Day 8 Dawn.

Nehalem

Nehalem sat at the edge of his den with Scion and Mason on either side of him. They were watching the night sky, looking for something, searching. Nehalem believed Amarok communicated to him via the stars in the sky. Every night he would stare up at them, sometimes muttering, sometimes dead as a rock. It would usually end with him passing out and waking the next afternoon with a newfound idea, or plan he would claim Amarok helped him to devise.

Mason and Scion often accompanied him on these nights. Maybe they were under a spell, mindless followers, or maybe they wanted to believe in what they saw. Nehalem seemed to follow them and it has yet to fail him in the past.

"The stars Mason, what do they mean?" Scion asked.

"Hell if I know. Boss seems to be lost in them again… It's like hes dreaming."

"Huh, well maybe he is dreaming." Scion slowly nudged a paw at Nehalem, tapping him to see if he was awake. Nehalem didn't respond.

"That answers that…" Mason said.

The two wolves lied down on their paws now, as Nehalem continued to sit still, his eyes up to the sky. Mason could see reflections of the sky in his eyes. He looked almost peaceful, like a child listening to his favorite bedtime story. Still, Mason knew he couldn't trust Nehalem as much as Nehalem could trust him.

Mason looked down along the horizon. The suns light could finally be seen flowing through the tips of the arctic canopy, and began to cause the starry night sky to fade away. Down below, wolves were resting up for the next day, as if nothing happened previous. Nehalem had not moved, and for a long time, neither did Mason or Scion. He enjoyed the silent morning, that short amount of time before the birds awoke and the forest came to life, a bliss time.

Mason began to doze off just in time for a loud grunt to break him out of it.

Nehalem snapped out of whatever trance he was in, only this time he was different… He was energized, happy, yet had a fire in his eyes.

"Mason, escort those runners to my den, I will be down in a moment."

Mason examined the distance, but whether or not his eyes were bad, he could not see anything.

"Uh… What runners?"

Nehalem didn't answer, instead a howl broke the silence from the south. Sure enough, it was a pair of wolves running full speed towards them.

Mason nodded to Scion and Nehalem before running off to meet them. They seemed to straighten up as soon as he reached them, as if something now took hold of them.

"Nehalem wants to speak with you at his den. Now." Mason yelled at the two.

The two wolves looked at Mason for a second, then walked off towards Nehalem's den. Mason knew Nehalem would have taken their forms over at this point.

Mason followed them, and he looked up to the cliff Nehalem sat at. He was gone, probably left to say a quick prayer.

When he did arrive, he had requested to speak to the runners alone, leaving Mason to wonder off wherever he pleased. Instead he found himself a nice isolated corner and sat down, looking to the sky once again. He looked to make sure nobody else was around to bother him, then he laid down on his back, facing up towards the sky. He loved it… It was the definition of relaxation to Mason. When he lied on his back, he felt safe. Not a care in the world. However, his mind was free to torture him. Was Siku alright? Did Kodi make it back safely? And how would he stop Nehalem…

Mason was eventually able to clear his mind, and nearly dozed off to sleep once again, before Scion interrupted him.

"Psst, Mason!" Scion called from the trees to his left.

"Stop showing the world your testicles and get over here."

Mason quickly flipped over and shook off the dirt before slowly walking towards Scion. Scion had an antsy look on his face, and he seemed utterly terrified.

"What is it? I was… Meditating."

"Yeah yeah man… Hey, look, Nehalem sent me with a message, but theres something you should know first."

Nehalem sat back in his den and listened carefully to the two wolves' recollections of the attack. He had sent the team, 10 wolves, to gauge the town, see how they would react in the event of an attack. They were prepared for the attack, and in the event the wolves challenged them directly, they fought back hard.

"And.. and… the humans have guns. I've never seen one before, but I'll never forget it. Just… Kills everything the humans point at. It's… It's like magic." One of the wolves explained.

"We are the two survivors. All other 8 of our team has died." The second wolf concluded.

Nehalem seemed to study the two, but never said a word. It wasn't good news, but at least now he knew what they were up against. Nehalem took down villages before, but these were simple folk, Inuit people, who fought with axes and fire. Never before had he encountered a settlement with such tools for defense.

"Damn humans…" the left wolf said, breaking the silence.

"Do you hate them?" Nehalem asked.

Both wolves were surprised to finally hear his voice. It had been a full minute since they finished their story.

"I do… I hate them all."

"Do you fear them?"

"I… Do… But I hate them more than I fear them."

"Interesting..." Nehalem said.

He walked off, leaving the two wolves behind, confused. Nehalem slowly climbed back up the higher ground he sat on before, and gave a quick howl, alerting the entire pack that lie below them. One by one the wolves awoke, stretching, talking, and yawning, but all eventually sat upright and stared up at their alpha. Each and every pair of eyes and ears were focused on his next words.

Nehalem smiled, his plan clear as day in his own mind, he was eager to carry it out.