"Please tell me more," said Terra. The two wolves were still in the cave.
"It seems like you're interested in my pack's history," said Stormfast.
"Well, they don't teach much if anything in Omega School."
"Well, this is the history of us," Stormfast replied. "Long, long ago, there was a wolf named Canis. He came into the Valley at the same time as a female wolf did and they mated. Her name was Keila, but the Westerns call her Floran for some reason. Anyway, they made the first family and organized the first pack in the Valley. Their original territory was only about one square mile, and a river that flowed south split the land in two: East and West sides. It's the same river I fell in, the one that brought me to you."
"So you fell in a historic river?"
"Yeah, funny way to remember it," he chuckled. "So Canis was the first pack chieftain here, and his descendants succeeded him. Next, it was his firstborn, August, then Marish, then Felix, then Mathew, then Tobias, then eventually Logan."
"That's a lot of chieftains," said Terra.
"Yeah, we're old. Every pack or group of packs has its own original lone wolf ancestors. Ours just lived much longer ago."
"In my Omega School, they did mention my pack's original lone wolf ancestor. His name was Calvin."
"What is the name of your pack?" asked Stormfast.
"The Pack of Honesty. We have a thing where we always tell the truth, so much so that our neighboring pack, the Crowfoot River Pack, called us that."
"Well, after Logan was Trey, and after Trey was Cedar, and after Cedar was Isaac." Terra then gasped. "In the first year or so of Isaac's reign, everything was fine... until a top Alpha named Joseph went to him one day. Joseph lived on the western side of the river. He told him that wolves from the East were stealing caribou from their side. At the time, wolves could cross the river by way of tree trunks that had fallen over, and Joseph caught some Easterns trying to cross over with caribou on their backs; however, Isaac disregarded Joseph because it seemed he just had a bone to pick with the Easterns, and that made Joseph mad, so he took things into his own paws. He said he would not hunt or train Betas until something was done about the stealing, but Isaac ignored him. The West began to starve, and Joseph galvanized them by blaming Isaac. The western portion of the pack then seceded and declared war on the eastern half, and that's how the War of the Divide started. They kept fighting, and Isaac couldn't do anything about it. Both sides secluded him. Joseph became the chieftain of the newly formed Western Pack, and an Omega-turned-Alpha named Peter became the first Eastern chieftain. Near the end of the war, Peter was sent to kill Isaac." Terra gasped again. Stormfast continued. "They tracked him down to the edge of the Dividing River. He was sitting on the last surviving tree bridge when they found him, and they surrounded him. He then jumped into the river, committing suicide. At the same time, the tree bridge broke, and the pieces got washed away along with his body."
"Wow," said Terra. "I'm glad my pack hasn't had a civil war."
"Well, that's not it. Legend has it that, before Isaac jumped, he cursed the Valley. He looked at the wolves who wanted to kill him and said, 'Two sides, both alike in smell, determination, and purpose, and yet our brothers are stained with wolfish flesh. If I die now, you will curse this river for my family and the packs you have created. Also, you may suffer more loss, making your purpose here tonight inert. I am ashamed that my once great pack has scarred itself. And the only way to bring your greatness back now is more than just to unite again. Farewell...' Everybody calls it the River Curse."
"Spooky," said Terra.
"After the war, Isaac's mate gave birth to Bronx, my grandfather, who became the Eastern chieftain after Peter died with no heirs." That was when Stormfast suddenly had a realization. He remembered that Bronx had accidentally fallen into the Dividing River just like he did recently. He connected the dots and gasped. "I'm a part of the River Curse!"