The moon shines brightly over the dense copse of evergreens, each towering tree casting long dark shadows. Zero and Kunto bound over the hill racing alongside each other. "Do you think they noticed that we are still missing?” Kunto asks breathlessly as he races alongside his brother.
“Eh, they are bound to have noticed by now.” Zero says making a jump up onto a big fallen tree, he turns and reaches down pulling Kunto up beside him and pauses long enough to ensure that Kunto landed on the other side before jumping onto the ground “But know one thing, we ain’t being let off easy this night.”
“It is about time you two showed up. You best have an excellent excuse as to why you are deliberately late to the Six Howls meeting.” The snarl came sharp and brittle, cold as frost. The brothers watched as the speaker stepped aside, revealing the giant dire wolf behind him.
His coat was a deep, dark gray—so dark it appeared black beneath the pale moonlight. The left half of the beast resembled a corpse. Bone split through fur where flesh should have been; rotted gums lay exposed, his tongue visible from that ruined angle. His chest cavity seemed barely contained, strips of fur clinging desperately to muscle and bone, as though something had tried to stitch death back into living form.
He looked less like a creature of blood and breath and more like a failed taxidermy project given a heartbeat. Some might say it would be kinder to put such a beast out of its misery. The dreaded creature is Zero and Kunto's father.
“Well, my sons?”
Zero dipped his head first, keeping his head low and eyes closed “Kivuli… we’re sorry. We were separated from the pack. We came as soon as we could.”
Silence followed. Kunto did not dare speak in his own defense. Kivuli’s single, unruined eye narrowed. It settled on Kunto. The smaller wolf cowers and looks away, his ears drooping in shame he really wasn’t looking forward to facing his father’s wrath.
Kivuli’s lip curls slightly as his thick bushy tail whips left to right behind him as he waits for an answer from his son yet Kunto keeps his head low “Yeah, what Zero said…” he mutters quickly. Shadow narrows his eye as he snarls, clearly not pleased with the answer but he doesn’t dwell on it. Instead he turns towards the gathered packs and speaks to them, his voice carrying over the quiet field.
“I’m certain you all know why it is that you have been called here.” Kivuli growls out. The other pack leaders nod as a large pale grey wolf steps forward causing Kivuli to turn and nod in acknowledgement “Wisp.”
“Aye, we heard that there has been trouble on the Humans side of the territory.” Wisp says his steely eyes harden “Rumor around here is that a black dog has been spotted at the border's edge. Going from all fours to standing upright like a man. Granted we don’t know how true those words are coming from Twilight Pack.” Wisp snaps his eyes darting towards a lilac dire wolf who in turn bares her teeth “We have zero reason to lie. This land is our home just as much as it is yours. And everyone here knows the rules about Wepwawet’s Cry’s. We all know the consequences of stepping over that line.” growls out. Her sides heaving as she fights to keep calm and not lunge at Wisp.
“Uwongo…” a fellow member of Twilight Pack speaks up in an attempt to soothe her. Uwongo sighs and steps back “Despite what you all believe about my pack, we aren’t liars. And you can even ask Dubu if you don’t believe me.”
Dubu steps up, his shaggy brown fur ripples in the wind as he moves. Gold eyes looked on the rotted alpha and he dipped his head in respect “As the leader of Noon Pack, and your friend I can say for certain that Uwongo is being honest. You know she would never lie.” Dubu mumbles softly “And I too have seen strange things happening at the border as well with my patrols. Something or someone is ruining our truce with the humans on the other side.”
Kunto blinks, lifting his head at that. There was a truce between them and the humans? He didn’t know that. He turns his muzzle towards Sifuri who keeps his head held high and tail still as he matches his father's gaze. Kivuli looks towards Dubu and he sighs, nodding, dragging his eye towards Uwongo who nods “We all believe in the truce, it has been respected since the founding of our packs. And you know without a doubt, not one of us would disrespect our ancestors like that.”
“Perhaps it was one of yours, Kivuli…” growls another voice. A muscular shimmering white wolf, Theluji growls out “How do we know that it wasn’t-”
“What are you implying, pray tell…” Kivuli snarls bounding over to Theluji coming muzzle to muzzle with the other who matches the energy, deep rumbling growls fill their throats as Theluji press further “Oh, as you wish…word has it that the one that has been crossing the boundary line is small and black.” he grins as he whips his tail “Who else fits that description?”
Kivuli snarled and reared up, bringing his full weight down onto Theluji and the ground shuddered beneath them. Theluji staggered—but only for a breath which bleeds into a growl he rose. His hind legs locked as his body lifted, towering, unnatural. Standing upright. His foreclaws slammed into Kivuli’s chest, gripping where dark fur gave way to that half-ruined ribcage. His jaws snapped forward, teeth grazing the exposed bone with a sickening scrape.
Yet Kivuli did not flinch.
If anything—
He leaned into it.
A sound tore from him. Not quite a growl. Not quite anything living. It rattled through the clearing like dry bones dragged across stone. Causing Theluji to hesitate for a heartbeat. That brief pause was all that Kivuli needed. He surged upward with a roar.
For a heartbeat, both wolves stood half-upright—monstrous silhouettes against the moon, their forms wrong in a way that made the eye want to look away. Too tall. Too broad. Too aware.
Then Kivuli struck. His claws drove into Theluji’s shoulders, forcing him back. Theluji’s paws tore trenches into the earth as he resisted, muscles coiling, straining—yet inch by inch, he was pushed. The air filled with snarls, snapping teeth, the crack of force meeting force.
Around them, the pack broke formation. Each scatter, bounding away in seconds.
Some stepped back. Some lowered themselves instinctively watching each and every movement of the clashing beasts.
And yet none dared interfere. Kunto couldn’t move. He watched as Kivuli fought—not like a wolf, not even like the others—but like something that had already crossed the line between living and dead, and found nothing there worth fearing. Theluji lunged again, faster this time, aiming for the throat—
And Kivuli let him.
Teeth met flesh…or what passed for it. For a moment, it looked like Theluji had him.
Then—
Kivuli’s ruined side split wider. Not torn. Not broken. Just… opening. Bone and sinew shifted as if the body itself had forgotten its proper shape. Theluji recoiled. But it was too late. Kivuli’s jaws snapped shut around his shoulder, crushing down with a force that made the white wolf snarl in pain. With a violent twist, Kivuli wrenched him off balance and slammed him into the ground.
he impact echoed. Dust rose.
Silence followed—
Broken only by Kivuli’s low, rattling breath as he stood over him.
“Enough.”
The word didn’t come from his throat alone. It carried. Through bone. Through the ground. Through every wolf in the clearing. Kivuli did not raise his voice. He didn’t need to.
Theluji went still beneath him. Not submissive. Not willingly. But still.
Slowly, Kivuli released him.
He straightened—not fully upright this time, but tall enough, wrong enough, that the illusion lingered. His single eye swept across the gathered wolves. No one spoke. No one moved. The air itself seemed to wait.
Theluji snarled as he rolled onto his side, scrambling back to his paws. His pelt bristled, fur fluffed in a last, desperate attempt to look larger—more dangerous.
It didn’t work. Everyone saw it. He had been put down. By the strongest beast in the forest. Kivuli did not look at him again. Instead, he lifted his muzzle toward the sky. He inhaled.
And then—
He howled.
The sound was wrong. It was not a call. Nor was it a warning. It tore through the clearing like something dying—like a scream dragged from a throat that refused to give out. It echoed through bone and marrow, rattling every wolf where they stood. One by one, they bowed.
Even the ones who had stood firm before.
Yet Kunto did not bow. He inched backward instead, a soft whimper slipping from him before he could stop it. His ears flattened tight against his head, his eyes wide, locked on the towering figure before him. His father.
A living nightmare. A creature that had no reason to exist. Shouldn’t exist.
And yet—
Here he stood. And Kunto could not shake the thought that Kivuli had not been born like the rest of them. But dragged into the world from something far deeper. Something far darker.
Kivuli’s gaze swept the gathered wolves.
“Who else dares speak falsehood against my kin?”
Only silence answered. Satisfied, Kivuli turned. Not to the elders. Not to Theluji.
But to Kunto. That single, unblinking eye fixed on him.
“You.”
The word landed like a stone.
“Step forward.”
Kunto’s eyes widened; he really wasn’t looking forward to going up there. He didn’t enjoy having eyes on him or being the center of attention, and yet at the same time he knew he couldn’t keep the older wolf waiting.
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