Post by shadow on Jan 27, 2008 23:15:03 GMT
I am Krae. I do not demand pity, though my living conditions may make you a little sad. It wasn't always like this for me, though. I didn't always have to fight for my every scrap of freedom. Death wasn't always on my agenda. I was a noble barghest, brought up by a higher family. My father was noble, too. My mother was, well, about as beautiful as a barghest can be, with warm red eyes and thick luxurious fur. My eyes were also red at one point, though they have... changed over the past few centuries. Nowadays, I have to concentrate on keeping my claws from staining red, but in those, I didn't even like fighting. I kept it a secret from my parents and two siblings, afraid that I would be shunned for not only that, but for my other unique quality.
I refused to eat meat.
When I was that small, the young barghest pups couldn't eat meat, and were fed scraps of berries and other edible plants and insects. But when I got older, it became more difficult to hide my horrible secret. Without the heat of battle or the blood of innocent animals, my eyes lost their crimson coloring, and soon I was one of the only barghests around without the scarlet eyes and death that shone in everyone Else's. The others didn't know why, and assumed it was due to something in the water.
It wasn't.
One day, on my fortieth birthday, I walked over to one of the pools that littered the night caves that I lived in, petending to carry the hawk I was given to a private place to feed, when really I was trying to find a place that was soft enough so that I could bury the unfortunate soul, I came across my reflection. Normally, when I needed a drink, I would lap up some of the water of the rain soaked moss that blanketed all the caves. But now, I was face to face... with myself. My coat had lost all its glossiness. My eyes were a swampy green, and my fur was ragged and matted. I was living a lie, and I certainly wasn't happy. Then I noticed something else in the water.
A wolf.
She was standing behind me, and while I was wallowing in self-pity she had creeped out of the bushes to gaze at me. I could only stare. Between the facts the she was a wolf and I was entitled to hate her, she was one of the prettiest wolves I'd ever seen. Her ice blue yes were warm and welcoming, and her beautiful sleek coat was thick and radiant, looking as untouched as the water's surface I was seeing her through. She looked into my eyes and she did not recoil. It was as if she was seeing me, not the freak I had become over my years of inner-shame and self-criticism.
'W-what are you doing here?' I managed to stutter. Then I realized that she had probably seen me bury my meal. I bowed my head in shame and pawed the ground nervously.
'What are you going to do now that you know?' I asked her. Would she tell her tribe leader of the barghest's weakest link? Word would travel quickly to my father and the elderly leaders of the Empire that I was different. Would she attack me now know that I would not fight back?
'I will do nothing.' She replied in the softest, silkiest voice I had ever heard. Were all female wolves this attractive?
'The choice is yours, young one. You may choose to continue living this way, confess to your leader, run away and continue with this lonely life... Or you could come with me.'
Her eyes glittered with knowing, and it was as if she had read my mind. Though I barely knew this creature, I would follow her to the ends of the earth. And even though my life had little meaning, I already knew I would give it for her without hesitation.
Was I this love-starved?
She flickered her ears in a gesture to follow, and with her tail resting loftily on my shoulder she led me into the green forest that was the wolves home. We live together for many years, helping each other and welcoming affection with warm glowing eyes. My coat began to shimmer once more, and with her help we unknotted those mats from my coal-black fur. We were shadows of each other, complete opposites and...
Completely in love.
I was fifty-one years old now, and I hadn't heard from the barghest empire since my "disappearance", but soon that would change. As you might already know, we weren't the only souls that lived in the forest. No matter how well we hid our secret, there was always someone hiding behind the brambles, watching tenderly, waiting until the time to strike was right.
I was fifty-two when it was.
Back in the empire, the news was shared with the chief elders that I was alive and well... living in peace with a wolf. If they had known how much she meant to me, they hadn't cared, for troops were sent out eliminate this secret alliance before word of it traveled into the forest.
She was out gathering berries when the first of the army arrived. I sat by the window, admiring the tree's and Bush's recently bloomed leaves and flowers, thinking constantly of her, when I sensed that something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
Within seconds the entire den was surrounded, as barghests began filing through every opening. I looked around in horror as my new life was torn away from me, leaving and ugly scar of regret. My paws were seized harshly and I was pinned to the ground. But I was okay. As long as she wasn't in danger, still out gathering berries, I was okay. My fate was sealed, and I knew my life would always be a lonely one. I was too stubborn! If only I had eaten the hawk.
'You can't do this!' I cried out in sorrow. 'My father will get me out of this!' This I was sure of. He was always a noble wolf, and I was to be prosecuted, I knew that If he was on my side, my trial would at least be a fair one.
'Actually,' An all-too-familiar voice hissed from somewhere behind me. It was my brother, Fatal, whom had become the commander of the Barghest Empire's fighting troops while I was gone.
'Father was the one who told us you were here in the first place!' He let out a horrible laugh of dark pleasure at seeing me suffer. My brother and father had betrayed me. The shadow that had haunted my paw steps had been my father all along.
But it was okay. She was still-
She walked through the opening to the den, and quickly dropped the berries in astonishment. Then she unsheathed her claws and I quickly realized what she was about to do. Attacking a barghest military troop of this size would be suicide.
'No!' I screamed in desperation and horror. 'You can't! DON"T!'
But it was done. She snarled and launched herself at my brother, tearing through the den. She was soon on him, and Fatal was shocked as she reached down and clawed at his throat. The other wolves spun and flew at he from all sides, but she was too fast for them. She lifted up her head and howled in her beautiful voice a last some of regret and sorrow before flinging herself at my father. They circled around each other, waiting for an opening, and when she caught one of her claws in the fur of a fallen barghest, he found one.
'NO!' I cried in an attempt to distract my father, knowing that it was hopeless. Within seconds he was upon her, and bit down hard on her throat. She fell limp as the branches of the strongest willow.
She was gone.
And I guess, I probably went insane with rage and absolute sorrow, because in the blur I can remember, I slayed my father and most of the other wolves there, and stole my fallen princess away to where we first me, near the great pool where the hawk, the cause of this whole ordeal, was buried. I buried her beside it, and marked her grave with a violet rose. The empire soon caught up with me and trapped me in this horrible maze that smells of death and tears, and it is here that I tell you of this story. It is also the first time i have spoken since the death of my beautiful mate. She is long gone now, but they never found her, centuries later while I still stay rotting away in the labyrinth. But if this entire thing taught me one thing, it was to never hide your differences and be true to yourself, and always follow your heart, because on the full moon for my three-hundredth birthday, death finally came.
And I was no longer alone.
I refused to eat meat.
When I was that small, the young barghest pups couldn't eat meat, and were fed scraps of berries and other edible plants and insects. But when I got older, it became more difficult to hide my horrible secret. Without the heat of battle or the blood of innocent animals, my eyes lost their crimson coloring, and soon I was one of the only barghests around without the scarlet eyes and death that shone in everyone Else's. The others didn't know why, and assumed it was due to something in the water.
It wasn't.
One day, on my fortieth birthday, I walked over to one of the pools that littered the night caves that I lived in, petending to carry the hawk I was given to a private place to feed, when really I was trying to find a place that was soft enough so that I could bury the unfortunate soul, I came across my reflection. Normally, when I needed a drink, I would lap up some of the water of the rain soaked moss that blanketed all the caves. But now, I was face to face... with myself. My coat had lost all its glossiness. My eyes were a swampy green, and my fur was ragged and matted. I was living a lie, and I certainly wasn't happy. Then I noticed something else in the water.
A wolf.
She was standing behind me, and while I was wallowing in self-pity she had creeped out of the bushes to gaze at me. I could only stare. Between the facts the she was a wolf and I was entitled to hate her, she was one of the prettiest wolves I'd ever seen. Her ice blue yes were warm and welcoming, and her beautiful sleek coat was thick and radiant, looking as untouched as the water's surface I was seeing her through. She looked into my eyes and she did not recoil. It was as if she was seeing me, not the freak I had become over my years of inner-shame and self-criticism.
'W-what are you doing here?' I managed to stutter. Then I realized that she had probably seen me bury my meal. I bowed my head in shame and pawed the ground nervously.
'What are you going to do now that you know?' I asked her. Would she tell her tribe leader of the barghest's weakest link? Word would travel quickly to my father and the elderly leaders of the Empire that I was different. Would she attack me now know that I would not fight back?
'I will do nothing.' She replied in the softest, silkiest voice I had ever heard. Were all female wolves this attractive?
'The choice is yours, young one. You may choose to continue living this way, confess to your leader, run away and continue with this lonely life... Or you could come with me.'
Her eyes glittered with knowing, and it was as if she had read my mind. Though I barely knew this creature, I would follow her to the ends of the earth. And even though my life had little meaning, I already knew I would give it for her without hesitation.
Was I this love-starved?
She flickered her ears in a gesture to follow, and with her tail resting loftily on my shoulder she led me into the green forest that was the wolves home. We live together for many years, helping each other and welcoming affection with warm glowing eyes. My coat began to shimmer once more, and with her help we unknotted those mats from my coal-black fur. We were shadows of each other, complete opposites and...
Completely in love.
I was fifty-one years old now, and I hadn't heard from the barghest empire since my "disappearance", but soon that would change. As you might already know, we weren't the only souls that lived in the forest. No matter how well we hid our secret, there was always someone hiding behind the brambles, watching tenderly, waiting until the time to strike was right.
I was fifty-two when it was.
Back in the empire, the news was shared with the chief elders that I was alive and well... living in peace with a wolf. If they had known how much she meant to me, they hadn't cared, for troops were sent out eliminate this secret alliance before word of it traveled into the forest.
She was out gathering berries when the first of the army arrived. I sat by the window, admiring the tree's and Bush's recently bloomed leaves and flowers, thinking constantly of her, when I sensed that something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
Within seconds the entire den was surrounded, as barghests began filing through every opening. I looked around in horror as my new life was torn away from me, leaving and ugly scar of regret. My paws were seized harshly and I was pinned to the ground. But I was okay. As long as she wasn't in danger, still out gathering berries, I was okay. My fate was sealed, and I knew my life would always be a lonely one. I was too stubborn! If only I had eaten the hawk.
'You can't do this!' I cried out in sorrow. 'My father will get me out of this!' This I was sure of. He was always a noble wolf, and I was to be prosecuted, I knew that If he was on my side, my trial would at least be a fair one.
'Actually,' An all-too-familiar voice hissed from somewhere behind me. It was my brother, Fatal, whom had become the commander of the Barghest Empire's fighting troops while I was gone.
'Father was the one who told us you were here in the first place!' He let out a horrible laugh of dark pleasure at seeing me suffer. My brother and father had betrayed me. The shadow that had haunted my paw steps had been my father all along.
But it was okay. She was still-
She walked through the opening to the den, and quickly dropped the berries in astonishment. Then she unsheathed her claws and I quickly realized what she was about to do. Attacking a barghest military troop of this size would be suicide.
'No!' I screamed in desperation and horror. 'You can't! DON"T!'
But it was done. She snarled and launched herself at my brother, tearing through the den. She was soon on him, and Fatal was shocked as she reached down and clawed at his throat. The other wolves spun and flew at he from all sides, but she was too fast for them. She lifted up her head and howled in her beautiful voice a last some of regret and sorrow before flinging herself at my father. They circled around each other, waiting for an opening, and when she caught one of her claws in the fur of a fallen barghest, he found one.
'NO!' I cried in an attempt to distract my father, knowing that it was hopeless. Within seconds he was upon her, and bit down hard on her throat. She fell limp as the branches of the strongest willow.
She was gone.
And I guess, I probably went insane with rage and absolute sorrow, because in the blur I can remember, I slayed my father and most of the other wolves there, and stole my fallen princess away to where we first me, near the great pool where the hawk, the cause of this whole ordeal, was buried. I buried her beside it, and marked her grave with a violet rose. The empire soon caught up with me and trapped me in this horrible maze that smells of death and tears, and it is here that I tell you of this story. It is also the first time i have spoken since the death of my beautiful mate. She is long gone now, but they never found her, centuries later while I still stay rotting away in the labyrinth. But if this entire thing taught me one thing, it was to never hide your differences and be true to yourself, and always follow your heart, because on the full moon for my three-hundredth birthday, death finally came.
And I was no longer alone.
