The Summons
All that were left to listen to Augue's speech were a third of of the Alphas present, all of whom just stared at the Tenneth and his daughter unnervingly.
The atmosphere had suddenly turned frigid.
"Great," A light blue Arlyne wolf in a Bench off to the side of the King's throne spoke, "Another Tenneth loyal only to her pack." Her voice was full of disdain.
Eloin, the Alpha of the Jivantas who had spoken earlier, growled softly, "You are a young Tenneth, and maybe someday, you'll see how immature that statement is, especially since you said it in front of us." Her words weren't as biting as Melisende's but the reason for such words was the same. Both she-wolves were older, and had obviously seen much of the wars as their current personalities did not match the usual description of their packs. They were no longer as friendly or happy go lucky as one would expect.
Throughout this exchange, General Aegus had stayed silent until now. "Leave the young Tenneth alone, and go back to your knitting, Eloin." The Jivanta rolled her eyes, "Just hurry and take your heros before "
He walked toward Nova, Vesta and Augue.
"To answer your last question, the King has a special... mission for the three of you. Follow me."
He led them to the far back of the War room, right through the door that the King went through, waiting for the door to close before he started talking.
"Ahem, for security reasons, we'll have to leave the city." An uncomfortable look crossed his face for a moment before he started trotting up ahead of the group. Minutes after trotting through the palace - which wasn't that big, due it still being mostly under contruction, they exited the King's palace through a secret doorway.
Since the city was still mostly being built, much of the buildings and bustling social activities were being centered between the King's palace and the coast of Maxim Lake. Meaning that no one saw them leaving the city, to trot toward the tree line. "We found it three days ago, the same day that the... attack happened." He started to breathe heavily, "try and keep up." From the way he was panting and lumbering forward now, any wolf could see that General Aegus would be retiring soon... Or killed on the job for being too slow.
*****
Once they were at the tree line, they were met by armed guards. Dimitrois, Tenneth and Canicus. Strong and dangerous wolves.
General Aegus coughed, "What you're about to see is the reason for the Summons, but before you go ahead.." He looked at the three wolves, "I was told that you two-" He looked specifically at Nova and Vesta, "Have had previous experience with this... Anomaly. Before and after the Rebel attack on Prometheus... And during the attack on Rashid and Ixtec. It's partially the reason that the King supported... it's request for you two." Aegus looked at Nova and Vesta. "And it also requested for Durandel, Mydnyte, Fang and Summanus. All of whom who couldn't be here, because, well. No one could find any of them except Durandel who, for personal reasons, couldn't be here."
"And you will meet who requested you in a moment," A younger Tenneth male wolf perked up suddenly. "She was very adamant about who she'd be working with."
Aegus growled, "Hush it, soldier."
The young wolf couldn't stop smiling.
Aegus looked up at the heroes and continued briefing them on the situation. "Now, the general populace thinks that it's these Purists who are attacking and killing settlers. While in reality, it has been these... Shadow wolves. The council has decided to keep this a secret, because of certain reasons. And we have learned what the goal of these Shadow wolves... And who their next targets will be..." He looked down, "We believe the Ausi capitol or Arlyne capitol will be next. And if our info is correct... Then that would mean... Everyone in either capitol would be... decimated. That's the reason you're here." He sighed. "That said, follow me and you will meet... who requested you." He got back up to lead them deeper into the forest.
The forest suddenly started getting unnaturally dark, and if either of the wolves had looked up, they would see the upper branches of the trees were woven to provide a canopy of some sorts. The branches had been so tightly woven, that eventually, not a ray of sunshine shone through the trees. The scenery looked so similar to forest in the far south, Kamarian territory. It was here, in the center of the darkness, was a large overgrown tree with a hollow trunk where the general stopped walking. He looked into the hollow of the trunk, and that's when it... moved.
The mass had been small but once it had started moving, it started to get taller and taller, until it stood.
The dark shape was that of a wolf, but one much, much larger. So much larger that, that one would almost assume it was a god in the flesh. Except... there was no God without eyes, or three tails. No, this was more like a monstrous remaking of wolfkind. On it's head, there was a smooth black metal skull mask over the wolf's face... The details on it were so well defined that whoever made it, must have been very talented... or very mad because while the details of the fangs were incredible, there were no holes for the eyes. It was exactly like a mask meant to blind a wolf in a very torturous manner, because while most Alvan masks only had the upper part of the skull, this one had a lower jaw attached... like it was made so that would never come off.
"Nova, and Vesta..." The large wolf towered over the heroes, no doubt using it's sense of smell to identify the wolves.
"It's been years since we last saw each other," Blue, the she-wolf who had betrayed them years earlier, killing both Blossom and Amarok who were former allies of Nova and Vesta, was standing right in front of them. And not to mention, how she had ambushed and imprisoned them for a week before the battle against Rashid and Ixtec.
Blue
For weeks, Blue had been wondering how this situation would go down and finally, here she was. Standing in front of wolves who had once trusted her enough to have her fight alongside them. Now, she was someone they probably detested... It would be amazing if they even bothered to stay and listen... and if they didn't... If they don't listen... We can just kill them. Kill them all and destroy everything. Eat all of creation! She let out a large growl, and her whole shape vibrated, flickering like there had been two separate wolves in exactly one spot, like a cell had tried to divide but was unable to. It was over in several seconds, but the soldiers who had been present were now on guard.
While the monster in her argued that this was pointless, deep down, she vaguely remembered how she had helped to set Nova, Khan, Vesta and Summanus free once the battle against Rashid had started years ago. And how she had turned on Sane, the leader of the 28, who had intercepted Nova and Summanus before they could get to Ixtec's prison. Of how she used her shadow kinesis to throw them out of harm's way, leaving her to fight was Sane so they could continue with their mission. That was the last she had seen of them... Until now...
Blue let out a rush of air, "I have difficulty... keeping the Dire wolf in me... under control."