A/N: It takes me awhile to update sorry

Well here's my first chapter. The word 'season' in this fic means a year...Dakkon is Eight seasons old, and he may be out of character for his age…I'm not really sure

Chapter One

A Test of Endurance

It was a warm humid night in Mossflower Woods. The sun had long since set and the woods were dark and peaceful, with the moon lighting the way. No bird were singing in the trees, and no beast stirred in the woods, save a small family marching along a old beaten pathway.

The Jackal pup looked up at his mother, eyes large with fear. His fur was a dark shade of brown, he was well built for his age and his eyes were a dark green color. His mother on the other hand was slight, and small, her fur was an even darker shade of brown, and it was obvious that she would once have been beautiful were it not for the massive number of scars spread across her face.

She smiled at him and said softly, sensing his unspoken question. "Yes little one?" Dakkon looked up at his mother and said angrily, "I don't like it here, It smells funny and it's dark, I wanna go back home." Minerva sighed at her son and replied patiently, "We have travelled all this way to make the Trials easier for you, we can't go back home, or at least not yet anyway."

Dakkon replied with a whine, "But I don't wanna do the trials anyway! I'm scared…when Farquill did them he never came back!" Minerva sighed again and put her paw around his shoulders comfortingly. "You'll be fine, Farquill was in the desert so it was harder for him. Here in the woods it will be easier for you, nd there are no naughty Guild members to come and steal you either."

Just at that moment Dakkon's father burst through the bushes from where he had been covering there backs in case they were followed. It was clear that he was Dakkon's father, his eyes were the same color and he was well built. His pale brown fur showed clearly in the night, though his black cloak hid most of it from sight. He growled angrily at the pair, his voice gruff with years of shouting orders.

"Get on with it! We have to leave him before the moon is at its highest, we have broken Tradition enough already by taking him here. And do not argue with me." He had been predicting his wife's reaction, and sure enough she spoke.

"We shouldn't even have to do it Damien! He's our son, I don't want to leave him alone in the woods at night just because of some stupid tradition!"

Damien growled at his wife. "It is more than tradition, it is a test, we leave him for one night in the care of our god Sarak-praise be his name-and you would anger our god with your blasphemy! You survived it, I survived it, his brothers survived it and they did it in the desert lands!" His wife began to protest, however was interrupted.

"No more arguments, we do this tonight, the priests are getting impatient; and our son will be cursed if we wait any longer."

Minerva looked down sadly, defeated. Dakkon looked up at his mother and said " I'll b-be okay mum…goodbye." His father nodded and began walking away. After a few paces however he stopped and turned around, and glaring at his son he said "Now stand up straight boy and pick up that short knife on the ground we left in front of you." His voice changed from the harsh growl to a slightly softer tone, although to the pup it was still slighty menacing.

"Good pup, Now you can protect yourself, eh?" Dakkon nodded furiously. his tears were drying, his paw was shaking from terror, but he was still holding the knife; and with that his father took out a book from a pocket inside his coat. The book was tattered and the leather binding was torn, it was obviously a very ancient book.

The large golden engravings on the front showed strange symbols, and the words 'Libri Nex' on the front. He held it out to his son and Dakkon took the book reverently and held it to his chest tightly. His father then withdrew another book, a similar one labelled 'Libri Vita'. He opened the first page and spoke the words:

"Quod iam vos suscipio vestri verus vita meus tertius prognatus sonmay polus servo vos obviam quicumque est malum may vos grow ingravesco a valde vinco of amplitudo hunt...quod may vos nunquam cado"

And with that he turned to leave, however stopped again and said, "We will be back here for you tomorrow morning at dawn." And this time when he turned away, taking his wife's paw in a strong grip, they both disappeared from view.

A/N:

The weird sentences were in Latin they said "And now you begin your true life my third born son may the heavens watch over you and may you become a great master of the hunt...and may you never fall." And on another note, jackals and foxes are extremely similar, for people who don't know what a jackal is just imagine a slightly larger, more viscous fox from the desert. And finally thanks again to the excellent (but cruel) Darktiger09 for betaing this for me and telling me when it's not up to a decent standard.