New Life

Chapter One

EDIT: 11 October 2011: I've dedicated this chapter to techniicolor for coming up with a wonderful cover for me! Many thanks go out to her!

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 "Great. More snow." My voice was harsh in my own ears as the wind blew the flakes into my frozen face.

Hunger drove me to go against what I knew. I was so hungry, starving even. At least my days in civilization provided me with food... This hunting and gathering thing sucks...

I stayed out after dark, risked my life in the bitter cold, and waited, motionless, for any sign of movement other than the falling snow. Perhaps I was desperate and partially out of my mind, but that mattered little to me. I was driven by the most primitive of instincts; the will to survive; and it gave me the patience to sit as I did.

Minutes passed, which turned into hours, and still I waited, stupidly. The chances of an animal simply wandering in front of me were slim to none but I didn't think about that. I just sat, accumulating snowfall like a large stone.

Miraculously, after what seemed like decades had passed, a large buck stopped a few yards in front of me to lick at an icicle that hung from a tree. Though stiff with cold and exhaustion, my arrow flew true and found its mark, piercing the creature's heart through the ribs.

Needless to say, I was happy to be back in my cave.

With my fire roaring with fresh wood and my stomach filled with food, I took to watching the snow. I knew very well that sleep would soon overtake me and did little to prevent it. My kill was cleaned and far out of anything's reach and the fire showed no signs of weakness. For the first time in a long duration, I would sleep peacefully… or so I thought....

I was outside once more. I was running and covering ground at an amazing rate. I looked down and saw that I was sprinting over ice. In the ice, my reflection stared up at me. I was a white wolf with stunning blue eyes. This, however, didn't frighten me. Instead, it filled me with such euphoria that, still running, I lifted my muzzle in the air, parted my jowls and let out a howl of pure joy. It was a haunting, beautiful sound that echoed around me, touching me even in the depths of my wolfen soul.

A new tune soon joined me and I dropped my own song, stopping my running as well. Another wolf, this one a jet black, came stepping onto the ice. His howl faded but still sounded in my ears. He drew closer to me and I did nothing, too stunned to move. His blue-green eyes bored into my own as he stood only a few feet away. I stared back, transfixed, and questioned my sanity as I heard a voice in my mind that wasn't my own. It spoke one word in a man's deep tone. "Soon."

I awoke moments later with the feeling of familiarity in my mind, heart, and soul. That creature's eyes wouldn't leave my thoughts. Had I seen that wolf before and a large meal had played tricks on me? Perhaps, but this thought didn't do much in the way of comfort. No matter what I thought about, the blue-green eyes of that wolf still haunted me until sleep overtook me once more.

This time, it was dreamless.