How Things Ended, ...and how they did not.

[Arri]

~Part One: Confrontation~

The spirits called the alphas to the Temple, where the spirit possessing Tristan had recently killed Kehme II, the son of Kirin and Raging Storm. The Zehr alpha was first accused of the murder; the spirits quickly explained that it had been the work of an evil spirit who now roamed the lands in lupine form. The spirits were adamant that he be stopped; some of the alphas agreed, while others did not, claiming it had nothing to do with them. They were in the midst of a heated argument when a wolf’s cry echoed across the lands. It was not normal; it raised their hackles, forced them to flatten their ears and whine in protest. For a few long moments, every living being was in terrible pain, wishing only that that howl would end.

When it did, the alphas and the spirits noticed, to their anger, that Tadec had disappeared. What they did not know was that others had also vanished in the midst of that howl. It was Orilise who brought them all back to reality, shouting with unprecedented panic that they had to find the spirit – or “Angel”, as she referred to him. They had no time to argue, she insisted urgently; it was now or never.

So the alphas and the spirits ran towards that dreadful howl, heading south and cutting through the Veren lands to Helsdor Way. There they found him, seated like some red-eyed, black-furred portent of doom on the rocks of the mountains. Before him, ranged across the grass in front of his perch, were wolves from all packs, crimson-eyed and glaring. The spirit snarled as his enemies appeared, and the sound was echoed by his followers.

Some were recognized by their alphas. Kirin and Raging Storm rushed towards their son Jaykar, who stood among Angel’s forces with his teeth bared and his hackles raised. He snapped at his parents, unseeing, as they attempted to pull him away. Chael saw Marluxanne, looking stronger than he’d seen her in weeks; Latoki cried out in sorrow at the sight of Bushido, her pack-mate, as one of the enemy; Nyx gave no sign of recognizing her subordinates, Elias and Kurai; Milleno followed the lead of the Erkeni alphas and tried in vain to save his adopted daughter, Amethyst. Others were there, loners who shared the same red-eyed gaze as the others, including Swiftclaw and Faeruk. Tadec and his pack-mate Eclipse also stood among the corrupted.

But then, other wolves began to arrive, those who had not been affected by the spirit’s disease. First was Pyro, the loyal Veren beta; Vaishika, Rayquer, Symick and Makaro were not far behind. October and Fenris arrived next, barely noticeable as they slid out from the shadows. From the Erkeni came Xenia and Raijuu, with the pups Lyric and Nirik in tow; Nightfang, from the Da’Lith, came at a run. Celestia, Willow and Zodiac came just before Vyess, the former Tyrehl alpha. Loners came too, those who cared about the welfare of others or sensed the danger in the south: Zyattiath, Anaxi, Dove, and Matsi, to name a few.

For a moment, the two sides merely looked at each other. Kirin, Raging Storm, and Milleno had returned to their group, staring at their pups sadly but recognizing the futility of trying to pull them away. And then Faelire spoke, a simple question, though she already knew the answer: “Why?”

Angel shrugged with a vicious grin and responded, “Why not?”

With that, the battle began.

~End Part One~

(Full list of poisoned wolves: Marluxanne, Moonstrike, Jaykar, Amethyst, Eclipse, Tadec, Elias, Kurai, Bushido, Swiftclaw, Marquis, Faeruk, Graziella, Deimos, Rampage, Tortarum)

[Arri]

~Part Two: Flashback~

It was pure chaos. The pack guardians sprinted across the field, their paws barely grazing the grass as they passed through solid wolves without so much as a shiver. They surrounded Angel, and a blinding light wrapped around them, obscuring them from the view of the other wolves, who were too busy to even glance in that direction anyway. Like waves of the ocean, the two sides crashed into one another, snarling and growling as they ripped into fur and flesh. Most of the untainted tried to avoid fighting their own pack-mates, but some did not, or had no choice; Makaro kept away from Eclipse but went straight for Tadec, while Latoki found herself facing Bushido before long. She tried to hold him off, crying out his name in hopes of breaking Angel’s grip, but to no avail. He quickly overpowered her, and was about to strike the finishing blow when the nearby Fenris barreled into him by mistake, having been knocked aside by Marluxanne.

So involved were the fighters that they barely noticed when it began to rain heavily. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder rolled, drowning out furious snarls and yelps of pain. Though they did not know it, the water in the nearby marshes was swiftly rising, as well as in the Kinaw River. Lightning struck the Esiah Forest, lighting it on fire. Far in the distance, earthquakes shook the Hetavyn Range. The remaining Lai’no wolves fled their sanctuary in the mountains and headed for Tyrehl lands, as Soliel’s Peak began to crumble behind them. Everywhere rivers overflowed their banks, saturating the fields and forests as the grass of Helsdor Way became saturated with the blood of wolves.

There was another flash of light, and the spirits surrounding Angel were thrown backwards. They flickered dimly where they landed, too weak to move as the fighters trampled through their intangible forms. And so Angel himself joined the battle, swiping at wolves as he passed and sending them to skid across the ground to land in a heap with others who had gotten in the way. And then he halted, for before him stood one large male wolf, whose gold and black fur was dark and matted with sweat and blood, whose piercing yellow eyes met Angel’s own with such venom that the spirit took a step back.

“My brother,” the wolf hissed, stepping forward. His eyes never left Angel’s face. “You killed my brother!” And he leapt, his claws stretched forward and his maw open wide, ready to bite, to tear, to kill. The spirit fought back, leaving deep gashes in the male’s flesh and ripping one ear off. The male roared, his vision clouded by pain and anger; the spirit knocked him to the ground. Slowly, the wolf tried to stand on shaky legs, but collapsed instead. Angel laughed, and leapt, intending to finish it.

But just as he was about to snap his jaws shut, a dark shape hurtled in between the spirit and his prey. His jaws closed on flesh, and he was wrenched to the side with the momentum of the figure’s leap. The two crashed to the ground; snarling and snapping, Angel pushed the interfering wolf roughly to the side and leapt to his feet, only to be swarmed by the spirits, who once more shone brightly. Thrashing violently, he disappeared beneath the light again with a howl of anger and frustration, his previous prey forgotten as he fought his immortal foes.

Chael lay on the ground where he had been thrown by the spirit, his head raised weakly. He had watched through dimming eyes, unable to move, as his brother Vyess had leapt between the spirit and himself, just as he had done all those years ago, between Chael and Kehme. Just like last time, he had taken the blow meant for Chael. Last time, he had stood up, though he had clearly been in pain. But this time, he wasn’t getting up…

With a hoarse cry, he struggled to his feet and limped to his brother’s side. The gaping wound on the back of Vyess’s neck wept blood, leaking his brother’s life down into the ground even as Chael watched with horrified eyes. He tried to utter his brother’s name, but collapsed before he could make a sound. And so the two brothers lay side-by-side, silent and still in the bloody field as the battle raged around them.

~End Part Two~

[Arri]

~Part Three: Sacrifice~

It was during a lull in the fighting that Celestia had happened to glance across the battlefield and see the altercation between the brothers and Angel. She recognized her former alpha, and instantly raced to his aid. He bled from a dreadful wound on his neck, and his breathing was shallow, but he was alive. She nudged him with her muzzle, whining in distress as he merely stirred. And then, slowly, his eyes fluttered open. They widened slightly in recognition of her; his maw parted, and a faint whisper reached her ears. She crouched down next to him, positioning her head as close to his as possible, to hear what he had to say. When he repeated it, her own eyes widened, glistening with tears of sorrow. When he had finished, she pulled away slightly and whispered, “I will do as you ask. Rest in peace, Vyess.”

His eyes drifted shut as his soul drifted away, and then he was naught but an empty shell.

Blinking tears away – she could hardly afford to be impaired in any way in a situation such as this – she turned to look at the wolf next to her former alpha. He appeared to be breathing still, though he as clearly badly injured. She got back to her feet a bit shakily and took a step closer, intending to give whatever aid she could, before someone crashed into her head-on, knocking the breath from the lungs and making the world spin dizzily. She went sprawling over the blood-churned grass and lost consciousness almost immediately. The female who had been thrown into Celestia jumped back to her feet, snarling, and charged back at her attacker without a glance backward.

More and more wolves fell to the ground, mostly those free of Angel’s corruption. Some still breathed; others did not. The tainted wolves fought longer and harder than any ordinary wolf, unnaturally strengthened by the demonic power in their veins. The spirits seemed to weaken more and more with each fallen ally; the light around Angel, keeping him from wreaking destruction upon them all, flickered with each new death until, finally, it shattered. The spirits lunged at their enemy, but he knocked them aside effortlessly.

Only a few ragged wolves remained standing. Vaishika panted over the body of her last opponent, her eyes locked on Angel and her ears fixed towards Tadec. He had recently dispatched Makaro – the fight might have been fairer had Tadec not been supernaturally charged, and Makaro had lasted quite awhile in any case – and Vaishika had no desire to test herself against her formidable alpha, especially not when he had this strange strength on his side. If he came at her, she wanted to be aware of it.

Raging Storm had been knocked unconscious at some point during the vicious fight; Kirin stood over her protectively, searching frantically with his senses for any sign of his children. Milleno had found Amethyst lying on the ground and now sought to wake her. All of the remaining fighters were wounded, exhausted, distracted – they hardly stood a chance with Angel and his resilient followers advancing on them. All of them eyed him warily – some snarled in defiance and readied themselves to fight while others simply waited for what they knew was inevitable.

And then, out of the forest to the north, a wolf raced across the field towards Angel, howling as he went. As soon as he was close enough, he threw himself at the demon, flailing with his claws and gnashing with his teeth, ripping at whatever he could reach. A flash of lightning in the stormy sky briefly illuminated the scene, revealing the attacker.

Tristan was taking revenge.

He did little damage, though. He was still weak from Angel’s possession, fueled only by anger and adrenaline. He knew he would die in due time. He did not even have the breath to rally the others to attack, that had been his original plan, to distract the demon and allow the stronger wolves to finish him off.

But one wolf had the presence of mind to realize the benefits of the situation. Zyattiath, too, launched herself at Angel and joined Tristan in the attack. They did not know each other, but their common enemy made them allies. Even so, they were still no match for the evil spirit, and he eventually threw them off, howling in anger and frustration. And then, suddenly, two more wolves crashed into him; half-grown Lyric and Nirik ran into the fight, clawing and biting at the one who had so destroyed their home. He knocked them to the ground and towered over them, grinning humorlessly as he raised a sharp-clawed paw over their defenseless forms. But to one side, Tristan and Zyattiath struggled to their feet, exchanged a single nod, and then barreled into the spirit simultaneously, pushing him away from the pups.

He turned on the pests instantly, tearing the female’s throat out while ripping at the male’s torso with his claws. And then suddenly, he was surrounding by an all-pervading white light that stabbed at him with fiery points, blinding him even as it burned his flesh. He screamed in fury and agony, a sound that echoed across the field before it abruptly ended, as though cut with a knife, and leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

~End Part Three~

[Arri]

~Part Four: Fall~

“It’s over.”

He knew that voice. He squinted up from where he cringed on the ground, flinching and twitching whenever that white fire touched him. Five vaguely familiar forms stood around him, staring down expressionlessly. Then the voice spoke again; it belonged to the young female directly in front of him.

“It’s over, Angel,” Orilise repeated. “That’s it. You’ve been defeated.”

“And thoroughly enough that you won’t be coming back,” Indar put in from one side, looking down at Angel as though he smelled something horrid.

“You betrayed us once. We were foolish to put you in a position to let it happen again,” Faelire growled from behind him.

“Don’t bother begging for mercy. You don’t deserve any,” Tuzoli informed him, his teeth bared in a silent snarl.

“Perhaps once you might have had a chance, but even I believe it is too late,” Eera said softly, her eyes sad but determined.

They disappeared all at once, taking the white fire with them and leaving an empty darkness. And then he was falling, down, down, down…

Until, suddenly, he was no more.

~End Part Four~

[Arri]

~Part Five: Reconstruction~

Back on the field, the spirits and Angel had disappeared from the view of the mortal wolves in a flash of bright light that healed the most grievous wounds and scoured the corruption from those tainted by the poison. For a moment, the confusion was almost as great as that of the battle’s beginning, as families and packs were reunited and the Angel’s one-time minions tried to remember what had happened.

Each pack soon returned to its own lands, mourning their dead or tallying their losses, as their natures directed. Before long, the much reduced Erkeni and Da’Lith packs formed an alliance, merging into a new pack named in honor of a common friend: the Kehme. Chael and Amity would be the alphas, it was agreed, and Kirin and Raging Storm the betas. The Lai’no sought refuge with the Tyrehl, as their lands had been destroyed during the battle, and became part of the larger pack; Nave and Latoki shared the alpha position, though not as mates. The Zehr and the Caladur joined forces; Tadec remained the true alpha of the larger pack, though Nyx was the one really in control of the former Caladur members, ranking somewhere between Tadec and Vaishika. The Veren remained as they were, at least for a short time.

During the time these new arrangements were being created, Celestia granted Vyess’s dying wish. He had told her the location of his and Lakota’s den, asking her to tell his family of his fate and watch over his mate and their newborn pups. Lakota was delighted to see her former pack-mate at first, but soon fell into despair over the death of her mate. Celestia took them both back to the Tyrehl lands with her, though it was not long before Lakota succumbed to her grief, weakened as she was by the terrible winter. The pups that had survived were adopted and cared for by the pack as a whole.

Also during this interlude, Tadec set a previous plot into motion that led to the disbandment of the Veren pack. Now the three remaining packs are slowly rebuilding, warily watching for any signs of the spirits’ return.

~End Part Five~