- This Wolf's Soul 4 - Doubt and a Story -

This is #4 in this series. If you haven't started this series yet, scroll down to previous posts to start at #1, Questions.
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"Impossible..."
You relay your story, trying as hard as you can to make it make sense to Nero, but you have to admit it doesn't make sense to yourself.
So many questions still unanswered.
So many lives hanging in the balance of memory.
So many faces and names, flashing by in a blur of uncertainty.
Friend or foe?
Alive or dead?
Real or illusion?
"Argh!! I can't take it!!" You leap up, planning to chase every bit of truth down to the ends of the earth. Then something hit you. Hard.
"Now, now. Can't have that. Hmph. To think Nero thought he could trust you. He must be growing senile!!" Nero, glaring, had grabbed a stick in his jaws and swung it over your head.
You're baffled. He really thinks you know something about this?
"I'm just as puzzled as you are!" You yell up at him, holding your paws over your head. It stung. "If I was planning to betray you, Why didn't I kill you when you were sleeping earlier?! Hmmm?!"
"Oh... yes... why indeed, my friend..." Nero seemed to have calmed down, he suddenly was shivering and let his tail droop. His brow was furrowed deep in thought. Jeez, what did he know that he wasn't telling you?! (And what's with these weird mood swings...?)
"Now," you said, sitting down, "Can I ask questions now? I have quite a few, and it seems you have more knowledge than me."
"Oh, yes, of course, of course." Nero circled around in his nest, nodding and closing his eyes. "Ah, yes. Let's start with that Tsuyoi fellow. Nero has heard a great deal about him, he has. Quite a monster, he is. One of The Broken."
You stop.
"...The Broken...?"
Nero eyes you. "Remember something, my friend?"
You shake your head.
"I don't know... it just seems familiar..."
"Hmm. Nero knows not much of them, only darkness and mystery cloaks them. Nero will tell you what he can."
"There was once a spirit. It was light, of great good. A holy spirit, if you will. It was not known how, but there came to be an evil that arose against it, and this came the existence of all. Legend of creation, follow, do you, my friend?"
You nod.
"Life was made, so on and so on, there came to be the wolf."
"Yes."
"We howl to the moon, do wolves not?"
"We do."
"And why, do you know?"
"It was thought to be instinctual. We feel need to call to the light to come back from the moon."
"Hmm. 'Twas thought."
"That's not why?"
"No. In fact, quite the opposite. It comes of custom, it used to be to wish well of the night hunt, but it even meant something far greater."
"Spit it out, already, what?"
Nero gulped.
"A curse."
You stare. "A curse? On what?"
"Light. To banish the light."
"Why would our ancestors do that?"
"Who knows." Nero shrugged. "Maybe for the hunt, maybe for evil. Maybe to bring back the dead."
The dead...
You remember Nero's words to you.
"Dying, no. But you did, my friend."
"How did you know I had died?"
Nero looked as if you were asking why moss grows on trees.
"Your smell."
"... My smell?"
"Yes! You reeked of death! Yet you breathed."
"I see. On with the story, please."
"Ah, yes, yes. So you see, howling at the moon was to banish the energy of light."
"Why would darkness bring back life? That doesn't make sense."
"It does not literally bring back life, for life does not go anywhere; this ritual can't actually create life. It moves it."
"Moves it?"

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Again, if you haven't heard it already...
Comment with what YOU want to do next!! I will use this to write the next entry!
(( Yay!! Finally some explanations!!))

~ This Wolf's Soul 3 - Places ~

The land around was silent as fallen snow. No bird calls or even a breath of wind could be heard. You gaze around the dark silvery forest, filled with dust and the smell of death.
Moonlight shone down like a spotlight on the ground in front of you. There, delicately balancing in the crushing gravity, was a feather. A tiny, white, pure feather. But when you look closely, you shudder as you see the blood. Tainting its perfect innocence was a pool of blood beneath it, flowing around and suffocating its light.
What left this blood? But your question is answered when pain stabs your side. You go down with a thump and a hefty grunt. You seem to have been hit by a fastrock, and by the looks of it right between the ribs.
You feel like screaming inside, but a twig snapping behind you makes you hold your tongue. Afraid to turn your head and look, you make yourself as still as possible as if whatever-it-was cannot see you if you are just still enough, and you even still your breathing from stirring the dead leaves.
After many painful moments of awkward silence, you dare to inhale slowly. Working up the courage, you decide to get it over with and determine the existence of the whatever-it-is. With one sharp twist, you turn your head to the darkness beyond.
Your heart skips a beat.
A shape. A moving shape. It saw you! It was coming! Sliding towards you, skittering on the dead leaves, it flowed up beside you, a dark mass of fluff. As you realize it's size, you relax and let out a sigh.
"Hane." The little dove scurried up beside you, leaving more feathers in its wake. "Where have you been?"
Why am I saying this, you think, is its name Hane? You didn't even say the words; they just came out of your mouth, as if they've already been said and you are hearing them again.
As the bird stands there, next to you, it starts twittering and chirping a complex pattern. Somehow you understand the code, and you perk your ears to absorb every cheep out of the bird, as what it said seemed beyond the little bird's understanding. The message was as so:
"The Crossing must begin. Soon this world shall be no more. Meet north. A new reign shall begin. Our reign. Kill this bird when it is done, cannot risk exposure. Although trained in silence, it is a hazard. From Tsuyoi."
Those few small words seemed to last eons coming from the little birds' beak, and they were no easier to process. The Crossing... those words seem so familiar... this world? North? Reign? 'Our'? Kill Hane? And Tsuyoi... you suddenly get another flash of the golden fur. That's him? It was too much. The world spun away, and the frail stars above melted into the murky sky.

{~}::{~}::{~}

"Wake up! Please! Nero did not mean!"
A powerful paw was jabbing your side, the one that had been bloodied a moment before.
"...Cut it out...Tired..." You groan and wave away the irritating creature at your side. Wait. Irritating? Nero! You open your eyes, expecting to see the furrowed, grumpy brow of the shaman gazing down at you. Instead you saw a worried face, with his ears back and gently whining.
You blink up at him.
"I remember."

Comment what YOU want to do next!
~Sorry guys, if I cannot write exactly what you want to do right now, but now I am trying to establish a base plot, then we can let readers work out details and choices such as 'go left or right, sit with her or him, hunt here or there' (of course that is not all the reader will pick, but those are examples). I understand if you're getting impatient with the plot, but please bear with me! Thanks!

~ This Wolf's Soul 2 - Memories ~

You continue to stare at Nero with blank eyes.
Nero stares back at you, his eyes just as wide.
"Why are you staring at Nero?" the ragged wolf said, puzzled. As if what he said was no more unusual than moss on a tree.
"I died? How am I alive then? What are you talking about? How was I killed?" you probe further into Nero, starting to get suspicious.
"Nero sees you truly know nothing. That's good, my friend. That means Nero can trust you," Nero continued cryptically. "If you were one of them, Then surely you would have retained your memories. But no matter, this must be the work of Starpack. A natural miracle. Now tell Nero, what's the first name that pops into your head?" asked Nero, padding over to a crack in the wall of the cave. He set himself busy with pulling wads of dried leaves out of it and laying them out in rows in front of him.
You frown. Can this wolf answer any question straight? Anyway, he seems to mean you no harm, so you decide to cooperate him him, but suddenly the sharp smell of the leaves hit your nose. It stinks horribly.
"Eww," you say, wrinkling your nose.
"Eww? That's an odd name," Nero mused, smirking.
You sigh. Hmm.. name... you try to remember anything, closing your eyes and concentrating. The herbs intrude on your senses, however, and you only succeed in getting a headache.
"Nothing," you mumble, rolling over (ever so slowly) in hopes of escaping the scent.
Nero sighed, too. "Well, that's too bad, but it was worth a try," Nero reasoned, choosing some of the leaves on the floor, stacking them up, and pushing them over to where you lay. He looks at you expectantly.
You can see with your head sideways the odd heart-shaped leaves. They were a dark red with small white spots, and a fine powder covered the leaves. "What is it?"
"It's a new type of herb Nero found. It has worked before for amnesia with Nero, so it is bound to do something with you. Nero named it neve cuore, that means snow heart," the shaman said. As he spoke, you noticed his eyes shone gleefully, and he resumed carefully laying out more rows of herbs.
You hesitantly paw at the herbs. If they smell that bad, how do they taste? Eventually you resolve to get it over quickly, so you close your eyes, scrunch up your nose, and gulp down the leaves, gagging a bit. After your eyes tear up and you lap up water to get rid of the taste. Nero sees you and blinks, surprised.
"Nero was going to get some honey to make it easier to swallow..."
You roll your eyes. Well that was pointless...
Nero seemed rather impressed, and he got a honey comb out of the crack for you even though the taste was gone. Suddenly, as you see the golden-colored liquid, you remember something.
"I remember golden fur. Beautiful," you blurt out, eyes going far away.
Nero got up and came over next to you, looking concerned and a bit scared. "You remember something? That's impossible! Unless... No... they wouldn't do that on purpose..." Nero flattened his ears and put his paw gently on your forehead. "If you have a fever, it could be a false memory..." He put his paw back down and shook his head. "Even if you remember something, fur color? and golden? It is normally a name at first, or a place..." He seemed troubled, and lay down in the corner that appeared to be his nest.
You continue to gaze away and remember a fast river. You begin to shudder, remembering the freezing water in your fur.
It was some time before Nero noticed you shuddering and came over again. "What now?" He seemed annoyed to be disturbed from his thoughts.
"Cold..."
"Well of course you're cold! It's the middle of frozen-water!" He snapped, pointing his muzzle to the entrance of the cave. For the first time you notice the leaves on the ground outside. But in front of you the leaves' dead color somehow grew more dead, and their color faded away entirely. When you see the trees beyond, they shone a pale silver, and the moon above grew fat and red. The ground around you and the den, Nero even, fell away, leaving only those dead leaves and the blood red, ominous moon. Moon.
"Where am I?" you ask, speaking to no one in particular. The moon above seemed the only one there, and it seemed awfully lonely. "Is this where I died?"

-Comment what YOU want to do next!-
}~{Currently still thinking of a name, if you have any ideas, please share them!}~{

The Legend Begins...

Once there were twin spirits. Their names were Ledik, of the Stars, and Delik, of the Night. The land did not exist yet, neither did life. The two were close. They shared everything and were the best of friends in the sky, light and dark together. But one day, something changed. Someday something always changes, and it is this that brings forth new life. New spirits became, and upon this happening became the element beings, the great Energy of the Sun, the Strength of the Snow, the Wet of the Rain, and the Breath of the Cloud. These four beings tore at the sky in their existence, and ripped the dark and light apart from each other. It was in this rift between them came the Land, a place cursed to forever be in either light or dark. When the twins Ledik and Delik came to realize this parting, they both thought the other had abandoned them. They wept and wept, and created a sadness so large it became the sea. It was a very rare time indeed if the two were seen together again, but those times of beauty were always sacred truces to all and became known as twilight. When these mere moments of beauty came upon the world, the four beings of element felt that what their existence brought was not so bad, and together, they agreed, they had made the stuff of dream. Of hope and a will to see the next greatness in the world. They then, in their happiness of belonging in the world, created their own beauty together. The sparks of energy and willpower they radiated had turned into their own beings. The four were dumbfounded at the wonderful sight. Little balls of energy, strength, water, and breath each given their own small spark of a dream. A dream to simply belong. To be their own greatness. And to finally see another unity of light and dark, the very happiness that could bring one who thought themselves of no good to a new purpose. The purpose that became known as Life.
However, Delik and Ledik continued to think the other had left them, and their reuniting became less and less frequent, until it was hardly at all. When this happened, Many of the new sparks of life died, giving up thinking no good was in the world anymore. However, they had been wrong. Dreams could still be, for the four of element had seen that good so many times before they knew they just knew, it would never disappear. For it had been etched into their very minds, their very soul and heart. The four became what they knew, they followed their hearts and rose to the sky once more. They tried to make their own twilight. Sun would make beautiful lights and color in the sky by shining down for the eyes, while Snow would drop powder down, coating the ground in fluff for the touch. Cloud could move any bit of sweet cold air and rush it by for the nose, and Rain would send soft drizzles down, tapping out a smooth symphony for the ears. Even when the lovely senses surrounded each and every one of the sparks, they were still dying, this was not what their dream of birth and will had been. The four above were almost beyond hope. The sparks would not believe in the dream. But they must, the four thought. They must fight even through the times of no hope and when there seemed to place to belong. If there was a way to show them, to make them see that place of beauty in their mind even if it was nowhere near them. Thus the four came to the etching of Memory. Of Instinct to live, to matter what the thought. And as the four gazed down upon the new life, there were many different kinds. ones that were small, some huge, some dumb, some very smart. Among these were two that were exceptionally unique. They became known as the Wolf and the Man. One was extraordinarily smart, always coming up with smarter ways to do things, but it was very weak. The other was very limber, they could run and jump and go on forever, but they were not very smart. Even though each was strong and weak at the same time, because of these extremes the four above decided to give them gifts. The Wolf was given one of Spirit and Memory, while The Man was given one of Mind and Ability. Each would forever live on and be in the same world, apart or together, which was a beautiful sight. Seeing the two together reminded the element beings of old Delik and Ledik. Hopefully one day they shall be together forever, and not apart like the Star and Night, the four thought. This hope can only be revealed with time however...
But what of Ledik and Delik, you ask? Well... this, too, may only be revealed in time...

~ This Wolf's Soul 1 - Questions ~

“Hello. Nero sees you have awoken.”
Where am I?, you ask yourself, trying and failing to sit up. Everything hurts.
“Please do not try to get up, my friend. You are severely wounded. Trying to move around right now would be very unwise.”
“It hurts.”
“Nero knows. It will get better,” the voice added.
“Who’s Nero?”
“He is who you hear speaking, my friend.”
You try to lift your head to see the third person-speaking wolf. Dizziness floods you, and you immediately throw up.
“Don’t say Nero didn’t warn you,” Nero scolded softly. You make a mental note to listen to him.
"Ugh... Where am I?" you groan.
Nero sighs. "Nero wishes he knew himself," he admits. "Alas, his efforts are in vain. He has gone completely crazy! Hahaha, hehehe!" the odd wolf fell backward on the ground, laughing. "He does not even remember where YOU came, from, my friend!"
More laughing.
You look about you, ignoring Nero for now. It appears you are in a cave, and the mossy floor indicates there is water nearby.
"Can I have some water?" you ask, noticing a pool next to the entrance. Nero responds by jumping up and padding over to the shallow pool. He then begins carefully filling a leaf with some and carrying it over to you to set it next to your muzzle. You begin to lap eagerly, but Nero stops you.
"Slowly, to fast and you may vomit again," Nero cautioned. You take care to drink slowly. Then the questions start bubbling up again.
"What happened to me? What is this cave? Who are you? Are there others near here? Do you have meat? How bad are my wounds? Why are you helping me? Am I dying??" You flood Nero with questions, which he patiently listens to, and then answers them one by one, the best he can:
"You mean you don't know what happened? This is under a tree near lake Shamui. [if you don't know what Shamui is, look at the Snowpack territories.] Nero is called this because of his coloring," he stepped into view revealing his black & white coloring. "Nero is known as an herbseeker, and he heals with herbs. There are no others here right now, although when the lights shine in the sky the others gather here and Nero teaches them. Nero is not a hunter, he eats berries and nuts. Your wounds are grave, but you shall make a full recovery. Nero helps all those injured. As for dying, no, however you did, my friend."
"I did?" all you hear is the last phrase. Who am I, you wonder. Why is this wolf's soul here?

~~Comment what YOU want to do next! The most popular choice will be in the next post!~~