Chase climbed over a massive fallen tree, as the wolves slowly followed behind.
It was getting late now, and he wanted to find somewhere to camp for the night and give the wolves a few hours of rest before they continued on their journey north.
They had already gone as far east as they needed to and had left the near-endless river behind.
They were almost there...
If Chase had to assume, he would say that it would only take two more weeks to reach The City of The Sun.
A somber expression rested on the face of the tired boy. He had survived almost an entire year in The Dark Forest.
However, he had a slight feeling that the worst was still yet to come. So, he was constantly getting more and more cautious, avoiding anything strong enough to even hurt the wolves.
He kept his eyes open as they walked and eventually put his hand up, signaling to a small clearing. The wolves gave no response and quietly followed his command.
...
After setting up a small camp at the center of the clearing, Chase reached far within his core and summoned a handful of flames.
The burning sensation brought him back down to earth as his core violently protested his use of the magic.
He winced in response to the pain in the center of his chest.
The wolf with mismatched eyes lay silently at the boy's side, and Chase could have sworn it gave him a look of pity.
As he lit the fire, the eldest of the wolves flopped down onto its side. It slowly shut its eyes as its large torso began to move up and down.
The darkness of the forest began to overtake the world around them, leaving only the small area around the fire visible.
Chase set his bag down at his side and began to pull out some rationed rabbit meat that he had hunted that morning.
He set a decently sized strip of meat on the tip of his topaz dagger and began feeding the blade his elemental energy.
The dagger ignited with a beautiful orange flame that danced around the meat, causing it to sizzle as the air filled with smoke.
He patiently waited for the meat to burn a light pinkish-brown.
Once the meat was cooked, he took it off the tip of his blade and finished it in only three bites.
The boy was constantly hungry and tired of eating meat.
He pulled six more strips of meat out and tossed them one by one to the wolves that lay around the fire with him.
They did not protest and began to swallow their dinner in mere seconds, except for two of the wolves who growled at each other over the last piece of meat.
Chase ignored their antics and began to think to himself, until a question he had been wondering about for the last couple of weeks popped into his mind.
He sighed, enjoying the rare moment of peace for the seven of them.
He eventually decided to ask the wolves.
"Do you guys have names?"
The question was quite random, and of course, he did not expect an answer since they were only animals.
However, the moment he asked the question, the youngest wolf that sat closest to Chase lifted its head quickly to look at the boy with a curious gaze.
Its mismatched eyes met the boy's as if wondering why he had asked that question.
Suddenly, its ears perked up and its tail began to wag swiftly as it continued to look at the boy.
Chase looked at the wolf in confusion for a couple of seconds, then pointed at the young wolf and asked, "Do you have a name?"
The wolf continued to stare at the boy until finally, it shook its canine head slowly.
A childish happiness filled him as he realized the wolves could understand him even better than he thought.
Perhaps it was quite a silly thing to find so much joy in; however, Chase had not talked to a person in almost an entire year, so finding out that his canine companions could communicate on such a high level with him made his eyes light up.
He pointed at the eldest wolf and asked the mismatched-eyed one once again, "What about that one? Does it have a name?"
The wolf did not hesitate to answer this time and nodded its head in response as soon as the boy asked the question.
"Well, what is it?" Chase asked impatiently, as he was tired of referring to the wolves as just things.
The wolf obviously did not answer with words and just pointed its snout at the boy's chest.
He had been quite confused by the response and asked what the leader of the pack's name was again.
However, the wolf just moved closer and tapped its nose against Chase's chest.
Chase tilted his head in confusion at the wolf, then shrugged.
"How about I just give you my own names since I can't understand you myself?"
He smiled at the wolves, awaiting some sort of response.
He noticed the youngest wolf's ears perk up even higher, if that was even possible. He could have sworn he saw the wolf's eyes glint with an odd emotion.
Suddenly, sparks began to fly off the young wolf.
"Ah..." He paused for a second, pondering his decision. However, the name he had come up with seemed to suit the young wolf quite well.
"How about Sparky?"
The young wolf jumped on top of him and quickly began to pant happily while slobbering all over the tired boy.
Chase pleaded with the wolf to not crush him, but in reality, he wore a childish smile on his muddy and ragged face.