Rigor Mortis

The Raven And The Wolf

He isn't a pure wolf. Death himself is not a pure wolf. His mother was, but his father wasn't. His father was 50% dog, 50% wolf. But both lived as wild wolves. This mix of hybrid wolf and pure wolf resulted in a litter of four pups. One of them was more special than the others. He would grow up to become Death itself. He was the first pup to be born, but there were complications that resulted in his three siblings to be born dead. This made Mother even more sad than she already was. Her partner, the hybrid wolf, had died crossing the road the day before. All this loss made her weak. Only one pup stayed alive. But however hard she tried, the complications and pain became fatal. She too passed away moments later, leaving her only pup on its own. The last of pups who was part dog.

Corax opened his eyes on a rainy morning. Some birds had started to sing only moments ago. It was one thing that had woken him up. This singing of birds was truely an amazing sound to wake up to on a day like this. It was only a fraction of birds that sang. All the others probably hid from the rain. Corax could understand.

A sudden noise in his head scared him for a moment. A voice was howling and there were some puppy noises on the background. It was clear where it came from. A mother and her pups who had all died in the same period of time.

He spread his wings and made no delay. Again his wings gently brushed the air as he made his way to these souls.

As soon as he arrived he landed in front of the wolf's den to inspect the situation. He cawed into the den. The earth absorbed the sound so an echo was avoided. The raven peeked inside, there was no movement as he expected. But there was this strange feeling. He recognised it as change and he knew that his life would be different from this day on. He couldn't leave the place so the change was unavoidable. He didn't want to leave either, so he didn't have to worry about that though.

He walked into the den. The light that came inside was very dim, but Corax saw what he had to see. Four dead wolves; one mature, four pups. Except there were five pups. One was still alive and as soon as Corax spotted him, his life had changed. He apologized in silence to the souls that had to wait a little longer. He first needed to inspect the pup. What about him? The only thing that he could tell was that all these pups were brown except for the living one who was a bright white.

Corax saw a moving little nose sniffing the air. He knew the raven was there. Corax made some calming noises that let the pup know he would come back in a moment.

At first the Grim Reaper went to the mother. The pups followed soon. In a little longer then a minute he had said a goodbye and good luck to the souls who left on their journey to Yggdrasil.

The souls were gone, but the bodies weren't. He also couldn't move the surviving pup or the bodies. It had to be this way...

Corax approached the young wolf for the second time comforting him with calm noises. It did seem to work. The pup was very confused, but at least he didn't fear the stranger.

For a moment the raven wondered how the pup would survive without the milk from its mother, but as soon as this thought came, it left. He just had to look at the bright white fur of the pup. It calmed him down. This pup was different. He didn't know what kind of different, but he would discover it. At least he didn't have to worry about the milk. He needed to feed him water.

He popped outside to search for a creative solution. How could he bring water from the nearby river into the den without making a mess and without too many times of trying? He looked around. A big leaf wouldn't work. The object had to be able to resist the air. He had to fly it over and then pull it inside the den to the pup. A leaf would fail with ease. As he looked around he scanned the surroundings, but could not find anything that matched his demand.

He took off, searching from the air. It took him quite a time to find something that matched the description. It wasn't the best he could get, but he didn't get anything better, so he had to deal with it. And old piece of wood. It was slightly shaped like a bowl, but less deep. It wasn't perfect at all, but it would do the trick.

Corax landed next to the piece of wood and gave it another inspection. It would do, he confirmed. He took off and carefully took the wooden bowl off the ground. He could now fly it to the river to fill it. This first flight also made a good practice to try whether he could hold the bowl without swinging it too much, or not. He had to get the hang of it, but it would be fine after doing so for a while. He was sure of that.

At the river he filled his bowl and flew back to the den in a calm pace. When he arrived back at the den he landed carefully, putting the bowl on the ground first before making a landing himself. With his beak he then took hold of the wooden bowl and started shoving it inside the den. Now they had a system. Corax could take the water to the den and the pup actually understood how to drink out of it. Although he was still blind and deaf, he knew how to drink from the bowl and responded to the sounds Corax made. He felt the small vibrations in the air. But for a newborn pup he was very quiet. Deep down the pup knew that the only thing between life and death was a raven. He knew their situation was unsafe, so he kept quiet. He simply followed his instincts. He sure was different.

For the coming week it went very well. Twice Corax had to leave to guide a soul, but when he was gone, he couldn't help but worry about the pup.

For a week it went very well, but that week had just passed when Corax and the pup had to face their first danger.