The New Light of Hope Book V: Corruption From Within.

Chapter VIII: The Murder.

Summer:

Date: July 8, 2020.

The next day after Independence Day, we all returned back to the forest and resumed our regular duties, not knowing what we were going to come across or see with our own eyes, something that we would have to prepare ourselves for.

As I was making my way to the Stream Echoes Division normally and was just about to cross the river, I was brought to a hold when I caught glimpse of a shadowy figure in the form of a wolf to my left, looking at me. I stopped just before I took one step on the log and looked at the figure. "Who are you? What are you, even?" I asked. But the figure did not respond to me, all that it did was turn its body, look at me and nod its head wanting me to follow it before running off with me following behind it. I shouldn't be doing this sort of shit, but here I am doing so anyway.

"Where are you even leading to?" I asked as I ran trying to keep up with the figure until they disappeared where I then tripped and fell. But what I saw next when I got up and looked around the area, what I would find next would be a sight that I would never forget.
I looked around for a bit until I found something that made my blood run cold the moment I saw it- I found what looked like MinnowHeart's body in a pool of blood, his whole tail, ears, jaw, and front left leg had been torn off of his body with numerous wounds around it and his throat was ripped clean out. "Jesus H. Christ! What the hell happened?!" I exclaimed, staring in absolute fear. Knowing that I couldn't just stand there in shock and just do nothing, I had to act and so I began running to the Stream Echoes Division to inform everyone about what happened.
...
"Chief TimberHeart!" I shouted as I ran inside of the camp towards where Chief TimberHeart, RowanFoot, Reed, WaterDrop, BubbleFur, and SwiftPounce were talking. "Summer, what's wrong? What happened?" Chief TimberHeart asked. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath before I went on to tell him: "It's MinnowHeart, he's dead!"

The moment those words came out of my mouth, Chief TimberHeart's eyes widened with fear and disbelief and stammered: "No, it can't be. Surely, he's not dead, right?"

Summer: "I wouldn't be too sure about that. You all are going to have to come with me to see in order to believe me. That includes you too, Chief TimberHeart."

Although he did not want to go with us, he went along with me and the others to the place where the figure led me to where his body was.

When I showed them where MinnowHeart's body was, all of them were were shocked and in disbelief by what they were seeing with their own two eyes. "No, no, no, no, no, no! No, MinnowHeart, please, no!" Chief TimberHeart yelled as he ran over towards MinnowHeart's body and buried his face into his blood-soaked fur, crying over the loss of his son. "MinnowHeart, my son! My firstborn son!" Chief TimberHeart cried. "Why did it happen have to be him? Why?"

Summer: "I'm so sorry this happened, sir. I know he was a great wolf and I am so sorry for your sudden loss. May he be welcomed by God and the Sky of Silver Souls"

Chief TimberHeart: "May your god and the Sky of Silver Souls go wherever the fucking hell they so please to go."

Summer: "Do not speak like that, Chief TimberHeart! I know you are distraught over his death, but you can't just last out on God or the Sky of the Silver Souls just like that!

Chief TimberHeart: "Then why is MinnowHeart dead, huh? Tell me that! If they watch over all of us and care for us equally, why did they have to take my firstborn son away from us?!"

Summer: "Unexpected things happen for a reason, sir and we can't control what goes on in the world. I don't even know how this happened to begin with!"

RowanFoot: "Chief TimberHeart! Summer! Stop this arguing immediatly! We're not gonna get anywhere if we keep acting like this! Sir, Summer is right; what goes on the world is something that we can't control and these sort of things happen for reasons beyond our own understanding. But we can't get anywhere if we continue to argue and pin the blame on the wrong people for no reason. What we need to do right now is bring his body, back break the news to everyone about it, bury him and hold his farewell ceremony. Let's just set this aside for now and focus on what we need to do right now and just stop wth all of the arguing."

Chief TimberHeart: "You're right, I'm sorry. Let's bring MinnowHeart's body back to camp and we will go from there."

And without another word, MarshFur picked up MinnowHeart's body and carried him on his back and we returned back to the Division.
...
We made it back to the Stream Echoes Division where everyone began to stare at the sight of MinnowHeart's body the moment MarshFur entered the camp; everyone cleared the way as MarshFur place his body in the center of the camp, where Chief TimberHeart announced: "My fellow Division, I wish this was all just a nightmare that I could snap awake from, but it's not. This is reality and what you're seeing is real; MinnowHeart is dead."

"Nooo!" DewFlower cried as she, NightShadow, GrayShine, DawnRain, GorseClaw, MudSpots, and ShySong ran over to his body and all of them began crying with Chief TimberHeart joining along with them. RowanFoot turned to look at LightningBug and MistHeart. "Whenever they are done, you two and I will help with laying him to rest. But for right now, let's them the space they need to grieve for their sudden loss." He told them and the rest of the Division. I left the area as well to give them their privacy.

I began to follow them and as I walked away, I took one glance over at the grieving family and I could see RowanFoot walking over to Chief TimberHeart and his family and joined them in their grieving for MinnowHeart. He must feel the same way as they do right now. I thought as I looked for a few more seconds before walking away from them to give them the privacy they needed to grieve for their loss.

But as I was walking away, I could not help but wonder: What did Minnowheart ever do for him to become an easy target for rogues? Why did they even target him to start with? What was their reasoning behind this? Why did they target an innocent young male? I had so many questions on the matter that really didn't have a straightfoward answer to it; one that we would have to find out why it even happened to begin with.