"You guys wanna hear a story?" A voice from behind him startled him. His mother was calling him and his siblings to the story den. Stardust yawned, the morning making him drowsy. His siblings raced past him, their tongues hanging out of their mouths. He padded over to them, blinking slowly, "Hurry! All of you will miss the story!" His mother watched him. Stardust walked faster and stopped in front of the den. The lichen was draped over the cove mouth. Moss was gathered at the bottom where the ground met the dirt wall, "Are you coming in or what, Starry?" His mother once again poked him out of his thoughts. Stardust padded into the den.
"Mom just tell the story already!" Stardust heard his sibling say. She was light gray color and had yellow-orange eyes. Stardust raced next to them. He planted his tail to the ground and stared at his mother waiting for her to start.
Mother took a breath in. Then closed her eyes, "Okay, here is my story. It is about how the world was made.
"Fire, Water, Weather, Day, Earth, Night, Death, Life,
These are the elements of our Ancients. Do you remember them? Well, long ago, when everything was nothing, in a deep dark pool, the world was silent, nothing to see, or hear, or feel, or taste, or smell. Only the black suffocating waters of nothing. Like you see the sky at night, but no stars or moon. There was only a single being. She had fur dark as a black rose that was scattered in stars. She was sleek and had lightning blue eyes. This being had the body of a strong wolf, the head and senses of a lynx, the stealthy, swift, paws of a fox, and the angelic wings of an eagle. She only drifted in a world with no one except herself.
One day, when she was looking into the darkness, when a voice seemed to speak, a whisper in the still world. The creature listened and followed the murmur, hearing the hope from her soul scream into her head again.
"stars...," The murmur said words that were strange to the being. Words like, "shining on the water..." or, "Death is your balance..." The creature stopped, and closed her eyes, she wished only for some sort of place to stop and rest her tired wings, and something for her swift paws to touch.
She opened her eyes and saw a lump of the gray hard stuff. She flapped her wings hard and flew over to it, curious about what had broken the black with color, the creature placed a paw on it. It was hard. The voice whispered louder, "the Ancient stone..." The word stone caught in her throat.
"I have created something?" She stammered. A smile pressed onto her face, "I shall create something else to go with this..." She stopped, wondering, "It needs to be called something..." The creature began thinking about all the words she knew. Skimming past so many sounds for her new creation,
"The Ancient stone..." The word sounded cool. She had heard this new word from the voice. The creature looked at the new thing, and named it, Stone. She thought some more and looked at her fur. White dots, " My fur is black like this void, but the void is missing my white glowing spots..." She closed her eyes and made them appear all around her. She added purple, and silver, and brown to the void, "I will call this, sky. And the dots will be Stars," She gazed at the stone again. It was bland and alone. Like her, "I shall give you friends, Stone," She closed her eyes and imagined a larger stone.
This one was circular, and not how she had imagined. So she didn't name this one Stone, but simply, Moon. The moon was very dark. And everything around her was dark. She added a big light ball that was bigger than the Moon and named it, Sun. She then closed her eyes and made a big platform. She placed the stone on it. She remembered blue from her eyes and added this to her new world. She planted green, pink, purple, yellow, red, and so many more colors. This place was too flat and boring. The only things that were there were the colors and the one rock. But she was beginning to get tired from all of her makings. She decided to use the last of her powers on eight immortal creatures that would make the world flourish and would form more creatures.
She started with a soul of flames
Then she shifted an animal of water
Next came the creation of weather,
Right after, the spirit of day and night,
She made a force to take care of the earth,
And last but not least, a balance of life, and death,
The tired creature studied her work. She then gave them the powers they would need to sustain the world, and create life.
As they all began to wake up. The first one to speak was a white creature. She was small, and still had kit fluff around her ears,
"Who are you? What is this place?" Her tiny sweet voice made her grin.
"Well, my name is," She paused not knowing her name. Quickly she thought of the names she had given the white dots, " My name is Star, little one," Star gazed once again upon the tiny creatures, "I have created you and this place. You all are very special. You will be known as... the Ancient ones. You will make life in this world, and create a balance between good and bad. But do not fear small children of the world, I will train you, and show you how to use your powers throughout the decades. Soon you will be better than I, and until that day, I will be here for you..."
The small white creature's face lit up with joy and excitement. She jumped back to the line of creatures.
"Now you," Star looked straight at the first. The creature of flames. He was a fox with dark brown fur. Almost red. Her eyes were dark green, "You will be first," She directed her voice to the line of animals, "I will go in a line and grant you your Ancient names and powers," She watched the animals nod, "You, you are a young fox. You will now be BlazeFox. You will burn anything you can get your paws on, and you will represent the fire in everyone's heart." Star went to the next. A gray wolf with deep blue eyes, "You are now the wolf who can control all water on the surface of this place. You will become LakeHowl. A symbol of tranquility." The fox who had been the first to speak jumped in front of Star. Her eyes were light with excitement, "You are an eager one..." Star thought for a second. She paused when she grasped the idea, "You could do great as a leader,"
"I could?" She squeaked.
"Yes, you could. Little fox, you remind me of fluffy stars. You will be CloudFox. You will control the weather and water in the sky. You will make the sky blue. And most of all, you will be known as the leader of the Ancients."
The voice from before whispered again, this time quieter. Too soft to make out what it had said.
She shook her head and pointed to a white lynx and a black lynx, "Both of you are lynxes, and you are the opposites that the world will soon know as day and night. You, white one, are SolarLynx. You will make the sun bring brightness to the world. And you, black lynx, will be known as LunarLynx. You will move the moon into the sky when the sun has set."
The next animal was a tan-colored wolf. Her eyes were bright green, "You are like the forest that I have imagined, quiet, calm, and depending on the other elements. And for this reason, you will make forests and plants around the world. You will make stone and rock and dips and hills. You will be TimberDog. Look after this world."
"Last but not least, the two birds. You both are key to the world. You, the one with the brown feathers, you will be LifeBird. Make life follow you eagerly. And you, the one with the brown and red feathers, you will be DeathTalon. When a creature LifeBird has created gets injured, old, or sick, you may choose if the creature deserves a chance of life again. Your names will be, Light and Soul. Be wise with your power," She peered back at the animals and raised her voice a little more, "All of you, be careful,"
Nobody knows where Star had gone when she had trained them and helped them create the world you know today, but all we can hope is that she still watches over us.
Fire, Water, Weather, Day, Earth, Night, Death, Life, those are the only Ancients... right?"
"So, lets review, can any of you tell me how the world was made?" Mother dog asked. Stardust glanced at his littermates. Their faces were all confused. All of their faces but one.
"Oh! I know! I know! I know!" Cosmo yipped, "Star created the world!" Stardust rolled his eyes when his siblings looked at him laughing because his name had 'star' in it,
"Yes! Very good Cosmo!" Mother replied. She blinked and looked around the den, "Now can anyone tell me all of the old Ancients names?"
Stardust listed them in his head, DeathTalon, LifeBird, CloudFox, BlazeVixen, LakeHowl, TimberDog, SolarLynx, and LunarLynx. He was about to shout out the answer but one of his siblings said them all first,
"SolarLynx, DeathTalon, BlazeVixon, TimberDog, LakeHowl, CloudFox, LifeBird, and... um..." Halo hesitated, "I forgot the last one..."
Mother waited for a few more seconds before saying, "Would you like some help by Pluto or Stardust?"
He said nothing and simply nodded, sinking back embarrassed. Mother pointed to Pluto,
"Erm, I'm not sure either..." Pluto whispered. Typical Pluto... Stardust thought, always trying to get the least attention. Why can't he be a normal pup and want all the attention? Mother pointed to Stardust,
"It's LunarLynx!" He barked impatiently.
"Very good Starry," Mother yapped. Stardust yawned. He hated how they were always treated like they were just born. And he just wanted to go back to sleep. His mom wasn't going to just let him go to sleep though, she was going to make him stay up until night so he didn't become nocturnal. And was most likely going to lecture them again about how foxes are evil, including the Ancient ones. Mother stood up and shook the moss from her fur. Then she nudged them all out of the den. Stardust flinched from the sudden bright sun.
"Hey, mom?" Stardust moved out of the way from her nudge. He glared at his mom when the thought came to mind, "Can we really assume that the world was made with no flaws at all?" He questioned her. His mother stepped back from him a little. She was clearly confused, "Have you never thought to question what seems a little too perfect?" He thought of all the winters they had almost died in.
"Well, these stories were all told to me by my mother. I just assumed that she would tell me the truth-"
"But what if she lied? And if she didn't then where did the story come from? How do we know the story is true if nobody but Star herself was there to tell the story? Who recorded this information?" Stardust paused, the wind blew against his white fur, "What if Star lied to us on purpose?"
"Why would she do that dummy?" Cosmo barked.
"Because she said she wanted all to be happy and joyful. What if one creature didn't become good enough? We have already heard of her messing up the Moon. She could have messed up again, and she could have lied in this story to make us feel a little safer!" Stardust whipped around back to his brother.
Mother shook her head, "This could be true, but these theories are only theories. They can't be proven without fact. You didn't give us the fact, you gave us the probabilities," Mother licked his head assuringly, "Please don't think about this too much, this may worry you, sweety. Worry only gives you nightmares, dear,"
Mother walked away to a different den. Stardust's littermates followed her into the den. Stardust stayed sitting though. He was lost in thought of the possible danger that may lurk somewhere out in the wilderness.