The Wolf Pack: Next Gen

  • So many newbies lately! Here is a very important PSA about one of our most vital content policies! Read it even if you are an ancient member!
Status
Not open for further replies.
Melete picked up on the sudden pause in Frinz's stance, and glanced over, ears perking up to try and catch wind of whatever he'd heard.

Phaezro trotted back to the center of the pack grounds. The Alpha awaited his report, glancing at him as he strutted to his place beside her on the dais. He sat, giving little more than a simple nod before recounting the wolf, and her claim to be of Sky Pack descent.
 
Pebble blinked at the mist, unsure of whether to tell her mentor. While they would know what to do, they might schold her for straying away from the pack's borders. She turned tail and slunk off finally, happy to be away after seeing what the mist had done to the herbs. Perhaps it would wither her too, if she was to go too close to it?

Frinz paused, hearing his other commander's voice carry across the borders. "I think our other captain has driven out somebody?" The statement ended in a kind of question, as it seemed wrong to suggest anything to Melete. They probably knew it already.
 
Melete frowned. "Phaezro was in charge of patrolling the area Quint and his duo were meant to be covering. The fact he had to step in and drive someone out...how long were they tormenting you for?"

Raelicka was on babysitting duty.
She sighed, watching the pups as they bounced around each other and her, tumbling and rolling about. It was fun to watch, admittedly, but she'd never see herself joining in. Not like some of the younger females did- even in her family sometimes, her youngest sister would play with the pups when nobody else was around. But she just couldn't see herself doing it. Rolling around and playfighting was a child's activity, certainly not one for someone of her stature or role in the pack.
Yet again she felt that tug, diverting her attention away from the pups briefly to look out over the forest. She wondered what was out there- what was so important that even the spirit that sometimes guided her seemed to direct its icy nudge to guide her there instead. She'd already confirmed nobody else in her family felt the spirit or the nudge- some had claimed to feel it when they were younger, but not now. Perhaps it moved hosts, looking for one that would fulfill its needs? If so, she certainly didn't want to be the one that let it down. It seemed pleased with her so far, at least, and hadn't lead her wrong.
 
Cairo waiting for the pack leader's daughter to return from her presumed outing, the retained information she'd gotten from rumours and other wolves buzzing in her mind. She could tell the leader, but he was busy and didn't need anything more on his mind at that moment. Her ears rung with the faint sound of windchimes.

Frinz felt himself blushing in embarassment at the memory of their encounter averting the captain's gaze. "Only a few minutes." He felt a faint sense of disorder in the border, a steady confusion. The air had changed, the general vibe slightly askew. He felt watched by other wolves, but that was ridiculous. He was amongst demons here.
 
Melete's gaze darkened. "For them to have found and tormented you for even that long means they were spending far too long away from their posts. Phaezro should never have had to intervene without the guards attempting first." She looked around. "They'll be punished this evening. Publicly. Actions like this I normally wouldn't bat an eyelid at so long as they either toughen the other demons or get them back to work. But straying away from their post from that long is unacceptable."

Caicias frowned, backing away from the mist as it closed in again. It seemed that he'd missed his chance, and with the mist came demons that he didn't want to face. He turned tail and sprinted back to the pack, as fast as his paws could take him.
 
By the time Selkis started passing other Southern wolves, who greeted her respectfully (as I well deserve, she thought bitterly), she had composed herself. Her skittering heartbeat had slowed and she focused on keeping her breaths long and even. She held her head high. Behind her eyes, her mind raced - she had information. Information no other, at least in the South, held. She'd spoken to a Demon! She'd learned they had some kind of hierarchy, some kind of pack order; she'd learned they were quite possibly guarding the old Sky grounds. That was unusual. It was information Selkis relished in the knowledge of and her plumed golden tail twitched to and fro, reminiscent of when she was an excitable pup.
But she had to keep it together. She knew that. Who could she tell?
No-one, she resolved, a tad disappointedly. No-one unless I get something of equal value back from them.
Selkis grinned. If she believed in or cared for any Gods, she might've prayed to them in thanks - but she was only thanking herself.
 
Bran was restless. He paced the breadth of the den in which his mother and father lived - his mother was the Tripeak Pack's Beta and a fearsome she-wolf. To him, she was simply Mama, as sweet as sugar to her son and his siblings. She was his role model. Her love for the pack had seeped into him; her dedication to protecting their territory and keeping dominion over the Tripeaks passed to him too. When he sought guidance, or love, or solace, he came to her. That was why he paced here now, pausing to stare out over the valley and squinting into the Forest beyond, in the direction of its heart. His mother watched him with her head on her paws.
"What's bothering you, Bran?"
Bran turned his head to look at her, captured immediately by her bright, round brown eyes on him - the same as his own.
"Nothing, Mama."
"Oh, come now - you and I both know that's not true."
"Really, Mama," said Bran, shaking his snout upon realising his gaze had once again wandered to the treetops of the Central Forest, "it's nothing. Just... unsettled by these clouds. Do you think it will storm? It'll ruin the evening hunt if it does."
Bran's mother smiled faintly. Bran huffed quietly - his desire to explore the Central Forest was overwhelming him lately. He'd always wanted to go out and travel that part of the Forest, ever since he was a pup, but never in his life had it felt so urgent that he do so.
Bran felt as though he was betraying his pack by even having these thoughts. Why wasn't he content to protect the mountains and the valley from lone wolves and rival packs, as his mother and ancestors did? In some way he was content with it - it was what he wanted to want. It was the ideal life... but it just wasn't realistic. He had an itching under his fur to go out and find what it was he was looking for.

The Queenfish licked a little dried blood off Toothfish's nose and tutted in a mothering sort of way, despite not really being any relation to him at all. Behind her, the Kingfish counted the day's catches. Toothfish was once again soaked in blood and his breath came in clouds at his muzzle. This bloodthirsty desire had been eating him up - he'd actually caught two seals today, but had mangled the first so violently and joyously that he'd had to hide it and pretend it didn't exist. No-one asked why he was caked in blood.
Fish Pack, and the majority of the other little packs in the North, didn't believe in the Star Pack. Toothfish was among one of the more enthusiastic believers in the cruel, capricious Northern gods they all feared and tried to please in order to avoid fishless seas and deathly colds. Most of the time, they got them anyway. The gods were like that.
The gods didn't send personal messages. They didn't guide the way to the righteous path and Toothfish held no belief in destiny. Still, he felt this indescribable urge to travel South. Not too far - the beaches were of no interest to him. Just far enough. Toothfish was sure he'd know when he'd reached the right place. He didn't know if perhaps the gods were toying with him, or maybe it wasn't the gods at all - maybe he really was going mad.
 
Frinz shivered at the mention of a public punishment, understandi to some degree how brutal they were. He'd never seen one personally, but he'd evesdropped on many demons who talked about it. Even the powerful ones seemed to drop their voice and whisper. His own guard duty was due to end when the sun set and he wondered what the others were up to.

Hock slunk back into the shadows, his fur blending with the dry dead grass in the clearing. Something terrible happened on this very ground, and he wondered if this was a bad omen. His mother had told him lots about those. Magpies circling the tree tops were bad omens, as were hearing the sounds of cursing in the allocated den for the Old Gods. Personally, he had never heard or seen such things, but his pack in the south talked about them constantly. His mother talked about it constantly. He shook the thought of his mother out of his mind, because when he thought about his mother his mind drifted to his father, and that was worse. Hock watched the figures quietly from a safe distance, dull eyes following their movements.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It was while meditating by a little turquoise pool that it happened.
Delphi wore her waterlily crown, and her eldest (and most doting) brother had threaded tiny daisies into her fur. She was in full view of the pack, most of whom lay basking in the heat of the sun; a few scouts had headed further into the shimmering heat-haze to scope out the herds of prey before returning to collect a larger group of hunters and were lost over the horizon.
Something stirred suddenly within her. Delphi's eyes flew open and she thought she was going to violently vomit, but the urge immediately left her and was replaced with a feeling like that of being hit hard in the stomach. She snorted, then sucked in a huge breath, her muzzle jerking towards the sky and her eyes rolling back in her head -
Red eyes glowing eyes, fearsome eyes staring face-on, bright blood scarlet rose gemstone red
The sound of growling, muffled like a thousand wolves growling at once on her left and right and in front and behind
Purple mist, lilac violet plum mauve mist fog smog crawling over the ground, sucking at the trees touching cold cold on her fur in her eyes and her mouth and inside everywhere
Silver thread. Silver thread coiling on the flats, by the pool. Silver wisps disappearing beneath the canopy of the Forest. An unbroken, glowing silver line, like a cord begging to be pulled, or a long, sleek pointer leading deep into the woods. Further than she'd ever travelled. Silver cord, silver line silver wisps thread coil cord wisp line thread -
She gasped so deeply it hurt her chest. Delphi's eyes and nose streamed as she regained consciousness and all her muscles, previously seized tight and holding her rigidly in place with her nose toward the sky, suddenly relaxed all at once and she collapsed to the ground. Sage Pack was crowded around her; her father and brothers fussed and touched her face, eager for their turn to meet her gaze and reassure themselves she was all right. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse and frightened, yet amazed.
"I - I saw things."
 
Melete had stalked off, heading back towards the centre of the pack. She trusted that Frinz would be alright- he'd survived this long, and if he reported to her that they'd found him again their punishment would be worse. Already she was thinking of how to make a show of them, what cruel, wicked ways she could find to show the other guards that such desertion from their positions would not be tolerated. She reported as much to Phaezro, when she returned, stepping up the rock formation that was shot through with black veins, corrupted by their power.

Phaezro's response was a deep snarl. "That duo have performed like that before. It's why them and Frinz work separate parts of the forest. We'll show them tonight how they screwed it up, again." He moved aside to allow his sister to sit. "What was their names? Quint?"

"I don't know the others," Melete responded. "And I don't intend to. The constant desertion of their posts cannot be allowed to go unpunished." She took her seat upon the dais, on the second level, with the Alpha on the first quietly watching. She likely knew their names; but Melete didn't care to ask. "We'll have them declare it at sunset to the whole pack, just while we punish them."

Raelicka glanced out, down the mountain peaks and to the vast forest below. Her sisters sat beside her, combing through her fur and ridding it of the twigs and otherwise that the pups had stuck into it. Again she felt that cold spirit at her back. She cried out as she lurched forward, as the spirit's icy muzzle shoved her so hard she almost fell over. The eldest sister caught her, worry clouding her gaze as she sat her back. "Raelicka, sister, are you alright?"
The she-wolf nodded, icy blue gaze a little clouded. She glanced down at the forest again, at the purple smog that blocked off the center, and- she took note of the lighter lilac in the middle.
Her eyes flew wide as her blood ran cold and her vision was no longer hers.
It was thick, hazy, and she could barely make details out. She saw a dais, covered in black. Black wolf-shadows with a purple and blue aura, snarling with unnaturally large teeth. Her gaze snapped elsewhere; brown plants smothered by mist, brown grass brown ferns brown trees, just the tip untouched, the bloodied maw of a twin yawning open, a sense of urgency--
Her gaze snapped back to herself. Lying on the ground, panting, skin coated with sweat under her fur. She couldn't get enough air into her lungs, gasping for any air that could reach her as her vision swam with blurred white shapes and what she thought might be the voice of her sisters but she wasn't entirely sure. Suddenly all she could see was grey, and then nothing.
 
Pebble returned back to the pack's grounds, already tired from the morning's work. She tentatively placed the herbs from her jaws onto the den's floor, eyeing the Elder Healer's back quietly.
"Healer Pebble. What took you so long?" Her voice was serene but cold, and Pebble resented her suddenly. For all the work she had to do to be deemed worthy, for her Elder patronisation. She understood, in that clear moment that all she wanted to do was leave the pack. Set off for the South and meet the interesting wolves, wolves who lived rugged lives and adventured on their lonesome.

"My apologies, Elder, I-" She stopped for a moment, a wave of greyness washing over her. She stumbled on her coaltish legs, making the Elder turn sharply. Pebble closed her eyes fitfully. Her head throbbed, and when she opened her eyes again all she could see was the purple mist in the fields. That strong sense of calling had arrived for her again, tugging her soul to Sky Pack's grounds whilst her body stayed still. But it didn't feel comforting, the idea of being called back to a Home. It felt alien and cold. In the mist, two eyes and a mouth full of fangs flickered wide and open. She screamed as the disembodied face, the face of a demon made to swallow her whole. And then she was being shaken awake by the Elder, her blue eyes settling on her lined face.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It was whilst running back to the pack that Caicias felt the tug. Like someone had wrapped a vine around his throat, around his heart, he was suddenly yanked by some supernatural force that flung him off of his feet and onto the ground. His eyes snapped shut, and upon forcing them open he saw the dark haze that threatened to consume the forest, that moved in eddying flows. He glimpsed the smaller animals choking and dying in the smog. And then he saw them. What could only be described as outright demonic, with the vague shapes of wolves, and yet...not. Shadows swirled around them, hazing their outlines, pits of red burning where their eyes would be. Circling him, snarling. One lunged for him, an otherworldly shriek ripping free as the elongated fangs made to sink into his chest--

The silhouette of something obscured him, blocking the attack, and his gaze snapped back to himself. The forest was clear around him, and he'd sunken into a patch of withering ferns that hid him from the demons. He had to wait for a little while before enough feeling came back to his body for him to move, so he curled up in the ferns and lay there, catching his breath and awaiting his energy to return to him.
 
Frinz watched Melete's sleak form stalk off, smiling in a dumb fashion. With Melete taking her leave, he ran along back to his post, grateful for the short break he was issued. It had been the first time he had talked to the captain face-to-face. Being a low ranked Omega demon, he was normally deemed as just another demon in a sea of others, if not lower. Before his rescue from Quint and his gang he had only the talk of other demons to rely on about their shared captains. He understood vaguely that a lot of his knowledge was only supported by his surrounding peers, not by his own learning. As he sat by his post, he felt a strange sensation of being watched. Frinz closed his eyes briefly, trying to shake the thought away. He was only a little paranoid after his run-in with Quint, that was all.
 
Delphi lay on her side in the shade of her father's acacia and thought about her vision. She was frightened of it. The experience had been unpleasant and painful, but somehow she'd made sense easily of it - she knew what she had to do.
"Feeling better, princess?" the Alpha came to sit by her, still adorned with roses. Delphi plucked one from his fur.
"I need to get you some cloves to replace these before I go," she said absent-mindedly.
"Go where?" her father asked quickly. "Why cloves?"
"My... my vision," Delphi said quietly, still exhausted. "It showed me things, Papa. Dark things lurk in the Forest - ancient things reawakened. I want you to be safe. Cloves keep you safe."
"And your vision - it's telling you to go somewhere?"
"Into the Forest, Papa." Delphi sounded at peace, and she sat up to let her father rub her nose affectionately. "I'll be all right. I have the light of the Star Pack guiding me - I know it."
"They're already calling you the Oracle," her father managed to smile, nodding at the rest of the pack. "After your first vision as a pup, we've always known you were special. I... I just wish..."
"I don't want to leave you either, Papa," Delphi said softly. "But my vision, and this desire I have... it's the will of the gods." She gazed over at the shadows cast beneath the thicker trees, where the silver thread in her vision had led.
 
"Healer Pebble. Are you alright?" The Elder showed genuine concern for her Beta trainee, instructing another healer in the den to fetch some water by the creek for the girl.
Pebble nodded. "I'm quite alright. But, I believe I had a vision." The Elder's eyes widened. It was against the code of rules to ask a wolf what their vision consisted off, so she simply sat with that information. Later she would inform the pack leader to tell him that they had Seer in their midst, but now it was her job to reassure Pebble. The Elder understood visions were frightening and sometimes draining, so it was important to care for the Seer after chanelling such raw power. Ten seasons ago she had witnessed a young male healer drop to the ground and claim he had saw the fall of Sky Pack. No one had wanted to believe him, after all, Sky Pack was strong and powerful, but the Elder had.
Pebble swallowed dryly.

"I dreamt of sh-shadows." She hesitated to disclose the part about the glowing eyes and the teeth. That part was private, and she had officially locked it away amongst her fears. She got to her feet, turning to her wary Elder.
"I will meet my peer by the river and take the water she offers, but then I must leave. My vision made it clear my home was elsewhere."
The aged wolf didn't dare question this, knowing how shaken those who had questioned the young healer prior had been after Sky Pack's fall.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
"My dear, are you alright?"
"Yes Mother, for the last time I believe I am quite well." Raelicka reassured her fretting mother. The fuss the she-wolf could stir up amazed even her sometimes. "But...you believe something is amiss, yes?"
"Indeed." Her mother bowed her head sagely. "We now have reason to believe that..the great Season Wolf, Winter, has herself chosen you to inherit her powers. We always knew the bloodline was strong and her spirit was among us, but for her to have selected you..!"
"I..." Raelicka was about to say she highly doubted her mother, with her crown of mountain flowers and sparkling eyes, but something told her she couldn't. She couldn't deny it any longer. "The line. It pointed...down. Towards the forest."
Her mother merely nodded, standing. "Come. We need to assign you a guard. Someone to keep you safe on this journey."
"Mother, I am perfectly safe in conducting myself-"
"None of that! You will have a guard and that is the end of it! Now come. We must make you look nice and be well-equipped for your travels."

It was a few hours later, the sun high in the sky, that Raelicka finally found herself speaking with the Alpha and Beta families of the neighbouring pack. It was custom in the mountains for the top two families to attend meetings, unless special talks were held between the four Alphas. Her mother was explaining to the Alpha about Raelicka's plight and intent to travel, emphasising its importance that she have a companion.
 
"I'll do it!"
Bran couldn't believe himself, but couldn't help it either. Sat beside his mother with one grey ear half-flopped, he'd been listening intently to the neighbouring pack's plight - and in it, he saw a sparkling opportunity to go and see for himself the Central Forest, if only for a fleeting moment. He stepped forward and dipped his head respectfully, flushing slightly at his earlier outburst of enthusiasm.
"I'd love to help you. I'm a good hunter, and a decent fighter - I'll help keep you safe." As if recognising the possibility ahead, he felt the familiar tug in his belly that urged him to descend into the Forest pulling more fervently than ever.
 
Raelicka looked over this new wolf with a curious eye, assessing his potential. If his muscle composition was anything to go by, he'd live up to what he said. She glanced at her mother, who nodded, evidently grateful that they'd accepted to assist her daughter.
"Raelicka is already prepared for this journey. When you are ready to leave, then so is she." Her mother bowed her head, giving her daughter one final nuzzle before pulling away. "I leave you in her hands." Before she could think twice, her mother turned and left. Raelicka was left in the hands of her neighbouring pack.

Caicias had taken a while to get back home. Indeed, it was only when the mists had started to move back in that he'd ran back to the pack, his tail almost between his legs. Now he sat under an acacia tree, wondering what was to become of him and that faint tugging in his stomach that said he had to go into the forest.
 
Bran padded slowly across to the she-wolf he'd found himself protecting, and paused to gaze out over the Forest. His heart skittered in his chest.
"Name's Bran," he said, offering a smile. "Ready to go when you are. I've been ready for moons."
 
Raelicka chuckled. "Well Bran, it seems I'm finally prepared as well. Shall we set off?"

Melete kept a simple eye on the pack, watching the goings-on of the other demons.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back