Nigerius

The Betrayer

The setting of the sun, gave the world an almost alien look, sending chills down the spine of approaching Tenneths who had been sent to scout the area. Roving bands of dangerous wolves, known as Purists, had been seen in the area. Purists were wolves who were against any mixing of the Packs, believing that pure blooded wolves of their elements were better off in their separate territories, away from each other. So that there would be no possibility of hybrid wolves appearing, since in the eyes of these Purists, hybrids were against the wish of the Gods and to let them exist would be a sin. Of course, the squad of Tenneths on patrol here were given orders to cut off these Purists from a newly settled Dimitrois colony between the Cancius Volcanoes and the ancient forest of the Avens.

One of only a handful of mixed-pack colonies inside Tenneth territory, this mostly Dimitrois settlement, could not be allowed to be hit by a band of Purists. It would only stir up more trouble, and give the Council of Packs more trouble to deal with in an already tough time as it was almost time for the Winter moon celebration. Probably one of the few celebrations that almost all the packs celebrated at once.

It was this future event that the squad leader, Roman, was thinking about. Of his mate and their surviving cubs of many yesteryears ago coming together again for the first time in awhile. It made him thankful for the Council of Packs, since they ended the wars, letting most Tenneth forces to go back to their homes and families instead of fighting to control the borders of their territory. He sighed, and it was this moment that one his young scouts came running.

"Sir, Sir!" He came to a stop in front of his squad leader, panting, "We found something! You have to see it!"

Roman was surprised, and instantly aware of the fear in his younger trainee. "What is it?"

"A monster of some sort."

*****

Inside the dark depths of a cave on the outskirts of what once was solely Tenneth territory, an abnormal wolf hid. A monster of a wolf, quietly panicking about the sounds of approaching wolves.

It gulped, unintentionally letting out a small whine.

The approaching paws stopped.

This time they started for sure in it's exact position. It let out a heavy breathe and it wasn't until the strangers' claws clicked on stone that it let out a snarl that sounded more like a roar. They were too close, and for sure, they had seen it.

The sound of it's aggressiveness snarling echoed in the cave it hiding in. It's tail swished against the cave wall as it stepped forward to pivot before walking into the cave wall, not seeing how close it actually was, and unintentionally scraping it's face against the harsh stone. The sound of metal hitting stone was loud, startling the Tenneths. It was a mistake for it to have moved, as the sudden feeling of heat made it stop for just a moment. Flames had been brought forth by the Tenneths.

"What is it?" A voice, smooth and barely gruff at all. Male. Young.

"I don't know. It's... Go get Roman." Older, more gruff, male. The one in charge. So far, only two of them had chosen to speak, but it was sure there were five of them. Maybe six. Scouts? Whoever they were, it had been cornered. By Tenneths no less. What a mess.

The monster licked it's teeth, and waited, wondering if it were worth the risk to try and escape. It probably wasn't a good idea. And yet, it's enemies also thought it wise to stay back and block the only exit. It was a standoff.

"Can you speak? Do you have a name? What are you?" The youngest voice spoke, letting his curiosity get the better of him. The monster was sure he'd get scolded for speaking out of turn... and within seconds, the older voice spoke, "Quiet. We don't want to stir the monster up."

It growled, "I have a name." The voice was obviously female.

The Tenneths stopped breathing for a second, and the sound of the nervous movement brought the monster's ears forward, straining to catch every bit of sound that would suggest an attack. "What is it? Your name."

Silence passed by, only accompanied by the hot breathe of the creature. When finally, with a deep inhale, she let the word fall out alongside the exhale. "Blue." Her jaws closed softly, only letting the sound of her breathing to fill the tense atmosphere.

She wondered how long this standoff would last before someone made a move. Apparently, she didn't have to wait long, because after several minutes that had also come with the arrival of this 'Roman' wolf, someone had moved too suddenly and Blue reacted by puffing up her hackles and lunging forward to snarl. This was quickly met with rowdy snarls and lick of heat searing her nose. Fire.

She jumped back, knocking her read end into the back of the cave especially scraping her hocks against the uneven stone. She almost lost her sense of balance and staggered to the right, hitting the side of her head against the wall. The metal she wore had taken the brunt of the impact, but to the Tenneths, it made them wonder at this strange creature in front of them.

Was it really a wolf? Why didn't it have eyes? Who could have wounded it so much?

In the end, after hours of watching it, a group had been stationed there to keep it confined, while their squad leader had dispatched a messenger to their Tenneth ambassador. Naming a few specific wolves to come see what they had found. Of course the squad leader wondered how this creature had known such high ranking and legendary wolves. Mydnyte. Durandel. Nova. Vesta. He wondered if they would come.

Ascalon was a small city, barely even a city if you really want to be technical. Named after the sword that Severan used to kill a Naga serpent near Maxim lake, which is exactly where the city is located. On the coast of Maxim lake, right between Dimitrois and Tenneth lands. Supposedly the center of all of Nigerious, though some killer packs would disagree with that if they ever heard someone say that. And it was this place that Severan chose to make the permament location of the Council of the Packs, turning it into Ascalon.

Inside the barely completed building, which was mostly made of terracotta bricks, the council gathered. Er, at least half of the council was gathered in the War room. Some of the Council leaders, had more important matters to attend to, which for some reason, their messengers couldn't state officially when asked for their reason.

Although it was called a War room, it wasn't really like most war room where wolves would normally sit around a map and strategize blood thirsty attacks. No, it was more like an amphitheater, except there was a roof. Oval in shape, it was ringed with tiers of seat, and among these seats spaced equally apart, there were 17 raised benches. One for each pack's respective leader. They were closest to the central space of the war room, yet made so you would notice they were made apart from the rest of the seats. And in the western part of the War room, there was the King's seat. It was noticeably bigger than the rest, but currently empty.

In their benches now, a few of the Leaders sat, with some of their warriors or 2nd in command off to their sides. The room was mostly quiet, no doubt waiting for any others that were summoned to arrive, but if you heard some of the whispers... You would hear about the recent loss of two small Ausi settlements, and of how similar they were to the Saffron Massacre that happened years ago, just before the Battle against Ixtec.

After waiting a few more minutes, the giant door to the War room closed, and the room went silent.

They all knew why they were here.

"Any survivors?" The representative of the Aven pack, a green wolf of medium size, asked.

"We just got word. All wolves residing there were killed. She-wolves, cubs, and the elderly. Same as the missing Ausi settlements. No survivors." Eloin, a she-wolf of the Jivanta pack remarked darkfully, throwing the status reports on the table of her bench.

"Except this time, there appears to be a survivor." In strode a heavy set Tenneth General, his eyes moving from one council member to the next.

"General Aegus." The council members greeted the wolf, and nodded for him to continue.

"We scouted as you commanded and found the outpost barren. No wolves, but definite signs of a battle and ashes of what we think to be wolves that used to reside there." His voice was grim.

"Ashes?! Are you saying it might have been other Tenneths?"
"Why would Tenneths kill their own pack members?!"
"Liar!"
The council was in an uproar now.

"My advisors! Council members! Calm yourselves!" From the far corner of the War room, the King appeared. And slowly the Council room went silent again. "Continue Aegus," spoke the King, as he moved to take a seat on his Throne.

"We found an elderly Tenneth cowering in the fields." Aegus shouted, and turned to motion for his subordinates to let in the survivor.

The wolf was shaking, his eyes flickering quickly from wolf to wolf before bowing. There was blood on his coat.

"Tell them." Aegus commanded the old wolf to tell of what nightmare took place at the Outpost. The fear-stricken wolf nodded and began to talk. "My name is-"

THREE DAYS AGO

"Bronn, sir! They're starting dinner!" A young Tenneth cub yelled out, sprinting toward the earthen buildings. His grandfather looked up from his work and began to make his way to a dirt building that his daughter called home. Never thought in all my years, that home would be this. Earthen homes that the DImitrois created for us, but then again, I never thought peace could be acquired and I'd live under the first King's reign. The old wolf was stuck in his thoughts, not even noticing how achy his paws were from the day's work.

"That's when it happened."

A loud bloom of an explosion startled Bronn, making his heart nearly jump out of his chest. He looked up to see a great big fire of a spectacular blue-black shade reaching up towards the sky. On the other side of it, a small orange flame opposing it. Smoke wafted off from the gigantic flames, turning the clouds black. And as quickly as it appeared, the strange dark flames swallowed the orange flames in one move.

Then more explosions went off all around town. All of them were from Tenneths and whoever they adversary were... but there were also physical fights happening between wolves who weren't using their elements.

Bronn's incredulous look quickly became one of fear and he sprinted to his daughter's home.

He got there just in time to see his grandson racing at a...

"BEASTS. SHADOW BEASTS. GIANT SHADOW BEASTS."

It was outside their home, almost as tall as their home itself.

Bronn's grandson was running toward the body of his mother, where it laid in front of the giant shadow of a wolf. The dark shadow, was looking at him, it's eyes of ocean blue spoke only of dark deeds.

Bronn's fear was squeezing his heart, but his thoughts pushed him forward, telling him that the way the beast was... It's aura of hatred that was now directed at his Grandson... Would... Kill...

"I was too late."

Bronn hadn't even thought to used his element, only thinking, wishing, hoping that he'd be fast enough to push his grandsonout of the way...

But he was an old wolf, and his body failed, at the time he needed it most, and... His grandson left this world, following after his mother.

Bronn stumbled, the loss starting to fill him with hatred, pain, and anger. It gave him the strength to roar, to bring forth his element in the form of a great wall of fire directed at the shadow creature.

To his great and utter surprise, the attack was intercepted by a different wolf of even greater size. This wolf hadn't even any element to shield itself.

"It met the fire head on - No element. It didn't even burn!"

It was then that Bronn realized, the Shadow Giant that had killed his grandson, wasn't alone. No, there were others, all over town fighting, chasing and killing his neighbors. The bodies of his fallen Tenneth comrades were scattered all over the ground as well. He began to pant, his body begging him to run from this fight that he would no doubt lose.. But he had to avenge his daughter and grandson, as well as his neighbors.

He got back up, eyeing the shadow creature that interrupted his attack at the other, smaller one.

To his surprise, he saw that the biggest one before him... Although black like a Kamarian, roared and dark blue flames appeared on it's back, all the way down to it's tail, growing bigger just as another giant shadow wolf appeared to swing it's tail in his direction. The blue fire grew and jumped off the wolf to follow the direction of the other wolf's tail... right at him.

"I was so lucky. So lucky... to have survived that blast."

Bronn had been knocked off his paws, but he had managed to redirect most of the fireball, while the rest had scorched his some of his fur. He coughed, and hacked up some blood before slowly getting to his paws... And that's when he saw the large black paws right in front of his nose. He froze... Hearing every beat of his heart as he looked up, to meet the golden eyes of one of the giant wolves. Every cell in his body almost froze from fear... This wolf, stopped him from moving, from thinking with just one look... it made him blind to the unconcious body of one of his neighbors, being held in the jaws of this nightmarish wolf.

The shadow wolf, tightened his jaws and with a crunching sound threw the body on the ground.

Blood splattered all over Bronn, who just kneeled there. Too afraid to move.

The War Room was quiet for a moment, but the room was soon filled with hushed whispers.

Back in the present, Bronn shivered, "He said I would be his messenger..."

Aegus, looked from Bronn, to the King. He walked from the center of the War room, up to the King's throne and whispered into his ear. Suddenly, the King got up, growling. "Council meeting, dismissed!" The King whispered back to Aegus before leaving the war room, signaling for others to leave... All except the Alphas and the heroic wolves that had been summoned.