*whine*
A familiar looking furball whined as it walked with unsteady steps toward an adult wolf.
*woo* *woo*
The wolf pup, not even two full moons old, found itself next to its mother's teats and began to drink its fill. While the pup focused on eating, the mother wolf looked around the cave their pack called home with a bit of disappointment on her face.
They all acted like savages, literally. Well then again, they were. The biggest difference was now her entire pack, except her and her own pup, had red eyes. Out of nowhere a few partial moons ago, a strange noise echoed in her head before it suddenly felt like her mind was invaded before it cleared up.
She still ran on her canine instincts to an extent, but she could think more clearly and make more rational thought than before. She wasn't smart by any means, but looking at the rest of her pack going on a rampage made her concerned for her kin.
With no knowledge of what was going on and how to deal with it, she had no way of stopping their packs eventual demise...
She was the Beta female in their pack, second in charge to her mate, the Alpha male. The Alpha was strong, and had helped keep their kin in line and protect them against other wolf packs throughout the mountain as well as protect their kin from bears or mountain lions that roamed around.
However the moment that strange noise occurred, the Alpha went on a rampage. With no warning, the Alpha killed several of his packmates, including some of his own pups, before running out of the cave with several of their best warriors in tow to go kill other clans.
That was the last she heard from her mate.
Later, she found out that the one who killed her mate, was one of their prey, a Deer. How did he lose to such a weak beast? Angry that such a stupid thing could happen, she led the rest of her pack to war with this 'Deer King' where she and the rest of her kin would ultimately meet their end.
But she did not meet her end at the hooves of the Deer King. Instead, it was at the hands of something called a 'Hooman' that looked like a hairless bear cub and used sharp sticks in its hands to kill her and the deer.
This 'Hooman' might have been her enemy, but she prayed to the moon, that it could defeat the Deer King and get revenge for her clan. And if she was lucky, be willing to take in the pup she left all alone.
- - -
When the strange noise echoed in the mind of a little fluffball, it also caused her mind to clear up and make her capable of conscious thoughts. She could understand her mother more clearly and could navigate around the cave easier but she couldn't seem to understand why a strange box was constantly floating in front of her.
It puzzled her just what it was and how to use it. She asked her mother, but her mother had no clue, only reminding her to stay in the cave and hide when she was gone.
*arf!* *arf!*
During the next few moons since the strange message, her mother went out a lot and would come back covered in blood that was hers and smelled like food.
Whenever her mother was home, she spoke out loud for her to listen and it made it much easier to know what she was talking about with time. Her mother also talked about that strange box in front of her, as her mother said she got it too.
Unsure what to do with it herself, her mother kept her from doing anything to it while she proceeded to 'use' the strange box to learn more about it. Through the use of the strange box, her mother suddenly became more powerful, but at the same time more agitated.
Her mother was furious at her father, the Alpha, who had disappeared one night and the words she spoke weren't nearly as clear as they were before. There was even one point in time when her mother growled at her angrily and stared at her with red eyes.
It frightened the pup to no end but eventually, her mother's eyes turned back to normal. The little pup was scared, unsure what was happening to her, her mother, and the rest of the pack as little by little, the pack grew smaller.
Other pups in the cave slowly began to wander away or die from not being taken care of by their parents. She was confused as to why they would do such things, but she could do nothing to change them.
And then there was the box.
Through her own little experiments when her mother was away, she was able to remove the box from her vision and bring it back by thinking about it. There was something on it that she couldn't understand, and she was tempted to try and use it like her mother did, but after remembering her mother's red eyes she forgot about it.
- - -
4 partial moons after the strange box first appeared, the pup's mother returned once more covered in the blood of their prey. Her mother had not been coming home so often, spending more time killing even when they had plenty of food to last full moons.
As such, she was not getting as much milk which made her hungry and feel weaker than usual. It concerned her, but she didn't bring it up as her mother was no longer so kind and loving as she once was.
The little pup felt more like a burden since she wasn't able to use the box like her mother.
*arf!* *arf!*
She flinched as her mother snapped her way with her lip curled up in a growl. The same scary red eyes had replaced her mother's loving gaze and had begun to be seen more than her regular eyes.
In the middle of her growl, her mother suddenly stopped, as the red of her eyes began to disappear. It didn't disappear fully, but it was much less than it had been in recent days.
*woo* *woo* *woo*
The pup's baby blue eyes widened in surprise and fear, as she was just thinking herself to use the box. Would she end up like this as well if she used it?
*woo* *woo* *woo* *ruff* *ruff* *bark!*
The pup looked up at her mother's loving gaze that she missed so much, worried that something bad was going to happen. It was almost like she could tell by the way her mother looked at her, that she wouldn't be coming back for a long time.
*whine*
Her mother licked her face, giving her the affection she missed so much but also pushing her off easily. She was not strong enough to force her mother to stay and that made water come out of her eyes.
She didn't even realize water came out of her eyes but her mother interrupted anymore thoughts on that discovery.
*woo* *woo* *woof* *bark* *woo*
The pup laid down depressed, as her mother wasn't wrong. When her father went on a rampage, her litter of 5 pups suddenly became 1 in a matter of minutes. She didn't even get a chance to see her littermates one last time before they were turned into piles of mush.
It made her want to throw up her milk but she could do nothing to stop her father. After that, he and about a third of their entire pack left, never to return.
*woo* *woo* *Bark* *growl* *bark*
*woo* *bark* *woo* *woo*
*woo* *woo* *growl* *woof* *bark* *woo*
*woo* *woo*
The little pup's heart trembled as this was essentially a final goodbye. She didn't want her mother to leave and she just wanted things to go back to how they used to be. But looking into her mother's now fully clear eyes as she laid down with her snout on the ground, she knew her mother was serious.
The little pup sat on her butt and puffed her chest out as she tried to hold back the water than threatened to fall out of her eyes.
*Bark!*
*woo*