A/N: Hello, this is The Eeveelution Kid with another story. I know what some of you might be thinking. What about Fire Dancer, and The Children of the Sun and Moon? Well, I've got the worst fucking case of writer's block in my life. I've found that sometimes, when I start writing something else, the way to finish those other chapters I have is clear. That does also mean that I begin a new story while writing another one or two. And then, I need to help myself with the new story...it's a never-ending chain, and also the reason most of my stories wind up in the garbage. Anyways, moving on.
This entire story is based off of the back story of one of my favorite role playing characters. So, I will not likely take suggestions for the direction the story might go, unless they're minor alterations. Mini adventures, things of the like. I can't guarantee anybody'll like this, but I hope that whoever does read this enjoys it thoroughly. The character himself's been over a year in the making.
That's all I have to say for now. So, to whom it may concern, I bring to you The Alpha Male.
My story begun like anybody else's, with the simple aspect of birth.
I hatched like from an egg like all pokemon (to my knowledge anyways) that my mother laid, and watched. I was told often that I was a gentle tyke, and didn't ever cause a fuss, but I was always a bit bigger than the others, and required a bit more attention. In the eyes of my father, I was already the perfect candidate as a successor for his place as the alpha when he would pass years later.
My mother had taken into consideration the dangers of the world, and had asked what if I was to die before he was, and there was nobody to take his spot? So, my father devised a simple plan, and as costly and primitive as it was, it would prove effective; the plan was simply to have more children! And so, they did. Because of my normally docile nature, and the duty they tasked me with as an infant; to keep my younger siblings in line when the time came, they named me Harmony. Don't let that name fool you at all, feminine as it is, I am a male. I will introduce you to my other siblings later.
When I hatched, the first thing I remember seeing was the gentle scrutiny of my mother's gaze. She, like my father, was a mightyena. Most people might find our kind to be intimidating, but to me, all I saw was a caring and kindly face, the one that promised love and happiness and support. I reached my little paws out, and had gotten a hold on her nose. I remember it vividly actually, how she had smiled with delight, and gave me the gift of breath through her nostrils. And out of the corner of my eye, I spotted my father. He was the image of mightyena that the rodents and all of the other prey of the forest feared. There was no caring nature in his eyes, not even for his own kin. His pelt did not appear soft, it appeared matted and dirty, as if he had never a day in his life groomed himself. His yellow eyes were not warm and soft, but cold and devoid of his soul, the only thing inside was a crude blackness that yearned to be free. When I first saw him, I bawled.
My mother had laughed, and joked that he had scared me, and I recall he didn't look amused in the least. The transition from without emotion to plain grumpy would have been humorous were it not for the fact that he was giving me one of the dirtiest stares I had gotten. Can you imagine that? Your first day on Earth; and you make an enemy, and to boot, that enemy is your own father. I kept crying into my mother's fur, and she hummed a sweet song to calm me. Before long, I was a docile little one.
The first year of my kind's life is mainly spend developing the brain and motor functions. Though most of us live longer than humans, we learn much quicker. I showed a particular aptitude for language, and I aced every physical lesson there was. The next year of my life was spent perfecting my skills, and putting them to use in the wild, outdoors. I'll admit, that was much easier than running around a cave, digging holes, and reciting the alphabet and vocabulary lists that I got. Shouting things while focusing on the path ahead of me proved to be incredibly difficult for me. I do pride myself in saying I did manage to get the swing of things quicker than other children my age. My mother often boasted about me. It was easy to make enemies, especially when you're better at something, and you feel the need to make sure that everybody knows it.
I was the star to some of my peers, and the walking incarnation of the devil himself to others. Some of them admired my seemingly natural aptitude for learning, whereas others were green like luscious grass with envy. Though most of my teaching was done by my mother and father, there were a few things that were taught to all of the young ones as a collective, such as how to think philosophically (which was the most boring subject there was) or determining which plants were poisonous and harmful, and which could aid us in times of dire need. As the child of the alpha male, only the best of the best was expected of me, and anything less was a great disappointment. While with the others, I often smiled and was cocky and prideful, trying to make it seem like I had passed that day's lesson with the utmost of ease. When I got home, I would be mentally exhausted, and unhappy.
It was during one of these classes that I got in a fight for the first time. Lucy, the daughter of a beta was bragging about the one time she did better than me in a class. It hadn't bothered me; it wasn't her who I had fought. It was one of the peers who looked up to me. Her boasting had been humorous to the others; even to me, but to that boy Jacob, it was blasphemy in its most treacherous form. When his blood had long since boiled, and steamed away through his ears, he lost his temper. He launched himself at Lucy, screaming at her to be quiet. I intervened, and tackled him from the side before he could reach the girl. We clawed and bit and scratched, and I came out victorious without a nick on me, where as I left him with a shallow bite and a deep gouge on his back. Mother and father were pleased with me that night.
Though I had been virtually unharmed in the scrap with Jacob, it was not long after when I was three or four that I had received my first scar. It scared me then, but I would later learn to wear them proudly. I was out with my father, and it was one of my first times hunting. We were chasing small game, like rattata for me.
"Get to its left! I'm going to its right!" my father shouted to me. Over the roar of the wind in my ears, and the fact that I could hardly focus on language and action on the same time, it took me a few seconds to put together what he had said, and followed his instruction. The rattata ran about ten yards ahead of us, I could hear it squeaking and wheezing with each labored adrenaline fueled breath it took. I didn't see why my father had wanted me to get to its left. I was focused on thinking about why that I didn't see why. I found myself on an incline, running up a log. I had barely gotten to the very end of it when my father screamed "Pounce!", and I did. I tackled the thing, and we rolled through the dirt, each of us grunting in discomfort and minor pain.
I knew what came next after watching father do it. I made sure that I wound up on top, and attempted to bite its neck. I missed, and the thing rolled around beneath me, then belly up. It hissed and squeaked and spat words that a tyke shouldn't hear at me, and in the midst of my confusion as to what 'fuck' meant, it landed a deep scratch on my chest. It stung, and it did not make me happy at all. I lunged down, and seized its neck between my jaws again. I felt a strange tug in my gut. This time, I let the subsequent anger fill me, and I bit down. There was a crack, such a sickening sound, with an even more sickening feeling between my jaws to follow, and it went limp.
I expected to be berated for showing weakness, and getting harmed in the process, but to my surprise, my father could not have been prouder. He instructed me to roll onto my back so that he could get a better look at the wound, and that was one of the few times I saw him smile. With vigor, he rushed me back home, to show my mother what had happened, but I had found that I would not be the center of attention that night. You see, during my upbringing, the dilemma of the possibility of my death had been brought up, and my mother had been impregnated. She laid six eggs in total(looking back on it now, what was a lot, even for our species.), each one identical in shape, size, texture, and pattern, but inside- I could always somehow- I don't know, feel the unborn pups inside. I could feel their personalities, I already knew their names. That night, the first egg hatched, and I had my first sibling.
This poochyena was a girl, and I told mother and father that her name was Truth. They had inquired how I knew this one's gender when this entire time, when she was curled up in a ball, drinking milk from one of mother's teats, and mother had asked how I knew what she had named the new pup. I found myself at a loss for an explanation, and I had simply said 'I knew so.' Mother had joked, asking if I had a little bit of psychic type in me. My playful boasting in reply earned me a swat on the back of the head.
Like me, Truth grew quickly, but her skills weren't as balanced as mine. While I wasn't totally perfect at anything, Truth made me look bad where she considered it to count; in intelligence. She could outwit me almost all of the time, she even successfully tested her cunning nature against an adult once or twice. However, she strained greatly with physical movement. That was the first time I had gotten along with her, really. I overheard her lesson taking place whilst I rested, and father erupted, screaming at the top of his lungs, asking why she couldn't get the simple motion of running right. He stormed off, saying that she would learn on her own, or die. It made my heard beat terribly in my chest, and he wasn't even talking to me!
I meandered over to the sad looking poochyena, and I nudged her with my nose. She looked up at me with tear filled eyes, and then looked down at her feeble legs. I kneeled slightly, and looked at them. I didn't see anything wrong with them, except for the fact that they were a bit thin. I decided not to point that out to Truth, and nudged her again. "Stand up," I said softly. I hadn't heard my voice in a while. My days consisted of learning hunting with father. He did all of the talking. It was a bit deeper than when I had last heard it, but it was still pretty high. Truth sighed in reply, and lied her head in the dirt between her paws.
"I don't want to." She said quietly. Her voice was significantly higher than mine, but I still didn't point that out. "If I do, then I'll have to run…and I can't do that, and it's embarrassing!"
"But if you don't, father won't try to teach you anymore!" I cried, pressing my cheek into her side, and pushing my meager weight against her. But seeing as how I had a few years on her, it was somewhat effective. "He's serious, Truth! If you don't, he's going to let you die!" I exclaimed.
Truth gave an overdramatic sigh in response, and she pushed herself up slowly, shakily. Without a moment to lose, I urged her to take another step. She did, and she wobbled like a newborn. I supported her weight when she wobbled, and I walked her in a broad circle until she had found her center of balance, and stood and walked all on her own. When she seemed to be walking around with no issue, I instructed her to keep walking in a circle, and I stood back, watching with a swell of pride and a broad grin on my face.
I had made a serious mistake.
"What are you doing Harmony!" a loud shout rang from behind me, making me jump up from my lax position, entire body tensing, and my eyes shooting wide open. Truth fell over with a surprised scream. I whirled where I stood, and stumbled back, my heart beating almost painfully in my chest. I stared with horror into the unfathomably furious eyes of my father, who was almost frothing at the mouth, panting, glaring, simply seething with rage. "This is not what you were taught! Henceforward, you are not to help your siblings!" he screamed. My fear was replaced with confusion. I wasn't to help my siblings? Why not? An alpha's duty was to the pack. And anyone was obligated to their family. My siblings fell under both. Why was I not to help? "You will leave them to succeed," he said in a fiercely low voice, staring at me. He then looked to Truth in disgust. "Or fail on their own. Am I understood?" he asked, swiftly looking right back at me. I nodded, unable to do anything except for comply. He turned on his heels, and I saw that he was shaking, still in his state of fury. He had contained himself. That deviation from his reserved and cold nature was sample of how bad he could get. I shuddered at the thought of him losing his temper. I turned around, looking at Truth. Her eyes were large, and wet, and I immediately forgot the powerful reprimand I had just received, and tiptoed over to her.
"Don't believe that I'll just sit tight, and let you suffer," I whispered, for the fear that my father's keen ears would hear my assurance.
"Thank you, Harmony…" were Truth's words in reply. And on that day, I had gained an ally, a friend, a sister. I knew that she had not liked me at the very beginning, but this encounter drew us closer, and I could read her a little better afterward.
This cycle of teaching, failing to be taught, and me taking father's place kept going, though I was sure to teach my sister underneath his nose, because I didn't want to be yelled at again. For some children, yelling and screaming fails to rehabilitate their behavior, but with father, there was always an underlying message that he sent without words that if I were to mess up in that way again, he would not restrain himself to verbal abuse only.
Truth learned abnormally quickly. She had surpassed me in my language lessons when she was only eleven months old. I was five, and she was smarter than me! Five! It was when Truth had reached the six month mark that I had a tugging feeling in my gut. I couldn't place my finger on what was causing it. I wondered if it had been present before. My mind snapped back to all those months ago when I had gotten the scratch on my chest; which now had healed nicely, and made the subject of much attention from my peers in the following days. It was during the middle of an adrenaline filled attack, I figured at the time it happened when I was fighting, or was bursting at the seams with endorphins. But it didn't happen during the fight with Jacob, which had felt practically the same, except I wasn't trying to kill him. I wondered for a second if it had anything to do with the eggs. It had to; at the time that was the only logical explanation. That day I felt the tug was the day my little sister had been born.
I rushed over to her side with no hesitation or hindrance, seeing as how we had that day to relax. I roused her from her sleep, excited, bounding around her tiny form with excitement. "What do you want, Harmony?" she grumbled, ending in a squeaky yawn. "If I have the whole day to rest, I'm going to rest for the whole day."
"I think that another one of mama's eggs are going to hatch today." I said, making sure to put my muzzle right to her ear. Her ears flicked, and she rolled over onto her side, her eyes widened in surprise at how loud my voice was to her. Truth at this point probably assumed that I was not going to give up until she listened to my ridiculous reasoning, and she was completely right.
"One of her eggs? How are you sure of that?" she asked in a matter of fact know-it-all tone. She was a snobby pain in my behind alright, but she was still my sister. Time to time, I tried to spar with her. Father often mistook it for playing like regular pups, and he scolded us, saying we could not play, we had to train in our own ways, or rest during free time.
"Because, I knew when you were going to hatch." I retorted, reaching one of my (in comparison) heavy paws out, and smacking her right on the snout. Truth whined at me, and crossed her eyes, looking at her nose with concern, and a hint of irritation. She looked up at me, and I stepped back, in the direction of the chamber in our family's den where mother hid the eggs, and Truth knew what I had in mind. I led her there as if she didn't know the way, and we found ourselves before five of them. Just like before, they were identical in every way, but inside, I could feel them, and I knew their names. I walked around the mountain of dead grass mother kept the eggs in, looking for the right one. I had walked in a complete circle before I had found the one that I was looking for. Inside this one, it had felt different that when I had approached Truth's egg.
When I had approached Truth's egg, I felt that her presence was next, because it wasn't something that I felt when I went near any of the others. She radiated an aura of docility and calmness, and it cleared my mind when I went near it. It made me think of the color blue. This one however, was practically the opposite. My mind felt jumbled, there were many voices, and I had to step away before my mind was cast into total disarray. Like last time, I couldn't tell the gender immediately. And the name popped into mind, just as Truth's had. "Delirium."
"What?" Truth asked. I realized I had spoken this one's name aloud. "What does that have to do with this?" I looked over my shoulder at the smaller pooch, and I waved her over to me. She reluctantly sauntered in my direction, and I nudged her closer to the egg. She wore the same blank expression as she neared it, and continued to do so, even as her side was almost touching its brittle membrane. She didn't feel what I had felt. Maybe it was because I was the eldest? More experienced? What was it?
"This one's name is Delirium. I just know it. Just like I knew your name was going to be Truth." I replied, my smile returning, and I began to bounce on my toes again. My sister rolled her eyes at me, and stepped away from the egg before she could have the chance to fall in it and mess up my unborn sibling any further than he was going to be. I knew that there was going to be something different about them mentally.
"Okay then," Truth said in a doubtful tone. "And I assume that before you were born, you just so happened to know that your name was going to be Harmony?" she added sarcastically. I frowned at her snide attitude, and raised my paw to show that I would swat her on the muzzle again. Unfazed, she lunged forward, and engulfed the front of my snout in her own small muzzle. I whined slightly, and pulled back, leaving her grinning like the victor.
"So is that how you want to play?" I asked, crouching, and waving my rear end around like I was about to pounce on her.
"We should not play here…" Truth hissed quietly. "The eggs, remember?"
"Or at all, I guess," I pointed out, standing up straight. "Not unless we want father to launch into another lecture about how the alpha's children simply must appear professional." I said, proceeding to emulate my father's tone and the few accents in his voice. Truth smiled at me, and she stepped back into the exit of the chamber. I scampered out, and stopped right next to her, briefly to compare our sizes. Physically, one didn't grow until their evolution. Truth was still several inches smaller than me. I would always be larger than her. The thought of that made me grin.
The remainder of the day was spent in anticipation of hearing one of mother's delighted shrill squeals, from the distance of my class. There were nine in my class, including myself. The others were Jacob and Lucy as mentioned before, as well as Vanessa, Dusk, Christian, Rosa, Cynthia- who happened to be the only houndour for miles around, and not one of my kind, and a timid boy named Alden. None of them really played a role of importance until I was a young adult when I look back on it, but at the time of this event, it seemed like it was the world to me. We were reciting our vocabulary as normal, this time with a new list of hellishly difficult words, like 'facetious', and 'hypocritical'. I didn't know what they meant, nor did I care to- I had just wanted to pass. I noticed that the instructor cast dirty glances at the elder when she said some of the words for us to repeat aloud. I made a mental note of that. I might have some dirt on her. The darkness of that thought confused me. Why would I need to blackmail my teacher? Better safe than sorry, another bit of me said. Why would I be sorry to begin with? She couldn't do anything. The instructor was an instructor because they lacked the physical capabilities to be among the others while hunting. Without a doubt she was stronger than me, but I was still only a pup. I had the excuse.
I digress. Christian had noticed my antsy nature that day. Was it the way that my eyes kept gliding in the direction of my home? Was it the inability to keep still? Was it the way I gnawed on the back of my paw when I got anxious? Was it the fact that I got a question wrong that day? It could have been any, all, or none of these, but he noticed that I was not normal that day to say in the least. He wasn't particularly friendly with me; but he wasn't friendly with anyone. There was no malice by any means, but one seeking kindness and comfort might have other choices first.
"Hey, Harmony. What's making you so antsy?" he asked bluntly, sauntering over to my side. I looked over my shoulder, and didn't reply, because I didn't feel the need to. It was a family matter, and he would have known soon enough. He got closer to me after several seconds, as if that was how long it took my disregard for his less than kind nature to set it. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" he said loudly in my ear. My ear leaned away, and my eyes narrowed with pain, and I turned my whole head to look at him. I stood up, and bared my teeth in a growl. I was larger than him. I was larger than almost all the pups.
"Be silent, imp." I said, just loud enough for me and him to hear. None of my other classmates needed to see this, or hear this. His loud words had attracted the stares of a couple, but I assume that they wanted to deny being witnesses, and turned their heads away in fear of consequence for failing to intervene. I was not afraid. As the best student, I always got off with a smack on the wrist, metaphorically. I had to run five miles into the unexplored and unclaimed territory, and then run back; which was significantly better in my book than the traditional nine. And as my father told me; what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
"How dare you?" he hissed. "Ignore me, and then berate me? What a poor upbringing you've been given. Your idiot of a father must already have another child to replace you when you fail in your place as the alpha male." He sneered. Those words hit me close to home. Truth was too young for the public as deemed by our codes, so she was not permitted to leave the den, and her existence was only known of by the elders. For the split second, I thought; what if that's the reason for my sister's existence? To replace me when I fail? And the reason for Delirium's? For if Truth fails? A crippling feeling of insecurity rushed through me, and I faltered. I felt weak, and sad. And then I remembered who I was. And I was not a rug to walk on. That sadness and weakness became fury in its purest form, and I calmly stood up, and stepped closer to him, until our muzzles were almost touching. I've been told that my looks are okay, but something must have made me terrifying ugly, because something made each and every student turn around, and they call cringed and went o-mouthed at my expression.
"How dare you?" I repeated. It was barely above my breath, but the area of instruction had gotten so quiet, one could hear a single leaf fall. It was all I said. It was all I needed to say. I glared down at him, mustering the nastiest look I could make in addition to the one I was already making. His ears drooped, and he bowed down on his front legs, scooting backwards with a whimper like a bad dog. Oh, I was the alpha's child alright. "If you ever insult me…or my family...ever again…" I said in a whisper, making sure that I could leak every ounce of venom I could into him, making sure that my words were like knives in his plump and plush body. And I didn't finish the threat. I would leave his mind to wander what exactly I would do to him.
Not for the first time in my life, I felt accomplished. However, I did feel disgusting about it. This was not like me. I wanted to be friendly; I didn't want to be a crude old mange like my father. But, the anger remained. While I didn't feel totally proud, there would be no apology, and the threat would still stand. I would to this day, if I still lived there.
Class moved on with no event. There were almost no words to me. I guess that I had not just frightened Christian with my newfound dark nature, but the entirety of my class. There where hushed words among them of the incident, of varying views and reactions. I recall one of the conversations vividly.
"Did you see what Harmony did, Rosa?"
"Oh my goodness, yes! It's about time someone stood up to that idiot Christian!"
"You know, it just means that he's going to be meaner to us, because he can't be to Harmony, right?"
"Well, sure, but not unless you get close to him."
"Who'd want to get close to Christian? He's a jerk."
"Not him, Dusk. To Harmony!"
"And how would you do that? He's a professionally introspective, and effectively antisocial."
"I don't know…make myself look a bit weaker, I think, so that Christian bugs me. And then, Harmony will step in, and save me!"
"I really doubt that. He's more likely to laugh at your weakness. He's from the alpha's family- so he must value strength."
"And so you think that being better than the rest of us will earn his eye?"
"I know so."
Now that was an interesting interaction. It also led to revolting amounts of flirting in later years. I didn't really like either of them. I had always thought they could take advice from Cynthia, and Lucy. For Dusk, Cynthia. I always thought Dusk could learn something from her because Dusk was too cocky and sure of herself, whereas Cynthia constantly humbled herself. For Rosa, Lucy, because Rosa was meager and a quim. Lucy was not really afraid of anything.
It was toward the end of the day, when we were about to be excused from our class that I finally heard the squeal. It came from the direction of my home. I knew exactly what had happened. I bounded on my toes, eager to be home. I got strange looks from my peers, but I didn't care. Sure, I was professional in my typical appearance, but I was allowed to be happy too! Looking on it, that probably wasn't the reason. At the exact time of the squeal, I had been sneaking up on Christian to deal him a blow to the head after I saw him bite someone's tail, and blame it on another, all the while a peer or so behind me watched. Noticing my eagerness, the instructor gladly dismissed me first.
I darted away from the instruction area; my feet had barely touched the ground by the time I was at the entrance to the den. I gracelessly slipped in dead leaves and dirt, and rolled inside, smacking into a wall. I was too excited to feel the pain of the impact. Getting right back up as if it hadn't happened, I kept running. I was greeted with the sight I had expected. Mother was holding yet another pooch in her arms, which suckled for her milk silently, curled into a ball over her belly. "It's Delirium," I said out of breath. Mother damn near had a heart attack. How she hadn't heard me run in eludes me to this day, but she didn't.
"Harmony! How- when…!" she grasped for the words. She shook her head with a sigh, and shook the pup around gently, so as to emphasize his presence but not wake him. "Yes, this is Delirium…I don't know how you guessed the name again, but…meet your new brother." She replied. I jumped. Yes! A brother! What a contrast he might be from the company of Truth. I couldn't say that I didn't enjoy having my sister around at all- she was fun to talk with, and shared my view on some things, whereas she opposed my view on many others. It made for discussions, debates, and arguments.
It was another month or so before anything of any interest happened further. Do you recall when I had said that Truth was not yet old enough to be introduced to the public? Well, the day finally came when she turned one year old, and we were preparing to introduce her to the rest of the clan. Delirium weaved under our feet, being inconvenient and annoying. But, one look into his big eyes, with the most (I shudder to say the word) cute look I will ever lay eyes on, all was forgiven.
Most of the day was spent grooming Truth, and telling her what to say in the event that she was asked a question. They had given me the duty of informing the eldest of the clan that my sister was of age, and we were going to present her today. When they sent me out to do it, I had hoped that I wouldn't have to go very far outside of my home, and that by some miracle, the old man would be there. I wondered why we had to get permission from the elders when we were the alpha's family, always the second in command. I told father that if we wanted to assemble the crowd, he should just do it. He gave me a single dirty look, and all that hope of taking charge was squashed without mercy beneath his pads.
I trotted out of the den, and looked about for him. When I didn't see the old man, I reasoned that he must have been in the elder's den.
The entirety of the clan's home was a hub of dens, each one leading to rooms for certain people and purposes. There was a den for the infants and their mothers, who left after one month, a den for the elders when they reached sixty years of age, the alpha's den, where I resided, and dens for varying classes of clan members- typically depending on species. We consisted of mainly the canines one might fear while exploring the wilderness. There were arcanine, houndoom, mightyena, absol, luxray, ninetales, and the occasional samurott. I often joked that we were founded as a clan with the express purpose of being the most generic band of species in existence. The others never did find it nearly as humorous as I did, but I never really did care what they thought. It didn't matter to me if they were amused or not.
We were all organized by class. Sometimes, there were challenges to rearrange the classes, but the mightyena almost always wound up on top. The most recent had happened the year of my birth, and we were still the alphas. Directly beneath us, were the water type family, and then the vulpines, followed by the houndooms, absol, arcanine, and at the dead bottom, were the omegas, the luxrays. Their kind was typically jeered for being felines, and it often earned jolts of sympathy from me. But, it didn't last for long. They were pretty despicable at times.
We were taught by class, we lived by class, we behaved by class, everything was dependent on class. Once again, I digress.
I poked my head inside of the elder's den, and I gently called the name of the oldest male, as was customary. When there was no reply, I repeated myself. "Judas. Juuuudas." I called.
The old man snuck up on me as if he had expertise in just that. I reminded myself of this old dog's age, and reasoned that he probably did. I nearly screamed in honesty, which probably would have shamed every mightyena in our clan, including the elder standing in front of me.
"Yes, Harmony?" he asked. I didn't expect his voice to sound the way it did. He made everyone's business his business, and often send the other elders to do his work. I had never personally heard him, and now that I did, I was surprised. His voice was not frail and warbling, but it was deep, gruff, and solid. I was surprised to say in the least.
"Er...Hello, Elder Judas. I've come to tell you that, um...my sister is of age to be introduced to the rest of the clan. My father wishes to do the induction ceremony today." I said nervously, suddenly finding myself meek in his presence. This dark type simply oozed the aura of authority, I didn't feel like the superior creature I was around my peers, I felt like I was a mere infant again. The old dog nodded, and stepped outside. With a booming voice, he instructed all of the people to gather around my den. My ears twitched, and folded in pain from the sudden loud sound. He then leaned to me, and in a quiet voice, instructed me to be on my way home, quicker than the others could. And so I ran home, gracefully tumbling into the wall of the den as usual, and then dashing inside.
"Mother, father!" I called. "The Elder Judas called the people! The induction is going to take place immediately!" I stumbled into the chamber in which Truth was, and I found that she had been groomed to a regal perfection. Her teeth had been cleaned, her claws looked sharper, her fur looked shiny and sleek, even her gaze had a different appearance about it. She scowled upon seeing me, and I could only grin to spite her. She ushered me out with a few rude words, and I found myself standing near the entrance. My mother and father were standing outside, and my mother turned her head, expecting to see Truth. She grumbled, and barked at me to get outside. I did, and I was awestruck with the sight.
Where there was typically calamity and chaos, I saw an assembly. The people in the clan were lined up by species, and they were all deathly silent. Not a word, not a whisper, not even a sideways glance to exchange a silent message. Father pulled me over to him, and silently instructed me to sit. So I did, and I waited. It only took me a couple of seconds to realize that I was waiting on Truth to make her appearance. Was that why she appeared to be so particularly abrasive at this moment?
When Truth stepped out of the den, I heard a collective gasp. I thought of the less than polite treatment I had received upon greeting her only a few minutes ago, and my adolescent mind ran rampant with vividly imagined scenarios of how I might have messed the whole thing up. Was it like a wedding, and was it bad luck? Was there something on her? Did mother and father forget to groom a certain part of her? Was she bleeding? Was she hurt? I couldn't find the answer to any of these questions. Mother and father stood on either side of the den's entrance, and I stood directly next to father, obediently staring straight ahead. What was wrong? I heard a voice from the crowd.
"Another son." someone said.
I giggled.
And then the ceremony fell to pieces.
(A/N: Okay, so, what do you think? I know, I went off topic a lot this first chapter. Maybe not the best of things to do, but I needed to get around to introducing things and such. I'll try and make the story more personal, more interaction rather than having our narrator summarize little events. But, I hope you like. I'm definitely gonna throw more planning into this one, instead of trying to wing it, or make it up as I go along. Been there, done that, not anymore. That's why I reset my account. Anyways.
I'd like to give yet another special thanks to my unoffcial beta reader, Mr.001. If you see an error...that's because he's unoffical. :P
Read, review, and above all, enjoy!
-TEK