Symphonious melodies carried a somber weight...

The She Wolf lashed out violently, feeling the wind sneak out from her chest. The exhaustion had taken its toll upon the scarred wolf, way beyond this very moment in time. Upon this very night lit by the twilight... How long has Lone weathered the storm? How long has she truly walked through this plain.. Where there is only lifeless brown grass that awaits, where the winds whisper of starvation.

How long has this Lone Wolf truly been alone?

All left alone...

Her ears could hear her own bones creaking, the flesh squelching and mashing together from bludgeoning strikes of air. Vicious explosions of blood careening out, as the nimble, slender figure of the Ookami turned wolf is cut down as time passes. All of it, had become mere memories. Ghosts of the past, where the phantom pains remind her of the traumas. Where the tiny bit of silence, and relief in a moment to breathe reminds Lone of the very small list of good things that have happened in her life.

Yet...

Every hunt, has in essence become a failure.. Where she cannot truly clench tightly on the neck of the prey.

It hadn't mattered in the beginning... so when would it matter, if not in the end? Had she truly been worthy? She couldn't adapt to something beyond her.. She is merely an animal. The bitter, wintery storm intermixed with the metallic taste of someone else's blood.

Lone danced with Calanthe throughout the hurdle of combat.
Savagery tempered against buffeting winds. The determined royal-consort.. she is channeling the voice of her nation. A nation that tires of the prowling hunter. A nation that seeks the wolf's blood...

And they were getting it.

Vortexes overrode the blessing of the Divine White Wolf... Lone is losing control. She is losing everything... as those verdant, fleshy vines stretched forward, lashing out, slithering about, constricting and inhibiting the Wolf.. Annoyed growls protruded forth....

The Hunter is becoming Hunted.

...When was she ever a hunter, truly?

Lone's eyes looked forward, as baffled eyes had truly glossed in a revelation that has always been with Lone ever since she was a mere puppy.

Maw upon Flesh.

Gargled whimpers, and cries left the struggling wolf, as brutal savagery tore and ripped parts of her scarred form asunder. The violent snarls transformed into desperate biting towards the air, barely ripping away at Calanthe...

The Hunt is Over...

The parade of Aquantio's leaves glide down.

Blue eyes glancing to the side.. A brief reflection.


Why exactly are you breathing, mutt?

The heavy snow fell upon the Ookami's shoulders, a drooping tail, where the end of her tail barely touches the brittle cold mound.

She looked upwards at a familiar, and similar looking woman, older... The Alpha Female... Her Mother.

''You will surely die.''

Being so weak... Always hunting from the rear of the pack.. Never quite being able to hunt properly like the other pups. It had already been almost a year, when the werewolves went beyond their territory nestled deep in the mountain, and killed her father along with other members of the pack. All it's ever been... It's always been about hunting, surviving.. territorial disputes between Ookami packs and inevitable, deadly encounters with ravenous werewolf magic beasts.

But in the end...

Why did it matter to Lone? All she came home to is that disappointed glare of her mother. She wondered if the Alpha ever felt anything? Another hesitant look at the woman, as her voice becomes hard to discern.. The lectures always were tuned out.

Why does it matter? She's the weakest one in the pack. Following her mother to the den with slumped shoulders, she sat down upon a rock in the lit cave.

''As pathetic as you are. I cannot bring myself to let you perish here.''

The words draw the Ookami's attention to her mother. Her eyes with a wonder of if this will turn into berating as usual.

''In a way. This is my failure. I can't bring myself to raise you properly when there are others with greater potential. They aren't unusual. They aren't...''

Slowly, Lone's eyes wander down..

"..aren't me."

Slowly, Lone's Mother wraps an arm around her child, bringing her to rest a head upon their lap. Gently, she hums, as her eyes close. The gentle patter of the snowfall hits the den.. as the alpha merely hums.

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le9UEgEuc_Q&ab_channel=AnnSally-Topic ]

(Lone)
''Shh...

They aren't fragile.

I've been thinking.. Genuinely. Maybe, it is time for you to find a new home.

You should not die like this... In a world where one by one.. We perish because of enemies. You shouldn't be alone in that world. it's not right. It's not fair.

As a mother...

I must do whatever is possible to ensure you live.''

Lone's mother spoke in a soft hush, stroking her daughter's hair ever so gently. ''You've so much more to live for. This isn't your place, my daughter.''

The little girl's features scrunched up, in a mix of confusion and frustration. Her mother's words felt sad, and strange... Her ears twitched, and she looked over towards the lit wall.

"...but....mom.... me.... don't.. want to be alone."

...Lone never wanted to be alone.

Slowly, the child closes her eyes, as her mother continues to hum. Gentle pats to ease her daughter's worry.

''In your world. You aren't alone. In your world. You are big, and strong. Fast, and smart, with not a scratch on your face. You'll be the first one to eat any prey you come across. Not the last. You'll always be first. On top of the food chain.

But...

You will have to make that step first, ahead of the pack. I must stay behind. You don't want your father to be alone, do you?''

...

Slowly, the Alpha's eyes open, and for a small time, there is a semblance of warmth that covers the disappointment.

Lone's eyes look into her mother's eyes.

"...no mom....

no..."

The girl bitterly muttered, and with a few gentle pats, as the minutes boiled down.. Lone fell asleep.


"...no....

me...."

The gargled, tired voice slowly broke out in a fractured way, as the White Wolf laid on the ground, in the shallow puddle of her own blood. She lives in a world where they watch with waiting eyes, to see her casted away.

For her to perish.

That's how it's been...

In some ways.

Lone wondered when she stopped trying to run... Was it because of how painful it all is? A low whimper crept, as the water built up in Lone's bestial eyes.

That painful reflection of a memory, further on within a blizzard of thornier memories.

It hurts.

It hurts being alone.

It hurts failing.

She heard the howl of Ookami that have long since been dead.. She could hear the paws of Asena and Saekanis breathe against the wind, racing around Eternia after one another, where balance circled and became existent.

The Emotion bled free from the majestic wolf.

"..me.. tired....mom.."
The tear ran down the shrinking fur of the Wolf, as her heartbeat thumped against her chest.

She lived alone, and felt herself dying alone.. For a little time.. She felt a semblance.. An outline of what a pack might've felt with when she interacted with Felice.. When she was overseen and taken care of by Carina, yet the stubborn brat had always relinquished the idea of becoming domesticated.. She always went back to those urges to hunt.

To prove to herself..

That she wasn't a disappointment, but the world is so very large.

It is so very huge...

And she is a small wolf in a big world.

No... It is how it's always was written to be.

Lone's eyes tightly close in defeat as the blood streams down.

The quickened whimpers rustle out, as time's guillotine awaited to fall from Calanthe's hand.

"...khhh..."

It's always fallen over her head.

".....he..."

It was that special, magical word that Vionnelle told her, but...

Magic only works if you believe in it.
Magic only works when your heart feels that tingle.

Slowly, her eyes open in the midst of her somber groans, glancing up.
(Lone)

"...lp."

Sometimes... All it takes is a little bit of magic.
A little bit of light for someone to believe there is a way out from the dark loneliness.

Exhaustion has taken its toll, and as the blood courses out.. the body's resigned a long time ago.

The fur fully recedes into the Wolf's form...

Revealing underneath all of that flesh, and fur, the young Ookami's form, where the thousand eyed glare of the Plague Lord, of Saekanis has long since passed away. Scarred hands tightly clutch against the area where her heart sits, as her eyes slowly shut. A feral Ookami having gone extinct with the rest of her pack.

She fought against the world, but it didn't budge. Not a single inch. Not a single drop of blood. All she could do is exhaust those she hunted, in a meaningful desperation.. Only when the stubborn girl found a strength that weren't meant for her... Quite possibly meant for another Ookami, that had been prized with a higher grace of potential.

Lone didn't believe in it....

She didn't believe that it was her. She had lost her voice, her ability to have a voice that can decide her own way. She felt so broken and destroyed, falling down from the staircase that supported her, and as she fell.. She watched the backs of those before her walk further on up.

She is alone.

That's where you go, and where you end up.

That screaming spirit became quiet...
Its howls, but a mere gasp of air that couldn't shake the tiniest of leaves.

She wasn't fast enough.
That light she sought to catch in the infinite expanse... That 'moment.'

...Never Again...

It is gone.

Her lips naturally drop to a frown, as her tail lays flatly, her form to be witnessed by Aquantio, embraced by Carina as... that is the way the world works.

The Ecosystem, an endless cycle of life and death, balanced by predators and prey... where one must die so one can thrive.. to trim the overgrowth of weeds so that everything can remain functional.

The Lone Wolf, is merely a small part.

A small chapter of a large story that must find closure with the little ink that the quill has left.

The breath of the Ookami barely stirred out, becoming faint. Her forehead softly brushed against Carina's own.

Is it Mercy to put a dog in pain down?

Perhaps, it is.

It is time for a broken piece to go where they belong.

Thump...

thump...

thump...

...

..

Lone's breath fully goes silent, ceasing, and in a shared dance, the heart slowly stops as the feral Ookami finally rests, not in a hole where she bathes in pain, but where her body no longer needs to feel it all.. Where her mind and thoughts no longer need not be wracked with the little doubts, and need not fret over the tiniest of failures and worrying of disappointments.

She wasn't an alpha in anyone's world, but in her world..? Isolated, and far away from everyone's elses?

She felt like the freest, fastest wolf there is.

Isn't that right, ______?

The faintest memory embraces her departing life, where the crystalized core of a beating heart, just as hunters have done in the past.. To take the pelt, and bounty of the hunt.

Lone can hear the first words she could rationalize... that sight of a warmth, of father and mother, where the latter contentedly hums without an ounce of disappointment in the midst of a white haired pup's babbles.

''Good girl... Who's a good girl? Good job.

You did it.''

The End.
(Lone)

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Pub: 10 Sep 2025 05:49 UTC

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