Author Topic: The Blood Wolf (Updated 6.9.20)  (Read 2283 times)

Offline Loccora

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The Blood Wolf (Updated 6.9.20)
« on: April 24, 2020, 06:07:23 am »
Hey, hey! Just a quick update: In order to not spam the forums, I'll be posting updates in this same thread! I just wanted to create one under the new title before I started doing this! Anyways, I hope you all are enjoying! I'll have more questions at the end for those who feel like answering! Let me know what you think of the new chapter!

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Hissing whispers surrounded her ears, a burning hot boiling beneath her pelt. The further they walked, the more the heat spiked like a flame, lighting like a fire from within. The wound on her leg throbbed with every step.

    Go away.

    You’re not welcome here.

    Murderer!


    Ears pressed against her head, Aya picked up her pace, following closely behind Nox as he led the way. The Labyrinth of the Damned was an old pup’s tale that the Elders told the young before they were old enough to fight. It was a gruesome story of where the traitors and damned went. Those who abandoned the war, and those who turned on their own. They’d be left forever underground in an endless labyrinth, serving the Mistress of Neona.

    The legend, of course varied as those who told it. Some said that the soldiers were looking to recruit anyone they found. They prowled the forest at night, taking those who dared to venture from their camps. Some said that the army of the dead never existed at all, and that the labyrinth was where the Ancients lived; the original Dire wolves. The ones who once roamed and controlled the land that the packs now took over.

    But the Ancients had died out years ago. That was only the lighthearted version. Aya knew better than to believe pups tales, but the legend of the Labyrinth always scared her.

    She lifted her gaze to survey the land around her. There was nothing there for her to recognize. How far had they strayed? Surely Nox was only toying with her, right?

    The surrounding trees were tall, looming over them like black shadows. They were bare; charred and rotted all the way through. The Earth they walked over had been scorched, leaving nothing left. It was like a scar on the Earth that physically pained Aya to see.
 
  Flames licked at her pelt, singing her fur and biting at her ankles. She couldn’t move. Held down by the weight of at least four massive Dire’s. They looked down at her with sick grins and hungry eyes. There was no fear in her, only contempt and a silent vow on her lips. They would not burn, for they dwelled within the damning fire every day of their lives. But their ignorance was just as bad as the fire that consumed her.

    “Halt!” she heard a voice command, it’s growl dripping with familiarity. “Allow me a moment with the prisoner.” The wolves on top of her growled in reluctance, though they retreated enough for her to lift her head to the voice.

Through the flames, she caught a glimpse of piercing blue eyes, nearly glowing with hatred and desire. A hideous scar wrapped around the muzzle of the bluish Dire that became more pronounced as she approached the flames. Her nose was inches from the female who was pinned in the flames. “Looks like our game is over, dear Hyacinth. Two hundred years of dancing around each other. I bid you farewell, old friend. And may this be our final farewell.”

With a fleeting look at  her soldiers, the Mistress turned her back to Hyacinth. “See to it that she burns. From this day forward, any wolf loyal to the traitor will burn. All the rest will serve me. And should the traitor be reborn, she’s to die on sight.”


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Aya woke with a start, scrambling to sit up. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath, again. Her surroundings were tight and dark. It was musty and smelled of old dirt and decay. There was an old coppery stench of dried blood that made her nose hurt. Her eyes darted around the small area as she struggled to figure out what had happened.

It didn’t take much thought to realize she was somewhere underground, no doubt in the labyrinth that Nox had been taking her to. But how? And what happened?

Her hind leg was numb, but it had at least been cleaned up, she noted. Her back legs had been bound together with thick vines that disappeared somewhere beyond the dirt wall. Or maybe they were roots, Aya could hardly tell in the light.

“Ayauhteotl,” a voice greeted, and she whirled her head around to see Nox standing in the opening of the small room she’d found herself in. She could see him a bit better now, even in such dim light. But it almost seemed brighter in the tunnels than it had above ground. Amber eyes and a dark pelt that was peppered with deep scars and ugly wounds. Enough to make Aya recoil at the sight, averting her eyes as though she were intruding on someone’s privacy. Not that scars were a big deal, taking into account Nahul’s scars from her battle with Itzcali.

“Where am I?” Aya demanded, fur rising on her back. “Why did you bring me here? What happened out in that field? What did I see? And why the hell am I tied up?”

    “You talk an awful lot,” Nox growled, rounding to Aya’s side, eyes tracing over the deep gash on her leg. “You’re tied up because I brought you here as a prisoner, not as a guest. Contrary to what you may believe, we don’t like strangers wandering our territory. You’re just lucky that Eztli sees you as his enemy.” Huffing a content sigh through his nose, Nox settled in a dug out corner underneath a root that had grown through the dirt and stone. “Make no mistake, Ayauhteotl, you are no friend of ours, nor an ally. That just makes you all the more interesting.”

    “How do you-”

    “Nox,” a somewhat familiar voice interrupted Aya’s words, and she cast her attention in the direction of the newcomer. Rezi, the red wolf from before stood there. Everything about her stance was relaxed and careless, but there was an alertness behind it all that Aya sensed. Something was off. “We followed Eztli, but lost his trail. However, we did find two wolves halfway between the Ikran pack and the Moors. Both of them dead.”

    Aya flinched. Nahul. Why couldn’t you have followed me back to the Moors? Please don’t let it be you.

    Nox mulled over the information for a moment before scoffing, lashing his tail with a growl. “That’s none of our concern. Send some scouts out to the Moors and search the area, again. If anyone finds him, see to it that the bastard is killed.”

    Rezi’s eyes flicked over to Aya for a moment before they narrowed a considerable amount and she whirled around, stalking off. She couldn’t shake the feeling that prickled under her skin. She couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

    See to it that she burns.

    Burn her, again.

    The traitor returns.


    “Who is Hyacinth?” Aya questioned, breaking the silence in hopes that the hissing whispers went away. They didn’t. Instead, the grew louder and more persistent. Blood wolf. The blood wolf returns.

Nox shot her a look, that was equally surprised and horrified. Taken aback by the question, he remained silent for several moments before he rose to his feet. His face was cold, serious. “No one has spoken that name in hundreds of years,” he growled shooting her a look of absolute warning. She shrank back at the sight. “It’d do you well never to mention that name around here, again.”

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Questions:

1) Who do you think Hyacinth is?
2) Who is your favorite character, so far?
3) What do you think Nox is planning?


~~~~~~

Chapter 4

    “I will find whoever did this and I will tear them to shreds,” Nahul snarled, fur raised on its end as she paced, eyes narrow and horror evident in her features. When Kieran had told her what had happened, she hadn’t known what to believe. What to expect. But now that she was there, seeing it all with  her own eyes, there was no denying the cold fact. Even worse, the fear that poured through her veins at the lack of her best friend. Wherever she had gone, Nahul hoped it had been far enough away. She took little solace in the fact that Aya’s body hadn’t been among those of the pack.

    “Nahul...Nahul, please just calm down.” Kieran regarded her with a nervous twitch of his ear. Seeing the cold-blooded killer of a rival pack getting worked up was unnerving to say the least, even given the situation.

    “Why did you leave her?” The she-wolf demanded, whirling to face the Ikran with a snarl. “I would have made my way back, eventually. You should have made sure the princess was safe, first and foremost!”

“Lose your head now and you’ll never find her,” the male reasoned, flattening his ears under her stare. “Try and think rationally. Aya is smart. She couldn’t have gone far.”

Growling, Nahul turned her back to the dire and lifted her nose to the air, yet again. The rain had washed away any scent that had lingered, other than the blood, which still hung heavy in the air. “Kieran, if anything happened to her, it will be on you. And I will make you pay with my own fangs if I must.”

The Ikran didn’t doubt that for a second, nor did he question it. But his first priority was the same as the Moorish Dire’s. Nahul had been right, after all. He’d left Aya to stand watch while the enemy was likely still present, and now she was gone. Kieran averted his gaze, eyes trailing through the mud that clung to his paws. It was no secret that he would readily lay his life down for the cause of the Covenant. After all, it was what he was supposed to do. But now what purpose was there, if the Moorish Dires were no more?

“Nahul,” he started, slowly. He chose his words carefully, as an icy pair of eyes locked onto him, laced in cold malice and a warning he dared not challenge. “I feel for you and your pack. Truly, I do. But we can’t get ahead of ourselves. Aya is still out there, somewhere. If they had wanted her dead, she would still be here.”

The wolf growled, flicking her tail in indifference. Whether she believed it or not, no one knew. Not even herself. She was faced with a world she’d never expected to see. A world without her pack, without her future. And without her friend, whom she’d been sure would be by her side forever. Now, all of that was lost. There was nothing but grey and darkness for as far as she could see, and it was a terrifying thought. Nahul had done some questionable things in the past, but she’d never felt so lost, as though a part of her had been killed.

Or kidnapped.

Nahul shook the thought off. “Listen to me closely, Kieran. If I find out your pack of human-dwelling bastards did this-”

“Nahul!” Kieran sprang to his feet, amber eyes wide as they scanned around himself.

“I will personally tear out each and every one of their throats.”

“You might not have to,” the male responded, once again drawing attention to what he’d spotted. A long trail of paw prints, plastered in the mud. A perfect trail that lead towards the woods. A second trail followed close behind, which they could only assume was the one who had done this.

Or had been part of it, at the very least. Nahul’s lips stretched back into a snarl as she lowered her nose to the mud. The scent had been washed away for quite some time, and there was no telling if it was Aya’s trail or not. But there wasn’t much else to go off of. Seeing as there wasn’t much more of a choice, Nahul spared one last regretful glance in the direction of what she had once called home. It was in such a shape of disarray, part of her couldn’t even bring herself to mourn what had happened. It felt too surreal; far too much like a dream. But maybe, if she held out hope, she could convince herself that it was.

“Alright. We’ll follow the trail. But Kieran, I swear by the grace of the Moon and Stars if this is a trap you’re leading me into-”

“I want to find Aya as much as you do,” Kieran promised, facing his head to look in the direction of the woods. They loomed in the distance, tall and intimidating. A feeling he’d never felt before when it came to the woods. He’d spent so much time wandering through them as a cadet, walking the borders and pressing his luck. That seemed so far away, now. “The most we can do for now is follow these.”

“I swore a long time ago that I would never again put my trust in one of Ikran blood,” she growled in reluctance, though she found herself moving along the trail of paw prints, with Kieran following a tails-length behind. “And I am not going back on my word. I am not trusting you. I’m trusting Aya.” As the words left her lips, not even Nahul was so sure who she trusted, anymore.

« Last Edit: June 09, 2020, 07:23:21 pm by Loccora »

Offline Dark_heart

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Re: The Blood Wolf (Chapter 3 Up!)
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2020, 08:17:01 am »
___________________________

Questions:

1) Who do you think Hyacinth is?
2) Who is your favorite character, so far?
3) What do you think Nox is planning?


1) Hiacinth is a demon (yup, I have very weird ideas)
2) My fav is Aya, of course
3) I haven't idea c:
On new account Aiiokia