# 3 - THE PLIGHT OF WAR

YEAR FIFTEEN

• - Moonsight's adventures were ones of excitement, and he never thought of his home very much. He traveled around in the lowlands, even disappearing in the Origin Forest to see what he could find out there. There was plenty to tell about. Wolves inhabited the outer lands, even forming their packs in the hardest to live places. The young adventurer was happy to live with several of these packs, travel by his lonesome and even help out any who needed it. He lived the explorer's life, and was very happy with it. There were plenty of places just like in his realm with abandoned structures, but some with the smell of a foreign creature fresh in their crumbled, forsaken layout. At one gathering of huts, there was fire in small stone circles, but no cause for it in sight. This was a mystery Moonsight wanted to figure out, but the male could never find a lead on it. For three years, he continued this journey, excitement still fresh in every step he took. In a meadow deep in the forest, he met with Lori. Moonsight found himself smitten by her. She became his best friend after two years. Lori soon showed an ambition to lead a pack of her own. Moonsight supported the idea, and Lori placed him as her beta. He served two years under Lori, hiding his secret affection for her.  -
• - Moonsight one day found out she was in love with another male and chose him over Moonsight. He was crushed, be still served under Lori's rule. He watched them have a family of their own and had to watch their pup grown jealously. She herself was not so much in good moods either, because her mate had left the pack and their daughter behind. Moonsight gloated for awhile, but didn't push it with Lori. Then came the day when Lori did not return to the pack den. Moonsight left in search for her, but she was never around. He returned and took on the responsibility of raising Lori's daughter. However, the pack fell apart and only Moonsight and a she-wolf named Ade were left along with Lori's pup. He, Lori's daughter and the yearling she-wolf left the meadows, fleeing into the woods when another pack forced their way into their old territory. Moonsight and Ade claimed a small den in the forest. Moonsight raised Lori's daughter to a yearling before she too left him. He and Ade decided to stick together, having already become good friends. They stayed together for a year until Ade too showed an ambition for starting a pack. Moonsight thought about it, and decided having a swing at a pack again wasn't a bad idea. Ade surprised him when she said she was in love with him and wanted him to be the alpha male. He told her he'd think about, only to a few days after find himself also attracted to her. He accepted her offer and they became mates. Together, they grew the pack. It was never big, just a small band. Moonsight grew fiercely in love with her and the pair even thought of having a litter of their own. However, Moonsight was growing homesick. Ten years he had lived, and for seven he'd been away from his homelands. He told Ade that he would return after a visit, not knowing that as this time she was expecting a litter. It was a long four months before Moonsight came onto the end of the Origin Woods. Every wolf, coyote and fox was tense, their behavior odd for the lowlanders. The black furred male asked what was the matter. A wise, old coyote turned to him and asked who he was. He told them, and the coyote cried out with a sob of regret. She said that his brother had grown into more than a tyrant that their grandfather, Finn, had ever been. The dwindling Titans had been reduced to few numbers after Ructoro wanted to claim their land and then slaughtered the alpha female of Attor, offended when she wouldn't return his affections. Moonsight was appalled. How could his brother become this? There was more, so much more. The small copse of woods that greeted travelers coming into the center lands were burned to nothing more than cinders by a wildfire and one pack disappeared. The coyote claimed it was the dark spirits that did it, and when the pack tried to escape, Ructoro swooped in and slaughtered them all. Another pack tried to thrive there, fearful of the tyrant, but they disbanded and none had heard from any of the members since. They fear that pack had suffered the same fate. The new alphas of the Titans, Kronos and Vega, were docile and obedient to the Blood Ties. Pandora's son, the new alpha of Attor, couldn't lift one paw against his rule. The two packs were slaves to his rule, compliant to anything he demanded of them. The Delta Tribe lives in hiding. Moonsight said he would end his brother's bloody rule if it was the last action he took. The old coyote looked at him with clouded, sad eyes and wished him the best of luck.  -
• - For two years, Moonsight gathered forces of scorned rogues and loners that were victims of Ructoro's cruelty before he advanced into the Blood Ties territory. Ructoro taunted and mocked his brother with his insanity-laced comments. He said that his brother could never win against him, no matter how hard he tried. Moonsight retorted that he didn't care if he died, he wanted his brother's madness to end. Mind eaten up the insanity that bounced around wildly in it, Ructoro snarled out that he would love to wear Moonsight's pelt and blood once he was through with him. The battle sparked that day, just as snow flitted down from the sky. Two brothers waged a war bloodier than the realms had seen between Greece and Finn. Two years, this stretched out. Moonsight was aware of every ticking second, every day that he spent away from Ade, and his spirits grew low with every fallen corpse he stood over, blessing them with hope that their afterlife was better than their living one was. The brothers were twelve years old now, both old but still vicious. On the day that snow once again blanketed the lands of the highlands, Moonsight finally came face to face with Ructoro. The male was protecting a den, hiding the last of his members that survived the war as he advanced on Moonsight. They fought viciously until Ructoro's blood was corvered the snow-fallen ground and wounds riddled Moonsight's face, his eyes receiving the worst of it all. His sight was blurred from now on. When Moonsight went into the den, he found only a few members, four wolves in count and a small pup that was barely a year old. Umtali, the son of Ructoro, looked up at Moonsight with fear. The male spared their lives, telling them they were banished from the highlands. He kept Umtali with him, raised him until he was fit to lead the Blood Ties as their new alpha. This alpha, would be the first with a gentle nature, loving to any of his pack members. A complete opposite of his father. -

YEAR SEVENTEEN

• - Moonsight returned to his old pack, but found that they had completely disappeared. Distraught with grief and regret, the male turned his path around and began a trek back to his old realm. Moonsight found himself once again on his own an in his own again. He traveled out to some lands where he knew old friends from Lori's pack lived. Stitch was one of his friends for years and he visited her often. She was the leader of a small group of loners. Moonsight decided to stay with the small group for a few days, sharing his news with Stitch. Stitch in return told him of her news and introduced him to her daughter. A month after staying, Moonsight announced he was leaving. After becoming good friends with the loners, they begged him to stay. He told them he could not, for reasons of his own. As he traveled down the path taking him from the loner's hideout, he was stopped by Stitch's daughter. She asked him to reconsider. He told her no, and then she blurted out a sudden confession to him. It stopped him dead in his tracks again. With the past experiences in his life, he refused her and left her there on the trail. Moonsight traveled into lands farther off and found himself in the rocky areas of a forest.There, he ran into a two-year-old she-wolf named Ray. Ray asked him if he had seen her brother, but Moonsight told her he had not seen the wolf. Moonsight offered Ray help and she offered him shelter. Both accepted each other's offers. At the shelter, Moonsight was surprised by the sight of his younger sister, Demonwolf, battered and on the brink of her life while also caring for two pups. He asked Ray what had happened, and the she-wolf admitted that one day she was out foraging and found Demonwolf. In fear, she hid, thinking his sister had been a demonstration. But after an hour of watching the poor she-wolf, Ray went back to help out Demonwolf. It just so happened to be that moment when another she-wolf showed up. She claimed she was keeping Demonwolf alive and in return, was taking Demonwolf's pups. Ray defended Demonwolf and her litter, and chased off the wolf. She took in Demonwolf and the pups, but he doubted that Moonsight's sister would live much longer. Moonsight became enraged, but demanded that he stayed and helped out with the litter. Ray was happy to agree to this, and Moonsight took over hunting and pup-sitting while Ray went out in search for her brother. However, the months passed and old age became apparent in Moonsight's body. He could no longer run fast enough and he tired easily. Ray took over hunting, giving up the search for her brother. Moonsight also realized his sister was dying. She wasn't healing correctly. They kept watch over her until she passed and Ray said that perhaps it was best to take the pups to a better life. Moonsight agreed and the two set off to his old realms. They came to Blood Ties once again, and Umtali greeted them with warmth. He helped raise his two nieces and asked their names. Moonsight said that Demonwolf had named them Ructoro II, and Gebo II. He wasn't sure about the second name, but when Umtali grew remorseful when he spoke of it, his nephew claimed that it was the name of his deceased daughter. Moonsight was shocked, but didn't comment about it further. How had his sister known? It was all mysterious, the whole situation. -
• - The pack had troubles with Ructoro II when she reached her first year. Old at the age of fourteen, Moonsight couldn't keep up with her rebellious behavior. It all became a tense time when Ructoro II believed she couldn't escape her namesake and then one day attacked her sister when Gebo II tried to defend a wolf that her sister was picking on. She sunk her teeth into Gebo II's left eye, and left her blind on that side. Now, Ructoro II is a terrifying reminder of what they have fought hard to banish. As another year passes and Moonsight is reaching his age of death, it is unclear what will become of their hard earned life. -