Post by Silverflash on Jul 11, 2007 15:22:25 GMT -5
Chapter 1:
Hunger.... Pain.... I long for the feel of my mate beside me, the feel of the wind in my fur. But for now, all I think I will ever know, is pain....
~~My name is Zakura. I am, was, the leader of a pack of wolves known as the Demonfate. Another wolf named Shane cornered me and tried to kill me. I managed to escape, and he took his place as leader. So now I travel to the Spiritpool where I can fall in and loose my pain... forever.~~
"Zakura.... Zakura wake up. We need you.... Zakura..." I've heard my mate calling my name for days. But now.... I can feel his pain as well as my own. I can feel this stone beneath my paws, yet I can also feel the familiar snowy ground, covered in blood and dead bodies. The farther I get from my pack, the less I can feel their suffering. Today I have reached a point in these mountains where it is bitterly cold and difficult to breath. Right now I would do anything to be at the Spiritpool... But for now, I must suffer as my family has suffered. I stand up and try to move forward on limbs numb from cold and exhaustion. The wind suddenly begins to howl and rip at me. I try to climb down the other side of the mountain, but every step is agony. I can hear the screeching of my dieing pack in my ears, louder than the wind. I trip and stumble, falling down the vast mountain. The wind disappears, and pain lances down my back as a life threatening wound is open. My throat snags on a rock and I leave a trail of blood for my pack to forever follow. I have no doubts that they will never see me again. Only in death shall we be reunited.
~*~
I stand up and move forward again, sliding between the icy mountains. I hear rumbling in my ears, and I beg the rocks to crush me. But the Starlight pack guides them away from me, and I am forced to continue. One mountain passes by me, and another, and another, and suddenly there is nothing to pass anymore. I crawl forward in the snow and the last drops of warmth are sucked out of me. I curl up, deep within the snow, and am buried alive in a frozen tomb. I sleep deeply, and I hope that I will not wake to the living world, but I open my eyes to a blinding white coffin. I force my way out and move forward again, desperate to join my parents in the Spiritpool. Days crawl by and blend into weeks. When I finally fear that I shall die of hunger, my paws feel solid ground, warm beneath me. I look up and see the northen lights dancing around a clear pool. I've made it to the pool, but my journey seems empty and cowardly. But I still wish for my eternal sleep, so I slip into the pool. As my head disappears beneath the surface, I see the bodies of my mother and father deep within the pool. Alphas are meant to die here, and I hope that my mate will join me when he dies. As I close my eyes and fall into my eternal sleep, my mother screams in my ear and my head shoots out of the water. I gasp in air and haul myself out of the beautiful pool. I curl up beside it and feel warmth flow into my body. The pool was icy cold and my wounds stung, but now I was warm and my wounds were healed. My mother and father swim endlessly in the deep pool. I can see them passing me some times. I hear my mother whisper, "Go home! We don't want you here." I start to cry and throw curses at my mother. Her silver head emerges from the water like liquid starshine and she purrs, "At least not yet." I found it strange that my mother should purr, but her intentions are clear and I understand perfectly. I catch several mice hopefully nibling around the pool and eat them. My belly feels stuffed and delightfully warm. I must leave now, on another endless journey. I leave the pool and fall into the barren landscape, desperate to reach my pack again; my home.
~*~
I drag myself through the snow, stopping to rest and swallow mouthfulls of it occasionally. I trod through my original trail and the going is quicker and easier. The snow doesn't fall as heavily, and the wind is not as strong. It rather helps me along, giving me a push when I am weary. But all adventours must end somewhere, and my story was nearly finished in the telling. As I finished my desperate trek through the mountains and I entered the forest, I was met by a team of omegas. I was distraught to see my mate among them. They had sunken, hungry eyes and were thin enough for me to see their ribs through their thick coats. A black wolf with glittering red eyes emerged from the shadows behind them. It was Shane. He growled delightedly, "Bring her down! She is fresh meat for your bellies!" My mate leapt at me first, and it wounded my heart when I had to push him away and bit deep into his flank. My teeth had barely broken the skin when they scraped bone. He scrambled away as fast as he could, a thin trickle of sick blood oozing out of his wound. I battered my starved pack aside easily and leaped at Shane. He did nothing to hold me back. I pinned him down and he whispered in my ear as I sank my fangs into him, "Good bye, sister." I yanked my head away and his throat bubbled. He laughed maniacally with his last breath and I nearly cried when he fell still. But he was a murderous traitor and he had tried to kill me. He would never see Mom and Dad again. He would walk a path of shadows. I turned to the omegas and they stared at me with frightened eyes. I bowed to them and they seemed to accept me as their leader. The females licked my muzzle pleasantly and the clouds in their eyes disappeared. "Zakura," each one murmured. Then the males padded forward, their tails high and hopeful. I greeted each of them like any wolf would greet an equal, but on my mate I licked his muzzle and ears delightedly. He hesitantly licked back and, recognising my scent, murmured, "Zakura." I lead my bedraggled pack back to the old camp, and I found three she-wolves standing around, their bellies large though they were half starved. I howled and two he-wolves and another she-wolf emerged from the bushes. I gathered the fit wolves around me and they left to hunt. I dismally looked around the clearing, knowing that Shane had done something to ruin the clearing's beauty. I sniffed around the edge and I smelled man too late. A trap closed it's steel jaws around my muzzle and my mate had to pry it open carefully. When we had ripped it off and broken it, I could feel the ugly scar on my muzzle, but I was proud. Me and mmy mate padded around the edge with sticks, and we poked them in every trap we found. Then the hunters came back with a small deer and a few rabbits. My pack crouched in the shadows and waited while me and my m,ate ate a rabbit. Then we stepped back and the wolves burst forward, eating every scrap of meat until the bones were all that was left. I buried them quickly and glared up at the sky. "Starlight pack, why did you punish us?" I murmured. Me and my mate crawled into a rock cave and lay down. The three pregnant she-wolves appeared outside, and I could see their confusion on their faces. They had been Shane's mates, and they believed that they still deserved their den. I growled and hey hastily made nests in the underbrush. The other she-wolf joined them, and each of the males (one for each she-wolf) lay next to them. As my mind drifted into an uneasy sleep, I could hear the contented sighes of the she-wolves beside my cave.
