Eris and I are driving our Speedorz on dry land. The sky darkens as the sun is shining less, but it is not nighttime yet. Pinnacles of stone remain in their place, sticking out of the earth in a pattern similar to a ribcage, more so than fangs.

“These natural structures curve inwards into a shape that facilitates the propagation of sound”, Eris whispers. “If anything happens here, we’ll be able to hear it clearly.”

We are near the area of the incident; amplified noises of chattering and footsteps reach us, which means that my uncle, alongside lion guards, are investigating the scene. We park our Speedorz near a ‘fang’, and spy the animals there.

Lavertus is crouched, observing the bloodstain my injury left on the ground. A lion guard with light brown fur and long canines analyzes the claw marks of the damaged rock from before. Another lion with an orange mane is taking notes of every minor detail pointed out by his co-worker and captain.

“Interesting. The slash left by the culprit has a distinct quirk– if we connect the scars, it forms a narrow curve”, says the brown-maned feline. “The depth and position of the scratch hints that force was concentrated on the entire hand and arm, which means that they are not a lion.”

My uncle replies, “I thought so, Longtooth. We put most of our pressure on our tendons to grip; my nephew’s arm was hacked, and blood was drawn from him. We lions don’t do that, neither do we hit arms.”

Wind weaves the dust away, diffusing along the way the unnerving scent of blood– my blood. The shine no longer descends from the beyond above us, as mist starts to veil each of its rays. The shadows that hide our colors in blue are but a speck of our melancholy.

My blood’s smell enters my lungs at every breath.

Each. And every. Breath.

I take it. Inside me.

Oh… oh.

Who is that? Near the blood?

Is that Laval, crouching near the pool of blood, hiding his wound from the monstrous creature? An unrecognizable monster, shadowed by malice?

Its eyes ooze with a purple vapor. How dare it reach towards the innocent prince, with its open mouth, drooling without self control. Maybe it has self control– it has malice. Malice.

The moon blinds me with a dark orchid colored light.

Now… white. All is white. I am not dead, at least. Something yellow is a little too close… is it the sun? 

“Laval! Wake up!”, that yellow thing screeches, “Wake up! Please…”

Eris? Is that you?

I latch myself onto her before falling.

It appears that a lot of time has passed– surrounded by a bunch of wolves, and Eris, I scream from the top of my lungs. 

I whip my tail behind me and I end up hitting someone.

“Ouch! You idiot, watch what you’re doing! You slapped my face!”, Worriz barks.

The wolves distance themselves from me.

Ahh. I feel much better now… the atmosphere, although humid, stinks no more. It freshens my insides. 

I let go of Eris, then I examine my surroundings.

This is the Wolf Lair; a giant truck-like vehicle, built out of metal, with a cockpit shaped like a wolf head.

I always knew that wolves didn’t have a fixed home, but I underestimated how much space they lived in, and the amount of tonnage space they used.

“Pesky eagle! You came all the way here just for us to pity your friend? We don’t have time for trivial incidents like this.”, Worriz turns around and stares at me. “I’ll tell my dad you’re the one bothering me, Laval!”

A door of the Wolves’ Lair opens, revealing a gray elder wolf, trembling his hind paw to reach the ground. Worriz sprints at the feeble senior to hold his hand and help him gain balance.

His face is wrinkled all around his muscles. His bean eyebrows, due to old age, have loosened into a pitiful expression, accentuated by his dirty tear ducts. His white muzzle is unkempt, falling down on his chin, with long unused whiskers. Even though it’s natural, the sight of the natural physical deformities that come with age is saddening. Most of the time, they’re not fatal, but you can see the effort it takes to remain alive.

Their tight bond is enough to show that they’re father and son. 

The wolves around us whisper, “Wakz! Wakz!”

Wakz smiles with his weak lips, while his son scowls with his teeth exposed.

“Oh Laval… are you feeling better now? Your friend brought you here, away from the scene. My people told me everything– I am deeply sorry for what happened.”

I itch my eyelid a bit. A scene?… Ah, that scene. Of course, I came here to understand what happened. Maybe asking Wakz about it could help me reach a better conclusion? We aren’t far away from the area of the incident, therefore it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to get information from him…

“Yup… I’m fine, feeling better right now– and, about what you said earlier… Has anyone in your tribe seen something like that? Or did something suspicious happen before that?…”

He turns his head and faces the crowd before him, sulking his already gloomy face. To shun your own pack, huh… 

“Quite some time ago, there was a wolf. A big, bad wolf. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t know how he became like that, nor why. He was a silent killer, taking others’ lives without leaving any trace behind. However… I have yet to find any news of him in more than years.”, Wakz grunts, as his voice sounds more frustrated than normal, slouching his body forwards. “I suppose this might help you. Take care, young one.”

The elder returns to his base, followed by the others, in a single linear formation. I wonder if they’re some kind of hive mind, given how they act like an ant colony. Though I doubt that they would call themselves a colony, and that’s because they aren’t one.

Eris and I stare at each other in confusion; is this a mystery worth uncovering, or is it just a dangerous dead end? We could come back to Lavertus and ask about what he found.

Weird enough… I was close to the shadow before fainting. Yet… I wasn’t able to see it. It’s frustrating– if I knew what trait the culprit had, I would’ve had at least one clue to solve this mystery. I need to find out who committed this crime against me; why would they do something like that, what happened to them? Are they the wolf Wakz mentioned?

Eris covers her beak with her delicate talons, masking her smile. What’s all that giggling about?

I hold her wrist with my two paws and hover it to me.

She, using her unoccupied claws, points behind me, with an adorable expression on her face, almost ready to burst out laughing.

Ugh! This is no time to laugh! My life might be in danger… What are you thinking about—

My ears! Ouch!

I let go of her hand and a firm grip pushes my ears down to the ground.

My thump mixes with her laugh and Worriz’ barkings. The sounds spread all along the area.

The fall hurts my arm a bit, but I don’t mind it, as long as I have my friends with me, seeing their mindless quarrels, funny pranks, crazy adventures l… Friendship is truly something magical, and I believe we should try to be together as much as possible, because I don’t know when it’s going to end. Eris lies down on the floor next to me, chattering about the stars, her new discovery about water… She talks about gravity, and that she saw the water following along with the movement of the moon. Amazing isn’t it?

I lie sideways, gazing at Eris while she continues her incessant ramblings, explaining how she likes to study, her major interests such as technology and culture of her tribe. She’s truly a beacon of knowledge, and I admire her for that.

Moments of peace never last forever; Worriz groans and pushes us around like little toys.

“Oh, hey? What about me, huh? You lovebirds need to listen to others too!”, he whines, “Do you guys not know who Wilhurt is, like, seriously? I mean, he hasn’t been seen in ages… but if you ended up having your ass beaten by him, then, it’s on you. Not my fault you ran up to that guy.”

I let out a heavy growl. Why did I invite Worries to play with us in the first place? He’s a bratty troublemaker. He bullied Cragger– if it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t be here in the first place. Though, he’s kind of right, because our fight doesn’t have any correlation with… Wilhurt?

Never heard of that name before. It might be important later, though, so I’ll keep that in mind.

Shaking movements alert us to three Speedorz approaching the Wolf Lair; they’re Lavertus, Longtooth and the orange haired lion from before.

My uncle runs up to me and hugs me. We need to head back home now.