Very good colour like if it’s good

Best camouflage in game #invisible

Hi President Loki! Are u going to continue writing?

Waning Unity is such an excellent story that it shouldnt have been hidden away in the clutches of a dye section. Goodness gracious that was a tear-jerking, toe curling ride. THIS is top tier writing. President Loki and CL1 did a phenomanal job on this story.

- Ben

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty

'Stop it.’

Lume could hear him screaming as she thrashed him back and forth, pulling the blood in his veins from one side of his body to the other.

'Stop it.'

She could hear him breaking as she slammed him into the ground over and over again.

‘Stop it.’

She felt his throat working as he pleaded for his life over mouthfuls of blood.

It would have been simpler to say it wasn’t her fault. There were many creatures of legend with a sense of duality, a second mind controlling their body. For all anyone knew, she could easily have been one of them. For all they knew, Lume had retreated to some far away corner at the back of her mind, left to the devices of a mindless beast.

But Lume knew. This was her; she was that beast, and lying to herself would do no good. She had promised to help them, to save them like a fool. Maybe she had even cared about them. What good had it done now? She’d cared about Fraser at some point, right? Now here she was killing him, and as much as she subconsciously might have wished she could have, she didn’t care. She was hurting, hurting too much to care about anything else. Their essence was causing her pain … if she could only get rid of them all, it would finally stop.

“Lume. Please.”

So if it was Lume in control, what was that then, that voice repeating over and over: ‘Stop it.’

She tried to pull her jaw shut tighter, tight enough to simply break Fraser’s neck and silence him, silence the pain, but she found she couldn’t.

‘Stop it.’

‘I can’t. I want it to be over.’

‘You’ll kill him.’

‘I know.’

Maybe there was another part of her, not a separate mind altogether, but another Lume. That was the Lume Fraser was looking for, the one he could plead with and be heard, the Lume that tried to keep him out of harm’s way; the Lume that wanted to protect the only creature that had ever truly bothered to care about her. Maybe that was the other voice that had been in her head all along; a Lume that existed simply to keep things like this from happening.

‘You wouldn’t kill him.’

‘I would.’

‘You can’t.’

‘I must.’

Wolves were slamming into her left and right as they ran past her. She had long gotten past the point of recognizing anything else was there. It felt as if she was burning alive, and it only grew worse the further the battle went. Her entire body was

trembling now.

‘I just want it to stop.’

“I’m loyal to you.”

Her internal dialogue halted. What had he just said?

“You are my pack.”

Something in Lume broke. He was trying to stop her … no, he was trying to SAVE her; save her before she did something she would truly regret. The red of his essence seeped away, softening to a light blue once again. The scar of red that had started Lume’s torment became a striking blue, taking a portion of the pain away. She felt as if she could breathe again, if

only a little. Fraser didn’t break eye contact with her, and his eyes were soft and kind, already forgiving her. Then they rolled back and shut, pulling Lume back to the reality of what she was doing.

‘It’s time to stop.’

She released her grip on Fraser’s neck and he began coughing out heavy spurts of blood. Lume was still hurting, still

frenzied, but in the midst of her hysteria something remarkable happened, perhaps not so remarkable for anyone else but her, but remarkable nonetheless; Lume began to cry. It was just pooled in her eyes for a bit, then tears began to run down

her face in small threads, and then like rivers pouring down her face. She sank to the ground slowly, sobbing while fire ran through her veins.

‘It hurts.’

‘I know.’

‘Not the essence.’

‘I know.’

Lume tried to blink her tears away as she fought to regain control of her breath. Horror dawned on her at the helplessness of her position. She was stuck in a degree of pain that threatened to turn her feral at any second, and Fraser was lying broken

and bloodied beside her, now unconscious and teetering on the edge of death. Initiative drove her back to her feet and she lifted Fraser by his scruff, gently this time, before turning and dashing into the forest as far as her legs would carry her from

the sea of red behind her. She was aware of footsteps trailing behind her, but the scent belonged to the young she-wolf Fraser had acknowledged as one of his past pack mates.

Several times she wanted to stop, and then a strike of pain would inform her she wasn’t yet far enough, so she kept running. She ran until the agony became a numb stinging all over her body, and then she collapsed, still trembling. Milkweed wasn’t far behind, panting as she made her way into the small clearing Lume had found, careful to keep her distance from the monster that had torn half of each pack apart.

The ethereal wolf hung her head as she looked down at her friend’s bloodied body, and a new, vulnerable thought occurred to her. “Fraser,” she whispered to a wolf she wasn’t sure could hear her, “I … I don’t know what to do…”

(EMOTIONAL DAMAGE)

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Eighteen

She could not see it, but she felt it. A clutch of wolves were following her to the river when a sudden stab of pain made her

heart throb. She stopped for a moment as she tried to keep herself from doubling over. The wolves behind her gave each

other looks of confusion before Mink pushed past them and pressed against her side to steady her. “Are you alright?” He

whispered. “What happened?”

“I … “ Lume tried to put into words what she had just experienced. “Truthfully, I do not know.”

Mink blinked at her a moment

and then gave a nod towards her. “Is this a sign we’re getting close?”

She wasn’t sure what he meant until she looked down to see a sharp streak of scarlet stretching from her right shoulder and

stopping just shy of her heart. She thought it might have been blood if the shivering of the wind through her fur hadn’t alerted

her that this was merely a change of color on her coat.

She had never seen this before, both colors resting on her fur at

once, and the searing pain emanating from the scar of red essence made her certain it was not good for her.

She looked up

suddenly, searching the group of wolves for the cause. It didn’t take her long to find a splotch of red in the sea of blue around

her.

“Fraser?”

The much less timid wolf raised his head towards her. She hadn’t seen him back there, but she had assumed he was lost in

the crowd. Apparently he had only just now arrived, his appearance marked by the shift of essence. “What?” He asked, likely

growing uncomfortable with the way Lume was gawking at him. She had never seen him with red essence, not even when

Harrier and Boa attacked. She couldn’t imagine what must have happened to result in this.

“You … you’re … ”

She stepped forward and the searing pain grew worse as the red stripe quickly grew along her fur,

reaching halfway down her leg and up her neck to the right side of her face. She yelped suddenly and hopped back from

Fraser, leaving the curious wolf just as surprised as she was. The wolves around them gave Lume a wider berth as Fraser

tried to approach her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Lume retreated one step for each step he advanced. “Stay back!” She

shouted to him, letting out a small sigh as the crimson retreated back to the small sliver in her fur and the pain subsided a

little.

“It’s okay, I just want to help,” Fraser assured her quietly, taking two more steps slowly towards her.

The patch of red grew back ferociously quick and climbed up the side of her face again. She could feel her mouth fill with

saliva as the tips of her fangs tore further from her gums in an painful, elongated state, along with her claws. A hideous

screeching noise accompanied a sudden light-headedness, and once she regained her focus, she found she was lower to

the ground with her ears flattened against her head. “I said stay BACK!” It came out, half snarl - half bark, and it was no

longer clear whether it was fear or anger taking the reins.

The wolves encircled around her dropped to defensive stances, their essence slowly ebbing into red as well, only making

the pain worse until everything in her vision was a shade of scarlet. “BACK!” She snarled, snapping at all of them as she

spun to face them.

The tense situation was thrown into utter chaos when barks and snarls drowned out the sounds of the forest. The group of

wolves all turned to see several canine bodies moving towards them through the trees; the enemy pack had arrived. She turned back to the pack she was supposedly meant to be defending, but everything was blurred and red. She couldn't see clearly and her head felt like it was being torn in two.

The

war was about to begin, and once the commotion began, friend and foe would all be the same to her. Lume remained self aware only long enough to realize things were about to get very, very bad.

~CL1

So sorry, I was certain that I’d posted this but apparently not. ):/

Waning Unity

Chapter Seventeen

“I leave you alone for a half hour and you start a WAR?”

Lume nodded as though this was an extremely natural scenario, making Fraser wonder if she had done something similar in the past. The two of them were out for a stroll, which had been up until this point peaceful, as they ventured through the pack’s forested home. Here the lushness of the overhead forest canopy hid the sun’s harsh rays, concealing the countless birds that sang in joyous harmony. “I can’t trust you with anything,” he muttered as they continued on, following a narrow deer trail that led through the shrubbery.

The ethereal wolf, her fur still glowing a dusty blue, paused to turn and look down at him. “They believe I am a savior of sorts, Fraser,” she told him with what looked like surprised optimism. “I would like to live up to their expectations of me.”

Fraser sighed, letting out a wispy breath through his nostrils. “And their expectations of you are that you’ll fight wars for them?” he muttered, looking away as he sat down hard into the dirt, stirring it beneath him. Lume sat down parallel to him, ducking her head in an attempt to make eye contact, which the little desert wolf fiercely avoided.

“Fraser,” said the large wolf gently, her tone caring. “They are fighting against starvation. I cannot stand by and let them suffer. You out of everyone else should understand the gravity of this pain.” She lowered her head, swiveling herself as he evaded meeting her eyes. “And besides, I think that I can help.”

“You THINK?” Fraser cried, backpedaling a few steps and turning away from her, his head low as he shut his eyes. A million things were racing through his head, thoughts and opinions and decisions and choices running tracks in his mind. He sucked in a breath, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before turning around to face her again. “It isn’t my decision to make,” he uttered finally. “Just… whatever you decide, don’t leave me.”

As sunshine gave way to dark, the sky flaunting brilliant colors of fiery orange and vibrant shades of purple and red, Fraser lay underneath a burly oak tree just within the camp’s boundaries. As he sat, head down in the dirt and eyes closed, he listened to the rustling of leaves in the wind. He wasn’t yet used to the forest, the dancing shadows that dappled the ground or the way that sunshine was hidden away from view nearly all the time. The way that squirrels and other animals dashed through the underbrush startled him. This place was nothing like the desert which he called home.

“How are you feeling?” a voice asked. Fraser’s eyes flicked open and he lifted his head. Milkweed, one of the three wolves from his old pack, was standing in front of him, a smile tracing her face as she awaited his response.

Fraser hesitated a moment before responding. “Fine,” he sighed, turning his head away from her in hopes of avoiding a conversation.

Suspicions arising, Milkweed moved to sit beside him. “Are you sure?” she asked softly, doubt radiating in her expression. “You know, it’s alright if you’re not fine.”

A sudden anger flared up in Fraser’s chest. “Stop being nice to me,” he snapped, pushing himself up to his feet and fixing her with a glare. She looked taken aback at his sudden outlash, though he didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Stop acting like we’re friends, like we’re family.”

A look of bewilderment cascaded over her face. “But Fraser, we are fam-”

The smaller desert wolf cut her off with a growl. “Don’t finish that sentence,” he snarled, ears pinning back against his head. “We are not family. Not anymore.” He turned away from her and began to pad off, pausing to shoot over his shoulder, “If we were really family you wouldn’t have left me.”

- President Loki

I’M SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG. STUFF IS BUSY AND I HAD NO INSPIRATION-

Anyway, here it is

Waning Unity

Chapter Fifteen

“Lume?” Fraser whispered loudly, crouched as close to the large wolf as he would dare get. The darkness of the night sky was just beginning to fold over into pale stripes of salmon pink and golden glow, the horizon stretching warm stripes of light into the sky and hiding the stars. “Lume?” he repeated, a little louder now. Finally her eye cracked open and she inhaled deeply, looking over at him drowsily. “What is it?” she asked after a moment. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

He shuffled a little closer to her, breathing his nervous air into her face. “I heard wolves howling,” he whispered, his eyes wide and round. “And they sounded close.”

Extending a paw, Lume pushed him a couple of paw-lengths away, sighing as she grew more alert to things around her. “Wolves howl often, Fraser,” she said tiredly, flicking her ears as she glared plainly at the smaller wolf. He shuffled his feet, beginning to chew the inside of his lip, per usual.

“Stop doing that,” she said, pushing herself to his feet and padding over. “It hurts you.” She swished her tail against his snout and he sighed, pulling his teeth away from the inside of his mouth before hanging his head miserably. “Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath, spitting out traces of blood that leaked into his saliva from his teeth marks that marked the softness of his mouth.

She sighed, shaking her head. She dipped her head until her snout was level with his, meeting his eyes. Her eyes looked truly concerned, rich with worry for his well-being. It was the most emotion he had ever seen in her face. “Do not apologize,” she told him gently. “It isn’t your fault.” She straightened, looking around. “What were you saying about howls?”

Suddenly her white fur seemed to ripple, the ethereal silver glow giving way to a vibrant blue. Fraser closed his eyes briefly, adjusting to the sudden amount of light. Footsteps rustled in the forest surrounding them, and suddenly the scent of woodland wolves whisked into his nostrils. He shuffled, stepping closer to Lume until their pelts brushed.

“A wolf pack?” he whispered to her, and she nodded in agreement. “Very loyal to each other,” she responded in a low voice. “Do you know them?”

Fraser scanned the forest, making out the shadows of wolves that surrounded them. He could hear their soft growls now, and they were near enough that he was able to sort through their smells. He inhaled deeply, struggling to figure out of any of them held scents that he could recognize. Some of their pelts, through the trees, were clearly lighter than their pack mates- evidence of sunbaked fur.

“I know one of them,” he mumbled finally. “No- two. Two of them are familiar, but they’re… they’re muddled. Changed from the time in the woods, I think.” Lume nodded quietly along with his words, crouching lower and turning her head to look out at the surrounding trees and the wolves hidden behind them.

A small portion of wolves stepped out, their three brown bodies silhouetted by the gathering light. There was a possibility that one of them, a she-wolf of a lighter color, was one of the members of his former pack. Their eyes were shadowed and dark, bodies tense. Fraser suddenly realized that they had probably found them by tracking Wildflower’s scent, and regrettably he turned his head to look over at her still body, already beginning to grow rancid from decay. “Is there a reason you have come into our territory,” one of the wolves, the darkest of the three, asked, “or are you simply passing by?”

Fraser and Lume exchanged a glance. His throat felt tight, as if he couldn’t speak, handicapped by nervousness. Lume looked back to the wolf who had spoken. “We are travelers,” she stated. “We do not mean any harm.”

“And who might you be?” asked the lightest. Her voice was familiar, soft, and despite her suspicious tone Fraser felt comfort simply by her presence. He looked back to Lume for a moment, hesitantly swallowing. “Lume and Fraser,” the ethereal wolf responded, lifting her chin. The lightest wolf’s face changed hearing their names and her ears lifted, eyes rounding.

“Fraser?” she repeated curiously, turning to whisper something to her companions. The darkest one finally looked to them and commanded, “Come with us. You’ll stay the night.”

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Lume's Epilogue

Lume watched from higher up the creek as a tired old bear snatched one of the unfortunate salmon that had leaped past. It started to turn and lumber away before catching her eye and holding her gaze. There was no animosity, no silent threats between them. Each had seen something similar in the other and that was enough to give them an understanding that very few creatures could match. The grizzly grumbled lowly, and a small, fluffy cub poked its head out from behind a rock, quickly waddling after the mother as she disappeared down the hills.

"You see?" Lume asked, still looking at the spot the bear had once been. "You're safe here. There's no need to worry."

Voices from behind her caught her attention, and she turned to see familiar shapes rise over the pebbled ridge, laughing and chasing and playing with one another as a larger shape trotted and kept watch over them from behind. "Stop biting your sister's tail," Fraser scolded one of the pups lightly, shoving two that were shooting each other scorching glares further up the hill. Raising to her paws, Lume padded down to meet them halfway, a familiar tickling sensation at her heels.

"Have fun chasing rabbits?" She asked, a soft smile spreading on her face as the pups tumbled at her feet. "Yeah, yeah!" One chirped with excitement, "I almost caught one! I would have if Fawn hadn't gotten in the way," she grumbled, shooting Fawn another glare. The other pup simply stuck his tongue out in retaliation. "You tripped over your clumsy paws, Wildflower," he protested. "That rabbit could have taken a nap and still outran you."

Naming the two had been an instant matter for Lume. She'd insisted to Fraser that they be named after his fallen pack mates, the least she could do after the two had lost their lives because of her.

"Alright, alright that's enough you two," Fraser chuckled, placing himself between them. "Did you have any trouble back here?" He asked, looking up at Lume. The much less ethereal wolf shook her head before looking down and meeting the large eyes of the pup pressed firmly behind her. "We saw a bear and her cub. She gave us no trouble... I think we both recognized the look of a mother in each other's eyes." Doe had inherited a quiet and sometimes timid nature, and she was often inseparable from Lume. The other two were quick learners, and she trusted them to easily take care of themselves, but Doe brought out a protective side of Lume that hadn't been active in a long time. Perhaps because she saw the pup the same way she had seen Fraser initially, though somewhat different since she was a mother now.

The word still felt foreign to her... 'mother.' She was still in awe when she looked down at the trio of fluffy little canids that followed them gleefully (or rather shyly, in Doe's case.) Had she and Fraser done this, make these wonderful, funny, unbelievable little miracles? The days of violence and fear seemed like another life, a past that existed only in tales to be told to children.

Despite her reservations, Fraser still entertained the pups of the ancient Moon wolf, of her fierce wrath and graceful protection, of the days he had run from her and run towards her. Per her request, he never revealed the Moon wolf's true identity. In all honesty, Lume no longer felt like a myth. She had lived countless years and watched many lives raise and fade, but now every day was a lifetime for her. Some part of her knew that when the part of her that lived and breathed essence died, her eternal nature died as well. Just as with any other, she would grow old and sick and die.

But there was something else to be said with that: she would grow old with Fraser, and they would watch their children grow together. They would get sick together, and someday they would die and be reunited in the Forever Grounds together too.

So what if Lume was no longer immortal? Now, she was finally alive.

(Now I'm picturing us both watching this all unfold like a movie and you and I just bawling our eyes out in the corner.)

~CL1

[P.S. This has truly been a joy to write, and though I'm sad the ride's over, I'm so happy with the ending (I feel like I rushed the end of Blood War, if I'm being honest, and this was my chance at redemption.) Thank you so much for the collaboration Pres, and for creating the Howlverse in the first place, but now that we're done, I'll kindly have to ask you...

ARE YOU GONNA FINISH BLACK GHOST AND ALH OR WHAT?!

Ahem. That is all. Thank you, and good night.]

Waning Unity

Fraser’s Epilogue

What exactly was love?

For a long time Fraser wouldn’t have been able to answer that question. A powerful bond? Sure, you could say that. An emotion that fits right alongside joy and anger? Maybe that, too.

But he had come to learn that love was something that truly couldn’t be described. It was something to be experienced, to understand by living in the moment and learn by walking alongside another. Another who you loved, who you cherished, who made the world go round because they were all that mattered.

Contrary to what he would have thought for his life, Fraser finally had that someone.

He and Lume never stayed in one place. They didn’t have to. They traveled where they pleased and saw what they wished to see; forests of glorious trees that were high as the sky itself, wide-open plains filled to the brim with flowers painted colors as bright as the sunset. Brilliant sights of cascading oceans and peaceful valleys and bare mountaintops that made for the best sights of the sky and stars at night. But nothing, no matter how many places they went, was more brilliant to see than the white face that accompanied Fraser every step of the way.

And every day, no matter where they would run to and explore, they would share an intimacy so precious that Fraser had trouble keeping a smile from his face. He would say her name and she would say his, and they didn’t have to speak verbal words to understand each other completely. They would walk side-by-side across the banks of babbling brooks and listen to the birdsong high in overhead trees. They would look at each other and, for such a small moment, the world would fall still all around them as their eyes met and their heartbeats joined together into one sound, into one rhythm. And if there was such thing as a perfect moment, that would be it.

Because that moment? That moment was everything.

It was the kind of moment that gave the sun motivation to rise, the kind of moment that encouraged the birds to sing and the breeze to whistle and the rivers to rush. It was the kind of moment that made the stars bright and worth looking at, the kind of moment that made all other moments weak by comparison.

And it was their moment to share forever.

So Fraser no longer had to wonder what love was or how to describe it. It was a question that could remain safely unanswered, a question for others to wonder as they sought out a reason for their lives. But Fraser didn’t have to wonder anymore, and no longer did he have to spend nights alone in his old pack’s abandoned home praying for his company to return so he would no longer feel so abandoned.

No longer did he have to wonder because his prayer had been answered, and Lume had found him, and his world had flipped upside-down but in all of the right ways.

Now he wasn’t alone. He had a friend. He had a pack.

He had Lume. And that was all he needed.

(This didn’t take me nearly as long to write as I thought it would and I also adore this chapter/epilogue with a burning passion)

- President Loki :)

(Sorry this chapter took me a few days!)

Waning Unity

Chapter Thirteen

Lume let out a fearsome snarl that made Fraser's fur crawl. He backed away, tail snatched between his hind legs and his body low to the ground, as chaos erupted in front of him. Lume smacked the cougar away in time for Wildflower to land a bite to it’s neck. It recoiled with sharp claws and temporarily blinded her, thanks to claws over the bridge of her snout. The ethereal wolf, glowing a soft blue, pounced on the big cat and tussled across the ground locked in harsh combat. He had to do something.

But what was he supposed to do?

Use your brain, he told himself. That’s what you’re best at.

Forcing himself out of his fearful paralysis, he looked around, tuning out the violent barks and yowls of fighting in front of him to think. He slowed his breath until it was rhythmic, running through the library of ideas in his brain and sorting through what could be used and what couldn’t. The cougar was powerful and dangerous. Fraser was not.

His eyes landed on something. A stick.

Fraser quickly dashed through the underbrush and pounced on the stick, sinking his teeth into the damp bark and heaving it up. His neck strained at the weight of the fat branch but he ignored it, dragging it back towards his companions. He heard a crunch and froze, stiffening as fear crawled through his spine, rolling his eyes around to see that the cougar was stalking towards him now, teeth curled up to reveal frightening fangs. Lume was distracted by something behind the big cat, bent down towards the ground. She wouldn’t be able to help him.

I don’t need help, he told himself sharply, tensing his jaw around the large stick in his mouth. I’m perfectly capable of defending myself. I won’t run. Not this time.

The cougar let out a frightening yowl, pouncing closer with jagged claws reaching out to attack him. Tensing all of his muscles, Fraser swung his head around, gravity whipping the stick around after him, lifting it up and building momentum due to his speed of motion.

The stick connected itself with the cougar’s neck and sent it tumbling back. Right as he felt the jarring of the strike he opened his jaw, pulling himself away from the stick and letting it thrust the cat backwards. As it let out a pain-filled cry, temporarily stunned by the strike of the stick, Fraser jumped forward, now carrying the offense on their attacker.

I won’t run.

Using his hind legs he pinned the feline to the ground, and scraping his claws through the soil underpaw, he flung dirt into the cougar’s eyes, temporarily blinding it. It let out a furious snarl, using its claws- which Fraser had forgotten it had- to score marks down his haunches. Blistering pain was joined to his muscles within moments and he yelped, hopping backwards and dodging into the bushes. The cougar staggered to its feet and shook off, whipping around to attack him again.

Not this time.

Lunging forward, Fraser let out a harsh bark, baring his teeth with a throaty snarl. As he did so Lume appeared, and her mere hulking presence finally convinced the cougar to turn tail and flee into the woods. Fraser panted, staring after it, regaining himself before turning back to Lume. She had claw marks along both of her sides and shoulders, and the side of her face was bleeding as well.

“Are you alright?” he asked, analyzing the depth of her cuts and deciding whether or not they were fatal. It didn’t appear so, but infection could prove that thought wrong if they weren’t careful.

“I am safe,” she told him. “Wildflower is not.”

Fraser’s heart sped down into his stomach and dropped like a heavy weight. His wall of hope crumbled around him as he dashed numbly past the white wolf, crossing to where Wildflower lay in a heap of reddened fur.

It didn’t have to be spoken. Wildflower was dead.

- President Loki

Makes for good Camo, especially for PvP put this on and you’ll be practically invisible

Waning Unity

Chapter Two

She didn't know how long she had been trudging through plains and forest and rock terrain, but Lume knew she had been walking endlessly. She looked around at the trees and the water and the sky above. It was all so ... bland. She had heard other wolves describe the "greens" and "yellows" and "oranges" of the tree leaves as the seasons passed; the "purples" of a deep night sky. For her there had never been much beauty in nature. She quite literally saw the world in black and white. Everything was some varying shade of grey, all equally as unstimulating as one landscape.

Long ago, older, wiser wolves had thought something was wrong with ancient wolf's eyes, but it quickly became clear to them that Lume could see things they couldn't. For instance, the small pools of white leading like a trail of pawprints further into the desert. Thin whisps of white, smoke-like dust lifted from the essence prints further from the ground, curling away as she stepped past them. She didn't have to walk far to find where they led.

A young, chalk-brown wolf lay curled under a gnarled, dead tree ahead, muttering something under his breath. She hadn't gotten within seven pawsteps of him before his head shot into an upright position and he turned his head to face her. "Stop! Stay where you are!" he shouted, standing quickly. Lume noted the hind paw he was clutching close to his body, wincing everytime he put pressure on it.

"It's rare I find one with a completely neutral essence, neither this way or that, other than mine," she said, sitting just in front of the rock the defensive wolf was perched on. "You must be quite conflicted to manage that."

He stared at her for a long moment, sizing her up with the look of a predator determining if an intruder was a threat or simply a passerby. "You're in my pack's home," he said, holding his head high in an attempt at an authourity Lume had no concern for. "This is our territory ... you must leave."

Lume looked around the desolate ground around them. Other than the crickets and lizards lurking under dust-colored rocks and dead bushes, there wasn't any other creature in their company, though she could see the evidence that this had once been the heart of a great gathering of wolves.

"They no longer remain here," Lume said, more of a statement than a question. The tan wolf's authority faltered. "They ... they'll be back!" he said with finality. Lume stared at him without saying a word. "They'll be back," he repeated, much quieter this time. "We'll all be together again."

Lume stood suddenly, content with a slightly fuller understanding of the situation. She turned, following one of the many faded-blue essence trails as it broke away from the others, growing a red tint as it split further from the heart.

"Where are you going? Their scents have long gone cold, it'll be impossibpe to track them through time and weather!" the tan wolf called after her.

"Scent fades quickly, essence doesn't," she called back over her shoulder, still following the reddening trail faithfully. The follow up questions from the tan wolf began to fade behind her slowly, but she disregarded them for now. Either he would follow, or he wouldn't; that was his path to decide.

For her, the decision had already been made as she found a new direction to wander.

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-seven

On trembling paws, Fraser slowly began to back away from Lume. The she-wolf loomed over him with open and slavering jaws, poised to strike like a venomous rattlesnake. The flight instinct that guided Fraser’s every move was swelling up inside of him again, and his instinctual reaction to the situation was to run. Run far away, run in any direction that he could to get away from her. Get away from the danger.

But Lume wasn’t a danger. For the first time in his miserable life, his paws hardened like stones and kept him from fleeing. His mind was directing him to turn tail, demanding for him to leave the moon wolf for good and save himself from inevitable pain. Only this time, Fraser’s mind and heart refused to align. His desperate effort to stay alive, to maintain his pack’s home until they returned, was gone now that he knew they weren’t coming back. His fight or flight instinct was, for the first time, conflicted.

He wasn’t going to run from Lume. Not this time.

“Fraser,” a voice that he had learned to belong to Milkweed called out from somewhere behind him. He kept his dark eyes trained on Lume’s contorted and snarling face, staring intently into the white and angry voids that she held for eyes. The ethereal wolf had taken her focus off of him and now looked up at the ridge behind him, the place from which Milkweed’s as well as others’ scents rode in on the breeze. He didn’t hear their footsteps approach, and among the smells of the desert he could taste their faint fear.

Lume let out a rumbling growl, her eyes narrowing dangerously the longer she looked back to where the others would have been. Fraser swished his tail, recapturing her attention as he lifted his chin toward her. He worked to steady his own breathing, holding her piercing gaze as he tucked his fear away into a far corner of his mind. He wasn’t afraid of her, he told himself. He knew her, he told himself. She knew him, he told himself. “Lume,” he uttered finally.

The she-wolf’s attention lasered in on Fraser as he spoke, snarl growing louder as it throbbed within her throat, contorted claws digging into the dirt underfoot. “Fra-a-aser,” her unstable voice growled, tone pinched. Behind the sweltering rage that burned like starlight in her eyes, he could see an underlying trace of utmost fear. The real Lume, the one that made Fraser laugh and that pulled him from danger at any given moment, was still there. She was a prisoner in her own body, but despite her possessor’s deadly hold, she was still there. And she was desperate to protect Fraser.

But today it wasn’t Fraser who needed protecting. It was Lume.

With a long breath, Fraser lowered his haunches down into the sand and sat. He held the she-wolf’s burning gaze, kept still when her snarling thickened. This dark side of Lume, the one that was holding her prisoner inside herself, wanted a challenge. It wanted to chase him through the sands as he fled for his life. It wanted to beat him in a fight that he would never be able to win. It wanted to rip him apart, slowly, effortlessly, all while he was pleading to escape. But Fraser wasn’t a fighter and he never had been; at least now with physical strength and the use of teeth and claws. He was a fighter of words, of wit, of wisdom.

“I’m not leaving,” Fraser uttered defiantly, refusing to let himself flinch when Lume let loose a throaty growl, her slavering jaws dripping with saliva that dripped down onto his snout as she loomed over him. “I’m not leaving you. Not again.”

The ethereal wolf let out a guttural growl, eyes narrowing tensely as she stared at him with blazing eyes. “I’m staying here,” Fraser said with certainty as he faced down the large wolf, shoulders tense and chin lifted. “Just me and you. I’m staying here with you, Lume. Even if you kill me.”

- President Loki

(This feels like an appropriate “I’m with you ‘till the end of the line” moment)

Waning Unity

(A collaberation between President Loki and CL1)

Lume's Prologue

It had been a long time since Lume had been in the midst of such peace. A pack bonded closely together, caring for one another as their own. They all walked past her, around her, almost through her. She had done all that needed to be done and now she was nothing more than a silent spectre standing guard over wolves that didn't need her protection.

She could not bring rain, or lead herds to the wolf dens, or any of the grandiose stories pups' heads were filled with; in all honesty, she couldn't do much good in the midst of trouble and with that realization came the voice:

You can stay no longer.

She did not know whose voice it was, or whether it was really an external force or just the manifestation of her own thoughts, but the voice spoke truth.

It was both the blessing of curiosity and the curse of restlessness, but Lume could never stay in one place long, nor would she try. Two days of quiet life in this pack's plentiful oasis was long enough.

She stood to her paws and turned away from the heart of the camp, padding towards a split in the bushes marking the way out. She had hardly taken two steps when she caught the sound of a stampede of little paws behind her.

"Lu? Where are you going?" A trio of pups stared at her wide-eyed, their little heads cocked to one side.

"Away," Lume responded without inflection.

"Home?" One of the pups piped up curiously.

"I don't have a home." Her delivery wasn't sad or longing, just matter of fact.

"Oh." The pups looked to each other, even more confused. One of them looked back to her. "Then ... where will you go?"

Lume raised her head to the slightly gray sky overhead. "I don't know. I'll keep walking until I can walk no further, then I'll turn around and keep walking the other way." At least, that was the way she had been doing things.

Another pup tackled her, nuzzling her head into Lume's side. "Don't go, Lu. What will we do without you?"

Lume stood to her feet, steadying the stumbling pup with a paw. "I suspect life won't be much more different in my absence." The sound of a voice in the distance drew their attention. The pups all perked their ears at their mother's voice. A she-wolf appeared, stopping as she spotted her pups with Lume. There was hesitation in her gaze, and a twinge of fear. "Come," she said to her pups, still keeping her eyes on Lume. "Back to the den, all of you." The pups moped and sulked past their mother, further into the camp.

"I am leaving," Lume said finally, hoping to put the unease to rest.

The she-wolf's eyes narrowed, and her stone grey fur bristled ever so slightly. "You know, you've caused this pack a lot of pain and death," she said with a half growl.

Lume nodded blankly. "I know." Silence stretched forward as Lume realized an apology was expected of her, but she simply turned and disappeared through the bushes. The moment she stepped out of the pack's camp clearing, something in her lightened, and the blue tone that had shined on her fur before returned to its natural white glow.

"What sort of a heartless creature are you?!" The she-wolf cried from the safety of the pack's grounds. The question echoed through the trees and slipped into Lume's ears, bouncing around in her head. The voice returned once again to put the unanswered question to rest:

You are what you are.

~CL1

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-five

Loneliness chewed at Fraser like a starved beast finally successful in catching prey as he trekked through the sunbaked sands, watching as the sun crested the horizon and threw glorious bands of color every which way, turning the dark night sky to vibrant blue, streaked with near every color on the spectrum. The sounds of nighttime beetles died away as light pierced through the surrounding shadows and washed over Fraser’s dust-colored fur, giving light to yet another day of desolation.

Fraser ascended up a rocky incline, scrambling his way up onto a small plateau, tucking himself out of the sun’s rays in the shadows of a rock pillar, laying down with a sigh as he laid his head on his paws and watched the desert below.

It didn’t make any sense to him. He knew these desert plains better than anything else, so why did he feel so lost? Not the kind of lost he had felt in the past, the kind that gripped his heart with loneliness, the kind that he concealed by burying it underneath layers of delusional ideas that his pack would return. No, this time it was different. This time it was like a pit, and no matter how many lies that he told himself, it couldn’t be filled.

As hard as it was to admit, he missed Lume more than anything in the world. And he just couldn’t find out why.

Movement below caught his eye and he looked down from his high place, watching a pair of deer make their way across the rocky plains with a young fawn at their heels. As he watched them walk, hooves scraping against stones and echoing up to Fraser’s ears, he felt the loneliness inside of him swell. Never before had he wished for a family, never considered the possibility of claiming a mate or producing pups of his own. Even now, the idea was one of untrodden territory, dangerous and unfamiliar. But the mere thought of having someone, anyone, there at his side was enough to make him consider anything.

His chin sank back down to rest on his paws and he watched silently as the deer made their way across the sands, the fur of his tail trembling in the breeze and moving it for the first time in weeks. How he longed to feel it thump against the ground again. When had he wagged last?

Right. When Lume made him smile.

Why couldn’t he keep his thoughts away from her?

The breeze carried a familiar scent to Fraser’s nostrils as he breathed inward and his head lifted faster than it had in a long time. He turned his head and looked in the direction from which the scent came, searching the horizon as hopefulness grew inside of him. He pushed himself to his feet, scanning the surrounding sands and rocky outcroppings until finally, there; the shape of a white wolf approaching.

It was Lume!

Fraser watched her for a moment longer before turning and running across the plateau, following his well-trodden trail and descending the pebble-layered slope, slipping over loose sand as he rushed down. He rounded the rocky corner, inhaling deeply to ensure that he was still going the right way, falling into a dead sprint as he pelted in pursuit of the white wolf.

Rounding a corner, he came upon a small incline, watching her white tail disappear over the top. He hurried up after her, pausing once he reached the top, paws sinking into the sand. “Lume!” he called down to her.

It was Lume. It was Lume. It was LUME!

(Dude this hurts)

- President Loki

Waning Unity

A new collab by President Loki and CL1

Fraser’s Prologue

This wasn’t happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

But it was.

Fraser stood in the center of the clearing- HIS clearing- as his pack all around him dispersed in different directions. Groups of two and three vanished over the horizon. Lone wolves flashed away from view.

In all but a moment Fraser was the only one left.

Dust swirled up around his chalk-tan paws, the hot desert wind causing his washed out brown fur to rustle every which way. The sun was sinking low towards the horizon, silhouetting the rocky outcroppings that littered the desert around him in shadows, casting streaks of crimson and auburn throughout the cloudless expanse overhead. He turned his head, looking around with hurting in his heart at what had once been a bustling home for a wolf pack. Now it was empty, the rocks which surrounded the sandy bowl of safety looking miles away now that his pack mates were gone.

If there was a chance that nightmares could become real, it was happening now.

Slowly turning, Fraser walked with his head down over to the brittle, twisted tree that grew out of a small rocky cliff, hanging over the camp. Hopping up the red-brown rock underfoot he settled beneath the trunk, harsh bark raking through his fur. He crossed one paw over the other and laid his chin on his foreleg, breathing out a lonely and desolate sigh through his nostrils. His pack would be back, he was sure. This was his pack’s home- he had lived the first year and a half of his life in this desert, running through the sand dunes beside his family. There was no way that they would leave now, when food grew sparse. The famine of prey would end, and then when it did, they would be back to greet him and thank him for protecting their home.

He would wait, Fraser decided. He would stay there, living in his now-huge camp, until his pack returned to him. And then he would welcome them with open arms. And then they would gallop through the desert once more, following all of their old rocky trails and hunting all of the prey that they could fit in their bellies. Until then, he would survive any way that he could, by any and all means. He would use his smarts to guide him. He would pray to the ancestors that his family would return soon, that the prey in the desert around them would return so that they could once more rule their territory as one.

So he would wait.

- President Loki

(Yes, your spacing is fixed! *claps*)

Waning Unity

Chapter Twenty-three

All of Fraser’s motivation, his high spirits, his cheerful demeanor, and his happiness were gone.

One small sentence- the moment of Milkweed telling him “Lume is gone”- had broken him.

He didn’t know why. Every wolf he knew had left him at one point or another. It was a mystery to him why her departure hurt so badly, yet here he was, grieving for a wolf who wasn’t even dead. Mourning the loss that stabbed into his heart far greater than any pain he had endured.

Days passed and his injury continued healing. He was awake every day, sometimes slipping into unconsciousness but for the most part managing to keep himself composed. Every day when Milkweed returned with food or medicines to ease the pain, she would as the same thing: “Will you please consider staying with us? Or at least come to the camp to rest?”

Fraser’s reply was always “No.”

Finally, after what felt like a painstakingly long time of healing and pain, Fraser was able to function normally again, with only dried scabs and what would be permanent scars to show for what had happened. What had been a punctured throat functioned as was natural. What had been a pair of cracked ribs were mended together again.

But his heart that had shattered? Oh, those pieces were still crumbled into dust.

Milkweed, Mushroom, and Fawn watched with sorrowful eyes as he departed, head hung low, tail stilled by the weight of his grief. The three of them had finally given up trying to convince him to stay, but still, their amber-colored eyes watched him go with longing. But they weren’t his pack any longer, not since they made the choice to leave him behind. They didn’t deserve his loyalty.

And so he was alone again.

With nowhere left to turn, he began the trek back to the desert and what once had been his home. He made his way around the clearing where Wildflower was buried and carefully avoided the sandy bowl which had been Boa and Harrier’s home. As he trekked, agonizing sadness worse than any injury that had possibly been inflicted ravaged him. Every day he caught the phantom presence of a peaceful white wolf in his peripheral, but by the time he arrived back in the desert, he learned it was pointless to turn and search for Lume’s face, as it was just a production of his imagination.

The emptiness of his former pack’s abandoned camp reflected the hollow feeling of his own body, and despite it being empty, his heart lay heavier than any boulder. Slowly, with heavy footsteps, he crossed over the sunbaked sand and sat below his ragged tree, his head bowed, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He laid down, tucking his snout underneath one paw and closing his eyes as grief continued to ravage his body and make everything feel numb.

“You’re not really there, are you?” Fraser asked the clear night sky frosted with whirls of purple and green, pristine white stars dappling the desolate abyss that was high overhead. “You’re not real.”

No response.

So yes, he was right, then. The ancestors weren’t real.

With heavy paws he continued on his way, trekking through the rocky desert with no clear destination other than to avoid killing himself and get away, if only temporarily, from the heartache that his old camp gave him. “If you were really there, you would talk to me,” he dared to venture, looking again up at the night sky as he walked. “If you were really there, you wouldn’t let me suffer.”

Lukewarm water sloshed over his feet and he stopped, looking down at the small river that wound its way through the desert sands, dipping in and out of the rocky alcoves which surrounded him. His gaze transfixed on his own face reflected in the water’s smooth surface as it glided over his claws on a journey unbroken by time or trials. His eyes tracked from his face to his neck and the scars that marked his skin, unveiled by fur that had yet to return.

Slowly, while sucking in a deep breath, Fraser sank back onto his haunches, closing his eyes as he began to tremble a bit. Lume’s white, welcoming face flared into view within his closed eyelids and he swallowed back the saddened feeling that spiked in his heart.

“If you’re there, tell me this,” he whispered finally, lifting his eyes to the frosted sky which loomed high over his head. “Tell me if what I feel is more than a faze.” White light winked down at him in silent response and he breathed in deeply, lowering his head to his reflection again, meeting his own deep brown eyes. “If she really is the monster that she makes herself out to be… why am I not afraid of her?”

YAYYYY THIS IS SO FUN

- President Loki

Waning Unity

Chapter Nineteen

Mere moments before, Lume had been blue. Her fur had been glowing gently, expression at peace, leading the pack to this fight with no hesitation nor resentment. Her posture had been confident and she had been ready to assist the pack in any way necessary to help them retake their home.

In the blink of an eye all of that fell away. The vein of red had burst into life and she had called his name. Fraser had watched her expression of confusion crumble into one of fear… and now rage.

“Don’t move,” Mink’s wary voice passed through the pack as they stiffened. Lume was shaking her head, pacing, snarling, all the while the enemy pack was watching from the shadows, dark eyes confused as to what the ethereal wolf was doing. “Don’t speak,” the alpha added. “Stay still.”

Fur rustled directly to Fraser’s left and, turning his head ever so slightly, he saw that Milkweed was slowly sliding up to stand next to him. The little wolf had to bite back a growl of frustration, but despite his best efforts to suppress the anger, Lume let out a cry as the band of red stretching across her body- the stripe that had caused her to grow fearful of herself- flared brighter than the rest of the scarlet of her fur.

The pain became too much to bear, and whipping around, Lume lunged at the first wolf she saw: one of the enemy wolves who were closing in.

Chaos erupted all around them, barks and snarls and howls. Teeth found their way into Fraser’s scruff and he jerked around, twisting to free himself from the grasp of the ash-gray wolf who had seized him. He quickly ducked to the right, tripping over flailing limbs of wolves as they clashed, blood raining down onto his fur like sand carried in a dust storm.

Claws speared into his flesh as wolves lunged at him, teeth snapping and howls ringing through the trees. He stumbled, paw snagging on a jutting root, causing him to trip and tumble momentarily into the underbrush. He scrambled to his feet, looking around frantically in search of something he could use to his advantage. Unfortunately, in the heat of battle, everything was moving too quickly to take a moment and find a weapon.

Through the throng of powerful, rippling bodies of wolves, Lume was visible. Her striking red fur blazed like a fallen star as she smashed through the crowd, teeth stabbing into any wolves who came within her reach. Fraser watched as she plowed teeth-first between wolves, eyes alight with fury. A stab of pain zipped through his heart as she let out a cry of pain, and he had to squeeze his eyes shut to reduce the agony.

One of the enemy wolves spotted him and made a lunge. He scrambled away, ducking beneath the towering bodies of wolves and weaving between their legs. Suddenly immense pain drilled into the back of his neck and he felt his paws leave the ground. He let out a yelp, thrashing fearfully, the burning color of Lume’s fur catching in his peripheral. His heart twisted and he choked out a wobbly “Lume-!” right before she began whipping her head side to side. His body flailed limply in her jaws, weak like a paralyzed squirrel. The wind left his lungs and dizziness incapacitated him, blurring his vision. Her movements paused but only for a moment before she reared up and slammed him ribs-first into the ground, grip tightening on his neck. Through her relentless rage, he could feel something greater, more stabbing, more heavy; she was burdened with agony. The red of her fur was hurting her.

His thought process of calculating her pain and rage was cut short as her teeth clenched tighter, cutting off his access to oxygen. The gasps and gags that wobbled out of Fraser’s throat gave no assistance to achieving a flow of air. Lume’s iron jaw pressed down into his neck, teeth drilling through his fur and skin and welling up little streams of blood from his veins. Tears broke out from his ducts as pain engulfed him.

The world was growing dark, light slowly dying from the little desert wolf’s vision, as the craze of Lume’s rage overwhelmed him. And the only thing that was clear, and crisp, and strictly identifiable was the ethereal wolf’s pain.

“Lume,” he choked out, desperately gasping for breath as her dark eyes burned with fury. “Lume. Please.”

His muscles were falling limper by the moment, his surroundings growing fuzzy. The only thing that he could still see was the burning glow of Lume’s red fur. “It doesn’t matter if they aren’t loyal to you,” he gagged out, voice gargling slightly as blood filled the back of his mouth. “I’m loyal to you.”

Fraser sucked in a stabbing breath. “You are my pack,” he whispered. The dark pressed in, overwhelming him, dragging him away into unconsciousness as a spear of vibrant blue light flared up above him.

- President Loki :)

Hmph. Well then, you'll have no problem fixing my spacing now then, hm? I'm definently doing it out of spite now, and not just utter laziness ;)

Waning Unity

Chapter Sixteen

Lume sat on one of the high mounds of dirt and rock towards the back edge of the camp and watched the wolves go by,

socializing with each-other, pups playing with one another.

She had no business being in a pack as well off as this one. There was no need for her to be here when all was well, all she

could do was bring them suffering. But maybe it wasn’t about what she needed. She looked off to somewhere along the side

of the pack’s camp where Fraser spoke to the light she-wolf from earlier and another wolf with a sunbaked coat. He likely

needed this encouragement, and though it was clear his former pack-mates were content with this new family they’d found,

perhaps even just having a conversation with them would be enough to lift his spirits.

“Are you hungry?”

She turned her head slowly to see the dark wolf from earlier standing before her. His name was Mink and from what she

could gather, he was the alpha of this moderately-sized pack. Lume caught a glint of uncertainty in his face. She tilted her

head. “You seem conflicted, even just asking.”

Mink lowered his head slightly and looked around at his pack before turning back to her and lowering his voice to a whisper.

“Food’s been … scarce lately.”

She blinked at him, studying the look of defeat on his face for a moment before replying. “Your hospitality is more than

enough, thank you.”

Some mirth returned to his eyes. “Of course. We wouldn’t dare disrespect the ancient Moon Wolf,” he said with a smile.

Lume could feel herself freeze with shock. “… you know what I am?”

“Our pack was raised on the stories of myth and legend.” He looked back over the pack. “Your legend was a warning. If you

should show yourself, you could protect us, but only a pack with hearts true to one another could have you with them and

not be slaughtered. Perhaps that is one reason we have survived so long, our loyalty in the fear of your arrival.”

The ancient wolf couldn’t help but stare in shock. She’d never heard of herself spoken in such a fearfully reverent tone, and

she wasn’t sure she liked it. “You said food was scarce,” she said, trying to move away from the subject of herself. “Why?”

Mink sighed and shut his eyes. “There is another pack, just on the other side of the river. They’ve been taunting us, pushing

into our territory to see how far they can go. I’ve tried being peaceful, giving them the benefit of the doubt in the thought that

perhaps they were running out of prey, but at this point they’ve taken almost half of our territory. I can’t be much more

peaceful without endangering our own survival … but, I’m not the young wolf I used to be, and my children …” he nodded to

a few wolves around with coats not too far from the dark shade of his own.

“Quoll used to be an avid fighter, but she’s got pups of her own to protect now,” he said, nodding to a young wolf scolding

one of the pups that had apparently hidden a rotting mouse in another wolf’s den while the rest of the pups snickered. He

looked to another, more stoic wolf sitting atop a mound like Lume’s towards the middle of camp. “Dunnart might be able to

take a fight, but Stoat, Sable and Grison,” here he looked to a set of triplets, all in lighter, splotchy coats tussling with each

other. They were small and likely no older than juveniles. “They are all from my second litter. They’re far too young … I’m

afraid they’d be torn to shreds in a fight with a pack as large as the river-pack.

Lume could see the true concern and worry on Mink’s face as he looked at his pack-mates. He seemed to be unable to

afford a war, but the pack wouldn’t be able to survive much longer like this.

She flicked her ears. “Perhaps it’s time I return the favor and live up to my legend?” She looked at Mink. His face was

confused at first, and then a small, genuine smile appeared. “You’ll help us?” She gave a nod in response, and then turned

to look back where Fraser was still speaking with his old pack-mates, now laughing and smiling with them. “Though I should

probably inform him first …”

~CL1