Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
Tips & Strategies
The Blood War
Chapter Twenty
Outlander followed Winks to where the pack was gathered together. Squeezing through the larger canines, she could make out a white and red shape in the middle. It was Phantasm, lying on her side and covered in blood. Long gashes ran down her sides and across her face. Her sides heaved as she struggled to bring in shakey breaths. Snowblind broke through the crowd on the other side, his eyes wide. "My son..." the alpha's voice came out as a painful whisper as she called for Snowblind. The heir padded forward slowly, lowering his head to hear his mother's quiet words.
After whispering a few words in Snowblind's ear, Phantasm's head dropped to the ground, and she stilled. Snowblind let out a low, mournful howl, and the rest of the pack joined in. Then, after a few moments, Ashsky padded to the center of the circle, ordering everyone back to their beds. The crowd broke up slowly and a now shaken Outlander curled up, the image of the bloody alpha still in her head.
She shut her eyes and immediately she found she was somewhere else. It looked like the pack's hunting grounds, but everything was hazy and strange. Words and sounds echoed. She looked around, recognizing the faces of her packmates, and as she turned she could see a small red coywolf dragging a peice of deer back to her bed. She was looking at herself? She remembered that moment. This was earlier the same day.
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Phantasm was speaking to one of the wolves on guard. Outlander moved closer to hear her. "I'm taking a walk, by the river. I need some time to myself." The guard nodded and then turned and looked at Outlander. She didn't recognize his face. "Follow her," he said. "Follow and see."
Outlander obeyed, padding past the guard slowly. No one else here seemed to be able to see her, except this wolf. She followed the alpha, padding down a ridge that led to the river. Phantasm stopped at the edge for a moment, looking at the water before crossing. Outlander did the same, marveling at how the river seemed undisturbed by her pressence. The water flowed directly through her. They reached the bank on the opposite side and began walking again. Then Phantasm stopped suddenly, looking around.
A flash of white dashed past them. Outlander turned, but the alpha did not. Another white wolf, smaller stood at the edge of the river, struggling to hold something large and dark in his jaws. There was a roar suddenly from the trees before them and a large bear charged from the forest, making a dash towards the smaller wolf. Outlander focused on the wolf again, realizing it was Snowblind and he was holding a dead baby bear in his jaws. He dropped the cub suddenly leaping into the river and swimming away as quickly as he could, only stopping when he was safe on the other side. The mother bear ran to the corpse of her child, nudging it with her nose, before roaring angrily at Snowblind from the other side of the river.
There was another roar, the same as last time, but from the trees again. This time, Phantasm heard it. The alpha froze, staring at the trees. A bear, the exact same as the one standing on the bank broke through the treeline again, snatching the alpha to the ground before she had the chance to run. Phantasm kicked and fought, trying to break free, but she only managed to wrench away after the mother bear raked its claws down her sides and belly. It chased her to the river's edge, a final threatening roar following Phantasm as she reached the other side and struggled up the ridge back to the pack.
Outlander blinked and she was with the pack again, this time in the center of the circle standing next the dying alpha. Snowblind was there, leaning dowm to hear his mother speak, and this time Outlander was close enough to hear the alpha say: "You... did this ... to your own mother ... How could you..." Then she looked at Outlander suddenly the pain disappeared and her face was blank. "See the truth. Tell the truth," she said, before dropping her head and breathing her last.
"Outlander."
Her eyes shot open and her heart nearly stopped. Snowblind was standing in front of her.
"Another nightmare?" He asked, tilting his head with that same fake smile.
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Twelve
A small cry echoed through the dark glade. Outlander pitched her ears, swiveling her head around. Another cry. She took off in its direction until she reached the mouth of a dark cave. She padded in slowly, letting her eyes adjust to the dark. "Scavenger," she called out. Another cry sounded, closer. She kept padding until the tunnel opened out into a wide area. A single beam of moonlight shined from a hole in the roof of the cave, illuminating a small quivering shape. "Scavenger," she said quietly, the hiss of the whisper bouncing around the cave's wall. The coyote turned her head slowly looking at Outlander from the corner of her eye. "Scavenger, it's okay. It's me."
"You weren't there," Scavenger whimpered. "I needed you, and you weren't there for me."
Outlander took a step closer. "I know, I know. I'm sorry."
Scavenger raised to her feet, turning to face Outlander. The coywolf shrank back, stomach bile climbing into her mouth. Scavenger's throat was missing. "You weren't there for me," she repeated. She was screaming now. "You weren't there!" Every step she took towards Outlander, she grew. Her fur became darker, her eyes changing from dark brown to a peircing blue.
"No. Not this," Outlander whispered, breathlessly. "Not you."
"You weren't there! You weren't there!" Scavenger's voice dropped an octave each time she repeated it until all that remained was a distorted growl. "You weren't there! You weren't there!" Skin fell from her body and blood drained onto the cave ground, revealing dry bones. "Anything but this," Outlander begged.
Death stared her in the face, towering over her. "Join me, sister," the newly transformed Scavenger growled. "Join me."
Outlander couldn't force so much as a whine from her snout. "Stop it. Stop it."
"Coywolf! Outsider! Whatever your name is."
Outlander opened her eyes and looked up. Snowbank stood over her, scowling. "Oh good, she's alive," he mumbled sardonically. Snowblind pushed his brother aside and cocked his head to the side. "You're trembling." Outlander took a deep breath and pushed herself to her feet shakily. "I had a nightmare." Snowbank rolled his eyes and padded out of the Omega clearing. Snowblind tossed his head in the direction of the Alpha den, where Snowbank was walking. "Come on. Our mother has agreed to see you regarding the death-wolf."
Snowbank liked to put himself above everyone in the pack except his mother, however, he was a strong leader, and always took actions based on what needed to be done for the pack. Snowblind was on the far other side of the river. While he wasn't constantly trying to help other wolves, he was considerate and treated everyone as his equal, including Outlander. Yet, everything was based on fact and logic with him, even to extreme measures. If food was scarce, he would gladly let the old and sick starve for the sake of feeding the pups.
While she appreciated his kindess to her, Outlander found Snowblind unnerving, while Snowbank was simply just unlikable. Their mother, Phantasm, was a mixture of both, harsh but fair. She was all white, exluding the grey of her old age, and more than capable of handling herself in the event of a challenge, not that anyone would dare challenge her. The pack loved her and respected her too much for that. But sitting here, before the wise and reveered Alpha, Outlander couldn't help but feel Phantasm seemed more like a judgmental executioner than a peaceful leader.
She sat upright and perfectly still, save for the subtle raise of her shoulders as she breathed. Her hed was held high, but her eyelids were lowered a bit to indicate relaxation. "I hear you have been having nightmares about the Bone Beast for a while now," she said calmly, almost motherly. Outlander nodded, "I have." Her voice trembled as she spoke to the Alpha.
Phantasm's eyes narrowed into a glare. "You know as wolves that hold tightly to the traditions of our ancestors, we take dreams and omens very seriously."
Outlander nodded again, much slower this time.
"So tell me," the alpha said raising to her feet. She stepped closer unti she was standing over Outlander. The omega flattened herself to the ground as the alpha's ears pinned back. "If you could have prevented this bloodshed by simply telling someone about your dreams, and didn't, isn't Stormwind's and Raven's blood as much on your paws as the death-wolf's? Why shouldn't I give you a just sentence and kill you right now?" Outlander felt her heart skip a beat. She trembled, unsure of whether she knew the answer herself. "Speak, half-breed!" The alpha barked. Outlander opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound.
"We still need her mother," came a relaxed voice. Outlander turned her head slowly to see Snowblind looking at her with a discomforting smile. Something like twisted amusement and curiosity danced in his eyes. She's going to lead us straight to the Beast, aren't you, coywolf?"
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Ten
Outlander shot into an alert position, immediatly greeted with the stinging fire of a thousand barbs setting in her neck. A whimper escaped her snout and she dropped to the ground again, her strength vanishing in an instant. "Well that wasn't very smart," chuckled a gravely voice from behind her. She tried to turn her head, but the pain became too much to bear so she turned it back with tears filling her eyes. A shadow crawled across the ground slowly until a large brown and sand colored wolf was sitting in front of her. His fur had started to fade into grey in some areas, and one of his eyes was shut tightly.
"So you're the half-bread that stood up to death, hm?" Outlander winced, straining her eyes up yo see the wolf clearly. A sour scent was becoming more apparent, stinging her nose. The soil around her was stained a dirty red shade. "What happened?" She murmered in slurred speech. "What's that smell?"
"Well, it's nice to meet you too?" He chuckled, "I'm Winks. And that smell," he said, nodding to the ground, "Would be your blood."
She looked at the wide stain around her, noticing the side of her neck and the fur around her belly was caked in dry, red liquid. "I ... lost this much blood?" She couldn't put any emotion behind the words. She was tired, and her eyes threatened to shut; it was taking all of her energy just to stay awake. Winks nodded, "You can cheat death, but there are consequences." He stood and padded somewhere behind her again. He shouted something back to her, but the sound of her own, sluggish heartbeat was drowning everything out.
Sleep. Just a few more minutes.
"Hey!" Pebbles and dirt flew into her face, causing her to jump a bit. Winks was standing next to her. "Eyes open. You've got to keep fighting if you want to live. Now, can you sit up?"
Outlander stared at the old wolf out of the corner of her eye before letting out a long sigh and straining against the pain to sit up. Fire coarsed through her veins, but this time it wasn't helping her. "You want to live then, don't you?" Winks said once she finally pulled her head from the ground.
"I have to live." The words were cold emotionless, spilling from a dark pit at the bottom of her heart.
Why? There was a reason, she just couldn't remember right now.
It was a moment before Outlander realized Winks was talking, "... a miracle if you make it. Don't see many survivors of the Bone Beast."
"Is that his name? The Bone Beast?"
Winks looked up at the dreary sky. "That's what my family called him. They say he helps wolves. I've only ever seen the blood baths." He shook his head and looked down at Outlander again. "Guess that's what living dead does to you."
He started padding of, saying something to Outlander, but she lost focus again, laying her head back on the ground when he was out of sight.
"What did I say about keeping your eyes open!"
The sudden shouting startled her, causing her to shoot up into her alert stance once again, tearing at the scab on her neck. She whined in pain, shutting her eyes tightly to squeeze the tears from her vision.
How long was she asleep?
"This is the brave coywolf that faced death?" The voice was demeaning, laced with disgust. Outlander opened her eyes again, greeted with the identical faces of two pure white wolves, eyes narrowed and unconvinced by the injured half-breed before them.
"Coywolf, this is Snowbank and Snowblind, twin heirs of the alpha pair. They want to speak to you about what you saw."
~CL1
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Six
Another waking nightmare, a wolf's skeleton, partially cloaked with dark, rotted skin.
He sat completely and utterly still, staring forward directly at Ashsky. A young, silver wolf stood before the beast, frozen by fear. Outlander looked around at the faces of her packmates to answer the question that had been coiling at the bottom of her stomach. The fear, the disbelief, the disgust ... that said it all.
This was no nightmare. This one was real.
Ashsky trembled a bit, clearing her throat before she barked, "Back away, Stormwind." Her quavering voice filled the still clearing. Outlander expected the beast to protest, the launch itslef forward, teeth bared, but it only stood, a silent, stone guardian keeping watch until the time to act.
"I can't..." murmered a small voice.
"Storm."
"I can't move. I can't," the poor young she-wolf whimpered. Her entire body trembled and she spoke in a whisper laced with terror.
"Please, Stormwind. Try. Please, just back away from it."
The word "it" sparked a flame within the skeletal statue. It tilted its head up slightly and as the sun shone on them, those eyes, once dead grey with boredom or exauhstion or both, suddenly shimmered a feirce blue. In one instantaneous motion, it shot the front half of its body forward, snatching Stormwind's neck in its bone jaw. Ashsky and the rest of the pack dropped into battle-stance immediately, ears pinned, tails lashing, and slobbering teeth bared, but none dared close in on the beast.
The silver wolf yelped, trying to break free of the beasts hold, to no avail. Every kick, every bite, every attempt Stormwind made had no effect, other than ruffling the beasts fur a bit. It's eyes shadowed, the blue flame that lit them dying out. It fell still into its statue-like state again. In a low voice that chilled the very air around them, emanating from some place dark and deep within, it growled, "Get rid of me..." The words didn't come out of his mouth. They didn't have to. Nothing about this creature made sense.
There was silence, then the voice boomed again, stronger ... angrier, "Get rid of me?"
"Stop this," Ashsky barked. "Let her go!"
The beast rose to its feet slowly, Stormwind still in its grip. It was a giant compared to the wolves.
Outlander had heard the stories coyote pups had scared each other with, about the death-wolf, the monster made of bones and skin that killed you if you were first to see it that day. Now realization hit her hard. Coyotes didn't bother with ghost-stories; monsters were real, and she was staring right at one.
The blue flame shone again, and the death-wolf lunged.
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter five
Bone woke to an overpowering scent of wolf. He glanced around, slowly lifting his head, as to avoid giving away his location. Peering through the underbrush, ears angled back and twitching, he watched as a large patrol of wolves fanned out amongst the trees, searching for something. Searching for HIM.
He turned and slipped away, careful to keep from sending the shrubbery trembling. As he straightened, rising to his full height, he circled around to watch from behind the pack, narrowing his piercing eyes and sitting back on his haunches.
“Ashsky, is this a good idea?” one of them asked; a relatively skinny-looking tan wolf. She was speaking to the dark wolf that Bone had seen the day before.
“If this… THING is a threat to us,” she replied without looking over, “we have to find it and get rid of it.”
Ah, there it was. Get rid of it. Bone sank to the forest floor, running his forepaws through the grass, looking away from the pack and down at the earth. Everyone wanted to “get rid of it”: that was the unfortunate truth. Not one single wolf, despite anything they said, wanted him around.
A choked gasp broke into his train of thought, and he swiveled his head around to look over his shoulder. A silver-gray wolf, appearing still young with the fluff of her face, was staring with wide eyes at her.
Bone barely had enough time to react, shifting to rise to his feet, before she let out a warning bark. In barely a heartbeat, every wolf on the patrol was around him, heavy paws pressing him into the ground and pinning him there, the smell of fear and tension and strange wolves choking his lungs and filling his nostrils.
- President Loki
The Blood War
Chapter 4
Outcast stared up at the dark sky above, watching the birds overhead chase eachother as silhouettes against the moon. To her the stars were simply light, a means to hunt at night, but to the wolves they were so much more. Her mother had taught her that wolves were very traditional creatures. They believed in ancestors that spoke in dreams and skyhunters and all other sorts of nonsense.
Her mother had been one of the more reasonable wolves, one that worried about the here and now and what could be seen. She claimed that when she was young she believed. She told about dreams she'd had about shimmering wolves coming from the sky to meet with her ... and of the nightmarish creatures that sleep sometimes brought. Wolves with gnarled bodies, carvivorous elk and deer with legs as long as trees, birds with millions of little eyes.
Outcast had asked her mother then if she would have dreams and visions too, since she was half wolf, and her mother had responded with: "Only time will tell."
Years had passed since those quiet days, and now time certainly had a lot to say.
She couldn't sleep without being plagued with nightmares. First it was the elk, then crows and vultures, and even innocent little crickets became half-decayed monsters looking for blood. She wanted to tell someone, but who could she tell? The wolves either treated her like dog run away from home or just pretended she wasn't there at all. Again and again the faces around her would be breifly relaced by living skeletons, and she was simply forced to pretend she had seen nothing.
And then there was that howl. She heard it in nearly every nightmare: the howl of a frightened coyote. She had heard it before, and yet she couldn't quite place it. She had written the bad dreams off as the simple manifestation of her frustrations and fears as the pack omega until Ashsky appeared. "Go to sleep and prepare yourself for a scouting trip in the morning. Stormwind found something... odd."
~CL1
Good on ghilli armor
Looks awesome
Wtf are these tips man like wut???
The Blood War
Bone’s Epilogue
Bone silently followed Outlander through the forest, watching her tail swish through the undergrowth. He was dreaming, of course; he hadn’t actually seen Outlander face-to-face since they stopped dreaming on the day after Snowblind’s death. But when he dreamed, he often took visits to her, watching over her from a mental state.
“Hey, Outlander,” he murmured finally, pausing his walk. He doubted that she could hear him, but he had never tried speaking to another through a dream. So if she could hear him… she was about to hear a LOT.
“You probably can’t hear this, and I’m probably just insane to be talking to you when I’m not even really there. But I… there’s something that I’ve never told anyone. And I feel like you’d be the one fit to hear it.” Taking a deep breath, he started in.
“The past few months have been hard, I won’t lie. I’ve missed you… I’ve missed you a lot. I know that you’re doing well because I watch you often, but it’s lonely, isn’t it? Wandering alone like you are. Even if you don’t fit in somewhere, it’s depressing to be without pack-mates. I know that from experience.
“…I was really hoping that after we handled Snowblind, you and I could have started over. You’d said that I was forgiven, that day that I was crushed by an elk. But I never really believed you, not until you said that I was a ‘who’ and not an ‘it’. I was never able to forgive myself for Scavenger’s death, and I’m still unable to. But I was hoping that, had we started over, I would have learned how. Maybe we could even have been friends, actual friends, where I didn’t give you throat scars.” He gave a small smile. Outlander had sat down, resting in front of him, her ears angled somewhat back.
“I’ve stayed away from other living things,” he said, sighing. “And it’s been lonely. Really, really lonely. I wish that you were here, that you were still with me. I wish that I hadn’t had to leave. But we both know that a friendship between us wouldn’t have worked out. Besides,” he added with a soft laugh, “you wouldn’t have been able to tolerate me for more than a few days.”
Hesitantly, Bone sat back on his haunches, dragging his paws through the dirt. “I and my rage have had fewer fights,” he sighed. “Probably because I’ve seen no other wolves that I could possibly kill. But the rage is still there, and it’s still burning.
“I’ve been trying to find a new purpose, a new… well, a new reason to be alive, I guess. Hoping that a new Gifted will be born soon, so that I can do my actual job, instead of just… wandering.” He thought for a moment, studying the forest floor, which was dappled in golden rays of sunlight. “But I think that I’m going to be alright,” he added, a small smile crawling over his face as he looked up at her.
“I think that I’m going to be alright, Outlander.”
- President Loki
The Blood War
Chapter Thirty-Two
The wolves had decided on electing Ashsky alpha almost immediately. She had proven her loyalty and dedication to the pack, as well as her sound judgement and good intentions. With Bone's approval of the situation, they began dragging their dead away to be buried, leaving Snowblind's body alone for the elements and vultures to have as a final disrespect to the vile, would-be alpha.
Bone hesitantly helped them bury the fallen, a final proof that he was not the monster they feared, and as he padded back to Snowblind's body to drag it out of the camp he looked back up at Outlander. What had he said? This would be the last time she saw him? As he bent down to grab Snowblind's scruff, she stopped him. "Bone," she called, motioning for him to come to her. The bleeding from her neck had stopped, but her shattered ribs still cried out in pain, and she was hesitant to disturb them. He padded forward, hanging head low. "Sit," she said, tapping her tail on the ground next to her.
"I need to get this carcass out of here," he protested. "It will attract scavengers if-"
She rolled her eyes and groaned theatrically, "Just sit." He grumbled, but gave in with a sigh and sat next to her. "Happy?" He murmered. They watched the sun begin to retreat from its high throne, making its way to the hills in the distance where it would rest. Outlander thought back to what her mother had said. "You are not an 'it,' Bone. You are a 'who," she said with finality.
Bone made no sound, but Outlander could have sworn she had seen the slightest break of a tear in his eye. "You have a heart, a mind, and a soul just like any other wolf. You aren't a monster at all ... I think it's taken me too long to truely realize that." There was silence for a moment more as the sun met the ground. "There is," Bone said after a while, "one last thing I need to do." He placed a rough skeletal paw on her head lightly and lowered her head to the ground. "Close your eyes," he said. Outlander obeyed, noticing everything had begun to sound far away. "And dream."
Outlander found herself greeted by the astral forest once again. "Hello?" She called out.
"Outlander," a voice called from behind her. She turned to see Bone, or at least what she believed to be Bone. His skin and fur were completely intact and his voice, while still low and gravely, didn't have the rasp years of wear had put on his lungs. He looked ALIVE. "Bone?" she murmured in awe. "Welcome to the Forever Grounds," he said with a smile. He turned and padded off quickly, shouting, "Follow me!" over his shoulder. Her short legs struggled to keep pace with giant bounds of the mythical wolf. As she ran pasts she could see whisps of ghost wolves running along side her, a magnificent phantom pack howling at the moon.
Bone pulled her aside from the phantom chase, leading her to a familiar spot. She could see the large tree in the distance, and Scavenger still sat under it, speaking with a two other coyotes. "I made her a promise," Bone said, looking down at Outlander, "that I would keep you safe, and that once I had done what the ancestors had asked, I would reunite you." Tears, set on her eyelids, and the thought occuring to her to say something she should have said many times before. "Thank you." She ran into the glade, stopping before the tree. All three coyotes turned to her before the two strangers said farewell to Scavenger and padded away into the forest of stars.
Now Scavenger alone sat under the tree. Outlander couldn't bring herself to move forward as she thought how she had betrayed her sister and allied with her enemy. "Outlander," the coyote said, her voice bringing comfort like her mother's. "All has been forgiven," she said, seemingly reading Outlander's thoughts. A smile broke across her face as she greeted her sister for the first time in many years. Scavenger touched her forhead to Outlander's before looking back to Bone. "Thank you for honoring your promise," she called. He nodded from the distance, silently.
"He really is quite sweet, isn't he, when he isn't bent on killing you?" Scavenger said with a laugh. Outlander looked at her fearsome guardian. A white wolf she didn't recognize had appeared next to him. "He's hurting," she said quietly to Scavenger. "He has been for a long time."
"So have you," Scavenger remarked sincerely. "That grudge you held with him was not on my behalf, but yours. You were alone, and you blamed him."
Outlander's ears pinned as the truth shot like daggers into her heart. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked, quietly.
"Because you aren't alone," Scavenger laughed her eyes sparkeling with mirth, "You never have been, so you can finally let go of this burden you've been holding on to." She looked back to the hill where Bone and the white wolf were speaking. "He isn't the only one that needed to bloom," she said with a smile that melted Outlander's resentment. "You've both made it, you've both bloomed."
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Thirty-one
Teeth dug into the back of Bone’s neck, causing him to scream. He bucked, attempting to dislodge his attacker, but to no prevail. Blood was running from the gashes in his neck and sides, which gave him quite the surprise: he still had blood flow, so that meant that he could still die.
He lashed out, kicking his attacker off of his back, only for another wolf to tackle him to the ground. His head hit the dirt with a considerably loud crack, and he lay still for a long moment, mind whirling, vision blurring. Pain engulfed his body as the wolf stood on top of him, claws pinning him by the neck. He fought back the rage that was swelling inside of him, trying to shove it away. These wolves wouldn’t be able to survive if his rage took control.
But he lost the grip on sanity a heartbeat later. His eyes sharpened, pupils dilating until they were specks of black. His jaw set, teeth clenching together, and he surged up, swinging his paws down and breaking the wolf that had been pinning him earlier’s skull. They dropped dead, and the wolves around him backed away, but his rage swelled and he lunged.
Within a few moments, five other wolves were strewn across the grass, their blood dripping from his fur and staining his paws. As he turned to lunge at yet another target, something warm pressed against his side. Pivoting, flashing his teeth, he found himself staring at Outlander.
His breath caught in his throat as he saw her. The bleeding from her neck had stopped, but she still stood with tremendous pain in her eyes. His jaw trembled, the rage melting away to the back of his mind, his pupils rounding.
“Are you just going to stand there?” she asked sarcastically, wincing. Bone ducked his head, pressing his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. “Opposites, you’re alive,” he whispered, voice trembling. As he opened his eyes again, she took a step back, smiling up at him.
“Did you think that Snowblind could kill me so easily?” she asked offendedly, eyes glittering. “Of course I’m alive. I wouldn’t let you finish this alone.” Slowly, Outlander looked around the clearing, where wolves were standing back, pacing around their dead comrades and trying to find a weak spot on Bone. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “What are you doing, Bone?” she asked finally, looking back at him. His ears folded back, and he opened and closed his mouth hesitantly.
“I- they wanted- they wanted to fight-” he sputtered, before falling silent as she shook her head. “You wanted to save them,” she said softly. “So save them.” She paused for a moment, before adding with a smile, “Bloom, Bone.”
He groaned softly, rolling his eyes, before looking towards where Ashsky stood. “I killed Snowblind because he killed Phantasm,” he told her, twitching his ears as he felt blood running from the cuts and bite marks along his back and neck. “When Phantasm arrived in the Forever Grounds, she demanded that Snowblind be killed for his actions, so I was sent.” He took a step towards the beta, but stopped, keeping his distance. “What you don’t know about your feared Bone Beast is that I’m a messenger for the ancestors. I carry messages to various packs, delivering omens and helping teach those who have the ability to do the same.” He paused, looking back at Outlander, knowing that whatever he admitted to these wolves, she would hear as well. She’s probably already figured it out herself, he thought quietly. She’s smart enough to have connected all of the pieces. And that’s why I like her, he realized.
“I also have a constant fight with myself,” he said, looking back to Ashsky. “The real me versus the rage. When the rage manages to take over, wolves get hurt. I’ve killed countless others just because I can’t control myself with all of my pain, all of my built-up exhaustion.” He closed his eyes briefly, bowing his head in guilt. “It’s like there are two of me, the good and the bad, who are constantly at war with each other. Like there’s more than one voice in my head.”
Looking up again, he met Ashsky’s eyes. “If you let me, I will leave and never come back. I’ll never talk with any of you again.” His eyes slowly wandered to Outlander, standing behind him. She could have run away the moment he turned his back, but she hadn’t.
“Including you,” he murmured, turning his head to scan the surrounding wolves. “You can live in peace, and elect a new alpha, whoever you choose. I’ll stay far away from your pack, your territory, and your lives.”
He looked at each of them in turn, before turning his head and meeting Outlander’s eyes. They exchanged a knowing glance, and Bone whispered in a sad voice: “This will be the last time I ever see you.”
Bone looked back to Ashsky. “So,” he murmured finally, forcing a confident smile despite the way his heart was breaking. “What do you say?”
- President Loki
The Blood War
Chapter Twenty-nine
It had been a long, long time since Bone had truly been given a reason for murder. Years, predictably, way before he had killed Scavenger.
Now was one of those times where he truly had a reason.
Snowblind was the one pinned by claws, now, sharp and twisted, buried deep into his flesh. His eyes were wide, breath strangled as Bone pressed his full weight against the alpha’s windpipe, suffocating him slowly, as he heard the occasional pop and crunch of the vertebrate in his neck breaking.
Wolves were returning now, rushing into camp at the sound of Outlander’s blood-chilling scream. They stood in the clearing, encircling the death-wolf and their alpha, with Outlander’s figure splayed close by.
Bone lifted his head and met Ashsky’s eyes. The beta was shuddering, her body trembling slightly as she stared at the skeleton beast, watching him murder her leader.
Slowly lowering his head, Bone met Snowblind’s wide, panicked eyes. He was trying to plead, struggling to choke out whimpering, begging words that he hoped would make Bone step away. But he would not step away from this death.
His paws lifted away from the alpha’s throat, and his teeth instead sank into his jugular. He lifted him, suspending him from the grass, and with one sharp whip of his head, he bent the white wolf’s head backwards too far.
Snowblind’s corpse hit the grass at Bone’s feet. The wolves stood in silent horror, staring at him with wide, fearful eyes. Fearful and angry. Angry and rageful. Rageful and relieved. Relieved and grieving, all of their emotions blurred into one and scribbled onto their faces.
“So is this going to be a fight to the death,” he said, taking a sharp breath as blood dripped from his jowls, “or do I get to leave without any more blood on my paws?”
The way that the surroundings wolves flared their teeth gave him the answer. Slowly turning his head to look at Outlander, blood tracing rivulets into her fur, he sighed. “I wanted to save them. I did, Outlander. And I’m sorry. But this is their doing.” He turned, raising a paw to step towards her, but paused.
“A fight to the death it is,” he whispered, before looking back towards Ashsky.
- President Loki
So idk why the industrial cooker in mobile makes it into like yellow and blue dye can someone help?
The Blood War
Chapter Twenty-Six
(Chapter Twenty-Five was labled as Twenty-Four also)
Watching Winks try to fix Bone's contorted spine made Outlander's stomach lurch, so she turned away and watched a family of rabbits in the distance. The forest chirped and sang, beaming and growing all around them. It soaked in every beam the new sunrise shared, ignorant to the strife and pain hidden beneath its canopy.
"Amazing how things still look so beautiful, even when its all burning away slowly," she thought aloud.
"Aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" Bone growled sarcastically through gritted teeth.
"So often we focus on the death we see," Winks murmmered, "We never pay attention to the new hope, new life, that comes from those deaths." He looked up at Outlander. "If Bone hadn't killed your sister, he wouldn't be here, protecting you now, would he?"
Outlander looked back at the rabbit family, unwilling to confront that truth. That small, helpless coyote in her had forgiven Bone for the sake of survival, but the ferocious, infernal wolf the occupied the space the coyote left vacant still held onto that grudge, sinking its claws and fangs in deep, unwilling to let go.
No, it was the other way around.
The helpless wolf had lost its mother long ago and only wanted to survive in whatever way it could now. The coyote wasn't helpless, it was angry. It had been raised as a survivor in a coyote pack as a young pup. It had been taught the importance of not just a pack, but of family, and even when it was cast out, it would kill to protect one of its own.
Well now it had lost one of its own, and it would not be sated without blood.
Outlander wasn't sure she would ever be able to let go.
"And what good came of Phantasm's death?" she muttered darkly, trying to drown the thought of her unforgiving selfishness.
Winks sighed and went back to work at Bone's spine, "I still haven't figured that one out yet." There was a sickening pop and Bone yelped. Outlander turned and saw him hunched with his teeth bared, his face holding a look that said it was taking every ounce of restraint in his body not to rip the old wolf to shreds.
Then the anger faded. He was standing, without pain. He flexed his legs, his bone paws digging into the ground. "Thank you," he murmured with a sincere nod to Winks. The old wolf held his head high, proud of his work. "I think," Winks said, turning to Outlander, "Maybe Phantasm's death had a seed of hope in it after all. You'll be doing us all the favor of saving us from a bloody rule under Snowblind."
Bone didn't look particularly pleased or anxious. He looked tired. He always looked tired, and for the first time Outlander wondered if it was a sort of external, physical exauhstion, or whether he was just tired altogether, of everything, of life and death and pain. "Come on," he rasped. "Let's finish this."
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Twenty-Two
Outlander stared at the field before her, her heartbeat blending in with the roar of the rain on the landscape. She looked back over her shoulder where two wolves sat, blocking the path back home. They had led her here on Snowblind's orders, and though she wasn't exactly sure what the purpose of her being here was, she had a good idea. Snowblind could read it on her face. Her fear betrayed her, and knowing what she did, he couldn't let her live, so he sent her out on an "assignment," escorted by two of his most trusted guards. There was no description, no orders, but it didn't matter. Outlander knew what this assignment was about.
Her usefulness had run out, and so had her time.
Her escorts snarled, pushing her into the field. "This is where you go alone," one of them growled. Outlander looked back at the field. It was innocent-looking, but Snowblind was clever. There could be an ambush at any second. It would only take a few wolves to put her down quickly.
As she stepped out from the cover of the trees and the heavy raindrops pelted her like fragments of ice, Outlander looked up at the sky. She couldn't see the stars through the rain, but she knew they were there. Her mother had told her that wolves saw the stars as their ancestors and loved ones, passed on to a place in the sky where they looked down on the living. Outlander didn't understand, nor did she believe it, but as she walked to her certain death, she couldn't help hoping it was true.
"Mother," she murmered, hardly able to hear herself over the slap of raindrops on mud, "If you're up there, please, send help. Send someone, something..."
"Outlander?"
It was a hiss in the night, easy to miss. Outlander looked around, her eyes catching the immistakable skeletal frame of a wolf caked in mud across the field.
"Well," she grumbled to her mother's invisible ghost, "You certainly have a sense of humor."
But as Bone approached, and it became clear that he was not the bloodthirsty beast but the tired, sad old wolf, she found she could hold no anger or resentment. She felt only relief. In a world where everyone was turning against her at every second, Bone was the only truely transparent soul she had met thus far, and right now, he was her only chance at safety.
"Wait!" She hissed across the field. He stopped suddenly, his ears pricked and alert. Outlander scanned the field. Still no sign of an ambush. "Be careful."
After a moment of strange silence, Bone spoke. "I'm here about Snowblind, not you," he said, daring to step closer. Outlander winced at every cracked branch, waiting to leapt upon by Snowblind's executioners, but the attack never came. "Phantasm appeared in the Forever Grounds," he continued. "She said Snowblind killed her."
Outlander nodded. "He lured her towards an angry bear," she said, looking around in paranoia. "He sent me here, to kill me. He knows I know."
"But why-"
Bone stopped suddenly. "What is that?"
Outlander pricked her ears. Over the constant drone of raindrops, a sound like thunder was rising slowly and steadily. She looked around, catching movement on the ridge above. "A herd of elk..." she trailed off in disbelief.
A stampede? For one measely coywolf?
Then she looked at Bone, the unkillable myth. A few wolves wouldn't get rid of him, but a thousand thundering hooves might. He had been following Outlander all this time, and Outlander had thought back to the night of Snowbank's death.
"He came to speak to you," echoed Snowblind's words.
"Snowblind," she murmered bitterly. "Ever so clever."
The alpha may not have known Bone would be there, but he had certainly counted on it.
~CL1
The Blood War
Chapter Twenty-one
Rain pounded down from the angry sky above, fat droplets pattering against the leaves of trees and underbrush and turning the dirt to mud. Bone padded silently, tail whisking behind him, mud riding up his legs as he unintentionally kicked it up into the hollow cavern of his stomach. He wasn’t really sure where he was going; back in the general direction of the wolf pack, but indirectly, rather unsure of why he was returning.
The previous night, as he had dreamed and visited the ancestors within the Forever Grounds, Phantasm had arrived. The gray of age and the haunted look of death over time was gone from her; only a powerful, young wolf remained, as it did with every ancestor who joined the Wolves of the Stars. And her first words to any of them had been: “Snowblind did this. He killed me. He needs to pay.”
Had Bone been sent to make Snowblind pay? Yes. The ancestors had discussed the matter before returning to him, offering- basically ordering- for him to return to the pack and set things straight. Bone was still on the fence about it; he had caused so much death for this pack already. But deep down he knew that having Snowblind as an alpha would only cause more. So even though he knew the right thing to do, he dragged his feet, walking slowly through the rain-beaten forest, trying to think of any way possible that he would be able to avoid killing the manipulative white wolf. And yet, nothing came: he knew that it was the only option.
The dark clouds had rolled away by twilight, revealing the bold night sky overhead, illuminated with the light of ancestors, and leaving the fields and forests dripping. Bone stood in the center of a wide-open field, grass laden with water droplets, freckled with brightly-colored flowers which were also drooping at the time.
He let out a sigh, a small cloud of water particles stirring away from his jaw. He really didn’t have to rest; he had been doing plenty of that recently, as he wallowed in his guilt, but he was making this excursion take as long as possible.
But why was he? The truth was, he didn’t know.
As he forced himself to the ground, laying with mud-painted limbs outstretched on his side, he heard the faintest rustle of movement. Bone sat up, poking his head just above the line of bowing, pale green blades which reflected starlight with their loads of water.
On the far side of the field, padding warily yet quickly out of the forest, he saw a honey-red figure, resembling a wolf. Silhouetted by the disc of a moon overhead, the wolf’s ears were larger than most, and she looked relatively short. Bone’s heart stopped.
“Outlander?” he breathed softly into the chilly air. But, in the clear night wind, sound carried far, because her head snapped up and stared in his direction.
- President Loki
The Blood War
Chapter nineteen
Growing up, Bone had adored stories of heroes and wolves of the stars. Their smiles bright, eyes alight with wisdom as they padded through their eternal home, visiting descendants within dreams. His mother had always told him of their magical abilities; wolves who possessed powers, who were capable of both protecting the entire mass of wolf humanity, and killing every enemy they had in seconds. “I'll be like them!” he had said in his young years. “I'll be a hero!” And his mother had always laughed and said, “I'm sure you will, my dear. You'll be the bravest of them all.”
Now, as Bone lay collapsed within the arching roots of an oak tree with the residue of tears creasing his face, he felt far from that. Far from a hero; far from anything good. He was a murderer, a mercenary to his demand. He was a destroyer of lives and a thief of hope. He was the villain.
“I tried,” he choked out to himself, his entire body quaking. “I tried to fix things. You saw that I did. But I can’t do anything right, can I? I only make things worse. Nothing I do helps.”
The whisk of a tail sounded beside him. Small, dark paws pattered gently over the dirt as his company sat down beside him. “Do you know what I heard in that sentence?” Nightshade asked him. Bone lifted his head with a heavy sigh, half-glaring up at him without replying.
“I,” he said, ears swiveling. “You said “I” a lot. That’s the problem with you, Bone: you think so much about yourself.” He eased himself down, his dark eyes studying Bone’s face. “You’ve made mistakes. We all have. But you’re always so concerned about yourself- I’ve killed again, I’ve hurt again, I’ve done this again- that you’re blind to others. When your rage takes over, you’re blind; and perhaps when you’re blind is when you truly see.”
“I really hate you ancestors, sometimes,” he growled, narrowing his eyes. His ears folded back in frustration, and Nightshade barked a laugh. “I know,” he agreed, grinning. “We’re so amazingly wise, with our weird ways of saying things.”
Bone sat up, spine stiffening from overuse. “Is that what being dead does to you? Makes you speak in riddles?” He wrinkled his snout. “If that’s the case, I’ll pass, please.”
Nightshade rose to his feet, shaking out his dark, misty pelt. “Look. You’re seven hundred years old. You’re way past changing yourself, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the chance to change others. You have a very unique opportunity, Bone. You have the chance to save so many lives and help so many wolves. But you have to take that step.
“I’m not telling you to take that leap,” he continued, inclining his eyebrows slightly. “That is your decision and yours alone. But nothing is going to change until you do.” Nightshade dipped his head in goodbye, and his figure shimmered before disappearing. Bone was left alone in the forest, surrounded by birdsong and the chatter of countless insects. He took a deep breath, closed his ice-colored eyes, and collapsed into the dirt to think.
- President Loki
The Blood War
Chapter Sixteen
The death-wolf sat before her, still and docile, leaving Outlander reminiscent of the time before when he seemed like an innocent statue. "I won't kill you," he repeated. "Just stay quiet." He'd been following them. He could have killed them at any time, but he waited.
He waited until she was alone.
Outlander's heart threatened to break free of her ribcage, but she caught something in his eyes that relaxed it, if only temporarily. He seemed different. Not the bloodthirsty, mindless thing that had killed two wolves before; that had killed Scavenger. No, he seemed sad, almost ... remorseful.
A thousand scenarios played out in Outlander's head. Attacking was a death wish, running might have been the same, so with few options left she held still but remained standing should the peaceful statue be laying a trap. "What ..." she stopped, choosing her words carefully, "Who are you?"
The beast took in a shakey breath, releasing his story in a sigh. "I'm called Bone. I have lived for what feels like an eternity." Sadness tinged his voice with the word "eternity." "I was tasked with aiding wolves with the Gift, and I-"
"Why?" Outlander snapped, losing her patience in a heartbeat.
Bone tilted his head slowly. "Why ... why have I lived this long? I wish I knew, but-"
"Why did you kill her?" Outlander started to tremble, but it wasn't fear that held her any longer. The anger was back, refreshed by the images of Scavenger begging for help, pleading for mercy. She waited for a response, but Bone's jaw stayed shut. It seemed as if even he couldn't think of a good excuse. Against her better judgement, she took a step forward. "She was my only family in the world. The only one who didn't treat me like some disgusting mutt, and you took her. The most innocent soul I've ever met and you took her, and you can't even tell me why?"
Bone lowered his head.
"Why did you come here then? Can you tell me that much?"
He didn't move, but Outlander caught him murmer: "Bloom..." It was barely audible, quiet enough that she nearly missed it. "Bloom?" she repeated, "what does that-"
Their heads turned in unison to the sound of pawsteps coming from behind Outlander. Bone rose from his haunches slowly, both of them remaining breathless until a white head poked out of the brush. "False alarm," Snowbank growled. "Should have followed Snowblind." He looked up and caught sight of Bone standing over Outlander. She caught the look of a wolf on the brink war in his eyes; a wolf that wanted to prove to his mother he was worthy of being the next alpha. "Snowbank. Don't," Outlander whispered, trying to keep the hotheaded wolf calm in vain. Without a word he lunged at Bone.
~CL1
I guess it’s just a glitch with me, then. Hmm.
I like how you clarified that it was your post of chapter 10 by signing off twice. :)
- President Loki
I could not get this to work on Ark Mobile. It kept making Blue Dye. Will be trying on Console later this evening. 😎👍