The Wolves of the Shadowlands

Prologue

 The world was once a dark place. It was a place where brother turned on brother. Sister turned on sister. Friend turned on friend. It was a sinister world where the strong survived and the weak met their demise. Great battles were waged over what little resources remained. The world was consumed by chaos. One by one, humans killed one another in the ongoing fight for survival. In time, the once great species was wiped from the Earth. Not by disease, not by age, but by their own hands, they destroyed themselves.

The Walkers were a primitive race, driven by an unattainable ambition to become God. They exhausted their resources in pursuit if this foolish gambit. As these intelligent creatures began to explore the extent of their power, they only brought themselves closer and closer to their inevitable demise.

The existence of man collapsed with a hellish grace. Civilizations reduced to ashes in the wake of the blazing contagion of beautiful anarchy. Smoke laced with humanity's primal rage rose into the sky. Dark, billowing plumes rose into the atmosphere and blotted out the sun. The putrid air reeked with the odor of smoke, decaying flesh, and of ultimate defeat.

It was as though the hands of a great giant had begun to strangle their master. The beast's magnificent lungs collapsing without the oxygen required to sustain them. Its brain slips into a realm of chaos in which there are no thoughts but survival. Blood flow to the brain is cut off by the strength possessed by the hands, choking the life out of their owner. The once proud beast slips into unconsciousness, its brain now patiently awaiting the arrival of death. The beast's heart stops. The giant is dead.

Then all was silent.

What was once a powerful, flourishing young species, is now dust in the wind. Humankind vanished from the face of the Earth, vanquished by its own blade. Their once towering monuments are now reduced to heaps of rubble. Their artistry burned to ashes. All the world is quiet, as though in silent remembrance, of evolution's greatest creation.

The silence endured for many moons. The birds did not chirp. The lions did not roar. The insects did not hum. All was still. An aura of peace descended upon the Earth. The sound of cars and planes forever extinguished from the realm of the living. For seven moons the silence endured. For seven moons there was true peace.

Until the eighth full moon rose like an angel into the shaded night sky. It was on that night that the silence was shattered. A howl pierced the chilled night air. The howl of a wolf broke the silence. A mighty howl to announce the wolves' ascension to the throne of the alpha predator. A declaration of dominance over all that breathes. A growl of intimidation to strike fear into the hearts and minds of all who may oppose them.

Nature has a system. A system of picking and choosing who is to be the dominant species on the Earth. It is a system that no one and no thing will ever be able to fully comprehend. This system had chosen the Wolves as the ones to inherit the Earth. The rightful species to claim the throne of the alpha predator. To rule as kings. To assert dominion over those beneath them.

A new era was born out of the ashes of humanity. The dawn of a new age birthed from the corpse of mankind. The rise of a new natural hierarchy to endure until the end of time. The new alpha predator had risen.

The Wolves of the Shadowlands.