The Packs of Dusk: Book 1: Mystical Wings

Chapter 1: Welcome to the World

"Come on, wake up!" cried a franticly soft voice. Thumps shook the ground beneath me, and I curled my tail and paws closer to myself, afraid of the imbecilic acts being taken before me, so I did not open my eyes.

"Hush, Marmi," said a much stronger voice. The thumping stopped.

"I'm sorry, Flare, but I'm worried she'll never wake up. Maybe she was born in a coma? Maybe she's already dead and a creature is making her belly go up and down as if she was moving!"

There was a small yelp, a laugh, I suppose.

"She will wake up when her will is strong," said the stronger voice. My will was already strong, I just enjoyed this feeling of dreaming and sleeping. But, as the voice said, my will is strong, so I will wake up.

I opened my eyes. My back was heavy. I struggled to stand up, struggling and stumbling several times before gaining balance. Before me stood an orange-red wolf with deep yellow eyes. Then, there was a light green one, one who seemed more content but with a worried look on her face. I could tell she was the franticly worried voice.

Then, there were all sorts of colors of wolves around me - black ones, blue ones, red ones, pink ones, even. I shrunk; I was scared.

The red-orange one walked toward me, tall and proud. "Welcome, Naomi, to the Mystic Pack. You are certainly special, I see..." she nodded, swishing her tail. "Flex your back muscles, please." And so I did, with confusion.

The weight on my back lifted. I looked at the ground, elevated from it. I was scared. I wanted back down, so I went limp. I fell, thumping to the ground. I winced, howling softly.

"What was that?" I say, confused. What had just happened? Why did I float? Why - wings. I turned my head to check my back. Sure enough, the wings were there, blankly white and magnificent.

The red-orange wolf, who I suspected to be Flare, muttered something. "Long lost... Extraordinary... Proph-" but then she was interrupted. A small white wolf walked up to me, but he seemed twice the size of me. I was puny while he stood tall and proud, a blank white figure.

He laughed evilly. I shrank back down into the shadows and crowd. But I was not allowed in the crowd, clearly, hence all the wolves around me made a small section for me to stand in. I kept trying to go unnoticed - but I couldn't.

"Puny little imbecile... What's with the wings, though? They're hideously disgusting. Like rotten rabbit. Bleh!" The wolf then growled, inching closer. He looked ready to pounce. I tensed up, bracing for impact. But then he let out a shrill yelp.

"Nah, mother! Stop it!" A larger, purple-green wolf was dragging the small pup away, slowly, slowly.

I faded back into "my stage." The wolves began to disperse, the show over, colors fading away.

I walked back to the bed of moss in which I came to life, laying down. Although it was a short encounter with the world, I was exhausted. I glanced around the dim light of the anfang den, other pups and mothers roaming around. I yawned, bearing my short teeth.

The light green wolf walked over to me. "Welcome to the world, Naomi. Welcome to the world." she laid down on the clump of moss beside me, toying around with some grass.

"Where's my mother?" I asked in my petite voice. I flicked my wings a few times, testing the movements. I could hear howls of laughter from the far corners of the nursery. Ashamed, I put my wings to my side, hiding them cautiously.

The wolf, Marmi, I guessed, laughed. "Naomi, I am your mother."

I shrank down, embarrassed. "Oh," I said. "Well, I wanna go do something. Like go outside!" Mother tensed.

"No, no, it's against the rules. You have to be at least 6 moons to become a soon-to-be - and recieve your element." I looked down at the grass.

"Well, where can I go?" I asked again, anxious to do something. Mother nodded at a cave-like hole.

"Weren't you just born?" She joked. "Anyways, you can go in there and play. The Earth wolves have made some mud piles and small stone hills."

Eager, I stood up and stumbled across the nursery to the hole. I struggled with balance, due to my already-large wings. I hobbled through the hole out to the other side.

Just like mother said. Mud piles and stone hills, other pups, too.

I tucked my wings in. They didn't know about my wings, I don't want to be different from them. I want to be normal.

I slathered my paws in mud. I howled with laughter as more pups joined me. I ran up to the highest stone hill, all in the forms of slides. I went down backwards, my paws in front of me, creating streaks of slobbery mud on the slide. Pups ran up and down it, thirsty for a taste of the speed of mud.

I dashed up to the top. The mud was extra thick and slippery there, due to the other pups, so I was trying to be cautious.

But that failed.

I slipped and, on instinct, spread my wings and clumsily flew around the room, trying to find a good landing spot. I dove head first into the muddy floor.

"Ow," I moaned. I tried to get up, but slippery paws don't help with that.

I felt something clamp down on the fur of my neck. I yowled, but I was tugged up.

"Uh... Th-thanks..." I mutter, tensing my wings to my side. I looked up.

A white, green-eyed male was standing in front of me.

"Don't worry. Unlike most of these newborn idiots, I'm not a jerk. I'm just Shale." And with that, he walked away. Is someone actually going to be nice to me?