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This is the second part in the Chronicles of Darkness, in this one we meet two new charrie's and Niju re-appears, the stage is also set for Niju's betrayal of the pack, I figured he was too much of a wimp in WQ so he's much more of a Bad Guy in these, I'm not gonna let on how he betrays them though, you'll have to keep reading to find out.
The Chronicles of Darkness, Part 2: The Calm before the Storm.
In the Heart of Alaska Valo, a large black wolf, stretched and climbed down from his rock, he is leader of the Twinn Peaks pack, named so because their territory surrounded two mountains, the smaller of the two situated on the side of the larger one, making it appear as if they were one mountain with two peaks. Valo yawned and checked all the members of his pack were there, Tenaka and Sarchie, two wolf/husky hybrids were playing tug with a stick, Moonlit, a blueish coloured female wolf, was talking with Alexi, a light grey female wolf, the sister of Jake, a dark grey male wolf, who was still curled up resting with his mate Snowy, a white and brown female wolf, Valo was satisfied with everything and he walked to the bottom of a hill and surveyed the slope, recently another female wolf had been following him and his pack, he did'nt know what she wanted but thought better of approaching her, Jake wandered up next to Valo,
"She still there?", he asked,
"Yes, we'll go to the coast, from there we'll make our way to Ghost Canyon and on to the Shadow Lands", Valo informed him, Jake was clever and knew how to handle stressful situations, for now Valo had decided he would be Beta wolf, unless a more suitable wolf joined the pack. The journey to the coast was easy going, the hardest part being crossing a river at the foot of a waterfall, it would've been straight forward had Sarchie not fallen in, it took Jake, Tenaka, Moonlit and Snowy to pull him out, Valo left them to it, he decided that he should get himself out of the river seeing as it was his fault he fell in trying to impress Moonlit, Sarchie's plan had'nt gone the way he'd hoped, Moonlit was not impressed by his antics, especially as she'd gotten wet helping to pull him out. After the river it had been plain sailing all the way to the coast, when they arrived everyone rested in the long grass at the top of a cliff, Valo was watching another wolf at the foot of the cliff, it was dark brown and grey in colour and failing miserably at catching a fish, a much larger grey wolf with a black strip from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, when he arrived the brown wolf was submissive to him, the grey wolf had no problem catching a fish from the waves, the brown wolf did'nt look happy, Valo managed a slight snigger at the brown wolf...but he still did'nt smile, never mind laugh properly, Tenaka laughed though, he too had been watching the wolves at the foot of the cliff,
"Pathetic!", he laughed at the brown wolf, Valo gave him a look but did'nt say anything, Tenaka giggled again and trotted back to the rest of the pack, the grey wolf at the bottom of the cliff sniffed the air, he scented Valo and his pack, he looked up the cliff directly at Valo, Valo stared straight back, after about a minute the grey wolf turned and went back into the forest, beckoning the brown wolf to follow, Valo stood up and gestured for the pack to follow him, he led them down the cliff and he scented the two wolves, he thought he smelt something familiar with the grey wolf's scent but dismissed it, just at that moment the grey wolf burst out of the trees, Valo, thinking it was a demonai, turned bit into his neck, the grey wolf turned and bit into Valo's neck, the two stood locked together growling, the grey wolf let go,
"I'm looking for a wolf named Valo", he told them, Valo released his grip and looked at the wolf,
"My name is Sangar, I've been looking for my brother, Valo", he continued,
"You've found him, I did'nt know I had a brother?", Valo answered questioningly,
"You're from our parents second litter, they did'nt manage the same level of secrecy with you as they did with me, my siblings are all dead now, killed by a hideous creature", Sangar informed Valo,
"A demonai", Valo growled, Sangar nodded in agreement,
"This is Niju, he was travelling with an old wolf when I found him, the old one died, he's been with me ever since", Sangar introduced Niju, he walked up next to Sangar,
"You can join my pack, Sangar, you will be Beta wolf", Valo told them, Sangar nodded respectfully, Niju did'nt look as pleased. Later that day while the pack was resting Niju decided he would try and take over leadership of the pack, he stalked up behind Valo, he leapt at him, aiming for his neck, unfortunately for Niju, Valo knew he was there, he span around and pinned Niju to the ground, clamping his teeth into his throat, Niju yelped, the rest of the pack looked up in alarm, they stared at Valo and Niju, Valo released his grip and stood over Niju who was now lying on his back, he snarled at him,
"You are Omega of this pack, you will behave yourself, if you disrespect my rules you will be killed, am I understood?", Valo bellowed in his face, Niju nodded in fear, Valo moved away from Niju and lay down, Niju slunk down the hill they were resting on, he felt rather embarrased, the whole pack slept there that night.
Meanwhile, a grey female wolf was following the scent of Valo's pack, she was the wolf that had been following them, her name was Venue, she had been following them in the hope of joining their pack, she had left her family a while ago, she had woken up and realised the pack had left, ever since she had been frantically following their scent, she did'nt want to lose her chance of joining a pack, without the protection of a pack she did'nt stand much of a chance, the only other pack nearby was hostile and she'd only just escaped from them with her life. She reached the coast by early morning, she was very tired by now and extremely hungry, she had'nt been very successful hunting without a pack either, all she'd had to eat in 3 days was a large rabbit, she walked down a hill and looked out over the surroundings, she was beginning to lose hope of finding the pack again, unbeknown to her, Valo had been keeping an eye out for her ever since they left for the coast, he had scented her a while ago and was watching her, he stalked down the slope and leapt infront of her growling, she jumped back and stumbled over, he eased off a bit seeing how weak she was,
"Please, I want to join your pack", she whimpered, by now the rest of the pack had arrived, Valo looked at Sangar and he nodded at Valo,
"You may join us, you'll be Omega alongside Niju", Valo told her whilst growling at Niju,
"Jake, get her some food", Valo told him, Jake trotted off to fetch some of their last kill, Valo looked back at the female, she looked up at him and smiled,
"My name is Venue", she told him, he nodded in acknowledgement, Jake dropped the food at Valo's paws, Valo picked it up and placed it infront of Venue, she gently picked it up and ate it, thankful to finally be in a pack and have some food and protection. A few days later the pack was still at the coast, reluctant to continue their journey too quickly, Venue found Valo fascinating, she often watched him, he knew she was watching him but never did anything about it, in a way he kind of liked it, he did'nt know why, all his experience was telling him she should be punished but he could'nt do it, the thought was driving him crazy, things had been fairly peaceful recently, niether Valo or Sangar trusted Niju, Jake had become friendly with Sangar, he was glad he no longer had the responsibility of being Beta wolf, Niju was finding things harder, he wanted to be Alpha, he was annoyed that he'd thrown away his chance of being leader because of his fear of change but his life had changed anyway, now he was Omega of a pack and could'nt see any way to become Alpha, Valo wa far too strong for him to defeat in a fight, especially with Sangar as his Beta wolf, Niju did'nt stand a chance...unless...he suddenly had an idea, if he mated with a female and she had pups then he would be Alpha of the pack, but which female?...Snowy is protected by Jake and with them being mich higher up the pecking order than him that would be difficult, moonlit maybe?...no, she was always with Tenaka and Sarchie and Tenaka was just below Jake, way too much protection, Venue!...she was Omega like him, she was still quite weak and was much more vulnerable than the others, yes, Venue, all he had to do was get her alone, should'nt be too hard. That night Niju put his plan in motion, he asked Venue to help him catch a rabbit, he made the excuse that no one else would help him and he would share half with her if she helped him, Venue knew she needed more food so agreed, they walked out of range of the pack to an abandoned rabbit warren, only Niju knew it was abandoned, Venue did'nt have a clue, everything was going to plan so far, as Niju was summoning the courage to follow through with his plan Valo watched them, he'd been watching Venue for a few hours and had followed them into the woods, Niju was ready to carry out his plan, he moved aside from the entrance to the warren as if to let Venue have first go, she crouched down to reach further into the warren, as she did Niju attempted to mate her, Valo was about to rush down the slope and attack Niju...but Venue got there first, she whirled around and bit hard into Niju's neck, she threw him to the ground, she was about to yell at him when Valo appeared, seemingly from nowhere, Venue slank back and lowered her head, ready to explain herself to the Alpha but Valo turned to Niju instead and growled at him,
"She attacked me sir, for no reason, I was only trying to help her", Niju lied, Venue was about to argue but Valo spoke first,
"I saw what you did Niju, do not lie to me, you know the consequences of your actions", Valo growled at him, Valo then bit at his paws to make him stand up, then at his neck and face, Niju ran away, Valo looked at Venue to check she was alright then wandered to a clearing to think, why was he so worried about her?, she was no different to the other members of his pack, he was deep in thought when Venue sat beside him,
"Thank you Valo", she said to him quietly, he acknowledged that he accepted her thanks but said nothing, the two sat there for a while, Valo was about to tell her to get some rest when she nuzzled against his chest, she rubbed her nose in his long fur, normally he would bite her for doing something like this but again he could'nt bring himself to do it, he just looked at her quietly, she moved her nose up under his chin, he gulped and stayed perfectly still, she licked his cheek and left to rejoin the pack, she was half expecting him to attack her but he did'nt, instead he watched her go, why could'nt he punish her? He was Alpha, this was'nt right! none of this made sense, it stood to reason that he was supposed to at least bite her to remind her of her position but he could'nt even do that, he stayed awake all that night thinking about what had happened. Next day the pack just lounged around, they had fed the day before and had no need to do any hunting today, Valo found himself staring at Venue, he could'nt understand why but since the night before he wanted to be near her, it was silly, the Alpha does'nt hang around the Omega, it just was'nt done...but still he could'nt help watching her, they lay at opposite sides of the clearing the pack was in looking at each other. Valo was'nt the only one interested in Venue, Sarchie also liked her but he was more open about it, he stood right infrint of her, obscuring Valo's line of sight, for a reason unknown to Valo this made him aggitated, Venue looked up at Sarchie, sighed and turned away again, she had no interest in him but he was'nt going to give up easily, he nudged her side and lay down next to her and licked her front paw, Valo knew what he was doing and did'nt like it, he trotted over to where they were and stood over Venue growling at Sarchie, Venue looked at Valo who was towering above her, Sarchie backed away, Valo moved between Sarchie and Venue, still growling, Venue stood up and walked away, Valo followed her until the edge of the clearing when he walked off, back to the top of the same hill he was on with Venue the night before, she had followed him there and sat beside him, Valo did'nt understand why he had been that way with Sarchie and so protective of Venue, he had never felt like this before, he did'nt know what it was but it was scaring him, he was'nt scared of anything, Venue looked at him and gently nuzzled his fur, this time he turned toward her,
"I...er...I don't...", Valo tried to tell her he did'nt know what to do about this but trailed off, Venue smiled moved closer to him, their shoulders touched they were so close,
"Then don't do anything", she whispered guessing what he was trying to say, so he did'nt, he just sat there resting his head on hers, they stayed there silently until night time when they returned to the pack, everything was as normal...except tonight Venue slept next to Valo, the others smiled, even Sarchie, Sangar took his position below Valo, and now Venue, that night Valo was last to fall asleep, he lay with his nose next to Venue's, he could feel her breath on his nose, for the first time he felt happy, he did'nt remember ever feeling this happy, even back with his parents in his childhood den before everything went wrong, he was happier now than ever before...because he was with Venue? He could'nt think of another reason, for the first time ever he smiled, a proper smile, he slept well that night.
The day after the pack set off to Ghost Canyon, this was the only passage in and out of the Shadow lands, once through the canyon they would have to cross an open meadow about 8 miles across, there was plenty of prey in the meadows, many said they were the last sane place before the madness and horror of the shadow lands. Ghost canyon was made of a chalky rock that made the walls of the canyon appear pure white and the shape of the canyon was like a giant serpent, giving it the name Ghost Canyon, many feared the canyon, saying it was haunted, cursed, as the pack entered the canyon they noticed how quiet it went after a while even the sound of birds dissappeared, Venue moved closer to Valo, everyone was feeling nervous, Valo looked back at the others, he half giggled when he saw Jake and Snowy, if Snowy got any closer to him she'd be on his back, they carried on through the canyon, there were deer and caribou skulls littered all the way through the canyon, at one point they came across the skeleton of a demonai, recognizeable by it's mutated bones and the deep gouges in some of it's bones and it's skull inparticular, they passed on by silently, a group of crows flew out if a bush at the top of the cliff, Sangar signalled for Valo to pick up the pace, he was at the back of the group making sure no one got left behind, Valo kept going a bit faster, Venue sticking close to his side. After another hour they emerged at the meadow, it was'nt quite as they imagined it, the meadow looked bleak, the prey animals in the distance were skittish, crows flew over head squaking loudly in alarm at the sight of the pack, Valo noticed two Demonai a way off ripping a carcass apart, the meadow seemed to go on forever, the sky was grey and even bleaker than the meadow itself,
"The calm before the storm?", Sangar questioned as he surveyed the scene, Valo nodded slightly, a flock of crows flew up from a dead tree ahead of them, Venue shuffled closer still to Valo, Valo nuzzled her in reassurance, the pack chose to rest just a bit away from the canyon entrance, at night the meadow looked even more foreboding than in daylight, Venue lay close to Valo where she felt safe, when the others were all asleep Valo and Sangar discussed their situation, the outlook was'nt good,
"We'll tackle this one step at a time, stick together", Valo decided, Sangar agreed, out here they felt completely alone, Valo nuzzled against Venue's head as she slept, Sangar watched wondering how long it may be before there are pups to look after aswell, they heard another round of howls, there were demonai in the area, most probably on a kill, Valo and Sangar looked out in the direction they would be travelling both wondering what the future may hold, the demonai gave more howls as they both settled down to sleep, the next stage of their journey would be dangerous, niether knew how they would cope with surprises this eerie meadow may have in store for them...and how they would have the strength to face this mysterious Lord Loss at the centre of the Dead Plains.[/u]
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