Disclaimer: I do not own these Sailor Moon characters!
By the Face of the Moon
Prologue
Their kind was said to be as old as the stars in the heavens, although no one knew for sure. They were territorial in nature, providing for and protecting who and what was theirs. They were kin, they were family, they were pack.Instinct was true to them as the wind that was never seen but could be felt or heard.
They were wolf.
It was said that they were a gift to the moon goddess Selene by her brother, Helios, the sun god. She took delight in these furry creatures and their vast array of colors as they played and frolicked among the stars, the limitless heavens their playground. Soon though she longed to be able to understand these creatures for, although they were hers, they appeared to speak in a language of barks and whines and growls and howls, one that she did not understand. When she asked her brother, Helios had claimed that they were merely immortal beasts with baser urges, animals without an understanding of the spoken word, created purely for her enjoyment and nothing more.
As time wore on, however, her desire to communicate with those she watched over for so long increased. Thus, she 'awoke' their minds and telepathy was born. In addition, she gave them a human form much like the gods and goddesses that they may be able to speak and understand the tongue of the divine.
One night, on her way to the shores of Earth, she brought them with her by a ray of moonbeam to enjoy one of her favorite pastimes – swimming. When they were to return to the heavens, the wolves pleaded with Selene to let them stay, excited by the new sights and sounds around them, and the never before seen living things.
Gaia, mother of the Earth, agreed to let them remain on her lands on one condition, they had to give up their immortality lest they should overrun the mortal beasts to extinction and destroy the never-ending circle of life she sought to nurture. But they soon learned that even that requirement came at a price for then they could never return to the heavens until their mortal flesh tasted death. Shocked by such a prospect, Selene sought to form another deal, but she had not realized that in giving enlightenment to their kind, she gave them Free Will. They agreed, the pact had been made, and sealed with blood.
To the being that had given them intelligence, they promised that Wolfkind would not forget all that she had done for them. Touched by their display of loyalty, Selene gave them a parting gift – magic – that all others may know that they were the blessed of a deity. And with that, she rode back to the sky on a path of moonlight, her silver chariot bright against the darkness of the night.
Soon they realized the disadvantages of their mortal bodies – they hungered…they thirsted…they tired…they bled…and they became prey. They learned to stay together in numbers for safety as well as companionship in this world that was not their own, how to effectively fend off their enemies, and how to hunt to survive. Pack hierarchies and the Old Laws were established to create order and solve conflict. To ensure their survival in this new world, they took mates, but as their numbers multiplied each year and food became scarce, division grew. There were those that wanted to do that which was right in their own eyes and the pack split into smaller groups. Those that wanted the right to lead the pack had to display their strength in what became the Battle for Dominance.
Then came the Blood Wars. Pack fought against pack, old Brothers and Sisters played the game of predator vs prey-neither knowing what the other was, all in the bid to establish and gain more territory boundaries. Many a pack lost kin during this time, and, putting aside their differences and desires, their respective Alphas called a truce, and returned each to their territory to lick their wounds. But their battles were far from over for their enemies were watching and waiting.
As their ancestors did before them, they cried out to the moon goddess in repentance of the selfish decision their ancestors had made in their ignorance, but the heavens were silent. The only respite they had was but for the full moon that hung each evening in the night sky. They called it the Eye of Selene for they were confident that only under the watchful gaze of the moon goddess have they been able to survive all these years.
Since the day they gained mortality, neither hide nor fur has heard or seen from her again, but when the power of the Moonshine raced across their blood, they remembered the Stories of Old and believed.
