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Recovering the Ferals Past
As
Anika laid in the ruins of a small hut, her dreams slipped into
forgotten memories, memories of her childhood that she had long been
without. She smelled the scent of decay and death even smoldering ash mixed with several other scents she recognized as other wolves and one that made her feel safe. It smelled like warm honey and lilies, only these scents ones where much older than her. Her eyes opened slowly and in front of her was a sort of hut with clothing drying on a line, swaying gently in the breeze and a woman with silver hair, a thin frame, and a bit taller than Anika was now Beside
the woman stood a child, a tiny frail thing with snow white skin and
tangled gold locks that hung in curls around her face while she was clad
in a red hood over a red and white dress. The child had the brightest
blue eyes as she looked up to the woman who returned a loving glance
with her own blinding green orbs. Anika stood, watching the two and her
chest hurt. “M-mom?” She called out but it was clear that she was
nothing more than a bystander in this place. “Momma,
can I go play with the others?” The child asked hopefully, handing the
woman beside her a sheet. “I suppose, but be careful, all right? Don’t
ruin your cloak. I already had to stich it three times.” “I won’t
momma!” The child beamed, hugging the woman tightly before scampering
off. Anika followed her as she skipped along the path from the hut into
the small town, those tangled curls bouncing as she did so. As the child passes a few homes, and shops, she was greeted with smiles from some and whispers from others
but she didn’t seem to notice, or at least she pretended to. Anika
remembered some of the faces, matching the scents from before to them,
older families who loved gossip yet were still younger than a few other scents the wolf hadn’t placed yet. She even thought she faintly heard the mention of her father through the whispers while following her younger self to the center of the square. There
was a large building with several woman and men, all deep wrinkles on
their faces under gray hair that emerged from their hoods. Anika
recognized them as the elders of her village, wise and absolute in their
ways. The child bowed her head to them as she passed, remembering her
mother’s constant reminders to show them respect having it etched into
her upbringing. She didn’t often make contact with
them, but there was a woman with feathers in her darker gray hair,
small braids adorning them and a large walking stick in her hand that
gave the child a warm smile who Anika remembered as the healer, a woman
who had always shown her kindness. The child form giggled and waved to
her in secret so the elders wouldn’t see before ducking under a fence
and making her way towards an empty clearing where the grass was
overgrown up to the child’s knees. From
there Anika could smell the scent of pups, and the decay from before
followed it as her eyes moved to a dark wood in the distance. She felt a
sense of dread overcome her as she looked to the black wood of the
trees and saw the light die before reaching the large forest, further
proving that no life would be tolerated within it. She remembered
hiding behind a hut one night and watching the elders and the hunters of
her pack carrying half of their hunt to the mouth of the ominous wood
and seeing a large wolf, larger than any in her pack emerge from it to
take the prize, dragging it by its throat into the darkness. She was
pulled from her thoughts when she heard a boy call out. “Hey RED! Bout time you got here!” “Come on RED let’s play tag! Runts it!” Another girl called. The child form pouted and huffed, stomping her feet. “I’m not a runt! And I’m always it! H-HEY! Wait for me!” She took off after the other children, making out five in total. Anika watched as her child self tried
to capture them to no avail before recalling why they called her what
they did. Runt. Anika was much smaller than the other children. Funny to
her now being her wolf form was a dire wolf and much bigger then
the gray wolves she grew up with. After several failed attempts to
capture the others, the child huffed and stormed off to sit on a large
log, not far off from the dark wood they shouldn’t have been so close
to. “Aw, come one Red, you can’t give up!” “Shut up Niko! I’m tired of always being it! And you know I hate that name…. stupid story….” She pouted again. Niko laughed and shoved her shoulder. “But it fits you so well Anika. Big bad wolf! Besides, you look good in red. Come on, we’re gonna go into the woods.” He turned and walked towards the place that radiated death and darkness. “W-we’re not supposed to go in there Niko! The Elders said- “ “Aw! Hey guys Anika is scared!” The children laughed at her. “N-No I’m not!” She whined and stood, stomping her foot. Niko smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh yeah? Then you go in first.” Anika
looked to her smaller form and shook her head. “N-no! Bad idea!” But
her words fell flat as the child narrowed her eyes and growled lightly.
“FINE!” The
pale skinned girl stormed her way up to the edge of the wood, smelling
the decay coming from it as well as something else she couldn’t place.
Anika remembered that smell. And she panicked as she tried to pull the
child away only to have her hand fall through her and became the child now, looking through her eyes. “N-no! H-he’s in there!” But the child pushed through the threshold, bending, and snapping branches out of her way as she ventured further in. She
turned triumphantly and poked her tongue out to the other children who
soon followed her path and ended up beside her. Niko looked around and
started to walk deeper into the forsaken forest, waving them to follow.
At first, she looked back to the clearing and the village before following after
the others, not wanting them to think she was scared when she was. The
elders never ventured into the woods nor did the hunters of the pack and
if that wasn’t warning enough, there was always the smell. “N-Niko
maybe we should go back. Come on guys it stinks here and if our parents
find out we will be in BIG trouble.” She whined a bit again while
rubbing her arm uneasy. One of the two other girls laughed as the other
whispered something in her ear and the boys shook the heads and made
eerie noises at Anika. “Knock it off guys, Anika we’ll go back in a minute ok? Come on don’t you wanna at least look around?” But they weren’t near the edge anymore, they were far into the woods and unaware
that something else had started following them the moment they entered.
Anika walked behind the others when she heard the snap of a stick
behind her and spun around to see what it was. It
only took but that one split second for Anika to be separated from the
other children and the massive feral Alpha of the wood to bound from his
shadows, his jaws locking around the waist of one of the girls,
clamping down with a spray of blood before shaking his head violently
which only caused his massive teeth to rip further into the child’s flesh, tearing her in two. Anika watched in horror while the others screamed and scattered. Niko
was running towards Anika while the second girl had been knocked down
when the Alpha attacked her friend, her grip on her hand being the
culprit to her fall when the girl was snatched up. The Alpha didn’t even
have to move far for his front right paw to land on the girl’s
head, crushing it like a grape which plastered Anika in brain matter
and skull fragments, the warm sticky, crimson liquid bursting from the
mess all over the front of the child’s clothing. Anika
was yanked to the side when Niko grabbed her to run back the way they
came and all Anika could hear was the gurgled screams of the three boys
and the snapping of bones followed by a deep rumbling growl that shook
the ground, the scent of blood leaving a stinging stench in her
nostrils. Niko was dragging Anika practically, her face getting
scratched by the branches as she tried to keep up with Niko. She
looked back to see where the massive wolf was behind them, only to feel
Niko stop. She panted and tried to catch her breath, turning to face
him again. “N-Niko, I think we lo- “Anika’s eyes widened when she caught sight of the feral Alphas orange eyes, staring at her over the gushing stump with scattered with the tangled strings of veins, tendons and bone that came from the boy’s torso. Anika let out a blood curdling scream, as she stumbled back and the large wolf brought its paw up only to knock the body of the boy off to the side. His lips curled around his canines and he snarled as he stepped toward her. Anika crawled backwards, whimpering as tears poured down her cheeks and the wolf with coarse
fur standing almost in spikes along his body. His mouth drenched in the
blood of the children she grew up with. The feral alpha growled again
and she felt the ground shake under her hands. He was inches from the
child’s face as she turned away from him, eyes squeezed shut as she
waited to suffer the same fate as the others. Instead
the feral stopped and sniffed the child. His eyes sparked as he inhaled
her scent, the orange hues an eerie shade as though he was looking
right into her soul. “This one is different….” His voice echoed in her head, possessing it. “You have old blood in you.......primitive….slumbering deep where it may never reach its potential….How
did you get such a thing? Something as old as that, as old as me and as
wild, feral, should not be squandered… Your pack is weak….Nothing more than grays with diluted bloodlines….Nothing more than tamed dogs…….You don’t belong there Anika……Come with me…..” Anika
had crawled away from him slowly as his voice took over her thoughts
before her hand fell upon a large branch. The tiny wolf was no longer
scared but angry at the insults he spat towards her pack. She growled
lowly and gripped the branch, yanking it from its spot and swung it as
hard as she could at the massive wolfs head. It cracked against his
skull and splintered on impact, the alpha shaking his head hard with a
snarl as Anika got to her feet and ran towards the edge towards the
clearing near the village she saw through the net of branches in front of her. “I’m not going anywhere with you!” She shouted but the large wolf
was already behind her as she broke through the branches, tearing her
red cloak while she felt a rush of safety in the sun. That safety was
quickly shattered when a searing pain shot through her back where the
feral alphas claws tore into her flesh leaving six inch
gashes across her back in four massive cuts that frayed the skin and
caused her blood to drench her entire back. The child cried out
in agony as she fell forward, little did the small child know that
within those claws the alpha let his own blood flow from them into the
wounds, infecting her with his feral curse that he gained full control
of within himself. Instead a dark laugh echoed in her head as those glowing orange eyes were the last thing Anika saw retreating into the darkness. “Let us unleash that primitive nature……you WILL come to me…that is….if you are as strong as you seem…..Weak
wolves don′t have a place in a strong pack. Are you a weak wolf Anika?”
The alpha vanished from sight within the dark wood and Anika laid in a
pool of her own blood, whimpering, and crying out until one of the
elders heard her and the hunters accompanied by her mother found her at
the edge. It hadn’t been long, maybe several minutes but already the gashes on the child’s back had turned red, inflaming the skin and a fever took hold of her. She lost a
significant amount of blood that left her already pale skin bone white
while her lips became pale as well and cracked. Her body was drenched in
sweat, the wounds kept the infection running rampant, and she kept
slipping in and out of consciousness while muttering and trying to get
up to leave for the dark wood again. The packs healer did everything she
could think of to help the child but nothing worked. Meanwhile
the hunters of the pack went into the dark forest to look for
retribution against the alpha they had maintained a peace with for years
for the children he had massacred when they entered his territory. As
they carefully scanned the wood, the alphas scent was gone
and they could not find him. They brought back the children, or at
least what they could find of them to begin a proper ceremony for the
families. The
healer had pulled Anika’s mother aside as the child laid in a bed with a
cloth on her forehead. “This is beyond anything I have ever come
across. I don’t know what was passed on to her but if we do not seek aid
from another pack, she may die. I know of a pack that
may have better resources then us. I shall send one of our hunters to
send word to this pack, in the meantime we need to keep her fever at
bay.” The healer returned to Anika’s side and continued to apply herbs
to the wounds on her back while the small wolf mumbled while tossing and
turning. It didn’t take long for the alpha of the pack known as the Wolves of Shadow to arrive to the village with several other wolves in tow,
maybe a day, and when he was shown to the girl her fever had increased
and instead of growing weaker, she had become more violent. Her desire
to return to the black forest became more prevalent and she kept
speaking of the alpha that infected her, his voice still in her mind.
“He wants me to go with him! I need to go!” Darian
hadn’t seen anything like this infection before and his concern grew
for the child. He pulled the healer aside while the hunters kept Anika
in bed, through her thrashing and growling. “This is something unknown to me. You have said she was attacked by another wolf? Something that you have lived in fear of? I will need to call upon the Grand Sorceress
of the Lands, she may know what is needed to save the child.” Darian
made his way back to Anika and placed his hands on either side of her
face. He looked her in the eyes as they fluttered between being open and
shut. “You are strong little one. You can fight this. Do not let it win. I will return.” Anika whimpered and slipped into a moment of clarity,
her eyes dull in shade as she looked back to him. “H-Hurry.” Darian
gave the child a nod and shifted into his wolf form, a large black wolf
with silver and took off from the hut to retrieve the Grand Sorceress on his own. Three days had passed without
any word from the alpha, and just as it seemed the small wolf was out
of hope, he appeared almost out of thin air with a woman with dark ebony
hair and white eyes. The elders welcomed the Alpha back as well as the Grand Sorceress and the healer explained further what had happened. Anika
laid in bed still, sheets drenched in sweat as her breathing became
shallow and her body seemed to be giving up on her. The Grand Sorceress
made her way to the child, carefully turning her onto her stomach from
her side and removed the herbs places over the wounds. The deep gashes
were now a dark shade of reddish purple and simply running her hand over it caused the small wolf to whine and wince in pain. She could feel the wolfs heart beat fading and began to work quickly on stabilizing her. Magic was a wonderful thing for these circumstances but it was going to get much more unpleasant for the child. Sifting through the information she was given, the Sorceress turned
to Anika's mother. "Something is unlocking inside of her something
ancient and dark. I do not know of this Alpha you all speak of but
something like this is passed like a disease. It is testing her to see
if she has the strength to survive its a miracle she has."
Anika spoke in her dazed state, “I-I have to get back……He wants me to get back…” Anika winced and her hands found their way to the sides of her head while the Feral Alpha’s voice echoed again. The healer of her pack shook her head and placed her hands over Anika’s. “Shhh….You need to stay here. It’s not safe for you.” Anika could feel a warmth of the healers hands as she chanted something in an old tonge and soon the voice was quieted. Anika could think clearly now without the voice coaxing her to return to the dark wood.
Anika
could hear her mother speaking to the Sorceress about Anika being born
as a runt, and the teasing she always got from it. Anika looked to the
healer as she stood to leave when the Sorceress motioned for everyone to
follow her outside. "One day I’ll be a big wolf! I won’t be called a
runt anymore.” she stated as she was becoming less dazed but then her
eyes fell shut and she tensed as a small jolt of pain shot through her
back. The
Sorceress returned with Dairan and the healer of the pack and sat down
beside Anika, the child’s thick blonde locks sticking to her face where
the sweat dripped. “Well welcome back little one. Cutting it a bit close
there huh? I am glad you are such a good fighter. You held on just long
enough and did well.
I am glad you aren’t trying to get away. I need to know a bit more
about this wolf that attacked you and I think the answer may lie in the
wound he gave you. It seems he could have killed you like the others but
didn’t. I am going to need to siphon what I can from your wounds but I will have to put you to sleep for a time. It will hurt immensely when I do what I have to and I don’t want you to suffer through it.” Anika looked up at the woman and then to the healer and her mother who stood in the doorway. Her mother nodded to her and Anika looked to The Sorceress and the other Alpha from a sister pack. “W-will I wake up?” The woman nodded and stroked the childs head. “Of course dear, it is only until I can find out how to stop this.” Anika frowned and nodded.
The
wolf was uneasy but agreed and the Sorceress went to work to put her in
a coma like state so she could begin to find the root cause of the
infection and a way to help the girl. Anika didn’t remember much
but she did faintly hear voices in her dreams about ancient wolves from
the old world, almost gods who ruled over packs and humans until they
fought back and their numbers fell and the source of the infection. Well
more like what the infection had done. Anika had a primitive nature
already within her and it seemed that the Alpha that attacked her had
infected her with a feral curse it was like a venom that only other
ferals could have a reaction to and survive while it killed any normal
wolves who may have been attacked with it within hours. This
curse only brought out the feral side within the small wolf, unlocking
it all at once which her body was unable to accompany at her young age.
It was making her violent and rabid while overheating her body which was
killing her cells, being only a pup Anika wasn’t able to
shift like the curse wanted her to. The Sorceress was able to concoct a
spell that caged this feral beast inside the child and once that was
accomplished, her body began to cool, the fever breaking. Next
was to create a medicine for the massive wounds on the child’s back
which helped aid in her natural healing but because of her age, the
wounds would heal into thick scars on her skin. It took three nights
before the child was at a state she could be awakened. When Anika woke,
the color had returned to her lips and her pale skin and she wasn’t drenched in sweat. Soft blue hues regained their light as they fell upon her mother beside her. “mmmmm-Morning.” The small wolf mumbled.
Anika’s mother smiled in relief as Anika was hugged tight by her mother and noticed the Sorceress behind her. “Oh
thank you! Anika, how do you feel? Are you alright? Are you in any
pain?” Anika squeaked and whined, being a stubborn wolf as she squirmed a
bit in her mother’s arms. “Ack! Mom! You’re crushing me! I’m fine! I’m fine!” The Sorceress looked to Darian as he entered, he too a bit relieved. “Well it seems for now that side is locked away. But when she gets older she will need to know how to
use it and keep in control of it. That is why I recommend sending her
to another pack that deals in the old ways, they are widely respected
and would be great role models for a young wolf to learn the old ways.”
the Sorceress spoke to both Anika and her mother. Anika and her mother agreed
and the young wolf gave her thanks to both the Alpha and the Grand
Sorceress. Darian and his wolves left the young wolf and her pack now
that she was saved, “Until we meet again little wolf.” Darian gave her a
small smile before shifting and leaving. Anika’s
mother insisted on serving the Grand Sorceress a meal for her aid and
Anika was roped into helping by gathering herbs and vegetables for the
dinner. Anika, having been under lockdown for over a week was feeling
the need to run about. She looked to the field and remembered her
friends and what happened to them, frowning as she felt she was to
blame. Their families didn't place blame on her but the lingering
question on why was she the only to survive was always in their eyes. Anika
shook her head and she took off running through the overgrown grass far
away from the blackened forest. She breathed the fresh air, she felt
the earth beneath her feet and she felt free and herself again after an
hour or so as the sun soon would set she gathered the herbs and
vegetables she was asked to pick from the community garden and headed
back home to her mother and the Sorceress for dinner. Rabbit stew was
one of her favorites.
The
next few days as her wounds healed more on her back, Anika spent being
checked on by the woman to ensure she was healing properly. She learned a
bit about the sorceress
and they shared stories with one another, Anika even telling her about
her father who went on a hunt one day never to return. The other wolves
in the village talked about him running away with a new mate, others
blamed the small child that was born to him and his wife. The “runt” as
she was called. After
three more days she was fully healed and the Sorceress left wishing
well the village and the girl and her mother. "Stay out of trouble now."
She gave a small wink and suddenly a wind danced around her and she
vanished.
The
Feral that poisoned Anika to unlock her primal nature lingered in the
forest smelling the air and could sense that she had healed now being
connected to her in a way. Year after year her pack faithfully gave the
feral half their hunts and when the young wolf turned 16 that was the
day she would never forget. The feral left his woods and stalked to the
village that night and Anika woke to the smell of blood, smoke, decay,
death, and a rot that she knew from the dark wood. Her
mother had snatched her out of bed and they made a run for the fields
as she passed blood soaked dirt paths and body parts as well as innards
and corpses half eaten. There was screaming and before they could reach
the field her mother knelt down before her with tears in her eyes. "Its
you. I believe he wants you. I will distract him. Shift Anika and run
like you never have before to the next village and tell their pack of
what happened here."
She handed Anika her red cloak and Anika was
sobbing. "I don't want to leave you. I love you momma." Her mother
hugged her tight. "I will always be beside you. I love you so much. Now
RUN." And that was the last Anika saw of her pack and her mother.
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