All copyright to me, don't you dare take any of this.


Starting Off




  As the leaves blow in the crisp breeze it caries the scent of all species that travel through the mountain pass. We are located on a level plateau on this mountain. We live a life of luxury, there is plenty of clean water and large healthy prey. Sometimes I wonder what life is like below us. I even wonder what the Valley of Courtspire is like, although it is forbidden to think about it, my parents have told me I am too young, and that I am to fragile, what ever that means. I live in the strange and mysterious world of Lanigroth. My job is to harvest the berries that grow on a ledge just out of our territory.

I am two months old, I often spend my time by the old willow tree. My friends tell me I am too brave and that I often put them in danger. What? Its not like I go inside a bear cave and then we are chased three miles... Ok I admit it, I do get into trouble and I do cause danger. But thats just because, theres nothing fun to do, luxury doesn’t always mean its peaches and cream. I’m just a pup, when will they realize? I don’t know, their probably to mature.
My pelt is as black as the night shadows, it has a blue tint that glows in the moonlight and sparkles in the sun. For my markings I am pointed; on my front paws, my ears, my tail tip, and my muzzle, are even darker black. My eyes are deep blue that never ends, and dashes of bright cyan illuminate them, the streams of silver make my eyes vibrant in color.

“Riley! Your cousins are here!” A voice shouts, I recognize it as my mom’s. “Great.” I growl, another day in misery I hate those little flea bags, they are so annoying, seriously next time they frame me, I am going to pull their fur out one by one. I hear a growl from mom and gulp, “Young lady! If you don’t get here right this second I am going to get your father!” she shouts, I quickly reply, “Coming Mom!” I race towards the den.

As I arrive at the den, I see my cousins and growl, thankfully there is only three this time, but sadly its Mouse, Arial, and Simon, the most crazy cousins that come. Mouse is red and brown, Arial is pure white and Simon is grey, they all have bright brown eyes. My mom comes up to me, her name is Ellie, and her pelt is a stunning white, she has sharp silver on her legs, muzzle and ears, and her eyes are bright gold.

“Great your here.” Ellie says, her eyes twinkle, I bark “Yea its me, big whoop.” Mom rolls her eyes, “Well why don’t you go and play with your cousins.” I groan, “Can’t you just punish me now?” Mom looks at me and laughs “What for?” With my tail swaying I bark, “Well your going to make me play, no matter what.” Ellie nods, I growl and pad towards my cousins, “Don’t forget to go to your classes!” I wag my tail “I won’t!” I shout and jump around, “Finally!” I can’t believe classes are starting again, now that I’m old enough I can learn skills like; Hunting, howling, fishing, swimming, and fighting.

My mood tenses when I see the cousins, Mouse turns her head and looks at me, “Its Riley!” they all look at me and charge, “Not the monsters!” I shout and swerve out of there way, I trip mouse who tumbles into Simon, who pushes Arial into the mud. I laugh “Idiots.” Arial growls at Simon “Whats the big idea?” Simon pointed to Mouse and yelped, “Mouse fell into me! Its not my fault!” Mouse looks at Simon then looks at me, then back to Simon and Arial, “I... Tripped...” Simon looked at Mouse and barks, “On what?” Mouse gulps and looks at me, I glare  “R- rock!” Mouse shouts, I smile and sit down “Well now that, thats settled, I’ll be on my way.” I bark and trot off.

Finally, I can go visit Flash and Sable. I pick up my pace and ran as fast as I can, suddenly I tumble through the brush and stumble onto Flash, I scramble to my feet and pin my ears, “Sorry Flash.” I yelp, Flash laughs, “Its ok.” He gets to his feet and shakes his pelt. Sometimes Flash makes me blush, but its not like I like him! He’s just good friend, besides. I’m not the crushing type, Flash’s fur is so different, its the color of a fox, and his eyes are the closest shade to green, and he is so funny when he wants to be. I smile and look at Sable, “Where we going today?” I bark. Sable shrugs and barks, “I don’t know.” She looked over her shoulder as Apple called for her, “Sable! Come here!” Sable shook her pelt and barks, “Sorry guys!” She runs to Apple. Flash nods “Hey, do you think we can head to cursed pit?” I tilt my head and think for a moment. Finally a reply, “Whats with you today? I can hardly get you to come out of the territory.” Flash laughs, I have to admit, I admire his spirit but whats going on in his head? Flash barks, “I realized that I haven’t been putting my self out there enough.” I smile, well its good to hear he’s coming out of the den. “Riley!” I hear my cousins shout, “Ah!” I yelp and jump behind Flash, “Its the monsters again!”

Flash laughs, “Come on, just play with them, they’ll have fun, and they wont bother you later.” I roll my eyes and smile “Alright.” I say giving in, as Arial, Mouse, and Simon come into view. I smirk and pounce in front of them and woof, “Catch me if you can!” Mouse smiles and chases after me with Simon and Arial. I laugh and run faster, my cousins falling behind, did I mention I am terribly fast? I laugh and slow down. I wag my tail and bark “So, you surprised?” Mouse smiled and nodded. I laugh and watch them start to nip each others tails, I roll over and let them jump on me.

Well I guess it could have been worse, I smile and perk my ears, I feel a chill down my spin, I’m sure its nothing. My cousins are pasted out, I smile and nuzzle Arial’s tail in between her legs. Whispering, “Good night little monsters.” I trot off to go find Flash. My eyes sparkle as the sun starts setting, thats good because night is when the fun comes. I spot my parents and smile running over to them, I bark, “Hey Mom, Dad!” I smash into my dads leg and laugh. He chuckles and bends down so that his muzzle is level with mine. My dad’s fur is a darker cream with a thin black net over his back, he has light black on his face and amber brown on his ears and forehead. His eyes are gold and storm grey. I smile and bark, “How was the hunt?” Shadow, is my dad’s name I often refer him as dad though. Dad smiles and replies, “It was not the best hunt.” I laugh, “Never mind. Where’s Misty?” Misty is my sister, she has brown on her muzzle and around her eyes, her eyes are green brown. Her pelt is white with grey on her legs like mom and some grey on her muzzle. Shadow tilts his head “Thats a good question.” he barks and turns to Mom, she shrugs and says, “Why don’t you check the river.” I smile and bark, “Of course! Thanks Mom, thanks Dad!” I head off towards the water.

This is great so far Ms. Feathetail! I really like your writing style in this story, mainly the little commentary Riley has on a lot of the things, it really helps gets a better feel of the setting and understand Riley better! Keep up the work!

Why thank you. That means so much. I will post the next part in on moment

A story not to be told






I dash around a rock to pounce onto a white puppy. I laugh as Misty freaks out and slips into the river, a grin on my face I jump in after her. I could hear Misty gasping in fright trying to grasp on what just happened. I laughed when Misty’s wet face turned to look at me. I nearly swallowed a swish of water from giggling. I could hear Misty growling over the water. I gulped in air as she swam to me and shoved me under the water. I couldn’t see Misty, but knew she was mad. She shoved me under even further, I soon felt her presence leave. I kicked my back legs and launched out of the water like a fish. I gulped a breath, leaping out of the water. I growled and shook me pelt “Misty! What the Dezzunami!” Misty licked her paws “Well. Thats what you get.” She says. I snarl and bare my teeth. I may be younger than her, but I am faster and stronger. I lunge atop Misty struggling with her. We both try to get the weak points trying to flip the other over. Suddenly I feel someone lifting me off the ground. I kick and flail until I look up to see who it is. Seeing the tabby like stripes I sigh “Hey... Apple...” Her tan fur glistens in the sunset rays. Her eyes grass blade green. I laugh nervously and wait for the whooping of a life time. Apple plops me down and nips my ear. “Riley. Misty. Get a hold of yourselves.” Apple demands.
“Yes ma’am.” Misty and I say.
“You two go head home.” Apple snorts. Misty and I nod racing on home.
 
I sigh, “Better go get those berries.” I scoop up my leather pouch and pad down the slopes. A few feet later I stumble upon the purple ten berries. They are called the purple ten berries because on each small limb, ten purple berries grow. I wag my tail at the joy of them. They are quite tasty in the spring, they are sweet and juicy, but do have a kick of sour. I am one of the only wolves who likes to eat berries, most wolves use them for medicines. I nibble on the berries, and tweak my ears with each bite.

Suddenly I hear a thud. I gulp and lick my sticky purple chops. I quickly scoop the remaining berries into the pouch and bolt to the den. I shriek a little at what I saw. “Raiders.” I yelp. I stare at the stranger pack. I watch as my father fights with their alpha. I growl “Get ‘em dad!” He looks at me with shock. But gives a prideful smile. He bites into the wolf’s neck, and then pulls him down. My mother drives away the warriors with one look. And as soon as my dad sounds a howl the pack retreats with their injured alpha. I snort and give a growl, I lunge at a young warrior biting her heel. She yelps darting forward, I turn around “Is everyone ok? Why did they attack us?” I ask. Ellie comes toward me and sighs “Everyone is fine. They wanted our territory.”

I growl after an hour, it all sinking in. “Why would they want our territory? Don’t they have enough?” I snort and pace then take a deep breath. “I think I understand now... Our pack flourishes, and theirs weakens with hardly any protection.” I glance to the sky and smile, the moon has risen fully, my black fur shines. “Riley, its time to head off to bed.” My dad speaks, I bark, “Can I stay up a little longer dad?” Shadow walks up to me and smiles. “Why don’t I tell you a story.” I nod and wag my tail “Sure!” My dad smiles and we walk to the edge of the cliff looking down the rugged slope then up to the sky. “This is a tale about-” “Shadow, what are you doing.” Mom cuts Dad off. “I was about to tell Riley a story about Mountain Gaze.” Dad replies. Ellie rolls her eyes and speaks, “Stop with the tales already, Shadow. They just fill up our minds with useless information.” Shadow growls “They are not useless! You doubt our legend? This story may connect to you know who!” Mom snaps and puffs, “Shadow, its a hoax, get a grip and come inside.”

I frown and look at my parents. I gaze to the moon and gasp ,“Mom, Dad! The moon! Its turning red!” Ellie and Shadow stop and look at the moon, the sky went dark purple. “Whats going on?” Mom asks and looks to Dad. He shakes his head in questioning. Quickly the moon turns back to normal and it seems the world sighs a breath of relief. “Lets get the pack in the den.” Ellie barks, a little shaken. She gives a fast howl and my fellow pack members glide into the den, and into the chambers. I wait for my parents to go inside. Once they did I padded to the edge and closed my eyes. I listen to the wind and waving of the trees. When I  open my eyes I see a large bulky figure. It is larger than the three horned elk I’ve seen, and wider. I can see a large tail that splits in the middle, into two tails. I frown and blink again, the being now gone. I sigh, “Its probably just a figure of my imagination.” I laugh it off, laying down I close my eyes and begin to drift to sleep. I wriggle my body to wake it up, I walk down the slopes some and lay behind a large rock and tree. I nuzzle up and close my eyes, now sinking into blackness.

I watch as lilac clouds surround me. By this I know I am dreaming. I smile and look at the clouds beginning to jump on them. Then, a strong white wolf appears as the clouds in front of me vanish. His eyes are a strong yet soft gold, and on his muzzle, is the softest of lavender stripe. He has the same color on his tail in the pattern of raccoon rings, and his back paws are the same. He smiled at me, then black clouds rolled in over head, and the white lilac wolf rushed to me and stood over me. He howled and then I saw a black wolf that looked almost exactly like me. She was tall, and pretty, that wolf also howled, and she glowed! The two howls seemed to drive away the black clouds, then the black wolf followed after them, I never even saw her face. The white wolf looked down at me and smiled stepping away from me.

Feeling warmth on my fur I open my eyes and stare at the rock. I turn around and gaze up at the flat spot were the den is. The place is lit with fire. I see the large figure from last night in the flames, its details still not completely known to me. I sniff the air smelling the strong smoke and blood. “What is that?...” I whine and take a step back my tail swaying in confusion.

Blackout






 I take a moment of thought and then my feet just start moving toward the flames. I shake my head and then growl taking control of my fear of what might really lie behind the heat. I barge through the flames and growl. I stop dead in my tracks and stare at a huge paw, I slowly look up and gulp a little at what I saw. The creature that stood before me could only be described as a beast. It had blood red eyes and fur as black as death. Small horns on its head and its two tails with weapons on it. I swipe away my fear and growl, “Lets dance.” I growl and spring to life, sliding under the huge beast. But with his mass paw he swipes me away, and I crash on a rock, “Ouch!” I yelp and shake my fur. I look around seeing Apple dead on the ground, I gasp and then see the fur of Sable. The black beast approaches me with a sly smile.

The beast nears me enough, I can smell his foul breath, a stench of decaying bodies and blood fills my nose. The black thing takes up its huge claws and smirks. I shut my eyes and think, This is it I die here... I open my eyes and see white and silver slam into the beast’s massive head. I watch, stunned. My mother stands valiantly in front of the beast. She snarls and swipes her paws across his face. Ellie snarls, “You stay away from my pup!” The beast roars and growls back, “Oh, Ellie, alpha female of the Black Forest Pack, we all know the black wolf does not belong to you.”
Mother snarls loudly and launches forward, only to be slammed into the ground. The beast growls loudly and takes his massive paw, and slams it onto mom’s neck. I close my eyes, sickened about what might happen. I hear a sharp yelp, along with a snap and slush, then something warm sprays onto my face. I open my eyes, seeing the once gleaming white pelt of my mother, stained crimson. Her head was a few inches from her crushed neck.
 
I shake my head and growl, “You killed my mother!” The beast simply laughs and smiles, “She’s not the only one... Look around.” My eyes widen as I take in the scene. I look at all the corpses, then spot my dad. I close my eyes and open them again, hoping it was all a dream, a horrible dream. I looked back to look into the beast’s eyes, but he was gone. I start to cough from the thick smoke and flames. Tears roll down my face as I look around. I ran over to Misty, the only one who was still breathing. “Misty!” I shouted crying. She spoke to me lightly, “Riley....” “I’m here Misty.” I said trying to stay strong. “Riley, your... My sister...” I nodded and nuzzled her. “You’ll be alright.” I smile softly and more tears drip from my muzzle. Misty smiles, trembling, “Stay alive... And win this....” Misty coughs, blood dripping from her bruised muzzle. “Misty, close your eyes.” I say and lay beside her as she closes her eyes trembling. I nuzzle her face and she nuzzles mine. Misty’s breath shortens and then stops. I cry, lick her face and stand up. The fire beginning to thicken, getting closer to me. The words my parents spoke to me a month ago echoed in my head, “If something happens to us, go into the den and dig under the brown rock.” I looked across, from where I stood, at the den and narrowed my eyes.

I slowly walked to the den with narrowed eyes. I was wary about it. But when I heard large paws behind me I bolted into the den and pulled a stick from the top of it, which makes rocks crash the entrance. I pad over to the mud covered rock and dig as my memory told me. Once I dug enough, I noticed something shiny. I lifted it out and peered at the shining stone. The gem like sphere was about the size of an average mouse, and the its color is a soft sky blue and soft tear, I noticed it was a necklace when I looked at the string attached to it. I put it on and looked at it, I admired it then looked back in the hole. I noticed a flat rock. I picked it up with my mouth and lay it down. It was a tablet. “What in the world does this thing say?” I ask. I jump as I hear rocks crumble and fall, I look at the entrance and my eyes widen. I look back to the scribbled on tablet and pick it up. I run to the back of the den and look around. I take the left path, my feet moving swiftly through the chamber. I regret to look back as I carry the tablet hearing a large crumble of rocks and a female voice saying, “Find her!” The necklace bounces around on my chest and the stone tablet hurts my teeth, but I know I must keep running. I reach the end of the chamber and then leap upward, into the open.

I run as fast as I can, even though my legs burn. I look back seeing shadow like badgerfox chasing me, their eyes a gleaming yellow. Soon I hear the female voice again “Thats enough!” it says, and the badgerfox fade away in the wind. “Plasma! Get that pup!” She shouts. This time I see her, she is silver with a white spot on her head and dark chest, her eyes are a heavy brown. Then like a flash, that beast comes rushing from the darkness. I widen my eyes, trying not to scream so I don’t drop the tablet. I run down the hill and start heading for the river, unintentionally. I keep running, my muscles aching. What happens if they catch me? I think and keep running. I trip and tumble the rest of the way down the hill grunting with each roll, I tumble into the water and surface, my eyes widen in shock I cough and bark, “I lost it!” I try to swim under the water, but the current won’t let me. Waves start crashing around, I can hardly see the face of that beast, Plasma, and the wolf with the shadows, then I notice, the black illuminating from her paws, “That must be the shadow badgerfox.” I whisper then get washed under. I resurface, and the animals are gone, then the waves crash me under the water.

I open my eyes and keep my breath, even though it burns my lunges. I try to swim up, but I smash into rocks, making me lose my breath. I franticly try swimming to the surface, but can’t find my way up. The water is too dark for me to see. I start fading in and out of black. My eyes starting to close, I start sinking into the depths of the water.

I stand up and look around, the entire place black I shout, “Hello? Can anybody here me?” I look at my fur, seeing its so wet. I shake but still feel the cold water. “Did I just die?” I ask myself and then I see lilac clouds. I watch and wait. Then that wolf appears. He smiles at me and taps my forehead. He says in a very soft whisper, “Your safe. Wake up.” I nodded slowly and then felt a small pull. I then opened my eyes seeing four faces. But my vision would not come back yet. I lost conciseness and slipped into black.