I have some very grave news for you; you won! Congrats and stuff! I will probably add a chapter or two onto my other stories occasionally, but this will be the one I focus on! Yay!
NOTICE. THIS IS A SEQUEL TO TIME AND TIME AGAIN. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THEN PAY ATTENTION HERE. Basically, what happens in my first fanfiction is that Seth gets called upon by the Singing Sisters to complete a quest and retrieve the hides of seven of the world's eternal guardians. Having no idea who that is, he receives some friendly help in his head advising him to pick up a strange purple gem. A guide, half-astrid, half-human, by the name of Zia takes them to Caelum Amplexu, a preserve run solely by wolves. Giant wolves, to be precise. Turns out that a long time ago, those giant wolves were the kings and queens of the world. Good queens and good kings. The best of creatures, created for preserving balance in the world. Then they lost their soul, which is unbeknownst to Seth, the purple gem he'd picked up. The Soul Bearer, Cadeliah, sheltered them despite her knowledge of Seth's stolen stone. Learning both that the hides of wolves are the hides he must retrieve and that the soul is Cadeliah's, Seth returns the Soul Stone to its rightful owner and becomes a god to the Great Wolves. If you want to know more, go read it. It's not my best, because my writing improves with everything I do, but it's worth the read.
Phew!
Chapter One
"Hey, Kendra," hums Bracken, hanging in the arch of the kitchen. The tip of his head brushes the needles of the pine wreath hanging. His silvery blue eyes seem to sparkle and shimmer at the sight of her, making Kendra's heart fuzzy. Bracken must have a snazzy fashion sense, because his clothing accents his athletic build and bulging muscles. Choppy silver hair hangs in his face, cut since his days in Zzyxx. Smile quirking at his lips, Kendra has to admit, he looks like a playful unicorn. Bracken cocks his head, eyes shining innocently. "What you doing?"
"Eating breakfast," she answers around a mouthful of Pop Tart. It sounds more like, "Pehpeh pehfesh" to her ears, but Bracken must've understood.
"Noooooo," gasps Bracken in shock. Kendra seriously considers throwing the cardboard box at him. Ever since on her eighteenth birthday, they'd become an official couple, he'd been becoming less and less like an unattainable guy and more like her annoying boyfriend. The infatuation hasn't worn off; he's just becoming more and more open with her, and she is with him in return. And Kendra loves it. She doesn't regret the day she gave up mortality in the slightest.
With difficulty, Kendra swallows the dry substance and glugs her glass of milk. She can feel the milk mustache on her upper lip as she slams the mug back to the table, and see the smile on Bracken's face grow. "I haven't seen you in two weeks, Bracken! How are things? How long are you staying?"
Bracken very unsubtly avoids her question by picking up her Pop Tart and sniffing at it disdainfully, leaning on the table beside Kendra. "Give that back," she complains half-heartedly. He frowns deeper and takes the slightest of nibbles at the corner.
Kendra watches in amusement as the unicorn immediately proceeds to gagging, one hand flying to his throat. She's not entirely sure he's faking. It doesn't sound like it. "My god," he groans melodramatically. He glares at her in disgust. "How do you eat that?"
Kendra jumps forward to pluck her breakfast from his hand, but he jerks just out of reach. "I like it," she pouts.
"Artificial flavors, factory-made grain, revolting chemicals!" he moans. "Oh, you poor human beings! What has the world come to? Why is it that my Kendra is eating something so gross?"
"Braccckkkken," Kendra growls, holding out her hand in an order.
"Kennddrrrrrrrra," Bracken growls back, copying her tone and wiggling the Pop Tart infuriatingly out of reach.
"Braccckkkken."
"Kennddrrrrrrrra."
"Bracken."
"Kendra."
"Bracken."
"Kendra."
"Brac-ken."
"Ken-dra."
"Bracken," whispers Kendra, a tug of emotion suddenly rushing up from somewhere deep inside, resolve melting.
In his eyes, Bracken seems to melt to. He reaches his arms out in a gesture of embrace, the Pop Tart forgotten. "Kendra." The word sounds like a prayer.
Kendra jumps from the seat and snuggles up against him. His arms close around her, trapping Kendra against his firm muscles. Laying her head on the unicorn's chest, she hears the resounding drumming of his heart. She sighs, linking her arms around his broad neck, closing her eyes to better enjoy the moment. Bracken's melodic heart, Bracken's constant breathing, Bracken's protecting arms, Bracken's tingling warmth.
He brushes a strand of hair from her face, leaving a trail of fire. Kendra blushes with pleasure as Bracken takes two fingers and puts them underneath her chin to gently tip her head up until she's staring into his beautiful eyes.
"You're going to be my queen," he whispers quietly, "you know that?"
Kendra's heart skips a beat as Bracken continues.
"I have no desire of being King," he murmurs to Kendra and Kendra only. "It's actually quite a dull job. But as King" – his eyes shine like stars– "I could give you anything. I could have everything you've ever dreamed of. I could show the entire world your beauty and your grace, and brag about you in every party I attend. You'd finally have everything in the world as you should."
"Bracken," Kendra whispers, placing a hand on his cheek, "you don't need to do that. I'm perfectly happy with what I have now."
He leans in closer. "But you could be even happier." He cuts off Kendra's reply with a sensual kiss. Her heart hammers uncontrollably when they break apart.
"You're so ridiculous," Kendra gasps. "And sappy. My sappy unicorn."
He touches his finger to the end of her nose, smiling with unuttered laughter. "And you taste like Pop Tarts."
Seth studies Chaos warily as they circle one another. The giant wolf lowers his head and bares his teeth in a silent snarl, keeping his head low to the ground. His dark prowl screams dangerous, and Seth's logical mind is almost overruled by his irrational instincts to run.
It's not like Chaos's appearance is making Seth keeping his head any easier. The wolf is black and white, striped like a zebra. Along his haunches, the stripes sometimes curl into shapes like stars and moons. His guard hairs are long even by wolf standards, and his sleek pelt reveals the bulge of his elegant muscles. Chaos looks like a proud wolf god of darkness, or the Big Bad Wolf Little Red Riding Hood met on her walk. His deep and violent purple eyes are surrounded by dark shadows of black, and someone had carved "DEVIL" into his side, leaving silver scars lacking a fur covering.
"Make your move," the wolf growls balefully, deep voice undulating up and down the scale. Unlike the voices of many wolves, which sound more like they're singing than speaking, Chaos's voice is deep and booming and not very musical. Frequently, Seth wonders if his mentor can even howl with the same majesty as the rest of his kindred.
"Hurry, boy," snarls Chaos impatiently. That's all he ever calls Seth; "boy" or, occasionally, "imprudent brat". Readjusting his hold on the sword, Seth launches himself forward and at the wolf's evidently undefended left side.
It isn't undefended.
They clash together, claw against sword, with a screech that puts Seth's teeth on edge. Chaos's purple eyes are directly in front of his own, and gleaming with such fury that Seth has to fight the urge to tremble. The wolf snarls and pushes Seth back, and the real battle begins.
Each movement is a head-rush, each swing a blink of an eye, each dodge a breath, and each parry a sigh. It isn't so much a fight as it is a dance alongside death. Chaos's skill easily one-ups his own, but Seth wants to see how far he can push the old wolf, how close he can get to victory.
Sweat trickling down his brow, Seth aims a strike at Chaos's hind legs. The wolf dances nimbly out of the way, responding with a lunge at Seth's face. He ducks in the nick of time, knowing full well that, if Seth hadn't been able to get out of the way fast enough, Chaos would've torn half his face off.
Upon seeing his attack at Seth's face had failed, Chaos bunches his muscles and aims a quick strike at Seth's vulnerable gut before Seth can even react. Seth gasps for air as Chaos knocks it out of his lungs, toppling backwards with a plop onto the cold, cold ground.
"Better," approves Chaos gruffly. Despite the tugging ache in Seth's stomach, pride floods him. He hadn't gotten such a compliment from Chaos in… at least three weeks.
"Try to do it again," the wolf orders. His lips peel back over his ivory fangs. "Now."
With a huff, Seth staggers back to his feet. Swaying unsteadily, he spits a glob of blood from his mouth and wipes his forehead with the back of his hand. Glaring discontentedly at Chaos, Seth groans, "What will this Dark Pulse even help me with?"
Chaos shrugs. "Nothing foreseeable. Then again, the things you and I go after can hardly be considered 'foreseeable'. Ready position, now."
The Dark Pulse, as Chaos had titled it, is just a burst of dark energy to repel any other shadow creatures. It's extremely difficult, and involves techniques that Seth thinks are out of his range. If at all possible, he doesn't want to try and complete it. That's… that's like being quizzed on what was the first Roman emperor or whatever. It's never going to be useful in real life, especially if real life is fighting monsters.
"And what if I refuse?" questions Seth loftily, twiddling the adamant sword between his thumb and index finger.
Chaos's eyes narrow, and Seth sees the blow coming a few seconds to late. Knocked to his feet by the swipe, Seth gets slaughtered by a powerful smack upside the head with Chaos's broad paws. The dirt underneath him is cold and solid, a nice differential to the wet blood pumping from his head.
"My god, Chaos!" yelps a new voice, and Bracken is by Seth's side in a second, helping him up. The unicorn's eyes blaze, and he rounds on the wolf. "That was uncalled for!"
Chaos sits, tail curling around his paws. Like that, he looks like a dark king. Well, he is a dark king; the damn King of Shadows. But, normally, Chaos looks more like a sketchy nomad than a ruler. "It is how we train," he growls threateningly. "Force is only overpowered by force. It is the only way he must learn to live."
"That's for shadow charmers who live in packs!" snaps Bracken feistily. Seth glances at the Fairy Prince, deciding that Kendra's fire must be wearing off on him. "They social and prank around and basically make up for any hostility they show one another in training! Seth has no affection from you whatsoever! Train him like that, and he'll become a monster!"
Chaos growls, and every hair on his ruff rises. "He'll be treated like a monster anywhere he goes. It's our curse. He may as well be the formidable monster."
"Do I get any say in this?" sighs Seth wearily. Both Bracken and Chaos turn to look at him, but only Bracken looks surprised. Chaos yawns. "I won't quit training in the way Chaos wants me to, because I've excelled more than I ever have before, but I'm finished for today. Does that make you two happy?"
"Gloriously so," purrs a new voice. A golden wolf stalks from the garden, lilac eyes flashing with humor, hairs glinting in the setting sun. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I'd like some pasta, and Bracken makes the best pasta in this half of the USA. You're like the Italian grandma I wish I had." The wolf nods respectfully to Bracken.
Boro, the Wolf King.
If Chaos had looked majestic, then this wolf looks otherworldly. He's the wolf equivalent of a supermodel, the way his fur falls and the broad design of his features. The way he walks, the way he holds his head; Boro knows he's someone of rank, and he makes sure you know it, too. Mostly, the wolf's a good guy with an appreciation for humor, but he gets almost territorial over his girlfriend, Fiona the Soul Bearer. Fiona, of course, promptly smacks him across the muzzle when he gets overprotective in any way.
Chaos groans gutturally. "Well, I'm out. See you tomorrow. Leave out some of that pasta, Bracken, in a doggy dish on the porch. I'll get it later." He stands, and his cloak flutters on a wind, landing on his back to hide his horrific scars. Throwing up the cowl to hide his face, Chaos stalks off, silent as a shadow.
"Strange one, that," remarks Boro, watching his uncle saunter off. "I still don't know why he let my father have the throne."
Seth shrugs. "Maybe he didn't want it. Maybe he made a mistake."
Bracken's eyes follow the wolf as Chaos stalks off, not even glancing back. "Maybe," he whispers to himself. "Or maybe not."
Kendra watches as the depressing scenes roll across the TV, halfway tempted to just turn it off. The world is exploding with cult theories. Fiona, deciding to move ahead of her mother's schedule, is slowly stripping away the walls of disbelief. That's leaving mortals going crazy, more reports of dragons rolling in every day.
Some people are starting anti-government groups, saying that there's been a world this entire time. Which, of course, there has, but not by the government. Riots are exploding everywhere, and the rising number of "natural disasters" is making many uneasy. In every footage shown on the news, Kendra can pick out at least one Great Wolf, standing majestically in the background. They're curbing the human race, alright; almost all of Russia has been eliminated.
It makes Fiona so sad. The wolf will come and curl up beside Kendra's bed while she sleeps, and sometimes, she'll awaken to the young Soul Bearer. She cries, allowing only Kendra to know the truth, allowing only Kendra to hold her and wipe away her tears. She sings to herself, eyes always a million miles away. It makes Kendra sad, but she's not really sure how to help. In a murmured conversation in Kendra's library, she and Bracken had discussed the matter, and he'd advised her just to be patient and forgiving. Whenever Fiona and Kendra aren't alone, the wolf is as tough as nails, if not tougher.
She sits beside Kendra now, curled up around the sofa, watching the TV in grim silence. "This is what must be," she announces tonelessly eventually. "Everything in me, it's saying that I'm doing what's right. But it still feels wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have let myself knit so tightly to humanity."
Kendra sets down the remote and wraps her arms around Fiona's thick neck, the warm Soul Stone strapped underneath Fiona's chin just brushing her arm. "I'm glad you did."
Fiona sighs, leaning back into Kendra's embrace. "I haven't heard from Brach and the twins in a while," she murmurs, changing the subject. "I did hear, however, that Brach learned how to Wink."
"I'm pretty sure Brach could wink before," grunts Kendra in confusion.
"Wink with a capital W." Fiona chuckles. "It means that he's learned how to teleport. He basically turns his molecules into particles of light, and then moves at the speed of light to a random location. However, according to River-Song, it's incredibly unreliable without the proper training. Once, she accidently transported herself to Zzyxx." Fiona's chuckle turns into a laugh. "Now, that's a story!"
"I bet it is!" laughs Kendra, picturing the gruff Fairy Wolf snapping at some demons, carving a path through the devilish horde. They'd run in fear from that taunting voice. Kendra certainly would; and not just because River-Song has a taste for fairykind flesh.
"I'll wait for her to tell it," guffaws Fiona. "She'll have you feeling like it's happening at the moment, on the edge of your seat. I swear, if it hadn't been for those wings, she'd have been a master storyteller. One of the best. Even Cadeliah was impressed."
The mention of Cadeliah still puts a lump in Kendra's throat, but, with time, it's been healing. She refuses to let herself get over Cadeliah by ignoring that she ever existed, by forgetting her. That'd been the wolf's last words. Never forget me. She said she never would. And Kendra sticks by that. So does Fiona.
"I wonder…" Kendra trails off, feeling stupid. Fiona goads her on with a prod in the stomach. "I wonder if she's here, right now. Cadeliah, I mean. Chaos said something once about seeing ghosts, right? She could be right here, right now. Actually, I bet she is."
Fiona frowns, but nods slowly. "Maybe… maybe she's not on our level of dimension. Like how light has a different spectrum that we can't see. Maybe she exists on that spectrum. Wouldn't that be cool? I think that would be so cool."
"It would be," agrees Kendra. At that exact moment, Bracken bustles in, looking seriously ticked. Kendra shoots to her feet, feeling protective of the big guy. Glancing apologetically at Fiona, who nods in understanding, Kendra grips the front of his shirt and tugs Bracken out of the room and into the hallway.
"What is it?" she whispers, once they're alone, unable to stop her hand from laying itself on Bracken's chest. He places his own hand overtop it before answering.
"Chaos is ticking me off," he murmurs, silvery blue eyes flashing with annoyance. "He and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye."
Kendra shrugs, comprehending. "He's a King of Shadows. You're a Fairy Prince. You're going to disagree. It's meant to happen."
"I know, it's just…" Absentmindedly, he sweeps hair from her face. "I wish we didn't argue all the time. He's, quite honestly, an interesting wolf with an intriguing backstory. But he puts up calloused barriers and builds fortifications around himself, not letting himself care out of fear of being hurt. He walks the lonely path. I don't." His hand gently squeezes hers.
"Try to be patient with him," advises Kendra. "Plus, go out of your way to do nice things to him. He likes your pasta a lot." Kendra sniggers. "A lot."
"No kidding," chuckles Bracken. He studies her carefully. "You're doing alright, yes?"
"Yes," answers Kendra, surprised by the random question. She blinks. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," he hurries in a voice that only confirms Kendra's suspicions. "We've just received some sketchy reports from here in the human world. Normally, I wouldn't look twice at those, but…" He shrugs, cupping her cheek with his other hand. Bracken gazes down at her tenderly. "I guess things changed."
Kendra grins up at him. "Things have changed for me, too. You'll tell me if something is wrong, right?"
He beams down at her. "Right."
Seth frowns at the massive dog bowl, and checks his digital watch. In blocky numbers, it reads 12:33. He frowns deeper, scanning over the green fields, looking for a familiar wolf but finding none. In front of him, the December night air turns his breath into mist that rises in churning cascades.
The dog bowl. It's full. Chaos never misses a meal. Not once. Not ever.
He leans down and sticks a finger in the rich red sauce, and his frown grows. Cold. So, it's been here for a while. Chaos hasn't come.
Worry builds in Seth as he gazes out at the moonlit field. "Oh, Chaos," he breathes, fretting over his spiteful mentor. "What have you gotten yourself into now?"
Chaos wades through the darkened bushes, pushing the foliage out of his path. He snarls at a thorn that pierces his paw, shaking it out and continuing until the bushes thin and there's a clear trail.
Chaos's guard hairs stand on end, and a growl starts in the pit of his stomach. That smell. It drifts through his nostrils. He knows that smell. Chaos recognizes it a moment too late.
Whhhhhhhhhthunk! The sound of a small object hurtling through the air. A small dart buries itself into Chaos's neck, biting like a bee. He snarls in surprised fury, feeling the effects of the poison already. Horror mounts on him as he realizes that the small dart must've been loaded with toxins for it to work this quickly. Feet almost dragging across the leafy floor, Chaos stumbles a few steps. His back legs cave in, and he drags himself desperately a few more paces. Terror fills Chaos as those two legs give in as well.
It's a struggle to keep his eyes open, to fight off the oncoming blackness of the artificial sleep. Chaos snarls weakly, throat closing up. The last thing he sees is a face looming overhead with a cruel fanged smile, golden eyes flickering in the low light.
And then the world goes black.
"Not so tough now," he whispers to the house in the distance with the yellow lights shining, "without your pet, are you, Sorenson?"
Chaos, my god. You little crap.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and so on. I had so much fun writing this one, especially the Brackendra! Please, review and stuff, because I love reviews! Constructive criticism is appreciated!
POLL: who do you think the antagonist is? What do you think he's trying to do? In other words, what do you think is going to happen with this dude?