"Jasper has changed a lot since Humphrey died." Smitty told his students, his back turned towards them. He was recalling the time of Humphrey's death. It was such a sad time, yet he was glad that his friend had finally passed and found peace. Sometimes he wishes the same for himself.
He cleared his mind of those issues and refocused on what he was doing. That was teaching his students. He turned towards them and began his lecture.
"The first thing that happened after his death was the reuniting of the pack. Guardian had told Humphrey that this had to happen after he passed. No one knew why, but some have some guesses. Everything seemed fine for a while. The peace still held strong. But peace cannot last forever, and the pack of Jasper found that out the hard way."
Before he could continue, one of his students spoke up. "Sir, not to intrude on the lecture, but how do you know all these things?" The she-wolf known as Riley asked.
Smitty smiled. His students had no idea who he really was. They had no idea that he was the Smitty from the story he has told them. He felt like he shouldn't tell them of his true identity, at least not yet. The time just didn't seem right.
"I have very good resources, generation after generation this tale has been passed down. Its just our history, our legacy. It is our duty to remember our past. Now, back to the lesson..." He told them.
His answer didn't really seem to impress his students but still, they listened to their teacher.
"Now back to what I was saying, three years after the death of Humphrey, something happened. On a normal, any other day a giant explosion of darkness appeared over the center of the park. After that everything changed. Over a long period of time darkness crept its way to every nook and cranny of Jasper. After a whole year the darkness covered all of Jasper."
"No one knows, where this came from. It is a mystery to even me. I can only assume that it is not good and I know that no good will come of this in the future. Jasper has been this way for over a hundred years."
"When the darkness did hit, wolves started acting differently. They became more aggressive and soon the pack started attacking themselves. In a matter of days it seemed the whole pack had gone insane, save for a few lucky ones. Soon the pack split again. But not into four packs. No, this time they spread out into little groups. There are dozens of five, six, seven wolf packs out there. All of them psychopaths."
"When the pack started going insane, wolves tried to leave and go get help, but everytime they did, they would just get turned around and somehow always lend up back in the pack. There was no way in and there was no way out of this place."
Smitty finished and loomed at all of his students. Some of them where looking intent to actually hear what he had to say, while others looked to be half asleep. He silently sighed to himself. They really did need to know this.
"That will be enough for today. You are all excused." He said.
All of them left in a hurry, wanting to be able to play before the light would leave and they would be forced to their dens.
Smitty stayed seated where he was and looked over the pack. It wasn't all to big. It only consisted of about ten wolves. Five of them being the pups he was teaching. It was a peaceful pack and they kept to themselves. Only wandering off far enough to get food.
Survival was not easy out here, not at all. Food was scarce, and you didn't know when you would run into a crazy wolf.
He then thought back to the children. None of them were actually born here. He had found all of them in different raided packs. He brought them here where he thought it would be the safest for them.
When he first found them he had no idea who they were. But that changed when Guardian came to him. Smitty and Guardian were still in contact even after all this time. Though they didn't talk much, Smitty enjoyed his talks with him.
Smitty was shocked when Guardian brought him news of the pups. Apparently, they were all decadent's of everyone he once knew.
The twins, Rodger and Rickey, were descendants of Andy directly down from him, Reese is a dependent from David's side coming down from his mates brother making him a lot of greats nephew. Riley is a decadent directly from McCabe, and last but definitely not least is Caleb, being directly related to Humphrey.
Guardian had told Smitty it was fate that he had found them all and brought them together. Guardian could only guess that something important was going to happen in their lifetime.
Smitty agreed with him and told him he would keep his eyes on the pups to make sure they wouldn't be harmed in anyway. That's when he came up with the idea to teach them of their course one of them knew that they were related to any of these wolves because Smitty was instructed not to tell them.
On the topic of pups, Smitty thought back to one of his favorite pups he knew. He still thought about Blaze, and his mission. He had kept his word with Humphrey. Ever since he asked him to, Smitty tried to look for any way he could to help free Blaze from Sal's grasp. Yet, even after all his searching he found nothing to help him with his problem. It seemed like their was no solution.
But all his searching was not in vain. He went to almost every pack he could find throughout all of North America. At least the ones that knew and believed in the supernatural. From those places he learned many things.
He at first learned them because it reminded him of when he was young, back in his own time. Back then everyone knew about the supernatural and they embraced i . But for some reason that stuff died down and fell to legend. At least for some wolves.
A lot more than he would have thought knew all about those kind of things. They taught him spells and potions. They even made it so evil spirits can't find Smitty.
Later, when Jasper fell under this curse, Smitty realized that he learned all that stuff for a reason. That reason was for Jasper.
Smitty was brought out of his thoughts when a wolf walked up to him. He smiled at the wolf. There were many reasons why Smitty had decided to finally settle down in one place. It was too dangerous to move about, he had a duty to protect the pups, and most of all, he met someone.
Her name is Lindsay and he met her on the night he first got here when he brought the first pup, Caleb. She was on patrol that night and they met at the borders. Luckily, she was more understanding than most others in these times. Others would have probably just turned him away.
That was five months ago. During the time he didn't travel, he would spend his time here, with Lindsay. Over that time the two had gotten to know one another very well. They even, eventually, fell in love and became mates.
He looked at his mate and smiles widely. She was the only one who knew his true identity. She knew all about his past, all of his past. Even the parts about being possessed When she first found out she became a little skeptical about him. But those feelings were soon replaced with love and she could honestly care less about those things.
Honestly, Smitty never thought he would be able to find anyone again. After his first mate passed away, and then his children, he thought he wouldn't be able to bear the pain. But love works in mysterious ways, and now here he was, a new mate and a new life.
Lindsey came and sat down by him. She then gave him a little peck on the cheek getting him to smile in response. He looked at her, and then looked down at her enlarged stomach. She was expecting in a couple of weeks.
Smitty had been astonished when he first heard of the news. But he was also worried. He knew that he would outlive them just like he did with his original children. Would he be able to bear the pain again. He didn't know. He would just have to wait until that time came.
"How was the lesson?" She asked him.
"It was fine. They seem to be enjoying them, for the most part." Smitty responded.
"Well that's good. That knowledge may come in handy one day. For what is beyond me, buy its always good to know the past."
"Indeed it is, that's exactly why I'm teaching the . They need to know this stuff. Like I have said many times before, it is their duty to know of their packs history."
Lindsay nodded in agreement. Smitty looked up in Toby he sky and noticed the sun gad begun to set. He sighed, not wanting to move from this comfortable spotted. But he had t .
"Come on Lindsay, it's almost dark." He told her.
She nodded, and the two of them started making their way towards their den. You didn't want to be here passed dark, that's when everything comes out. If you are caught out of your den after dark it is almost certain you won't make it through the night. That was just simple survival in the new dark Jasper.