Legends of Pyria Chapter 2: Awakening Powers
It had been 2 months since the day Rokhan was born. Pharyx had forgotten what he worried about and was only happy to see his family and be with them. Rokhan had grown into a very cute pup, the white pelt of his never stayed dirty and always looked snow white after a bath. The pup was obviously going to grow into a strong adult. And during the period of those two months, his aura had more than tripled in its power. This was the only thing that concerned Pharyx as of now. It was a lovely spring morning and Rokhan was full of energy for play and fun as always.
"WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Rokhan yelled repeatedly and jumped on his mom and dad, trying to wake them up. "Bad Roro." His mom said, bapping him on the nose and sent him rolling off,
"It's too early to play." She said and tried napping more, but Rokhan was persistent and began digging a hole by her head, throwing dirt on her, and unfortunately got his dads attention, he hated getting dirt thrown on him, among other things. Pharyx jumped up with a snarl,
"ROKHAN!" he yelled, instantly making Rokhan cover his head with his paws and shiver a bit. "I'm sorry!" Rokhan whimpered. Pharyx only shook his head at him and sighed, "Fine… I'm up." He said and gave a big yawn, glaring after Rokhan afterwards, "You need to be more respectful of your elders little one." Rokhan uncovered his eyes and nodded,
"I swear… we spoil the pup." Pharyx said to Rouge softly and sighed, Rouge giggled and shook her head, "He's the only one we got, might as well?" she said with a soft smile. Pharyx nodded, knowing he was and smiled, getting up and stretching out, giving a yawn. His entire body flexed during his stretch and showed he was no skinny or weak wolf. Pharyx wings also stretched to make him look twice as big, quickly folding them away against his side as she smiled at Rouge whom was giving a worried look, "Be careful not to let others see those… if they knew…" she whined softly knowing what it would mean. Pharyx chuckling, "Yea, I'd banish my alpha to if I knew his dad was a phoenix." He said in an almost sarcastic tone, Rouge however wasn't convinced, "It's a risk I don't like taking." She looked down at the pup and smiled, "At least he didn't inherit that trait." She said brightening up a bit. "Consider it a bonus." He said to her before beginning to exit the den, "I'm going to wake the others, get some breakfast, any request?" Rouge shook her head and smiled, "Nah, I'm good hun." She said and smiled down at Rokhan, this entire time he had been watching them, not really knowing what was going on. But he didn't really care a whole lot. He just snuggled up to his mom wagging his tail and giving a cute look like he always did, knowing she fell for it most the time. Rouge only rewarded him for his cuteness with a morning bath, getting her cub good and clean yet again. It was the start of a new day.
Later on that day Rokhan got out of the den and played with the various others other pups of the packs. One pup however seemed very attracted to him and they played together a lot. Her name was Maya, daughter of the packs hunts master. They were very close friends and the pack had high hopes of them being future mates. But today would be the day it all changed, Rokhan's life was going to be altered forever. Running around in circles in a small playground where pups we're kept. Laughing and enjoying being a pup as he chased Maya in a fierce and intense game of tag. Maya was screaming like a cute pup she was as she eventually got tackled and tickle tortured by a young Rokhan.
"OK ok, you got me." She said and squirmed, squealing and flailed helplessly under his assault. "Stop!" she said while having a giggle fit.
"Nu uh!" yipped Rokhan. He continued to torture her, soon stopping as he got bored of it and began thinking of something else to do. Suddenly seeing something glowing and pounced on it, only for the glowing bug to fly away. Quickly he gave chase, the other pups caught onto this new game quickly as they all started trying to bite the glowing bugs around them. The den mothers kept a close eye on the pups and made sure they wouldn't run away, getting nervous as they all began scrambling everywhere after a bug of their own. Rokhan finally got tired of the chasing one and laid down, stretching out along the ground as he basked in the warm sunlight. He smiled a bit as he closed his eyes and just took in the sunlight, rather enjoying its feel. A whine would soon break his peaceful moment as he saw Maya looking at him with a worried look.
"What's wrong Maya?" he said and tilted his head a bit, curious as to what had gotten her so spooked.
"You..you…your glowing." She said and scooted back a bit, "w..w..why are you glowing?" she said. Obviously a bit scared by this. Rokhan looked at himself and whined as well, quickly running off into his parents den and got a surprised yip out of his mother, Pharyx only dropped his jaw a bit.
"Crap.." Pharyx said and quickly hid Rokhan in a corner of the den.
"D..dad?" the scared pup said, "What's happening to me?" he said and whimpering, looking at him with confused and pleading eyes. Yelping as something felt as if it was biting into his back and he began squirming.
"Pharyx! What's happening to him?" Rouge said and whimpered, wanting to help him but was very worried as to what could happen. Pharyx only shook his head and said,
"Stay back Rouge….. his wings are about to sprout." He said and looked at her, "I should have told you earlier…. My wings didn't come til later in my puppyhood…. It's easier on my mom and birthing I guess." He said softly, looking at Rokhan struggling.
"IT HURT'S!" screamed the pup, it was obvious now as new bones began forming and skin stretched out, soon forming into wings on the pups back. Pharyx smiled when it was over and simply nuzzled his son,
"It's ok Rokhan… everything's going to be just fine." He said in a sad voice. He knew himself just how hard Rokhan's life was about to become. Rouge only burst past him and scooped up the pup against her warm body and rained loving licks on him to sooth and comfort. Soon Rokhan had calmed down and everything felt normal again, he looked at his wings and flexed them out.
"These are so cool! Wait until I show my friends." He yipped happily and smiled, nuzzling his mom to let her know he was ok now. Rouge smile at her son and looked to Pharyx when he talked about showing off.
"Rokhan…" Pharyx said softly, "You can't show them off." This only got a whimper from the pup as he gave a pleading look, "but...why?" he said and drooped his ears. Pharyx showed his off to the pup and smiled, "Because even I have them like you, but if the pack knew, they would banish both of us should they know the truth of our heritage." Rokhan only blinked and looked at his mother with a confused look.
"Our…Heritage?" he said with a dumbfounded look. Rouge looked at Pharyx and smiled, "It's time to tell him hun, he needs to know." Pharyx nodded to her and looked at Rokhan.
"You and I are of a special breed. Half of our heritage is Dire wolf, which is supposedly extinct species now. And our other half is a Phoenix." Rokhan's still looked at him with an odd look. "What's a Phoenix?" he asked with that same look. Pharyx smiled and sighed softly, "A Phoenix is a legendary bird-like creature that was born of fire. They never die, and should they be killed, they will arise from the very ashes they died from. A real Phoenix is immortal and lives forever. But since we are hybrids I don't know if we carry such a trait." This information shocked Rokhan and he blinked, "My grandpa was a bird?" he whined and shook his head, "this is wonderful… I'm half bird." Pharyx and Rouge got a giggle out of this as his dad ruffled his hair, "Technically your half fire elemental. But in general, yea, your half bird." He said and they all got a good laugh out of that.
"So dad… when can I start flying?" Rokhan asked with an excited look, he was ready to put them to work. Pharyx pressed the wings against his pup's side to hide them and smiled. "We can start tomorrow. Just don't let anyone know and everything will be fine." He said and gave him a spank on the rump, "now go play." Rokhan quickly bolted off to go back to playing. Pharyx only shook his head, "reminds me of myself when I was a pup." He smiled softly as he watched him play.
-outside-
Maya ran up to him and wagged her tail, "Hey! You look normal again." She said and giggles. "What happened?" Rokhan smiled and rubbed up against his young friend and smiled, "We don't know, maybe it was a growth spurt." He said and Maya nodded, "I think so to, you seem a bit bigger." She said and smiled. They went back to playing as they we're watched by the others. Pharyx listened in on what had been said and thought. Perhaps that's a good explanation should anyone ask, sly pup. He sighed and shrugged to himself, perhaps things would work out after all.