The moon shone brightly down upon the rainforest. The gigantic trees reaching their branches towards the white rock, the canopy filtering the moonlight entering the forest. There was little to no light on the forest floor during the night due to the thick canopy.The tree roots wound around the forest floor, battling others for covering more ground and absorbing more water, not like there was any shortage of water, but it was just in the nature of trees.
The bright moonlight reflected from the deep blue eyes of the only one gazing at it during the night, being one of the few who dare to climb to the tree tops in the darkness of the night. The white light shone upon her long black hair and black clothes, giving them a silvery shine. Her small fair face was illuminated by the moonshine, standing out amongst her dark clothes. Her clothes blended in with the darkness of the forest around her, concealing her from any others who dared to be on the treetops. A small patch of dark blue hair hung right between her sapphire eyes.
As she was busy gazing at the moon several small colorful birds took the opportunity and perched themselves on her shoulders and on the top of her head. One bright blue bird was bold enough to sit right in her lap, not being afraid of the little girl who appeared mostly harmless. She could feel the birds and hear their chirping, but she did not wish to disturb them, or let herself be distracted from the beautiful night sky.
A howl pierced through the silence of the forest, startling the girl and the many colorful birds, though they didn't fly away. It was common knowledge to even the birds that wolves can't climb up this high, they were easily more than a hundred feet above the ground. The birds simply chirped away, seemingly mocking the wolf which howled and startled everyone.
The girl turned and looked downwards, howling in reply to the other howl as she noticed something, alarming the birds. The birds stood as they were, in shock and fear of what they just heard. It was clear to them now, even trees are not safe for them from the wolves of this forest. Chirping a cry of fear and alarm, they flew away into the starry sky in a rainbow of colors that disappeared into the trees just as fast as it appeared.
Glancing at the beauty of that short spectacle for a moment the girl jumped down from the broad branch she was sitting on, easily landing on a much thinner branch and using her arms to balance herself. She easily maneuvered between the many branches, swinging, jumping, and sliding to slow down her momentum and not slide off the tree. She is well aware that the fall won't kill her, but it will hurt, and she knew that from experience.
Clinging on to a tree she slid down it's arcing tree trunk, though she knew she would need to stop herself once she reached the ground. As she slid onto the ground she attempted to use her legs to stop herself, but it only ended up sending her rolling ahead. She rolled to a stop with both her legs spread in front of her, a shadow looming over the little girl as she smiled nervously.
"This girl…" The wolf in front of her sighed.
There were two wolves in front of her, both possessing pitch black fur and were easily bigger than her, much bigger than her. The wolf that just sighed was her father. His eyes were blood red with jaws strong enough to easily crush the bones of any prey, though Sapphire never found his jaw to be quite scary. The other one was her mother, who was smaller in size than her father, and her eyes were a gentle shade sky blue.
"It is normal for pups to be playing around," Her mother pointed out with a laugh.
"On trees?" Her father asked in an annoyed voice, clearly getting tired of Sapphire's antiques.
Sapphire's mother walked around her before sitting down and licking her face affectionately. Smiling at her father afterwards.
"Regardless," her father sighed, "we don't have much time to waste here. Sapphire, back to your normal form right away, and pay attention to what I will be saying in a little while, it will be for your own good."
Sapphire nodded violently as she got up and followed her father and mother back to the center of their territory, the place where the pack lived. On the way back she turned back to her wolf form, a gentle blue light engulfing her body as she did.
"Why did we even teach her that...?" Her father sighed.
"As far as I remember, she just learnt it from watching others." Her mother reminded.
Sapphire walked silently behind. She knew both her parents just argued sometimes for nearly no reason. It wasn't that they hated each other or anything along those lines, they just found it somewhat fun as they did not have anything to do most of the day. Sapphire might be the topic but they never said anything to her directly, they would argue in front of her about her, but never really told her to stop it either.
She was free to do whatever she wanted, except going outside of their territory. Which she never did, even accidentally. Their territory was marked very clearly in the forest, circumscribed by magic infused trees. Their leaves were also green like the other trees, but theirs glowed brightly unlike any other. She sometimes ventured close to them to gaze at their beautiful glow, but never dared to step too close or ahead of them.
There was a similar tree at the very center of the territory, right where their home was. It was much bigger in size than any other tree in the rainforest, and much older too. From what is believed that tree is the reason the forest came into being, but there is no one from that time to confirm that.
The area outside the territory was dangerous, that was what she had always been told. Although the inside wasn't very safe either. The rainforest was inhabited by many venomous snakes, frogs and plants, and dangerous monsters. Every year at least two to three of the younger pups died to one of these, which is a fair lot since they only had around six to eight new pups a year. From what Sapphire was aware they performed a summoning ritual to summon them from the abyss, her mother confirmed that it was true as well, though she did laugh for a long while when Sapphire told this.
Sapphire's parents were worried that she will be one of those who died, but their worries didn't come true. The only reason for that was Sapphire's speed, both on ground and on trees, by jumping from tree to tree that is. She can run fast on the ground in her wolf form, and if the threat is still tailing her, she can climb onto the trees in her humanoid form and jump from tree to tree till her parents come for help. Which is something most other pups couldn't do as many didn't know how to transform, and a lot who did never really practiced in their humanoid forms.
Dealing with even the stronger monsters was a piece of cake for the adults, but the pups were easy food for any monsters daring enough. They were the strongest species of wolves there was after all, and in the rainforest they were at the top of the food chain. The adults were as large or even larger than many species of bears, though Sapphire was much smaller than even an average human in her humanoid form, and barely tall enough to reach the elbows of an adult in her wolf form.
The Midnight wolves, an endangered but deadly species of wolves, was the species they belonged to. They are more powerful than any other species of wolves physically and command more control over magical phenomena than nearly any other species to ever exist. The only ones stronger than Midnight wolves were dragons and phoenixes, but a pack of Midnight wolves could still easily secure victory against one or two of those.
'Why was a species so powerful endangered?' was a question Sapphire held onto for a long time. She asked many times about, and the answer was still somewhat unsatisfactory. The reason she was told was that Midnight wolves were hunted by humans, and they have been for an untold amount of time. Though she didn't quite believe humans would be capable of driving them to extinction. A human was barely two-third the height of an adult Midnight Wolf, and physically they were way weaker and slower, even having less affinity for magical phenomena in general.
As for why humans hunted them is quite simple. Centuries or maybe even longer ago, the Midnight wolves started a conquest by using their powers to free and help all others. The humans disliked this idea, and so did the phoenixes and dragons, and many others too. They formed an alliance against the Midnight wolves, driving them to near extinction. The surviving Midnight wolves were able to form a truce at the end under the condition they will be confined in this region.The magic infused trees served as a barrier in ancient times, but now they simply mark the territory of Midnight wolves, their powers having been drained by time.
At this point no species remembers that war or the truce and they are not openly hostile to the Midnight wolves, the only exception being the humans. Even after so long humans have continued to hunt Midnight wolves. From Sapphire's eavesdropping she uncovered that around thirty young wolves have gone missing in the past five years, more than twice as many as they would have lost normally.
She had known twenty of them before they disappeared, they were her friends. She did question herself why the ones she befriended always disappeared, and so, she cut herself off completely for the last two years. The only other wolves she has talked with in the past 2 years were her father and mother, or met actually. She has spied on other wolves many times, but never has she gone and talked to them. Many wolves started to believe that Sapphire also meant missing, and she heard many saying fairly rude statements about her, not knowing she was still here.
By being all by herself she also got a habit of staying in her humanoid form, while most wolves stayed in their wolf form most of the time, rarely ever turning to their human form. She preferred the humanoid form as it allowed her to use a many things in the rainforest more effectively, to her advantage that is. The humanoid form was seen as a necessity back in the time of the war to be able to wield weapons, but now it was just there for no purpose. It was still taught to everyone in case such a situation was to ever arise again, but most Midnights doubted they will need it so no one ever practiced it, they simply learnt it as fact.
"Stay here." Sapphire's father ordered as he went towards the boulder that was at the center of the area.
It was a large flat area of short grass and bushes here and there surrounded by large trees, situated right by the large magical tree, one of its roots passing from the border of the area. The green glow of the leaves was mesmerizing, and useful in the night. It usually helped locate even the smallest dangers which might be lurking around the area, and even worked as a beacon of danger for most other species.
Her father brought everyone's attention to him with a howl that pierced through the silence like a thunder strike. She always envied that howl, the authority it commanded. Her howl was considered as more of a squeak by everyone. It wasn't nearly as loud as her father's, which did make a lot of sense since she was just 8 years old.
The entire pack gathered in front of the boulder and looked at their alpha, awaiting his orders. Most adults were sitting the with the little ones playing around, and some of the more disciplined little ones attempting to seem as attentive as their parents.
"I will cut right to the point." Her father sighed. Though he didn't try to speak loudly his voice still easily carried around the entire area, another thing the tree helped with. "We have lost more wolves in the last 5 years than ever before, the total being around 40. While 10 of them died to inevitable causes like the venomous reptiles and monsters, the other 30 have gone missing." He informed the entire pack.
The entire pack gasped in unison before chattering noises were audible from the entire area. Many adults seemed angry, many horrified, and some simply confused as to who disappeared and when. The little ones only seemed confused at the reaction from others, from Sapphire's guess they failed to understand if they disappeared why don't they just come back, a point of stupidity Sapphire also was once at, though she prefers to not remember it.
"We have suspected humans to be capturing and killing us for a war that happened millennia ago." He continued.
So that's what it is called, millennia, Sapphire smiled to herself, having forgotten the word for a thousand human years before.
"That was only a suspicion though, until it was confirmed just today." He announced gravely.
There were confused sounds from the entire pack, even Sapphire tilted her head not understanding how it was confirmed. Her mother was right by her side but she had just been looking at the ground with a grave expression since the start. Thinking the discussion might get very serious and sad Sapphire padded to her mother and buried her snout in her fur, making herself comfortable and trying to sleep. Her mother just chuckled lightly in response, not disturbing Sapphire.
"The one who confirmed this suspicion was a member of our pack that had been taken away by the humans a few years ago, but luckily she survived and returned." He announced. There were cheers from the pack at the great news. "Or so we had thought when we found her." The cheers instantly died down.
"She informed us of how they suffered after being captured by the humans, and that we weren't the only ones targeted by the humans. The other species of wolves were too, even many dragons and phoenixes were somehow captured by the humans. After relaying all the information to us she said this, "There is no need to try and rescue the others, we will be more grateful if you avenge us by killing them, I don't think the others will want to live after all that either." He quoted. "She sliced her own neck after saying that." He announced gravely.
There was a collective gasp of horror from the pack. The adults shuffled the younger females closer to them while baring their teeth at the grave news, clearly enraged.
"It is finally time we leave the confines of this forest." Her father announced loudly. confused murmur ran through the pack at this sudden announcement. "Since this is a problem that concerns all wolves we will solve this along with them. We will journey north to the tundra plains, the territory of Winter wolves. This entire cooperation was planned by the wolves that were captured by the humans. All the concerned species have already been informed and they will meet us right there. There we will plan on our next course of action, and avenge our kind."
There was a murmur of agreement in the pack.
"The dangerous part about this is going to be the journey. Our pack has not been in outside contact for millennia. Nearly none of us have any knowledge of the landscape or what route we should take, or how far our destination is. We will have to be more careful than ever in this journey. And so, we are getting a day to prepare before we depart. We can't delay further than that, there are many lives counting on us to avenge them."
He ended with a loud howl, which was followed by the howls of all the other wolves. Suddenly woken by the howls Sapphire howled sleepily back. Her mother nearly stopped her own howl to laugh at Sapphire, who fell back asleep instantly after her howl, having not heard any of the important parts of the speech.