Evil and hope's rise
The morning sun enveloped the forest in a gorgeous orange and golden veil. The birds happily chirped on the high branches of the ancient trees, waking up other critters with their gentle song. Kate and Humphrey stirred, and awoke. Runt was already gone. The two mates decided to visit the twin orphans, Kyle and Dean, which they would see from time to time. They had grown to like the twins, they were very modest and polite, and quite fast and agile, two born-Alphas.
After a short walk, they arrived to find that the den was empty. They had probably gone to find food or play.
"Let's go to the feeding grounds to have breakfast, we might see them there." shrugged Humphrey.
"Sure, let's go." replied his mate.
The days were getting warmer and longer, and the nights shorter. Summer was getting closer to overcoming spring with every day that passed. The feeding grounds were multiple small plains which were filled with different carcasses and skins of what the Alphas of the Pack have hunted, which ranged from carribou to rabbits. Pups were playing happily with each other, shouting and laughing. The older she-wolves usually sat together and gossiped about different members of the pack, and the younger were eating quickly and getting to their duties, if they were Alphas. The Omegas usually went off in different groups, breaking any conflicts they found, or just relaxing.
Kate and Humphrey didn't find any trace of the twins. They guessed they were probably playing in the forest. So, after a hearty breakfast, they were basking in the sun, stretching and relaxing.
Meanwhile
The twins were in the forest, but they weren't playing. They were investigating the place they last saw the human corpse and to try and figure out what was happening to them.
"Do you think it was here?" Dean asked his twin.
"Positive." he answered. "That large berry bush, it was somewhere next to it."
"You're right. Wait, isn't it right there, the blackberry one?"
"Yeah! It was right here!" shouted Dean excitedly, as they both hurried towards it.
They started sniffing it and examining it carefully, but they found nothing.
"It doesn't even have any scent of him." said Kyle disappointed.
"That's so strange... a rotting corpse like that should leave a stench like hell." answered his twin, equally disappointed.
They suddenly heard a menacing growl behind them and turned only for the color of their face to leave completely. It was a large, black bear, with bared razor-sharp teeth and claws like daggers. That was the twins' worst fear. Bears. They started backing away, terrified, and when the bear swiped, the twins turned tail and started sprinting away.
But the bear didn't leave them, instead sprinted after them. The wolves were heading towards a ravine, knowing that the bear most likely won't jump after them. They darted through the trees, ducking under branches and jumping over rocks, but confusingly, the bear could keep up with them, even with all the obstacles. They finally reached the ravine. Dean jumped over it, but Kyle hesitated a second too long. The bear caught up with him and dived on top of him, both falling into the ravine.
"NO!" Dean shouted.
He could hear the roars of the bear and screams of his twin. The bear turned up towards him and started laughing maniacally, and revealed the mangled body of Kyle. Dean ran away in terror and shame, tears streaming down his face.
Kate and Humphrey saw Dean returning to his and his twin's den, but they decided not to bother him. That night though, he had no possibility of sleeping. He was mad with himself because he left Kyle behind. But what could have he done? Jump down after him?! He would've surely died too... But would've death been better than living with this horrible pang of guilt in his heart? He tossed and turned, trying to think about something else, but just couldn't. He fell into a very shallow and restless sleep.
That until he was woke up by a familiar childish laugh. His eyes shot open and stared ahead into the cold dark, where he saw a shadow of a familiar pup ... Dean got up slowly and started walking slowly towards it, until he had spied his face. It was his twin, Kyle but he was holding something in his mouth. A red ball that was seemingly floating. He couldn't believe it. But the pup sprinted away.
"Wait, come back!" shouted Dean and darted on his trail.
But someone else has heard that shout, and it was Kate. She was with Humphrey on a night patrol, on Tony's orders, and they saw Dean disappearing into the inky-blue foliage. They only looked at each other, surprised, and started following him.
Dean chased his twin until he came to a stop. Kyle was nowhere to be seen. But someone behind him spoke up in a cheerful voice:
"Are you looking for something, kid?"
Dean turned around and saw a strange, tall, amusing-looking human smiling at him mysteriously. Dean started slowly backing away, but he stopped again when he heard his twin's voice:
"Don't run away! This really nice man saved me!" He was holding that red thing under his paw now.
"What...? Really ... ?" replied Dean, confused.
"Oh, yes. How could I had left him behind?" said the human, smiling.
Dean waited a few seconds before asking:
"Who exactly are you...?"
"I'm Pennywise, the Dancing Clown!" said the clown in a musical voice. "Would you care for a balloon?"
He took out, seemingly out of nowhere, the exact red thing that Kyle had. Dean eyed it suspiciously.
"I don't think so..." He looked at his twin. "Let's go home, come on!" He tried to step towards him but he bumped into what felt like a wall.
"Not so fast, not so fast, Dean." said the clown stepping in front of Kyle. And the pup, strangely, didn't try to reach out to Dean.
"Why not?" asked Dean, a bit aggressively.
"You've left him behind, don't you remember?" asked Pennywise, the grin fading from his face.
"Y-Yes, I sadly did. But what could I have done?
"Maybe nothing then. But you can prove yourself now." replied the clown.
"What do you mean?"
"You must prove yourself to your twin that you are sorry, and that you are a good twin." said Pennywise simply.
"Alright, Pennywise. What do you have for me?" said Dean quietly.
He chuckled. "Straight to the point, very exciting!" said the clown, the smile returning to his face. "Let us start the fun!" he added while chuckling slightly.
He raised his hand, and with it, glass walls rose with it. Dean was confused. When they stopped, the clown clapped his hands.
"Complete the maze and you're free!" said the clown. The pup just stared at him. "Start, start, what are you waiting for?", added Pennywise in a hurried tone.
Dean started going through the maze, kept turning, doubling back, progressing, regressing. He continued for a short time, until Kate and Humphrey appeared.
"Dean, there you are!" shouted Kate. "What in the world are you doing?!"
"If I complete this maze, I'll have my twin back!" the pup shouted back and started running through the maze. The adults managed to find an entrance and started following them.
"Don't listen to them, Dean... Don't you want your twin back?" chuckled Pennywise mysteriously.
"Come on Dean, don't you want us to be together anymore?" said Kyle loudly and exasperatedly, but in a different voice from this normal one. Dean didn't notice, but Humphrey did.
"Dean, don't trust him, come back to us, who knows what the hell is this!" he yelled. But it fell on deaf ears. Dean was advancing fast, nothing being able to stop him. The two wolves couldn't find the way in time, and Dean made it to what seemed the end before he could be stopped.
"I made it!" Dean screamed happily.
But his victory was cut short when a glass wall had risen behind him. He was confused.
"What ... ?" he said weakly.
Kyle appeared on the other side.
"You left me Dean. You left me to die." he said in a sad voice.
"I couldn't... do ... anything ..." began Dean and started crying.
"YOU LEFT ME FOR THAT BEAR TO EAT, DEAN!" shouted Kyle, but in an uncharacteristically harsh voice. This time Dean noticed.
Kate and Humphrey smashed into the glass behind Dean, but he didn't care.
"Dean come back!" screamed Kate.
"It isn't him!" added Humphrey.
"Kyle...?" began Dean, but he was interrupted by his twin.
"You left me to die... but now we'll be together again... we will float together" he said dreamily.
"What?!" asked Dean, confused.
"We'll float, you will float too, you'll do too, YOU'LL DO TOO!", he kept repeating, his voice becoming sharper and harsher everytime. But what had really horrified the wolves was that Kyle's body was becoming more mangled and mutilated, showing his death in real-time. Swipes, bites appeared on his skin, until he fell to the ground. He faded away. He was only a phantom.
"NO!" screamed Dean.
Then, light appeared, and it revealed Pennywise, leering evilly and hungrily at Dean from the other side of the wall. The poor pup started screaming in fear. Kate and Humphrey yelling were pounding on the glass, but it was to no avail, the glass wouldn't break or budge at all. Then, Pennywise started slamming his head on the glass. But he was cracking it.
"HELP, PLEASE HELP ME, ANYONE!" were the pup's last words. Dean's last holler of fear stopped when the clown bit into his throat, splattering blood all over the glass. The adults couldn't believe their eyes. Dean was murdered brutally right in front of them, and they weren't able to help him at all. Everything faded away, leaving them into the clearing, horrified of what they have seen, but free to leave.
"Try... Try and you'll die..." said Pennywise into a creepy voice. Then, there was silence.
Kate and Humphrey remained paralyzed there, for how long, they didn't know. When they finally regained control of their bodies, they sprinted back to th den through the towering oaks, not looking back once. They could still hear the clown's evil laughs and Deans screams in their ears, but they kept running.
Back at the Leader's den
The wolves reported everything they witnessed to the Pack Leaders. By the time they finished, the first shy lights of sunrise appeared on the slowly brightening sky.
"I... am just at a loss for words..." said Winston, as Kate and Humphrey finished.
"So... they're both dead?" asked Lily in a strangled voice.
"They are..." spoke Humphrey in a tired tone.
"Well, we must do something about it, we can't let that shit just kill all our pups!" said Garth, angrily. "We must gather Alphas and kill this thing!"
"Don't be stupid, son!" growled Tony, attracting all eyes to him. "We don't if this thing CAN be killed, all we know until know that it is extremely powerful! We might not even have a chance, and just waste our forces!"
"Something will be done Garth, but we don't know what just yet..." said Eve looking at Garth.
Lily then remembered something.
"Didn't you say that Kyle's phantom said that a bear killed him?"
"Yes, I did." answered Kate, wondering what was her sister going on about.
"I just remembered, they told me some time ago their greatest fear were bears!" said Lily excitedly.
"So...?" asked Humphrey confused.
"SO," continued Lily impatiently, "we know that it bases on fear. We know what to expect!"
"Genius!" said Eve, "but why didn't it show itself as a bear the second time?"
"Because, after Kyle died, Dean started dreading facing him, so that's how it wanted to terrify him!"
"It can bring back the dead?!" asked Winston, mouth agape.
"No, it can only create illusions. Kyle's phantom was an illusion, he morphed as a bear... we know more things about him now!"
"Very good, love, you figured out quite a lot of things!" spoke Garth as he gave her a quick lick on the cheek, and she giggled.
"Very well, now we know many things, and we should prepare a plan, but we should spread the word for everybody to keep their pups close. Who knows where it could be." added Tony.
"On it", said Kate and Humphrey.
Then they left the den.
Back in the summoning room where Pennywise was summoned
The demon started chanting a complex incantatation, with his left hand raised and the other put in a halt position, and the room vibrated powerfully as if there was an stopped and put his hands down and the room stabilised. He smiled sardonically.
"That should attract his attention..."
In another dimension, two days after Dean's death
Archwarlok Fannaeras had enough. He kept receiving strange dreams and certain feelings like something was happening, but he couldn't figure out what. He decided to look through every single world if he had to to see what was happening. He activated a stone, drew a few runes, recited an incantation, and spilled some blood from a vial on the stone. The stone howled and shined brightly. A large projection of Azeroth appeared in front of the elf.
He started cycling through multiple projections of different worlds, but when he passed a world, he felt a pang of pain. He went back and looked at it. It was Terra from Milky Way. There were all the vibrations he had been receiving. Someone seemed to try and call him, but he couldn't determine the source. He drew a circle on the ground and raised his hand. An amber fell from his hand in the middle of the circle, and it burst aflame. The warlock stepped into it and vanished.
Back in Jasper Park
Fannaeras clambered out of another burning circle close to the entrance gates. He smiled, pleased that he landed exactly where he wanted to. He scanned his surroundings. The warm sun rays were stealthily making their way through the thick leaves of the ancient trees, the grass, green as jade, was as soft as a wool blanket, and the birds were cheerfully chirping away.
"Gorgeous place, I must say. I'm impressed" said the warlock out loud.
From out of his hand, a skull, engulfed by green flames appeared and circled him fast, and when it disappeared, Fannaeras no longer had his usual appearance, but looked like a young man, who was ready to explore the park. He strove out and went to a nearby cafeteria. He picked up a newspaper and read it quickly, but thoroughly. The one thing that caught his eye was the very small square of a missing man. He was a ranger in Jasper Park. "It couldn't be only this... but it must be related to the park..." the blood-elf muttered to himself.
He got up and went to the barman:
"Hello, sir. I was wondering if you knew anything about this, ah, rather interesting disappearance..." said Fannaeras pointing to the section of the newspaper. The man answered rather aggressively:
"Why? You don't wanna go lookin' for him, do ya? That's the job of the police, boy, not yours, so get your nose out of other's business!"
"Ah, but you misunderstand me, sir!" answered Fannaeras hurriedly, but politely, observing his attitude. "I merely wish where he disappeared so I don't go there and risk my life! I wish to visit the splendid park too, it would be a shame not too, if I still stopped in this charming town!"
The barman's attitude changed more to the warlock's liking.
"Oh, I'm very sorry. Well in the Western side of the park. Exact location is unknown. No offense meant earlier"
"I thank you very much sir, and none was taken, I assure you!" answered Fannaeras, smiling pleasantly. "I shall be on my way now, have a good day!"
"So do you, boy." answered the man, now on a polite and nice tone.
Fannaeras went out and back in the Park, buying a map from the small shop outside. He noticed that no police were anywhere to be seen. It seemed like the barman was wrong and it was how he guessed. Nobody was looking for the missing ranger, even though he had been missing for a week by then. "This is just getting better and better", thought the blood-elf. He took off his disguise with a wave of his hand. He glanced at the map and headed straight for the Western side at a quick pace, his cloak fluttering behind him. He arrived at the place where the ranger had disappeared, and he realized it when he sensed strange traces of a demonic being. It had been a week at least. He could barely even sense them.
The very slight traces of human blood told him that has been a murder there. On that spot, hoisted in the air, the ranger died. But he knew not how. He sensed further west other traces of the same being. He quickly went there and the traces were much clearer. It had been at most 2 days since it was there. He also sensed magic. There had been illusions there, and strong ones at that. "Fuck... can't access these, they're well hid, I can merely sense them" he realized.
"So, this is what I have so far... there is a very powerful demonic being, which can kill a man very easily, and also can make extremely efficient illusions. But something else called me here, not this. Someone must have been trying to get my attention... or maybe the Archmages' attention... I must call the others. I certainly won't face it alone." As he finished making up his mind, he made another portal and went back to his home.
The next day
He positioned extremely carefully and polished several crystals and activated one, which activated the others, and started forming an image, which was unclear at first, then divided into multiple and each clarified one by one, until al of them were clear as day, and showing many different people. The Archmages.
"Well, well, it's been a while since we last were all on the same communication!", said Shalidor.
"Too long, friends." added Kharazim.
"But I think Fannaeras must have called us with a reason, have I guessed right?" asked Lara.
"I did indeed, my friends. I have encountered quite a problem in Terra, Milky Way... I shall make the portal and we shall all travel there as soon as possible. Silence followed his words. Then the Archmages started making portals or reciting incantations, and they appeared beside Fannaeras one by one. The archmonk, on the other hand, stood in a strange position and he started running on place, getting faster and faster by the second, and then he appeared by the warlock's side. Fannaeras turned smiling at them.
"I salute you all my friends, for it is a great pleasure to see you again!". After they all shook hands or hugged, they aligned themselves and started going through a new-made portal by Fannaeras, this time leading close to the place where he found both of the demonic traces. They all went in one by one, only to start free-falling.
They landed on a kind of mattress, but they started bouncing upwards. After they either waited to stop, or started levitating through spells, Fannaeras also came through, but he made a different portal, and he was stepping downwards from the sky, on seemingly nothing.
"I hope that you have all enjoyed your journey, good sirs and ladies!" he said loudly and mockingly.
"Yeah, asshole, best journey of my life..." said Kharazim laughing.
"This is the last time I'm going through your portals, idiot! Next time coordinates, or no help!" shouted Lara laughing.
"Very well, now" said Shalidor chuckling. "Now, please inform us of the matter at hand, Fannaeras."
The warlock told them all he found, explaining the vibrations he felt and the traces he discovered, old and new. The Archmages were listening raptly, while the summer-evening sun was basking them in a warm, orange light.
"Very well, then. We are dealing with a demonic monster, which is quite powerful, to say for short, which seems to have a taste for the young, and has killed at least three since we arrived." concluded Ithilden.
"A better summary I couldn't have done myself." replied the warlock.
"Well then, it's clear what we should do." said Shalidor. "You and I, Fannaeras, shall go and investigate the traces of the illusion, see what it was. Ithilden and Lara, you can set up camp as you are quite specialized in doing, we have no notion how long we shall stay for. Kharazim and Mithrandir , you can try to talk with the other rangers and try to get any useful information." The duos all nodded, and last two disguised themselves right away.
"If anything happens, remember that now we are all together, our old communication trinkets should be activated. Contact us if you need any help, or we should return to camp. Good luck, everyone." finished Shalidor.
The friends activated their amulets, and set off in different directions, while the sun was setting peacefully, hope for salvation finally rising for Jasper Park.