d slept through the night already. The others were still asleep.
They had been soundly sleeping throughout the night. I only needed three hours of sleep. I didn’t know if this was a normal thing for my species or not, but I felt it to be convenient. I could stay awake for the whole day without any more rest.
I sat on my bed and looked out over the world in the dark of night as it went on and saw a white flicker in the trees. It looked similar to the creature that had saved me when I was a cub. I tried calling out to it, but it didn’t come. It continued hunting. It almost was as if it hadn’t heard my call. I decided that it probably didn’t have much time to talk to me because it was hunting. Then I realized… it was hunting at night!
It was a Noctorus! I was amazed. I had just seen one of the most dangerous creaturans in the world. I was in awe of it for the rest of the night. Soon it became dawn. The sun peaked over the horizon and into the cave, brightening everything within. Keen groaned as the sunlight hit his fur. Hackle was still asleep.
I walked back toward him and nudged him awake telling him, “It’s time to head out Hackle, get up.” Hackle saw me and shrieked, his startled scream echoed loudly through the cave walls and ceiling.
Arvle awoke with a shocked yip and hit his head on my stone bed. He moaned as he rubbed his head and ears. Keen awoke angrily and roared out, “What in the name of claws and whiskers was THAT?!” He looked back and saw Hackle startled and stomped back toward him and asked, “Was it YOU who made that horrific noise just now?”
Hackle gulped and smiled a nervous smile. Keen growled. Just when Keen was about to strangle him, I stepped in and told him, “I just startled him Keen, I guess I didn’t realize how close I was to him when I woke him up. Sorry about that.”
Hackle got up nervously and rubbed his hat’s left ear and replied, “That’s okay Sallow, besides, screaming is impulsive when you’re startled, right tiger?” Keen growled at him angrily and replied, “If you ever shriek like that again inside of this cave, day or night, I will show you no mercy. Understand?” Hackle gulped again and replied, “Sure thing, tiger.”
I laughed at their bickering, it amused me. It was then that I took Arvle in my arms and told Keen and Hackle in an urgent tone, “Let’s get going. Our journey to expand our pack begins now.”
Hackle asked me curiously, “Sallow, where are we gonna’ go?” I looked back at him as I stood at the cave’s entrance. I replied, “We will head west through the forest. Let’s go.”
After my final word about what direction we were headed in, all four of us said goodbye to Keen’s cave and set out on our adventure over the world of Wildfar.
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