Lily

Chapter Eighteen: The Oldest Territory

As Lily swam behind the other swimming wolves, who didn't really take notice of her due to it being about half the tribe, she listened to their conversations.
"Do you think that we'll find it? We'll be swimming for hours, y'know," said one of the wolves. He had mainly black fur, with white around his eyes and tail tip.
"Eh, it won't be too long," said a wolf next to him, who was brown with dark brown streaks along his sides. "Chief knows where we're going,"
"Why did we split up?" asked a wolf besides them, she was mainly pink with a white underbelly and black spots. "I miss Henry,"
The brown wolf turned his head towards her. "We think we know where the old territory is,"
Lily's ears perked up.
"You mean- the old territory? Like from Grandma's stories?" said the pink wolf. "The oldest territory? The one we were forced to flee after-"
"The attack," the black wolf finished for her. "Yes. All those years ago, one of the Wild Tribe's first attacks."
"Why were we even sheltering in their territory anyway?" said the brown wolf. "I don't trust them. Not one bit."
"Because the tribe itself isn't bad," the pink one said. "A lot of wolves are mistaken, you are mistaken. The Wild Tribe isn't bad. It was the virus that started it all-"
"WL23," finished the brown wolf. "We don't know how that virus came to be...some say it came from the depths of the Fire Tribe's volcano-"
"C'mon, George, that's a myth and you know it," interrupted the pink wolf. "We all know it. We don't know where it actually came from, and the Fire Tribe isn't ever involved in this. They are educated, peaceful wolves,"
"I dunno, Roxy, they're rather territorial," the black wolf said, an unsure tone to his voice. "They always say 'stay away from the volcano.' The minerals in that volcano are precious and they don't even bother to let other tribes use it,"
"I don't even think they use it themselves, from what I've heard," said Roxy. "Why would they keep others from using it when they don't even use it either? It makes no sense. Even if they're territorial, they're not selfish, Spike."
Listening to this conversation, Lily remembered the wolf back in Fire Territory who told her to stay away from the volcano. Why would they be trying to keep things like that? At least Lily knew a bit more about her surroundings now. She thought for a moment as a strip of land began to appear ahead of them.
It was a piece of land that Lily had never seen before, and as she stepped foot onto its grounds with the other wolves, she knew it was definitely unfamiliar, and rather saddening as she walked further and further into the territory.

The grass on its grounds was dull green and slightly overgrown, but a few colorful flowers here and there made up for it. It was dull forest terrain that was very hilly and surrounded by mountains on every side. The land was scattered with dull colored pine trees that were rather far away from each other for a forest, and some trees were fallen. A few pine trees even had vines connecting them. And in the distance, it faded into a snowy area, scattered pine trees covered in snow and hills covered in ice. The land looked as if it had been deforested and then untouched, and it looked rather like its life had been drained from it. The only signs of life other than the newly arrived wolves were colorful butterflies fluttering around the flowers.
A long time ago, this place did once have life. In a clearing, she noticed what she believed was an adoption center at one point, as it was a small cave in a hill with lanterns dangling from its ceiling, straw bedding, a mobile of colorful blocks, and a few teddy bears. As she walked even farther, she noticed what was also once a shop, and another den that was once a medics den. She even saw a den that she was pretty sure was just a "public hangout." She even found a tunnel in a mountain that lead deep down into a prison with a skull and bones on display on the wall. The prison's cells were all small and empty, and the straw bedding was messy. Some cells had bones on the ground.
After about an hour of wandering, Lily decided to rest near the empty former adoption center. It had some of the comfiest straw bedding.
While resting, she heard a voice. It was coming from an orange wolf who sat nearby the entrance to the adoption center, admiring the spread-out plains before him.
"My, how I missed this place..." he said in a voice that was longing "I missed it here so much, I missed hunting fish and chasing butterflies, and I remember chasing after the winged wolves..."
Winged wolves. Lily realized that she hadn't seen any winged wolves in the Summer Tribe since she arrived back.
She decided to continue wandering and explore more of the snowy area. As she walked towards that area, she noticed a frozen lake with a white rabbit on the ice. So this place did have more life after all.
She then noticed a pine tree covered in snow that was strangely too close to the hill, and it seemed to be hiding something dark behind it. Out of curiosity, Lily went over to this area and swiftly squeezed through the pine branches.
On the other side was one of the weirdest things she had seen since she arrived here. It was an icy tunnel into the ground.