The Dark Zodiac

Arc 1: The prince and the wolf (Part 2)

Remus ran through the woods, eager to see his family in all but blood before having to return to his luxurious prison.

...

He had met them 5 years ago, when he was running from his father, no, he was running from the king. He had decided to run into the Forbidden Forest, one the only places the king did not dare to enter. Being the naive kid that he had been, Remus had not thought of the reason the Forest was Forbidden. Well, not until he had been attacked by a Jorōgumo, a beautiful yet absolutely horrifying spider-woman-thingy. Normally, Jorōgumos use their beauty to seduce men, and sometimes women, into their web where they would eat them but those creatures will not say 'no' to weak, innocent and defenseless children.

The Jorōgumo had pinned him to a tree, its long sharp fingers digging into him. It had opened its mouth, a mouth bigger than it should be, a mouth filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Just when the monster was about to take a bite out of Remus, a rather large one, an enormous icicle crashed into it, knocking it away. The spider monster crashed into several trees, breaking them. The trees fell on it, burrying it underneath.

Looking in the direction the icicle had come from, Remus saw a magestic wolf. The wolf was huge, at least 5 times the size of a normal wolf, with fur as white as snow. There was ice covering the upper part of his head, looking both like a battle helmet and a crown. The wolf's tail seemed fluffy, almost like a cloud, flowing in the wind. It turned its gaze to Remus, looking at him with those piercing blue eyes. And it spoke:

"What are you doing here, human child?"

"Escaping." He had said that day. "From the king and everything else."

"And why would you do that, young prince?"

"How d-?" He had asked but was cut off.

"It's not hard considering the clothes you are wearing."

"But I could be the son of a duke or..."

"But you're not, are you, child?"

"No, I suppose not."

"You still haven't answer my question yet, human cub. Why were you running away from your father?"

Remus remained silent.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to... But you know you can't remain here forever, don't you. He's a king. He and his army will find you."

"Like he cares." Remus spat hatefully. "I am never good enough for him."

"How are you so sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Remus snapped. "All that bastard ever cared about were himself and Alexander, his perfect heir! Nobody cared for useless Remus!... Only mom did and now she's gone..." He broke down in sobs.

"Even if your father was to be such a horrible being as you thought him to be, he still cares about you... Whether it be because you're his son or because you're the replacement should anything happened to his, as you said, 'perfect heir'."

The wolf picked Remus up by his collar.

"Come on", he said. "I'll get you out of here."

After that, he carried Remus away. Once they were close to the entrance to the forest, the elemental wolf put him down, said goodbye to him and went back into the depths of the Forbidden Forest. Remus was later found by some guards the king ordered to find him and was brought back to the castle.

Not long after, he returned to the forest, was attacked in said forest and was rescued by one of the elemental wolves living there again... and again... and again. So many times that he just became friends with all of them and was considered part of the pack. It only took him 259 tries. Persistence! It pays off!