He left large footprints in the snow as he walked, his massive muzzle so close to the ground it nearly buried itself beneath the snow. Snow flurries continuously fell and covered the end of his pitch black nose, but his hot breath which blew past his nose with each exhale managed to keep it melted after so long. His breathing was slow but deep, making his breath appear as hot steam blowing from his nostrils every couple of steps. A scar, an old one, trailed across the top of his long snout and made its way down to his cheek and ended below his slightly squinted eye. His maw was not parted, but his jowls were slightly curled upwards, revealing only the tips of his longest canines. His ears lay back, though not flat against his head, as he pushed through the wind and snow. His long, large body pulled itself slowly along the ground, though as the wind rushed over his thick fur his large muscles appeared to be pulsing and pounding with every move he made, giving off an immense air of power. His long tail swayed behind him as he left a trail of the smallest puddles with every footstep. His body was warm..seemingly hot as each of his black pads caused steam to rise from the ground upon contact, melting the snow beneath him. To any other creature, he appeared as just an old, blind, battle-worn wolf, but old and blind was an understatement…
His glossy white eyes flashed as something darted across the snow in front of him. His colossal head rose up instantly, a large breath escaping his nose as he huffed and then inhaled deeply to catch the scent of anything within a near mile radius.
Pine mixed with a hint of oak…cold, fresh water…rabbit…a doe and two fawns…the scent of his territory which stretched far across the snow-covered plains, through the thick forests and on and on for miles… All his. Creatures and humans alike bowed and humbled in his presence and on into his wake. As he inhaled, his sharp senses caught a hint of something foreign, something that didn't belong…something that wasn't his.
His ears pinned and his eyes narrowed, fur beginning to stand on end as the steam around his paws grew thicker, his body heating up the more alert it became. He prowled close to the snow, nearly blending in with the soft blanket as he made his way closer towards the smell. His ears flew forward when he saw something dart across in front of him once more, causing him to halt instantly. What could it have been that could move so fast? It was dark, and somewhat small..like a coyote, but he knew what a coyote smelled like… This was no coyote, no. This was something stronger, if only by a little, and faster too. The fur pattern seemed a little odd as well, but it moved so quickly he couldn't focus and get a good look. He waited silently, breathing quietly but deeply, for it to show itself again. He waited for a long while, but he never saw it run past again. However, the thick scent was still present. It had stopped and wasn't moving. This was perfect; if one stayed still long enough in these cold temperatures they would soon sleep and slip into a coma. The easier the kill the better…
He prowled forward again, slowly coming up to a small group of trees, the ground below not completely covered in snow so he could see a bit of brown dirt and a few blades of grass. His large glazed eyes roved over the earth, soon coming across fur.
Strange fur. Black, white, and brown fur. Soon his eyes were filled with the reflection of a very foreign canine whose pelt seemed to have been splattered onto its body with paint buckets. A creature he had never seen before, this was true, and it was lying, curled up in a tight ball at the foot of a pine tree. Its fur was half covered in snow, and the white wolf could easily recognize it's staggering breaths. He growled beneath his breath, half expecting this to wake the creature up as he leaned his muzzle closer to take another whiff of its scent. He snorted out and shook his head as he pulled it back.
Female. The first thing that crossed his mind at this point was "in season?" and the second was "potential threat?" He laughed inwardly at the latter. Of course the thing wasn't a potential threat.
When he had snorted, this alerted the creature, causing her eyes to shoot open and her ears to perk forward. She looked at him and instantly struggled to stand, bumping into the tree while doing so but hardly noticed. She planted her feet and lowered her head, releasing a growl that was surprisingly deep. Her black and brown muzzle hovered close to the ground, jowls curled back to reveal her sharp pearls and her ears laid flat across the back of her head.
She appeared to be about the size of a wolf, if not a hair smaller, but her fur pattern clearly indicated her alien-ness to the land. She couldn't blend in if she tried, and there were no species of wolf that looked like this… So what exactly was she? The large white wolf didn't really feel in the mood for questions and simply craned his neck, arched his shoulders and puffed himself up to look even bigger than he already was, which was completely unnecessary in this case considering she was far smaller than he to begin with. He opened his jaws ever so slightly and released a bone-chilling growl from the pits of his throat, causing a few birds to fly off from the trees around them.
Surprisingly, as much as the growl had made the strange dog's legs shake, she did not move, nor did she stop growling. Was she stupid? Well, that much was obvious by this point.. He growled and then barked loudly, causing her body to spasm. "Who are you? Why have you come here?"
She only seemed to growl more, not answering him and only staring deeply into his eyes. Was this a challenge? The large white wolf glared and barked again, this time much louder and with ten times the force. "I am Kross, owner of this territory, you will answer me this instant or I will see to it your blood paints this entire valley!"
She only winced, eyes squinting a little more at his words. He could see her nose was warm and dry, her legs were shaking not only from him but also from the cold. Her thin body seemed as though it could barely stand, much less fight him. Was she a normal animal…? Surely not, a normal canine would have backed down long ago. No, she was something more, much more to stand up to him like this. Perhaps she was something more, but obviously stupid…
Kross growled deeply once more and shook his head. "Enough of this! I don't even want something such as you, so disrespectful and weak, living on my territory. I will dispose of you myself!" He opened his jaws and lunged forward, snapping viciously at the precious flesh before him. As he lunged, the dark colored creature before him had dashed out from under his incoming jaws as quickly, if not quicker, than he had come. He pushed his feet in front of him and landed, causing snow to fly all around him, his nose nearly in the dirt as his eyes filled with rage and annoyance, growling fiercely as he snapped his head back around to see her running off. He barked and spun himself around. "Running away, you coward?!" With one forceful push he sent his body soaring, and then planted his hot paws through the snow straight to the ground as he charged after her. The snow seemed to melt in his wake as he ran, leaving even larger puddles behind him.
The female was not blessed with such heated paws and therefore was running as best she could through the nearly 2-feet blanket of snow. This was where her gift of speed was failing her, and she could feel him closing in on her, closer and closer…
He sprung forward, inches away from digging his long claws into her spine. Before he knew it his face met snow and the colored blur was gone, having darted to the side. This only angered him more. Not only was she not answering him, but she was running and toying with him also. There were no longer any sympathetic feelings to her situation; as soon as he caught her, he was going to kill her.
"You little witch..!"
She heard him howl as she had rounded a tree and began dashing through the woods. The snow-cover was not as thick, and her speed picked up tremendously. But as hers did, so did his, and she could hear him pounding his way closer and closer behind her. She peered forward, things soon becoming a blur as her mind began to spin thoughts to and fro. She was only a hound, a feeble thing brought over from another country to be someone's exotic pet… No, if she had a drop of dignity left she wouldn't allow herself to be belittled like that. African Wild Dogs were hunted for their pelts all over Africa. She wasn't some mutt from the city, no..she was the African Wolf, the Painted Dog. She had been dodging the jaws of lions and cheetahs all of her life, was she going to submit to some over-sized white wolf? Of course not.. The only problem, she was completely and utterly lost…
As her vision blurred more and more from malnutrition and weakness, her feet began to slow and start tripping over themselves, and a bright light blinded her golden orbs, causing her to close them and soon collapse face first into the snow of another clear field due to both dizziness and being snow-blind. She wasn't used to so much white…
As soon as her body hit the ground he was upon her, snarling and growling like a wild beast. He opened his jaws wide, paws on either side of her head as he leaned down to strike.
"No!" he heard her cry, and his face met snow once more as she had rolled and scampered out from beneath him. He slowly picked his head up, snow dripping off of his nose. His paws pulsed with heat and formed deep holes in the snow.
"So it does speak…" he mumbled, glaring sharply at her as she shakily rose to her feet a small distance away, panting for breath. "You challenged me, and the challenge has been accepted."
The female shook her head slowly. "No… No I didn't challenge you. I'll leave, I swear."
He barred his teeth and barked loudly. "It's too late for that now! You disrespected me, and now you will be punished." He sprung forward, eyes ablaze, jaws and claws extended as he lunged for her, aiming for the throat. The female tried to back up to get out of his range but tripped in the heavy snow, rolling onto her back as he pounced on her. His jaws flew down towards her face, but were suddenly halted as the taste of bitter wood filled his mouth. She had reached over and grabbed a nearby stick to block him! They both growled, her eyes forming into a glare as well. It was a showdown now, this was certain.
He snarled, curling his claws into the ground on either side of her head. You will regret this you little… He was unable to complete his thoughts as he felt something hard slam up into his abdomen, causing him to grunt. His large body tumbled over to the side. It didn't move very far considering his massive size, but the impact made him lose his breath for a short moment. Once he regained it he snorted loudly into the snow, causing it to fly around his face. He curved his head around to see what had hit him. He saw nothing that could have mustered the force to move him like that. All he saw was her, pulling herself to her feet and panting for breath. His eyes slowly roved across her shoulders, abdomen and then her hind quarters where he noticed she was holding up her left leg as if it were sore. He squinted his eyes in thought. There is no way… He couldn't believe she conjured that much force into her leg from where she was laying to throw his massive body to the side. She was too small; too feeble to perform such an act. Then again, he had no clue what she was or what she was capable of, despite her size. However, he could hear in her breath that the fight was coming to an end. Staggering, short breaths escaped her throat and caused her to choke. Kross pulled himself to his feet, and as the sun cast a shadow upon him it began to morph into something different, something other than a beast. A gloved, human hand reached down and picked up the branch. The wind blew snow across his face as his ice-stricken eyes bore down at the trembling animal before him. She stood at least waist-high; a decent size for an animal of her stature.
Branch in hand, he held it as if it were a knife to be stabbed into a freshly cooked turkey on Thanksgiving. His boots stood in a puddle of cold water that steamed up into the air. This would end it, he was sure. He thrust his arm down in one swift motion towards the back of the animal's neck.
A loud snapping sound, then a scream.