Seeking Myths | PAFP | Just because we're not around doesn't mean we're gone

The Alpha laid in his nest curled up against the cold from the winter chill outside. His eyes were wide open though, as he’d given up trying to get any kind of sleep a long time ago. He’d spent another sleepless night fretting about his pack. Luther was trying in vain to think of a solution that maybe Irisa hadn’t thought of herself. He’d lost track of the hours. His ears perked up hearing his son’s voice. Grunting he slowly uncurled his body to stand himself up. “Atlas come in.” Luther called through the thick blanket of snow still in front of his den. Blinking his eyes he sighed when he saw the pale sunlight streaming into his den now. “What’s on your mind?” The older wolf asked as he slowly stretched himself out, his joints cracking and popping. Of course he could already guess what was troubling Atlas.

Luther frowned sitting up a little taller. The winter wind blowing in his face and tugging at his fur as if it was taunting him. He frowned staring at his son in disbelief. “Help? There is no pack that would help us now. They’ve moved on or are suffering just as much as we are. We don’t need their help.” The last thing the Alpha would let happen his son and best hunter go crawling on their bellies to ask for help that he believed no one could give. His hackles rose a little along the back of his neck in irritation. “Are you thinking about those stories again? They aren’t real Atlas. Now is not the time to go chasing after them. We need you and Emerald here.” Shaking his large head, the brown and tan wolf narrowed his eyes at his son. “The answer is no and I don’t want you to ask me something this foolish again!” His voice rose bouncing off the thick walls of his den. Irisa who was trudging through the snow quickly turned her head hearing the commotion from the den. Sighing to herself the she-wolf continued her slow trek to get to the dens where most of the sick were. It didn’t surprise her at all to hear the two arguing again. Son and father had never quite seen eye to eye.

The larger wolf seemed to lose some of his anger and calm down when his son shrunk back apologizing as he went. A bit of a pain formed in the old wolf’s chest watching his son go. Luther just wanted his son to understand. There were no stories that could save them now. Sighing the older wolf debated going after his son. Of course Luther didn’t want his son to fear him like this, but he couldn’t see the truth right in front of him either. Shaking his head the Alpha disappeared back inside of his den. He’d ordered the pack to stay in their dens. The only wolves allowed out were those planning on hunting or Irisa. A jet black she-wolf was standing out in the blowing wind waiting for the rest of the hunters to come out of hiding. She didn’t blame them for wanting to stay in their den. ”Come on we’ll be snowed inside our dens if we wait too long!” She called poking her head back into the den with a loud huff. The numbers of hunters had dwindled to almost nothing. There were two brothers and a younger she-wolf. All the rest of their hunters had fallen ill or passed on already. One of male wolves stirred before slowly rising to his paws. The other two didn’t move from their spots. Frowning Emerald quickly hurried into the den nosing the other female’s side, but didn’t get more than her eye opening slightly. ”Irisa! We need you here!” She howled across the clearing her voice getting drown out by the blowing wind. Pacing back out into the snow she had her head down against the cold almost running head first into Atlas. Blinking she squinted her eyes against the wind and blowing snow.

Emerald could make out his voice only just enough. The wind was making it hard to hear anything even though Atlas was almost right next to her. ”I have to find Irisa. Two of the hunters left have fallen ill. They won’t make it through a storm like this if Irisa can’t help them.” For a second she was glad the wind was so strong, glad the rest of the pack couldn’t hear say such things. They were already hopeless enough as is. Learning that two more were sick would do them no favors. She planted her paws as another strong gust of wind came and almost knocked her into the snow. Her green eyes stared at Luther for a moment. The two of them were close in age so, she had grown up knowing the Alpha’s son rather well. He was up to something. The way he was pointed he was going to try and weather through this storm. Whining a little to herself she ambled closer brushing his pelt against her’s. ”Please don’t do anything crazy.” Emerald flattened her ears against her head peering up at the slightly taller male. Movement at one of the den’s entrances caught her eye. Spotting the healer she took a couple steps away from Atlas. ”Be careful whatever your doing.” Her words got carried away by the wind. With that she sharply turned to trudge towards the opposite side of camp. She didn’t want to know what Atlas was planning to do since it would mean she would feel obligated to tell the Alpha. It was best if he kept it to himself. She had a bad feeling about wherever the Alpha’s son was going.

Emerald pinned her ears against her head as she watched him go. It might be the last time they ever saw each other again. She prayed to their ancestors that he would be able to come home safely. Ducking into the den she found Irisa. She francitally explained what had happened to the hunters. Irisa quickly nodded before the pair plunged back into the driving storm. The pack wouldn’t have the slightest clue about what had happened until the storm had let up and Atlas was already gone.

Vaia had made a rare trip down from their sacred place in the mountains. Of course she’d heard all the stories growing up about the non-elemental wolves and other animals had hunted them down to almost extinction, but she was still within their territory. Besides in weather like this no one would be silly enough to come out in this storm. Well she was but, she had wrapped herself in a protective layer of vines around herself to keep herself protected. That way she could explore all she wanted. There were some seeds that she wanted to harvest that she wouldn’t be able to find high up in the mountains. Humming as she went the she-wolf trotted along like there wasn’t a care in the world.

Even through her thick outer coat and layers covering her, Vaia could still feel the freezing cold wind blowing over her. The further down the mountain the slower she was forced to go down the slippery slopes down to the forest below. Her claws scraped against the frozen ground trying to keep her traction. Vaia slid her way down to the bottom of the hill. Landing lightly on her paws she looked this way and that. Beaming brightly she couldn’t believe that she had actually done it, she’d made it to the bottom of the mountain without too much trouble. Her father didn’t know what he was talking about. She could handle herself just fine on own. Strutting along her celebration was cut short when she caught sight of a mound of grey fur under a small rock outcrop. The she-wolf practially tripped over him if she hadn’t been paying attention. ”Oh no.” The elemental wolf flattened her ears against her head. She could see the visible puffs of air coming from his nose. He didn’t look in good shape. Without stopping for a second thought she went to action. Crouching down close to him, she concentrated on fortifying the little outcrop. Luckily there were dormant shrubs surrounding them that hadn’t been entirely buried by the blowing snow. The hail pelting her side made it harder to focus. Closing her eyes she slowly started to get the plants to start growing again, slowly reaching their thorny limbs out over the outcrop very slowly creeping down to form a cover around the both of them. Letting out a loud breath she let the ivy around her coat drop away and fall to the snow. ”Hey! Hey can you hear me?” She tried to steer the half frozen wolf. Vaia sat back peering down at him with wide eyes.

Vaia frowned when she didn’t get a response at first. She frowned to herself wishing Miniko, their healer, was here. While she could heal it wasn’t very strong or reliable. Sighing she could hear the hail and snow beating against the thick wall of bramble and shrubs. The slight ear twitch made her ears perk up in response. Maybe there was still hope yet. ”Come on you need to wake up!” She barked as loud as she could nudging him with her cold nose hoping to stir him back to life. In the mean time she stared down at him with a mixture of curiousity and abrehension. He was a wolf from the outside. He was much more fragile than the elemental wolves were. Why had he come to the base of the mountain? There was no reason to be here in the middle of a storm like this. It was a death wish and he might have gotten exactly that if she didn’t hurry up and get him warmed up. A thought crossed her mind that made her flick her ears back again. He didn’t look dangerous so, she really shouldn’t be this fearful of him. Taking in a deep breath she pushed her worries aside and laid herself down in the frigid snow. The she-wolf laid next to him hoping that would do the trick.

The she-wolf froze when he sprung back to life and started yelping after hitting his head. Backpedaling she pressed her back against the wall of plants she’d made. Ducking her head she tried to make herself as small as possible, concerned that she might have trapped her with a very dangerous outside wolf. He might have been that intimidating if not for the fact of all the stories she’d grown up hearing about them. Puffing out her chest a little she tried to make herself look bigger hoping that he wouldn’t try to attack her. There was way she could hope to fight in the cramped space they both found themselves. ”Vaia of the Primal pack. I don’t mean you any harm.” The young she-wolf whined trying to make him see that she didn’t want to pick a fight. ”I was coming down the mountain and I saw you half frozen. I didn’t mean to alarm you.” The stories of dangerous wolves was still on her mind. Maybe this wolf would be willing to listen to reason. That’s what she hoped at least.

She felt a brief moment of relief the male calmed down. Her expression quickly fell when he explained that his pack was in danger of dying. He was quite literally begging for help. Her father probably wouldn’t like it if she showed up randomly with a non-elemental wolf. Still, Vaia couldn’t ignore the fact that there were others suffering. She would just have to make her father see it that way too. It couldn’t be that hard. The dark coated she-wolf nodded her head. ”We do. I don’t know if Miniko has seen it before but, he is an expert healer.” Vaia explained. ”If you come and talk with the Alpha of our pack I’m sure we could convince him to help. He is my father after all.” The elemental wolf added hoping to reassure him that they could help. Their healer’s powers were unrivaled and surely they could do something to help them.