A Biography of a Human

Chapter Twenty-Five:

“Loom Of Fate"

When I became leader of my Father's pride, I was nineteen monsoons aged. My elder, a fearsome lioness of a grandmother, it was her that told me her son was dead and that I was now leader of the pride. 'You know what you must now do, my cub,' she whispered without a single hint of sadness for the passing of my father, reminding me of my duties as new leader: no rivals for my newborn rule.

Young and arrogant I was, boasting of my prowess and steaming with energy to get things done! How I seethed the influence of my Grandmother and my Aunts standing in my way! I gave an order to my pride and they would look first to my older lioness forebears first before turning to me! How I raged within as I whiffed the scent of their worship to them over me!

Now, I am thankful for their dipping their paws into the honey pot. That young and chickpea-headed lion I once was could have ruined Father's pride! Those stubborn old females, they reined me in like that brainless gazelle I was, even though I despised it. That there, is why I picked Nith'hatep for my son, she can not only rule, but reign…

-Aha'hor

The battle was won and everything after it was dull in comparison, the fear and anxiety of it gave me a rushing high and the following days gave me nothing to keep myself busy with, aside from the painful trauma of that vile lion and the fear of encountering him even in the safety of others. I knew he would give me a look that spoke a hidden language of how he took me as a conquest and the mere thought of that terrified me deeply! Any misgivings I may have had about what Aha'hor did to me became like nothing, for at least he gave me a choice. Sure, a choice that was rather forced, but still a choice regardless! My point is Aha'hor did not hurt me, his ass of a cub did and I will never forget that, nor forgive him and I soon longed for him to suffer a painful death.

Most of the females were out hunting. Chieftain Aha'hor was not here as well, being on an expedition southward, bringing along my Master Gernan to act as a commander and the majority of the pride's male warriors. Only his two sons were left behind.

I was broken, after my…my...my violation. Thoughts of hatred, both towards myself and of that lion filled my heart with a whirlwind of anger and sadness in the days and weeks after.

“Iskander? You're back! What happened to you? You're all wet!" Gernan said I tried to enter the tiny slit of our tent opening with being noticed.

My eyes locked with his wolvish amber eyes. Upset that he was still awake, as I was hoping to not have to talk to him, I put up a steely demeanor and I stuffed the pain within my body and spirit deep into my being, far from both his sense of sight and smell.

“Nothing," I snapped out as I worried he would see through my lies. His long face dropped at my cold voice, “I'm sorry! I just slipped in the river!" I changed the tone of my voice feeling sorry that I spoke like that to him.

The moment of silence that came out of this was like a slow burn as he and I stayed where we were looking at one another. I knew he was trying to read me with those senses of his, those eyes trailing up and down me along with the gentle inhales of his nose taking in my unseen aromas.

I filled the space where thoughts and feeling were made manifest within a person with nothing. The pattern of the textile walls around us, the grain and wear of the wooden poles holding it up. The jumping flame of the small clay lap resting on the floor before my seated Master, the flow of this fur covering his arm, the way each dark follicle of hair combined with others to form a surface of fur that covered his exposed arm. All these thoughts I filled my head with. as the scene of my rape faded from memory and any sign of distress so too left the space around me.

Gernan's face changed. Satisfied with what he sensed in me, the skin around his muzzle lifted up ever so slightly as his eyes lit up, “Come here, Iskander!" he said happily, while waving me over with two clawed fingers, “It's been a long time since we've had time together, just the two of us!."

Grinning widely, I pranced over to him and collapsed down on top of him as he grunted under his breath from the unexpected impact of the weight of my body. I was sitting on his knee like I was six years old again back in Lupercal, like nothing ever changed.

“My! I think you are getting too old to be bobbing on my knee like a puppy again!" he said in Wolven, which I almost did not recognize.

“Looks like we have been speaking 'red dog' too much, Iskander, judging by that puzzled look on your face!" he said, half-chuckling, as I felt my cheeks fluster with warmth!

“Aw, look at you now! You're going all red, you humans are so easy to read!" Gernan laughed playfully while he reached out with a lone finger and squished my nose lightly. I too laughed, not for what was said and done, but for the fact I managed to pull the wool over him just a moment ago, while still making sure to shut my mind off from going back into that.

Gernan let out a wistful sigh, “Pup, its been too long since we have been like this together, much too long."

“You mean like Father and son?" I coyly countered him.

He nodded his head, “Yes, exactly like that! Exactly," stopping for a moment as he looked around at everything before he turned his long, scar-marked snout back to me.

“I have you to thank for this, being here and alive, you saved me from starving out there-" in his eyes I saw him start to drift to what I had to do.

“Shh, don't go there master..." I stopped him, he should not endure any more pain in his old age. His face trailed off and looked off to the side with a glimmer of fearful sadness sprouting in the corners of his wolvish eyes as he looked like he was trying to say something he knew I would find painful.

“Pup..." he paused after making contact with my eyes, seemingly the words lodged in his throat, “pup there will be a time sooner or later when I won't be here for you…" the words fell down on my heart and a coldness expanded throughout my frame.

“No…" he raised his claw up to my lips stopping me from speaking.

“Iskander, you have to be ready for this! I don't want you to be in darkness when my time to become a spirit comes," I started to feel my eyes water up, I wanted to scream out in sadness but I knew deep inside me I had to listen.

“Now, you should know, that for us wolves, sixty is about the age we turn in our swords to the gods..." I did not know, I never wanted to even look at such things back when I could.

“What! What about old Cato?" he sighed again as he placed his paw atop my shoulder at being reminded of his youth under the army drill master.

“Sometimes wolves defy the cycles of time longer than others, he was one of them, and I don't think am lucky enough to reach his age," I could not stand it anymore, I threw myself around my wolf Father's shoulders and began sniffling back my watery snot that had started to run down.

“Shhhh...shhh….I know its hard, but one day it will happened and I want you to be ready for it! I could not stand the thought of you, my little human pup being so lost in the word!" feeling a soothing patting motion on the back of my head, I calmed down a bit but the thought of it all still pained me.

“Please daddy! Please don't die!" I plead out, phasing into the role of a small child again as I realized I called him 'daddy' out of my own will. Part of me wondered if the soul of my Father was angry with me, but I knew he would not. Vernier was still my father, but so was Gernan.

“Iskander, my puppy! I am not dying now or for that matter anytime soon! I'm what, in my mid-fifties now? So stop it! You are a grown man now!" he reminded me in a gruff tone he would've used when addressing a fellow solider in the army.

I pulled back and he wiped the stray drops of tears with the sandy pads of his finger tips.

“Funny how you humans start watering when you are sad-" he stopped abruptly as though he came to a thought of something he did not like, like when your mind comes across a bad memory. His demeanor changed as a downfallen sense of emotion came over him, with his ears lowering ever so slightly. “You almost look like he did, when…"

Concern grew in me at his drastic change, I had no idea what was the cause, “I sometimes wonder if all of this is punishment for what I did to him…"

“Him?" all my previous emotion was being replaced by intense curiosity. Then Gernan spoke a name that both shocked me and caused me to wonder.

“Jao…" the word pained him and guilt was written all over his expression, his eyes darting downwards.

“J-Jao…what do you mean?"

“When my forces captured him after the sack of Lappeen…"

I was painted a picture, a story came to fore. A bleak landscape below a scattered, northern sky. All around, wolves clad in lamellar or chainmail, some on horseback and others on foot; their brightly colored underclothes of shades of blue, green and red giving an impression of rank. All were trudging in the unstable dirt of their encampment, a common infantry-wolf cursing as his booted foot sunk into the fresh mud made from wolves using the ground as a latrine.

“Lupa, daughter of Canis! Make'em come down with a stinging bladder!" what I can only imagine he would have said under the circumstance.

In the near distance, a walled town sent out dark smoke. Prisoners of war marched into the army encampment, a line of chained bears and a few dogs and humans, all waddled around as stuffy wolf bureaucrats groaned and marked them for tally.

A bear shieldmaiden, screaming and being held back by a troop of wolves, who strained as her power almost overwhelmed them. Her youngest cub being carried away into a tent as a strange looking wolf followed behind with an ominous wooden box.

She, a mate of a fellow warrior whose fate in battle was still unknown to her, and now her peoples refusal to surrender was about to be given its due justice upon her noble offspring. The rage of a thousand vengeful mother burned within her ursine heart.

The glint of a blade and a flash of lightning, a sharp subdued cry rang out and died as quickly as the slice that caused it, told the world a new servant of the Alpha was born.

It was in this picture that a wolf dragging a kicking blonde-haired human emerged. The wolf paid no heed to anything but his objective, a prominent scarlet tent in the center of the large camp, barreling into its opening, undeterred by the wily human.

There within, my younger Master stood, aged in his mid-thirties and surrounded by his commanders as they were made aware of the new arrivals.

“I eyed up that human as though he was nothing, just an object and nothing more! I was caught up in the moment of glory after the victory of the previous days, my forces spearheading into ursine territory after we had vanquished the meager riffraff they offered up! Even the Prime Beta was writing highly of me back at Lupercal! I was arrogant, had a temper them, and further, I spent the previous evening imbibing myself," he paused, giving an impression that he should not hide anything anymore from now on, especially to me. He must have thought that if he could not trust me than who was there to trust at all?

“All my commanders were there in high spirits, readying our next move and drafting an offer of surrender with the terms of all of Karelia being made into an imperial province…I craved to have some amusement…" his downcast eye raised up and met with mine, the dampened yellow gave such a cloud of self-loathing ignominy that my soul felt crushed under its weight, the weight he must have endured deep within him for all these years.

“I-I...I...I desired to feel power…to lord over something like that of a deity to a mortal…and what better opportunity to live that out than of the feeble human now cowering before me?" the wolf's shame brimmed over in his eyes and turned away, no longer able to take the view of my face anymore.

The scene resumed, Gernan swaggered up to the human who knelt on the floor, he looked up and shot Gernan a stare of deep hatred as the wolf domineered over him with a smug twing on his taut muzzle. It was then that the young Jao jumped forward, aiming his fist for the groin of Gernan, though he never got a chance for Jao's hand was then viced in his cage-like paws.

“I was entertained by this! I recall that my tail was swishing around as though I was in a joyous hunt, in treating him as though he was a toy for my cocky delight!" Gernan stopped, taking deep breaths as he started to comb his claws through his fur while he continued to not dare lift his gaze up at me at. “What took ahold of me!? I was 31 years old, Grand Marshal Of Land and Sea, Bearer of the War Banner of the First Wolf and on the effortless path to being one day named Prime Beta of the Alphate! Yet what did I do? I took on the role of a juvenile pup intoxicated with a small amount of personal power!" he thrust his coiled fist on his thighs, anger strumming through his maw as though he was jabbing a broadsword into his very own past pride and killing it once and for all.

“I looked to Titus, his unit was the one that found Jao and brought him to me. He came over and pushed the restrained human even further, restricting him down, his head firmly pressed down on the dry dirt floor as I settled my booted paw atop his head as though he was a hunting prize, while dirt on the sole soiled his fair head!" appalled to my core, I could only think how this was not the nature of my master, this was more like that of Titus! It soon came to me then, that he and Titus were old friends, they went a long way back. It finally made sense to me then.

“After that, I tore the poor human's clothing off, presenting his supple body to my comrades while making remarks about his form and asking my commanders what they thought of this human. All the while, the human was gazing up at me, trailing me with such pained grief. It was then I decided he would make a good gift to my Alpha," Gernan collapsed forward and I caught him him my arms as he made pained whines, this was something he was keeping within for decades, and though I was shocked and to be honest, sickened with the past actions of my Master, I could not hate him. He was never like this with me, but that brought up a question, why not?

In between his pained whines and whisper-like howls he tried to speak out more.

“When I…I came home...my…my…Yena!" sounds of the old wolf's snout filling with mucus came out as I felt him hold on tighter to my form. “My Yena…" labored panting started, Yena, a name which I rarely heard in the household of my master.

“She came down with the distemper!" the pained voice of Gernan came back, returning me to the present as he started on a long series of further breathless panting.

“While I was away,a blight of it struck Lupercal, my daughters were sent away to my brother's in our clan home, but she contracted before she could get away herself…" howling sobs filled my ears as his pain transplanted itself into me, bringing back my own pained memories of loss.

“I could not even touch my mate! I could only watch behind gauze screens as she writhed in spasms of pain in our bed! Her nose all dry and calloused! I couldn't tell her I loved her!"

“This is all my doing! I deserved this and to think I brought you down with me, Iskander! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!" I started to cry again, hearing all this as I pulled him tightly into my arms, not even caring about his weight bearing down on me.

“I created my own downfall! I formed, out of my arrogance, my very own nemesis! Framed for treason and only saved by you, little Alexander..." he spoke my name, not my name of Iskander that he had given me, but my birth name, my human name. I can only interpret it as him seeing me as a complete equal in everything.

“Master…." I whispered into his ear, placing my free hand on the tufts of the longer fur of his nape, starting to gently stroke him.

“Master, don't say that! I love you and I would never be upset with you! Please don't say that! I forgive you!" his hulking form seemed to loosen up at the sound of my words and I gently laid him down, quickly rolling below me a wad of fabric to make a pillow for his head to rest on. All his energy seemed to be gone from his core.

Gently placing his large head on to the pillow, I leaned in and whispered soothing words into his furred ears, “Master…Daddy…I love you and no matter what you have done, I always will love you," his eyes closed and a sense of peace slowly grow on his face. His muzzle murmured out groggily in response as I curled up next to him, resting my hand on his chest, still telling him I never felt otherwise about him nor that I would ever.

“You must sometimes stand up for yourself and you mustn't regret in doing so either or you will be trampled underfoot by others…" my Grandfather's advice, it was before me. Gernan, overtaken by regret, was now being crushed, by not others, but by his own emotions, it was all clear.

“Master?" my voice, quaking, came out in the dimming flam of the lamp. “Do you remember what you told me about the nature of Fate?"

“We can't control the numberless threads of destiny, even the high and mighty Gods follow the will of the heavens. Though it is all around and its force seems to be unstoppable, one should never resign oneself to the futility of it fully, 'Some things can not be stopped, but sheer force of will can defy it,' that is what you said Master!" he was now leaning up, focusing his head and open eyes on on mine.

“If we meager mortals can divert an entire river, then so can the flow of destiny be likewise changed! If fate is more a loom of an infinite number of cords, why can't we focus on just a single thread and pluck it!?" my voice was trailing off from having taken no pauses to inhale and I finally stopped to take in some air for my fatigued lungs.

“Gernan, only fools and simpletons surrender to fate as unceasing force!"

“Therefore-" I paused, closing my eyes set in firm conviction of the world around me before setting them open again on those of my Master's.

“-Destiny can also be what we make of it as well!"

Nith'hatep and all the rest of the lionesses were out on a hunt, which I tagged along with since I had no desire to stay back where I could encounter that vile beast. Aha'hor was still campaigning in the south, leaving that wretched lion's older brother in charge. News of victories over other prides came in occasionally, which I did not pay much heed to, save for the word that Gernan was well.

This was the marshlands and unlike the savanna, there were not many large beasts to hunt. The lionesses were still getting the hang of hunting foul, which was abundant. Thankfully, the absorbed lions of the former Turtle Pride were here to help and it was not long before it was mastered by the others.

This was my life now, strange as it was, a life among lions! It was as though this was how things always were, those scenes of yesteryear becoming more like fiction than reality. Lupercal, that great city of the wolves, felt as distant to me as the exotic continent across the great, dark sea. The great continent of which the foxes had an almost total control of exports from, thanks to their great wall spanning the entrance of the Mediterranean and their ownership of the Kiel Canal, forcing the ursines to use the dangerous Sound crossing whenever they felt like exercising political leverage.

“Your kind's affinity for greed will be the undoing of your beloved republic!" is a saying often uttered by non-foxes when cursing at a foxen merchant or landlord who ripped them off. What was it that a wise man said, “In the voice of the masses the future is told?" Something like this, if I recall.

A sharp tug on my arm pulled me back from my mindless watching the waves of the endless river. I was tasked with keeping the cubs busy while their mothers hunted; not the easiest task for me considering how strange I was to them, being the first human they ever laid their young eyes on, though I knew I would not be forever the only human. It won't be long until others are brought here in Aha'hor's wars.

“Den, stop it! You're hurting me!" the little cub gave a playful snort as he clambered off my exposed arm and started running around me, his tasseled tail knocking me in the face a few times. Groaning lowly, I checked over my arm to see if any blood was drawn, which I found none.

Oh, those claws were so sharp! What was it with the young and having such harsh claws and teeth!? I thought back when little wolf, Ulric, bit me that one time in his palace. To be thinking about him brought me happy thoughts and my mood lightened.

I reached out my hand and when I saw a dark yellow blur rush past me, I reached forward and grasped that rope-like tail of his.

“Gotcha!" he fell backwards, starting to roll on the ground kicking his paws and legs.

The corners of my eyes caught a brief glance of a lion in the distance running past and going into the marshland where the females were pouncing on foul to bring back to the Pride. This was nothing to me though, as I was top busy keeping that cub, Den, distracted as I had released him and was now playing hide and go seek. He was hiding behind a small rock rather poorly, thinking I couldn't see his ears and tail from behind it.

A shriek shattered forth from where the feline huntresses were.

I thought the worst! Another pride must have found us, an unknown Northern one most likely! Why else would a lioness cry out like that?

Grabbing the surprised Den up in my arms, I made haste to the marsh. I may have been heading to whatever ill was occurring, but it was the safest area I could think of in my moment of hurry. It was not long before I caught sight of them all in the clearing of the marsh, the grouping of maneless lions huddled around with sacks of fallen foul over their shoulders in a theater of tall grass and reeds.

But there was something else, a male, young as his mane was short, and sparsely dressed in only a loin cloth. He was a messenger, my previous thoughts of a rival Pride chancing upon us quickly faded as I resumed my forward momentum.

The sight of Nith'hatep came forth among the strangely silent crowd of felines, her face was like that of a dead person, life drained of its frame and eyes wild with a sense of danger. The male lion was gasping for air, his paws on his knees trying to choke out more.

“Aha...hor….dead…..fallen in battle…." was what I heard repeated again and again by this breathless feline, who stopped, aware now that he should wait and gain his voice again before giving more info.

The news took a while to comprehend. The words came into my mind separately out of context, not fulling linking up with the other until it snapped together in a feeling like being punched in the gut.

“News...came back to the….Pride a while ago…your mate was going to take hold of the Pride…but..." he paused, taking deep mawfulls of air as Nith'hateps composure returned in full force, “WHAT IS IT! Is my mate leader of the Pride!?" she roared as the young male lion's face formed a worrying grimace.

“N-n-no…." his voice was barely a whisper, he looked terrified.

“Weha'djet was standing behind your mate when news of Aha'hor flying west came forth."

Nith'hatep lunged forward and grabbed the male, shaking him “WHAT HAPPENED!?" she snarled like she did to me the first day after I bit her paw.

“Weha'djet, he slew Wenem'sybek right there! A dagger to the back!" the lion was thrown back in burst of violence.

“MY CUB!" she looked around frantically, ready to leap into sprints if need be, until her frenzied eyes caught sight of me standing there in shock and still clutching Den! Bounding forward like a predator towards me, she stopped just short of colliding!

“My Den! Peshef! Praise the Golden Disc! You are here!" she hugged her little cub, that I expected her to do with Den, naturally as her son; but not her turning to me and also pulling my body into her large furred arms! I knew she and I, well, mated; but she was a stone-faced lioness when it came to others not of her blood, so I was unsure of her thoughts on me, even though I was frequently called to her side when her mate was out and Aha'hor had of no need of me.

“You two must go! You must hide!"

“Where?"

“North, The Cursed Ruins, there you will be safe!"

“Cursed!? Ruins!?"

“No time! Go!" the overbearing feline mother rushed forward, grappling my arm and dragging me and Den along with her.

“How will I even know where this place is?"

“You will know it when you see it!" I so desired to ask more before I ended up running off into the desert yet again, at this time with a young lion in my arms, then I remembered.

“GERNAN! MASTER!" it hit me and I started to lose it. If Aha'hor was dead in battle, where was Master!?

“Forget the senile wolf, human!" she snarled in rage at my sudden hesitation and newfound focus on my Master.

“No! I can't live without him! I must find him!"

“Stop! Don't you even think about it!" pain erupted across the back of my neck and all my movement was halted as I felt the unmistakable feeling of claws on my nape. “You must safeguard my cub! If you don't, I will kill you right now!"

She had turned me around and I was now only inches from her face, just a small void of air separating her stout maw of fangs from my nose, on which her blistering exhalation blew across.

“Listen, human! You go with my Den now! If you dare think about that old wolf of yours, I will skin you alive and leave you for the crocodiles to feast upon!"

If her words did not convince me of her intent, her flaring eyes did.

“Why can't you run off with him or have them do it?" I said, pointing to the other female lions. Nith'hatep did not even glance to them, continuing to stare me down into submission.

“We have only one chance to make this right and they are apart of that!"

“What do you talking about?"

“I think you know, human!" I vaguely did. It clearly was a last desperate plan to ensure her cub's survival, so I just nodded solemnly in response.

“Go now! Go!" she started pushing me forward like I was a stubborn horse being motivated to move.

“What about, Nefer'Ah?" bringing up Den's sister who was being comforted by her Aunts.

“She's a female, she is safe from harm by my brother-in law! Now go! Already you have wasted enough time! Weha'djet's first action would be to find my Den and kill him! Go!"

All I could think about as I ran off with that little lion cub in my arms, whining out miserably in fear of what was happening around him, was the outcome of all of this.

But the thought that dominated my frame of mind the most in this rush into nowhere was Gernan. He had to be alive, even with Aha'hor dead he must have gotten out and he was now coming to rescue me.

Such naive thoughts! For how could he know where I was to begin with, but it was the only thing keeping me going, the only thing that kept myself from falling apart. I was getting better at dealing with such stresses even though it did not feel like it at the moment.

The Will of Heaven was teaching me harsh but valuable lessons through such upheavals as this. As each phantom of impending doom made itself known before me, I became more and more steely in the face of it, learning not to panic and drop everything and hurry around like sycophant deprived of his or her Master's good favor.

Like most of those wolves of the imperial court! They are a bunch of sheep in wolf's skins! I am more wolf than the whole lot of them put into one! A good lot of them would wet themselves if they had to endure even half of what my long life has encompassed!

Flock of integrates they all are, come to think of it! They had the best Prime Beta of that century in the form of my glorious Master, but when he was dragged down not one spoke in his favor!

Not even that Titus.

At least he had conviction within him, unlike some others.

The “Cursed Ruins" were not easy to locate in the way in which one might point to something on the horizon and know which direction to go, like those massive mounds of carved stone. No, it was nothing like that, and all I knew was that it was a small distance North and near the transition from fertile soil to harsh sand, which I followed exactly, not even daring to let anything else enter my mind aside from that single task: “Take Den to the Cursed Ruins".

“Just keep moving and don't waver! Do not waver Xander!" was what I recited over and over again in my mind as I sprinted across the warm landscape, clutching a crying lion cub.

My running did not last long and it had devolved into a frantic walk, for lack of a better word. I was constantly looking side to side, from desert on my right and vegetation on my left; looking out for anyone, or anything that might be watching. The only thing that would make this worse would be encountering another lion from a different pride! It was a blessing nothing like that happened.

It was then I understood the cleverness of going to a place like the Cursed Ruins, for no normal lion would dare venture there. Of course, I still had to find it first.

Though it was not easy to find, it was not hard to run into, for unknown to me at the time, these ruins were massive and it was not long before the both of us stumbled on them.

“Peshef! Peshef! I want Mommy! I want to go home!" cried the little lion in a voice that made me recall my own time when I was like that a decade ago.

“Shh, shhhh, now. Everything will be fine, your Mommy just wants us to go a way for a bit now," looking down at him as I comforted him, his large tan eyes quivered. Feelings of such pity gushed in my heart, seeing that fear within him and I tightened my grip on his small, furred body, bringing him closer to my chest.

“Ooff!"

My foot had struck something and the air was kicked out of me. I nearly fell over, just barely managing to regain my balance after that shock. Stopping to look around, things were different.

“Wha-wha happened?" Den meekly purred out as things started emerging from the dunes all around us, things that, when rushing like I was, would be overlooked, but when we stopped were clear to see.

Tarnished forms creeping from all around, under the sands, patches of stone-like material exposed by the blowing of winds, and the dunes, they were really massive, but it was not all just sand, they were half obscuring large structures.

We were in the Cursed Ruins, what else could this be? And not just any old ruins, but clearly ruins of humanity! Only the mythic humans of the past could make such things and they looked so much like the drawings of the sky towers I would see in books. Though hardly any of them looked intact, the tops of most of them being masses of twisted beams and shattered glass. Most only rose to about probably a quarter of their original height, if the images of such structures in their glory was accurate.

Then my eyes caught something on ground level, half in a dune there was what first looked like a large, metal shell, oblong and hollow with large oval holes in all sides of it. All previous thought left me as wonder filled my senses.

“Is-is is that what I think it is?" I thought aloud. I knew the answer: it was a human traveling machine, it had to be! And though gutted and half-crushed, it was all that remained of one. In that instant, I was back in the days when humans must have ruled the world. I tried to picture it in my mind what it must have looked like.

A youthful voice cascaded me back from scenes of mankind's glory, “What are saying, Peshef!?" broken from my trance of bygone wonder, I pulled my gaze off the curious structures that surrounded us and back on to the young feline face of the Chimeran present.

“Nothing, Den, nothing," resolve refilled my mind as the sense of duty from my entrusted task reminded me of what I needed to do. Gazing around, I came across a large ditch in the sandy wastes.

A crumbled slab, shattered into rough blocks, giving way to a deep, arched tunnel. Signs of strife came clear, ancient ashes and cinders peeked forward in layers around the partially collapsed tunnel. Then, in the corner of my eye, a bleached white object popped out among the sands.

The dome of a human skull was exposed by the eternal winds and this shattered whatever image of human peace I had remained in before.

“So then, the First Wolf convened forth his army to bring upon furless man a Great Crusade, a Great Jihad, a Great Revolt! An end to the rule of weakly flesh and to usher forth an imperium of fur and claw."

“Surrounded by his companions, male and female, of every race and breed; holding aloft the holy banner of the great uprising in one paw and his sacred sword in the other, he spoke forth:"

“Here ye now, my brothers in fur, the twilight of humanity is upon us! Homo contaminatus delenda est!"

“Thereon out, Chimera forebears spoke in one singular voice of unity echoed forth:"

“Homo contaminatus delenda est!"

“Homo contaminatus delenda est!"

“Homo contaminatus delenda est!"

-The Analects of the First Wolf.

I made my way down the incline of one the shattered ceilings of the caved-in tunnel. This was a good place to take refuge, not only would it hide us away from the unlikely chance of someone coming into this accursed place, but it would also be a reprieve from burning midday orb of Leo.

Here we could be somewhat safe. My legs would be given a break from the nonstop running in the unforgiving landscape and give the terrified Den a moment of calm, I thought to myself as I jumped down from the end of the weathered rock into the cavern below.

I gazed back momentary at the rough, broken floor leading into here, making sure it would not be hard to rescale it if we needed leave again. Turning back and facing the darkness head-on, I walked a few paces into the shaded cavern of smooth, polished walls, and set the cowering lion cub on the floor, making sure there was nothing to hurt him there as well.

Taking a seat next to him, I wrapped my arm around his fuzzy body, pulling him close to my side. He was shaking like a leaf, and I wanted to help him feel better, so I tried to think of things to engage him with.

“You know? When I was your age, I was as scared as you now," stumbled out of my mouth first, a tad clumsy but ending with normal confidence. His shaking lessened and he looked up at me, his eyes illuminated with a ghostly shine, reflecting light from beyond our shaded spot.

His face's fearful knots of muscle loosened into a childish curiosity, confirming to me that I was doing the right thing, “When I was your age, I went through so much: I was taken from my home and thrust into a brand new one," I made sure not to bring up the fate of parents in a moment like this.

“What did you do?" he piped up, his fearful shivering now completely gone.

“Well, I cried and cowered, I was scared of everything!" gesturing with my hands as if the dockyards of Lupercal were right before me.

“Why were you scared?"

“You see, I had never seen a man of fur before!" I explained as his face showed a sense of shock at my statement.

“What! You never saw 'Cimahs' before!?"

I made a small giggle at his mispronouncing of Chimera, “Yep! Feline men, canine men, bear men, never even saw one of you in my life before!"

“That must've been scary!"

“Oh yes! Very much! All of you with your claws and teeth," I made a gesture of raising my hands into makeshift claws while exposing my teeth and making a mock snarl which made him bellow with childish giggles.

“So what did you do? Were you scared the whole time?"

“No, afterwards I remembered how my Grandpa was never scared of things and-"

“Like Grandpa Aha'hor!?" he broke in, causing me to crash back down to reality at the current situation the two of us were in.

Not once flinching and baring my own worries and fears from appearing across my face and also hoping the little cub was still not fully aware of all the scents from emotions, I beamed down at him as nothing was wrong.

“Yes, Den! Yes, just like your own Grandpa."

“I smell human...also a cub! It's them, we found them!"

Low, almost whisper-like voices.

“Hey! Are you down there! Answer!" now roused with shock from the depths of exhausted sleep, I bolted up grabbing the also woken Den into my arms, ready to bolt further into the tunnels. “Wait! Don't be scared, we are of your pride!"

“Yes! We came to fetch you both! Aha'hor is not dead, he is alive!" a second voice jumped in. That caught me so off -guard that my plans of rushing deeper into this cavernous maze were temporarily postponed.

I still did not believe them at all! This was no doubt a ploy by that vile lion to get us to come out so we could be taken right before him, gloating atop his Father's throne, who I had no desire to ever see again still breathing.

“You lie!" I shouted and taking a few slow steps backwards in anticipation of bolting into the darkness, which was in itself was a scary prospect, but it was nothing compared to being captured and taken by now Pride Leader, Weha'djet's lions.

“We do not lie! A lion of the Tilapia Pride in the guise of a messenger made it all up as to sow discord in the Pride!" the harsh voice was growing impatient in tone, but what he said I still did not accept as truth.

“Prove it!"

“Aha'hor knew you would act like this! That's why-" then, catching sight of an object being tossed down into our hole, I cautiously set Den down and pressed my mouth into his furred ear.

“Listen, if anything happens, run, okay? Just run!" anticipating for the protests from him, I continued on.

“Find a way out of here and find a fox or something and tell them who you are, okay?" I knew the foxes of the Republic would leap at a casus belli like this to shoehorn their way into gaining a foothold in this land via a client Pride. It was not the best outcome for a lion like him, but he would be alive, albeit as a possible pawn for the foxes in their game of influence.

Leaving him and making my way to the small, unknown object that was thrown down here, moving slowly as I did checking for any sense of ambush at the same time; I came to it.

Leaning down ever so slowly, my finger brushed up against it, it was thick and felt like a small cut of rope, but much softer that any rope I have ever felt. Picking it up, I realized there was something hard and cold on one end and then a flash, a glimmer of yellow in the moonlight.

It was gold, a golden cap, then it all fit in place in my head.

Mane! A braided lock of mane!

“Though was it really his though?" I thought to myself.

I raised the thick lock to my nostrils and took a long inhale. I had been with Aha'hor long enough to become well acquainted with the intricacies of his scent and also the very subtle notes, making it stand out from the scent of other lions.

A cascade of familiar signals filled my nose. The natural lion musk, with ever so faint traces of scents like ivory and myrrh! I brushed him with an ivory comb and the hardly noticeable myrrh was his unique scent that his body gave off, it was only very slightly different from the musk of other lions and it took a lot of time being close to his body to pick out and recognize it.

“He must be alive! This cannot be a trap, such a far-fetched scheme was much too calculating!" I thought to myself, also taking into my heart the fact that if he was alive and so too was my Master!

“Human, don't you see? We speak no lies!" one of the voices from above bellowed down.

Now knowing the truth of their statements, I gestured to Den to come and that it was safe. Part of me wondered if this was all still a trap and that I misread the entire situation, that thought quickly burst into my mind as the little lion cub approached me and I walked into the moonlit opening above and caught sight of two burly lions with full manes who stood over the rim of the crater above me.

Convinced in my believe that he was alive, I encouraged even further to Den to come into the into the clear view of these lions. When they caught sight of the little form of his, I glanced from them an immediate sense of relief across both of their faces and thick maws.

From this alone, the truth of what they were telling became written in stone, as they looked as though they would not face a mauling from their leader and that confirmed it to me that his vile Weha'djet was not in charge. I am certain no lion of the Falcon Pride would show that much unburdening at the thought of being not taken down by their superior if he had just newly taken power.

The first gave him a quick look over and was pleased with what he saw. They started to lead us out of this desolate landscape of bygone times. Now that it was covered in the darkness of night with only the squinting eye of Canis providing light, it gave the whole place a sinister vibe made further eerie by the whistling sound of the night wind through the beams and cracks of the crumbling structures.

I was happy to be getting out of here despite my lingering sense of wonder and desire to know about my human past that surely lay still hidden in a place such as this. In the end, this was a graveyard and I would not be surprised if the vengeful spirits of human dead still reigned here, unlike the rest of the known world, leering out at us from those blown-out windows. I can even hear the words they would say:

“Savage beasts!"

“Fur worshipper!"

“Vile monsters!"

“Human traitor!"

No doubt would I be biggest target to their supernatural rage, despite my crime was but only eking out an existence in this word, their world, but at the same time I understood the anger such spirits of humanities past must embody.

But…but I am not a traitor to my race! I tell you! I may be wolf in nature but even then, I still have a human spark within me.

When we got back to the settlement, the capital of Aha'hor's proto-Kingdom, everything was in a state of movement and activity, torches lit up the entire place.

“Den! My sweet!" a feminine voice rang out from the crowds of lions going about the center of the village and the familiar form of Nith'hatep came forth and rushed to her cub's side, followed by that of her other cub closely behind.

“Mommy! Peshef, he kept me safe!" he excitedly exclaimed in the glow of torchlight. I felt flustered at such attention and was about to speak when I caught sight of a familiar wolf who rushed to my side and like a worried father, looked me over with his anxious eyes.

“Oh, Iskander! Thank Canis you are safe!" he pulled me into a tight embrace as I wondered what happened to him.

“YOU VILE WRETCH OF A SON!" my moment with Gernan was broken with an ear-piercing roar of thunderous anger and I pulled away, catching sight of Aha'hor in a full rage, exploding forth from the doors of his humble-sized palace, which was still only partially complete with only half of it still needing a coat of white, gleaming plaster which would make it stand out among the non-royal dwellings.

The frame of its door splintered out in a rain of wood-grain upon the ground as the enraged older lion stomped forth, dragging by the scuff a limp form.

It was him!

Aha'hor violently thrust his whimpering form to the ground before him, the older lion's face looked terrifying in the orange glow of torchlight that lit up the entire where they were standing.

“YOU ARE NOT A SON OF MINE! YOU HEAR!?"

“Fa-fa-father! I was only doing what was expected of me!" cowered the form of Weha'djet, now stripped of his prideful arrogance. I became aware of a feeling of a sense of glee growing in me, seeing this display, seeing my tormentor being so torn down.

I wanted more and my eyes desired to see it all and burn it into my memory so I could forever cherish this sight, “I AM DONE WITH YOU! MACE! WHERE IS MY MACE!" I saw fear grow in the younger lion's eyes, it filled me with a euphoria that made me feel excited with anticipation!

“Father! Please don't! I'm sorry! PLEASE, FATHER!" he pathetically pleaded to no avail, much to my hope, for I wanted him to not escape which was sure to occur.

A lioness came forth bearing a mace and gave it to the pacing Aha'hor, whose tail whipped around as his younger son pawed desperately at his Father's legs.

Without a single hesitation from that noble lion that was Aha'hor, he snatched up his bludgeoning tool and with his free paw, gripped the back of his son's mane, who proceeded to plea even more pathetically, making my sheer delight in this heighten even more.

Not even blinking once, I watched his Father raise up his bone-breaking weapon, which was too slow for me.

“Come on do it already" I seethed impatiently within my mind.

It was not long before Aha'hor's thick-furred arm was full up in the air, mace firmly in paw as his large biceps flexed in support of its massive weight. My spirit was at a climax, knowing any moment he would be dead in the worst way.

“This is it! This is it!"

Then in swift motion, Aha'hor brought the unforgiving thing down. It was almost as though time slowed down, every moment being twice as long to me.

“PLEASE FATH-!" those were the last words of a lion faced with his impending doom and I savored every frightened pitch of it before it was cut short by the stone club-head making contact with his head.

His feline skull shattered open in fizzing spray of crimson, with the delightful sound of a melon being cracked open. It sprinkled all over his Father's sturdy face and all around on the ground around him!

Jagged bone shards doused in thick blood dropped about his collapsing body as his vengeful Father let go of his mangled head. Lily-white brain matter mixed with a deep rose-red, it was a beautiful sight to behold. All my pain from what he had done do me was lifted from me as Weha'djet departed this world.

In my joy, I whispered out under my breath:

“I said I wanted you to die…"

“Now you are!"