Part 1
Aryan could feel himself being thrown from side to side in the silver cage every time the machine he was in made any slight turn to the left or right. It was completely pitch black except for a small crack in the doorway to the outside where he could see tree’s which reminded him of his old home before the men had taken him away.

A loud creaking made him jump back as he cowered at the back of his cage as a man opened the door and grabbed the cage pulling it out being throwing it on the ground as Aryan struggled for keep his footing. His eyes lightened up at the sight of his forest and his tail started to wag uncontrollably behind him.

One of the men walked forward as he was talking to another man but Aryan couldn’t understand what they were saying and looked at them wondering if this was simply some trick, another one of the many that they had taunted him with during his life.

As soon as the cage door opened Aryan leapt forward with a speed he never knew he had and bolted into the forest leaving nothing but a small dust trail on the ground as he did. He was so scared that they were going to catch him again that his heart beat bounded and the branches that were scratching his face were nothing more then an obstacle he was going to overcome as he escaped.

After what seemed liked hours he felt his lungs ache as though they couldn’t possibly go any further and so he quickly stopped and started panting as he tried to catch his breath. Suddenly a familiar scent seemed to float by which made him pause, what he didn’t know by sight he knew by scent and as he steadily rose to his feet he walked following the scent.

He had been only a few months old when those men had taken him away but the smell of his den and of his loving mother still remained in his mind and he followed it like a wolf possessed.

Bursting through some small branches he looked down at the entrance to the den something that had remained with him. The smell of his family hovered in the air exciting him as he ran forward towards the entrance of the den. The untidiness and overgrowth of grass at the entrance didn’t stir him as he walked forward and down into the den.

The warmth in the den from the cold air outside made him feel safe even from the clutches of those horrible men. He decided that they must be out hunting and they would return soon to greet him with a huge feast from their hunt. Lying down in the warmth Aryan smiled to himself knowing that soon he would find his family.

The next morning as the sun rose up into the sky a drop of dew dropped on Aryan’s nose causing him to leap up instinctively as though he was being attacked. ‘Mother?’ He called out running outside. Once outside he looked around and noticed that he couldn’t see anyone at all and all he could hear was the howling wind in the trees. Sitting down at the front of the den he waited, they would return soon he knew it.

Hours passed until it was night again and still he had not moved from his position, he ignored his hunger and thirst because he knew they would be back any time soon he couldn’t miss them.

The rising sun rose the next morning and an exhausted Aryan sat in the same position but his dire thirst finally got to him as he turned on his heel and began to run towards a small river he had heard in the distance whilst he had been waiting, in fact that was the only thing he could hear.

Plunging into the shallow river he lapped up the water as fast as he could so he could return to the den. Stopping for a moment Aryan looked down at himself in his reflection noticing for the first time the tiny scratches on his face from the day before. His hazel eyes looked back at him as he sighed sitting down beside the river his exhaustion making him feel as though he could collapse at any moment but he couldn’t sleep his family would come back and he’d miss them…

Aryan was a simple grey wolf with different shades of grey in his fur and never thought of himself as anything special he was only a wolf after all. Yawning he slowly laid down and decided to rest his eyes for a moment not realizing he had fallen in to the world of dreams.

It was only the splashing of water by some fish in the river that caused Aryan to wake up and yawn stretching his legs. Suddenly remembering the den he spun around and ran back towards it smiling knowing that any moment his mother would come out to great him and his whole pack would be there, they must have picked up his scent by now.

When he arrived he noticed that the area still smelt the same and that there was still no sign of any wolves. Looking down at the ground all he could see were his own footprints but why could he still smell the scent of others when they weren’t there? Looking up into the tree’s he noticed that they to were void of all life and that no birds were in the sky, no insects in the shrubs, not even any ants crawling upon the soil everything was gone.

Feeling himself start to shake he looked around as though trying to see whether he could see any men, this had to be them, the destroyers they had done something to his family and all the animals that’s why they weren’t here.

For the first time in his life he howled instinctively to the sky knowing that somehow someone would have to hear him and if anyone was out there they had to come to him. Even just the sound of a reply would settle the fears boiling inside of him and the growing fear of once again living in solitude, he had lived alone in that human world for so long that he thought now everything would turn good for him, or had he just been fooling himself again?

Finally under the cover of darkness he stood up from sitting in front of the den and began to walk away, a force greater hunger was telling him that he couldn’t stay here, he had to find someone because deep down he knew that no one was going to find him, he had to find out what man had done to his family. Who else but man could have done this?

His walk soon turned into a run and as he ran he felt the breeze blowing in his face and it made him feel safe because when he was in that horrible cage he used to stare out the window of the man’s box where he could see the tree’s rustling in the wind something he wanted to feel again., You could never understand how much you miss the simple pleasures of life when you have been in captivity for so long.

Slowly he climbed up a small mountain with an easy slope and when he reached the top he could see the vast expanse of land before him. It was covered in tree’s that were so high he thought that they were touching the sky and that mountains were reaching up to heaven.

Turning back around he looked back towards where he came from and in the far distance he could see an illuminating glow from the human cities which made him shiver. The men would always build closer and closer to his home and he remembered that when he had been taken all those years ago how the earth itself rumbled beneath him from the huge moving machines which moved faster then any caribou and blew toxic black smoke that was worse then smoke from a fire.

Most would never admit to being scared because they would be afraid to lose their pride but Aryan could help but fear the men, he wasn’t going to hide this fact from anyone because he knew that the destroyers would send fear into even the bravest creature.

Sitting down Aryan sat alone for many hours looking up at the moon and the stars as he thought about whether he should wait till his family returned or if he should he seek them out himself by leaving the home he had just returned to? He had wanted nothing more then to return home and yet suddenly he was home and wanted to leave to find his family, how could you want something so much but then when you finally get it, it’s not what you expected or even wanted?

He knew leaving his land meant he would have to wonder into other packs territory’s but he also knew that if his family was gone and every other animal was to then the chance of the other wolves being gone to was high.

Standing up he looked behind him at his old territory with the city’s glow in the distance one last time before he slowly looking ahead of him, he was going to find his family because he believed he couldn’t be the only one left and he wasn’t going to allow his dream of a perfect world end. Walking back down the gentle slope Aryan took a deep breath as he walked forward the eerie silence before him which was only broken only by his breathing which in the silence sounded almost as loud as those horrible machines in the human city.

Part 2
The silence of the stars as they glowed above