The Wolf Pack: Next Gen

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For a moment, Lyrias' words seemed to calm Oscar, and he relaxed his shoulders. Then. red eyes slowly raised up to the ceiling of the den.
"Maybe so. Maybe Creon's up there, looking down on me now. But I know that luxury of belief, is only afforded to Sky Pack." Lester let out a startled noise at Oscar's bold mention of their enemy, before recalling the meeting the Captain's had called on the subject. They could officially utter those words now, and they would mean nothing but alliance. The Demon got to his feet, a forlorn emotion brimming in his face. "This Pack, its been nothing but bad me. 'S true. From Quint to Creon, what more can be taken?" He felt hollow, suddenly. Numb to Lester, and even the placid wolf Melete had employed in his care.
 
Selkis' expression seemed to soften; she could sense something more behind Liguria's words, a sort of vulnerability she'd never known a Demon could have.
"I see," she said gently after a moment. "So, you weren't born to be an Alpha - how did you come into the position?"
 
Caicias beamed, incredibly proud of himself. His small chest puffed up with the prideful knowledge of the fact that he'd gotten faster. "Hmm...maybe talk to Miss Delphi about it? Or Miss Raelicka, when she gets back? Miss Delphi might have had a vision or something, and Miss Raelicka seems to know a lot about our abilities..."

Lyrias nodded. "The demons...are toxic. The captains, Alpha and I intend to work together to install a new reign where this is less so. Though it is too late to restore those lost, we hope to prevent such behaviours from occurring with such frequency." She noticed the sudden change in his demeanor and suppressed a frown. Had Zyrias been soothing too hard, or was this simply grief setting in? She sighed softly. "Melete will likely return soon. If you'd like, you can discuss with her. We'll all be here to support or give you space as you may need it."
 
"Melete and Phaezro saw I was descended from a powerful wolf, early on. They trained me to become an Alpha, just like my ancestor. When I came of age, I was bitten." Liguria explained, her voice steady and patient despite the turmoil she felt. The idea that other wolves remembered their puphood, and their original packs was foreign to her.
 
Hock grinned. "Maybe we ought to." He said, a musing quality to his voice. He felt a warmth towards the scout, something he had originally mistaken for general companionship. Now, he was sure it was something different.
"D'you know where Miss Delphi's den is?"
 
There was shock, then resentment, then pity in Selkis' eyes. So Liguria had once been something of a mortal; she had been hand-picked as a potential leader, and poisoned.
"Your mother and father, then - they're still out there?"
 
Caicias turned around, tail swishing. "I passed it a ton of times! It's near to her tree- someone tried to move it, I think, but she insists in keeping it near to her tree. Either way, I'm sure we can find her by the tree!" He liked the tree. It reminded him of home, the home he'd lost, the family he'd lost. It helped him remember who he'd once been, and he briefly wondered if he could connect with Delphi over the quirks of the flatlands. It was a likelihood, although minor. "This way!" He trotted off to her den.
 
Delphi was sat beneath her tree looking positively ethereal. The shadows cast by the many spindly branches danced across her daisy-strewn fur, and below her lavender and camellia crown, her bright brown eyes were closed. She was meditating. She liked to do it to strengthen her connection with the Star Pack, and believed she could feel their energies once she'd put herself into a suitable trance. When Selkis was away, the gods' positive auras ensured her the Alpha was still safe.
A flicker of a face danced across her inner sight - a face she recognised. Caicias appeared to her momentarily, then melted back into the darkness of her closed eyes. She opened them, expecting him now, and noticed him padding with Hock towards her.
 
Caicias smiled, bowing his head. His previous bouncy enthusiasm felt dampened in the presence of their Oracle; yes, it was still there, but the place had an almost...soft air to it. Calming. He felt reassured with the peaceful scenery around him, and treaded lightly, sitting as silently as he could manage. "How have you been, Delphi?"
 
"Very well, thank you."
Delphi smiled serenely at the two wolves, who stood close to one another and seemed entirely inseparable. She had an almost knowing glint in her eye as she dipped her head to Hock in silent greeting.
"And yourself?"
 
Caicias beamed. "Great! I've really been getting to grips with my new powers, and it's really fun-" He pulled himself in, realising he was about to go off rambling again. "But, uhm, that's what we came to you about. You know a lot of stuff about the pack, and you have more of a spiritual connection to our ancestors than the rest of us. We can only connect with ours, but you can connect with all of them. So...well, it was more Hock wondering, but we wanted to know what his ancestor left him, and figured you might know something."
 
Delphi smiled.
"I'm not sure I can help you. The gods can't speak for the dead, unfortunately - but I know someone who can."
Trying to figure out his place in the pack, Rhaegar had been hunting; it was a skill he'd honed on the Western flatlands, but catching small, flighty creatures as opposed to the stags and elk he was used to was proving difficult. A single fat rabbit in his jaws, he had paused in his tracks when he noticed his sister was busy. The lunch he'd caught for them both would have to wait, then.
The caramel she-wolf caught Rhaegar's eye over the heads of Caicias and Hock; she may have been small, but the ridge of rock she sat on beneath her tree gave her additional height. Her brows quirked, and she tilted her head to signal she wanted him.
"Hello, you two," he said pleasantly upon reaching the three and dropping the rabbit by his side. "What's up, Del?"
"Hock would like to speak with his ancestor and ask them a few questions, since he knows so little of his gift. Perhaps you could help?"
Rhaegar grinned. "It would be my pleasure."
 
Liguria nodded. "I saw them two moons ago," She said gently, her eyes downcast. "When I approached them in the forest- they were gathering with other pups- both were disgusted by what I'd become." The Demon grew withdrawn from the conversation as she continued to explain. Instead of the den's walls and her Alpha rock, she was seeing the clearing on a sunny day in its place. Liguria recalled the kin scent that had came with the image, the knowledge that her parents were there.
"My mother," She swallowed, "Didn't recognise me. My father did. I was going to speak to them, but before I could my father herded the pups away. I can remember they barked at me, even before they could speak, they knew dislike for Demon kind." Although she looked directly at Selkis, her eyes were unseeing.
 
Selkis looked down to where her plumed gold tail nestled neatly over her paws. She didn't know what to say.
 
"So there's some loophole in all this?"
"According to mythology, yes. At least, that's been my interpretation on the subject. Do you have a different one?"
"Well..." Raelicka pointed at a couple of the pictures Melete had crudely sketched into the dirt; not having the book, they'd had to improvise. "We've already picked out who's the Sun, Moon and Shadow. But what if there's someone else? See, here. There's darkness, right? But it's not attributed to any of us. What if that's where you come in?"
Melete raised an eyebrow. The she-wolf was clever; if only the family trees of this wolf were avaliable, she swore Raelicka's bloodline must have Galenia's traces in there somewhere. "How do you figure that?"
"It says here. 'The assistance to the Shadow, an unstoppable force feared since the Calamity.' The Calamity refers to when the original Sky Pack died, right? But it refers to the assistance. We can assume that's the entire demon pack, but they're allied firmly with Sky Pack, and if this is to believed it suggests some sort of force-binding to stop rebellion. 'Only the two top ranks remain unbound'- that's the Betas and Alphas, and that's you and Phaezro. From that, combined with your heritage, we can gather it's likely referring to the two of you."
"The Prophecy says that the Moon will twin with the Ancient Fear, face down the darkness and force them back, long enough to free the Shadow and the Sun. So if your theory is to be believed, then..." Melete trailed off as realisation hit.
"We'll be fighting each other," Raelicka breathed, eyes widening. Fighting Melete? How could she do that? There was no way she'd win.
"It doesn't say kill," Melete pointed out. "It only states you drive us off. And...you're twinned with the 'Ancient Fear'? Who could that be?"
Raelicka just shrugged. "We'd need to look at the actual Book to figure that out..." There was so much they didn't know, and the Prophecy was already in motion. "So far, we know that you and I will serve as loopholes to drag the Alphas out. As for our own fate...we don't know."
"I can't imagine anything good...Prophecies are never positive." Melete shuddered. Her entire life, laid out before her. And she'd be facing what could well be a combination of Frey and Winter. In and of itself, that was a terrifying concept. Winter's sheer brutality combined with Frey's unending intelligence...it was like twinning Phaezro and herself. And that was all in one wolf. Granted, she wasn't sure Raelicka was aware of the possible other side to her heritage, but she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The only way they could find out was if they had a death-speaker, and they did not. Perhaps Sky Pack would have something of the sort. The Prophecy said nothing about it. Still...she glanced at the pristine she-wolf next to her, whose glittering sapphire eyes were lost in thought. She couldn't imagine fighting Raelicka would wind up with her coming out alive. She relied on tactics; the ability to predict what was happening, before it happened, just by reading her opponent's slight movements. If Raelicka did have Frey's heritage as well, then that meant trouble. Neither would give those cues; Melete would have nothing to read and prepare for.
Raelicka would.
 
Although Hock expected to talk to the she wolf, he was taken aback by how social the scout was on his behalf. The way he flawlessly explained the situation and conversed happily with the stranger wolf threw him off guard. He knew of her name, but had hardly seen her on the grounds due to the chaos of settling in. He looked to the other wolf, Rhaegar, taking in their features in a cheerful silence. He'd seen Rhaegar when the Demons had approached Sky Pack, remembering the resenting look in his eyes when the Demon leader talked. He could trust him. His eyes widened at Delphi's mention of Rhaegar's power. "You can do that?"
 
Liguria snapped out of her trance, turning sharply to Selkis. She exhaled threw her nose slowly, measuring her breaths.
"Where did you grow up?" She asked in return, her eagerness to get to know the Alpha returning.
 
Caicias found himself happy to take the back seat here. He'd done his bit; now it was Hock's turn to communicate. After all, it was his ancestor. Instead, he sat back and looked up at the tree, silently noting the purposes of each bracelet and necklace.
Raelicka was worried. There was no way she could face up to Melete and Phaezro. Even twinned with whatever this "Ancient Fear" was...how could she stand a chance against them? Against Melete? The beautiful, alluringly seductive she-demon that now sat beside her...only half a moon ago Raelicka wouldn't have thought either of those words could be attributed to the brutal leader. And yet here she was.
Aolis lay under a tree, quite happy to relax and watch Braern drink from the stream nearby. Nothing bad had happened that warranted either of their attention, and so they were content to bask in each other's presence, lightly conversing about who they might date in addition to each other. Not that they'd massively bonded with anyone in the pack; there just wasn't much to converse over. Everyone seemed to have their own agendas and be quite happy with those agendas.
 
Rhaegar smiled and nodded from his position beside Delphi. He, in kind, had clocked Hock on his arrival - neither had to voice their opinions on Demons for the other to understand, and he liked that. He loved his sister, bless her heart, but he couldn't bring himself not to hate their age-old enemies like she could.
"I'm something of a Medium," he said. "The dead often speak to me in dreams. It's a wayward gift, but I'm learning to tame it. If you gave me your ancestor's name, I could try and reach out to them in my next dream."

Selkis was happy to change the topic to a more cheerful one, but her sympathy and interest was still with Liguria and her past.
"I grew up in the far South," she said, recalling her old home with nostalgic pride. "As far as you can go - right by the sea. My pack was tiny and close-knit, just a dozen of us in total. The Osiris Pack. My elders were obsessed with keeping the bloodline entirely pure, you see. I was the closest-looking little thing to Osiris out of them all. Same green eyes, same fluffy tail. His fur wasn't sun-bleached like mine, though. They had me earmarked from the beginning. They knew I was different. It got to my head a bit, I'll admit." She smiled happily, remembering her blissful childhood.
 
Hock had no understanding of how exactly he knew. Suddenly, the word seemed to rise forward in his mind. "Spring." He blurted. In some way he was still confused and wary of the powers each individual of Sky Pack flaunted, but the idea of also posessing a talent himself made the wolf curious.
"My ghost's- uh, spirit's name is Spring." His ears perked, his tail unconciously moving back and forth.
 
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