The midnight dark and silver pup slowly came to. He saw he was in the den with his litter-siblings and Mother. He was confused for a second, then remembered what had happened. He shivered in excitement as he recalled Grey Soul jumping and running in the sky, unleashing his power. He couldn’t wait to grow up.

He was a bit unsettled, because he could feel Mother’s worry. He asked what was wrong, and she told him nothing was wrong. Grey Soul went to fight something, but he will be back soon. The little pup was relieved at this. Father was super-strong, of course whatever he was fighting, it would have no chance!

What he had to do while Father fought, was to get stronger as well. And the first step was to find his name. He was a bit apprehensive, because the wrong-smell was inside of him too, and he wanted to have nothing to do with it. But he wanted to get stronger even more, so for the first time in the last week or two, he closed his eyes as he focused inward.

He growled because the wrong smell was still there, and as his senses and mind were clearer and sharper than before, the wrong-smell felt even more wrong, more intrusive, more alien and more… terrible. Luckily, it was still only in that one spot, and it didn’t seem to spread. That comforted him quite a bit, and he did his best to ignore it as he tried to find his name.

He had no idea how to find a name, and no one told him it was futile to try now. Pups were too young, they were still growing, and changing too fast to have a name yet. But this pup didn’t know any of that, how could he?

He spent quite a while looking inward while the others slept, wondering, smelling his different smells, and trying to understand himself to find his name. He got nowhere, so he looked towards the wrong-smell with displeasure. Maybe he couldn’t ignore it if he wanted to know his name. So, filled with hostility, he decided to investigate the wrong-smell. It really was very wrong. It wasn’t hostile, it just was, but its nature itself was wrong, as if it was the enemy of all living beings. The pup wanted to run away, but he wanted his name even more, so he kept exploring this spot that gave off the wrong-smell. He started to feel, as if this wrong-spot wanted to tell him something. He focused with all his senses, no matter how repulsive he felt...

“Ray.”

The pup’s soul shook, a mystical shimmer ran through his body. He felt as if things broke inside of him, then moved to their right place, and he was whole again. An indescribable triumphant feeling welled up, he knew he was Ray. He felt satisfied, content as if he had a blindfold before that came off now. He was Ray. He was Ray! Ray, that was him! Everything felt right, he was ecstatic.

He soon started calming down as a thought occurred to him. He learnt his name when he was looking at the wrong-spot. And he had the feeling, the wrong-spot knew his name and told him. But the wrong-spot was alien and foreign, not him, but an intruder, so how did it know his name?

He looked at the wrong-spot closer again. It was, as it always was before, nothing changed. It was still very wrong, but maybe it wasn’t so bad since it knew his name? The wrong-spot didn’t react, and Ray decided to give up understanding it for now.

That night Grey Soul didn’t return, neither did he the next day. Ray didn’t tell the others that he found his name, because he wanted to surprise Father. The others could feel his excitement, but they thought it was still because of his first meeting with Grey Soul. The other pups were still excited as well after all.

There were a few changes with Ray that were invisible to the others. He started to dream when he slept. He didn’t remember much after waking up, he just had a few impressions. It was like another, long-forgotten life where he was Ray as well, but he wasn’t a wolf. It was weird, and he didn’t tell anyone about it. He was a wolf, and they were just strange dreams.

He also looked inwards and wondered about the wrong-spot a few times a day. He didn’t learn anything new, but he didn’t even realize himself that he slowly grew less hostile and more accepting towards it.

His sense of smell subtly changed. It was as if there was a physical weight to smells, and he felt he could almost see them. There was a formless power underneath all the smells, he didn’t understand it, but he knew he was onto something.

Days passed, and a week later, Grey Soul returned. While he seemed uninjured, he was far from well. As soon as he got back he lay down and fell asleep.

Ray was excited when he first saw Grey Soul returning, but he soon felt how exhausted and weak Grey Soul was. To Ray, Father seemed invincible before, but now his fur seemed a bit duller, the smoky wisps around him sparser. Yet, he still carried the smell of an indomitable will that would never break, never fail to protect their family. Ray couldn’t even imagine what could be so strong to give Father this much trouble. But he wasn’t worried, all of them felt relieved that Grey Soul safely returned. Even Grey Soul believed it was safe for now.

*

Far away, near a place Grey Soul left three days ago, a party of humans rested. Not far from them, the ground was torn, trees were uprooted, and a disgusting bloody smell hung around. Chunks of unrecognizable rotten flesh were thrown everywhere, some as big as an elephant, others as small as mice. A giant Bear-Tree was laying down, torn and dead. It was as if the whole area was put into a meat-grinder not long ago.

It was the battlefield where the humans fought just recently. They were resting a bit further away now due to the smell. Not that they couldn’t still smell the battlefield, but the air was slightly fresher here. They were bloody, dirty and tired, but they were uninjured, the light injures one of them got were already healed by the healer a while ago. They would have gotten going by now, but their beast tamer insisted on wanting to investigate the area, so the party had no choice but to wait for him.

A couple hours went by when finally, the beast tamer returned with a beaming smile, five big wolves following on his heel. These wolves were used as their mounts, they were strong, fast, and could run all day.

“I can guess just looking at you. You found new wolf pups?” Asked a huge man in heavy plate. He was their tank. But he soon frowned, “I don’t see any pups though?”

“I haven’t found pups yet, but I’m pretty sure I know where there are some,” grinned the beast tamer. “You see it’s quite interesting what happened here before we came.”

The healer rolled her eyes. She really didn’t like this guy, he was too full of himself. “Well? Are you gonna tell us or what?”

A bit displeased, the beast tamer started explaining, “After I investigated, I could put together what happened. First of all, I found traces of a Ghost-Storm Wolf.”

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Hearing this, the others were surprised. Ghost-Storm Wolves weren’t common at all, and a Ghost-Storm Wolf carcass could fetch good money, not only was their beast core valuable, but every single part of them was highly useful.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go hunt it down.” Jumped up a half-naked, beast of a man. His body was covered with tattoos, and he fought with two battle axes. He was impulsive, bloodthirsty, and so muscular, he had muscle even in his brain cavity. But he was useful, so the others tolerated him. Useful, as in, if anyone died, this guy would go first.

“Hold on, hold on. Do you know anything about Ghost-Storm Wolves to begin with? It’s not that simple to hunt them.” The tank tried to pull him back down to sit and started explaining, “They focus on soul attacks, if we hunt it, we need to prepare properly.”

“Bah. I’ll just chop it up before it can even scratch my soul!” exclaimed the muscle-brained man, lifting his axes high.

The healer facepalmed and said exasperatedly, “you wouldn’t even be able to hit it, they are highly resistant to physical attacks.”

The muscle-brained man’s enthusiasm instantly evaporated. “Oh… let’s go home then…” He lost all interest and sat down with slumped shoulders.

The beast tamer could finally continue, “Luckily for us, it seems weakened. I’m pretty sure it has pups, that’s why it got entangled with the Abomination. Otherwise it would’ve avoided it. Abominations don’t have souls after all, it was at a disadvantage. Since the Abomination was a magic type ranged one, it could hurt the Ghost-Storm Wolf. Without pups, even if it had a pack, it would’ve moved them. But since it has pups, it had no choice but to confront the Abomination and lure it to the Bear-Tree, where it could slip away while the Bear-Tree and the Abomination fought. We arrived just after the Bear-Tree died. But even if the wolf managed to escape, it seems to have paid a price. It went that way.” He pointed. “It can’t be further than a day or two.”

“Alright, we will hunt it then. Even if the Bear-Tree already weakened the Abomination by the time we came, it was a nasty fight, and we got nothing out of it this time.”

The muscle-brained beast of a man was still unconvinced, “Bah, forget it, if I can’t hit it, we can’t even kill it.”

The others looked at him with pity, the tank patted his shoulder as he stood up. “The rest of us have ways to fight it, and protect our souls. But don’t worry, you can still be the first to charge at it. Or are you scared?”

The beast of a man jumped up and roared as if deeply offended. “Scared?? I’ll show you who’s scared!” His fighting spirit reignited, the others nodded in satisfaction.

They set off right away, excited about hunting a Ghost-Storm Wolf. Their ranger slipped into the shadows on the back of the fastest and quietest wolf to scout ahead. She was the silent type.

*

More than a day after Grey Soul returned, he woke up and felt restless. He recovered some, but most of his strength hasn’t returned yet. He felt like a Lion-Snake was wrapped around him, and slowly suffocating him to death. He didn’t know how and why, but he knew death was coming. It wasn’t safe here anymore. It wasn’t safe for the pups to leave either, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to lure away the Abomination. If they left, the pups were likely to die. But if they stayed, all of them were sure to die. He didn’t even need to look at his life-mate. Rain, Breeze, Yellow Ears and Blue Tail were already running away with the pups in their mouth. He made the rest leave as well, to protect the pups. Grey Soul narrowed his eyes, steeled himself, and ran towards death to buy some time.

*

Ray was confused. He could feel his family’s worry, Father’s seriousness and determination. He didn’t dare to ask, he did his best not to move as he dangled from Mother’s mouth.

They weren’t running for long when they felt Grey Soul’s despair. Ray was now afraid and scared. Mother and the others stopped, and put the pups down on the ground. They looked at the pups, and sent them four different ways, telling to run as far and as fast as they could, and when they couldn’t anymore, hide as best as they could.

Ray did as he was told. He didn’t see Rain and his big-sisters and big-brothers turn back, he could only feel their resolve. He was alone now, but he ran faster than ever before. He felt the others further and further away. Then suddenly, he couldn’t feel Father anymore. Pain assaulted his soul and he stumbled. He instinctively knew what it meant, but he dared not to think. He shakily got up and kept running.

Not long after this, he lost his connection to Breeze as well. It hurt. He ran. Gale, lost. He still ran. Yellow Ears, couldn’t feel her anymore. He didn’t stop. Gust, Blue Tail, Dark Legs… one by one, he couldn’t feel them any longer. And at last, he couldn’t feel Mother either. Confusion and panic drove him forward. Mother told him to run, so he ran. He ran, because he was afraid to stop and think. He could still feel his litter-brother and litter-sisters in some distance. He was not alone yet.

He gave his all, but he was still just a small pup, and he could barely stand anymore, let alone run. On the verge of fainting, he saw a narrow hole under some tree roots. He stumbled towards it. It was small, he barely fit, but he squeezed into it. He curled up and kept shivering. He was scared, he was afraid. But Mother told him to hide when he couldn’t run anymore, so he hid. Mother…

He closed his eyes and started whimpering, but then he stopped. He grew still and quiet. He had to hide. He felt like a monster was lurking outside, waiting to eat him alive. He focused on his connection with his litter-brother and litter-sisters instead for comfort.