A flame danced on a small mound of dry branches, keeping the chill of the winter night at bay. Sitting by the flickering flame were two wolves, one a charcoal grey, the other a navy blue. The grey canine spoke first, stripes of fiery color streaking up his side before fading into the short fur.
"Where is the Earth wolf?" The gaunt wolf snarled, baring fangs that had had lost their luster long ago. "We need the powers of the Earth to pull this off!"
"I haven't seen her," came the meek reply of the blue wolf, his forked tail coiled by his side. "But aren't there other wolves that will suffice? I'm sure that there are other Earths that are intelligent enough to join us."
"We can't just snatch up any old wolf, Tide. We've come too far to recruit another."
There was a long silence, broken only by the wailing winds that sent dead leaves and falling snow in a frenzy.
Tide then whispered, almost frightfully, "Maybe Omnia will come back to rescue us..."
"You're too old to believe in pup's tales," snapped the wolf, his pelt flashing angry hues of red and orange. "If Omnia was real, where is she?"
"At times like these, there is nothing else to believe in," a feminine voice said, followed by the crunching of paws on snow.
Both wolves instinctively turned their heads towards the sound, and a dull olive-green wolf emerged from the undergrowth.
"Where were you?!" The fire wolf barked, lunging at the canine. The wolf stepped aside with a smirk, and the fire wolf crashed into the snow,which melted below him with a faint hiss, leaving the wolf in a puddle of chilled muck. "Very smart, Draco," the green wolf laughed.
"Arum, I'd hardly expect anything better from you." Draco got up with a huff, swirls of flaring color floating through his fur. "Besides, we have matters to discuss. You should have been here on time."
"Well, I'm here now." She took the spot with the least snow, next to Draco- the Fire wolf heat shared by every wolf in the Pack had melted much of the snow around him. "This winter's going to complicate things," she muttered.
Draco snorted at the Earth, smoke drifting from his nostrils. "We have matters to discuss," he repeated. Both Tide and Arum listened intently as he began.
"The leaders are the first to go."
