• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER ONE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



    Deep in the heart of Yellowstone, a young, light blonde she-wolf slipped into her small den, the opening barely big enough for her and her mate to slip through, the perfect protection against grizzlies, though totally useless against coyotes, foxes, and owls.

    She was preparing to have pups. They were a very late litter, and late pups where rarely normal. Many where born with birth defects or stillborn; And some where just… Different. Still, the last litter of three black pups two and a half years before had been born slightly late and were perfectly normal. Though this wasn’t the average late spring litter, it was near the end of summer, a fairly unusual time for pups to be born.

    Outside of the den, her mate waited for her, his bright red fur shimmering in the evening sun, his red eyes beginning to show signs of boredom. Suddenly, in the darkness of the den, he spotted two sky blue orbs looking up at him as his mate slowly reached her head out of the den and snatched the hare from his jaws aggressively and pulled herself back into the den.

    She had successfully given birth to two healthy pups. The female was a light orange color and was average size for a female pup. Her whines and yips where of a very high pitch as well. Her brother, a red wolf just like his father, was fairly large, even for a male pup.

    Suddenly, the pangs of labor stung at her once again and, to her surprise, another pup was birthed, and as the mother licked it, she noticed that this puppy was… Anomalous. The pads on her paws were sea foam green and blue, except on her right front paw, where the pads where pure white. The puppy already had a long tail too, unlike most pups, who only had a little stub. The pups tail was already over two inches long. And the tongue was odd too, she noticed as the pup began to whine. The tongue was the same as the pads on her paws, green and blue, although it also had hints of pink and black. And the whine was so deep, deeper than her brother’s, despite her size. She was far smaller than her sister, smaller than most runts.

    She will not survive… The mother thought, looking at this little she-wolf. It was almost pitiful how weak it was too. It couldn’t even crawl to the mother’s belly to suckle without stopping and whining. The mother picked up the pup and pulled her to her stomach and away from the others, closer to the mother’s face so that she could carefully watch her.

    The pup was so weak, stopping and whining while she suckled. She would most likely not survive the night. She was too flawed from the late birth.

    But, despite the laws of nature, the puppy was still there in the morning, meekly trying to crawl to the edge of the den, to the dark walls, away from the others… What was wrong with this little pup? Was her brain defective as well?

    Suddenly, when the mother tried to lift the puppy in her mouth to bring her back to her sleeping siblings, she did not curl up automatically like normal pups. Instead, she snarled and bore her teeth. The mother automatically dropped the pup, who did not whine when she hit the ground, just lied down by the cave wall. Her teeth where huge too, not the normal milk teeth most pups had. There was definitely something wrong with this pup…

    About a week later, before any of the other pups ears and eyes had unsealed, this pup’s eyes opened and her ears were beginning to rise. Her right eye was like a human’s, white with a blue iris, though many puppies had a blue iris at first that would generally end up turning many shades of gold, red, orange, hazel, or even green, but very rarely blue, even though the mother did have blue eyes. The pup’s left eye was like a normal grown wolf’s eye, black with a golden iris, and she had small yellow and white marking under that eye as well.

    The pup’s claws began to grow at an alarming rate as well. They grew up to half an inch before the pups left the den.

    After the other pups’ had opened their eyes and ears and began to speak, they where anxious to get outside, to the beyond, to the light that has been tempting them. All but the odd puppy…

    First, the red male pup, who was named Magma, left the den. Soon, his sister, named Talon followed. Talon’s icy blue eyes gleamed with delight as she and her brother played in the sun, Magma’s eyes blazing like fire as he chased his sister happily. Yet, inside the den, the orange puppy still remained in her corner, yet, occasionally, she would play fight Magma. Surprisingly, she won every time. And Talon frequently entered the den and checked on her sister, cleaning her fur and talking with her. Because the odd puppy was such a fine shade of orange, he named her Dorito, he found it kind of a… Humorous joke.

    After about 3 months, the father began bringing small portions of meat to the puppies. That was the first time Dorito had willfully left the den on her own account. She smelled the blood and meat and rushed out to it, immediately digging into it. Talon and Magma feared eating the new, odd smelling object, so Dorito ate a whole hare leg by herself. It horrified the mother, but interested the father greatly. “Does she know how to speak yet?” he asked.

    “I don’t know… probably not… Talon and Magma are just learning, and she doesn’t listen to me…” The mother replied solemnly.

    The mother was completely wrong. Dorito did listen. She’d listen to everything any one said, picking up on what words meant. She learned some words before her eyes even opened.

    “Dorito…” the father said slowly, “Do… You… Want… To… Watch… Daddy… Hunt…?”

    The following response was extremely incredulous. “No, I wouldn‘t…” Dorito said calmly, her voice deep and creaky.

    Her father stared at her for what seemed like eternity before finally speaking. “Um… Uh, well… Why… W-why not?”

    Her blank stare gave him no hint of her deep thoughts- her eyes seeming cloudy and shrouded in mystery and a great suspicion. She flexed her toes, spreading them apart and digging her retractable claws into the dirt for a while, a wide yawn stretching over her maw. Her left ear suddenly gave the slightest twitch and she jerked her head to the left, suddenly alert. There, in a tree, was a raven. No… Not a normal raven. Never to be considered a normal raven. The general blue-black feathers of the average raven where begotten. There, in their place lie snowy white feathers. The bird suddenly seemed to notice the tiny kit’s gaze and opened its large, dark grey beak and released a violent, vociferous caw that seemed to cause the pine needles around it to shudder in trepidation of it’s trill. Its sporadic blue eyes glared deep into the pup’s for what seemed like eternity. The bird let out another shriek before spreading it’s wings and taking flight. Suddenly, the bird soared angrily down toward the kit. Dorito ducked down- the birds silver talons grazing over her back, crimson blood spattering over it’s talons. Dorito released a low yowl and reared around, leaping up in mid-air and grabbing the bird by the ankle. The bird flew on, but now was partially anchored to the ground below. It cawed aggressively and nipped Dorito’s nose with its beak. Dorito suddenly tightened her grip for a split second before willingly releasing the winged creature. She fell about twenty feet and landed on her left side, causing a slight disturbance of the water about a foot away. She slowly stumbled to her feet and glared up at the bird rancorously.

    The puppy slowly walked back toward the den, which was not too far off. She could hear the mother and father fearfully reminiscing before she arrived, and once they saw her, they immediately silenced.

    “…Why…?’ her mother asked no one in particular, staring wide-eyed at the puppy, “Why is she still alive?”

    Dorito took a particular offence to this comment. She generally had no negative emotion to her parents hateful disliking of her- but the fact that they where… Scared of her. It shocked her immensely. Was she a monster? She indeed felt like one. Yes, a monster- An unholy being of mass destruction and revulsion. She seemed to feel a certain darkness emanating from her heart. She felt her heart growing cold and black. She felt timorous. She felt diseased. What was happening? What was wrong with her. Her trance was suddenly broken as she was knocked over by Talon. Talon smiled and let Dorito slowly stumble back to her feet, a faltering look on her face. Dorito looked at Talon, one ear flat and one ear perked up, facing the side. Talon… Talon didn’t think she was a monster. Perhaps it was her ignorance as a child… Perhaps it was her caring instincts. Perhaps she felt the same. No… Talon was too kind to have the same monstrosity within her. Talon was just a wonderful sibling- not a beast.

    “Are you okay?” She asked in her lovely little puppy voice. Dorito felt empathy for her ignorant sibling. She didn’t comprehend Dorito’s condition. Dorito said nothing in return, simply blinked and lied down. She was tired. Not from her near death experience- but mentally exhausted. She continued to contemplate her situation despite her better judgment and her rather large headache.

    Suddenly, her lowered left ear perked up and the other one went down. Her left ear twitched about and she jolted to her feet, her lips curling back over her gums, revealing her large white fangs. Out from the forest where she was facing came a shadowy figure. A large black wolf- larger than Dorito’s father by quite a few inches. The black wolf immediately averted his attention to Dorito. Suddenly, a wide grin slithered across his face. His blue eyes squinted in a threatening manor, and he lowered his body in quite a menacing way. But, although he was trying his best to scare her, she just curled her lips up higher and emitted a deep throated, loud growling noise. Suddenly, the black wolf lowered his front end and raised his flank in the air. He twitched his tail about like a little puppy and Dorito scowled. He just wanted to… Play? That was all? What an imprudent wolf.

    Dorito straightened herself out and spit out a puff of air angrily in his direction. She turned around in a manor that almost seemed to signify dominance and walked over to the entrance of the den and lied down.

    “Kapu!” Dorito heard her mother call out. Her mother loped over to the large male and rubbed up against him, her head only reaching his shoulder blades. He returned the gestures and rubbed his head over the fur on her neck gingerly. Dorito was a little disappointed to see her mother’s cheeks stained darker with tears. Her mother never cared that much about her.

    “Son!” Dorito’s father called out, running up to the black wolf. Oh… He was an older child… Dorito understood now. Her offence receded a little, but still ate at her.

    The black wolf smiled and greeted his father with a wide, inviting grin that sent chills down Dorito’s spine. His smile was so warm.. But something seemed wrong with it. Wrong with him. He seemed to have something eating at him as well. But, the grin faded a bit to the point where he looked normal for the most part and Dorito just sighed, turning her head and resting it on her right leg.

    “So…” Kapu said eagerly, “Another litter? They seem a bit late. Later than me and… Well, later than my litter was. Were they all born okay?” Dorito’s mother shuddered a bit and looked to Dorito, who pretended to be asleep. Dorito’s mother sighed and said in a quiet voice, “The larger male and female over there are perfectly fine, but that runt over there… She’s… She’s different.”

    Kapu took a glance at Dorito and she looked at him and scowled. Dorito’s mother bit her lip, realizing Dorito had been listening, but seemed not to be ashamed of her judgement.
    Kapu just shot that magnificent, eerie smile at Dorito and her eyes widened a bit and she lowered her head onto the ground and glared up at him, her lip twitching and threatening to turn into a snarl. Kapu just smiled wider and looked to his mother, “What’s so wrong with her? All I can notice is her claws, teeth, and bad attitude. I’d say she’d make a good fighter when she grows older. Are you gonna keep her in the pack?” Dorito clenched her teeth at what he said. He seemed to be complimenting her… So why did she feel such a burning hate for him? Suddenly, before their mother could respond, their father interrupted. “I smell a deer… Lowelette? We ought to go find it- Kapu? Would you like to come? It’ll be like the old days.” Kapu contemplated for a moment, but then shook his head, “I ought to stay here and watch the children- get to actually meet them before I have to leave.” Dorito’s father smiled and tilted his head to the left quickly, signaling Dorito’s mother that that was the direction in which the scent was coming from.

    The moment they left, Kapu yawned and walked up to Magma and Talon and began playing with them. Dorito sighed and rested her head on her right leg again. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and the sky had darkened. Had she fallen asleep? She couldn’t remember falling asleep. She stood up and flexed her toes. She stretched and gave a wide yawn, revealing her large, white fangs. Suddenly, the fur on her neck bristled and her eyes widened at the sound of someone step up behind her from the den.

    “Good evening…” The voice said casually, “Nice to see that you’re awake.” Dorito knew who it was. It was Kapu, of course. But his voice seemed… Different. A darker, softer tone than he had used upon greeting his parents and younger siblings. A more… Comforting tone. Dorito remained silent and Kapu solemnly continued, “You know, I was the runt of my… Litter… As well. I was sickly as well. I had an infection of the heart, or something like that. Mother says that it was suspected that I had a hole in my heart. Mother always would coddle me and be so overprotective of her ’fragile little boy.’ It bothered my siblings, but they never made a fuss over it- they even tried not to tease me. Well, at least they tried not to. But, besides the occasional teasing, life was well. We had food… Water… Each other. The point is, take advantage of the life that you have now, before it’s gone. You know… Nothing good lasts forever.” He gave me a stern look, then turned around and went back into the den without another word.

    Dorito took in a deep inhalation of the crisp night air, exhaling it and looking at the faint puff of smoke that was emitted from her maw. It was growing colder. The winter would soon approach. She tried to imagine it. Father said that it was unbearably cold at times, yet, if they were lucky, there would be blankets of sparkling white snow. Father had described it as cold and pleasurable. A large white sheet that covered everything and was fun to dig in and romp about in. He had also described how it was formed. How the little snowflakes would fall from the sky and all come together to form such a beautiful landscape. How they were all individual. The thoughts made Dorito smile, but only slightly. She continued to let her imaginings run away from her until, eventually, her thoughts lulled her back to sleep.

    Suddenly, she found herself deep within the forest. She looked about, confused and disorientated. Why was she no longer in the den? Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization. Had her mother and father abandoned her there? She sniffed the air deeply. There was no sign of the scents of the den. But… If she were so far away then… How had she not awoken? She shot up to her feet at the sound of footfall not too far behind her. “Who’s there?” she growled loudly, unafraid. Suddenly, she heard wings fly up from behind her. She immediately ducked, barely managing to dodge the bird that struck down at her. She immediately bore her teeth and glared at the white raven. “What do you want of me you insolent crow?”

    “You are the insolent one you impudent cur.” The raven dived again, emitting a loud, vociferous trill. Dorito dodged again, twisting around and yanking out a clump feathers from the raven’s tail. The raven made a loud noise, not one of a trill or a caw, but almost of a growl. Dorito lowered her ears in confusion when suddenly, the feathers began to shoot off of the bird. Massive chunks of skin began to grow on its chest and it’s wings melted into it’s body. It let out almost a sort of scream as flesh began to engulf its beak. Dorito backed away. What was happening? The crows body grew as more and more flesh bubbled over the original shape. Dorito felt sick as she stared at the ball of flesh in the tree fall and hit the ground with a squishing noise, continuing to grow and grow. It then formed a giant torso shape, no longer looking like a big clump of flesh. She then noticed limbs forming. She saw what looked like legs, a tail, and a fairly large neck. Then, as the head of the unknown creature formed, she noted the sheer size of the massive beast. It stood as tall as ten adult wolves. Dorito began to back away when suddenly she felt a firm grip on the scruff of her neck and was lifted up rather roughly and quickly. She let out a confused whine as her kidnapper turned and ran at a speed that Dorito had never been carried at. She was roughly bounced and shook as she was carried. Then, the fur on the nape of her neck rose and her eyes widened as she heard the loud sound from behind. It was a deep throated mix between a roar and a growl that was unexplainable. Dorito wanted to scream, but couldn’t force herself to make a sound. She squirmed and kicked in protest, when suddenly her kidnapper spoke, “Hold still! I am trying to save you!” He growled, speaking the best that he could with the small puppy in his mouth. His voice sounded so familiar to Dorito, but she didn’t know why.

    Suddenly, Dorito could feel him slow down until he stopped. He turned his head and looked behind him for a while. He began to lower his head and was about to put Dorito down, when without warning Dorito could hear the loud crushing sound of trees being snapped in half and hundreds of tree branches being crushed and broken in several little pieces. The loud growling sound filled the forest again and Dorito’s captor suddenly bolted through the forest just as a loud crushing sound hit the ground, as though a giant bolder had fallen through the trees and smashed into the earth below.

    “What is that!?” Dorito cried out, truly terrified.

    “Her,” was the only response Dorito’s captor would give.

    “Where are you taking me?”

    “Back to consciousness, before she takes it.”

    “Takes what…?”

    “Your soul of course.”

    Dorito’s heart turned to icy stone and she felt her eyes widen and her throat close up, her hair follicles tingling as her fur rose in fear. Suddenly, she saw lights soaring across the ground in nice crooked lines that shone a neon blue. Chanting echoed through the forest and her captor’s pace quickened to the point where he almost stumbled and fell. “We’re almost there!” he called out through clenched teeth and the scruff of Dorito’s neck. Dorito squinted as the clearing ahead suddenly lit up in blue lighting. She closed her eyes tight and suddenly woke with a start.

    A dream? No, it wasn’t a dream, she was sure. She had felt the cold grass, the chilled air. She could feel the roughness of her captor’s teeth. So, if it was all real, then why had she just awoken inside of the den? She shot to her feet and looked about, fairly disorientated.

    In the clearing outside the den she could see her mother, father, and siblings feasting on a small elk cow carcass. Where was Kapu? She looked into the den behind her, and around the clearing, but he was absent. Dorito stepped into the clearing to join her family’s eating, but was greeted with a bit of a growl from her father. Dorito stopped abruptly and sat down. He had told her about the day when they would begin to separate the puppies by rank. Dorito was an obvious choice for omega and Talon and Magma were at the moment undecided.

    Dorito scowled in disgust as they engorged themselves upon the cold flesh of the elk, the feast slowly diminishing. Eventually, her whole family was done eating and her parents went to sleep in the den while Talon and magma play fought in the open. Dorito looked upon the once grand feast and saw only small lean portions of meat and cracked bones. She found herself gorging upon it anyway, cleaning the bones of any meat and taking bones and burying them, keeping two ribs out and cracking them open to eat the spongy bone marrow. She hardly felt satisfied, but didn’t complain. Suddenly, a raven landed casually on the blood stained grass, pecking about and devouring tiny chunks of mean and marrow that had been buried in the grass.
    Dorito’s blood ran cold as though there were shards of glass forming within her veins. She curled up her lips and her eyes widened, her ears snapping against the side of her head. The bird immediately shot it’s head up to look at her, it’s beak soaked in blood and tiny fragments of meat and fat. The bird let out a wide trill, spatters of blood and meat trickling through the air. Dorito was disgusted, but still felt terror in her heart and did not dare take her eyes off of the bird. Suddenly, the bird’s eyes glowed a bright blue. The whole clearing turned grayscale. Nothing moved. All was silent.

    “What do you want of me!?” Dorito cried out, curling her tail between her legs and looking around, barely daring to break her gaze with the bird.

    “Fear,” the bird replied without opening its mouth. It’s voice was beautiful, like gentle wind chimes, “The fear of someone so unwittingly powerful. Stupid girl! You fear so much, yet don’t dare to face it or fight against it. If only you knew what you could do before you were to die. Oh, but don’t shudder like that dear! You are not going to die yet, of course. I would do it my self, but I dare not ruin my feathers with the blood of someone so impudent. But this is a warning girl, you had better have your wits about you.” The bird let out a loud trill and Dorito suddenly snapped back to reality and the bird flew away silently.

    Dorito stood there for a long while, tail tucked between her legs, ears flat, eyes wide. She continuously shot her glance from tree top to tree top trying to spot the vile bird. Eventually, She felt something gingerly touch her from behind. She let out a bit of a scream and shot around. She groaned and looked up at her father, who had touched her with his paw.

    “You know, that offer still stands…” he said, a bit wary of her trepidation. Dorito cocked her head in confusion. “Remember? I asked if you would like to come hunting with me, and although you declined, the offer still stands,” he said.

    “But first answer me this,” Dorito said, sitting down and looking up at him, “Where is Kapu?”

    “Oh,” her father replied, sitting down as well, “He left this morning. Seemed in a bit of a rush, though I really don’t know why. Oh, but you know, I did see that raven again this morning- the white one. Flew off after him. I guess it thought he was going to make a kill and wanted to share the bounty. Vile birds.” Dorito felt empathy for her brother.

    Was the raven after him too?