Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
Tips & Strategies
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
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
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
Incorrect. The spacing looks fine for me on other things. I think your eyes are just lying to you.
And no worries! We want a good story, not a rushed one. My mind is always in writing mode, so its easy for me to pull a plot point quick hehe.
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Twenty Eight
"Even if you kill me."
Lume's body took the words as a challenge and lunged at Fraser, jaws tearing open and welcoming the temptation of blood. True to his word, Fraser stood his ground, only being spared a quick and painful end by a pair of bodies crashing into her side. She skidded only for a short while before her claws caught in the coarse dirt, allowing her to ground herself and get back on her paws quickly.
She was met with the snarling faces of Boa and Harrier, bearing a few more scars than when she last met them, but alive nonetheless. Lume rejoiced inwardly that she hadn't killed the siblings, but she had little time to do so before her attention was jerked back to the present as a set of fangs dug into her hind right leg.
With a snarl, Lume's snout turned quickly, catching the attacker by the neck. She recognized them as Mushroom, another wolf that had repacked with Milkweed. The young wolf squirmed in Lume's grasp, whimpering as her grip began to tighten and her teeth began reaching deep below the skin, straining for the vertebrae. Another joint tackle by Harrier and Boa knocked her off balance, losing her grip enough for Mushroom to break free.
"En...ough!" A monster-ish growl escaped Lume's snout as a wave of red rolled through her coat. Her head turned to Fraser, who had started to approach Lume slowly.
"They can-not prot-ect you," the monster snarled, sending threads of red essence flying at the wolves around her. Lume knew that if she were allowed to keep talking, the unified group of wolves would begin to get lost in mass hysteria, tearing each other apart in seconds. Her mouth started to open again before Boa launched herself at the ethereal wolf once again, this time sinking her teeth into Lume's throat. "No!" she snarled over a mouthful of fur as she jerked her head back and forth, tearing at Lume's neck.
"Boa, stop!" Fraser was right next to Lume now, close enough that she could hear his heartbeat. If he was frightened, he handled it extremely well. "It's not her fault," he explained to the infuriated she-wolf, trying her hardest to finish what she'd started. "That's not Lume!"
"Then help me kill it," Boa snarled back, hints of red essence beginning to show themselves both in her and the other wolves, all except Fraser. Harrier leaped at Lume now, aiding his sister's attack as he attempted to tear Lume's neck in a different direction than Boa.
The monster shrieked, finally tearing itself away from the siblings, far from unscathed. The deep gashes in her neck oozed with blood, and Lume's heartbeat began to throb in her head. Then there was something else, itching in the gashes at first, then pain. The monster threw itself to the ground, convulsing as a feeling like a thousand barbs digging into the deep scars filled her body. The semi-circle of wolves backed away, ears flattening and eyes widening as they started at Lume. They seemed smaller now like her shadow could swallow them whole. The pain hadn't stopped, but it was beginning to fade, and she could tell something had changed drastically, enough that the brave warriors that had fearlessly attacked her before were backing away with their tails between their legs.
Fraser didn't budge, a train of panicked thought evident on his face. "I'm not giving up on you Lume!" he shouted. His voice sounded so ... far away. "I meant what I said. You are my pack!" It was getting harder for Lume to think clearly. She had to focus, she had a job to do; she had to kill Fraser.
No, no, that wasn't her. Those weren't her thoughts. It was becoming all too hard to keep solid lines in her mind to distinguish whose thoughts where whose, her's, or the monster's.
It dashed at Fraser again, and again the wolf planted his paws, prepared to stand his ground and withstand whatever it took to rescue her.
That's touching, she thought her own words becoming murky in her mind, but I'd rather keep you alive.
A snarl at her right snapped the monster's attention away from Fraser and towards Fawn. The young, steel-headed wolf was making a beeline to Lume.
It was only when Lume snatched him from the ground and held him up as something else began to tear his scrambling legs from his body and swallowing them did she realize just what that needling pain in her neck had been. She forced her eyes down, control becoming much easier as her thoughts became more poisoned by the beast in her head.
From the gashes Boa and Harrier made had sprung teeth, gnashing, cutting fangs that all ate away at Fawn while Lume and the others watched. At last, it was over and Lume dropped the wolf, now missing all of his legs and his tail as he shuddered on the ground. The gashes began to tear wider as Lume stretched her neck upward, her head no longer able to keep upright as the folds of flesh and fangs accordioned to one side or another. The monster turned back to Fraser, Milkweed now standing at his side.
"Round ... two."
(Word limit.)
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Twelve
Lume pushed her way through the tightly knit forest, ignoring the brambles and twigs that tried to lodge themselves in her fur. Fraser seemed to be in lighter spirits with a pack-mate that seemed open to the idea of reforming their pack.
They both trailed behind her now, talking about the past, about the days when they were all unified, about why each left and where they were now. At least, that’s what Lume assumed they were talking about. She couldn’t hear them from the distance and low tones they talked in.
Lume had to admit to herself she was grateful for Wildflower’s presence. It gave Fraser someone else to pester. She didn’t mind the inquisitive tan wolf, but his questions had become nearly endless, even with the caution he held with her. Besides,the newfound quiet would give her some time to think.
Think about what? That she didn’t know.
Perhaps what she should do in the case of another encounter with one of Fraser’s pack who wasn’t so happy to see him. It might be best if she left it to the other two and simply stood at a distance. Fraser seemed to be extremely attached to these wolves, no matter their opinions of him; it would be cruel to antagonize them intentionally. Maybe Wildflower would have a better reputation with her old pack mates. Maybe she could even convince Harrier and Boa … if they were still alive.
“And where did you find her?” Wildflower’s voice traveled past Lume’s ears with the breeze. There was a moment of quiet, and Lume could tell Fraser was making one of his tell-tale signs of nervousness, as if saying the wrong thing would cause Lume to turn on him, even if there was a chance she couldn’t hear.
“She found me …” he murmured, followed by some other words Lume couldn’t hear. She sometimes wondered what wolves thought of her, but then she realized it wouldn’t change anything. They would still have their opinions of her, and she would have her own opinions of them. Fraser was maybe a little insufferable, but his heart seemed to be in a good place and he had a high determination about him. Wildflower seemed genuine, sincere and kind. It would be good for Fraser to have some positive reinforcement.
She dropped her sudden curiosity as a new essence trail came into view. She had expected the bright, striking color of a wolf’s trail, but this proved to be something else, a dull gray color lacking any manner of uniqueness from the gray environment around her.
All creatures left essence, but Lume could only easily read the essence of wolves, since it was the only essence that held an effect on her. Trying to interpret that of another creature took time and practice she had never committed to. However, she didn’t need experience to know that these particular tracks belonged to something very large.
Possibly a problem.
She held her ears forward in an alert position, scanning their surroundings as she took her steps slower and more carefully.
Fraser and Wildflower nearly ran into her. “What is it?” Wildflower asked. “Did you find another wolf trail?” Fraser piped in optimistically.
Lume didn’t answer as she stalked further. A new, stinging scent wafted into her nose, one that she had come to associate with mountain lions.
Definitely a problem.
“Don’t move,” she murmured to the others. Wildflower seemed to have smelled the cougar as well and was holding still without question. Fraser didn’t seem to notice it yet. “What—“
The low rumble of a feline growl cut him off from just ahead. Two amber eyes glinted from the bushes in their path.
“Should we run?” Wildflower whispered.
“No point. It’s seen us now, and it’s faster.” Lume narrowed her eyes, holding the cat’s gaze. “It’d catch and kill at least one of you.” She was still in a blue phase. She wasn’t built for offensive combat, but she could certainly stand her ground against the threat.
“Can’t you fight it? Do that thing you did with Harrier and Boa and make it attack … itself or something?” Fraser’s previous fear of Lume’s dangerous influence seemed to fade away with the threat of the cougar.
Lume shook her head slowly. “I can’t,” she said simply.
There was silence for a moment. “Right, you’ve got to turn red to do that, don’t you? Well … turn red then?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Lume grumbled, turning her head slightly to give Fraser a side-eye.
She immediately realized her mistake as movement out of the corner of her eye jerked her head back to the bushes. The eyes were gone, and had she been looking she might have seen what direction the mountain lion went in.
The trees rustled in all directions around them, seemingly aiding the cougar’s stealth and mocking the wolves. “Back away from the bushes,”
Wildflower whispered. No sooner had she said the words than the big cat leapt out of the foliage from their right, digging its claws straight into Lume’s side.
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Eleven
With watchful eyes, Fraser followed Lume to where this new wolf was hidden, keeping an eye on the ethereal wolf whom seemed to grow bluer as they drew nearer. From the few words Lume had mentioned of this wolf, she was alone.
Movement flickered in the well-flourished woods ahead and they followed, Fraser sucking in deep breaths until he found her scent, sorting through files of his old pack mates’ smells to see if he recognized her. As he thought, wandering through the library that was his mind, he slowed slightly, distracted by a whirlwind of thoughts, falling behind Lume. He again came attuned to his surroundings and realized his mistake, hurrying to catch up to his mystic acquaintance. His path was intercepted by a strange wolf, her fur a mixture of dark and light brown, her smell marching that of the one which they were following. Fraser paused for a moment, looking at her, knowing that he knew her name but straining to bring it to words, and he could see that she was doing the same.
“Fraser?” she said finally, and he responded with, “Wildflower?”
His guess was correct, because she smiled. Yes, now he remembered- Wildflower had always been one of the kindest wolves of his pack, very polite when it came to his knowledge sharing. But he had thought the same thing about Boa and Harrier, and they had tried to kill him. He had to be careful, he reminded himself, as he gave a sidelong glance to Lume, who had stopped and turned around hearing their voices. Now she was walking back, her fur still radiating a vibrant blue glow that seemed to signify peacefulness.
Wildflower gave Lume a sidelong glance, but despite the mighty wolf’s size, she didn’t seem phased. “What are you doing here?” she asked, more out of curiosity than anything. “Who’s your friend?”
Fraser followed her gaze, shifting his feet just a bit; it was very subtle, but not subtle enough for Lume to avoid noticing and certainly taking note of. It was one of his nervous ticks, similar to fidgeting his tail, averting his eyes, and chewing the inside of his own mouth. He couldn’t help it but it was certainly annoying when wolves could see that he was nervous when he did it. “Her name is Lume,” he told her as she drew closer, looking over again at Wildflower. “She’s helping me find the pack.”
Wildflower tilted her head to the side slightly, returning her warm, gentle caramel-colored eyes to stare intently at Fraser. Her gaze was filled with such gentleness, such earnesty, it caught him off guard. Her attitude was a welcome change from the wild aggression of the outside world. “Why are you looking for the pack, Fraser? Everyone went their own separate way,” she told him, as if he didn’t already know such a thing. Reliving the memory sent daggers stabbing into his heard and he swallowed down a whimper of sadness at such a loss they had faced. But he couldn’t let the dejection and regret drag him down now, not when he was so close. Wildflower was here, right here, and it was finally time to continue his quest of reuniting the pack. Once and for all.
“I’m bringing the pack back together,” he told her.
- President Loki
Waning Unity
Chapter Ten
“No?”
Had she not come with him all this way, gone this far, to help? What did he mean no?
Better yet, how could he say no? This wolf that she had thought to be so timid, so defenseless was proving himself much
braver than she had thought and was standing up to her? Denying HER, of all creatures? For all of her mystery, Fraser
proved to be just as mysterious.
She stared at him, watching his eyes narrow as he dared to hold the eye contact. “You’re
anger isn’t going to spook me this time,” he said with finality. Lume lifted an eyebrow at him. “You mistake my silence for
anger?” He disregarded her statement. “I saw what you did to Harrier and Boa back there … I’m still not entirely sure what
you’re capable of. You change in a heartbeat! One moment you’re peaceful, the next you’re tearing my pack-mates apart,
and then you go right back to helping me?” Lume stared at him curiously, but Fraser continued. “This has something to do
with the way you change colors, doesn’t it? Which — let’s not forget —you change colors! Wolves don’t do that. I’ve never
seen you sleep, or eat, or even show pain. You grow every now and then and I’m pretty sure you hypnotized Boa into
attacking her brother, so I’m not even sure that —“
“Fraser, breathe,” Lume interrupted calmly.
Fraser paused his rant and huffed a few times, sitting
and sinking his shoulders as he recomposed himself. He seemed to be facing less pain as he put pressure on his bitten leg, and his bruising had minimalized quite a bit. He looked better than before, but he wasn’t fully recovered, Lume
knew. Yet, here he was, moving on as if his numerous injuries had never happened, determined beyond a doubt. “You are
observant,” she said, breaking the silence.
He looked up at her, raising his brow a bit. “Am I right, about you changing?”
Lume raised her gaze up to the sky. “Perhaps,” she murmured with a nod. How did wolves ease their nerves? Playing? They
played games. She remained silent for a moment, thinking.
“Since you are set on learning all you can about me, why don’t
we make this a game?”
Fraser looked up at her with a look she couldn’t quite name. Maybe he was unnerved by being
offered a game by a giant mythical wolf who had hardly shown a hint of empathy all this time. “A … game?”
“Yes. We’ve still
got the rest of your pack mates to find. Pay close attention to our interactions, my behaviors and mood. I want to see if you
can learn how I work. Use this next encounter as an opportunity.”
“I said no, Lume,” Fraser barked, returning to his defiant
stance. “I won’t let you kill anyone else.” Lume looked down towards the ground at the single set of essence prints and
followed the trail up to a large gathering of essence prevalent through the trunks and leaves and branches just a
few bounds away. They were being watched.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Lume said to Fraser, still staring their
stalker directly in the eye. “She’s already seen us, and she’s doused in blue essence.”
There. She had just given the curious little wolf his
first clue.
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Nine
Meat didn’t sit well in Fraser’s stomach anymore, after so long of turning to vegetation for his needed nutrients. The leaves, the bark, the roots, all of that gave him strength and sedated his hunger. He seldom hunted, only eating any sort of flesh if it was strictly necessary or if he happened to kill something- usually by accident or through self defense. Of course, though, Lume didn’t know this- how would she?- and now a jackal was dead in front of him, and he could tell that she was waiting for him to eat, and his stomach rolled over at the sight of the blood that stained the jackal’s fur.
“Um…” he mumbled slowly, looking over at the large white wolf. Would she get angry if he turned her gift down? He breathed evenly, thinking through everything that could happen, tracking down every scenario and possible outcome to avoid any harm that could come his way. After careful consideration he decided that the safest route would be to choke down the animal’s flesh and deal with it. “Thanks,” he said, tucking his shaky limbs beneath him and pushing up to stand, wobbling on four sore legs. Lume moved to help him balance, which puzzled him evermore, though he didn’t argue when her vast side brushed into his to steady him. She was warm, soft, her touch comforting, everything that Fraser had been lacking without a pack. He wanted to sink right into her powerful support and stay there forever.
“Are you broken?” the seemingly ancient wolf asked again, repeating her question from the previous night. Fraser thought a moment, turning his eyes away from her. Finally he nodded.
“I’m broken and lost,” he replied with a small frown. That seemed to confuse her, so she countered, “What do you mean, lost? Your home is not far away.”
Looking over at her again he made a realization. She was just as lost as he was, unsure of where to go or what she was meant to do. Her path was muddy and unclear. “Not all loss is physical,” he mumbled finally, looking down at his shaky, bruised legs. “I know where my home is but I’ve never been so lost in my life.”
Lume let out a little ‘hm’ sound, looking away from him and up at the sky, possibly contemplating his words. Fraser watched her do so and sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils. The two of them were lost, lost as could be, confused and broken and weak. But perhaps… perhaps if the both of them were lost together they could be found.
“What happened to your back leg?” Lume asked from behind Fraser suddenly. He paused, turning around to look back at her, cocking his still-wounded hind leg off of the ground. His limbs were better now, luckily undamaged from his fall the evening before.
“Snake bite,” he told her, swishing his tail as he waited for her to catch up. She looked down at his bitten leg, arching her eyebrows before ducking down to examine the now-scabbed bite marks. Fraser yelped, jumping away from her, startled by her sudden movement. She grunted, flicking her ears. “Do not move,” she told him. “I want to see the bite.”
“Why?” Fraser barked, hopping away again, narrowly avoiding landing on a cactus. Lume sat up, scowling at him as if he had wronged her very greatly. “Why do you want to see the bite?”
Lume puffed out a frustrated breath, rolling her eyes before continuing along. For such a stoic and ethereal wolf, she was certainly on the crankier side of things. Fraser hopped after her again, looking around at the rocky outcroppings that surrounded them. The trees were larger and healthier here, with actual leaves tipping the branches unlike those that he was used to. “Where are we going?” he asked suddenly.
“The forest,” Lume responded, pausing to wait for him to catch up. “More of your pack is up ahead.”
Fraser’s light-spirited attitude of the day plummeted into an abyss and impaled itself on a harsh rock, bleeding away into nothing. His stomach flipped and his heart fluttered like a vulture taking flight. More of his pack mates meant more wolves for Lume to kill.
“No!” he shouted at her, stopping in his tracks. She would not kill more of his pack, not while he was still standing.
- President Loki
Waning Unity
Chapter Eight
“Please …”
Fraser’s voice came out as a pitiful hoarse whine. He was refusing to lift his head; he was refusing to move at all, Lume noticed. She looked at him a moment and tilted her head to the side. “Are you broken?” She asked, watching his ragged breaths. She knew most wolves were fragile things, always breaking bones and bruising themselves. The trail of snapped branches lying around them was evidence that the frail little wolf had taken quite a fall, and he was clearly in pain.
He ignored her question and shut his eyes again. “Please, have mercy.”
Mercy? What would she have to show mercy for? “You aren’t in danger,” she responded, raising her brow though she knew he was no longer looking at her.
“So what … you came to save me, not tear out my throat?”
“Wouldn’t it have made more sense to let you hang in that tree and starve if I was content with your death?”
There was silence save for a choir of locusts chirping to one another in the dark of night. Fraser opened his eyes again, looking directly at her. “You said you weren’t here to protect me. Why come back? Why do the exact opposite of what you said?” There was panic creeping into his voice. She couldn’t tell exactly what he thought of her, but she was certain her coat had returned back to its ethereal white tone. What was he so afraid of?
She remained silent, unable to answer the question. Why had she come back? Was it the voice perhaps, calling her back to the surface and dragging her from the bottom of the pit, pulling her back to the light?
He waited for a response, and then saw he would receive none, so he stared start ahead at some brush in the distance.
“Harrier … Boa … did you …” he trailed off. “Are they dead?” He asked with a frightened finality.
Again, Lume was silent. In truth, she hadn’t stayed to see the final result of her dangerous influence, but she knew few wolves escaped the hysteria she caused with their lives intact. Still, there was always the chance of survivors.
Fraser waited once again for a response that would not come. Then, he raised his head, straining against the pain clearly raking its claws through his body. “Won’t you tell me anything?! You made them turn on each other … you made them turn on me!”
At the shock of such anger from the normally timid little wolf, Lume continued to stare at him in the silence, not denying the accusation. “So,” Fraser muttered lowering his head. “It really was you.” His ears dropped with his tone, no longer angry, but deeply saddened. She could see the threat of tears on his eyes as he slowly dropped his head back onto the rock, and she
knew she had wounded him somehow.
Despite his obvious pain and fright, Fraser was clearly not one to give up. He was a survivor, and he was blatantly optimistic.
Perhaps things had gone sour with Harrier and Boa, but that didn’t mean the end of his little quest, that Lume was sure of.
She waited, waited for him to send her away, tell her she was dangerous, something like she had faced in the past, but he said nothing, just kept staring ahead.
Besides his quest, there was something else about her that intrigued him. She had noticed an inquisitive nature about him, an intense curiosity. Maybe it was the intrigue of Lume’s very existence, the mystery of what she was. To be honest, she wouldn’t have minded knowing herself.
The locusts continued to sing and she waited until Fraser’s eyes drooped with sleep before padding off and returning with a jackal dangling from her jaws, dropping it in front of the injured wolf. He would need time to recover, both physically and mentally, from this encounter. She didn’t mind the wait; she had time.
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Seven
There had always been one word that lived on through the pack, as long as Fraser had walked the desert sands. It was always there, always true, constant and consistent in their pack’s history.
Safe.
Fraser had always felt safe. Never once had a day gone by when he feared his safety. His pack was there for him, there to protect him and to guard him and to help him. Everything was safe.
Now the world was falling apart and nothing felt safe.
Harrier’s desperate voice, crying out Boa’s name, followed Fraser as he fled. He wasn’t the fighting type and he never had been, but he knew how to run away from danger. It was his primal instinct, stronger than anything else. He was a peculiar wolf but it kept him alive, and right now that’s what he needed to do. Get away from Lume and stay alive.
He stumbled through the sand, hopping on three legs as fast as he could go, tripping and staggering across the hot rocks. He ducked away from a sudden cliff that loomed up in front of him, struggling through coarse underbrush and making himself as difficult to follow as possible. “Except Lume can track footprints,” he choked out in a whisper to himself. He needed a voice, any voice, even if it was his own, to anchor him. “Can’t she? She doesn’t follow smells, she follows… essence… where am I supposed to go?” He slowed just a little, looking around. He couldn’t go home, not now; Lume knew where that was. But where else could he go? Where could he escape to that the fearsome red wolf wouldn’t follow?
The ground gave way beneath his feet, answering his question of direction. He fell down, down, down, flailing through the air before crashing down into a dry, brittle and leafless tree. Twigs snapped around him as he slid through the branches, falling lower, before gravity decided to still him and let him hang on a wide branch only a few feet from the ground. His back legs dangled down beneath him and he lay limp for a long moment. His entire body was throbbing, and despite his struggling and feeble attempt, he couldn’t lift his head or move his legs. Panic flared up inside his stomach as he moaned out his pain, but his weakness was too much to bare, and his pain dragged him away into the black pit of unconsciousness.
Faint light of nighttime stars leaked into Fraser’s vision slowly. He opened his eyes, eyelids as heavy as stones. He let out a soft, faint whine, the sound wobbling out of his throat like a thread of a breeze. He could feel bruises littering his body and every breath made his ribcage scream with pain. The rattlesnake’s bite on his hind ankle was minuscule compared to the throbbing that encompassed him.
He lay for a moment longer before gentle teeth sank into his scruff. He tried to panic but couldn’t move, so instead he succumbed to hanging like a dead weight as he was lifted out of the tree by a wolf. His nose twitched once and then twice, and as he was laid down on the sand-beaten rock beneath the tree, he knew that Lume was standing over him. His eyes rolled around to look up at her, as that was all that he could manage to move, and sighed out a painful breath as he stared up at her blurry face. He was about to die.
- President Loki
Waning Unity
Chapter Five
“Boa! Harrier!” Fraser barked, tail lifting above his back and wagging thoroughly. All at once his spirits lifted as he cantered over to his older pack mates. These two were just older than he, if he remembered correctly; born just a month before him. They always seemed to let him talk their ears off with very few responses, which made them wonderful companions for him. Although they never looked at him, always around at other things, and made such odd expressions. Similar to now, actually.
They exchanged a twin glance and their expressions did not look happy. “Hey, Fraser,” Boa said, her voice disappointingly monotoned for this being a two-year reunion with their old pack mate. “What are you doing here?” As she asked, Harrier sat up and Boa followed, twitching her tail and watching him intently.
His tail wagged harder and he began happily panting, his entire back half swinging side to side in excitement. This was it! The reunion he had been waiting for! It was finally here, and two of his pack mates were in front of him, and he was about to bring them home. He would be a hero, finally. His waiting for a chance to be appreciated had paid off, and now it was time to pilot his pack into a new future. What a glorious day this would be!
“I came to bring you home!” he barked with a grin. “I’ve protected our home from intruders, and I started eating plants and bugs so that the prey could replenish! And now it’s finally time to be a pack together again.” Fraser couldn’t contain his excitement and he danced closer, fidgeting his paws joyously. He didn’t think that his tail would ever stop swinging back and forth.
Harrier looked at him sideways. “That’s great and all, Fraser,” he said dryly, flicking his ears pompously. “But Boa and I are fine here.” His eyes flicked up and looked at something behind Fraser.
Fraser’s excitement suddenly evaporated. The air around him grew laden with something he hadn’t been expecting. It weighed down his shoulders and stilled his wagging tail. It flattened his lungs and seemed to choke his breath right out of his throat. He might have been bad at reading emotions, but the tensity here was clear as day. Boa and Harrier were angry to see him.
Slowly, he turned his head back to look at Lume, and his body stiffened further as he realized that she was no longer a faint, gentle blue. Now her fur was red, and she looked… bigger? How was that possible? He would’ve loved to delve further into that mystery, but a growl from his old pack mates snatched his attention away from that thought process. He quickly turned his head and found that both Boa and Harrier had sunken into battle stances. BATTLE STANCES?!
Fraser had never fought another wolf before! His fear spiked higher than the moon and ancestors themselves as panic strangled him. He was smart, sure, but he was also skinnier than any other wolf he’d met and lacked any sort of experience or fighting drive.
“Y-you’re not coming back to the pack, are you?” he asked shakily, paws trembling. He began chewing his lower lip and then stopped himself. The pain of their heads shaking was too great and he felt the urge to sink right into the ground and die. But he couldn’t. Some of his pack was relying on him.
Too late did he realize that his trailing thoughts had nearly killed him as Boa and Harrier shot forward, speeding towards him with bared teeth. “Lume!” Fraser barely managed to scream as his former pack mates bore down on him.
- President Loki
Waning Unity
Chapter Four
The wolf behind Lume had been silent for quite a while, clearly a bit unsettled by her appearance. She'd often had that affect on others; she wasn't quite a monster, not disfigured or grotesque as some spirit wolves were, but she wasn't exactly a comforting sight either with her large size and glowing white eyes that could rival the brightness of a star. She had found that often, her silence served better than words. She could still an argumentative wolf by simply listening and looking, and their words would shrivel in their throat. She had just seen the tan wolf do the same as his ears lowered slightly. Now he had yet to say another word, though she could tell he had much more to say.
"I'm Fraser," he offered, clearly hoping to recieve something in response. He looked expectantly at Lume as they continued, still following at her side blindly. "I am Lume," she responded before returning her focus to the trail. The essence that had originally been turning red was going towards a blue tint once again, the only two non-grayscale colors she could see. The two wolves that had left these tracks had clearly started in a state of dissent, likely due to their feelings as they split from their pack, but they had grown in loyalty and trust with each other, brining their essence back to it's bright blue light.
"So ... are you my guide, or here to protect me?" Fraser's voice broke her train of thought, pulling her back to the here and now. Lume looked from the trail to the limping wolf at her side in silence for a moment. "No," she replied blatantly and looked back at the prints. "Not your guide, nor your guardian."
The wolf appeared to be disappointed by the answer, possible because he had more questions that he had begun with. "What exactly are you then?" He prodded. Lume looked back at him. She said nothing this time as she stopped in her tracks and stared down at him. She could not explain to him what she herself did not know.
The look of discomfort and then fear returned to Fraser's face. His posture tensed and his body lowered closer to the ground just a bit. "S-Sorry ..." he said, biting into his bottom lip. He waited until she had turned and kept tracking for a moment before he continued after her.
The prints were giving off more dust, a sign of fresher tracks. They were getting closer. As if to confirm her suspicions, Fraser worked up the courage to pipe up again. "Are you ... bluer than before?"
Lume looked down at her paws, noticing the shift in color herself. She felt heavier and slower, but stronger, like a wall of stone guarding something sacred. "We're near," she said, no longer needed the essence tracks to pin down the location of Fraser's packmates. Apparently, these wolves hadn't gotten that far from their original home at all. She could smell their coats, see the marks of their paws in the dirt, she could even hear them at a distance.
"That's them," Fraser said with a nod, hesitating before descending the short cliffside that led down to the clearing two wolves were lazing in. One sat up and looked in their direction, and the gaze of the other wolf followed. Their esssnce shifted suddenly, spiking into a light, chalky red. Lume could feel her own essence doing the same, and her coat reflected the color change. They stood to their paws defensively as they spotted her, and as their eyes traveled to Fraser their faces changed, not hostile but still clearly displeased. "Fraser," one muttered under his breath.
To her suprise, the red of their essence grew deeper and more vibrant, and again, Lume's did the same. Clearly, though his earlier statements would have led her to believe otherwise, all was not well with Fraser's pack.
~CL1
Waning Unity
Chapter Three
Staring after the mysterious white wolf, Fraser thought. Her words made no sense. How had she found him? Where was she going? Was she really going to try and find his pack after years of them being gone?
It was obvious that she knew something he didn’t. Perhaps she could be the key to bringing them home.
He quickly hopped down, cringing as he landed on three legs and felt a jab in his spine, but for this moment, he didn’t care about his injury. As fast as he could go he hurried after the mysterious wolf, and by the time he caught up to her, his breath was coming in shaky gasps. It had been long since he had run so fast, and his muscles disagreed with him at that decision.
“What do you mean, essence?” he questioned immediately, pulling up alongside her. She was watching something on the ground, following it, tracking it. Fraser took a deep breath but couldn’t smell anything that she could be tracking. His mind swam as he tried to decode such a mystery. What could she see?
“All wolves leave behind an essence,” she told him, her voice painfully monotoned. “That is how I found you. You have quite balanced essence, very neutral.”
Fraser fidgeted his feet, chewing on his bottom lip as he stumbled along beside her. The flinty taste of blood that suddenly danced along his tongue was his cue to stop his nervous tick. “W-what does that mean? I don’t understand!” It was driving him crazy, being unable to understand or even register her words. He could understand everything. This should’ve been easy for him to decode.
Her ear flicked. “Those who do not understand aren’t meant to understand.”
That was his breaking point. “WHAT?” Fraser yelled, jumping in front of her and stopping her in her tracks. “What are you talking about? That doesn’t make any sense! How in all the stars is that logical? If someone doesn’t understand what you’re saying, it’s up to you to help them! That isn’t… f-fair…” He trailed off as she stared into his eyes, silencing him with just a look that caused his body to tremble. This wolf was frightening- she was larger than any from his pack and certainly larger than him.
“It isn’t my responsibility to help you comprehend things,” she stated, sweeping past him and continuing to follow whatever she saw through the sand. Fraser looked side to side, tail sinking lower than before, and then hurried after her again. He couldn’t resist a good mystery, and this wolf was the most fascinating one of all.
Waning Unity
Chapter Twenty-Two
(Sorry this one took me a bit, was struggling to think of ideas. But I think I fixed the spacing issue!)
Lume didn't know how long it had been. She hadn't bothered counting the hours, days even. Eventually, the faint sounds of snarling wolves in the distance died away completely, and the battle's end was marked by the sound of one of the packs howling in victory. Milkweed disappeared now and then, likely to check in with how her pack was doing. Whether her pack had won or lost, she didn't show it. Her full attention, like Lume's, had gone towards watching over Fraser.
He would occasionally wake to cough out spurts of blood and scarf down whatever budding plants milkweed had brought. She had led their other pack-mates of the past to visit him once or twice, and a healer a bit more often to make sure everything that needed to be done was done for Fraser to have a quick recovery.
Lume never moved, however. Mornings had come and gone, but the ethereal guardian didn't sleep. She sat and waited, either for Fraser to wake or stop breathing. She felt powerless for once, and she despised it. During the hours when Milkweed was gone and Fraser was still unconscious, Lume was left to her thoughts. With nothing else to distract her, the moment of her attempting to tear Fraser to pieces replayed again and again in her head. She tried to block it out with other things; memories of the past and happy times escaped her, running away at full speed from the evidence of her feral nature.
It was a new type of torment, one that would not let her forgive herself, if even Fraser could decide he would. And then, one night came with a new thought to occupy herself with.
'You can stay no longer.'
She hadn't heard those words in a while. She normally dropped everything and did what the voice asked of her. It had always been right before, pulling her from the jaws of hysteria to save those around her, yet this time Lume wanted nothing more than to resist.
Fraser had claimed her as one of his own, as his pack. Why did she have to leave now? Why couldn't she stop wandering for once? She finally had something good and it was being ripped away.
The voice responded to her retaliating thoughts. 'What you have done here was the bare minimum. Next time you will try to kill him and everyone else once again. You will not fail.'
The memory of her attack played again, this time under the tint of, "What if?" What if she HAD torn Fraser to pieces, broken his neck, or crushed his heart? She felt sadness and anger and confusion and understanding all at once. She had made her decision, however.
Eventually swishing of a wolf making its way back to them became clearer, and Milkweed's scent floated into the small clearing. With the assurance Fraser would have a trustworthy wolf at his side, Lume stood and bolted into the trees, not daring to look back for fear she would stop herself and go back. Milkweed called her name in the distance, and the coughing sound Fraser made when he began to wake sounded behind her.
For the second time in Lume's life, she began to cry.
~CL1
CL1- I swear, if you don’t stop making me cry-
I love Fraser and Lume together so much they’re just so cute, heeeelp- that ending is precious-
Anyways, yes, epilogues. Mine might take me a bit because I’m not entirely sure what to write for it since it won’t be as easy as Bone’s and Outlander’s, but we’ll see
- President Loki is very emotional about this ending
AWWWW WILDFLOWER'S SPIRIT MADE IT BACK, THE GANG'S ALL HERE!
Cough, cough. Sorry, got excited. I made YOUR heart hurt?? What do you call this then?
~CL1 had a good morning and a good couple of tears reading this :')
Makes for good Camo, especially for PvP put this on and you’ll be practically invisible
No, thank you for doing a long chapter because there wasn’t much I could do to make Fraser survive Lume while furthering the plot. And also, you made my heart hurt- so thanks-
- President Loki WILL NOT cry
Waning Unity
Chapter Thirty (2/2)
[If you haven't read part one first or if this posts before part one, please don't read this yet. It contains spoilers for the first part and ruins the storytelling ;-;]
--------
The beast took Milkweed's taunt to heart, lunging at the she-wolf. Milkweed remained planted in place, and then dashed to the side suddenly, leaving her pursuer to crash into and through the bark of the dead tree that she had been standing in front of. The monster was stunned for a moment, but by the time it had come back to its senses, the tree was already coming down on it, the pieces that hit its body breaking open and leaving it trapped under the heavy half-trunk that was left.
"Not finding a good place to die," Milkweed said through her panting, appearing in front of Lume, "Just thinking of what Fraser would do. Desert trees... not nearly as solid as the kind you see in the forest," she remarked in a way that would have been smug if she weren't so tired.
The beast tried to snap at her only a few times before it realized it was mostly immobile and too exhausted right now to get out of Milkweed's trap. "So what?" it snarled, "You kill me now?"
"No." Milkweed shook her head. "I just wanted you to see. Look Lume." She forced the monster's head to the side until it was facing Fraser, still lying on the ground in the distance. "Look at what you did."
"I know what I did."
"Do you, Lume?"
The monster snarled, "Lume is gon-"
"No, she isn't!" Milkweed snapped. "I know you're still there. I know you can hear me. LOOK AT HIM." She pushed its head again, and the monster snarled but cooperated.
"I've seen you," Milkweed continued. "The way you look at him and stand by his side. I saw how you watched over him when he was hurt. This isn't the loyalty of a pack-mate, it's something else. He's something more, isn't he?"
The monster roared and fought at the log again, but Milkweed shouted over the noise. "Isn't he? Is this what you want? Is this want you want for him?"
The roaring became screaming as the essence streak on its shoulder reappeared, shining a blinding white. Milkweed stepped back with her ears flattened for a moment.
And then the screaming stopped, and there was sobbing.
"No," Lume said quietly. "No, it isn't."
(How to win an overpowered bossfight: The power of love.)
~CL1